Cast vote for the 'unreasonable man'

Fantastic Letter. Glad to see Butch has support from this group.. Both are trying to make Harrisburg and all of Augusta better.

Just don't see the economic development or financial background that is so desperately needed in any of the candidates. So I guess sense safe streets are a step in economic development Butch is as good as any.

Emerydan, you almost hit the nail on the head. He is focused on one issue for Harrisburg and trying to force it on all of Augusta. While I do agree that Harrisburg needs cleaning up. It should not be at the expense of the rest of Augusta. His "CNO" platform is wearing thin and shows his lack of experience and forward thinking in wanting this "imposed" on all the citizens of Augusta. If the CNO is such a good idea, place it on the next ballot for voters to decide. In the mean time, go after the people that are actually breaking the laws.

alsway The say step on a cats tail and he will holler. You must be a slum lord.

Butch
, why do I have to be a slum lord just because I believe that your CNO is not needed? Looks like you are stooping to name calling instead of addressing the issue.

But just FYI, I'm not a slum lord...Just a property owner in Augusta that cares about our city and feels that the CNO is not needed. The actual law breakers are the problem...and they are the ones that need to be in the cross hairs of this action.

Alsway,The landlord will have a place in the CNO. Right now, he does nothing but pick up rent. Go meet with Sheriff Strength over and over as have the Concerned Citizens of Harrisburg, and you too will understand why law enforcement can not enforce the laws. Sheriff Strength will be happy to tell you. The landlords who have a hold on a lot of inner city Augusta are now in their third generation of business, and have the power to effect laws however they like. It is time for them to be held accountable to the rest of the citizens who have to put up with their crap. This new ordinance will weed out the bad ones. Who would not be for that?

I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with Michael Weintraub, and I applaud his letter. With people like Michael and Butch, a lot can get done. Thanks Michael for such a wonderful letter, and for backing Butch....Both men are hard workers in their respective areas. I am glad to see them come together, and am proud to know both of them. Looking forward to getting much more accomplished for District 1.

gripweed is right. The third generation landlords of Augusta have the power to effect laws anyway they see fit. This is one big problem with our existing government and it's time for this to be over. A new generation of Augustans will make the necessary change that is needed. We are making waves, and rightly so. This is why we need Butch. Butch will not be paid off to stay quiet, or allow blatant violations to our laws which have caused the demise of our inner city. He will not turn his head while millions of dollars are raked in by the few, destroying our lives in the process. This is why so many are leaving Augusta...Get it!!!! It's not that hard. If we want change, vote Butch. If you want more of the same, vote for any of the other three candidates.

You are right harrisburg will rise, but I do believe that BUTCH is not for just Harrisburg , I know he is for the city of Augusta. He loves Augusta and wants it better and beautiful. Maybe some of the other candidates do also , but who's pocket are they in I know for a fact that Butch will not do take money or favories for votes. He is an honest man and will do for Augusta what some of the other COMMISSIERS have not done. And the people of richmond county will see to it. We have to keep our commissiers straight and on the right path. VOTE FOR BUTCH.

I thank you Michael Weintraub for a great letter. Good work .

dyomite, what is a commissiers?

If you disagree with the CNO the burgers will call you all sorts of names and accuse you of drug buying and coming to their neighborhood for prostitution. It's exactly why I wouldn't support Butch. They name call and denigrate anyone that doesn't agree with them...that's the type of commission we don't need!!

Of all four of the canidates, Matt gets my vote. Butch is a worthy canidate, but is unelectable in District 1 with a 65% minority vote. Matt can bring a balance to the commission we sorley need. He can bring along the minority vote needed to capture the commission seat. We may be the same situation that Florida was in 2000, where Nader siphoned off just enough votes to swing the election to GW. In our case it will probably be Fennoy... Butch might do well to throw his support to Matt, who I am sure would fight tooth and nail to support what Butch wants with the negligence ordinance.. At least Butch would have a place at the table, whereas with Fennoy he'll be lucky to get a return phone call... Sure wish those who really want what is best for District 1 and the Commission as a whole would look at the hard cold facts in this commission race... Butch, for all his good intentions, is not an electable canidate in District 1

faithson, with a low turnout Butch could win. If he can turn out the elderly white vote still living in district 1 with a small percentage of the minority vote he could win. Kinda the opposite of what Ed McIntytre did he got high black voter turnout and a small percentage of the white vote.

