My Voting Guide for November 2016

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I'm not going to write about the Presidential race. I'm done with it. Let's go down the ballot.

For United States Senate
  • JOHNNY ISAKSON (Incumbent) Republican
  • JIM BARKSDALE Democrat
    • Typical Democrat party line of being “for the little guy”... With more taxes, regulation, Federal control.
  • ALLEN BUCKLEY Libertarian
    • Seems to be a Libertarian of the “not wacko” sort, really for bringing Washington back to its proper place.
For Public Service Commissioner
  • TIM ECHOLS (Incumbent) Republican
  • ERIC HOSKINS Libertarian
During the primary I voted for Echols’ Republican challenger. Echols’ website bragged on some great causes that in my mind are very worthy for private undertaking but not related at all to the role of Public Service Commissioner. Now, I'd like to give the Libertarians a chance, but Hoskins doesn't even seem to be really campaigning. I even contacted the Georgia Libertarian Party about this, and got a reply that he is running mainly so that the party can keep its ballot access. Ballot access rules stink. The fact that more of the offices on this ballot were settled by primaries than by the actual November election stinks. Solving that problem is beyond the scope of what to do for this particular election, but it's a problem. As for what to do in this race… I expect Echols is likely to win, but I'll vote Hoskins as a private protest against the situation.

For U.S. Representative
  • DREW FERGUSON Republican
  • ANGELA PENDLEY Democrat
    • http://www.apendley4house.com/about
    • Very little info about her personal background, other than “helping people” with “20 years in allied health and as a volunteer”. Don't know what that means.
    • “Angela Pendley follows the democratic platform and is proud to be a democrat, because the Democratic Party is tolerant.” Personally, I dispute the left-wing definition of “tolerance”.
    • “Angela Pendley does not use social media such as Facebook, twitter, or instagram. Angela Pendley communicate with people in person, on the phone, through email, through United States Postal service, and through text messaging.”
In the first round of the primary, Ferguson was one of my “runner up” choices, seemingly a safe second in case my top choice didn't win. When it came to the runoff, he started to disappoint, running some misleading mudslinging campaign ads against Mike Crane. So, I'm not happy about voting for him, but the Democrat contender worries me with her proclaimed view that her party is the tolerant party, so her party can do no wrong. Nothing about why we should vote for her, only that we should vote for her party. Because they are tolerant. Unless you disagree with them, because then you are the intolerant one. Sorry, time to end this rant. Holding my nose and voting for Ferguson.

For Tax Commissioner
  • KRISTIE KING Republican
    • Has worked in Tax Commissioner's office since 2001, has risen in rank over the years to Chief Deputy
    • Has a kid in my daughter's kindergarten class
  • RASHEED "BJ" DAWODU Democrat
    • Management consultant
    • Website has impressive resume in both public and private sectors
    • According to one reporter, it appears that Mr. Dawodu has “exaggerated” his work with tax offices in other counties. In other words, he claimed to have worked for the top brass when it looks like he was a seasonal mailroom worker: http://fayette-news.com/tax-commissioner-candidates-quarrel-over-qualifications

 For County Commissioner District 1
  • ERIC MAXWELL Republican
    • http://www.erickmaxwell.com/
    • https://lionsandeagles.blogspot.com/2016/05/my-voting-guide-for-may-2016-part-3.html?m=1
  • PAM REID Democrat
    • http://electpamreid.com/
  • http://thecitizen.com/news-government-county-politics/reid-maxwell-debate-respect-affordable-housing-aging-population

 In the primary, I voted for Maxwell because I thought it was important to unseat an incumbent who referred to political opponents as “demoncrats” and made a number of other highly questionable statements. Now we have a clean slate between two non-incumbents.
Eric Maxwell's campaign slogan is “Vision for Fayette”, but so far in looking at his website and Facebook page I can't tell what that vision is. I can tell you that he believes in “vote early and vote Republican”; as disenchanted with both parties as I am, I am not fired up by this rallying cry.

 I can tell you that Maxwell is skeptical about “affordable housing”; If affordable housing is defined as government subsidized, as it is all too often, I would agree, but I will also say that I almost couldn't find a home in Fayette County that I could afford when I was house shopping three years ago. I don't want subsidies, but I don't need a luxury mansion either.

 When I look at Maxwell's Facebook page, I see all campaign and all party. When I look at Reid’s, I see all community. I am leaning towards Reid in this race.

For County Board of Education District 1


Lohr’s big issues: She opposed closing schools and redistricting, she wants to reduce class size, and she wants to buy more Chromebooks. All well and good, but also expensive. Closing schools and redistricting is never fun, but maybe needed from time to time.
Marchman is standing on his record of pushing for balanced budget, lower taxes, and increased teacher salaries.
Both of them are strong on the issue of local control of the school system over state and federal intervention.
I like Marchman in his current position, and I like Lohr in the PTO raising funds to support the schools.

For County Board of Education District 5
  • BRIAN ANDERSON Republican
    • Eagle Scout, software development MBA
    • Good position on not using emergency funds to balance the budget
    • Support for local school governance
    • Sees value in the goal of having standards, but those should be established at a local level, so Common Core fails. Also, Common Core math is a fail.
  • CHING CHING YAP Democrat
    • Music teacher, education consultant
    • Position on common core is that people at the local level need to understand and be ready for any “curve balls” from the state.
Now, just to wrap up, let's look at all of the no-contest races. I won't waste words, but just notice how many folks have already won, with only a primary race:

State Senator MARTY HARBIN (Incumbent) Republican
State Representative DERRICK L. JACKSON Democrat
District Attorney BEN COKER Republican
Judge of the Probate Court ANN S. JACKSON (Incumbent) Republican
Clerk of Superior Court SHEILA STUDDARD (Incumbent) Republican
Sheriff BARRY H. BABB (Incumbent) Republican
Coroner W. BEE HUDDLESTON Republican
County Commissioner District 1 CHARLES W. ODDO (Incumbent) Republican

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