Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — On Tuesday, December 01, 2009, three races for the City Council of Atlanta were decided. Councilman Ceasar Mitchell was elected Council President; Aaron Watson was elected to the Post 2-at-large seat, and Alex Wan was elected to the District 6 seat.

MITCHELL WINS COUNCIL PRESIDENT RACE

Mitchell won the Council President race with about 55% of the vote, compared to 45% for Councilwoman Clair Muller, for the seat being vacated by Lisa Borders [who ran for Mayor and lost in the General Election].

“I’m excited, honored, and in many ways humbled,” Mitchell told Atlanta Progressive News. “When you deliver a clear, consistent, positive message, backed up by experience and action-oriented results, people will respond.”

“We assembled a wonderful campaign team that stayed on task and really turned it up a notch in the Run-off,” Mitchell said.

“First and foremost, I’ll be making sure the City Council is well-prepared and positioned to fulfill its role as the governing body of the City of Atlanta. That means the right committee assignments and the right leadership in place, that we establish a strong line of communication to the executive branch, and we make sure we have requisite resources in place to allow us to do the Council’s work effectively and efficiently,” Mitchell said.

“That means the right support staff, great technology and communications, and procedural improvements,” Mitchell said.

Ideas that Mitchell has for the Council include “hiring an ad hoc outside legislative counsel, an outside financial person, and we’ve got to make sure every Council member has enough staff. There might need to be a compliance officer all Council Members can share.” Currently, the Council has to count on the City Attorneys for legal advice, but the city attorneys are primarily responsible to the Mayor.

Mitchell said he will maintain his full-time job as an attorney at Epstein Baker and Green. “That is a full-time professional pursuit. City Council President is a part-time job. I will still continue with the work-load I’ve been doing, but will carve out time for some ambitious goals.”

Mitchell spoke with Muller after the Run-off “to tell her much much I respected her and admired her for her service and how much I appreciated her as a Council person. She served with distinction and dedication. I hope we can continue to work together in the future,” Mitchell said.

In all of the three citywide Run-off races, it is noteworthy that the Black, male candidate won [or is currently leading] in each case: including Kasim Reed, Mitchell, and Watson. Due to historical trends of racially divided voting patterns, this suggests that the Mayor’s race could have impacted other races on the ticket, or vice versa.

“We probably both benefited from increased turnout on the South side and the East side. I think I also benefited from increased turnout on the North side. My percentage of the vote went up in every District, most dramatically in District 7,” Mitchell said.

“We realized our voters were all over the city. We knew if we were going to win the run-off, we had to go back all over the city, and just not be forfeiting any community,” Mitchell said.

“We’ve got to get out of our silos of race, and gender, sexual orientation, geography, education, class, and even political party. We’ve got to really figure out how we’re going to address together public safety, transportation, water, health care, education. We cannot address issues if we’re stuck in silos. If we’re not careful we can see further polarization,” Mitchell said. “I’m going to bring together stakeholders to discuss getting out of our silos.”

“We’ve also got to improve the relationship between our police department and our community. I was at the vigil for Kathryn Johnston last week. I thought about the tragic event from this perspective: here we are, an elder in our community being killed by police that are there to keep us safe,” Mitchell said.

“That is a terrible contradiction. The community that is suspicious of and resentful of the police, who hates to see them coming, and on the other hand, is begging for police presence. One of the things I want to do is create a conversation, a special initiative to improve relations between the police and the community,” Mitchell said.

“I’d start with the Citizens Review Board. I also want to coordinate a ropes course with REDDOG police and community youth,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also said “City Hall is the people’s hall. I believe people have to have the opportunity to have their voice heard. I’m going to recommend not eliminating the two minute time limits for public speaking, but having a videographer there who can take the rest of your comments after your two minutes is expired, and those videos can be available to Council Members and the public.”

Mitchell said he did not intend to revisit the rules prohibiting applause or expressions of emotions by the public because he says he has rarely in the past cracked down on such examples of public participation. “My personal opinion is, I’ll leave it as it is. When I was Acting Council President, if people applauded, I never stopped it unless it was done in a malicious way.”

Atlanta Progressive News endorsed Mitchell in this race.

Muller did not return three voice messages seeking comment.

