Atomictumor

Well, I’ve been putting it off, and putting it off, but this little voice in my head kept saying “Dude, do it. Totally do it. You know you’ll hate yourself if you don’t do it…”
SO, in the spirit of the great election posts of the past, I hereby present the all-new

2007 Atomictumor Wicked Awesome Oak Ridge Election Bonanza Spectacular!!!

Now, in 2006 we had all sorts of stuff to vote for. There were pages and pages of voting goodness, so much so that somebody had to sue somebody else over it. Now, that’s an election. The only thing that would have made it better is a riot, or maybe free food. Free beer, certainly.

But, the halcyon days of 2006 are behind us, and now we’re in the grim reality of 2007. Every city council seat up for grabs has mysteriously been vacated by the incumbents, leading the oddsmakers among us to scratch their heads, and the status quo’rs to gnash their teeth and wail. Speculation as to the reason for the incumbental evacuation has ranged from mysterious markings in crop circles, to vague mutterings by online fungi spores, to radiation spawned feelings of malaise.

Frankly, it’s all a moot point this year, because the only thing that anybody in the town gives two craps about, voting wise, is this big ass Target that is supposed to get built, so that we can all go and spend money. Yes, Oak Ridge is looking for money, and this year, the election is all about the benjamins…

As far as I know, frankly, the only things showing up on the ballot are three (3) comfortable seats on the city council, two (deux) ratty, sweat stained seats on the Oak Ridge School Board, and 1 (solo) big ass clear cut hill waiting for either a glorious future as a shopping center, or a somewhat less glorious future as a toxic waste dump.

Busting out of the gate for the three city council seats are no less that six challengers, and, as to be expected, damn near the only voting point on some of them are either support or opposition to the Crestpoint deal, because naturally, why bother having a well thought out and rounded political platform when you can just base your entire campaign on public opinion of a controversial retail development, right?

The contestants for the Oak Ridge City Council are (in a particular order, but not one that might make sense to you):

• Ray Evans
• Fred Childress
• Ellen Smith
• L.C. “Charlie” Hensley
• Ella Hawkins Dubose
• Tom Hayes
• Jerry R. Marrow

The folks getting on the school board wagon are:

• Aaron Wells
• Keys Fillauer
• Angi Agle

For those of you catching on, I’ve highlighted my choices in red.

I’d be remiss not to mention the judge “race”, where they want you to go vote for the only guy running (I didn’t get my paperwork in on time)

• Robert McNees III (highlighed in purple, for that “whatever” effect)

OK, so how do we form our judgements, you might ask?

Or, maybe you’re asking “Ellen Smith? Ellen Smith? AT, what the HELL? Are you getting paid?”

Yeah, Ellen Smith. For the same damn reason I voted for Nader in 2000, and flirted with Perot in whatever year, because government needs an occasional cog that damn well doesn’t fit. Ellen strikes me as a very conscientious person, which is something that rarely does poorly in public office (again, my Jimmy Carter comparison comes to mind), but she’s somebody that very clearly marches to a different drummer.

Unlike the Oak Ridge Observer, which endorsed everybody I did except Ellen, instead giving the nod to Ray Evans, I’m not basing my findings solely on the Crestpointe thing. Frankly, its kinda silly to do that, because Crestpointe wil be a moot issue by the time these folks take office.

Now, I don’t deny that I disagree with Ellen pretty strongly on that, but I agree with her, as with Hensley and Hayes, that the beauty of Oak Ridge is in the dichotomy of the intelligence and scientific aptitude of the place (in this I’m lumping the education, as I’ve long maintained that the schools are the crown jewel of the place), alongside the purposeful maintenance of the natural beauty of the region. I fear that a council too business friendly will forget about the attractiveness of the greenbelts, and the power of the view over Melton Hill and the Clinch River.

I think Ellen will be a reminder of that. I also like the fact that she appears to be somebody who won’t cow over to the federal presence in this town. Thats always nice.

