Malone defeats Sauer in county attorney's race

    Dodge City attorney Terry Malone won the first phase of the race for the Ford County Attorney's Office on Tuesday and will move on to November's general election.
    Malone, who currently serves as the city prosecutor, easily defeated incumbent Ford County Attorney John Sauer in Tuesday's primary election on the Republican side. Unofficial results showed Malone captured 909 votes, compared with 281 for Sauer.
    The Ford County Commission will canvas the results at 8:30 a.m. Friday in the commission's chambers.
    Malone said in a phone interview he was pleased that Ford County voters had confidence in him.
    "I'm also pleased that they saw the same need that I saw, that we needed to change the direction of the office," he said. "I hope to be able to do that with a win in the general election."
    Malone said if he is elected in November, he will continue to serve as city prosecutor as well as the county attorney.
    Sauer said: "All I want to say is, I want to thank those who supported me."
    Sauer was the Hamilton County attorney from 1997 until 2001, then served as an assistant Ford County attorney from 2001 to 2005. He became the Ford County attorney in 2005.
    He told the Globe last week that if he were re-elected, one of his goals was to bring the salaries for attorneys and clerical employees in line with the wages for other attorneys in hopes of retaining more prosecutors.
    Malone was an intern in the county attorney's office in 1974 and was an assistant county attorney from August 1975 through January 1976, when he was appointed to fill the top prosecutor's slot.
    He was elected to that position in 1977 and served until July of that year, when he entered private practice.
    Malone told the Globe last week that if he wins the November election, he intends to work with law enforcement agencies, business leaders and the public to restore confidence in the office.
    He also said he would address turnover in the office by mentoring and guiding young attorneys and improving the salary schedule.
    Malone will face local defense attorney Lawrence Daniels, a Democrat, in the general election.

Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.