How Rapson Lost

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Steve Rapson had it right at first when he attributed his defeat to "backlash against Brown." In a letter to the Citizen Wednesday, he kind of backed away from that in gentlemanly fashion. Well, he was right the first time.

While some may have viewed his wife's lawsuit against DAPC as separate from Steve Rapson, Counclimember, others didn't. It didn't help in any that he ignored the City Attorney's opinion that voting on a matter would be a conflict of interest so then there was the ethics violation and thousands of wasted dollars.

Lastly and maybe just as important as anything else, some that I know who voted for Rapson 4 years ago didn't this time because they felt the Steve Rapson they voted for wasn't the Steve Rapson they got as a councilmember.

Murray "Must be Smoking" Weed didn't run but I have no doubt he would have lost handily. Anyone associated closely with Brown was dead-meat in this election. The voters were complacent and apathetic 4 years ago and made damn sure they got to the polls to not have more of the same for 4 more years.

NUK

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Some Credit to Nuk: Regional Trend ?
Submitted by fayetteobservers on Sat, 11/19/2005 - 8:31am.

Some credit has to be given for this blog. We agree in large part. Too often Rapson tried to have things both ways. Rapson was originally very much a part of the Lenox crowd. Lenox brought him under his wing on council, with Rapson initially parrotting Lenox's manifesto. He was unable to continue his control over Rapson due to Rapson's perceived slight of his wife with regard to the Dev Auth. So John "Nuk" Dufresne gets a commendation. But, hey, we say ditch the dorky tee shirt. At least after the runoff. Besides it's winter and its getting cold.

You do overlook, however, an undercurrent that may have impact beyond this one election. Look at the southside results. Look at Fayette; Coweta; South Fulton/Old Campbell (exclude South Fulton). There was an extraordinary, regional sweep of incumbents. Fayetteville: Hovey-King; Tyrone: Richardson (although she voted against Wieland); Mayor of Senoia; Palmetto 3 of 3 voted out. The list goes on. Rapson was kind of a surprise though, don't you think ? Boone was probably more shocked than Sonny Perdue in 2002.

So does this trend have any greater significance? What is the root of this regional trend? Coincidence? Hard to figure. Thoughts anyone ?

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I see a trend
nuk's picture
Submitted by nuk on Sat, 11/19/2005 - 9:46am.

John Dufresne? Uh, no. I don't wear t-shirts that say BUM on them. I keep that fact about myself secret:) I also don't get overly-shrill sometimes to the point that I sound like the polar opposite of Brown or a Brownie. I'm not in DirectPac either. I'm just a nobody u know.

Before I get to the trend part, I will say I don't think Rapson was ever mentored by Lenox or all that tight with him. Rapson is pretty independent and that's why him seemingly aligning so closely with Brown was puzzling.

It was a rough time for incumbents regionally and you can look no further than local papers to see why. Local officials are all over the newspaper and that ain't that good when you're up for re-election. When you are getting a lot of attention in the paper, it's a BAD thing. Senoia is having some squabbles that have gotten quite personal at times to the point of bizarre. Tyrone is ready to lynch the "town manager" Amos and the Mayor and needed someone to take their frustration out on. Fayetteville has the ugly mess at their Police Dept and an attempt to muzzle employees and get them to not attend council meetings. That's guaranteed to get you PLENTY of press coverage.

In Fairburn, a councilmember who had served for over 35 years or so also lost to a newcomer. I don't know if that was part of the overall trend as Fairburn does "at-large" elections which is a strange beast. With 3 seats open and 4 contenders, there isn't much of an incumbent advantage as it's simply the 3 that gets the most votes. The twisted part of at-large elections is that you the candidate need to tell your supporters to ONLY vote for you and no one else, even if there are multiple seats open. Why? Well, if you vote for 3 people including your fave candidate, you're actaully casting one vote for him/her and two against. Weird.

This type of trend happened in the 1990's with the Fayette County Commission and BOE also. People like Sprayberry and Woodhead Shellnut were aggravating the electorate and the voters made them pay. The BOE was acting like they were running everything in micro-management style and had to be thoroughly humbled.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We're talking about a whole lot of positions that pay very little or nothing at all so it's not like the defeated were feeding at the trough. They simply let their ego's and arrogance get in the way of doing their job in the manner voters would like.

At the end of the day, citizens prefer things to stay calm and change to happen gradually, not all at once. They don't want to hear about grandiose plans and reinvention. Most residents are happy to be in the region they live in and don't see the need for drama. If you are a councilmember somewhere and every Page 1 is about your council(no matter whose "side" you're on) and even the AJC gets interested, you're about to be an ex-councilmember.
NUK


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