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June 23, 2010

Candidate profile: Cowan wants to continue serving Whitfield County

Jamie Jones jamiejones@daltoncitizen.com

Mike Cowan has more than just ideas to improve the state.

The current Whitfield County commissioner already has 16 bills he’s ready to introduce if he’s elected to the state House of Representatives from District 6 in November.

“Every piece of legislation I have will either make government more efficient or will reduce costs in some way to the taxpayers,” said Cowan, 54.

Cowan faces incumbent Tom Dickson of Cohutta in the July 20 Republican primary. The winner takes on Democrat Tommy Patterson, who has no opposition in the primary. District 6 includes portions of Catoosa, Murray and Whitfield counties.

For starters, Cowan wants to change House of Representative terms from two to four years. He believes representatives are forced to divide their time between serving their constituents and running for re-election.

“The people of the state lose,” Cowan said. “They lose opportunity to have some continuity, some ideas to move forward over a period of time. It’s just too volatile to change out the whole leadership in a two-year cycle.”

Cowan was born in Oklahoma and moved to Whitfield County when he was 5. He went through the county school system, graduating from Westside High School. Now, he owns two local businesses, C&C Crane and Magna-Weld. He has been on the board of commissioners for the past 14 years but cannot run for re-election this fall. A state law does not allow a Whitfield County commissioner to serve more than three consecutive four-year terms. Cowan first filled an unexpired two-year term.

Cowan also wants to change the commissioner term limit law, but not because he is the first commissioner affected. He believes it is unfair to county residents and singles out commissioners when no other elected county officials have term limits.

“I’ve got real mixed emotions with term limits of any kind for any office, including the presidency or governorships or anything else,” Cowan said. “I think that robs the people of the constitutional right of one person, one vote.”

Last year, Cowan announced plans to run for the 9th District congressional seat vacated by Nathan Deal. But Cowan said the time and money needed for the campaign were obstacles.

“My main reason for wanting to run for state House is the fact that I have had the opportunity to spend the last 14 years representing the people of Whitfield County,” Cowan said. “And I would just love to be able to carry that forward and do that same type of representation at the state level. I think it’s crucial, crucial for state representatives, whether they be senators or in the House, that they have had local experience as a representative of some kind. I think there is no better preparation for a state-held office than to have had local experience first. Otherwise you get top down representation instead of bottom up.”

Cowan said he has the experience to be effective at the state level. He points to commissioners putting before county voters a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) in 2000 that resulted in water being extended throughout the county, a new jail, renovations to the courthouse, upgrades to the information technology department and more money for the Dalton-Whitfield Public Library.

Cowan has been recognized for his work at the county level. Georgia Trend magazine named him one of the state’s “Most Influential People” in 2008. He received the National Association of Counties’ 2007 County Courthouse Award for “outstanding governance and strong leadership.” He is the first district representative for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia. Also, he is the vice chairman of the court subcommittee for the National Association of Counties’ Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee.

Cowan is married and has three grown children.

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