Settling in amidst the aftermath of a momentous Super Tuesday primary election at the beginning of March, with the dust having finally settled in the last week of the month, voters in Chambers and Lee County are experiencing somewhat of a political hangover as they try to make heads or tails of what exactly just happened to the balance of power in their respective local governments. It was the best of times, it was the worst times, electorally speaking in the neighboring counties depending on which side of the fence that you sit on. For the big government corporate shills who fancy themselves to be public officials in Lee County, the election day results of the March 5th primary were an affirmation of their absolute stranglehold on power in county government and the media narrative that parrots their twisted talking points.
Let's travel back in time to that election night not so long ago, a dark and rainy evening upon the steps of the Opelika courthouse. Some of the lights were on but nobody was home, except for the janitorial staff who cleaned up an ostensibly empty building with the doors locked to keep its citizens out. Across the street from the rear entrance of the courthouse, at the Lee County Meeting Center, a news van from the local talk radio station WANI sat parked as one of the only signs of life in the vicinity. Broadcasting on their 98.7 FM frequency was live coverage of election results hosted by Riley Hubbard who relayed updates as he received them from Lee County Probate Court Judge Bill English.
Standing in stark contrast to the surreal dystopian detachment of Opelika's city center was a lively late night scene at the Chambers County Courthouse just up the road off Route 431 in downtown LaFayette. Doors were wide open with the lights blaring as the citizens of Chambers County packed the courthouse to be the first to hear the election results in person as they were announced. Local officials mingled with ordinary folks and members of the media with a sense of excitement and electricity in the air as the highly anticipated votes came in. ALFA Insurance Agent Steve Wheeler utilized his experience from a long career in radio to deftly deliver the latest updates as the night progressed.
With Wheeler declaring the certified winners of the primaries at the end of the evening, there were smiles all around as the will of the people had been heard resoundingly through an upset landslide victory by Dr. Sharon Weldon over incumbent Casey Chambley to hold office as the next Superintendent of the Chambers County School District. In an equally impactful surprise turn of events, Frederick "Reco" Newton defeated incumbent CCSD Board of Education President Jeffery Finch in the Democrat primary. Without going into too much detail, these shock primary results have completely upended the political calculus in Chambers County through two underdog candidates winning the day against incumbents Chambley and Finch who acted as faces of the establishment pushing an unpopular agenda against the will of the people. With their superintendent and board president reduced to lame duck status, the CCSD BOE voted this past week to put a moratorium on any further advancement of the controversial consolidation of the two high schools in Chambers County until the new office holders are sworn in this coming January of 2025.
Voter turnout came in at an anemic 14.76% in Lee County, falling far below the already pathetic statewide 21.05% of registered voters who participated in the primary. You may ask yourself, why is it that folks in Lee County are so discouraged that they do not even bother to show up for an election day which bears such grave consequences for their collective future? What it may all come down to is the fact that of the three Lee County Commission seats that were up for election, Doug Cannon and Richard LaGrand were two incumbents who ran unopposed which guarantees that they will each sail into another term without input from voters. Commissioner Gary Long, the third incumbent, lost by coming in third place in a three way race that left more questions than it answered by ending with dark horse candidate Jeff Drury emerging victorious. Brian Davis had made it a political contest worth watching from the outset by coming in second place with his spirited and highly principled campaign, marking in high relief the miserable state of affairs where in Cannon and LaGrand's districts nobody gave enough of a damn to even run for those commission seats.
For many voters, the candidates who they decide to support often has more to do with how they say things rather than what they actually say. Weldon and Newton both won their elections in Chambers County by engaging citizens and speaking to them candidly and with respect as opposed to the dismissive arrogance of their opponents. People understand that every office holder is restrained to a certain degree due to the political gravity of existing realities on the ground, still, they want to feel like their politician of choice values their input enough to talk to them like grown adults.
