RICHARDSON: The calm before the storm

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I, for one, did my normal overeating thing. It's the one time of year where I wish I had more than one stomach, like a camel, giraffe, or a cow for that matter. But the downside of that is I'd then have to lose that much more weight. I have enough problems keeping one stomach in check.

Now with Thanksgiving gone and Christmas barreling toward us, I hate to be the harbinger of doom, but I would be shirking my responsibilities if I did not tell you what's just on the other side of the new year that's quickly approaching. The year 2016 will be, politically, like none we've seen around here and has little to do with the race for president, though entertaining, in either party.

Certainly, with "The Donald" coming to Macon on Monday, people are excited. Why, I don't know. He's leading in the polls now, but if he is the Republican nominee, there will be a Democrat in the White House come January 2017. Take it to the bank. There are only two Republicans who can heal the rift that has been created by this immigration brouhaha: Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio. Quite frankly, Republicans have managed an almost impossible feat. They've ticked off just about everybody. Trump added the disabled to the list last week.

National politics is not what this column is about. It is about local politics. For the first time, we will have national, state, local partisan and nonpartisan races all in the same year, Confusing? Certainly.

The mayor and nine commission seats could be decided by — and I bet you didn't realize this — May 24. At the latest, if there is a runoff, July 26. And it's not just the consolidated government that's on that schedule. Six of the eight school board seats are up for grabs — all nonpartisan.

As a side note, I have no idea — except out of an abundance of public service spirit — why anyone would want to run for the school board. The hours are lousy, there is hardly any pay ($7,200 a year) and all you catch is grief. School board members are the lowest paid elected body in the county. Even the Water Authority board pays $3,600 a year more than the school board.

Also on the nonpartisan election list for next year are the offices of judge of the probate court, coroner and Water Authority, Districts 2 and 3.

OK, I can see the synapses of your brains asking the question: If the Bibb County Board of Education and the Water Authority had the brains to stagger their terms so there wouldn't be the possibility of having all of the institutional knowledge walk out the door at once, why didn't the same thought process apply to the mayor and commission? Short answer. The mayor and commission didn't have anything to do with it. You'd have to ask the Grand High Poohbahs in the General Assembly about that one.

But in 2016, that will be just one of our worries. There are still the partisan constitutional offices that are on a slightly different schedule. Those offices are: Clerk of Superior Court, Sheriff, Solicitor General and Tax Commissioner (why these offices are partisan is beyond my understanding).

Here is where the confusion will seep in. On March 1, we head to the polls for the presidential primaries. On May 24, we go back to select our mayor and nine commissioners, six school board members, probate judge, coroner and Water Authority seats. It's also primary election day for the partisan office of sheriff, clerk of Superior Court, solicitor and tax commissioner, plus state and federal offices. If there is need for a runoff we return to the voting booths on July 26 for the general primary and nonpartisan runoffs.

On Nov. 8, we'll choose a new president of the United States, U.S. senator, state and local partisan office holders. And if there is a need for a runoff, check Dec. 6 for state and local races and Jan. 10, 2017, for federal offices. Whew.

The bottom line is, we will have a mayor and commission by the evening of July 26. Qualifying for the local offices begins in a blink of an eye between March 7 and March 11.

Do you want some other dates to remember? Early voting will begin for the presidential primary on Feb. 8.

If you were hoping to escape some of the political noise? fuhgeddaboudit.

Charles E. Richardson is The Telegraph's editorial page editor. He can be reached at 478-744-4342 or via email at crichardson@macon.com. Tweet@crichard1020.

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "RICHARDSON: The calm before the storm ."