Friday, April 2, 2010

If Nominated, I Will Not Run . . .

Given the fact that lots of folks keep asking me whether I intend to run for the District 1 seat on the Athens-Clarke County Commission again, I suppose that I should formally announce my intention and open the field for someone else: simply put, the answer is “no.”


On the one hand, the timing may well be right for someone of my philosophical persuasion to actually win in this county: the District 1 seat will be an open one, as the incumbent is not seeking reelection; District 1 is much more politically moderate than some of the others in the county; and the only announced candidate thus far is a political unknown who leans hard to the left (one of those Washington Street Liberation Army types, no less).  All of these factors could conceivably work to my advantage (after all, back in 2006 I did not get the endorsement of either the Banner-Herald  or Flagpole and received the lowest possible score from the Athens Grow Green Coalition, and still polled 45% of the vote).  Besides which, because of what has been going on up in D.C. there may well be a backlash against overarching government at all levels.  This would benefit me as I am the only local candidate in memory who has actually campaigned on limiting my own authority.

On the other hand, my current personal circumstances do not lend themselves to either conducting a campaign or serving should I be elected.  This is the same reason that I stepped down as secretary of the Clarke County Republican Committee, declined to reapply for a position on the Development Authority of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, and turned down Jim Thomson’s gracious offer to write for the Banner-Herald.  There simply are not enough hours in the day to do all of the things that I may want to do.

That is not to say that my interests in the Unified Government and the Clarke County School District have diminished; I will continue to stir the puddin’ by penning the occasional letter to the editor and spouting off from time to time here on TOA.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Anybody have anyone in mind?