Rick Rout, State Executive Committeeman and longtime Republican Party Activist filed republican primary petition papers today for General Sessions Court Clerk.  Rout stated he was approached by Republican and Democratic politicos late last year (2010) to consider running for the position after current clerk Otis Jackson came under federal investigation. ‘After I was approached about the race, I started taking a long hard look at the problems within the office and what needed to be done to get the office back to a revenue producing office. We thought a lot about it, talked to a lot of folks about it, prayed about it, and the decision was clear, we can and will fix these problems and that’s why we are filing and running today.’