Now, I’m damn tempted to vote along the FOR lines, because Ray Evans is a solid candidate. The reason I’m throwing him to the wolves is because he had his shot, and he left the council. Now, frankly, I’m not sure whether he vacated his seat by choice or by voter mandate, but I do know the council of the late 90s didn’t really do much that stands today, and no matter how good a guy he is, I’d rather see somebody else take a chance, rather than risk making mistakes of the past. I admit that I very likely could be a fool here, but hell, thats why I pay for a website.

I figure I’m backing Hensley and Hayes for similar reasons. I really like Hayes’ education background, I think its important to have somebody on the council who is darn near guaranteed to back the schools. I’m not saying I’m looking for somebody to rubber stamp whatever comes along from the board, but I’m saying its somebody who won’t have a chip on his shoulder about making a potentially unpopular decision that would aid the schools.

We could have used that last year, and I’m hoping we’re going to get that this year.

Incidentally, if I were voting for city council solely by yard signs, I’d be all up on Fred Childress. If there were a political campaign Oscar, man, he’d totally get the best sign award. I was trying to get a picture, because words can’t properly convey the mustard and ketchup colored adrenaline soaked action of his sign, but, alas, I never got around to it.

Enough on the city council. Drop me opinions, tell me I’m wrong, all that good stuff.

(Editors note: I was wrong. I wrote this the next day)

Moving on.

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School board!

Now, the Observer did a service by disclosing that Angi Agle is a friend of the editor, and Keys Fillauer is a minority investor. Thats good editorialship, and some damn fine objectivity, and I applaud Stan (the man) Mitchell out loud and on the street for that.

I’m not bound by those constraints, however, so I’ll be darned if I’m going to disclose that Angi Agle is a great friend. It has no bearing on the fact that she’s the flat out best person running for office here. It does have a bearing, however, on the fact that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she’s the best person.

Sure, she’s like me, she likes stirring up the occasional trouble. Shes speaks her mind, and isn’t one to mince words with political bandying. Where her power is, however, is in understanding the financial implications of decisions the board makes, and interpreting it both as a public official, and as a concerned parent. She’s somebody I can relate to, and that means something. More reasons about why I support her ended up in the paper the other day, so I’m not really going to get into it any more here, other than to say that I feel far more strongly in my opinion of Angi’s qualifications and ability than I do about putting a shopping center on a hill.

As for the other seat, I’m leaning toward Keys, simply because I’ve not been crazy with the way that Aaron Wells has presented himself. Here’s this sub 25 yr old dude, who starts campaigning for a school board seats by putting signs in local eateries, and seems to make a big point of pointing out the fact that he works for Linda Brown Reality.

He has no experience with any position as a public servant in Oak Ridge, or with anything remotely related to teaching/education. He’s a realtor, and he likes eating out. Thats pretty much it.

Never mind the Myspace stuff, the truth of the matter is that and I’d be curious to see what he does in the future, but its obvious to me that he doesn’t give much of a crap about the school system. He hasn’t attended school board meetings, he knows nothing about the BEP or the funding schemes. He’s against raising taxes, which indicates to me that he’s heavy handed about curriculum cuts, and that he’s unsuited for the job.

Simple as that. Nobody on the school board is suggesting raising taxes for the hell of it, they’re suggesting saving programs that help children. There’s no argument that somebody can make there, its either “I am for education programs at Oak Ridge Schools” or “Education programs at Oak Ridge Schools are not important to me.”

I don’t know Keys, but he wins by default here.

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Judge job: Write in Atomictumor. Hells yes.

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Crestpointe:

Do it. I’m voting for the referendum for the reasons that I’ve stated in the past, that bold moves are called for at this point.

There are enough people bringing up the voices on this, that I don’t really think mine is necessary.

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So, there you go.

The 2007 Atomictumor election post.

Now, because we’re a “value-added” website (and because you’ve read this far down), I’ll be bold enough to make my predictions:

City council: Evans, Hayes, and Hensley will win by at least a collective 80% margin.

School board: Fillauer with about 40%, Agle with about 40%, Wells with about 20%.

Judge: McNees with about 99.91%, AT with about 0.09% (woo)

Crestpointe referendum: Passes with a 65% margin.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Local, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.