Mayor Franklin calls Norwood ‘unqualified,’ makes much-needed return to blogging
Monday, October 26th, 2009
In March 2008, Mayor Shirley Franklin commented on a Fresh Loaf post about the sentencing hearing for her daughter, Kai Franklin Graham. We were surprised she’d jumped into the online fray, but we welcomed her input. But then for months she went silent, only holding something called “press conferences.” We didn’t hear much from the online persona known only as “Shirley” after that. And we became sad.
On Sunday, someone named “Shirley” commented on a post by the AJC’s Jim Galloway. In it, the poster says Mary Norwood, who according to polls has a big chance of becoming Atlanta’s next mayor, isn’t qualified for the position.
Galloway checked with City Hall to confirm it was Franklin. It was. From her comment:
I support candidates with vision, integrity and intelligence and I have voted for candidates with these 3 characteristics throughout my life. Mary Norwood has none of these. Therefore, I do not support her candidacy for mayor.
Should she win I will wish her well and continue my activism in politics and civic affairs. Race nor gender are the issues for me. Competency is. Norwood has not demonstrated vision, competence or integrity in her public life as an elected offical. Rather she has spent her time building a political network to run for mayor. It looks like she’ll be successful.
She’s provided no evidence in her service on the Council as to her competence to govern. She has not led on ethics or public policy. In fact she’s known for slips of the tongue about what she’ll do as mayor.
Read the rest of Franklin’s comment over at Galloway’s den of political intrigue.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Thanks to the 