Go Butch. Keep fighting the good fight.

I appreciate your letter Mr. Weintraub. Well put. I hope Butch Palmer reaches his goals. Our city needs people of action. We don't need people to denigrate each other, though we need to lift each other up. Now if we do that and people choose to jump off back into the muck and mire, then they don't need to be in Harrisburg.

Sorry, but Butch will not get the minority vote with his comment the other night at the Great Debate. Nor will he have the support of the religiously faithful with his demanding churches "dig deep in their pockets" and start paying property taxes. Bad political moves on both accounts. If you don't know what I'm referring to, feel free to watch it on Comcast OnDemand under local.

I watched the debate and am convinced more the ever that Butch Palmer is who we need on the commission. He is the LEAST like a politician, which is refreshing. He tells you exactly what he thinks and doesn't try to sugar coat it. The problem now is that we have commissioners who will say one thing in public then meet behind closed doors in a secret meeting and say and do something else. I can tell you that Butch will get more black votes then Aitken. The black community in Augusta is very suspicious of any white candidate backed by Don Grantham, The Augusta Chronicle and Ed Presnell. I don't think it's so much about race, but a feeling that certain power-brokers run the city from behind the scenes and that Aitken is their hand-picked candidate. I have seen no one campaign as hard as Palmer for a city district race. He is working hard for every vote..and in a low turnout election that gives him a big advantage.

Another thing Butch has in his favor, anytime there is a letter to the editor endorsing him or a news story mentioning his name, it gets twice as many comments as the other candidates. Name recognition is very powerful in local races.

I, for one, am voting for Butch.Why? A couple of reasons. He doesn't seem to be the type to be a "sock puppet" of the power brokers in this town, as some candidates obviously are. He seems virulently independent, which this Commission does NOT want. And he has actually TRIED to make a difference, as opposed to talking about making a difference. Will he win? Maybe, maybe not. But I think enough people are fed up (not just in District 1) that he will do better than the big players in Augusta politics believe. And THESE politicians are the ones who will ignore him and others like him, at their peril come election time in THEIR Districts.

Butch is the 'CHANGE' candidate in this race. Want more of the same, elect it. Want 'CHANGE' vote for a change agent.

Palmer scares the people who need to be afraid. Sic Um Butch. Augusta needs you now! Someone said that they saw Barry White in D.C. last week. The said that they walked up to him and said "Sic Um Butch" and Barry White turned pale as a sheet!

I thought Barry White was dead.. But loved his music.. "Just can't get enough of your love baby."

How deep would churches have to dig to actually pay taxes like every other entity that owns property? Should funeral homes be exempt too? Should doctor's offices be exempt? Time for the hypocrites to pay just like everybody else.

What Mr Palmer means by that is that he wants to form a volunteer corps made up of local churches, non-profits, and citizens activists to aid in city clean-up and beautification as well as other services. This could help reduce costs for taxpayers if we were able to get more volunteers involved. Other cities have done this. You have groups doing this work now but there is no coordination with the city. His plan is to coordinate these efforts.. it will help clean Augusta up and save money for the taxpayers. Mr Palmer is very approachable and will answer any questions personally that you have about his platform. His ph# is even listed on his website and he encourages ppl to call him with questions.

Walk tall butch Walkn' talll!

If it is a "volunteer" group Butch means, why has he not done this already? He does not need to be an elected official to accomplish this does he? This is not a platform for change! And change for change sake does not mean it is good either! Butch does not seem to have a broad enough platform. (Nothing if you take away the CNO.)

alsway.. it is evident that you have not even read Mr Palmer's platform. It has been available on his website for months now. I guess you neglected to read the part about property tax reform, returning to precinct based policing, the pledge to end back-room deals and secret meetinsg, the volunteer corps, etc. And the CNPO alone is far more specific than what we have heard from any of the other candidates in this race. What exactly is Aitkens platform? All I know is that he wants to push ahead with spending more money on another white elephant and then talks vaguely about economic growth. How about an actual plan to clean up the blight, get rid of the crackhouses, and tackle the crime. Butch has been the most specific on these issues, and that is how you are going to attract people back to Augusta, not by putting more of our tax dollars into money pits.