Will District 9 get "Hot for Teacher"?

Per Adrian over at AthensWorld and JMac over at his joint, we’ve got a new candidate in the race for ACC Commission District 9.  

Kelly Girtz is a history and government teacher here in Athens and has been for eight years.  

According to Girtz, he wants to take his work at the local alternative high school to the community at large, focusing on economic opportunity, land use, transportation options, etc.  He also throws a shoutout to Partners for a Prosperous Athens as, “a model of effective collaboration.”  True enough, at least we hope.

It’s interesting though, now that we’ve got three candidates in the race (with rampant speculation about a fourth), to think about which “coalitions” these candidates are going to try to build.

You’ve got Alvin Sheats, who has very close ties to anyone who is anyone in the black community, and who, as far as we know, has smoothed over his differences with the man that beat him, George Maxwell.

Ed Vaughn isn’t nearly as well-connected, but is a hard worker who, despite being a little off-the-wall at times, has some good ideas and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

And now – a new guy in the race as well.  We’re looking forward to hearing from him  (at least he knows that blogs do exist in Athens) and hearing more about him, so that we can, like all good political media, immediately pigeonhole him into a convenient category.

Heh, just kidding.  The media doesn’t really do that, do they?

Hey, by the way, tune in tomorrow at 10:30 am to hear Kelly Girtz talk about his campaign on WBZK 880 am.

Related: AthensWorld: “Kelly Girtz announces candidacy for ACC District 9” 02/08/06
             Safe as Houses: “Candidate in the 9th District” 02/08/06