Floyd L. Griffin Campaign Video

Former Lt. Governor Mark Taylor Endorses Floyd Griffin for Secretary of State

 

#1 Rated Business Show talks with Former State Senator and Secretary of State Candidate Floyd Griffin

Floyd Griffin, not Bee Nguyen can win in the General Election.

Over in Baldwin County, Retired Colonel, former State Senator and Mayor Floyd Griffin is one of only three Democrats who hail from outside of Metro Atlanta. Griffin is running to secure the Demoocratic nomination in hopes of becoming Georgia's next Secretary of State in a race that features Bee Nguyen who is the party's favorite, despite not having accomplished much during her time in the Legislature.

Right now according to a recent poll more than 60% of Democrats are undecided in the race in the race for Secretary of State.

Griffin joined the U.S. Army in 1967 and gradueted from the Army Command and General Staff College as well as the National War College.

This isn't Griffin first time running for a Statewide office. in 1998 he ran for Lt. Governor, losing to eventual winner Mark Taylor, who has endorsed Griffin's bid for Secretary of State. Before than, Griffin ran for the State Senate 25th District where he became the first black candidate to win a majority white district since reconstruction.

For Democrats, they need to focus on who can WIN in the General Election, not who can win solely in metro Atlanta. Right now Democrats in the metro Atlanta region refuse to look beyond their metro area base when it comes to supporting democratic candidates.Bee Nguyen is the Georgia Democratic Party's preferred favorite (even thought they pretend they don't endorse candidates in the General Election). She is also the favorite of left wing supporters and groups on the west and east coast and up north as well. But in a primary that will be dominated by black voters who make up more than 2/3rds of the primary vote, its very likely the democratic nominee will be a black candidate and it just might me Floyd Griffin or any other candidate in the race like Michael Owens or Dee Haigler.

Retired Army Colonel Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville) talks about his candidacy for SD 25

State Senate 25th District Candidate Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville)

It's official: Floyd Griffin to Challenge Johnny Grant for State Senate District 25

Up in Milledgeville, Former Mayor & State Senator Floyd L. Griffin,a moderately conservative democrat will once again run for his old seat Senate District 25 against Incumbent Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville) in the 2010 elections. Griffin qualified this morning at the State Capitol.

Griffin served as Senator from 1994-1998 when he left to run for Lt. Governor, losing in the democratic primary.

The retired U.S. Army Colonel & Vietnam Veteran & Businessman is the only democrat to qualify to run for SD 25. Darrell Black was also considering a run for SD 25 as well, but he may decide to run for House District 141 again agaianst Independent Rusty Kidd (I)

Is Floyd L.Griffin Planning a Political Comeback? Will Darrell Black run again in 2010?

There are rumblings up in Baldwin County for former State Senator & Mayor of Milledgeville Floyd Griffin (D-Milledgeville) to run for his old State Senate seat against Johnny Grant (R-Milledgeville) in this fall'a elections.

Griffin defeated incumbent state Sen. Wilbur Baugh in 1994 to become the first Black politician elected from a rural, White majority district in Georgia since Reconstruction. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the National War College.

A Vietnam War Veteran, where he was a helicopter pilot,instructor pilot, aviation platoon leader and commander of a construction engineering company. After combat service he commanded an engineer battalion under General Norman Schwarzkopf, then served on the Army Staff at the Pentagon and was later promoted to the rank of colonel. Floyd Griffin has also worked as an educator. At Wake Forest University he served as an Assistant Professor of Military Science. He was the director of ROTC at Winston-Salem State University, where he coached the football team's backfield as they won two conservative college championships.

He served almosy 25 years in the U.S. Army before retiring & he flirted with a run for GDOT Board against Raybon Anderson back in 2008.

And keep an eye on small business owner Darrell Black (D-Milledgeville),
who is a owner of Flooring America Milledgeville who ran for HD 141 seat that was won by Rusty Kidd (I-Milledgeville) as a possible candidate for SD 25. If Griffin doesn't run for the SD25, look for Black as a possibility for that seat, as well as HD 141, where Rusty Kidd, who has already announced he's running for re-election has got to get the signatures needed to run again as a Indepedent.

