Knox County Clerk Foster Arnett said today he fired a longtime employee for trying to register a stolen car.

Phylicia Washington had worked for the clerk’s office for 14 years, Arnett said. He said he learned May 12 that Washington had tried to register the car.

A routine check uncovered the attempt, he said.

Knox County Clerk Foster Arnett on Wednesday said he has shut down the East Knoxville satellite office at Five Points in order to save money “in really tough economic times.”

The three employees at the office have been transferred to other satellite locations, he said, and East Knoxville residents still have easy access to the downtown office and the one at Knoxville Center.

Foster Arnett Jr. pledged to bring further efficiencies to the Knox County Clerk’s office as voters gave him a second term Tuesday night.

Arnett, 54, won re-election with nearly 73 percent of the Republican primary vote over former clerk’s office employee Debbie Cole, according to unofficial returns.

The incumbent has no other challenger to face in the August general election.

Former sheriff Tim Hutchison and state Sen. Tim Burchett are facing off to replace term-limited incumbent Mike Ragsdale.

We think Burchett is the right choice.

John Gill, special counsel to Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols, said Tuesday that Debbie Cole’s giveaway at the Feb. 27 Lincoln Day Dinner didn’t amount to bribery.

“We double-checked and under the law you have to prove that something is given with the understanding they’re getting the vote and the recipient has got to understand they’re being given this on the condition that they vote,” Gill said. “There’s got to be a meeting of the minds that it was an attempt to buy your vote.”