Search the ArchivesNavigation Contact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
Logsdon: No debate with BrownTue, 11/15/2005 - 5:05pm
By: John Munford
Peachtree City mayoral candidate Harold Logsdon has rebuffed an invitation to debate opponent Steve Brown, his opponent in the Dec. 6 runoff election. Logsdon said between the four live candidate forums, various essays published in the newspaper and both candidates’ Web sites, the issues are already out there. Logsdon said he is more interested in meeting city residents in the days leading up to the runoff election than meeting with Brown. “I don’t see any merit to it,” Logsdon said of the debate challenge. “All of the information is out there.” Brown counters that Logsdon hasn’t been specific enough about his various plans to address the city’s problems, though he credits his opponent for outlining the various problems well. “How’s he going to fix it? He doesn’t say,” Brown said, adding that the debate, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at McIntosh High School, will still go on even if Logsdon doesn’t participate. “How can you do $12 million in projects and roll back taxes 5 percent?” The debate will be handled by the school’s Young Democrats and Young Republicans clubs, and the public is invited to attend. Judging by results of the Nov. 8 general election, Brown has a good bit of ground to gain. Despite Brown being the incumbent, Logsdon nearly doubled Brown’s vote tally, getting 41.9 percent of the vote compared to Brown’s 21.7 percent. Two other candidates in the race, Dan Tennant and Phil Boswell, have already endorsed Logsdon. Brown said that he was hoping to get more families to turn out at the polls. “The average families I work for, 60-70 hours a week, they didn’t show up at the polls of the general election,” Brown said. Brown and Logsdon will face a crucial obstacle to overcome: voter apathy. The runoff election requires voters to go to the polls for a second time, and that can be too much hassle for some. Brown and Logsdon agreed that low voter turnout could dramatically affect the results of the runoff election. Brown said his campaign is having families meet with other families, extolling the necessity of voting Dec. 6 in the runoff. Logsdon said he feels that the general election results showed that Peachtree City residents want a change in leadership, as nearly 80 percent of voters selected a candidate other than Brown. Traditionally incumbents fare well in elections, particularly runoff elections. But this is not your typical election. The city’s six living former mayors, joined by the wife of deceased mayor Howard Morgan, took out a full-page ad days before the general election asking voters to elect anyone but Brown, charging that he “used his office primarily to savagely attack anyone and everyone who has had the temerity to criticize him or to even disagree with him, including all of us.” Brown drew criticism after campaigning against the county’s transportation Special Purposes Local Option Sales Tax (which was approved by Fayette voters last year) and rebuffing the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce as a “special interest group.” Several Fayette County Commissioners have said Brown is difficult to work with and one, Peter Pfeifer, joined the fray with several recent letters to the editor critical of Brown. Brown has framed himself as the only mayoral candidate not beholden to the special interests of local developers. Though the job is only part-time, Brown is decidedly a full-time mayor who has spent numerous hours at City Hall and proclaims he will meet with any interested group in the city so long as the date doesn’t conflict with a prior scheduled engagement. Brown took office in 2001, and he argues that the city’s rising property taxes were largely due to the new staffers and pay raises approved in 2000 by the City Council. He also said part of the tax increases were necessary to pay for the city’s library expansion, which was approved by voters in a referendum. When Brown was elected, he had the “gadfly” reputation for writing numerous letters to the editor, challenging then-Mayor Bob Lenox and the City Council on a number of issues. Since then, the tables have been turned and Lenox has been a frequent critic of Brown’s tactics as mayor. While some critics allege Brown has made it more difficult to work with neighboring jurisdictions, he is one of the driving forces behind the Highway 74 Alliance, a group consisting of various local government representatives seeking improvements to the interchange of Ga. Highway 74 and Interstate 85, which with more development nearby will begin to affect Peachtree City residents who commute through Tyrone and Fairburn to Atlanta. Brown also touts the city’s handling of the controversy with the Development Authority of Peachtree City, which racked up more than $1.5 million in debt while running the city’s tennis center and amphitheater. The authority relinquished its agreement to operate the facilities for the city, and they are now under control of the city’s Tourism Association. The association, however, has not yet been able to operate the tennis center in the black, with a projected shortfall this coming fiscal year of nearly $94,000. Logsdon has campaigned on improving the city’s relations with the business community and state and local governments in addition to financial accountability; he formerly worked in the audits department for BellSouth and is now a financial planner. login to post comments
|
Copyright 2010 - Fayette Publishing, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Policy
Server 4
