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COLUMBIA WEATHER

Local GOP fails on vetting nominations




I fully understand that politics can sometimes be messy. Between the various factions, competing interests and fundraising, all the elements are certainly there for strife and turmoil.

The Maury County Republican Party has largely wandered from its conservative principles and has become a hodgepodge of conspiracy theories and the like. Moreover, they’ve decided on some questionable candidates for this election cycle.

A few years ago, the local GOP decided to inject partisan politics into local races, which strayed from the history of nonpartisan local elections. They searched for candidates to carry the Republican banner in various races across the county.

If we fast forward to this year, the Republican Party still attempts to inject their politics into local positions that do not require a partisan label.

At their nominating convention, the local Republicans put forth a swath of candidates. Granted, some of these individuals are bonafide Republican voters that have been present in the community for years. Other individuals that were nominated don’t truly past the test, and I cannot fathom why local Republican leaders would choose to elevate these people.

One of the interesting decisions is in Maury County’s 7th District. There happens to be six individuals running for the two County Commission seats in that district, with two of the candidates being nominated by Republicans. One of the Republicans, Aaron Miller, simply hasn’t voted in a decade. How in the world can the local Republican leadership decide to nominate an individual that hasn’t stepped into a ballot box in a decade? To go from not having voted in a decade to making important decisions on the County Commission seems like an avoidable mistake for the voters.

There’s a similar story in Maury County’s 10th District. There are several candidates running and the Republicans put forth two. One of the local Republicans, Adam Martin, is seemingly a novice at voting. Although he’s nearly 50 years old, he’s only voted in one presidential election. It’s hard to rationalize electing an individual that ignored voting for almost 30 years.

It doesn’t appear there was much vetting done by the local Republicans at their convention. The examples are seemingly endless.

They also nominated a husband-and-wife duo of Brandon and Laura Nutt in Maury County’s 5th District. Mr. Nutt is running for County Commission and Mrs. Nutt is running for the School Board. While I’m sure they’re a lovely family, they have never voted in a local election before. They’ve occasionally voted for president, but this will be the first August election they’ve ever voted. I suppose the possibility remains they’ll skip voting once again, but being on the ballot should entice both of them.

The individual the Republicans nominated for the School Board in Maury County’s 3rd District, Anson Anderson, is a regular voter. The issue for GOP is that the only primaries he’s voted in are Democratic primaries.

It seems that someone in the Republican Party has some explaining to do. Any rules to their vetting process prior to nominating individuals weren’t followed. They chose to nominate people who weren’t engaged in our electoral process for long periods of time. They also chose to nominate individuals that certainly aren’t verifiable Republicans and, in Anderson’s case, an actual Democrat.

I continue to be of the opinion that we do not need to inject these partisan politics into local races and the County Commission. Only a few months ago, the Tennessee Republican Party decided to kick bonafide Republicans out of the congressional primary race. Oddly enough, the Maury County Republican Party will seemingly run anyone. If the local GOP insists on finding individuals and running them as Republicans, they should put forth a bit of effort and at least examine the voting record for candidates carrying their banner.

Maury County needs to elect quality individuals that, at the very minimum, regularly vote. Someone please let the Maury County GOP know.

Seth James Campbell is from Columbia, Tennessee and is an educator. He also runs Hound Dog Holler Animal Rescue. He has degrees from Columbia State Community College, University of Tennessee, and Trevecca Nazarene University. He can be reached at sethjcampbell74@gmail.com.

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