In the third installment in our series of videos chronicling the bizarre trials and unusual tribulations of political candidates you’ve probably never heard of, we bring you Dave Walker — “over-educated citizen,” longtime City Council heckler, and lover of scrubs.
Kyle Keyser, in front of City Hall
Kyle Keyser’s surprising announcement that he was running for mayor of Atlanta invigorated an already dramatic campaign race — but it came with a catch. In order to officially enter the race, Keyser had to raise the $4,425 filing fee to get on the ballot.
And he had to do it in 48 hours.
The following is an account of the emotional days leading up to the announcement and the critical hours that followed in which the unlikely upstart candidate used Facebook, Twitter, Freedom Rock and an iPhone app to rally a community and help him get in the game.
Friday, Aug. 28
6:30 p.m: Keyser speaks at a rally at Bessie Branham Park in Kirkwood, held in response to the shooting of a 55-year-old man who was mowing his lawn.
This is when things really started to kick in. There were probably 200 people and I got up to speak at the end, and I just looked out and saw all these eyes looking at me and I just felt this sadness in the community, like they’d been broken by this incident, and a little hurt more so than angry. I thought to myself, “This is eight months from the time I started [Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC)]. How many more rallies do there have to be? How many more people are going to be affected by this?” That’s when I started to strongly consider running.
Monday, Aug. 31
3:21 p.m.: Facebook update: “ain’t gonna do it.”
I was not going to run at this point. But I was still flirting with the idea; maybe I should do it.
6 p.m.: Keyser speaks at another Kirkwood rally, this one organized by ATAC, in front of Vinocity.
The Monday rally was what put me over. I sat on my pile of signs, cleaning up, and talked to people who attended the rally and lived in the neighborhood. I just felt compelled to do something. I examined the situation and looked at myself and was like, “What can I do to affect the most change?” It was really like a compulsion. I’m like, “I have to do something.”
Then I decided, “I’m gonna do it.”
Georgia Equality, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, has announced their support for Lisa Borders for mayor and Ceasar Mitchell for city council President.
If you need the latest on either the mayoral or city council race, Scott Henry abides.
Here’s Georgia Equality press release:
At a time when public safety and the need for strong leadership are on the minds of all Atlantans, the Georgia Equality Board of Directors has voted to endorse Lisa Borders in the 2009 election for Atlanta Mayor, as well as Ceasar Mitchell for the position of Atlanta City Council President.
Borders, the current City Council President, stands out among a group of highly-qualified mayoral candidates running this year. The Georgia Equality Board of Directors found Borders to be the candidate with the best fluency and understanding of the issues important to LGBT Atlantans, as well as the candidate best-equipped to govern a city in need of a decisive leader with keen insight into public safety and municipal management.
Retired Georgia-Pacific Corp. Chairman and CEO and private equity honcho A.D. “Pete” Correll is the latest local bigwig said to be eyeing the Atlanta mayor’s race.
Correll, you will recall, took on the role earlier this year as savior of Grady Hospital, helping to manage the mostly bloodless power transfer from a community-based board to one headed by top business leaders. Under Correll’s guidance, the money-losing public hospital has been awarded a $200 million Woodruff grant and hired a new CEO.
We’d heard Correll mentioned before as a potential candidate for mayor, but frankly hadn’t given it much thought because of his advanced age – 68 – and the perception that he’s committed himself to resuscitating Grady, a project that could take the rest of his natural life.
In a few hours, the latest round of head-butting between the Atlanta City Council and Mayor Shirley Franklin will commence. This time, the issue is the recently shuttered Fire Station #7, which the mayor ordered closed in July as part of $21.6 million in city budget cuts. Located on Whitehall Street just south of the I-20 overpass, #7 had been the city’s oldest fire station still in service.
Councilman Ceasar Mitchell has proposed legislation to reopen #7 by skimming the $1.12 million in needed operating funds from a number of other sources, such as the annual budgets for consulting services, travel and office supplies. which held the distinction of being Atlanta’s oldest station still in service, (more…)
Being a Superior Court judge is a pretty sweet gig. You set your own hours. Everyone calls you “Your Honor.” And when you hold people in contempt, they go to jail. It’s not just the job of a lifetime – it’s the job for a lifetime.
So what would induce someone to voluntarily leave these perks behind and jump back into the job market? Well, in one case we can think of, the goal would be to trade a seat on the bench for the throne in City Hall.
Yes, it seems that Marvin Arrington, former City Council president and current Fulton Superior Court judge, is planning to make his second bid for the city’s top office.
The departure of Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders from the Atlanta mayor’s race earlier this week has, by political strategists’ calculation, left behind a large window of opportunity for the right candidate.
Specifically, we mean someone backed by the Atlanta business community – anointed by the Chamber of Commerce, as it were. Borders, a protege of mega-developer Tom Cousins, had been that person, but now she’s out.
Therefore, the buzz of the moment has concentrated on a well-known and universally respected chief executive, a man of unique achievement who’s arguably done more than anyone since Ted Turner to restore the vibrancy of Atlanta’s downtown business district.
Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders is expected to announce shortly that she will discontinue her campaign for mayor. Borders, one of the favorites in an already-crowded field of hopeful successors to Shirley Franklin, became the first declared candidate in April 2007.
