Something has changed with the political process and it is not for the better.  Kind of sad to watch democracy die right before our eyes.

Nodine also made a very bad move.  He would have been better off saying nothing.  Now he just looks weak and easily intimidated by a political machine comprised of trial lawyers and power brokers in the print media.

Looks like I’ll be giving a lot of “write in” votes this year!

Everybody needs to oppose every single annexation attempt by the city of Mobile. As we have witnessed firsthand, all the city wants is your money. All you get in return is a lot of rules and regulations and of course much much higher taxes. Better police protection? NO! Free garbage collection? Maybe for a little while and then you will be charged a fee. Street lights? Maybe, if the city makes enough tax money off of you. Higher taxes? Definitely, property taxes, city taxes, car tags, permits, and sales taxes will go up drastically. Will you be able to target shoot or do fireworks any longer? NO! The city has laws that will get you arrested if you do these things. As you can see, annexation is only good for the city of Mobile and the annexed people will suffer.  You are much better off refusing to be annexed. The city of Mobile needs to do things from within the current city limits that will make it money and not try to coerce people in the unincorporated parts of the county to join the city. Don’t believe a word the politicians tell you. They will promise anything to get you to bow down to them and give them your money. And then, they will not deliver on the promises. The city needs to get businesses to locate within the city and crime rates down, and generate more income from existing businesses in the downtown Mobile area. JMHO

It is too bad that Steve Nodine backed out. But I realize that all of Sam Jones’ supporters, including Sam Jones, would have tried their best to discredit him.  Mobile needs and deserves much better leadership than we have and people will regret keeping some of them in office.  We have already witnessed the sneaky and bold way that Sam Jones managed to work things out in order to get Steve to decide not to run against him. Every black citizen of this country knows that all they have to do to get their way is to just hint at accusing a white person of racism and they will back off - even if they are in the right.  It is too bad that blacks and whites can’t compete equally for things, but blacks always want the scales stacked in their favor.  Not fair at all. WKRG should have broadcast Steve’s complete announcement on the tv so that everyone would know the actual reasons that he decided not to run.  The editing job was shameful and left out the remarks about the differences in philosophies and other things that led to his backing out today. The public should note that the mayor’s cancer has not been cured, only in remission and can come back at any time.  Since Sam Jones has run his only competition off, with a bogus news conference and certain remarks, the city will have to watch their backs when he is re-elected.  It has become quite evident that the citizens cannot trust some of the current leaders (can you say rulers?) of Mobile. We can trust Steve Nodine to do us right.JMO

I am not in an area to vote on this,but the signs I have seen for Ms.Coker are impressive.She, being from that particular community, would know better than most (I would think) what it will take to help “fix” the problems. Best of luck to her. I will be interested to see the spots the candidates are given prior to election, their platforms, etc. Though I cannot vote in this election, I do have concerns for our area as a whole,and hope the “right” leadership will make us a viable community.

razor, i concur. i seriousl y thought of running   my self. how ever i knew money was asissue an being on a fixed income prevented it. ido hope folks remeber the 27 grand   fred spend on his junket to the far east. no tomention the wased 9000 on the famous moon pie. its no surprise to see fred and clinton johnons having   opppsition. i again hope ever one remebr that the child like tantrum they threw about funding for the famous ala state game which was nt a sell out. 250grand worth. both of thses   guys made the threat to with hold funding for bay feast an otehr things if the famous foot ball feasco wasnt funded. they wanted 450grand. i will vote for mrs coker and hope more will.

This is my third time trying to post a comment on this topic. It keeps getting rejected. Not exactly sure why. So, I will condense it. Fred Richardson-Giant Moonpie-waste of money-vote for someone other than Fred.