Reflections of one wacky campaign season
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the campaign trail against Chuck Williams and the others, some more than others, but I was always welcomed with open arms at every venue, home and business in the 113th District. I congratulate the new Representative and wish him the very best in conducting the people's business in Special Session. I expect to be posting about this and many other snippets in the days and weeks to come. It was interesting how this blog became an issue in the campaign with the coordinated public relations character assassination on a national scale a few hours before the second debate.
Death became an issue as my father died in November and Chuck Williams' late mother passed in October, who to the best of my knowledge I have not met and did not know and have nothing but respect for, were brought up in various places and spaces. Mr. Williams claimed his mother would have burned the truck down in about two days if she were still alive. I told Tim Bryant of my experience with my father passing in home hospice and the goody bag they keep in refrigerator when they are about to go out of this mortal coil in response to repeated queries about the late Congressman and a post in my blog. It was this property of hers on Main Street where the Oconee County Board of Education shall move their headquarters some day after it has been used to four wheeling, mud-bogging with ATVs and off road dirt racing for a few more years. The Board of Education decided to purchase the land from the Williams Brothers and mother instead of building a road around the Middle School and Elementary School and reorienting those building and pick ups in wake of what happened with death of Deputy David Gilstrap of the Oconee Sheriff Department in a horrible accident far too recently.
The death of Representative Charlie Norwood played a role as well as a series national conservative wingnut bloggers like CNN's own Erick Erickson, a city councilman in Macon who once said of retiring Supreme County Justice Douglas Souter "goat f*cking child molester" on Twitter decided to grace us with his viewpoint on the race and my post about Charlie Norwood and euthanasia. Seems like the Death Penalthy is cool but dying with dignity is not. Oh well. The other highlights include talking to as many votes in the county. I have no regrets about the sign truck, what it said, how it was said. It may have taken away more votes then it added in the end, but I think some feathers needed ruffling in this community. I understand it may have even caused any outside chance at winning going flushing down the tubes, but sometimes that is the price that you pay. It was a three pointer at the buzzer I had to take.
I am glad most of the members of the Georgia Legislature contributed thousands of dollars to my opponent, as well as the President of Gainesville State College. That shows where their priorities and loyalties remain. I received one donation from one state legislator in Stephanie Stucky Benfield of Dekalb County who once sat in the chair and clerked at the same law office I work at.
The most fun I has was attending the churches in the district. From what I can tell, I need to attend a few more before I can consider running for any other office. To the many nasty anonymouns dementors and commentators on Online Athens, I repeat that you can kiss my grits. It is a sad state of affairs when the political discourse in this county is the equivalent of writing on the bathroom walls, but that is what it has become. Of course one or two malcontents will let you know in person what they think of you, but that is OK, but far many more people already think that of them.
All politics is local, and the local folks sometimes do not want to reminded of their past mistakes. Candor cannot become extinct even with unpopular political free speech. I understand the same venom can come right back at me, and I expected it. I just thought it would not be sprung on me at the post office. One day local realtor and lead Oconee State bank investor Virginia Wells introduced herself after her granddaughter Phoebe spotted me carrying in a number of postcards.
Mrs. Wells and I had words, and I remained calm, although she informed me repeatedly she detected a note of hostility in my voice. I apologized again for parking the sign truck in her parking lot (and she accepted) after seeing my opponent do much the same for any number of days previously. We disagreed on a lot in that rather heated exchange, but I removed my hat and instead spoke kindly to Councilman Broderick's daughter in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Children should not have to witness their elders in ridiculous exchanges in public, and I am glad I have only more to share with you.
It was after the third and final debate at the Civic Center. Chuck Williams brother and his wife decided they had heard enough of my foolish idea to return Gainseville State College to the local folks here and call it Watkinsville State College. I would love for this to happen with four year degrees and local medical training we so desparately need. Seems the Williams daughter had received her medical degree from Gainesville State in Gainesville (instead of Watkinsville) and they resented my depiction of the school as a fallback from the University of Georgia.
I worked in the bookstore there, I am well aware of the many classes and actually a few four year degrees now offered by Gainesville State College Oconee Campus. They have been packed to the gills since before day one of the campus on the former site of Truett-McConnell's local campus. They have built a few buildings there in the last several years, but let's see what Hank Huckaby and Chuck Williams can do for the most overcrowded campus in the area. Will we ever see Bishop Farms Parkway North and South connected? Not likely at all now. This is the street that runs through the property where the campus of Gainesville State's Oconee Campus is and it has been mentioned in various T-SPLOST talk and a few other times. But there is wetland concerns, and we all know how that gets dealt with around here, just go and by some in less expensive county to mitigate the destruction of the environment.
