Steve Arnold and David Lawrence win council seats in North High Shoals municipal elections Tuesday

The always contentious municipal election in North High Shoals continued the recent trend of repudiating the do-nothing tenure of Mayor Jeff Thomas with narrow victories for political newcomers Steve Arnold and David Lawrence Tuesday in the quaint picturesque town at the juncture of Walton, Morgan and Oconee Counties.  Lawrence defeated Scott Wilson and Arnold edged Donegan in the first races for all of the participants. Accusations flew of conflicts of interest, sweetheart sidewalk placement, illegal home businesses, and assorted mischief and malfeasance from both sides.

These results sent from outgoing council member Fred Johnson

Post 3: David Lawrence 110 & Scott Wilson 77

Post 4: Steve Arnold 98 & Sarah Donegan 88

Thanks for everyone for voting.

The results would seem to solidify and recertify the reform bloc started most recently by council members Steve Holzman and Violet Dawe. They have redone the charter, hired local attorneys and clerks, hosted forums, all largely without the cooperation or participation of Mayor Jeff Thomas and City Council member Eddie Cape. Thomas has reneged on repeated pledges to resign, postponing any action until the next election. Seems like the voters answered his latest time post with a hand holding open the door out of city hall.

Although non partisan, this municipal election was quietly seen a small scale referendum on relative political strength and organization. Donegan has a Facebook group with about as many members as her vote total including local GOP chair Jay Hanley. Things have been extremely bitter in the last days before the election, with lots of shouting on the blogs such as Small Town Politics.