If I were compiling a list of possible candidates for Georgia's Lt. Governor, this how it would look

(1) Former State Senator Michael Meyer von Bremen (D-Albany)

Senator Michael S. Meyer von Bremen, a Democrat from Albany, was elected to the State Senate in 1998 to represent the 12th Senatorial District.

Born August 19, 1957, Senator Meyer von Bremen attended public schools in Albany and graduated from Mercer University in Macon in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He earned his law degree from Mercer in 1983.

He served as the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. He served as a member of the Senate Appropriations, Judiciary, Natural Resources, Public Safety, and Reapportionment Committees.

Sponsored and passed ethics laws, tax cuts, and anti-crime legislation

(2) Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver (I)

Deke Copenhaver currently serves as Mayor of Augusta, Georgia. Mr. Copenhaver was born in Montreal, Canada and raised in Columbia County, Georgia. After attending the University of Georgia and earning a B.A. in Political Science from Augusta College, Deke worked for Nations Bank Securities in Atlanta for several years. After relocating to Beaufort, South Carolina in the mid-nineties, he went on to a career in real estate, serving as a principal in the firm of Huffines, Dukes, and Copenhaver LLC. After moving home to Augusta in 1998, Deke worked as a sales representative for Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate. He accepted the position of Executive Director of the Central Savannah River Land Trust in July of 2001. During his tenure, Mr. Copenhaver directed the expenditure of over $1.1 million in greenspace purchases throughout Augusta-Richmond County while at the same time developing a program that is widely considered the finest of its kind in the State.

In 2007, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed Deke to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Board. Deke also currently serves on the boards of the Georgia Municipal Association, Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, the Augusta State University Foundation, the CSRA Regional Development Center, the Richmond-Burke County Job Training Authority and serves as vice-chair of the Augusta Regional Transit Study Committee. He is a past board member of the Augusta Symphony, Historic Augusta, Young at Art, Mainstreet Augusta, the Family Y of Metro Augusta, the Georgia Alliance of Land Trusts, the Georgia Conservancy, the Augusta Museum of History and the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. Mr. Copenhaver served as chair of the Environmental Issues Committee, along with serving on the Editorial Committee, for Leadership Augusta’s Destination 2020 Initiative and is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Georgia. Deke currently serves on the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s International Development Committee. Mr. Copenhaver is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Augusta and Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church, where he serves as a deacon.

In 2003, Deke was recognized by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of Georgia’s “Top Forty Under Forty”. He is the 2003 recipient of the Family Y of Metro Augusta’s “Linda H. Walter Leadership Award”. In 2004, Mr. Copenhaver was appointed to the Georgia Land Conservation Partnership Advisory Council by Governor Sonny Perdue, serving on the Partnering and Leveraging Committee. In 2005, the Council's work resulted in the setting aside of $100 million in state funding for statewide land conservation through the passage of the Georgia Land Conservation Act. In 2005, Deke served as Augusta’s co-chair for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s “Red Carpet Tour”, which promotes statewide economic development. In 2006 and 2008, he was named a Notable Georgian by Georgia Trend Magazine and in 2007 and 2009 was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians by the same publication. Mr. Copenhaver was named Alumni of the Year by Augusta State University in 2008 and is the 2007 recipient of the “Brother Commissioner Lee Norris Beard Award” given by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Alpha Chi Lambda Chapter) at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast. His hobbies include golf, hunting, running, writing and reading. He and his wife Malisa live in Augusta with their two dogs, Finn and Gracie Lynn.

(3) State Rep. Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City)

Debbie G. Buckner (D- Columbus) represents House District 130. A native Georgian, she has lived in the Columbus area since 1957. She was first elected to the Georgia General Assembly in 2002. House District 130 consists of parts of Talbot, Harris, and the eastern part of Muscogee County.

Rep. Buckner is currently serving as a member of the Natural Resources & Environment, Retirement, and State Institutions & Property committees. As a freshman legislator, she served as secretary of the State Institutions & Properties Committee, a member of the Health & Human Services Committee, a member of the Natural Resources Committee and was the only freshman to serve on the Water Subcommittee. She is a former assistant to the Majority Whip.