How do public officials in Lee County speak to their constituents? One need look no further than the transcripts of the Auburn City Council meeting held on March 12th of 2024 for a stunning example of governmental hubris and disdain for the common man. Susan Bolt, Martha Shamp and Robert Wilkins all of Auburn petitioned the council during the citizen comments portion of that meeting as they have done consistently over time by pleading for transparency, accountability and adherence to the constitution from their representatives. Council Member for Ward 6 Bob Parsons wasted no time exhibiting his total contempt for their concerns in a blistering tirade against Wilkins, with excerpts as follows;
Over the past three years Mr. Wilkins has shared with us an assortment of arguments and statements as his response to the short term rental ordinance adopted by the previous Council on March Sixteenth 2021. An argument to which he returns on a regular basis is that his constitutional property rights have been stripped from him. Conspicuously missing from all his commentary to date is any mention of zoning where the debate belongs, and I understand why Mister Wilkins has avoided zoning. It sounds so mundane compared to constitutional property rights. Presumably he's steering clear from the zoning discussion because he knows that in the face of municipal zoning regulations, the property rights argument loses a little of its luster.
He'd he'd have us believe that he's a victim.
Mr. Wilkins seems to be operating on the fashionable trend that if you say stuff repeatedly over time, it will become real and true but it doesn't.
It wasn't long after his sarcastic takedown of Wilkins that Parsons spewed bile in his uncanny Australian accent towards Ms. Shamp;
I have one additional comment. I wanted to please speak to Ms. Shamp's continued attempts to publicly disparage the LGBT community, a community made up of our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our family members, and our fellow taxpayers. Her words do not reflect the mission or vision of this city's administration. I also want to reach out and assure the library staff that I receive numerous weekly communications from Auburn constituents praising the facility and employees and thanks for your kind service to all the members of our community.
Apparently there are not enough authoritarian a-holes in Lee County already, we had to import one from down under. Can someone please check this guy's green card? Of course, Crocodile Parsons rabid rants were merely a warmup for the evening's main attraction.
Full of piss and vinegar, Mayor Ron Anders had tired of holding his tongue for far too long and fully unleashed the pent up vitriol, finally letting Wilkins know how he really feels about him;
5. 3 billion. 5. 3 billion. That's how much control that AJ Capital has in assets around the world. AJ Capital is the holding company for the Graduate Hotel Group which is constituted of 37 hotels in the United States and over 100 properties worldwide. The concept and the idea that an organization and a company that is worth 5.3 billion dollars and building a facility in this community that is probably millions and millions and millions of dollars would take the time to speak to an elected official and warn them about their vote in regard to a project going forward is preposterous, stupid and fantasy.
For 2 years, I've listened to this man talk down about me and indirectly about my family over a make-believe idea that he has convinced himself is true. I made a decision about how I voted on the short-term rental and it was a challenging time. We were working through virtual means. It was a heated argument. I read a statement the night that we finally voted on this, that you can find on the city's website. If there's any criticism for my leadership through that time or the reason I voted for this, it's all there and it's fair game.
But to make up this fantasy that something happened that was immoral and unethical and wrong, is frankly disturbing. This gentleman has come here for two years to talk to us. Primarily guided by his hatred for me and his distrust for me over what he sees as something that shouldn't have happened, that in reality was nothing more than a fantasy. Mr. Wilkins, that's why I will not meet with you because your obsession with me is frankly disturbing and you've not earned or deserve a opportunity to sit down with me one on one and talk. If you don't like our rules, come every week. You have the right as a citizen to tell us we're wrong, we're incorrect, we're not following protocol. Whatever you want to say. But to try to do this based on character is unfortunate and it's wrong.
Any time that somebody refers to you as "this man", you know it is not going to be good. It is pretty much a southernism for "this man whose guts I hate". Still hungry for more tyrannical overreach in Lee County? Here is a little icing on that dictatorial cake in the form of a micro-campaign of spontaneous eminent domain courtesy of Lee County arbitrarily demolishing its residents' mailboxes.
According to a plethora of local residents, this has been occurring countywide for some time due to the Lee County Commission's desperate bid to qualify for federal grant money by adhering to national roadway standards, their solution being to remove any mailbox that is not in compliance with DC. Your tax dollars hard at work, you just can't make this stuff up. Chambers County may not have a Starbucks or a Target in 2024, but the last time most folks up that way checked, their mailbox was still intact.
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