The plot thickens a bit when you involve Secretary of State Brian Kemp ostensibly telling one time possible candidate and current daycare owner Katy Arrowwood not to run. If there is any cardinal sin for the person in charge of the state elections to do it would be to meddle in any election telling any candidate under any pretense he or she could not win or should not enter a race. Unfortunately this does rise to the level of needing to ask Secretary Kemp to resign, which of course he will not do, but if it is true, he should be recalled, which will never happen either.
Of course Kemp ran against Gary Black for Secretary of State in the prior election cycle of 2006, and that was as divisive a G.O.P. primary as I can recall since Bob Smith won a run off some years ago against Golden Pantry CEO Tom Griffith. Black won this time around (2008) and thought about giving Chuck Williams some under Secretary of something or other in the Agriculture Department, but changed his mind when the North Georgia Bank went belly up.
If any of this makes any difference to anyone, I do not know. If $35.2 in vanishing North Georgia Bank stock or $200,000.00 above market value for Board of Education property cannot stir a very few voters, I am not sure what would. But the 113th shall be scrutinized carefully the forthcoming months, of that I am certain.
I learned a lot in my first campaign, perhaps which will be applied to other campaigns down the road somewhere. I wish more people had voted, I wish I would have turned out the vote better, and I wish we could all be a little more civil in our discourse. I am not suggesting there was some grand Republican conspiracy on this seat, but it makes you wonder. Why did Melvin Davis decide not to run after having lunch with Hank Huckaby? Why did Chuck Williams tear up the signs of his opponent in the special election in front of an elected official in Oconee County? Was there any quid pro quo (this for that) in the arrangement with the legislatures donating to the Williams campaign? Why were a few well heeled local people so upset at being reminded that indeed Mr. Williams lost $35.2 million dollars in stock money? Would I have had a better shot of winning without the sign truck? Should I have gone negative about the Board of Education land transaction earlier? Should I have gone door to door in Clarke County? Do robo-calls reduce or improve voter turnout? Will the district get realigned to carve another slice of Clarke County pie for Doug McKillip to call his very own? Will the Republican Dougie come lately ever sell his house in Five Points? Where will he and his wife and children move to?
Will political wounds ever heal in Oconee County? Did Charles Ivie serve on the City Council in Watkinsville at the same time that Chuck Williams did? Did Speaker of the House Dennis Ralston really resent having to contribute to the Chuck Williams campaign? Did Secretary of State Brian Kemp really stick his nose where it did not belong in urging Katy Arrowwood to remain out of the race? Will Republicans continue to have to outspend Democratic candidates 12-to-1 to keep beating them 2-to-1? Will the five percent increase ever pay dividends for Democratic candidates in Oconee County? Did Chuck Williams release all the dirt on his opponents? Did a prominent local PR agency get paid or donate more pro-bono work to do a smear campaign on the Democratic opposition? Why is questioning our leaders considered dirty politics? Who did Lee Becker, Tim Bryant and Johnathan McGinty vote for?
Is there anything I could have done differently to change the outcome? Probably, but the local pundits and dementors can continue to speculate on this all day. Will Williams get any opposition in 2012? He damn should. Will we have tolls on 316 before then? It sure looks that way. Will people continue to die on the Highway? Yes unless something is done drastically and very soon. Will the headquarters of the Oconee County Board of Education be built before Williams get out of office? I doubt it very highly. Will the voters of the 113th get voters remorse with Mr. Williams in office? I would imagine so, but he could be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Do some local Republicans continue to hold a grudge against Williams for his poor handling of the closing of the North Georgia Bank? Probably, but the slightest amount of responsibility and contrition could go a long, long way in fixing that (but I do not see that coming at all).
Will the Oconee Enterprise newspaper continue to make up things about my past (despite having several copies of my resume) about me and not attribute quotes in their unsigned editorials? You can bet on that, even if they print my letter to the editor response verbatim. Does the 113th deserve better candidates? Absolutely. Could the run off race have changed with a full bore endorsement by Sarah Bell and Alan Alexander of me? Probably not, and it would have been political suicide for either of them to endorse me. Did I learn anything from the process? More than I can mention in this article. Will I ever run again for office? Maybe.