Rep. Buckner is the Director of Community Benefit at Columbus Regional Healthcare System, having previously worked for Doctors Hospital and the Columbus Health Department as Senior Public Health Educator. She earned her BS in Health Science from Columbus State University and attended Georgia Southwestern College to do postgraduate work and earn a teaching certificate.

Rep. Buckner is a Board Member of Twin Cedars. Her community service includes volunteering for the American Lung Association of Georgia, Columbus-Ft. Benning chapter of the American Cancer Society, Concharty Council of Girl Scouts, West Central Georgia Cancer Coalition, Columbus Hospice, Three Rivers AHEC, The Jekyll Island Foundation, The Valley Collaborative for Suicide Prevention and Historic Talbotton Foundation.

In 2004, she was inducted into the gracious ladies of Georgia, was named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Rural Health Association, was presented the American Heart Association’s Outstanding Advocate Award, and received the American Cancer Society’s Outstanding Legislative Leadership Award for 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006, she was recognized by the Georgia Alliance for Tobacco Prevention. In 2006, the Georgia Environmental Council honored her as the Legislator of the Year.

In 2008, The Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island State Park named her Georgia State Representative of the Year, and the Georgia Conservation Voters honored her with an Environmental Leadership Award.

Representative Buckner and her husband, Mike, live at Fielder's Mill in Talbot County, one of the few operational grist mills left in Georgia. They have three children, Josh, John and Olivia.

(4) Former State Senator & Mayor of Milledgeville Floyd L. Griffin Jr (D)

Floyd Griffin, retired U.S. Army colonel, former Georgia state senator and former mayor of Milledgeville, Georgia, was born May 24, 1944, in Milledgeville. Griffin holds an A.S. in funeral service from Grupton Jones College, a B.S. in building construction from Tuskegee Institute and a master's degree in contract procurement and management from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the National War College.

Griffin's twenty-three-year career in the military began in 1967 when he served as a helicopter pilot and flight instructor in Vietnam. He also served a tour of duty in Germany, where he was a logistics officer, battalion chief, and director of engineering and housing. From 1984 to 1986, Griffin commanded an engineering battalion at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and from 1986 to 1990 he was assigned to the Pentagon. Retiring from the military as a colonel in 1990, Griffin taught military science at Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University, where he also was the offensive backfield coach for a football team that enjoyed two undefeated seasons and won back-to-back championships.

In 1994, running as a Democrat, Griffin was elected state senator from the 25th District of Georgia and was reelected in 1996. He sacrificed his Senate seat in 1998 to run for lieutenant governor but lost. Griffin tried again for his old Senate seat in 2000, and was narrowly defeated by the incumbent in the primary election. Not discouraged, Griffin ran for mayor of Milledgeville, his hometown, and won in 2001. An accomplished businessman, Griffin is vice president of Slater Funeral Home in Milledgeville, a Griffin family-owned business.

He was elected in 2006 to Board of Directors for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

(5) State Senator Tim Golden (D-Valdosta)

Golden serves as Secretary of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for the annual state budget, and as a senior member of the influential Senate Finance Committee, which is charged with writing the state’s tax laws. Golden also serves on the Insurance & Labor, Higher Education and Government Oversight Committees. He is co-chairman of the special Study Committee on the Future of Manufacturing and is chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

During the past three years, for his work promoting health care issues, he received both the Georgia Hospital Association Legislative Leadership Award, and the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians “Champion of Family Medicine” Award. In recognition of his work on children health care issues, the Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians named him their “Legislator of the Year” in 2007.

Known as a strong advocate for Georgia business, Golden was honored with a 2008 Legislative Achievement Award by the Georgia Retail Association. He was recognized by the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce as “Legislator of the Year” for 2007, and the group called it a “Lifetime Achievement” award for his long time advocacy of business interests in the General Assembly. That same year, the Georgia Industry Association made Golden their “Champion of Industry” for his efforts to promote manufacturing issues in Georgia.

