In Sunday’s column, Sylvia Cooper confirmed what I had announced a couple of months ago that Marion Williams has decided to throw his name in the hat to run for mayor of Augusta. Are we ready for a “Political Pandemic?”
The “dean” of the city commission has undoubtedly grown tired of sitting on the sidelines and watching the city — from what I heard — “fall apart.” This will be no easy task, considering there are several people that have already thrown their names into the mix.
We have Tax Commissioner Steven Kendrick, who by all accounts is the front runner, along with Commissioner Dennis Williams, and I’m hearing that local businessman Garnett Johnson is planning on running as well. Mr. Johnson will have a heavy task in front of him, considering that quite a few say, “Who is that?” when his name comes up. Word has it that Charles Walker is behind him.
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I believe the next announcement will come from former Commissioner Corey Johnson, who is getting pressured to run from friends and others in the community. Corey recently ran for District 9 and came up short in the run-off, which no one really expected. He took the initial election with 45% of the vote. The runoff didn’t even garner enough people for both of their totals to equate to what he had alone in the first election. Be that as it may, the impending mayoral race will be very contentious, and there are even more names to come.
Whoever it is… I am just hopeful that Augusta will stop electing people they just like and elect people who will do something. Augusta needs a well-versed, sharp, independent individual. I just don’t know how good an elected official will be — especially for the mayor’s seat—who is not willing to be a bridge builder. The new mayor needs to be willing to have some progressive thoughts and think outside the box. If you have been in position, sat idle and have nothing as your legacy, maybe it is time for you to sit down and stay seated.
On a different subject, Kelby Walker has approached the Augusta Parks and Recreation Department with an idea to offer free swimming lessons to youth in our community. When he first said something to me about it, I jumped on board. This is a great way to give back and to add an additional level of safety for our community. His idea has expanded from swimming lessons to all around water safety. This conversation sparked after all the recent drowning events around our area.
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I’m bringing this up to press a couple of points: First, do your best to make sure people are safe. Actually setting up these type of activities helps our entire community, not just a certain segment. Second, I think it’s important to get behind great ideas that can provide real change. Make sure to share the information and show your support when it becomes public.
And this could be considered good news or bad news, depending on who’s listening. I was confronted by a source close to the mayor and the Mayor’s Office that has assured me that this is the last stop politically for the mayor. He will not be seeking any higher office and has no plans to resign. He will be here full term, in other words. I believe that, for many, this can be considered with a sigh a relief. For one thing, there will be no need to try to appoint anyone to his seat if he had to resign and also, simply, he is not seeking higher office. This may excite some people, too. I’m just saying.
Now that we have all that under control, I can start to look into the accusations that one of the commissioners who had so much to say about the fire chief process seems to have submitted a resume or two to the Administrator themselves. Oops… there I go again, talking about future columns.
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