AJC > NorthSide > Blog > Archives > 2006 > November > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USA team of candidates in Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They’ve been called the Gang of Six.
They are six candidates for Johns Creek City Council, and they’re running as a bloc, one in each of the city’s six districts.
Some of the other candidates are bothered, claiming the six have an unfair advantage.
The six are bound by several cords: all served on the Committee for Johns Creek; all are supported by incoming Mayor Mike Bodker; they have attended various functions together – often without other candidates being invited; and they share the same political consultant, Mark Rountree of Landmark Communications, who happens to be a University of Georgia fraternity brother of Bodker’s.
The six are: Post 1, Randall Johnson; Post 2, Dan McCabe; Post 3, Wayne Carrel; Post 4, Ivan Figueroa; Post 5, Liz Hausmann; Post 6, Bev Miller. There are 17 candidates in all, excluding the mayor. Bodker is unopposed.
Some Johns Creek residents are concerned that the Johns Creek mayor’s post, already one of the most powerful in Georgia, will be more powerful if Bodker is surrounded by supporters.
Bodker, who has voiced his support for the six at private functions, said he believes they would be an efficient team. He said they don’t all agree on everything, but are able to disagree in a civil manner. He said he wants to avoid the kind of political dysfunction that plagues Fulton County.
Bodker also said he believes he can work with anyone who is elected, even though he may have supported the opponent.
Post 1 candidate Randall Johnson said the six candidates came together because they knew each other from their time on the Committee for Johns Creek, and got along with one another. He said he approached the others about introducing him to voters in their districts and promised to do the same for them in his.
The networking has worked in sign placement as well. The Rivermont Country Club on Nesbit Ferry Road has signs for the six all in a row. Three signs for another candidate were on the ground. Chris Cupit, a member of the Governor’s Commission for Johns Creek and owner of Rivermont Country Club, said Hausmann asked for permission to erect a sign, and then Miller. Eventually all six had asked. He said their sign placements were not endorsements by him, that he would allow other candidates to put their signs up if they asked first.
Evan Vayhinger, candidate for District 4, had three signs amid the others, but they were lying on the ground. Cupit said Vayhinger had asked and been given permission to put up signs.
Johnson said he selected Rountree after asking around for a consultant to help him. The bloc of six wasn’t a defined campaign strategy, he said.
The most overt group campaigning they’ve done occurred a couple of weeks ago in a full-page advertisement in the Johns Creek Herald. The six candidates all agreed to split the $1,200 cost.
Photo caption: Signs for six Johns Creek candidates who are campaigning as a team, at Rivermont, a subdivision off Nesbit Ferry Road. Photo by Doug Nurse/AJC.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Johns Creek
Comments
By JS
November 2, 2006 10:23 PM | Link to this
The labeling of the so called Gang of Six is an unfair label. These six candidates { Miller, Carrel, McCabe, Johnson,Figueroa, and Hausmann} have worked hard to promote the new city of Johns Creek from the getgo. They are all qualified in their own right to be on the Johns Creek city council and I, personally, will vote for all of these six candidates. Let the other candidates bellache over signs lined up and events they were not invited to, these six candidates are going to win by their own merits. Each is a dedicated worker in their own right.
By S. Krizan
November 3, 2006 10:10 AM | Link to this
I always believe that “birds of a feather flock together”. In this instance it is 6 “birds” that have struggled to get Johns Creek to where it is today. 6 “birds” that have common goals and ideas for Johns Creek. 6 “birds” that will get my vote.
By Sherrill Moss
November 3, 2006 08:35 PM | Link to this
I attended the first debate between the candidates for Johns Creek. I listened carefully to each question and answer offered by every candidate participating. Each candidate was given a grade based on their answer and their understanding of the issues presented. There were five whose answers were far superior to those offered by the other candidates. One candidate was unable to attend, however I was quite familiar with that candidate due to previous interactions and did not form an opinion until I heard what the other person running for that position had to say. After the debate, I tallied the scores for each candidate and made selections for each post based on these results. These six candidates, in my opinion, represent the best choices for Johns Creek. They have an excellent understanding of the issues facing Johns Creek. Also, these candidates worked tirelessly for the formation of this new city. Without their efforts, Johns Creek might not even exist. To disparage these candidates as stated in this article is really bizarre. Don’t you agree that those that worked the hardest to establish Johns Creek would also work the hardest to make certain the first critical years are successful? I think a better article would have been to focus on how hard these citizens worked to make the city of Johns Creek come to fruition and now, if elected, they will continue to make Johns Creek the premier city of Georgia! These six have my vote and I hope they get yours!