We can play what if all evening, but suffice to say I will continue to write about Chuck Williams, his questionable business practices, and more specifically about his political favor and profit. Will the Orkin tract ever get developed? Possibly, but I do not have the confidence in the current leaders to see that happening before 2020. Will the economy improve? I sure hope so. But I have yet to see any evidence of that from the person who we just elected to represent us in the Georgia Legislature.
Death became an issue as my father died in November and Chuck Williams' late mother passed in October, who to the best of my knowledge I have not met and did not know and have nothing but respect for, were brought up in various places and spaces. Mr. Williams claimed his mother would have burned the truck down in about two days if she were still alive. I told Tim Bryant of my experience with my father passing in home hospice and the goody bag they keep in refrigerator when they are about to go out of this mortal coil in response to repeated queries about the late Congressman and a post in my blog. It was this property of hers on Main Street where the Oconee County Board of Education shall move their headquarters some day after it has been used to four wheeling, mud-bogging with ATVs and off road dirt racing for a few more years. The Board of Education decided to purchase the land from the Williams Brothers and mother instead of building a road around the Middle School and Elementary School and reorienting those building and pick ups in wake of what happened with death of Deputy David Gilstrap of the Oconee Sheriff Department in a horrible accident far too recently.
The death of Representative Charlie Norwood played a role as well as a series national conservative wingnut bloggers like CNN's own Erick Erickson, a city councilman in Macon who once said of retiring Supreme County Justice Douglas Souter "goat f*cking child molester" on Twitter decided to grace us with his viewpoint on the race and my post about Charlie Norwood and euthanasia. Seems like the Death Penalthy is cool but dying with dignity is not. Oh well. The other highlights include talking to as many votes in the county. I have no regrets about the sign truck, what it said, how it was said. It may have taken away more votes then it added in the end, but I think some feathers needed ruffling in this community. I understand it may have even caused any outside chance at winning going flushing down the tubes, but sometimes that is the price that you pay. It was a three pointer at the buzzer I had to take.
I am glad most of the members of the Georgia Legislature contributed thousands of dollars to my opponent, as well as the President of Gainesville State College. That shows where their priorities and loyalties remain. I received one donation from one state legislator in Stephanie Stucky Benfield of Dekalb County who once sat in the chair and clerked at the same law office I work at.
The most fun I has was attending the churches in the district. From what I can tell, I need to attend a few more before I can consider running for any other office. To the many nasty anonymouns dementors and commentators on Online Athens, I repeat that you can kiss my grits. It is a sad state of affairs when the political discourse in this county is the equivalent of writing on the bathroom walls, but that is what it has become. Of course one or two malcontents will let you know in person what they think of you, but that is OK, but far many more people already think that of them.
All politics is local, and the local folks sometimes do not want to reminded of their past mistakes. Candor cannot become extinct even with unpopular political free speech. I understand the same venom can come right back at me, and I expected it. I just thought it would not be sprung on me at the post office. One day local realtor and lead Oconee State bank investor Virginia Wells introduced herself after her granddaughter Phoebe spotted me carrying in a number of postcards.
Mrs. Wells and I had words, and I remained calm, although she informed me repeatedly she detected a note of hostility in my voice. I apologized again for parking the sign truck in her parking lot (and she accepted) after seeing my opponent do much the same for any number of days previously. We disagreed on a lot in that rather heated exchange, but I removed my hat and instead spoke kindly to Councilman Broderick's daughter in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Children should not have to witness their elders in ridiculous exchanges in public, and I am glad I have only more to share with you.
It was after the third and final debate at the Civic Center. Chuck Williams brother and his wife decided they had heard enough of my foolish idea to return Gainseville State College to the local folks here and call it Watkinsville State College. I would love for this to happen with four year degrees and local medical training we so desparately need. Seems the Williams daughter had received her medical degree from Gainesville State in Gainesville (instead of Watkinsville) and they resented my depiction of the school as a fallback from the University of Georgia.
I worked in the bookstore there, I am well aware of the many classes and actually a few four year degrees now offered by Gainesville State College Oconee Campus. They have been packed to the gills since before day one of the campus on the former site of Truett-McConnell's local campus. They have built a few buildings there in the last several years, but let's see what Hank Huckaby and Chuck Williams can do for the most overcrowded campus in the area. Will we ever see Bishop Farms Parkway North and South connected? Not likely at all now. This is the street that runs through the property where the campus of Gainesville State's Oconee Campus is and it has been mentioned in various T-SPLOST talk and a few other times. But there is wetland concerns, and we all know how that gets dealt with around here, just go and by some in less expensive county to mitigate the destruction of the environment.