WATSON WINS POST 2-AT-LARGE

Watson won the Post 2-at-large race with about 55% of the vote, compared to 45% for Amir Farokhi, for the seat being vacated by Mary Norwood, who is about to be in a recount with Reed for Mayor.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed, but I’m unbowed. I’m very proud of the campaign we ran. We had 32,000 votes after starting from scratch with a funny name,” Farokhi told Atlanta Progressive News.

“Our vision of progressive politics resonated with the city, that we need solutions before the politics of division,” Farokhi said.

“The Mayor’s race drove turnout much higher than anyone expected. It really changed the dynamics of things in an unexpected way,” Farokhi said.

“Kasim had a tremendous Get out the Vote effort. I think that helped other folks down the ticket [Mitchell, Watson]. We lost on turnout. It wasn’t on the message we lost on, it was dynamics that were out of our control,” Farokhi said.

Farokhi did do quite well given the fact that he was new to politics, whereas Watson had previously served on the Atlanta School Board and the Atlanta Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. Farokhi did not have the kind of deep community roots Watson had developed over time, particularly in South Atlanta.

Farokhi said he did speak with Watson. “I called to say congratulations… and told him it was an honor to run alongside him and it was good he ran an above-board campaign and I wished him well.”

As for what is next for Farokhi, “I don’t know. I’m still very passionate about the city and I want to find a way to continue making sure the city fulfills its potential and becomes one of the most livable cities in the country. I’m going to continue to weigh my options. December is job-hunting month,” Farokhi said.

General Election candidate Weslee Knapp had endorsed Watson in the run-off.

Atlanta Progressive News endorsed Farokhi.

WAN WINS DISTRICT 6 RACE

Wan won the District 6 race with 60% of the vote, compared to 40% for Liz Coyle, for the seat being vacated by Anne Fauver, who is retiring.

“I’m definitely pleased. I think I’m just relieved the campaign is over and there’s a positive result. I’m ready to do the work now,” Wan told APN. “Folks appreciated the work we did in the campaign and how we kept it positive and focused on the issues.”

Wan said he and Coyle exchanged voice messages. “She called to congratulate me and I also called to congratulate her and commend her for all her work in the community and to say I want to keep her engaged in all the issues that she’s passionate about.”

When asked if Wan had anything to offer progressive Atlantans, “At the very least, I think your readers can count on me to listen to people from all points of view. I’m always open to understanding different points of view. I’ve demonstrated where my logic can be proven wrong that I can be swayed as well. It’s a learning process. But I bring a thoughtful, rational approach to every issue.”

“And I have a genuine desire to understand all sides of the issue. I hope the spirit I can foster is, if we can find middle ground, great. If not, we can agree to disagree in a productive way,” Wan said.

Previously, Wan had responded to an APN questionnaire saying that he did not support restoring grant funding for the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless [the City funnels grant dollars from the state and federal government for homeless service providers].

However, Wan did say he is open to taking a tour of the shelter and meeting with Executive Director Anita Beaty, whom he has not previously met, despite his role as Development Director of Jerusalem House, another homeless service provider.

“I do think the center’s doing good work in the community. I don’t think it can be shut down. But we need to address neighborhood concerns. Because there are many different causes of homelessness, it’s gonna take a village [to address homelessness], and there’s a part everyone can have.”

Wan is the first Asian Councilman in Atlanta’s history, and as an openly homosexual male, continues the tradition of District 6 having glbt representation on Council.

Meanwhile, Coyle sounded disappointed yet committed to staying involved as a community activist.

“Of course I wanted to win,” Coyle told APN. “The district had two good choices and the district chose Alex, and he will represent us well.”

“I look forward to continuing to contribute to make the city a better place. It was an honor to have the opportunity to run, to represent the district. I appreciated the support throughout the district, all the tremendous supporters, and I’m proud of the campaign we ran together,” Coyle said.

“From a finance standpoint, I certainly never had the financial resources Alex did,” Coyle said.

Several of the District 6 candidates in the General Election endorsed Wan, including Tad Christian, Steve Brodie, and Miguel Gallegos. Bahareh Azizi, who APN endorsed, did not weigh in on the Run-off; she had indicated shortly after the General that she did not expect to endorse.

“I spoke with candidates who said they were gonna stay neutral, but candidates made their own choice,” Coyle said. “I certainly did reach out to Steve and others.”