Key supporter of the Hope Scholarship Program since its inception. HOPE has helped over 25,000 deserving students in the 8th Senatorial District attend tech schools or universities since 1993 totaling over $63 million in assistance.

Authored and passed "Rural Georgia Physicians Shortage Act" - 1995

Passed Self-Employed Health Care Tax Cut legislation in 1998 saving self-employed individuals $8 million in state taxes.

(6) My Wildcard Candidate & favorite Ray City Mayor Carl Camon (D)

He has served for two terms as a city councilman and is currently serving his fifth term as the first African-American Mayor of Ray City. As mayor, he helped start the first Pre-K program in the State of Georgia operated by a municipality. He founded the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute of Ray City, and the Mayor and Council’s Education Initiative Scholarship. He was appointed by Governor Roy Barnes in 2002 to serve a four-year term on the County & Municipal Probation Advisory Council, where he also served as chairman. He has served as Chairman of the Mayor’s Motorcade for the Southern Region of Georgia, Chairman of the Environment & Natural Resources Policy Committee and as a member of the Budget Committee, and Executive Committee for Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), located in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also selected to serve as a member of GMA’s Training Board.

He was instrumental in acquiring a total of nearly three million dollars in grant funds for the Ray City Pre-K, the Ray City Fire Department, the Ray City Water & Sewer Department, and for downtown development during his tenure as mayor. He declared war against drugs in his community and was awarded a grant for $30,000.00 for surveillance equipment, to help in the fight against drug dealers and drug activity. He was selected as one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s “40 Under 40” Rising Stars in Georgia.

He has an earned Master’s Degree in Special Education, and an Education Specialist Degree in Educational Leadership, both from Valdosta State University. He is employed, as a collaborative educator. He has been listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers four times, and was selected as “Teacher of the Month”, and was nominated as “Teacher of the Year”. He has also championed state legislation that protects teachers in the performance of their duties.

Served as Chairman of The State of Georgia’s County & Municipal Probation Advisory Council

Served As Statewide Chairman of Georgia Municipal Association’s Environment & Natural Resources Committee, and Served on Board of Directors, Budget Committee, and Executive Committee

Served Two Terms As the Regional Chairman of the Mayor’s Christmas Motorcade Which Benefits Patients at State Mental Hospitals

Served on Board of Directors for the Southeast Georgia Regional Development Center

Honorary 347th Group Commander for Moody Air Force Base

Traveled to the Pentagon in Support of Moody Air Force Base

Selected as Civic Leader Tour Member and Traveled on Military Aircraft to the Air Force Academy in Colorado & Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in support of Moody Air Force Base

And was named to Georgia Trend's 40 under 40 in 2002 when he became the first black mayor of Ray City in 1998.

How about getting this man back into Politics in 2010.

Floyd L. Griffin, Jr., a Milledgeville Democrat, was first elected to the State Senate from middle Georgia's 25th District in 1994 and is now beginning his second term. Griffin's election to the Georgia Senate in 1994 made history, marking the first time in modern times that a black candidate won office in a rural, majority white legislative district in Georgia.

Griffin served the Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee and serves on the Higher Education Committee. He was also a member of the influential Rules Committee and the Health and Human Services Committee. In addition, he served on the Board of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and was a member of the Department of Community Affairs' Advisory Committee on Rural Development. Griffin also served as a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on the General Assembly of Georgia. He has also served on the Senate Study Committee on the Privatization of Governmental Services.

Griffin has worked for legislation to ensure the financial stability of Georgia's public schools and to guarantee that the General Assembly has a role in any decisions that are made regarding the privatization of state facilities or institutions.

Griffin is a U.S. Army veteran, retiring in 1990 with the rank of Colonel. During his 23-year military career, Griffin held a number of key positions. He served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and flight instructor and as commander of a construction engineer company. His Army career also included a tour of duty in Germany, serving as a Logistics Officer, Battalion Executive Officer and Director of Engineering and Housing.

From 1984-86 Griffin commanded an Engineering Battalion at Ft. Stewart, Georgia. He was assigned to the Pentagon from 1986-90.

