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May 24, 2008

Lawmakers not feeling pressure this time to fill DOT post

By Charles Oliver

The last time General Assembly members from the 9th Congressional District met to elect a representative to the state transportation board, they found themselves in the middle of a squabble between Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glen Richardson. Richardson later stripped several House members of their chairmanships of various committees after they defied his orders and voted to re-elect Mike Evans.

That was in January. Evans stepped down in April, citing a budding romance with transportation commissioner Gena Abraham. On Thursday, lawmakers from the 9th District will return to Atlanta to elect someone to fill the rest of Evans’ five-year term, and local members of the Legislature say the atmosphere is very different this time.

“There has been no indication of any kind of pressure at all,” said Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta.

Dickson says Perdue, Richardson and other state leaders have said only that they want lawmakers to find a consensus candidate.

“It’s my understanding that (Perdue and Richardson) are going to stay out of it as far as encouraging people to vote one way or another,” said Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton. “None of them have encouraged me to vote one way or another.”

Lawmakers say at least five individuals have thrown their hats into the ring for the post. Those include two men from Whitfield County, attorney and former state Sen. Steve Farrow and businessman and Republican Party activist Phil Neff.

“The candidates have been interviewing us,” said Rep. Roger Williams, R-Dalton. “It has been continual calls soliciting our support.”

Lawmakers say there’s no clear front-runner now.

“That’s something we’ll just have to think about. Right now, I’m undecided,” said Williams. “Hopefully, we’ll get someone from the northwest corner. It’s been a while since we’ve had a representative from this area on the DOT board.”

Thomas said he believes it will take at least two, possibly three, ballots to pick a winner but not much more than that.

“It will probably be decided within an hour’s time,” he said.

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