Fayette County voters will have a historic opportunity on Aug. 11.

First, we will have the opportunity, thanks to retiring Superior Court Judge Whalen, to directly elect a new judge.

For many years, judges have retired in the middle of their terms of office. Then, a group of lawyers gets together and chooses a few candidates for the governor to select one for appointment. When this appointee has to run for the office, they get to run as an incumbent. There have not been many attorneys (a requirement for the office) who are willing to challenge the re-election of a sitting judge. So, in essence, a small group of attorneys gets to select our judges for us. Until now.
Secondly, Fayette taxpayers pay over 40 percent of the Population Allocations to operate the Superior Court. The Griffin circuit is made up of Fayette, Spalding, Pike and Upson counties. This allocation is based on 1990 population figures. If you look at population growth since 1990, guess which county will be paying even more after the 2000 census. If you guessed Fayette, I think that you’d be correct.
Yet, there has never been a superior court judge from Fayette County. No superior court judge has ever either lived in Fayette or had chambers in Fayette County. All three (except Judge Whalen, of Griffin, who is retiring) of the current judges are from Upson County, and candidate J. David Fowler is an Upson native, too. Having all four judges from the third largest county, Upson, would not be a balanced representation.

To take advantage of this opportunity, all Fayette County voters have to do is go and vote for Fayette resident Chris Edwards in the runoff election on Aug. 11.

There were three candidates from Fayette in the primary. Together they took 85.5 percent of the vote in Fayette County. Chris won the largest number in Fayette with 45.5 percent. This strong performance has to be repeated by Fayette County voters.

We must offset the votes of the other counties to our south, where J. David Fowler won Pike and Upson with over 60 percent of the “home town” vote. We must fight to keep those counties from preventing us from having our own judge.

Let’s also consider qualifications of course. Chris Edwards has been endorsed by every newspaper which made an endorsement in the race for judge. Chris was an effective prosecutor. That gives him the criminal experience. As important as the criminal cases are to preserving our safety, a superior court judge also has to handle civil and divorce cases, and they are important to us as well.

Chris Edwards is the only remaining candidate who has extensive civil experience — and he has plenty, 12 years worth. Our court needs a judge who can get it right the first time in both criminal and civil cases, not a judge who needs a learning period while deciding cases.

So, add it up. A judge from Fayette who pledges to establish his office in Fayette, a judge candidate who isn’t afraid of hard work, a judge who wasn’t picked for us by a small group of lawyers, a judge who actually goes out and meets with us — the voters of the circuit, a judge who is better qualified and a judge who promises to maintain the tough standards that help deter crime in our county.

Fayette voters, take advantage of this opportunity. Make history. Go vote for Chris Edwards on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

Peter Pfeifer
Peachtree City

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