Voters to select party leaders

Published 7:00 pm Thursday, March 21, 2013

In a relatively low profile set of races, voters will select the leadership of the Brookhaven Republican and Democratic parties in upcoming May primaries.

Each political party in the city is headed up by a 10-person committee, one member for each elected city office (seven aldermen, a mayor, police chief and city clerk).

There won’t be much excitement on the Democratic side, with only 10 candidates qualifying, guaranteeing each candidate a spot on the committee.

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On the Republican ballot, 13 Republican candidates have qualified for 10 spots. The top 10 vote getters will receive those spots.

The candidates presumed to make up the next Democratic committee are: Moses Bell Jr., Fannie Diggs, Patricia Dow, Kathy Halliwell, Willie Harrison, Beverly Howard, Annie Marie Johnson, Dorothy Quinn, John Sanders and Willie Smith.

Eight of the candidates are incumbents. Only Johnson and Smith are newcomers. Those candidates aren’t replacing any current members, as the committee has two empty seats due to death, said Howard, chair of the Democratic committee.

The 13 candidates vying for the GOP spots are: Hunter Adams, Kathy Behan, Dott Cannon, Ernie Clark, James Cummins, Susan Fitzsimmons, Cathy Franck, Carol Gary, Sue Gunnell, Jo Ann Rogers, Amy Valentine, Dennis Valentine and Sandy Winborne.

Cummins, Behan, Cannon, Winborne and Dennis Valentine are incumbents, and the rest are newcomers.

The party committees are tasked with operating the primary scheduled for May 7 and, if needed, runoffs on May 21. That includes selecting and training poll workers and issuing rulings in the case of disputed candidates.

The committees elected in the upcoming primaries will be responsible for operating the primaries in the subsequent election cycle.

City election commissioners, who are appointed, run the general election scheduled for June 4.

The commissioners are Bonita Bullock, George Brumfield and James Tillman.