Dear editor,

We are in the process of choosing who will chair the Troup County Commission for the next four years.

This is a position affecting all 70,000 plus of us who live here. We have Patrick Crews, who is completing his first four-year term.

Opposing him is Tripp Foster, who was a county commissioner for one term.

One of many things I learned serving as a LaGrange City Councilman for four years and representing this area for 12 years in the Georgia House of Representatives is that if you are challenging an incumbent, as Tripp is, you must first convince the voters why the incumbent has done a poor job. In my opinion, Tripp has not done this.

Regardless, the second thing a candidate must do is to show the voters why he is a better candidate than his opponent.

Well, the best indication of what a candidate will do is what he has done before.

When Tripp served as a county commissioner, I am hard pressed to remember anything he initiated that helped our county.

Meanwhile, we have had very positive accomplishments under Patrick’s leadership for the past four years, such as helping to attract new employers here like Great Wolf Lodge, where 450 people have just been hired.

I serve on the development authority and can tell you that we often need help from the county to land these new employers, and Patrick is involved and makes things happen.

Patrick has helped to get our first responders well-deserved pay increases based on a factual salary survey, our infrastructure has had many needed improvements and the efficiency of our convenience centers has been improved.

All of these accomplishments have been done without a tax increase.

I have known Patrick for decades and have great respect for him as a husband, father, church member and his work history.

In his present job, he works with our aging population and shows great compassion.

We are very fortunate to have someone like Patrick run for this critical position.

I hope you will take the time to re-elect Patrick Crews as Troup County Commission Chair.

Jeff Brown

LaGrange