Mayoral update
Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Tom Chasteen may be the presumed frontrunner for this fall's mayoral election, but it isn't because of anything he's done as of late. It's more because his biggest obstacle to the job, current mayor Heidi Davison, hasn't made any formal announcement on whether she'll seek a second term.
Chasteen, in fact, has done a marvelous job of isolating numerous groups of voters in Athens-Clarke County the past few months, something a candidate for mayor probably shouldn't be doing. Case in point, the latest letter from a library employee taking him to task for his comments belittling how much money they earn. This is the third letter in as many days criticizing Chasteen for his statement that library workers were unworthy of salary increases and shouldn't be paid as much as the county's physical laborers.
While I do think both groups are underpaid, it is rather insensitive (as well as poor politics on his part) to even give the suggestion that a group of county employees aren't worthy of their wages. If he thinks so little of the staff at the library, than what does he think about the staff at the rest of the public sector offices?
I'm quite sure Tom Chasteen is a personable fella, but if you're running a campaign for mayor it doesn't seem wise to me to do things like side with the Republican-controlled General Assembly over redistricting and bash county employees.
Chasteen, in fact, has done a marvelous job of isolating numerous groups of voters in Athens-Clarke County the past few months, something a candidate for mayor probably shouldn't be doing. Case in point, the latest letter from a library employee taking him to task for his comments belittling how much money they earn. This is the third letter in as many days criticizing Chasteen for his statement that library workers were unworthy of salary increases and shouldn't be paid as much as the county's physical laborers.
While I do think both groups are underpaid, it is rather insensitive (as well as poor politics on his part) to even give the suggestion that a group of county employees aren't worthy of their wages. If he thinks so little of the staff at the library, than what does he think about the staff at the rest of the public sector offices?
I'm quite sure Tom Chasteen is a personable fella, but if you're running a campaign for mayor it doesn't seem wise to me to do things like side with the Republican-controlled General Assembly over redistricting and bash county employees.
posted by Jmac at 6:16 AM
11 Comments:
Wait... what now? Frontrunner? Who says?
Only because he's got the most name recognition. It's close, but if it's between him and Charlie Mattox, Chasteen's got him beat.
I think HD is still the frontrunner, regardless of whether she's announced or not, and she will be until she makes a decision not to run. Of course, if she runs, she remains the frontrunner.
I agree. My point was that of the stated candidates, it would be hard to say that Chasteen isn't the frontrunner by default based upon his name recognition.
But, I agree, if Davison declares then she is the frontrunner.
as much as I think Tom Chasteen is a sorry excuse for an elected official and a few sandwhiches short of a "truth and ethics" picnic, I kinda have to wonder whether he was misquoted by the ABH or taken so badly out of context that he's getting his ass whupped for something he really didn't deserve.
Still, on the other hand, I can't say that I mind if he is. Does that make me a bad person?
Gotcha. Announced candidates.
The more I follow our commissioners, the more confused I get. Many of them make one crazy decision one meeting but a reasonable one the next. As for Chasteen, sure, I don't like his vote on the redistricting resolution, and his comment about the librarians seems to reflect a lack of knowledge about what librarians do, but he had a very reasonable position on the unreasonable fraternity moratorium. I guess I'm trying to figure out how to categorize the issues because I can't choose favorites or predict how they'll vote.
HD has alienated too many of her base constituents and is only a front runner because of name recognition, hardly a reason to vote for her when the issues get laid bare. Look for Dump Heidi signs to start appearing soon. TC has alienated everyone but his close business buddies and doesn't even know it. He's surrounded by yes men and the party faithful. Charlie is building a campaign machine to oust both of them and he has the AA vote locked up to do it. Political season is upon us.
I don't know about Heidi. I think much of that alienation has fallen by the wayside, though I could be wrong about that. She's made great strides in the past year with the poverty initiative and criticism of the redistricting (that, coupled with Chasteen's vote against condemning the action) has helped to refuel her base. I've chatted with a lot of people who have said they'd support her again after waning on her just a few months ago.
Heck, as of now, I'm one of those people.
"TC has alienated everyone but his close business buddies and doesn't even know it. He's surrounded by yes men and the party faithful. Charlie is building a campaign machine to oust both of them and he has the AA vote locked up to do it."
Hmmm...these are a couple of odd and odder comments. TC surrounded by the party faithful? which party? Dems don't see him as a real Dem and Republicans don't see him as a loyal lock-stepper. I don't think Tom actually has a party at all though I do agree about him being surrounded by yes-men. I don't think Tom actually has a constituency.
Maddox with a "campaign machine"? You've got to be joking! He hardly has the A-A vote locked up since he is usually surrounded by the usual white Republican suspects. Sure he will get a substantial portion of the black vote but, even getting 100% of that vote won't win any election. Charlie is a nice enough guy but he really doesn't have a reason to be in this race. Come to think of it, neither does Tom. Both of those guys are running on a platform without any planks - they just want to be Mayor but they haven't offered anything else.
In fact, in spite of Tom sitting on the commission for way too long, he really has nothing to show for it. Charlie may actually have a better record and resume to run on than Tom. But, if you look beneath the list of community involvements that Charlie has, you'll find that he really hasn't accomplished anything more than just getting himself on a lot of different boards. I can tell you that all those boards will take just about any black person they can get.
Various thoughts...
1. TC is a piss poor commissioner -- so he's not even going to have support from his constitutents, most of whom have continued to reelect him only for lack of a better candidate.
2. TC also is a republican in disguise, which isn't going to get him very far with either party.
3. I wasn't crazy about HD initially, but I think she's a great mayor. Much greater than either of her predecessors, much more consistent than the opposition, and altogether quite honorable.
4. I'm really troubled by the fraternity moratorium. I keep meaing to post on my blog about it, the gist of which would be that I hate disagreeing with folks against community protection, but no one's been able to tell me what the proposed changes would actually do to protect anyone.
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