Tag Archives: Lowndes County Democratic Party

Candidates Qualified for City Elections in Lowndes County, GA

Every Valdosta City Council seat up for election is contested, a couple of Valdosta School Board seats, one Hahira City Council seat, and five people are running for four Lake Park City Council seats.

Although this is a nonpartisan election, all candidates are invited to speak tonight at the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) monthly meeting, 6PM Monday 14 September 2015, at Mama June’s Home Cookin’, 3286 Inner Perimeter Rd., Valdosta, GA. Around 20 of them will speak, so here’s your first opportunity to hear directly from most of the candidates.

Here’s the list of candidates who qualified for this election, according to the Lowndes County Board of Elections, formatted the way they sent it. Continue reading →

LCDP Cash Mob at Stan’s Quality Meats 2015-03-03

At 12:30 PM Tuesday (tomorrow) LCDP Chair Tom Hochschild will be there with signs and supporters, he tells me. Plus in addition to supporting this local business he recommends people make a small donation to the Lowndes County Food Bank for those less fortunate. -jsq

LCDP PR 26 February 2015, LCDP Cash Mob at Stan’s Quality Meats & Grocery Outlet,

The Lowndes County Democratic Party’s first-ever Cash Mob! 8AM to 8PM next Tuesday March 3, in line with our March Monday 2 meeting topic, “Democratic Party Values: Supporting Local Business”. facebook event.

For this Cash Mob, we are asking Continue reading →

Rosalynn Carter at Lowndes County Courthouse, 6PM Thu Oct 9th 2014

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will here tomorrow, 6PM October 8th 9th, at the Lowndes County Courthouse, to support her grandson Jason Carter for Governor of Georgia, the Lowndes County Democratic Party announced today.

Incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal’s campaign took $10,000 from Spectra Energy, which wants to build the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline through south Georgia. Deal’s campaign also accepted contributions from three other pipeline companies, adding up to at least $21,300.

Jason Carter’s campaign accepted no dollars ($0) from any of those companies. And as his campaign website says, State Senator Jason Carter “has twice received Environmental Leadership awards from Georgia Conservation Voters”.

Former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter visited Valdosta in 2003, when they helped Habitat for Humanity build a house. Tomorrow she will be back, this time at the Courthouse.

-jsq

Jason Carter to headline LCDP BBQ 1 July 2014

Candidate for Governor of Georgia Jason Carter headlines the program for the annual Lowndes County Democratric Party Barbecue Tuesday.

LCDP wrote yesterday, Georgia: Back on Track –LCDP BBQ 1 July 2014,

Other candidates speaking include Democrats Daniel Blackman for GA PSC, Valerie Wilson for State School Superintendent (runoff), Bikram Mohanty for Georgia State Senate District 8, Dexter Sharper for Georgia House District 177, and Demarcus Marshall for Lowndes County Commission District 4. Plus G. Norman Bennett and Clay Griner in the nonpartisan special election runoff for Lowndes County Commission District 5. All statewide and local candidates are still invited.
When:6 p.m., Tuesday, July 1st, 2014
Where:Mathis Municipal Auditorium
2300 North Ashley Street
Valdosta, Georgia
Price:$25.00

PROGRAM

Continue reading →

Videos of Candidates and Mayor Gayle about SPLOST @ LCDP 2013-09-09

In which we discover one candidate works for the City of Valdosta and opposes SPLOST. Candidates took questions directly from the audience and answered them, unlike at later candidate forums. Candidates from the smaller cities started their tradition of not showing up for forums outside their cities. Here’s the list of qualified candidates. See also the videos of the 30 Club forum 2013-10-21 and the videos of the AAUW forum 2013-10-15.

Opening

Call to Order, Moment of Silence for Congress, Pledge, Approval of Minutes, Treasurer’s Report.

SPLOST VII

Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans @ LCDP 2013-07-02

“Hopefully” there will be four town hall meetings before the final SPLOST lists are settled, said Lowndes County Commissioner Joyce Evans (District 1) at last night’s Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

We’re beginning to put things together for the SPLOST.

Joyce Evans, District 1, Lowndes County Commission Hopefully we’ll be able to do several…. I know the mayor has stated that they were going to do two town hall meetings and the county’s going to do a couple of town hall meetings and then we’re going to come together with the information that we’ve received from the community and go and put together an overall SPLOST for the city and the county.

