Rick Crawford
The party’s executive committee met Thursday night and “voted unanimously to accept his obvious resignation from the party,” committee member Wendy Davis of Rome said.
“We haven’t finished the legal research, and we know he can’t be replaced at this late date, but he is no longer our nominee,” Davis said.
Crawford has held the House District 16 seat since 2007, taking over when Democrat Bill Cummings of Rockmart retired after 26 years as Polk County’s representative.
He’s facing a challenge in the Nov. 6 election from Republican Trey Kelley, a 25-year-old law student and director of marketing for W.C. Brooks Co. who chaired Gov. Nathan Deal’s 2010 campaign in Polk County.
Crawford’s removal would leave Kelley the sole candidate for the seat — a situation Davis said is immaterial.
“It looks like it’s going to be won by a Republican either way,” she said.
Crawford said he felt announcing his intention to switch parties ahead of the vote is “the honest way to go about it.”
“It’s hardly going to come as a shock to anyone who has paid attention to me and seen the positions I’ve taken,” he said.
The district was redrawn to cover all of Polk County and parts of southwestern Bartow and northern Haralson counties. Prior to that, it covered Polk and a southern sliver of Floyd County including Cave Spring.
Crawford was unopposed for re-election in 2010, but he beat out Republican Bob Culver by a scant 182-vote spread in 2008 — and both Haralson and Bartow counties lean heavily Republican.
Political advantage, however, is not the reason he’s making the switch, Crawford contends.
“It’s pretty apparent my philosophy and the philosophy of the Democratic Party have been growing farther and farther apart. And it’s not because I’ve changed,” he said. “When I found out they were coming out in support of gay marriage, I said ‘who am I kidding, that’s not my party.’”
Crawford said he’ll let others debate the political value of his move but, to him, it’s an inevitable change.
“The philosophical divide was too great to be bridged,” he said. “I’ve never been a party line voter but I’m very consistent. I’ve always been pro-life and pro-gun. It’s very clear where I’m coming from.”
Hostess employee's chose to follow after the Big Union bosses, and look what it got them...A pink slip, which would only be popular to wear in the Land of Pelosi in San Fran.
"We are targeting two races this fall election — one House seat and one Senate seat — that are currently occupied by Democrat incumbents. The two candidates vying to replace them will enact conservative reforms immediately under the Gold Dome and will be best for Georgia’s future.
Our support for their candidacies is independent of their campaigns."
Now I understand from this that you're not being paid by the campaigns to endorse these candidates, but you hardly sound independent of their campaigns since you're essentially providing them free ads. If you want to support a candidate or a party, fine, but why hide behind the mantle of impartiality and independence?
It is just my personal opinion that the nation is divided about 50/50 between those who want leaders who do the right things and those who want leaders who give them free stuff. I'd love to see a study comparing the disability rate of Americans today vs. the disability rate of Americans the day WWII ended. I'm guessing the disability rate is much higher now. Why? Because disability = free money. Have babies and refuse to work? We will pay you. Anytime we pay for a behavior, the behavior will increase. Don't want to work? Free food. Spend your days hanging out on the street corner? Free phone.
Want to keep the money you earn? Heartless, racist pig.
Obama and the GimmeGimme Party are fortunate that the 50/50 Productive/Leech society is divided within the electoral college in a manner that benefits the Leech.