Griffin's military service has also included stints as an educator. He was a Professor of Military Science at both Wake Forest University and Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. While at Winston-Salem State, he also served as Director of ROTC and coached the offensive backfield on two undefeated championship teams. He was a part-time instructor with the University of Chicago's extension program in Germany. More recently, he served as Director of Facilities and Engineering at GMC and a part-time instructor at Georgia College in Milledgeville.

Griffin is a funeral director and is currently Vice-President of Slater's Funeral Home, owned and operated by the Griffin family.

Born May 24, 1944 in Milledgeville, Griffin holds an AS degree in Funeral Service from Gupton Jones College and a BS in Building Construction from Tuskeegee Institute. He earned a master's degree in Contract and Procurement Management from the Florida Institute of Technology and is also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the National War College.

Active in the community, Griffin is a member of the Rotary Club of Milledgeville, the Warren-Hawkins Post of the American Legion, the Milledgeville United Negro College Fund, the National War College Alumni Association, the Baldwin County NAACP, the Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce, and the Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons.

Griffin serves on the Boards of the Central State Hospital Foundations, Inc., the Milledgeville Evening Optimist Club, the Baldwin County Council on Substance Abuse and the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Rape Crisis Center. He also serves on the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Film Commission, and the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Olympic Committee.

He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Georgia College Intercollegiate Athletic Association and was chairman of the Search Committee for the Establishment of the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Human Relations Commission.

He is a life member of the Omega Pi Phi Fraternity and has also been inducted into the Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He received the Milledgeville-Baldwin County Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award in 1993 and was recently honored by the Gupton-Jones College of Funeral Service with its Distinguished Service Award for the advancement of the funeral service profession.

Griffin and his wife, Nathalie Huffman Griffin, are the parents of two grown sons -- Brian and Eric. They have three grandchildren. The Griffin's are members of the Trinity CME Church.

Floyd Griffin, Jr. currently is turning his attention to Macon in a continuing effort to promote his autobiography – Legacy to Legend: Winners Make It Happen.

Griffin on Saturday appeared on Close Up, a 30-minute program on WMAZ channel 13. Close Up, which airs each Saturday at noon, is a public affairs and issues program hosted by longtime Macon news man Randall Savage. The taping of the show was earlier this week. When askes by Savage about his possible entry back into politics, Griffin said he hasn't made up his mind yet but it's possible he may return to politics in 2010.

“I think it will be interesting. We talk about my book and then he asks me some tough questions, like whether or not I’ll be running for public office in the future,” said Griffin, the first black mayor of Milledgeville and the first black state senator from Baldwin County. “Hopefully it will make for good TV.”

Next Thursday, meanwhile, Griffin will host a book signing at the Tubman Museum in Macon. Griffin’s 288-page retails for $24.95. On the front cover of the book is a picture of Griffin during his army days. On the back cover, meanwhile is a photo of Griffin and President Barack Obama that was taken during a 2008 campaign stop in Macon. The Obama camp issued a press release during the campaign stop, stating, “I am proud to have Sen. Floyd Griffin’s support. Sen. Griffin is a true American hero, who served in the United States Army for 22 years and served the people of Georgia for decades. We need more leaders like Floyd who put the needs of their country and its people first.”

Griffin’s book created a buzz when it was released in March. According to a press release from Griffin’s publisher, the book “examines the life, works and contributions of Floyd L. Griffin, Jr. a trailblazer. Griffin celebrates an illustrious career as a U.S. Army colonel, war pilot, state senator, coach and businessman. Floyd L. Griffin, Jr. parlayed a successful military career into a history-making sojourn in politics and community service as the first African- American to be elected to the state Senate from Georgia’s 25th District. Griffin’s election to the Senate marked the first time since Reconstruction that a black candidate won office in a rural, majority-white legislative district in Georgia. Griffin’s leadership exemplifies his determined spirit.”

He is a guy that run for Labor Commissioner if Michael Thurmond runs for Lt. Governor. Or other possibilities include: Secretary of State, Lt. Governor, State School Superintendent (he currently serves on the Baldwin Co. Board of Education) or run for the State Senate again.

A David Poythress-Floyd Griffin ticket would be something I think will be unmatchable for the GOP.