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Beach and Belle Isle to Square off in State Senate Run
publication date: Apr 18, 2009
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author/source: John Fredericks / Staff
GNFCC Chairman and GDOT board member Brandon Beach is the early favorite to capture Moody’s seat next year.
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By John Fredericks / Staff
It didn't take long for two well-known North Fulton County Republican politicians to announce their intentions to run for retiring State Senator Dan Moody's vacated seat in 2010.
Moody, who has risen to the powerful position of caucus chairman in the Ga. State Senate, made his intentions to retire after the 2009 session available to the press on Monday. By Thursday, two candidates promised to get in the race: former Alpharetta council member and current GDOT Board member Brandon Beach and Alpharetta councilman David Belle Isle. Beach is the current CEO of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and Belle Isle runs a downtown law practice.
Moody has earned a stellar reputation in the senate over his five terms for both getting things done and doing them with grace. His surprise early announcement followed suit. Moody said that because qualifying time begins this time next year, he wanted to make his intentions known early to allow for others to consider the opportunity.
"It has been an honor to represent the residents of the Roswell and Alpharetta area since I was first elected in 2002 and I'm confident a leader in the community will step forward to represent the city's best long term interests," said Moody in a prepared statement. "It's a wonderful group of people and they deserve the best."
Moody represents the 56th Senate district, which covers a large part of North Fulton County including the entire city of Roswell and parts of a few other cities, including Alpharetta.
BEACH WAS RUNNING ANYWAY
Beach, who reportedly told Moody he would challenge him in the 2010 primary regardless, now gets Belle Isle - and possibly others to contend with - instead of having to battle the five-term popular incumbent for the D-56 Senate GOP nomination. "This District needs concentrated leadership now more than ever. My years of business experience coupled with my work on the transportation issues facing Georgia citizens makes me uniquely qualified for the Georgia State Legislature. We need a Senator who will be courageous and make the tough decisions," Beach said. Beach was adamantly opposed to the Transportation new governance bill that narrowly passed the Senate this past session, stripping the GDOT board of most of their authority over funding and project priorities. Moody supported the bill. Beach was also frustrated that the senate did not pass the house transportation-funding bill. "It's all about job creation," Beach said. "We need jobs in this state and we need to fix transportation." It is unclear if Beach's desire to challenge Moody in a primary next year played into Moody's decision, the timing of it, or both.
BELLE ISLE WANTS LOCAL CONTROL
Belle Isle took exception to the state legislature's attempt this year to pass the controversial constitutional amendment HR-1, designed to cap property tax increase assessments at no more than three percent per year. HR-1 eventually failed when Democrats at the Gold Dome lined up unanimously to oppose it. Belle Isle led the local government opposition against the bill and wrote several passionate editorials in this newspaper deriding its intentions. "Republicans used to stand for local control, not power grabs by higher authorities," Belle Isle said. "I want to get back to governing by our true principles of autonomy and local control of local issues," he said.
FIRST PASS ANALYSIS
No doubt other candidates will jump in over time, but as of today Beach and Belle Isle are the heavyweight contenders.
Beach enters the fray as the clear frontrunner, and a Belle Isle victory next year would be seen as a major upset. Beach has enormous fundraising capability, he is very popular in the business community and he is an effective campaigner. He plays to win and he possess extraordinary political savvy. He is virtually assured of winning the primary support of both House Speaker Pro-Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) - who may be on the ballot with him as a gubernatorial candidate - and House Majority Whip Jan Jones (R-Milton). Both Burkhalter and Jones were not amused by Belle Isle's relentless attacks against HR-1, a resolution they both favored and worked hard to pass. Playing it out, it is likely that Belle Isle will support Secretary of State Karen Handel over Burkhalter for governor - if the Speaker Pro-Tem indeed runs.
The election is a clear 15 months away and don't count Belle Isle out just yet. He is a very attractive candidate in both demeanor and style, and he has a pleasing personality that makes him a powerful retail campaigner. He has proven - with his opposition to HR-1 - that he can stand up to the power brokers and not back down. His combination of passion and idealism keeps him in the hunt.
DERITO EYES SHAFER'S SEAT
There is another political battle taking shape on the other side of Alpharetta. State Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth), who's District 48 includes much of Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Duluth, is reportedly evaluating whether or not to continue his campaign for Lt. Governor in light of current Lt. Governor Casey Cagle's surprise announcement to drop out of the governors race last week and seek re-election to his current position instead. Shafer said he will make a decision soon, but all indications point to Shafer staying in the race and facing off with Cagle in the July 2010 primary. If Shafer takes that road he may force Cagle out of the race, or defeat him outright in a head to head or three way primary race with State Senator Eric Johnson (R-Savannah). Cagle's sudden withdrawal from the governor's race - coupled with his inability to win approval for a transportation-funding bill - has wounded him politically. He is now viewed as vulnerable and his would-be opponents could be smelling blood.
Assuming Shafer does anything except run for re-election for his senate seat, at least four candidates will be in the race to replace him: Johns Creek Councilwoman Liz Hausmann, Duluth Attorney Matt Reeves, Local businessman and Republican activist Narender Reddy and most likely Alpharetta Councilman Doug DeRito. DeRito says he is close to making a final decision, and his candidacy would break the race wide open, stripping Hausmann of her frontrunner status.
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