Asked whether she will continue to stay active in politics, “Absolutely. I’ve been involved in working on behalf of the community for many years, and I absolutely plan to continue contributing where I can.”

“I’m still Chair of the Beltline Network… so don’t worry, I’m not going away,” Coyle said.

Atlanta Progressive News endorsed Bahareh Azizi in this race in the General Election, and declined to endorse in the Run-off. [Historically, we have not endorsed in Run-offs when our General Election endorsee does not make it into the Run-off. For instance, in the 2008 US Senate race we endorsed Rand Knight in the General and did not endorse in the Run-off.]

COUNCIL ANALYSIS

Overall, out of this year’s municipal election cycle, the Council makeup seems to have shifted a little bit to the left.

The election of Ceasar Mitchell to replace Lisa Borders marks a significant shift in terms of Council leadership, in that Mitchell is more progressive than Borders.

In addition, the election of Michael Julian Bond in Mitchell’s old seat also marks a progressive shift for the Council, as Bond is further to the left than Mitchell.

On the other hand, the election of Aaron Watson in Mary Norwood’s seat likely shifts the Council in the opposite direction, back into the pockets of developers and corporations.

It is also a possibility that Wan will be an improvement over Anne Fauver in District 6, that Yolanda Adrean will be an improvement over Muller in District 8, and that Keisha Bottoms will be an improvement over Jim Maddox in District 11. However, only time will tell whether any of these are the case.

LEGISLATURE SPECIAL ELECTIONS

In addition, former State Sen. Donzella James was elected to her old State Senate seat, the seat being vacated by former State Sen. Kasim Reed, who currently leads in the Mayoral Run-off. James previously held the seat from 1993 to 2003.

Previously, APN has endorsed James several times in Congressional races where she has challenged US Rep. David Scott (D-GA) in the Democratic Primary in 2006 and 2008. James is also a plaintiff in the VoterGA lawsuit, challenging electronic voting in the State of Georgia.

“I think we worked very hard to encourage people to go back to the polls. There’s more people that went back to the polls than voted in the original election, more people came back in the runoff,” James said.

“I was proud last night to receive the most votes again. We ended up with about 53% of the vote. I’m very proud people had confidence in my message and in me as a former State Senator, and I’m glad they looked at the record and did not listen to the rhetoric,” James said.

James said her opponent in the Run-off, Torey Johnson, who had previously worked for her, had been Reed’s hand-picked successor.

“I heard he was pushing for Torey… and that’s why he allowed Torey to go to places with him and be in all his press conferences, and everywhere he had a sign, Torey had a sign. It’s almost like he was working together,” James said.

“We went out and touched the people and talked to the people. As a person who went out in the community and never stopped, I knew I needed more than name recognition to win, but that I’d have to talk about my view on the issues, and show a stronger vision,” James said.

James said she intends to run for re-election in 2010, rather than challenge US Rep. Scott again. “My intention is to stay there as long as the people want me. So definitely, I will be running for reelection next year because this is just the unexpired term of Kasim Reed with 1 year and 1 month left in it.”

James said she is particularly interested in participating in redrawing the Congressional Districts after the US census redistricting in 2010. “I think we’ll find a way to draw the lines correctly, and make sure, if we’re going to get two new Congressional seats in Georgia, and if we’re [Atlanta] one of the reasons we grew in Georgia, I want to make sure one of those are in our area, Metro Atlanta.”

In another notable Special Election, Simone Bell won the seat being vacated by State Rep. Robin Shipp. Activist Allen Thornell, who passed away this year, had previously run for this seat and, shortly before his death, had encouraged Bell to run this time around, Bell told APN.

Bell’s victory is historic on a national level, as she becomes the first Black female, openly-homosexual state representative in the country.

“We all celebrate this victory with Representative-elect Bell,” National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director Sharon J. Lettman said in a statement.  “We recognize all the hard work that goes into running for public office and commend Bell for being a shining example of leadership for everyone in the LGBT community.”

“I am elated that Simone Bell has won her race. Her victory is significant to all of us who are Black and gay. I look forward to working with her towards influencing our colleagues across the country to be more affirming on issues that affect the LGBT and Black communities,” NBJC Deputy Executive Director and Connecticut State Representative Jason Bartlett said.

About the author:

Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor for Atlanta Progressive News and is reachable at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

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