13 March 2016

[tpc] - Sunday Check-in: Talkin' BOC Chair - GOP edition

The Chronicles 
13 March '16 

~ commentary/opinion ~

Howdy, fine readers! Man, did I go three weeks without a write-up of any kind? Jeez. I guess so. Sorry 'bout that. Been a tad busy. I have, however, posted a few things at the Chronicles FB page as well as my writer's page - M.B. McCart. Well, so qualifying week has come and gone. We'll be doing write-ups on all of the contested races over the next several weeks and months, but today we're going to do a preliminary article on the race for Chairman of the Board, Newton Co. on the GOP side. 


*****

The one and only Levie Maddox announced his declaration to run and did indeed qualify for the Chairman's race. I had previously bemoaned the fact that we might not be able to bitch and moan about the current BOC 5 Commissioner since the word was he wasn't going to run for reelection in that capacity, but lo and behold - now we find "the worst politician ever," AKA, "Valet Levie," running for the top of the ticket! The political junkie and writer in me is beyond overjoyed! The citizen and taxpayer in me recoils in horror!

But, and I've mentioned this on this page a few times, Levie was the one to make the motion to shit-can W. Thomas Craig, Esq. Now, there are two theories floating around on this:

1. Levie had been in the Craig camp and had let several of the old guard and power elite bend his year but then unshackled himself from that group and is now somewhat on an island and is free & independent of the estab. Most folks aren't buying this one. They are instead believing this:

2. A conscious decision was made by the powers that be that there was too much noise in the system and that they needed to punt. To facilitate this, they decided they would let Tommy go, with Levie making the motion, to let things die down a bit to live to fight another day. Under this theory, Maddox is totally in the Craig Crew.

This semi-esteemed editor, from what I'm hearing and seeing, doesn't think either of these theories are completely plausible or correct; however, I believe there could some truth to both. In the words of the Wise One - there just truly ain't no tellin'! Newton Co. politics! Egad! Who the F knows at this point? As I've mentioned before, just when you think you've got a line on something and you think it's all about to clarify, something will happen that just blows it all out of the water. It's something else.

I will say this - it seems as if Levie and current chair Ellis have been at each other's throats for forever now. Most folks believe that Keith is the darling of Criag (and word on the street is that the Chairman has been seen over at Craig's office on College Ave. quite a bit lately, allegedly). So if that's the case, and if Levie is on the outside of the Craig bubble, then where does that put Levie? Or is it all just a Machiavellian end-around? Questions, folks, so many questions...

But, for the sake of argument, if Levie is indeed on the outs, and is on a lonely island, then where does that put Aaron Varner, former BOC Chair from 2001 - 2009 (also known as The Great Selling-Out of Newton Co.), the other declared and qualified GOP candidate for Chairman of the Board?

Well, per the word, that makes Aaron the new Craig candidate. Is that true? A lot of folks seem to think so. Remember, you precious earth-angel readers, we're just here to report - you decide! Again, one just has to think, "shoot...there just ain't no tellin."

I will say this about Varner - he's a nice fella to talk to, and he can sing Hank Williams Sr. better than anybody I've ever heard, but haven't we been there and done that at this point? Another thing I'll say about him is this - whereas a lot of folks have no use for him and truly believe that he's part of the bad guys, I know for a fact that there's a lot of people throughout Newton Co. that truly believe him to be a swell guy and will happily be supporting him in his campaign.

And at this point, I think that's the key differential between Maddox and Varner. While there is a lot of mistrust directed towards both of the them, Varner, at least, seems to have at least a trace amount of goodwill out there. From my vantage point, that's something that Maddox doesn't have, nor will he have, unless he were to have a public "come to Jesus moment" and explain to the electorate just where exactly is he at, and how did he get there.

There will be much more on this race in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Tune back in here in the next couple of days to read my initial analysis of the Democratic side of this position. That's where it starts getting really juicy!

Lord willin' & til' next time.

Your pal,

MB

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