Former Hopkinsville Mayor Wally Bryan, running as an independent in this year’s election, says he offered incumbent Mayor Carter Hendricks a job if he would drop out of the race.
Bryan called news conferences Tuesday and Wednesday morning on Bryan Street to discuss what he feels is an issue of irresponsible spending and an unwillingness to compromise on behalf of the sitting mayor. While discussing that he feels places like Bryan Street have been neglected since Hendricks took office, Bryan says he offered Hendricks a well-paying job running the sportsplex if he bowed out.
Bryan also provided a chain of private emails between the two men, in which Hendricks refuses to meet with him, saying the offer “feels very wrong” and the public “would be disgusted just by the offer.” When asked if promising employment in exchange for Hendricks bowing out was unethical, Bryan says no because it was always meant to be public.
In one email, Bryan guarantees Mayor Hendricks the sportsplex position would pay him equal to or exceed what he earns as mayor.
Bryan had originally reached out to Hendricks on April 10th to meet and discuss campaign finance “reform”. Bryan proposed limiting campaign spending and possibly donating what is raised to non-profit organizations. Hendricks had originally agreed to meet to discuss the campaign as a whole, but cancelled after Bryan offered him a job.
In an interview with WHOP News, Mayor Hendricks says he will run his campaign with integrity and he won’t be baited into attacking his opponents.
In the emails, Bryan also references the heart attack Hendricks had in December of 2016, saying the sportsplex job would be less stressful and that Bryan was “not surprised” by the heart attack.
Bryan, Mayor Hendricks, Democrat Jason McCraw and independent Walter Shamble will face off in November. In one email, Bryan questions why Hendricks was raising money ahead of his announcement, saying Hendricks “could have taken a six month nap and still won big” against the other two.