In a Facebook post on Wednesday, August 13 Steve Brown announced his intent to run for mayor in Peachtree City.
Brown is both a former Fayette County Commissioner, serving 8 years, and former Peachtree City Mayor, who served one four-year term.
A controversial candidate in local politics, Brown is known for his polarizing viewpoints, most of which ran in his previous column in The Citizen, which ended with its new ownership last fall.
Brown first ran for Peachtree City mayor in 2001 and won with 61% of the vote. After his four-year term, he ran again and lost in a landslide, with Harold Logsdon winning over 70% of the vote. Later he ran and won several terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.
After checking with officials in Peachtree City, The Citizen found that Brown had not yet filed a Declaration of Intent (DOI), which enables a candidate to fundraise, by end of business on Wednesday, August 13. DOI is not the same as qualification.
In Brown's Facebook post he said, "Qualifying for the municipal election in Peachtree City begins August 18. I will be there on August 18 at 8:00 a.m. I am running for mayor."
Brown indicated that he will be running "in tandem with James Clifton." Clifton is running for Post 4 of the City Council. Michael Polacek has also filed a DOI for Post 4's race.
Former Peachtree City City Council member Eric Imker had originally put in a DOI for the mayoral seat, but he dropped out of the election in favor of endorsing Brown and Clifton. His Letter to the Editor will be released after this story.
Brown said of Imker, "He and I both agree that there is a lot of work to be done on the budgeting and taxation issues. Things have derailed, and we each want the current young families to have the same affordable, high-quality of life experience our families had when we moved to Peachtree City."Steve Brown will face incumbent Mayor Kim Learnard in the Peachtree City mayoral race, who he often lambasted with personal attacks in his previous columns.