Runoffs & A Landslide

Looks like the Mighty 9th is going to a runoff. It's a shame we can't send them both to Congress, really. Dan Collins is endorsed by Zell Miller, and an old mountain friend of the family with a good legislative history. Martha(!) is a conservative firebrand. It almost doesn't matter which one wins: Collins has more actual experience on the job, but Martha(!) is a committed TEA Party activist.

Meanwhile, back in my old ancestral home of Forsyth County, the sheriff looks like he'll have to fight his re-election in a runoff too. You want to know how hard it is to boot out an incumbent sheriff in the Great State of Georgia? This hard:
In that heated race, Paxton seeks to overcome a January incident in which deputies and firefighters found the married sheriff unconscious in the doorway of the home of a female friend who told authorities the sheriff had been drinking. The sheriff denied being drunk.
Used to be even the District Attorneys in Georgia referred to the sheriffs as "the Dixie Mafia." It's a surprisingly powerful office. Our incumbent looks to have been re-elected too, without a runoff, though in a closely-fought election. That's to the good, from my perspective. He's a former Marine, keeps his word, and also he keeps his resources concentrated in the urban parts of the county. We don't see them out here, and that suits me fine.

No runoff for T-SPLOST. The tax increase died in a bloodbath.

4 comments:

bthun said...

"Used to be even the District Attorneys in Georgia referred to the sheriffs as "the Dixie Mafia." It's a surprisingly powerful office. "

Ain't that the truth. When I was but a young shaver, a cousin served as a Deputy for one of the state's biggest drug dealers. The Sheriff.

El loco jefe was caught and convicted in the early 1970's after some of his former associates rolled on him. Other associates of el loco jefe? Well rumor is that they've composted by now.

So goes a mis-spent life in the swampy lowlands of South Ga.

Grim said...

That's unusual. Normally they die unindicted.

Anonymous said...

There's a history of the high sheriffs in Texas entitled "Lords to the County Line." The title is a pretty good summation of the best and worst aspects of the job, methinks.

And the Texas Republican establishment got a spanking yesterday. That said, I'm a bit disappointed with the results of the Railroad Commission race and very disappointed in the judicial runoff.*shrug* Money talks.

LittleRed1

Texan99 said...

My husband reports that local polling showed that T-SPLOST went down in flames amid voter distrust of the government's ability to spend money rationally. Also, apparently the $15MM ad campaign was afraid to mention mass transit, so even progressives couldn't get excited about it.

If you can't even convince people you'll spend the money well, it's going to be hard to sell Keynesian stimulus schemes.