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Bruce Complains He’s Not “Old Guard”… But Then Why Does He Vote That Way?
By Jerry | September 2, 2007
The Following is an excerpt from a bigger article discussing politics from around Gwinnett County in today’s (9.2.07) Atlanta Journal Constitution:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/02/07
Snellville mayoral candidate: I’m not new or old guard:
Bruce Garraway was none too pleased by this newspaper’s characterization of him last week as the choice of Snellville’s “old guard.”
He is, but the Snellville city councilman and newly qualified mayoral candidate hates that label.
“My vision is to see only one guard in Snellville, and that is the ‘inclusive guard,’ where a mayor and City Council would include all citizens, newcomers and longtime residents, supporters and opponents,” said Garraway, in an op-ed column he wrote for AJC Gwinnett News last November.
When we brought up the old guard-new guard thing on Friday, the day after Garraway signed up to run for mayor, he fired off an angry e-mail.
“What kind of reporting is this?” Garraway wrote.
In fairness, Garraway and his incumbent opponent, Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer, were allies when the two ran for their current jobs in 2003. And Garraway’s Snellville roots don’t run that deep. He moved inside the Snellville city limits about a year before he was elected to the council.
Garraway and Oberholtzer had a falling out within the first year of taking office. Since then, Garraway has consistently sided with the voting bloc backed by supporters of former mayor Emmett Clower. Clower, who governed the city for 25 years, was ousted in 1999 by political newcomer Brett Harrell. Harrell, who served only one term as mayor, ran on a platform of change.
Garraway says he’s running as an agent of change, too. And he says he wants to be everybody’s choice.
But if Garraway is seeking to run a campaign of municipal unity, we’re not sure “inclusive guard” works. It seems like a mouthful.
How about “right guard”?…
To read the full article, click below on the URL:
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2007/09/02/gwinsider0902.html
Topics: Newspaper Articles |