Friday, August 18, 2006

Open Thread: ACC Mayor's Race

Sorry folks, been a little busy, but let's pick it back up with the mayor's race. We haven't heard much out of this one lately, so give us some scoop, why dontcha?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is not in regards to the Mayor's race but I hear there is a poll out there alleging that E.H. Culpepper didn't pay his taxes for four years at the same time that he was a member of the country club. That's a pretty strong allegation and one that is easy to check if not. But if it is, is Culpepper's campaign over? If it's not true, Culpepper better get pretty proactive on denying it.

Anonymous said...

as far as E.H. is concerned, isn't this just typical Republican behavior? will it actually offend any of his base if it is true?

as far as the mayor's race is concerned, here is the last thing I received from Heidi's campaign:

To All our Supporters and Volunteers:

Thank you all for adding your names to our ever growing listservs! If you have friends who would like to receive these messages, please encourage them to visit www.ElectHeidi.com and sign up.

We have been working very hard getting our campaign materials prepared - some are at the printers now and many others are planned. We haven't updated the web site as much as we would like but you can expect to see new items appearing soon. Our team of volunteer writers and message experts have been hard at work trying to synthesize and summarize over 3 1/2 years of accomplishments and leadership - even more difficult considering how much Heidi credits all of you with so much of the progress that we have realized!

Just a few quick announcements and updates:

- We are raising money now and we know we are going to need a truckload of it! Some of our opponents are going to have several truckloads! Please consider helping us in this effort by making whatever donation you are able to make and encouraging your friends to help as well. Obviously, this is everyone's least favorite part of the campaign but this campaign is probably going to see new record spending from our opponents. We don't expect to out-spend them but we've got to be able to get Heidi's message out there.

We can now take donations online through our secure PayPal account and that includes donations via any major credit card - you do not have to have a PayPal account. If this is an option you are considering, please go to: http://electheidi.com/donate/donations.php

- Our campaign structure is taking shape, nicely. We have an incredible team of experienced political advisors and we've got a great team for handling our events, as well. We are now booking events, large and small, so if you'd like to host a party or neighborhood gathering for Heidi, please let me know. You can email events@electheidi.com or call me and I'll get you in touch with our Events Team.

- Several local businesses have already agreed to act as distribution points for our campaign materials as we get closer to the election. You will see their names begin to appear on our web site. If you have a business or would like to help us by asking if we can place our materials there, we would really appreciate that. We know that some of our opponents will be greatly surprised at the tremendous support Heidi has in the business community but, for now, we don't want to spoil that surprise for them. ;-)

As always, THANK YOU! Please contact us at any time with any information, ideas, suggestions, offers, or even criticisms. Heidi campaigns exactly like she serves as Mayor - open, honest, inclusive, and welcoming a diversity of opinion.


Much more, later.

Al Davison
Campaign Director
Elect Heidi Mayor Again!
www,ElectHeidi.com
al@electheidi.com

Adrian Pritchett said...

Can we vote for Heidi as mayor and Andy as vice mayor?

Anonymous said...

I went to EH's BBQ (which the food was really good) and he got up to give his speech and was supposed to say that only an independent can represent Athens well and accidentally said only a Republican can represent Athens well. He realized his mistake and corrected it, but it was still pretty funny.

Al_Davison said...

I think everyone is going to be surprised when it is finally revealed just how big an effort local Republicans are putting into this next election. Athens is one of the few hold out areas resisting the Red Tide and it is probably the one they think they can conquer.

They are running 2 candidates for this House seat - Clupepper and Quick. Quick is set up to be the goon. Her job is just to "foul out" and hurt McKillip. Culpepper is the one they've set up to win and then he switches immediately to the Red Team. Being an independent under the Gold Dome means having no one to play with at all and E.H. craves playmates. He's going to have to dance with the one that brung him.

Since this thread is about the mayor's race then let's just say that most of the above still applies even though I'm not quite sure if the goon is Maddox or Chasteen. At any rate, Maddox is the Republican candidate but I think Chasteen wants to be so, it will be interesting to see.

Behind all of this is the plain fact that the local Democrats just need to do a good job of making sure that everybody who supports the Blue Team, about 2/3 of Athens voters, is very clear about who is playing for which team. The whole point of the non-partisan referendum campaign of 2 years ago was to trick local Democrats into finally voting for a Republican. Political operatives I've spoken with say that there is a lot of "buyer's remorse" out there right now. People are saying that they can't believe they voted for that stupid idea. But, it all sounded so nice and innocent - when the Republicans were explaining it while the Dems were asleep.

Anonymous said...

Since Doug McKillip's team hijacked this thread, lets talk about E.H. and this race:

--The tax thing is being floated by a democratic-funded poll looking asking leading questions about Culpepper and Quick to see "what sticks." This is classic partisan negative campaigning by a campaign that didn't expect competition and is now running scared because it has to talk about real issues impacting Athens.
--E.H. has voted as a Democrat and Republican (check the records) in past elections, does not have the support of either party, and truly believes and independent can best serve the district. Do Republicans support passenger rail? Did they support the greenway or The Classic Center? E.H. does. He isn't afraid to swim upstream.
--If McKillip is elected, what can he do as a rookie member of a minority party. Absolutely nothing. Is that what we want?
--I was at the BBQ too, and am pretty sure E.H. did not say that.

Anonymous said...

So for the record... Did Culpepper pay his taxes or not?

Anonymous said...

Jeez, at least Chuck Jones has the cojones to sign his name when he goes after someone. Same for Andy Rusk, James Garland, and others.

Anonymous said...

I'll take that as a no.

Cufflink Carl said...

Hot damn! I just love these little campaign insider/anonymous poster pissing matches!

(Anonymous @4:57 has a point, though)

Hugs 'n' kisses,
Publius
(who always signs his posts)

Anonymous said...

So Doug with 79 fellow Democratic legislators is going to be less effective than EH and one other independent. Your own logic defies you.

Anonymous said...

Yes, because Culpepper doesn't belong to a party that is specifically targeted for disenfranchisement by Glenn Richardson. I at least see the point of my fellow anon poster.

Anonymous said...

So has the chamber endorseed anyone? I hear they are lining up behind Heidi. Chamber Chairman Buddy Allen and Tom Hollingsworth are putting money up anyway. I even saw in Flagpole where the Chamber was supporting David Lynn in downtown designations. Go figure.

Al_Davison said...

Dude! Don't write stuff like that! I almost blew coffee out of my nose!

I think the thugs at the Chamber are still too arrogant to admit that their endorsement is poison. If they were to endorse Heidi it would be just for the purpose of pissing in her punch bowl. The Maddox campaign is practically run out of the Chamber office.

Neither Buddy Allen not Tommy Hollingsworth have had much of anything to do with the Chamber in quite a while. Your source on this must be stuck somewhere in the 1970's back when we had a real Chamber working for actual local businesses in Athens.