Ga. District 20 Senate candidates lay out positions in crowded field
The six Republicans who want to be the next state senator for an area stretching from Warner Robins to Dublin all rank education and job policy high on their priority lists.
As the Dec. 1 election fast approaches, the challenge for each of them -- Vivian Childs, Brooks Keisler, Jon Martin, James Pettis, Michael Reece and Larry Walker III -- is to stand out in a crowded field.
VIVIAN CHILDS
Childs said she knows what the community needs because she is on the ground working with people.
"The things that I do, there's not a paycheck at the end. I do it because I'm a servant," said Childs, a youth minister who volunteers in the community, including on Robins Air Force Base with the Officers' Spouses' Club and the Refuge at Robins. She also is a former 8th Congressional District GOP chairwoman, and through her business, she's a motivational speaker and GED coach.
The big issue in the district is jobs, she said, and making sure people in the district have job-ready skills.
"There are jobs available ... people do not have the skill sets. We need to do a better job of educating the community on what's available and making sure we provide those skills," she said.
Childs said low voter turnout proves that people are discouraged by politics.
"I want to give them hope again," she said.
BROOKS KEISLER
Keisler said he has a concrete plan that will allow voters to hold him accountable.
Most of his ideas involve education, because that's the prerequisite for getting good jobs. He said it's time for local control in schools.
"Local control would mean that the schools can determine what is being taught, what is being tested," Keisler said.
He likes benchmarks and accountability, but big standardized tests that measure students and teachers should be limited to fourth, seventh and 11th grades, he said. He argues that principals, administrators and teachers already know which students are doing well and which ones need help.
On taxes, he said he wants to see Georgia move away from income taxes and make up the difference by collecting pennies on consumption. Staple foods such as bread, milk and eggs should remain exempt from state taxes, Keisler said, but he would support taxes on things like candy bars if it would drive down income tax.
Also, alone among the candidates, he's not rejecting the idea of casino gambling outright. Keisler said he'd like to hear more about the tax revenue that could come from it.
JON MARTIN
Martin said his time on the Laurens County Commission recruiting businesses taught him what makes a good business environment and how government can help build on that, down to details such as sewer and broadband fiber.
What everybody wants to talk about is jobs, he said.
"I've been in the board room, and have sat with the CEOs, the CFOs, the COOs, listening to them talk about the things that are vitally important, what they're looking for in locating to Georgia," Martin said.
Robins Air Force Base is the district's economic anchor, he said, but not everybody can work there, so it's important to attract diverse industries.
The former private school teacher also said it's time to stick to some education standards.
"We've got to stop moving the goalpost on the teachers," said Martin, listing some of the programs they work under: No Child Left Behind, Common Core, Georgia Milestones. "They can't get their legs under them in order to teach without something else coming down the pipe with changes."
JAMES PETTIS
Pettis said he has the pulse of the whole district, starting with his school roots in Laurens County and through the businesses he owns in the other counties.
The next state senator needs to be focused on the economy and job creation, Pettis said. Part of that will be making sure that people can start down avenues to create their own businesses and that existing businesses can succeed.
"There's a lot of red tape that is not necessary, in my opinion," he said.
Pettis points to his own career. Once a teacher, he's now an entrepreneur who owns multiple businesses including several personal care homes. He said he has run into surprise costs when laws change.
Lower taxes are important, Pettis said, and so is "less government regulation, less government overreach."
In the education field, he wants more local control over what students learn and when they are tested. Students would benefit, he thinks, from more training in basic financial literacy and in soft skills, such as how to dress and act at job interviews.
MICHAEL REECE
Reece said his biggest concern is education and job openings.
"We don't have enough skilled tradesmen anymore. ... We're always looking for new help," said Reece, who owns several businesses, including a heating and air-conditioning company. On the other hand, he said he hears from some young people who they don't want to go to college. Instead, they want to go to work right after high school, he said.
"If we could take those same young people, in the last two years of school, that did not want to go to college, we could offer them a vocational training program in school," Reece said. "We're definitely needing these people."
He thinks vocational training should be part of criminal justice, too.
"If we educate them, they won't be repeat offenders," he said.
Reece also wants to make it easier for veterans to get state certification to practice the trades they learned in the military. Right now, only a handful of trades get expedited treatment from the state.
LARRY WALKER III
Walker said he can bring a level of experience, maturity and leadership to the state Senate that none of the other candidates has.
Besides running his own business, he has served on development authorities in Houston County and Perry. He promises that jobs and economic development would be his top priorities.
For him, that means first looking at Robins Air Force Base, both inside and outside the gate.
"If you work on supporting Robins, you're also improving your community," he said.
He wants to make sure the community is ready and that the base has plenty of missions to protect it against the base realignment and closure process the next time Washington starts looking around for facilities or missions to cut or close.
He also said the state should help fund the 21st Century Partnership, the group that advocates for the base, the same way the state spends money to lure new employers.
Walker said the state needs to simplify things, starting with a flatter tax code with fewer loopholes.
"We have too much bureaucracy and regulation," he said.
Senate District 20 covers all of Laurens, Pulaski and Bleckley counties plus most of Houston County. Except Martin, all the other candidates live in Houston County.
The Dec. 1 election is nonpartisan and open to all registered voters. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two finishers will head to a Dec. 29 runoff.
To contact writer Maggie Lee, e-mail mlee@macon.com.
Name: Vivian Childs
Age: 63
Party: Republican
Occupation: Owner of a personal motivation, academic advisory company
Previous elected office: None
Name: Brooks Keisler
Age: 34
Party: Republican
Occupation: Executive vice president of an education software company
Previous elected office: None
Name: Jon Martin
Age: 43
Party: Republican
Occupation: Director of a pharmaceutical company
Previous elected office: Elected to the Laurens County Commission in 2012
Name: James Pettis
Age: 36
Party: Republican
Occupation: Restaurant and personal care home company owner
Previous elected office: None
Name: Mike Reece
Age: 54
Party: Republican
Occupation: Owner of multiple businesses in heating and air, grading and helicopter flight
Previous elected office: None
Name: Larry Walker III
Age: 50
Party: Republican
Occupation: Insurance agency owner
Previous eleced office: None
This story was originally published November 22, 2015 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Ga. District 20 Senate candidates lay out positions in crowded field ."