Oconee County, GA Politics

Grovetown's Terry Holley decided to waste time and miles driving around the 10th district to get stomped by Bobby Saxon in next June's primary. To be fair, Holley has not declared his candidacy yet, only that he has an exploratory committee. I will not support him, unless Bobby Saxon drops dead or something. Something tells me the third time will not be the charm for Holley, as he ran in 2006 and 2007. Holley preached well to the choir, but did not convert many believers. Holley lost to Charlie Norwood in the 2006 General Election and lost to James Marlow in the run up to the special election. Holley is the 10th district Democratic Congressional district chair, which he has to give up again, and is a very nice person but does not inspire great deal of confidence or "elect-a-bility." He seems woefully underfunded, understaffed and not very web savvy. He could serve his would-be constituents a whole lot better by working behind the scenes to raise money for legitima...

More explanation here and here . The following is a letter from Terry Holley to Georgia State Democratic chair Jane Kidd. Dear Jane, This morning I had tried to send an email concerning qualifying, but my email was not cooperating. To bring you up to date, I waited until late yesterday to see how many people had qualified and decided that with three candidates running, it was not in the best interest of the Party or myself to enter this race. We had a window of opportunity immediately after Mr. Norwood’s passing and we blew it. Now, with some county committee’s endorsing a particular candidate, I have serious concerns as to why these counties are violating our bylaws and why our DPG officials have been waiting to give an interpretation on this. I certainly have informed our county chairs that I believe that this is a violation of our state party bylaws. I believe that you and I discussed this issue very early on which is why the state party would not give an endorsement. Competi...

Terry Holley - his website is up and running at http://www.terryholley.us/ Rev. Jeff Reynolds - teaches Old and New Testament at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, a private boarding/day school in Rabun County. Here's a link to their Dec. newsletter: www.rabungap.net/faculty/communication/simplespirit_12_06.pdf Evita Paschall - http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/030107/met_118443.shtml Ms. Paschall, 55, has practiced law in Augusta for 31 years, beginning her career in the Richmond County District Attorney's office after graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1976. She went into private practice with Carl Brown - now an Augusta Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge - in 1979 before opening her own practice in 1981. She has served as an assistant solicitor in Richmond County State Court and solicitor of Richmond County Civil and Magistrate Court. In 1992, she was appointed judge of Augusta Recorder's Court, which was abolished when the city and county governme...

Very quietly Lincoln County resident James Marlow has worked his way into the favorite status for the Democratic party in the supposedly non-partisan (not so) free-for-all10th Congressional District race for the June 19th special election to replace the late Dr. Charlie Norwood. Marlow was endorsed by most members at a meeting of the Democratic County Chairs (Oconee chair Becky Vaughn was not there, nor at the last meeting of the local committee) in Habersham County a few weeks ago. Laura Floyd of Oglethorpe County did make the meeting and ultimately supported the decision to back Marlow. "I thought the meeting was conducted in a serious and professional manner," said Floyd, chair of the Oglethorpe Democrats. "Six candidates made presentations and answered questions from the assembled county chairs." (13 of 21 counties were represented, with some guests in the room including former Secretary of State candidate Carol Jackson and Ag Commissioner Tommy Irvin). While ...

The five announced Democratic candidates for the 10th District US Congress special election in Georgia for Dr. Charlie Norwood's seat appeared before a packed house in the fourth floor of the Athens - Clarke County courthouse Thursday evening. People came from Oconee, Habersham, Madison and other counties as well. Denise Freeman found a new friend in me. This lady is incredibly impressive. She needs to visit white churches as much as possible between now and June 19th. She might surprise more than a few people. She has the most votes against Norwood in a previous election 2000. She lives in Lincolnton and knows the district well. She is a Baptist minister. She could be our Heath Shuler but more likely our Barack Obama. She resonates positive energy although she might be a little fuzzy on the wonky details of how she might tweak Charlie Norwood's now languishing patient bill of rights, at least according to Tim Bryant's talk show this morning on Newstalk 1340 WGAU AM Jim Ma...