Yesterday afternoon the Kimball Bridge Coalition hosted the first Alpharetta candidate forum. It was a terrific event that was organized well. Big kudos are due to Kyle Caswell for moderating. He did so without bias, stayed on schedule and kept things clean.

A few things stood out in my mind. First, I thought the candidates for council positions, as a group, were far more energetic and optimistic than their mayoral counterparts. DeRito, Paine and Belle Isle all seemed subdued in their speaking. Show some excitement, guys!

DeRito was the only candidate for mayor to go on the offensive. He took Belle Isle to task on traffic light technology. It is unfortunate he did so in his closing comment which occurred after Belle Isle’s. DeRito also attacked Paine on the city’s lack of response to ticketgate. In my opinion, none of the candidates for mayor have room to be attacking each other on this issue.

Ticketgate

And speaking of tickets… this issue came up as expected. I continue to be disappointed in the city’s response. The standard answer to this issue is 1) become more transparent and 2) blame the AJC. I’ve yet to hear anyone in city government offer anything close to an apology. Disappointing.

T-SPLOST

Nearly every candidate came out against the T-SPLOST in its current form. What Alpharetta needs is a mayor who will join the conversation. Johns Creek, Roswell and Sandy Springs are all neck deep into the regional transportation discussion. Alpharetta, at the center of north Fulton, is absent. Perhaps this is due to having a lame duck mayor?

Urbanization

I’m encouraged to see this offered as a topic and give credit to Caswell for asking the candidates. I hope this continues to be an issue in the campaign. Some candidates danced around the issue a bit. The voters would be better served with clear answers here. How about asking candidates how they would have voted on Peridot?

Post 1 Race

Donald Michell wasn’t going to let the issue of his Democratic voting record hang out there. He addressed it right away, claiming he was crossing over to influence the Democratic vote. I continue to have doubts about this answer. One Democratic primary he voted in was 2002. Roy Barnes and Max Cleland both ran unopposed at the top of the Democratic primary ballot in 2002. Which race was he attempting to influence? Keep in mind that while voting for Democrats he was missing the contested GOP primaries that nominated Sonny Perdue and Saxby Chambliss. Most true Republicans would not miss the chance to participate in these two primaries. Nevertheless, Alpharetta voters will have to decide if this is an important issue to them. It may not be.

On the other hand, I don’t believe Ron Carter had a good debate. He attempted to own the Westside/GA-9 highway reroute idea. In my opinion the strategy backfired on him as this idea has been around for some time. With Mitchell so involved with downtown issues, I think Carter would do better to find another issue in which to distinguish himself.

Candidates from Milton?

I saw Lance Large at the debate. I find it odd that he would take time away from meeting voters in his own city to watch Alpharetta’s proceedings.

So there you have it. Overall it was a quiet start to the campaign debate season. There are two more debates planned in the coming weeks. To those of you who were there… let me know what you thought!

The Kimball Bridge Coalition will host a candidate forum on Sunday October 9th. The size and length of this forum should give voters their best glimpse at the candidates to date. The event is being held at the Embassy Suites on North Point and is scheduled to last three and a half hours! Voters will have a chance to meet each candidate in addition to hearing questions and answers on the issues.

I’m still not sure if I personally can make the event but I hope to!

What: Kimball Bridge Coalition Candidate Forum

Where: Embassy Suites North Point

When: Sunday October 9 from 1:00 until 4:30

Who: Eight of the nine candidates will participate

It’s pretty common in the business world. Companies buy season tickets to sporting events, theaters, concert venues, and other functions. They are used for entertaining clients or other purposes. And when seats are left over, many times employees get lucky and find themselves on the receiving end of a freebie. Nearly every company I’ve ever worked for has done this.

This practice is acceptable because one function of business is to enrich the lives of employees. They do this by paying salaries, providing benefits and other perks.

If this is the case then why is the public up in arms over Alpharetta’s ticket scandal? The difference is that city council members are not employees. They are public figures that are hopefully (or ideally) acting as servant leaders. They should not strive for, nor should the city provide, perks as a result of their service.

