Send Local races heating up as candidates begin throwing hats in ring

Posted: 2:42 PM Jun 20, 2012
Reporter: Chris Thomas

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News 12 First at Five / Wednesday, June 20, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It's the first official day of summer, and things are heating up in local politics.

New district maps are done and that means school board and commission candidates will soon begin throwing their names in the ring.

Bill Fennoy has announced plans to run for the District 1 Augusta Commission seat with a dilapidated home as his backdrop.

"Some of the neighborhoods are just embarrassing to ride through because of the houses," he said.

Fennoy and a host of other candidates are lighting up the airwaves, making their case for representing the inner city.

District 1 candidate Lori Davis has been raising a stink about the TEE Center parking deck, which was built on property the city doesn't own.

"I can assure you that I will stay on top of the corruption in this city," she said.

This comes as commissioners work to find money to clean up the urban core.

"I think that any time we have a city that could build a multi-million dollar project on property that we don't own that has a $7 million lien against it, then they could be creative and come up with ways to solve this problem," Fennoy said.

A beautification fee is also being debated. The fee could be anywhere from 50 cents to $2.

When asked what they thought, two of the candidates disagreed.

"No. I don't think so. It's another thing to put on top of homeowners," said District 1 candidate Denise Traina.

"Bad idea ... bad idea ... we have the money in the city; it is being misappropriated," Davis said.

Each candidate throwing their support behind a forensic audit of the TEE Center parking deck hopes to root out possible criminal activity.

"It is very necessary to pinpoint who was involved in it, how it ended up. We didn't even have people from the city sitting at the table other than Fred Russell when these deals were made," Davis said.

It would cost $250,000 to perform the forensic audit.

"Well, I think if it uncovers corruption, it is. It is worth it to us because as taxpayers, we've been duped," Traina said.

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