Athough state level party officials are contemplating efforts topurge Republican-leaning Democrats, Lincoln County Democratic Partyofficials predict local candidate certification to go smoothly.

“I pretty much know most of the people who qualified and I don’tforesee any problem at this point,” said Helen Funk, chairwoman ofthe Lincoln County Democratic Party executive committee. “Wehaven’t had our certification meeting yet.”

Funk said she expected the committee would meet early next weekto certify Democratic candidates for county offices.

Mary Gill, a member of the committee, also doubted any LincolnCounty candidates would face noncertification.

“If there are (any concerns about certification), I reallyhaven’t heard,” she said. “As far as I know, they’re all OK.”

Funk said she would be greatly surprised if a candidate who metthe qualifications of the office was not certified.

“We have never refused to certify a candidate who met all thequalifications,” she said.

In Forrest County, however, the Democratic Party committeerefused this week to certify the candidacy of David Allen, anincumbent supervisor, and Shawn O’Hara, a frequent candidate for avariety of offices.

Allen has served as a supervisor for eight terms and run underthe Democratic banner since 1976, according to published reports.The committee opposed Allen because he had first qualified as aRepublican for the 2007 election, but refiled as a Democrat onlymoments before the March 1 deadline.

The Forrest County committee also removed O’Hara from the localballot because he had qualified for nine different county offices.He was removed from the county ballot after declining an offer tochoose only one county office.

O’Hara is also on the ballot for several statewide offices.

The state executive committee is scheduled to meet Saturday toconsider certification of state Democratic candidates. The partyhas threatened the possibility of not certifying some candidatesbecause their voting record more closely resembles that of aRepublican than a Democrat.

District 92 Rep. Dr. Jim Barnett, R-Brookhaven, said he cansympathize with any candidates who may affected by the party’spolitics. The four-term representative was a Democrat for threeterms and faced decertification himself in 1999 before switching tothe Republican Party in 2003.

“I feel like the Democratic Party is hurting itself,” he said.”I feel sorry for the people the party is hurting. I hope theDemocratic Party realizes its mistake before it’s too late. Thereare good candidates in both parties, and I hate to see good peopledone wrong.”

There are similarities to the state Democratic Party’s effortstoday and when it attempted to decertify Barnett in 1999.Initially, the party would not certify Barnett because he hadopenly supported Republican candidates for some offices, includingBrookhavenite Mike Parker for governor.

“I vote for the issue and the person,” Barnett said.

In 1999, a number of Democrats intervened on Barnett’s behalf,saying the committee was embarrassing the party. Ultimately, theparty voted 33-14 to certify Barnett two months after turning himdown.

Barnett emerged from the ordeal and won re-election in 1999 andagain in 2003 as a Republican. He has chosen not to seekre-election this year.