The plot thickens a bit when you involve Secretary of State Brian Kemp ostensibly telling one time possible candidate and current daycare owner Katy Arrowwood not to run. If there is any cardinal sin for the person in charge of the state elections to do it would be to meddle in any election telling any candidate under any pretense he or she could not win or should not enter a race. Unfortunately this does rise to the level of needing to ask Secretary Kemp to resign, which of course he will not do, but if it is true, he should be recalled, which will never happen either.
Of course Kemp ran against Gary Black for Secretary of State in the prior election cycle of 2006, and that was as divisive a G.O.P. primary as I can recall since Bob Smith won a run off some years ago against Golden Pantry CEO Tom Griffith. Black won this time around (2008) and thought about giving Chuck Williams some under Secretary of something or other in the Agriculture Department, but changed his mind when the North Georgia Bank went belly up.
If any of this makes any difference to anyone, I do not know. If $35.2 in vanishing North Georgia Bank stock or $200,000.00 above market value for Board of Education property cannot stir a very few voters, I am not sure what would. But the 113th shall be scrutinized carefully the forthcoming months, of that I am certain.
I learned a lot in my first campaign, perhaps which will be applied to other campaigns down the road somewhere. I wish more people had voted, I wish I would have turned out the vote better, and I wish we could all be a little more civil in our discourse. I am not suggesting there was some grand Republican conspiracy on this seat, but it makes you wonder. Why did Melvin Davis decide not to run after having lunch with Hank Huckaby? Why did Chuck Williams tear up the signs of his opponent in the special election in front of an elected official in Oconee County? Was there any quid pro quo (this for that) in the arrangement with the legislatures donating to the Williams campaign? Why were a few well heeled local people so upset at being reminded that indeed Mr. Williams lost $35.2 million dollars in stock money? Would I have had a better shot of winning without the sign truck? Should I have gone negative about the Board of Education land transaction earlier? Should I have gone door to door in Clarke County? Do robo-calls reduce or improve voter turnout? Will the district get realigned to carve another slice of Clarke County pie for Doug McKillip to call his very own? Will the Republican Dougie come lately ever sell his house in Five Points? Where will he and his wife and children move to?
Will political wounds ever heal in Oconee County? Did Charles Ivie serve on the City Council in Watkinsville at the same time that Chuck Williams did? Did Speaker of the House Dennis Ralston really resent having to contribute to the Chuck Williams campaign? Did Secretary of State Brian Kemp really stick his nose where it did not belong in urging Katy Arrowwood to remain out of the race? Will Republicans continue to have to outspend Democratic candidates 12-to-1 to keep beating them 2-to-1? Will the five percent increase ever pay dividends for Democratic candidates in Oconee County? Did Chuck Williams release all the dirt on his opponents? Did a prominent local PR agency get paid or donate more pro-bono work to do a smear campaign on the Democratic opposition? Why is questioning our leaders considered dirty politics? Who did Lee Becker, Tim Bryant and Johnathan McGinty vote for?
Is there anything I could have done differently to change the outcome? Probably, but the local pundits and dementors can continue to speculate on this all day. Will Williams get any opposition in 2012? He damn should. Will we have tolls on 316 before then? It sure looks that way. Will people continue to die on the Highway? Yes unless something is done drastically and very soon. Will the headquarters of the Oconee County Board of Education be built before Williams get out of office? I doubt it very highly. Will the voters of the 113th get voters remorse with Mr. Williams in office? I would imagine so, but he could be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Do some local Republicans continue to hold a grudge against Williams for his poor handling of the closing of the North Georgia Bank? Probably, but the slightest amount of responsibility and contrition could go a long, long way in fixing that (but I do not see that coming at all).
Will the Oconee Enterprise newspaper continue to make up things about my past (despite having several copies of my resume) about me and not attribute quotes in their unsigned editorials? You can bet on that, even if they print my letter to the editor response verbatim. Does the 113th deserve better candidates? Absolutely. Could the run off race have changed with a full bore endorsement by Sarah Bell and Alan Alexander of me? Probably not, and it would have been political suicide for either of them to endorse me. Did I learn anything from the process? More than I can mention in this article. Will I ever run again for office? Maybe.
We can play what if all evening, but suffice to say I will continue to write about Chuck Williams, his questionable business practices, and more specifically about his political favor and profit. Will the Orkin tract ever get developed? Possibly, but I do not have the confidence in the current leaders to see that happening before 2020. Will the economy improve? I sure hope so. But I have yet to see any evidence of that from the person who we just elected to represent us in the Georgia Legislature.
