Oconee County, GA Politics

Oconee County Republican leader Jay Hanley, who may indeed be the youngest party county party chair in the state of Georgia, declined to resign his dream gig as Chair of the local GOP to run for the non-partisan Post 3 slot Joe Walter is giving up on the City Council to become Mayor. "I  will not be a candidate (for the Watkinsville City Council at this time)," wrote Hanley in an email earlier this evening. "While I don't rule out a future run for public office in the City of Watkinsville or Oconee County, my political focus right now will be the Chairmanship of the Oconee County Republican Party." While I have not attended either of the recent meetings, I must give massive props to Jay for having the political acumen to schedule a series of strong speakers with free food and advertising in the local media to keep attention focused on the majority party in Oconee at the Watkinsville Town Hall exactly opposite of the Oconee County Democratic Committee meetings....

The oh-so familiar J. Phil Campbell Sr. Agriculture Station on State Route 53/Experiment Station Road may cease to function after the new 2009 budget of President George Bush is adopted with the new fiscal year. This erosion experiment center will be a huge loss for the federal, state, county and municipal governments. Perhaps Gainesville State College can acquire the property for the ever-expanding needs of their growing and still-way-over-populated Oconee County campus across the street. While they should connect Bishop Farms Parkways North and South, because of wetland protection they will not without huge amounts of tax dollars. The proposed exit for the backside of the campus off 441 is way down the road of things the DOT is going to do in this county. We could sure use some sidewalks/bikepaths along Hog Mountain Road and all of Experiment Station Road.

The political adolescence of Jay Hanley continues online at Facebook at the very least. 14 friends have joined the son of former Watkinsville City Council member John Hanley in his group. According to his Facebook group " Yes, the group name speaks for itself. In response to requests from friends, I am exploring or thinking about a run for an Oconee County Commission post in 2008. I understand there may be one or more open seats on the Commission in 2008 and I would only run for an open seat. I'm not interested in running against an incumbent. I did that once when I ran for Watkinsville City Council. It's very difficult. Plus, I like and respect the current board members ." We post this only as a well placed warning shot across the bow to all the other folks who might consider running for the Board of Commissioners, and I would certainly support a few more taxpaying and homeowning candidates for the Oconee County Commission. I wonder which seat Jay thinks will be ope...