We’re having one of those beautiful foggy, misty mornings with the temps around 50 on the porch. The redbuds have started to come, which adds a touch of color to the dominant green on gray.
The Fannin County Democratic party has made election history by qualifying what is believed to be the first full slate of candidates for open positions in the coming election. Dixie Carter is running for Post 2 Commissioner, and Susan DeMoura and realtor Jeff DePaola are running for the open school board positions. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with the local political scene, Fannin County has been in the tight control of the Republican party for years and years, from long before it became fashionable to be a Republican in Georgia.) No matter how you feel about the national scene, this has to be a step forward for Fannin County. The same elderly gentlemen have been in these school board positions for years, and while I’m sure they’re doing a fine job, there’s a case to be made for some new blood. The situation at the County Commission is dire, given that the county continues to be run by people who absolutely do not have the interests of the second home owners and newcomers at heart. For these folks, it continues to be pretty much “taxation without representation.” That situation is going to continue until these people inform themselves and actually vote in local elections. The last day to register to vote in the primaries is April 23. For those of you who can’t vote for anyone but a Republican, there are lots of choices in the Republican primaries. I don’t make my mind up until election day, but I think it’s time for a change.
Case in point, Lane Bishop has been ousted as Chair of the Board of Assessors by the Fannin County Commission. Lane is pretty hot about it, and has given a fire-breathing interview to the Fannin Sentinel.
http://www.fanninsentinel.news/?p=8170
Among other things, he alleges that this action is in retaliation for his firing two individuals who allegedly kept $10 million off the tax digest, by never entering it into the tax digest. One of whom is – yes – still serving on the school board and up for re-election. Lane implies that he had apparently gone too far in cleaning up the corruption, and so had to go. While Lane is known locally as a bit of an extremist, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone question his integrity, so this is bombshell stuff … at least for Fannin County. For one thing, he’s calling out Larry Joe Sosebee, who is up for re-election as Post Two Commissioner. For another, he’s implying something that a lot of folks seem to believe, which is that the corruption doesn’t stop at the tax office.