MACON, Ga. — Although it’s four and a half months before candidates qualify to seek offices in the Macon Bibb County government, political pundits busy themselves sizing up the people interested in becoming the mayor or a commissioner.
They’re especially interested in the mayoral contest since Mayor Robert Reichert is term-limited and can’t seek re-election in 2020.
With that in mind, 10 people have announced their candidacies for mayor. Qualifying begins Monday, March 2 and runs until noon March 6. The primary election is scheduled for May 19. If necessary, a runoff would be held July 21.
When political observers gather to discuss mayoral candidates, four of the 10 announced candidates get the most attention. In alphabetical order they are Lester Miller, Larry Schlesinger, Blake Sullivan and Clifford Whitby.
Miller is a Macon attorney and current member of the Bibb County Board of Education.
Schlesinger is a retired rabbi and a Macon-Bibb commissioner.
Sullivan is a businessman with strong ties with other business people and the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce.
Whitby, a former chairman of the Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority, was acquitted last year on federal bribery and money laundering charges.
The federal charges stemmed from an alleged deal Whitby and some others made with former Bibb County school superintendent Romain Dallemand, including a plan to sell the school system $3.7 million worth of useless computers.
Dallemand is now serving an eight-month sentence in federal prison for failing to pay taxes on more than $400,000 for bribes he allegedly received from Whitby.
Miller was one of the primary figures in the efforts to get Dallemand out of the superintendent’s office and the federal probe and indictments against people allegedly involved in the scheme.
In some circles, Miller’s involvement in the situation bolsters his mayoral candidacy. He’s viewed as a hard-working public servant who fought for justice and prevailed.
In other circles, however, he’s viewed as a self-serving culprit whose political ambitions, especially his actions involving Dallemand and Whitby, impeded progress in the black community.
Primarily because of his business success and years of community service, in many in the black community hold Whitby in high esteem.
Several prominent black officials attended Whitby’s mayoral announcement, including Commissioner Elaine Lucas and Macon Water Authority Chairman Sam Hart Sr.
There are nine members on the Macon-Bibb Commission. Four are elected from majority white districts, and four are elected from majority black districts. The other is a swing area, almost evenly divided between black and white constituents.
Schlesinger has held the position since consolidation in 2014, when the current government was created. Because of that, Schlesinger has supporters in the black and white areas of the district.
Sullivan isn’t as well known throughout Macon-Bibb as Miller, Schlesinger and Whitby. But he’s highly regarded among members of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce and other groups where political activists and movers and shakers gather.
Although those four receive the most attention in the early stages of the 2020 campaign, the other announced candidates are expected to make their presences felt before the final votes are counted.
Those announced candidates are Virgil Watkins, a current county commissioner; Stanley Stewart, a community activist; Verbin Weaver, vice chairman of the Bibb County Democratic Party; Charles Olson, manager of the 1842 Inn Bed & Breakfast; Chatavia Calloway, a businesswoman; and Michael McKeever, a Robins Air Force Base employee.
Some of the announced candidates may not qualify for the position while some others who haven’t announced may join the group before qualifying ends. It’s shaping up as an interesting race for the main office in the government center in downtown Macon.
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