Candidate Debates at the Melting Point

I found the mayor and commissioner candidate debates more entertaining than I could have believed. I've read all sorts of stuff about what was said and who did what so I'll just jump right into where I stand after listening to everyone on Thursday. For the District 9 commission seat, I'm very biased towards Kelly Girtz. I've known him for a while and throw my support fully behind him to capture the District 9 seat. Everyone who talks to him, ends up liking him. No hidden agendas, completely approachable by anyone, and always open to what you have to say. Unfortunately, I'm not a voter in his district, but I do think he will be a great choice. Alvin Sheats just cracked me up. Everything started or ended with, "This is Alvin Sheats, lead candidate for district 9." His pleas for listeners to vote for him without reason other than his previous 8 years of local government service was rather embarrassing and having the audience laughing at him during all of this made me almost feel sorry for him. Even Andy Rusk had a quick poke at him. Sorry Alvin, but I think the old days of your constituents voting strictly by name recognition is over. Athens politics has grown more competitive over the course of 10 years. Now, Ed Vaughan has support from a lot of the green community with his dealings with the local Green Party and Human Rights Festival, and has ran for a commissioner spot before, so that may give him a boost in the race, but I still side with Kelly. I absolutely disagree with his stand on putting a gravity sewer line along Shoals Creek, so if he is elected, I sense a showdown brewing between him and several local green groups in town, which would be weird since he is a Green Party candidate. I think the District 1 commission seat with Garland and Lowry will be a hat toss. I haven't followed their race very closely, but from listening to their comments, the biggest issue I felt that they disagreed upon and made them stand out was the UGA Greeks moving off campus. Lowry said Greeks should stay on campus, Garland said he would have approved their move into a neighborhood, as seen with KA. I'm guessing that since District 1 is deep on the East Side and probably wouldn't be affected by the university, Garland can handle criticism without losing voter support. The final battle will depend upon if constituents in rural District 1 are more supportive of retaining their green-belt status or more focused on selling the land for profit in the future.
Now the mayor debates were by far the most interesting part of the evening. For the record, I am an unwavering supporter of Heidi. I could list reasons and debate, but honestly, I just like her. Depending who you talk to, she's been great or didn't live up to the hype during her 4 year reign as mayor, but I have found she is straight when you talk to her one-on-one, and she is involved in the local scene, which I love. I think Andy Rusk would have racked up some serious votes, but he would have siphoned quite a few votes from Heidi, making Charlie Maddox a valid threat. Andy definitely lived up to his townie reputation Thursday night, bringing spunk and drama to the debate and for that, I salute you. Andy Rusk drinking PBR, Andy Rusk dropping out of the race, Andy Rusk calling Charlie Maddox out in public for his Chamber of Commerce support, Andy Rusk throwing his support to Heidi via anti-Chamber/anti-Charlie comments with a warning of "we will be watching," and finally, Charlie Maddox losing his temper in an emotional retort to Andy (and the general public) explaining how he's his own man, no one owns him, he cares for all of ACC, and poo on those who don't believe it. It was exciting, and my 3 Terrapins I guzzled down during all of this was just icing on the cake. With all the action between Charlie, Andy, and Heidi, I almost forgot about Tom Chasteen, who is a formidable contender, and Richard DeRose who is not. I hope Andy sticks around to shake things up a bit more in the future. Uh oh, gotta cut this short and go to work. My break is up.