Politics never allows for complacency, no matter whether the person is running for local dog catcher or president of the United States, and two elections that occurred on Nov. 7 here locally perfectly illustrate that fact.
In the city of Aiken, newcomer Teddy Milner defeated incumbent Mayor Rick Osbon in the August Republican primary, much to the chagrin of Osbon’s supporters.
The margin of victory was only 14 votes, ending nearly a decade with Osbon at the helm in Aiken and ushering in Aiken’s first female mayor.
Even Osbon’s most fervent supporters admit that he was largely absent on the campaign trail, stating that Osbon thought his incumbency and his star power in the local Republican party meant that he didn’t really campaign against a political novice.
Osbon and his advisers failed to see the damage that the failed Project Pascalis caused to his reputation. The ambitious plan to renovate the historic Hotel Aiken and make major updates to Newberry Street collapsed into finger-pointing and lawsuits.
After a recount proved Milner the winner, Osbon’s supporters tried a “hail Mary” by attempting to form a write-in campaign, with supporters going to social media and calling in to the radio, urging people to overturn the primary results by voting for Osbon as a write-in candidate.
The Augusta Press was contacted and asked to publish a story about the write-in campaign, but there were problems with publishing such a story.
First, Osbon himself didn’t seem to publicly recognize the write-in effort. Supporters of the campaign claimed that Osbon could not legally ask people to write in his name.
While there might have been some campaign finance laws that prevented Osbon from spending campaign cash on such an endeavor, he certainly could have exercised his First Amendment right to endorse himself and ask people to write in his name.
Also, the complaints that Osbon’s supporters made against Milner were either irrelevant or unprovable from a journalistic standpoint.
It is true that Milner had never held elective office prior to running for mayor. So what?
Former Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver had never served in office when he ran for Augusta mayor and served two successful terms. Grovetown Mayor Gary Jones was a law enforcement officer who had never run for office when he successfully ran for mayor.
Osbon’s supporters claimed that Milner did not know where the Municipal Building was located and that she had never once attended a city council meeting. Considering that the council meetings are streamed, there is no way to prove that Milner never attended a meeting.
The bottom line is that Milner, a local small business owner, ran a successful campaign and won the seat fair and square, even if it was by a razor thin margin.
Conversely, the Grovetown election and the re-election of Mayor Gary Jones was a case study of how not to lose an election.
Jones became a hero and a bit of a folk legend after being fired for attempting to expose the massive theft by then-Grovetown City Clerk Vicky Capetillo, who was later convicted of stealing at least $891,720 from the city and used the ill-gotten gains for lavish cruises and other luxuries.
However, Jones was wise to the fact that memories fade among voters, and when Ceretta Smith and Deborah Fisher announced they would vie for the mayoral seat, Jones and his campaign went into full swing.
As the election season cranked up, Jones’ face was everywhere, campaign signs were handed out like Halloween candy and Jones went out and personally asked his constituents for another term.
Jones not only presented his accomplishments as mayor, he presented his vision for the future and stood by with a poker face while his opponents campaigned on creating public transportation and low-income housing.
Ultimately, Jones received 580 votes (42%), with Smith receiving 497 votes (35.99%) and Fisher receiving 304 votes (22.01%).
While Jones outright won the election, it was a squeaker with Jones crossing the finish line with less than 100 votes, proving that his decision not to ‘campaign from the basement’ was a wise move.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
