From the Augusta Chronicle:

What they attempted — clumsily, since Garvin didn’t seem to know what district he lived in, and didn’t know what counties the 23rd included — is beyond offensive. It looks for all the world like a cynical attempt to play games with the people’s Senate seat, to treat it as their own.

That’s the kind of arrogant shenanigans that gave Augusta politics a well-deserved rotten reputation for years. Obviously, some folks are still trying to play such games.

Powell’s bait and switch — he gave no indication he’d be jumping out of the Senate seat, and didn’t even let the Democratic Party know — now has left District 23 voters with no Democrat in the race. And he’s a supposed Democrat.

Republican Jesse Stone, former mayor of Waynesboro, is now the lone candidate running, although Democrats are scrambling to run Chuck Pardue as an independent.

Richmond County Democratic Chairman Lowell Greenbaum was said to be livid about Powell’s power play. For his part, Greenbaum says, “We were shocked and surprised.”

Why would a Democrat do this to his own party, and to voters in his district? “This is the question we’re all asking ourselves,” Greenbaum says, adding that Powell offered no explanation in a recent conversation. “It put our party in a very difficult position.”

Read the Rest…