Newcomer calls for 'something positive'

Joy B. Mitchell-Booker knows she's a long shot in the race for the District 3 Augusta Commission seat, and she holds no illusions of somehow unseating Joe Bowles despite raising no contributions and having little time to campaign.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

Joy B. Mitchell-Booker, who calls herself a registered Republican "full of liberal ideas," hasn't raised any donations yet in her first run for office. She says even if she loses, the commission race will be a "stepping stone" for future bids.

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Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

Joy B. Mitchell-Booker, who calls herself a registered Republican "full of liberal ideas," hasn't raised any donations yet in her first run for office. She says even if she loses, the commission race will be a "stepping stone" for future bids.

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"It's very difficult because I work," she said. "And win, lose or draw, I still have to have a job."

She said she considers the campaign a chance to get her name out and get her feet wet in politics. She said she might run for commission again, or perhaps for a seat on the Richmond County school board.

"If nothing else, it will be a stepping stone," said Ms. Mitchell- Booker, a nonpracticing, nondenominational minister and a registered Republican who's "full of liberal ideas."

"I'd like to get in," she said, "but I won't be brokenhearted if I don't. Campaigns will be back around."

Though she's spoken at an Augusta-Richmond County Committee for Good Government forum, addressed neighborhood groups, appeared on radio shows and campaigned at First Friday, her job as a customer care center supervisor for Georgia Bank & Trust leaves her little time to go door-to-door in neighborhoods, and she misses forums held during regular work hours.

At one point, she thought of dropping out of the race, but her husband talked her out of it.

"He says, 'No, you started. Once you started, you don't quit,' " she said. "The next go-around, I will politick better. If I don't make it this time, chances are you will see me again in the future."

Her platform includes making Augusta Public Transit more user-friendly, turning the city into a major metropolitan area and building better relationships between commissioners. In her campaign literature, she lists health care reform as an issue and says she wants District 3 to receive stimulus funds through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

She said the controversial trade, exhibit and event center plan needs to go back to voters in a referendum.

"What I really want to see is us doing something positive, because there are so many negative connotations about this city council," Ms. Mitchell-Booker said.

Another campaign challenge, she concedes, is being a political newcomer and viewed as a transplant, even though she's lived in Augusta for 13 years. She grew up in Philadelphia, moved to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1991, then moved to Augusta in 1996.

Some of her friends in Anchorage were in the military and had been transferred to Fort Gordon. When both of her daughters living up north had babies, she convinced them to make a move to Augusta with her.

"We picked a neutral spot," she said. "I didn't want to be a grandma in a picture on the mantle and the kids not know who I am."

Asked about the man she's challenging, Ms. Mitchell-Booker had nothing bad to say about Mr. Bowles, other than that he's only one vote and that the commission can't get anything done without consensus.

"I don't necessarily believe that he needs to be unseated, but I think sometimes you need a change," she said. "I really don't think that Joe is a bad guy, it's just that he was in the seat that's the only available space that I fell into."

She said the thought of her pulling votes away from challenger Cleveland O'Steen, or vice versa, hasn't entered her mind, nor has the notion of one of them dropping out in order to mount a unified front.

Statistically, their biggest hurdle is District 3's overwhelmingly white demographics.

"That's not something that sits well with me," she said. "I wouldn't want to conspire with (Mr. O'Steen) to unseat him, simply because he's white."

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.