Oak Ridge, we have some candidates this year — candidates for City Council and school board in the June 2, 2009 city election, and possibly even a local candidate for U.S. Congress in fall 2010.
Before talking about the candidates, I must stop and remember the two long-time public servants who decided not to stand for re-election: Councilman Willie Golden and School Board member and chairman John Smith (no relation). Both have dedicated large amounts of time and effort to city affairs, and they will be missed. Willie Golden commands a great deal of personal respect in the community, stemming from his days of high school athletic glory (when he was the first African-American student to captain an Oak Ridge High School varsity team) and his many years running recreation programs as a member of the city staff, extending into his public service in recent years on the City Council and in the Anderson County court system. I’ll miss the wisdom and caring concern he has shown as a member of Council. I’ve not observed John Smith as closely, but I’ve been continually impressed by his constant dedication and conscientious hard work on behalf of our children and our schools. Both he and Willie deserve our gratitude.
Impressively, there are 10 people running for 4 seats on City Council, including 3 incumbents. I attended last Thursday’s Democracy for East Tennessee candidate event to meet the City Council candidates that I didn’t already know, and to hear what the candidates had to say about themselves and the city. It looks to me like this Council election is shaping up as an exciting exercise in grassroots politics — this is a capable collection of candidates who decided to run for a diverse variety of civic-minded reasons. All seem to have the ability to serve effectively, but they differ in their awareness/knowledge of city affairs and issues, personality, life experience, and philosophies on the city’s future. (More later about my personal impressions.)
For school board, voters also have a choice — there are 5 candidates (including two incumbents) for 3 slots. DFET is tentatively planning a school board candidates’ event for May 5th (timing will overlap with the next City Council Night Out) and the League of Women Voters will hold two forums just before early voting begins in mid-May.
With the focus on the local election, I imagine that many missed the news of the possibility of an Oak Ridger reprsenting us in Congress (instead of someone from the Chattanooga end of the district). Georgiana Vines reported in the News Sentinel that Oak Ridge resident Paula Flowers is among the folks actively exploring the possibility of running for Zach Wamp’s Congressional seat in 2010, now that Wamp has announced that he will not seek re-election. Flowers has experience statewide as the former head of the state Department of Commerce and Insurance, and she impressed a lot of Oak Ridge politics-watchers when she ran for the Oak Ridge Charter Commission last year. I’ve heard speculation about whether she would be running for city office in the future. With that background, I expect there will be a lot of local support for her if she does run for Congress. Go, Paula!
Paula would be a formidable candidate.