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PUBLISHER'S NOTES YIKES! IT’S TIME TO VOTE AGAIN Nobody ever runs against incumLents around here, but this year is different: the July 18 Democratic Primary has contested races for State Senator, District Attcrney, Sheriff, and one Commissioner. The November General Election pits Republicans against Democrats foi the 11th Congressional District, State Senate District 46, State Representative District 24 and three Commission seats, one of which is the open 8th District seat vacated by Ken Jordan. In the 11th District, the courageous but hapless Democrat, Vince Littman, from Commerce (total campaign funds $0), is again single-handedly taking on the Goiiath that our absentee Congressman John Linder has become. Linder doesn’t even live in our district, yet is a right-wing, fundamentalist ‘ Christian" mouthpiece with $650,000 in lob byist money to spend (obscene!) and belongs to what once was the party of Abraham Lincoln. Jim Ivey, who is from Oconee County, but has an Athens address, owns a computer store and is the Republican challenger for the State Senate seat where Democrat Paul Broun has sat for lo these many years. Ivey, in November, will face Broun or Doug Haines, should Haines accomplish the improbable stunt of pulling the chair out from under Broun and his $99,000 (and growing) lobbyist-fueled campaign coffer. Athens attorney Doug McKillip is running as a Democrat against the treacly fundamen talist foghorn incumbent Republican Ralph Hudgens in State Representative District 24. which takes in just the northeast corner of Athens-Ciarke. On the Athens-Ciarke County Commission, 4th District Commissioner Democrat John Barrow faces his bi-annual Republican opposition, this time in the form of ultra-conservative UGA student Michael Le Houllier. Republican Marilyn Farmer, in the 6th District, faces political gadfly Carl Jordan in November. Marilyn is probably a shoo(fly)-in, although it looked that way last time, and John Jeffreys almost slipped up on her. Carl would make an interesting addition to the DocFest that the Commission has become. But, listen: July 18 is almost here, so let’s try to sort out these various races. Just because I get to write this column, don’t assume any superior political wisdom on my part. I’m stuck down here trying to meet a payroll instead of getting ou* with my ear to the ground and my finger on the pulse of the public. What I hand you here is just what I’ve been able to glean from some hur ried conversations with “usually reliable sources ” DISTRICT ATTORNEY Take Harry Gordon (please). Harry has been an incumbent since the day that then- Governor Jimmy Carter appointed him District Attorney 28 years ago. Harry has never been opposed and has generally taken to considering himself D.A. for Life. Then here comes Solicitor General Ken Mauldin, who slipped up on Ken Stula when he was Solicitor General and. using a net work of church and citizen groups, beat Stula before Stula ever started taking him seriously. Maybe Harry looked ripe for the picking, too. After all. Harry is by all reports a very wealthy man (real estate) and maybe too comfortable actually to run for his office. But Harry has jumped like a shot snake and is off and running the 1972-style campaign he wc*’’ 1 have run the first time around. He’s got his signs out and pickup trucks parked around with big Gordon signs on them. He’s had a political barbecue at Charlie Williams’ place that one seasoned political junkie called the biggest he’s seen in a long time. And Harry has the solid support and money of the legal community. The lawyers I have talked to either like Harry or fear Ken or both. They say Gordon has done a good job, and they see Mauldin as being far too ambi tious and rigid to be a good District Attorney, far too insistent on litigating every thing and likely to tie up the courts with nit picking fanaticism instead of moving things Y along by working them out. Ken on the other hand, says the defense lawyers just don’t realize how many cases he declined to prosecute as Solicitor General, and that they’re all trying to get him to bend the law where it applies to mandatory license revoca tions and prosecution of domestic violence cases even when the victim changes (her) mind. Mauldin, who has declined to accept any contributions over $100 and therefore doesn’t have a lot of money, is working through neighborhood receptions and mailings and counting on citizen orga nizing to offset Gordon’s financial and polit ical support in the legal community. STATE SENATE DISTRICT 46 Doug Haines faces another Goliath in the form of the aged veteran Paul Broun, who wants another term so that he can be there to help create a new Athe.is-centered Congressional district that rich dentists from Tucker (like John Linder, for instance) won’t have a chance of winning. Broun is an indefatigable campaigner whom all the aging hopefuls have watched quadrennium after quadrennium run easily for re-elec tion. Broun has always served the big guys, the “establishment" (you know who you are), and they've been happy for him to continue on in office, even though he long ago lost his powerful Senate Appropriations Committee chair manship to changing Senate political alignments. Haines is anything but slick, and is lucky if his shirttail is tucked in, but he is one can didate who can confidently be predicted to be aggressive and independent should he make his way into the State Senate. Haines, as an environmental attorney, has won land mark cases forcing the cleanup and protec tion of Georgia rivers, and he knows how to combine radical action with painstaking preparation and research. He’ll never be an insider, but he will kick down a few doors. Therefore, Haines doesn’t have much money to confront the bulging trunkful that special interests have supplied to Broun. Haines is going the route of neighborhood organizing and targeting the voters most likely to respond to him. He’s got a web site (doughaines.com) and some experienced campaigners helping him, while Broun has his decades of contacts, favors, name recog nition, acceptability at the Club and all the billboards money can buy. (To be continued next week) Pete McCommons Don't assume any superior-political wisdom on my part. Doug Haines works for Georgians 4.v- - -• r. .... ** . As director of Georgia Legal Watch, Doug works every day to promote government accountability, environmental protection, and empowerment of citizen groups. As a nationally recognized expert on water and environmental issues and a public interest lawyer, he has made community service his calling. Doug Has a Proven Record of Service to the Citizens of District 46 • Establishing lead removal, water quality and clean river projects • Encouraging the local government and UGA to protect the environment • Providing public seminars and workshops to assist citizens in promoting open and accountable govemement Lets Send Doug to the Georgia Senate Doug will work to • Close the gap in spending vs. achievement in K-12 schools • Improve the economic and environmental health of our communities • Reform a health care system driven by insurance companies, ensuring that health care decisions are made by patients and their doctors • Enact laws that protect meaningful citizen participation and ensure that elected officials are accountable. • Provide workers with better protec don, fair treatment and safer workplaces every day campaign is not about whai may Imve been \ ' * accomplished in the^krsi. lie can 7 afford for it to be about anythinf» but the future? 9 Vote July 18 Democratic Primary District.46 HAINES for State SENATE Doug has political experience and a proven record of serv ice to the citizens of District 46 Let s Send Doug to the Georgia Senate : : lilt 1 |M»I <■ II \!M \ . H M \J_*l 1 \ I..UI UK' I KI' VM id li IP GRAND OPENING 6i’/ehtHilion OFF ALL DINNER. ITEMS * chinks/ noC included/ Dine-In/Take Out p qWNTO Waj ffik CCuncfi ■ VIoirFri ll:30am—IZiOOpm INOKO >JJUUICZ Mon-Thu 5:()(H():00|>in Jri-Sat 5:00-|0:30|)in Sum 5:0(H):00|)m STEAK• SEAFOOD• BURGERS 430 E. Clayton St. (Next to Athens Sushi Bar) • 355-9997 JULY 5, 2000