Doubtless everyone knows this already, since the VDT and others have covered it well, including his guilty plea, the VDT’s call for him to resign, and his resignation. Here is John Fretti’s press release announcing his resignation. It seems appropriate that he sent it to News Talk 105.9 FM, where he so frequently appeared.

Personally, I thought he was not all that bad as mayor, even though he never did anything I asked him to. Given that I don’t even live in Valdosta, there is of course no reason that he should have, and he was always courteous when I appeared before the Valdosta City Council or met him elsewhere. Yes, I am well aware of many of the downsides, many of which I have written about in this blog, and Valdosta can do better.

If Valdosta is going to do better, somebody better needs to run. That’s why at the moment I’d prefer to write about the open race for mayor: qualifying is still open today and tomorrow (see next post).

I will say that whoever wins I hope will have less of this attitude:

“If they don’t say they’re against it, they’re for it.”

I think all citizens, but especially elected officials, should be willing to say what they’re for.

If people around here are too frightened to do so, then we’ve got a much bigger problem than who is mayor of Valdosta.

-jsq