Oconee County, GA Politics

Everyone who reads this blog with regularity realizes I supported Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry in his recent re-election campaign, however his first official duty after winning the Primary made me at least pause to reconsider whether I should have supported Trey Downs or not. I do think Trey will be our next Sheriff in 2016. But this is about playing politics outside the county. That initial action by Berry upon winning another term was endorsing the runner up in the recent primary in former Sheriff Clayton Lowe in his attempt to regain the lead law enforcement officer position in nearby Madison County.  Lowe lost to current Sheriff Kip Thomas four years ago and Lowe was second in the Primary 15 days ago. The difference then was 500 votes and the difference tonight was 300. Tonight Thomas retained the Sheriff's office in the run off by a similar percentage as in the primary.  I would think most folks in any nearby county would bristle at the suggestion of an out of ...

The fact that there was a near fracas at the first forum between the campaign manager for Trey Downs and an Oconee County Sheriff's Deputy that did nothing is enough to tell you who to vote for in this race. The fact that Congressional challenger Stephen Simpson stepped in between the big boy running Trey Downs' campaign and the completely non-aggressive deputy should also clue you in as to who to vote for in the race against Paul Broun for the 10th District Congressional nomination, but I will save that for another day. It seems someone was slashing Trey Downs' many campaign signs throughout the county, even in his father's yard resulting in a police report. It is a shame that has occurred, but you are kidding yourself if you do not take into account the fact that some of your signs are going to be trashed.  Now even with my far flung intelligence network, I cannot possibly maintain surveillance on every sign, deputy or even fundraiser, but I do not think that any De...

Hey Wendell Dawson and Tony Townley and the rest of the contributors to the campaign of Trey Downs, would you like your credit card numbers posted on line for the rest of us to see and abuse? I don't think so. I hope this opens the eyes and minds of some of the last few undecided voters in Oconee County as to why Mr. Downs needs a little more seasoning and experience before he becomes Sheriff in this Oconee County. This act of negligence would border on criminal if it were not in the realm of political free speech. This is what we like to call a game changer. Use a little common sense Oconee Sheriff's Candidate Posts, Then Removes, County Credit Card Numbers

Oconee Sheriff Candidates Debate Methods of Law Enforcement at Packed Political Forum

Some Oconee County residents seem to be rather angry and seemingly insulted about the way we run the Oconee County Democratic Committee meetings. Well guess what, if you aren't attending these meetings, we don't care. We will always welcome you back with open arms. Seems that things are getting pretty ugly and uncivil about the people who are and are not coming this evening.  Some people even seem to know what emails I have and have not sent. We remain flexible, fluid and open to compromise and change. Despite the fact that voting tends to be 3-to-1 Republican to Democrat in the general election, there are a lot of local people who want to have a voice in local politics. We encourage our members to cross over and pick up a Republican ballot on the Primary July 31 or before to have input on who will be our leaders. It makes perfect sense to me that the majority Republican vote will be roughly split down the middle in many of the contested races, thus making the Democratic ...

The Oconee County Chamber of Commerce did a fine service to the community and some estimated 250 voters that attended the evening's activities. Chairman Davis will be addressing the Democratic Committee at 7:00 pm and answering a few questions and then we will be welcoming challenger Chuck Hortons sometime shortly after 8:00 pm Thursday, June 21 at the Government Annex at 1290  Greensboro Highway. The exchanges between Harvey O. "Trey" Downs and Sheriff Scott Berry became heated and the audience also flared up with applause and heckling on both sides of the same aisle (or in this care auditorium). The volume of traffic, square miles and experience were just part of the Editor Stephanie Gross stephanie.gross@patch.com   Dan Matthews Home s School Board Chairman Candidates Field Questions at Political Forum ...