Stick In Their Craw

originally published May 30, 2007

Here’s why voters in Athens-Clarke County need to turn out and vote in the 10th Congressional District Special Election on June 19 (and in early voting the week before).

Republicans have six candidates to choose among—all clustered to the right of that party’s spectrum. Moderate Republicans might want to look at the Libertarian candidate or at a “common-sense” Democrat. Hey, if there’s such a thing as a moderate Republican, why not a common-sense Democrat? So, start making your choices, Republicans, and deciding just how far right you lean. You’ve got State Senator and tire dealer Jim Whitehead, from the Augusta suburb of Evans. Then there’s Athens physician Paul Broun, Braselton consultant and Minuteman Bill Greene, Atlantan Erik Underwood, a former program coordinator at Georgia State University; Nate Pulliam, a Conyers real estate broker and Mark Myers, a Loganville Realtor.

Libertarians only have one choice: Dr. Jim Sendelbach, a Conyers psychological therapist.

Democrats get three. Denise Freeman is a Lincolnton minister out there riding the district with her son and daughter, wanting to do something in Congress to help poor people. Evita Paschall is an Augusta-area lawyer who would no doubt make an excellent Representative. She seems smart and confident, but not likely to pull in many votes. James Marlow is a high-tech businessman and salesman who has put together a campaign team, but is hampered by lack of money like everybody else in the race except Whitehead.

Liberals, progressives, Democrats, whatever have the opportunity on June 19 to make a strong statement in the 10th District, in Georgia and in the nation. Athens-Clarke County usually posts a strong Democratic vote. We were gerrymandered into this 10th District so that the Republicans could cut Democratic Congressman John Barrow out of his home district. The Republicans could do that to us, because they got the added advantage of isolating liberal-Democratic Athens-Clarke County in a Republican district dominated by the Augusta suburbs and a vast expanse of rural counties.

The incumbent Republican Congressman, Charlie Norwood, died, so this is a special election to fill the rest of his term. This election is also unusual in that it is not preceded by party primaries. All candidates are running in this one election June 19, and then there will probably be a runoff election on July 17 between the top two vote-getters.

Here’s the game plan: we need to take this election seriously and turn out to vote on June 19 for several reasons. A strong Democratic vote from Athens-Clarke County will demonstrate that the Republicans may have swallowed us, but we’ll stick in their craw. We will be here as a source of trouble to anybody who runs in this district. Pretty soon, candidates will begin to realize that there’s a strong vote here waiting to be picked up by somebody willing to address our issues.

A strong Democratic vote right here in Athens alone could very well put a Democratic candidate into the runoff. My vote will go to James Marlow, because I think he’s the only Democrat with a chance to win, and because he’s for getting out of Iraq (not as fast as I’d like) and for doing something about our health care mess. He’s got a high-tech background, and I think he’d be effective in Congress, especially while the Democrats are in the majority there. A vote for Marlow is a rebuke to the Bush administration and the whole selfish, corrupt Republican Party. Marlow in a runoff election could possibly draw enough money and support to do the unthinkable and send the unmistakable message that even in Northeast Georgia, people want a change from the disastrous Republican policies that have so grievously weakened us at home and abroad.

If Democrats in Athens-Clarke County will go to the polls and vote in this special election June 19 and the week before, we cannot lose! Every vote we cast will send the message that we are here and we count. If we cast enough of those votes, we could get James Marlow into a runoff. Then it’s a whole new ballgame.

It’s true that Marlow is a carpetbagger, in the sense that he has not lived in the 10th District since he left his hometown of Lincolnton, except for a brief stint when Gwinnett County was in the district. Election law no longer requires candidates to reside in the districts they represent, but Marlow is certainly vulnerable to being portrayed as an opportunist. Personally, I’d vote for Marlow against this field of right-wing Republicans if he had come to us from Jupiter. That he grew up in Lincolnton, where his daddy was mayor, is enough for me to believe that with his subsequent business success elsewhere, he is fully qualified to represent the people who care about the future of this district and this nation.

Pete McCommons, Editor & Publisher

editor@flagpole.com