County Commission | The Magazine June 2017 | Page 6

THE COUNTY LINE
I
Sonny Brasfield
Executive Director
Regrouping after
a hauntingly thin
margin of defeat
Unequal elections
could have
been averted with
one more vote
6 | COUNTY COMMISSION
have personally known three
commissioners over the years
who won their seats by a single
vote, and I know another who was
defeated by that same margin.
When it was over, all of those
candidates shared the same post-
vote analysis.
Bottom line, they all had to
live with the fact that there were
dozens of other votes out there that
should have gone their way. But,
simply because they didn't do a little
something extra when they had
the chance, the margin between
victory and defeat was so thin that it
haunted them for many, many years.
During the last week of the
2017 legislative session, I made a
quick trip to Ohio to carry out
the Association’s duties with the
national reinsurance provider that
assists our insurance funds. While
in the air between Atlanta and
Cleveland, the Association joined
that one-vote crowd when a county-
led effort was defeated on the House
floor by that same thin margin.
When I hit the ground in Ohio,
I turned on my iPhone only to
learn the frustrating details. I was
quickly reminded of those close
elections, and the regret expressed
by each candidate who wished they
had done just one more thing to
influence the outcome of the vote.
In this case, the lost floor vote
has given me time for reflection
and, I hope, it generates reflection
on the part of county officials
and employees all over the state.
Reflection on the bigger picture is
necessary in this case because it was
not the kind of issue that should
have gone against the wishes of
counties. We were not facing the
strongest of legislative foes and,
honestly, the Association’s position
was the most rational and efficient
one for taxpayers.
From my chair, however, you
could see something like this
coming. With the significant level
of turnover we have seen in the last
several elections, I am not certain
the Association has done a great job
of growing the necessary sense of
"ownership" in its legislative efforts.
Now, before you get ready to
remind me of the enormous amount
of work that was generated statewide
on our ATRIP-2 infrastructure
project, it is important to note that
counties face hundreds of policy
changes each year and any one of
those can do harm to our ability to
serve the citizens. As we learned last
month, each issue has the potential
to go against our better judgment,
unless everyone does