No, her decision has nothing to do with the Atlanta Dream’s terrible WNBA record (she’s a team advisor), or her rumored fling with ex-presidential candidate John “Loverboy” Edwards (OK, we made that part up).
Actually, if we may be serious for a moment, we’re told Borders is stepping aside to spend more time with her ailing parents, Dr. William H. and Gloria T. Borders.
Last December, Borders left her position as senior vice president of marketing and communications at real-estate giant Cousins Properties to head her own consulting firm, LMB LLC and concentrate on her mayoral campaign. She will continue her term as Council president. No word yet on whether she plans to run for re-election or rejoin Cousins.
Add one Jesse Spikes to the long list of folks planning to run for Atlanta mayor next year.
No, we weren’t familiar with Mr. Spikes, either, so we gave him a call. Spikes, 57, is a former Rhodes Scholar and a senior partner with McKenna Long & Aldridge, one of the city’s largest law firms. Although he served for a time as Evander Holyfield’s business attorney, he is not a well-known figure in Atlanta – but he does have an interesting back story.
Born on a farm in Henry County, the youngest of 13 children, to parents who never went to high school, Spikes’ future seemed understandably limited. But he was sent to school in New England by A Better Chance, a private educational foundation. Spikes went on to attend Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School and, courtesy of a Rhodes Scholarship, Oxford University.
Spikes, who specializes in business law, says he’d always expected to go to work in the public sector to give back to society, but hadn’t found the right opportunity. He now believes he’s found that chance.
“I think I’m the manager the city needs,” he says. “I’m someone who intends to focus on the nuts and bolts, day-in-day-out job of running the city.”
As someone who’s never run for public office, Spikes has his work cut out for him. So far, the field of mayoral candidates looks to include a number of seasoned political veterans: Council President Lisa Borders; State Sen. Kasim Reed; Council members Caesar Mitchell and Mary Norwood; and Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts.
Buckhead City Councilwoman Mary Norwood — she of the first-lady-style suits and helmet hair — today kicked off her long-expected run for Atlanta mayor with an apparent makeover. Judge for yourself:
Before and………….After
OK, so her new look isn’t the big news here, but it will certainly be noted by anyone who’s grown accustomed over the years to Norwood’s dependable Talbots-and-Aqua Net aesthetic.
Anyway, the energetic councilwoman announced the rollout of a 120-member “exploratory committee” to survey the prospects of a Norwood mayoral campaign. Since she’s spent the past year holding town-hall meetings in virtually every neighborhood in town, we assume the committee is a formality and she’s already made up her mind to run in next year’s race.
Her likely opponents include Council President Lisa Borders, Councilman Ceasar Mitchell and state Sen. Kasim Reed. Possibles include Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts and talk-radio host Clark Howard.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Clark Howard to announce he’s running for mayor.
We’re not implying he won’t do it, mind you. We’re just saying that holding your breath would get mighty uncomfortable, because it’s likely to be awhile until Atlanta’s celebrity pinch-penny decides whether to get into the race.
In fact, from what Howard tells us, even if he decides to throw his hat into the ring, he’ll be cutting things very close. Because of syndication contracts, he’s obligated to do his daily radio show until March 2009. And since Howard feels it wouldn’t be fair to begin campaigning until he leaves the air, that would likely put him a year behind some of the other candidates. So far, only Council President Lisa Borders has declared, but others, including state Sen. Kasim Reed and Councilman Ceasar Mitchell, are expected to follow suit in coming weeks.
But Howard won’t wait that long to make a decision about the race. Because of his contractual situation, he’ll need to make up his mind no later than Sept. 26, he tells CL.
Which way is he leaning? We wish we knew. But he did offer insight into one important factor.
“My wife is not on board yet,” he says. “Unless that changes, it ain’t happening.”
If you want to ask Howard what he would do as mayor, you can attend the Buckhead Business Association’s annual luncheon next Friday, where he will be the keynote speaker. But hurry, the $75 tickets are going fast.
As we see who’s already thinking about running for Atlanta mayor in 2009, it’s also interesting to note who’s not running. One name that has often come up in discussions is that of at-large Councilman Lamar Willis, who has spent lavishly on billboards to boost his citywide name recognition. Willis has told colleagues that he’s shifted his sights to the council president’s job, which will be left open as Lisa Borders goes for the mayor’s office.
Another short-lister has been former state Sen. Sam Zamarripa. But Sam Zam recently told CL that his current job overseeing a large private equity fund leaves him little time to pursue politics. As of now, he says, he doesn’t see himself jumping into the mayor’s race.
There are also a couple more names that should be added to the field of potential candidates. One is state Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, who has positioned himself as a defender of the poor and downtrodden with such legislation as his anti-payday lending bill.
Another rumored possibility is parking-deck magnate Michael Robison, president of Lanier Parking Systems. While Robison has been too behind-the-scenes to have wide name recognition, he’s well-respected in the business community, which is expected to rally behind a chosen candidate in ‘09. On the other hand, there’s a good chance that the Chamber of Commerce candidate could be Lisa Borders, who works for and has the backing of influential über-developer Tom Cousins.
If celebrated WSB tightwad Howard does decide to throw his hat into the ring, however, many prognostications will need to be thrown out the window.
