Andy Rusk running for Mayor of Athens

Dear Rusks, family and friends,

My number two son, Andy Rusk, is running for mayor of Athens-Clarke
County.

In starting the New Year on a high note (overlooking the Georgia Bulldogs
three point loss in the Sugar Bowl), it doesn't get much better than this!
What a delight to see him take a hard turn for public service at age 25. I
know at least one person upstairs ("or wherever I am," Pop said in his
funeral instructions) who is smiling.

Enclosed - a column I write for two area newspapers, plus photo of Andy.
For more information about his campaign, click on www.andyrusk.com.

You are most cordially invited to his Kickoff Rally. This Friday night,
January 6, starting at 8 p.m., three bands will perform a Fundraising/Meet
the Candidate benefit on Andy's behalf at Tasty World on Broad Street in
downtown Athens. In between gigs, the candidate will present his views. If
you are unable to attend but would like to support him, feel free to donate
or call or email with words of encouragement or advice: Committee to Elect
Andy Rusk, Box 1951, Athens, GA 30603-1951. Email: andrewrusk@hotmail.com.
Don't hesitate to email your friends.

My wfie Janice is doing very well after back surgery four weeks ago.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Much love from us both,
Rich

Andy Rusk Files for Mayor of Athens

Thanks to the Georgia Bulldogs and their January 2 matchup with the
football Mountaineers of West Virginia, Year 2006 is starting off with a
bang. For Rusk family and friends, a January 6 event at Athens' Tasty World
tops even this Sugar Bowl treat. Beginning at 8 p.m, three local bands -
Heath Tolleson of Last Picture Show, Adam Musick of Southern Bitch and
Mother Jackson -will perform at a Kickoff Rally for a local candidate, Andy
Rusk, now running for mayor of Athens-Clarke County.

Andy is my number two son, and I couldn't be prouder.

I am thrilled also for Athens - for having attracted this young blood to
its politics. Staking out early positions allowing smoking in the bars,
mandatory biodiesel fuels for county vehicles and opposing rental
registration, Andy is boning up now on a host of
developmental/environmental/smart growth/good governance issues so vital to
Athens' future and maintaining its unique character. A huge learning curve
and experienced opponents with deeper pockets lie ahead, "but win or lose, I
want to draw young people here into politics."

Lack of experience does not deter him.

"There are plenty of well-qualified, seasoned politicians in office.who
are doing terrible things to our country," he counters.

I've watched him grow since he was knee high to a grasshopper, and what a
thrill to see him turn for public service. He's been pushing the envelope in
recent years, even attending stunt man's school in Seattle after graduating
cum laude with a theater degree in 2004 from the University of Georgia.

But despite no prior political or managerial experience, his campaign is
no stunt. Young Rusk, age 25, is SERIOUS about this race. He turned down my
offer of big time wages to build a house in Nome, Alaska for next June,
saying simply, "I've gotta campaign." This Georgian loves Alaska - he was
born there in 1980 - and relishes fly fishing , river running and
backpacking in that wild country. But he loves Athens even more, having
moved here in 1985, and that is why he is running.

'Athens is my home," he explains. "It is a great town, a real friendly
place. Clarke Central High was super and five years at UGA was a blast."

"But someone needs to stand up for young people here," he continued.
"Students have been called 'transients,' working all sorts of lousy, minimum
wage jobs, yet they've been here for 210 years! They are the lifeblood of
Athens and spend all kinds of money here. Yet because students don't vote,
they get overlooked."

Light on executive experience, Andy has focused on life experience,
working as a dishwasher and fry cook, shipping clerk and busker, cowboy in
Colorado, farm hand in Ireland, stagehand at the Morton Theater, and various
roles before and behind the camera in TV and film production. Andy was art
director last summer for an Athens film, Somebodies, just accepted for the
Sundance Film Festival in Utah. He supports his drama habit with carpentry
work; his Five Points garage apartment, which he built, is jammed with
tools. Sharp as a whip, a constant reader and quick learner, a disciplined
martial artist with a black belt in Chinese Goju Karate, this kid eats life
and wants to taste the world. A political "Independent" with a big heart, a
thinker who reads philosophy every morning, his passions run deep, his
interests kaleidoscopic. And now he dreams of becoming mayor.

"I will not pull a Ralph Nader and pimp for campaign dollars," he
pledges, nor compromise his beliefs for political expediency. He says it
easily, perhaps because a career in politics has not been Andy's lifelong
quest. It gives him a certain independence. But this underdog candidate is a
six foot, 150 pound piece of quick silver with enormous gifts and potential.
If he connects, he could become a voice much needed in Athens and Georgia
politics and make the Classic City proud.

In the background lurks a family legacy of public service. Since infancy,
Andy has heard the magic about another young Georgian, his grandfather Dean
Rusk, who came off a forty acre, dirt poor farm in Cherokee County to become
an American secretary of state. He was weaned on tales of public service.

"If people want to vote for me because they liked Dean Rusk, I'll take
those votes," said Andy. "But that relationship does not explain who I am or
why I am running."

"How can we make this great town of ours even better?" he asks, grateful
for all that has come before.

"Wanna chat local politics over a cup of coffee or mug of beer?" Call him
at 706-338-0707 or visit his website (in its embryonic stages) at
www.andyrusk.com.

Better yet, join us at Tasty World next Friday, where the candidate will
talk politics between gigs.

"Running for mayor has already been a tremendous adventure," says Andy,
"even from day one, when the elections office ladies helped me get
registered. Everyone has been so helpful."

By Rich Rusk

A builder and resident of Oconee County, Rusk is secretary of the Moore's
Ford Memorial Committee.



1851 Rays Church Road 855 words

Bishop, GA 30621-1206

706-769-0988; 706-202-7802, richrusk@bellsouth.net