After thinking on this issue, I’ve come to a realization. The city council of this town operates as if they are executives of a company. It explains the initial reaction of Mayor Letchas, councilman Paine and others. They saw absolutely nothing wrong with receiving tickets as a part of their duties. It’s a mentality that permeates Alpharetta’s city hall and is the result of extremely close ties to the city’s business community. With so many of Alpharetta’s leaders coming up through the ranks of the Chamber of Commerce, you can see why they might have trouble shifting gears between corporate executive and public servant.

But they were to promote the venue and become familiar with it, right? A bogus argument that thankfully I’m hearing less and less of. If the ACVB wanted to promote the venue, they would have been better off sending extra tickets to radio stations, media outlets and, dare I say it, even bloggers. I expect politicians to promote local attractions and businesses anyway. Most who love this area, as I do, would gladly promote attractions without the need for freebies. This argument holds no merit in my mind.

Candidate Reactions

This stuff is changing quickly, yet I don’t think anyone is handling this controversy well. I’ve yet to see anyone come close to an apology.

Let’s go over the candidate spin…

Cheryl Oakes - She’s probably in the most trouble. Oakes is on the CVB board and took the most tickets of anyone. The AJC reported that some of her tickets were given to clients of her personal business. Taxpayer funded bling going to your clients… not good. And as best I can tell, I don’t see where she’s said much publicly about this.

David Belle Isle - Took the least tickets among the candidates for mayor, although his service on the council was interrupted. He was the first to go public with his repayment of ticket costs. But according to the AJC, he only initially refunded $75 for each ticket, far less than face value. At the same time, Belle Isle’s press release made the claim of “moral authority.” I’ve gotta push back on that insinuation. A person of moral authority in this matter would have refused the tickets in the first place.

Doug DeRito and Jim Paine – They both took a fair number of tickets. Makes sense that they were working on the down-low to pay the tickets without a lot of fanfare. Too late. They also took Belle Isle to task for issuing his payback challenge knowing that they were in the process of paying. Was it grandstanding on the part of Belle Isle? Probably. In my opinion, none of the candidates for mayor handled this well. I’m glad I’m not voting in this race.

Arthur Letchas - He’s coming to the close of a long career in Alpharetta politics. This issue could very well be the last official matter he deals with of any consequence. His response has been very disappointing.

Mayor Letchas; defending this practice isn’t worth the price of tarnishing your long legacy of service to Alpharetta. Do the right thing, sir.

Challengers - Voters these days dislike incumbents anyway. This scandal and the clumsy response by most involved gives challengers more ammo. It’s been fun watching all this play out. Pass the popcorn.

As part of my candidate vetting effort I’ve obtained voter lists from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. I’ve looked at every candidate running for Alpharetta city office this year to see if they participate in primaries, mid-term and general elections. This should be an easy test of anyone running for public office. However occasionally candidates fail to fulfill this most basic of civic duties.

And as a general rule, nearly every candidate for Alpharetta city office this year regularly votes. That holds true for the incumbents as well at the newcomers. I will note two exceptions…

Donald Mitchell (D?-Alpharetta)

Is he a Democrat? While living in Clark County Georgia, Mitchell choose to vote in the 1998 and 2002 Democratic primaries as well as the 2004 Presidential primary that nominated John Kerry. It’s a curious fact considering north Fulton’s overwhelming Republican majority. And while city elections are usually non-partisan, voters may wish to consider this fact when deciding the post 1 race. Principals of limited government and lower taxes are pretty big on people’s minds these days. It would behoove Mr. Mitchell to explain his participation in Democratic primaries to the mostly Republican voters his wishes to represent.

According to the data I’ve obtained, Mitchell did not vote at all in Georgia from 2004 until 2008. From that point he began voting in Fulton County. It’s worth noting that in 2010 he flip flopped and voted in the Republican primary.

Hans Appen

He registered to vote here in Alpharetta when he turned 18. However, Appen has never voted in Fulton County. I asked him about this via email last week. He explained that he voted while enrolled in college in Tallahassee and Athens. I do not have the means to verify.