48 seek 11 seats in July primaries in Fayette

By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Fayette County Commission Chairman Harold Bost will be running for reelection after all.

Bost said Tuesday that he had planned to withdraw from his race for reelection and support his neighbor, Jim Hardy. But he learned this week that Hardy's home is not in the district, and Hardy has withdrawn.

Saying he had planned from the beginning to serve only one term, Bost qualified for reelection to his District 3 post last week as a precaution, he said, in case “special interests” should put up a candidate.

Although he does not accuse the third candidate in the race, Christopher J. Ramig, of being tied to special interests, Bost said he decided to stay in the race after Hardy's departure so that voters will have two candidates to choose from.

“I just want to give the people a choice,” he said.

The news that Bost will stay in the race is one of several surprises as 48 candidates signed up for local elective offices during qualifying week, which ended Friday.

Nonpartisan races and those with candidates from only one party will be decided July 18 in the General Primary. Those with both Democrat and Republican candidates — four races — will be decided Nov. 7 in the General Election.

Fourteen incumbents will return to office without opposition, and one vacated seat will be filled without an election — Janet Smola is the only candidate who signed up to run for Board of Education Post 1, which is being voluntarily vacated by board Chairman Debbie Condon.

Eleven of the 26 local races are contested.

The most crowded political race in 2000 will be for the Board of Education Post 2 seat, being voluntarily vacated by its current occupant, Woody Shelnutt.

Five candidates, all Republicans, signed up to run for the post: Kimberly B. Gatlin, Donald J. Apking, Kevin Demmitt, Geneva “Jenny” McCurry and Teresa Renee “Terri” Smith, all Republicans.

The race for state Senate District 28 also has drawn a lot of interest. Sen. Rick Price will face three opponents, all members of his own Republican Party.

Party vice chairman Charlie Harper, who made news recently by publicly criticizing Price's voting record, has signed up, along with former 105th District state Rep. Dan Lakly and Coweta County resident Mitch Seabaugh.

Another surprise this year is that W.A. “Bud” Ballard, clerk of Fayette Superior Court, will face opposition. Ballard, a Democrat, has held the post for decades. Republican Sheila Roxanne Studdard, a police detective, has qualified to take on Ballard in November.

Sitting judges also rarely face opposition, but Judge Johnnie Caldwell of the Griffin Judicial Circuit will have some. Fayette lawyer John Mrosek will go after the nonpartisan judgeship in July.

Two magistrate judges also will have opponents. Leo Earl Kelly has signed up to face Judge Joseph A. Tinsley Sr. for Post 1, and Robert A. Ruppenthal will take on incumbent Grady L. Huddleston for Post 3.

Three Republicans will square off for Board of Education Post 3 — Michael A. Jerrell Sr., former board member Marion Key and incumbent Connie Hale. The winner of that fray will face Democrat William J. Bryan III in November.

Three Republicans and one Democrat also are vying for County Commission Post 1, with current Commissioner Glen Gosa having bowed out. A. G. VanLandingham, Carl Frederick Davis III and Frank P. Oakley will seek the GOP nomination, and the winner will take on Elizabeth Jane Barnes, Democrat, in November.

U.S. Rep. Mac Collins, whose 3rd District includes Fayette, also has drawn opposition in his reelection bid. Peachtree City resident J. P. Agrawal, a Democrat, has qualified for the post, along with Republican Herb Galloway. Collins and Galloway will square off for the Republican nomination July 18, and the winner will face Agrawal Nov. 7.

In state Senate District 34, incumbent Greg K. Hecht, Democrat, will face Bryan Hilton, Republican, in November. Hilton is a Lithia Springs resident. The district covers parts of Clayton, Fayette, Fulton and Douglas counties.

Incumbents who will be returned to office without challenge include Sheriff Randall Johnson, Commissioner Herb Frady in Post 2, Superior Court judges Paschal English Jr. and Ben Miller, district attorney Bill McBroom, State Court Judge Fletcher Sams, State Court solicitor Steven L. Harris, Probate Judge Martha Stephenson, coroner C. J. Mowell Jr., tax Commissioner George Wingo, post 2 Magistrate Judge Kenneth Melear, Post 4 Magistrate Judge James A. White, 104th District state Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, and 105th District state Rep. Kathy Cox.