Wednesday, September 3, 2003
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Wednesday, September 3, 2003 |
Across the county, few show interest so far in city council electionsQualifying starts Monday for municipal racesBy J. FRANK
LYNCH
Qualifying begins Monday morning for city council elections in Tyrone, Fayetteville and Peachtree City, but nobody is expecting a stampede of residents anxious to enter the political arena. Before last week, Peachtree City Post 2 Councilman Dan Tennant remained the only announced candidate in the two seats up for grabs this November in the county's largest municipality. Lee H. Poolman, a three-year resident of The Enclave who works in the Fulton County finance department as a systems manager, announced Aug. 25 that he will run in Peachtree City as well, though it was unclear whether he would contest Tennant at Post 2, or run for the Post 1 seat held by Annie McMenamin, who is retiring from city politics after 13 years in office. City councilmen run at-large, or citywide, but are assigned to individual seats or "posts" on the council platform. Things are only slightly less suspenseful in Fayetteville, where Mayor Ken Steele has said he will run again. Council Posts 1 and 2 are also up for renewal, with Post 2 Councilman Glenn Brewer already declaring his intentions to seek another term. Mayor Pro Tem Larry Dell, who holds the Post 1 spot, was still unsure last week. According to Tyrone Mayor Sheryl Lee, neither of the incumbents up for reelection in the west Fayette town has expressed their intentions either way, though she said she stays out of the election arena unless she's running herself. Lisa H. Richardson holds the Post 3 seat, and Raymond J. Bogenschutz is the incumbent at Post 4. There are no other announced candidates so far. Brooks and Woolsey will also hold elections for councils this Nov. 4 if there are contested races in those towns, but a spokeswoman at the county elections office said that can't be known until qualifying comes to an end on Friday, Sept. 12. The lack of candidates in Peachtree City surprises some, but the city's tough financial straits and simmering council feuds have turned off many potential leaders, many observe. McMenamin earlier this year said she would seek out and encourage candidates who were considering running to fill her Post 1 seat, first won in 1990 when the city's population was barely 20,000. She said last month that she knew of no one who was seriously thinking about jumping head-first into Peachtree City's tumultuous political waters. Over the past year, McMenamin, along with Tennant, has found herself in frequent and oftentimes heated disagreement with Mayor Steve Brown, who was elected in 2001. A political action group formed in the spring to promote candidates for city council has come up mostly empty as well in the search for politicos. DIRECT PAC will focus on issues related to the city as well as those running for office, an officer said. Tennant, seeking to reclaim his Post 2 seat for another four-year term, was the first candidate to declare for reelection, doing so back in April. He doesn't regret the decision. "I don't take this lightly," he said. "I know I will have one or two or three people to run against me and I don't like playing catchup." Tennant said his campaign has already raised "several thousand dollars." He said the small field is surprising, but not unexpected. "I thought there would be one or more candidates in the Fourth of July parade vying for my seat, but on the other hand there may be a larger pool of candidates who plan to run for the open seat rather than mine," Tennant suggested. "I know I'm going to have competition," he said. "And we want it to be a clean and honest campaign that deals with the issues Peachtree City voters are concerned about. Qualifying runs from 8:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 8, to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept 12, except for the city of Fayetteville, where it closes at end of business Wednesday, Sept. 10.
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