So please, take time, think about it, and be involved.

We shall see. At least it’s a small change in the old boy backroom behavior so popular among elected officials around here that the famously reclusive commissioner said this in front of a video camera.

Here’s the video:


Four SPLOST town hall meetings –Joyce Evans
July 4th BBQ, Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Gretchen Quarterman (Chair), Dennis Marks (Vice-Chair / Elections), Amanda Hall (Vice-Chair / Membership), Richard Saeger (Vice-Chair / Qualifying), Jerrell Anderson (Secretary), James J. Parker (Treasurer),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 July 2013.

-jsq

The stars all lined up for the homeless –Deidra White @ LCDP 2013-07-02

The homeless formerly living under the James Beck Overpass now have homes and most have jobs, said Valdosta City Council Deidra White at last night’s Lowndes County Democratic Party Annual 4th of July Barbecue.

White said the encampment under the overpass had been growing for some time, and people in her district, which contains the overpass, were increasingly concerned yet had had little success in dealing with the situation.

Deidra White speaking at Lowndes County Democratic Party July 4th BBQ So I contacted many people in the community, homeless advocates, churches, governmental, civil, nonprofits; anyone that I’ve ever come across who has ever worked in any capacity helping with the homeless situation. And in a very,almost seemingly the stars all lined up a couple of weeks ago. Many people came together to do something about the specific eleven homeless persons who were living under the James Beck Overpass.

A private citizen donated property and said that they could stay on this property for a temporary time until we find a permanent solution. Members of the homeless coalition immediately began identifying potential employers….

She referred listeners to the recent newspaper stories for some details, and then continued:

Continue reading →

Gretchen LCDP v. Austin Scott GA-08 on WCTV

Gretchen with LAKE video camera Hearing a representative was in town, Gretchen took the LAKE video camera down to the Chamber of Commerce. Greg Gullberg of WCTV invited her to rebut Rep. Austin Scott (R GA-08) in her role as Chair of the Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP). After some back and forth, the WCTV story shows transparency winning, and Gretchen with the last word.

Rep. Scott GA-08 Gretchen as LCDP Chair

But their [sic] is one thing they both agree on.

“I quite honestly think both sides ought to put their budgets on C-Span and maybe we ought to have those negotiations on C-Span,” said Scott.

“So I’m all for having everything all out on the table for all citizens to see,” said Quarterman.

Scott speaking Gretchen speaking

Hey, what if the Lowndes County Commission put its board packets and budgets out on the web for all us taxpayers to see?

Here’s the WCTV video. The video Gretchen took will follow.

Continue reading →

Library process transparency —John S. Quarterman

John S. Quarterman videoing SPLOST VII Kickoff Speeches It’s good to see that someone responsible for allocating millions of dollars of taxpayer money is willing to answer questions about related decisions, as Kay Harris is doing! It would be even better if there were a regular process by which the taxpaying and voting and library-using public could ask such questions and get answers.

If there were such a process, it’s pretty likely Ms. Harris or the Library Board or the County Commission would have been asked about the architect selection, considering I wasn’t even involved in that selection and my ear was scorched with complaints as soon as it was announced. Maybe Ms. Harris can suggest a way to produce such a process.

Let me take Ms. Harris’ points in order.

“First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more than content to use the state’s estimate of $21 million.”

That’s very interesting news, which clarifies for me what she was getting at in the VDT writeup on that selection:

Continue reading →

Why we selected an out of town architect —Kay Harris

Received yesterday on New Library —Kay Harris. My response follows in the next post. -jsq

I was never asked why we selected an out of town architect, but will Kay Harris happily answer that question now. First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more than content to use the state's estimate of $21 million. Second, they brought to the project a consultant who is considered the country's leading library consultant; only one of the other four brought in an outside expert. Third, the principals of this firm live right over the county line in Florida—they are within the 50 mile radius that is considered "hiring local", so they are indeed a local firm. They also brought a local engineering firm, from Valdosta, to the table, and have agreed to hire as many subs from the local area as possible. So I truly don't understand the "jab" about hiring non-local… if it was that big a concern, why not just ask me the question? Mr. Quarterman wasn't even in the room at the time I spoke….

-Kay Harris

-jsq