FRANKLIN
On March 24, at the invitation of Franklin residents Thomas Councill and George Reid, John Bloom, chairman of the Constitution Party of Virginia, spoke to a group of 10 to 15 people at New Hope Baptist Church in Franklin. The main topics of discussion were the high electric bills residents received in February and the upcoming city council election in May.

Also present were City Councilman Greg McLemore, who is running for re-election to the Ward 3 seat and Ricky Sykes, the chairman of the Franklin City Democratic Committee, who is running for the Ward 5 council seat.

After hearing from city residents, Bloom said he agreed that the city’s utility bills for the month of February were extraordinarily high. Bloom then advocated for the formation of a local chapter of the Constitution Party in Franklin and pledged to help any write-in candidates who step forward to run for City Council in the May election.

“Anger is a very good motivator to get people out to vote, and if this electric bill issue doesn’t get them out to vote I don’t know what will,” Bloom said.

Councill said he invited Bloom because he felt that local representatives of the Democratic Party had failed to adequately address the city’s utility bill issues. He explained that while state law prevents political party affiliations from appearing on ballots for municipal elections, he felt that the Constitution Party could help write-in candidates seeking to bring reforms to the city’s electric department to develop their campaign platforms.

On Tuesday afternoon, Councill said he knew of one person considering a write-in campaign, but no one had made any formal candidacy announcements yet.