I attended Committee for Good Government as well last night and have a couple of suggestions for the District Three candidates. Both candidates should consider attending Commission meetings starting this month. There is no way that one can become a Commissioner without knowing what goes on in these meetings. Secondly as the campaign progresses, constituents want to know specifics about how you plan to serve them. Be as specific as possible in your presentations and campaign literature. We are a county in need of new leadership and this year could make a huge difference in who we elect. It seems that the learning curve can be daunting once a Commissioner is elected. Start doing the job that you will be doing,TODAY. Good luck to both candidates.

Friends with the mayor,,,,,,,omg ,,well thats another vote swinger

I notice something in the comments that's worth notice. Lori Davis is doing enormous work building bridges with the community and learning the intricacies of local government. She spends more time as a candidate than any sitting commissioner working to comprehend the problems of the city. She obviously desires to serve in a meaningful way. The city will be amiss if they don't use her enthusiasm and work ethic.

For some reason, Belle's comments show up on the Discussion page and not on the Story page. Here is Belle's comment:

The only thing that is keeping the commission in turmoil is the constant back-door tactics and back-room deals. A small committee meeting that gathers to put together a presentation of a proposal is one thing...creative manipulation of the situation behind the scenes is another. Let's have a three strikes your out rule...lie to the commission three times about anything and you are no longer a commissioner.

Excellent points. I propose another rule, Belle. I call it the "no means no" rule:

If a quorum of commissioners fail to pass a motion (i.e., fail to obtain six or more votes in favor), then that motion or another one essentially like it cannot be brought before the commission within three years.

And that rule would require another. Let's call it the "sneaky snake" rule:

If a motion is brought before the commission and any commissioner protests that it is essentially like another motion that failed to pass within the previous three years, then the motion must be submitted to judicial review by the Augusta Judicial Circuit Superior Court before it can be voted on.

You got it, Bouganvillea.

That is why both candidates need to go public with their position on public financing of a new ballpark for a privately-owned minor league team. I'm a little worried also by Enoch's statement up above that he favors "public-private partnerships." That could be a loophole big enough to drive a ballpark through.

I'm going to have to add to my Mayor Copenhaver-Boardman list. I may have to include Commissioner Davis-Boardman.

Let me give you my version of the July commission elections, Bouganvillea. In 2011, the General Assembly passed a law that all non-partisan elections of all consolidated governments in Georgia be conducted during the party primaries in July. I do not believe Barbara Sims was behind it, but she voted for it. I don't even know why the state government thought it was so important. But it was not aimed at stacking the deck against one race or another or well-heeled candidates or poorer ones.

The law applied to only three governments in Georgia — Athens, Augusta, and Columbus. Athens and Columbus had no problem and took steps to begin complying with the law. Since the law was passed in early 2011, they had plenty of time to prepare for July, 2012.

Augusta, on the other hand, scoffed at the law. They wanted to hold on to November. Sen. Hardie Davis rode in on his white horse and told a low-level attorney in the State Attorney General's office that Augusta's charter said the elections are in November and that the new state law did not apply to Augusta. Remarkably enough, that low-level attorney wrote an opinion that agreed with Davis.

That arrogance — scoffing and thumbing their noses at the General Assembly was the reason why Barbara Sims introduced the bill in 2012 to specifically state that the law does indeed apply to Augusta. (Remember that the original 2011 law did not actually name the governments. It was written generally so that if any other counties and cities wished to consolidate it would also apply to them.) When a city government picks a fight with state government, it usually loses.

Susan McCord wrote:

Candidate Mary Fair Davis, the former campaign manager for Mayor Deke Copenhaver, . . . [said,] “I’m running because I care about Augusta’s future. We have the resources to be the envy of all other cities.” Davis said there are “so many positive things going on in Augusta right now,” such as the recent Starbucks plant announcement and merger of ASU and GHSU.

That sounds like Mary Fair Davis is more than Mayor Copenhaver's campaign manager. She sounds like she must also be his speechwriter.