Gwinnett Buzz

Mike Beaudreau wants Charles Bannister and Lorraine Green to play nice in campaigning for the commission chairman runoff race.

Dispatching an e-mail to both incumbent Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and fellow Commissioner Lorraine Green, who faces Bannister in a runoff, Beaudreau asked the opponents to sign a “clean campaign pledge.” He asked that they focus their campaign from now till the Aug. 5 runoff on “their vision for the county.”

During his campaign, Beaudreau says he talked to “people who were just disgusted by the volume of negativity and the lies.”

“Kettle?”

“Yes, this is Kettle.”

“Hey, this is Pot.  You’re black.”

Does Beaudreau really want to talk about politicians engaging in negativity?  As I type I am looking at a mailer from Beaudreau.  He accuses his opponent, Doug Stacks, as having plans that are “out of step with homeowner interests” and that Stacks could not even “talk about his real agenda.”  No negativity there.  On the reverse, Beaudreau attempts to smear Doug’s legitimate profession as a real estate broker, listing Doug’s profession in comparison to Mike’s “stand” on development.  I guess this is supposed to positive.  The mailer, listing the AJC as a source, says that Doug Stacks is a “high-density growth advocate.”  I have not seen anything in the AJC, including a June 16 article that Beaudreau prominently references on the mailer, that suggests that this is anything but spin at best.

I am not trying to refight a race that is over.  Beaudreau won by a very large margin and I accept that.  However, Beaudreau accusing other candidates of negative campaigning rings a bit hollow given that he has used similar tactics.  I have said that, so long as it campaigning is grounded in truth and offers sources, I do not have a problem with so-called negative campaigning.  However, I get very irritated when politicians say one thing and do something else, whether it be implicitly as Mike did with the campaign donations or explicitly as with negative campaigning.

One thing that is worth pointing out is various pledges commissioners and candidates are making.   Beaudreau made a couple of promises in his email:

“[Beaudreau agreed] to stay out of the race if both candidates agree to the pledge and keep their word.

If not, he would endorse the one who will — “and bring a few thousand Gwinnett residents with me.”

Lorraine Green’s response to Beaudreau was that she “heartily agreed and would absolutely agree to make such a pledge.”  Bannister has not formerly responded but his campaign manager said the chairman would ” run an honest, issue-based campaign.”

Let’s see if these politicians keep their pledges.  I think the one most likey not to keep his pledge is Beaudreau.  I do not anticipate there being an ounce of difference in the next two weeks to what we saw from Bannister and Green leading up to the primary election.  As I said above, this is fine and does not necessarily violate a “clean campaign” pledge.  However, I expect that within a week or so Beaudreau will wade into the waters of the chairman race again waving a big green flag (pun intended) finding some way to claim that Bannister is not running a clean campaign.  In fact, this would be a brilliant campaign tactic in favor of the Green camp as it would allow Mike to endorse Green, something given his and Green’s views on government regulation in land use, I suspect Beaudreau is just itching to do.  Furthermore, it would garner press coverage of a commissioner just off a sizable victory accusing Bannister of running a dirty campaign.  If this is what happens, this tactic hopefully will not be enormously successful as the thousands of voters Beaudreau promises to bringare likely already full-fledged Green supporters.

Tags: Charles Bannister, Doug Stacks, election, endorsement, Gwinnett County Commission, Lorraine Green, Mike Beaudreau, politics

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