Political Notebook: You vote, they sing
The second Taste of Macon-Bibb Follies will help raise money for the Georgia Civic Awareness Program for Students participants to take field trips and learn about government and civic engagement. What better way is there to get started than by watching elected officials sing, dance and otherwise perform?
This year’s event, Jan. 30 at the Douglass Theatre, will include performances by Mayor Pro-Tem Bert Bivins, Commissioners Scotty Shepherd and Larry Schlesinger, Mayor Robert Reichert, Macon-Bibb County government staff members, former elected officials from Macon and Bibb County, and representatives from the Macon Water Authority.
A reception starts at 6:30 p.m., with performances beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are available from commissioners and from the mayor’s office for $15.
A QUIET DEPARTURE
Warner Robins’ quiet city clerk of five years, Alton Mattox, has quietly retired.
Mayor Randy Toms said Mattox wanted it that way. Mattox came to City Hall after 38 years with the Houston County school system, including a role as principal of Pearl Stephens Elementary School.
Mattox was first appointed by then-Mayor Chuck Shaheen. Toms, who is beginning his second year in office, said he’s known Mattox since Toms was just 13 years old. He and City Council members took turns praising Mattox during Tuesday’s meeting.
Toms said the city has a good record of training successors, and he expects internal candidates will be qualified.
“I’m always confident in the people that work for the city,” he said.
DEMOCRATIC SLATE SET FOR MACON ELECTION
The Democratic Party of Georgia finalized its slate of candidates this week for the Jan. 31 State Committee elections in Macon, which begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Anderson Conference center, 5171 Eisenhower Parkway.
Contested positions include DuBose Porter and R.J. Hadley for chairman; Nikema Williams and Diane Evans for vice chairman; Miguel Camacho and Ted Terry for vice chairman for candidate recruitment; Sen. Lester Jackson, Akhtar Sadiq, Free Polazzo and Kipp Carr for treasurer; Don Wilson and Georgette Thaler for Congressional District 11 chairman; and Mellissa Prescott Crawford and Myesha Good for Congressional District 13 chairman.
ABOUT NOVEMBER 2016
A columnist for Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a production of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, found a historically strong link between presidential approval ratings and the success of any same-party successors.
If the relationship holds, the more popular President Barack Obama is in 2016, the greater a share of votes will be captured by the Democratic nominee. The less popular Obama is, Republicans will fare better.
A conclusion: “Barring a dramatic change in President Obama’s approval rating in the next two years, the outcome of the 2016 presidential election is likely to be very close.”
A safe bet is to expect lots of campaigning and rumbling.
TUNNEL TO NOWHERE
Macon already has what’s been dubbed the Bridge to Nowhere, a large extension to Eisenhower Parkway that ends almost before it begins. Sometime in the future Macon could temporarily have a tunnel to nowhere, or perhaps a tunnel that isn’t.
It all depends on how you describe things. Normally, tunnels are cut into existing mountains. Reader John Ricketson took exception to the Telegraph’s description of “a tunnel over Avondale Mill Road,” a road that without a tunnel would be covered by a planned Middle Georgia Regional Airport runway extension.
As Ricketson points out, it would be weird to build a tunnel above a road.
The plan would be to first cover the road, then build a small mountain over it, then build a hunk of runway on top of that. At some point, it becomes a tunnel.
Dear readers, if you can find a more succinct but accurate way of explaining the situation, please email mstucka@macon.com.
Writer Mike Stucka contributed to this report.
This story was originally published January 23, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Political Notebook: You vote, they sing ."