Monday, July 20, 2009

Clifford Holmes to run for Warner Robins Mayor


Warner Robins City Councilman Clifford Holmes Jr. quietly threw his hat in the ring late Friday afternoon to try and unseat longtime Warner Robins Mayor Donald Walker.


Holmes, 65, currently in his fourth year holding the Warner Robins City Council Post 5 seat, is the second person in recent weeks to announce an intention to challenge Walker in the Nov. 3 election. Chuck Shaheen, 48, a pharmaceutical sales representative from a family with deep roots in the area, also has announced his plans to run for mayor. Walker, 60, has said he will seek re-election. The last day to qualify is Sept. 4.


“I feel the time is now,” Holmes said about his candidacy. “Mr. Walker has done an outstanding job, but he’s not currently living up to the expectations of the citizens of Warner Robins in terms of accountability and accessibility.


“To me, I’m not running against Donald Walker. I’m running for the citizens.”


Holmes, a retired educator, said he plans to work more toward providing an atmosphere of full disclosure in the city’s government. He said while he was interim mayor last year as Walker sought treatment for an injured foot, he held meetings with department heads and tried to work together with other city leaders in the best interests of Warner Robins.


Donald Walker has done a great job with the city of Warner Robins. The growth of that city has been remarkable. Walker should stay in office as long as he wants (he's only 60 yrs old). The way I look at it, the majority of the people who feel like he has been in there are too long are the transplants who only been there for a short while. Chuck Shaheen, who has deep ties to the community over there in my opinion is not ready to run a city like Warner Robins with no experience at all. Warner Robins is powered by RAFB. But there are no other major industries ( like Weyerhaeuser, Allen's Inc. for example ) there that people can go to work to. It mostly consist of strip malls, restaurants, car dealerships. If Holmes can run on a platform of bringing more industries to the city & address the traffic congestion & slow the growth of the city , he might have a chance. But for now it's Donald Walker's race to lose.

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