Oak Ridge Today

Female candidates, elected officials to discuss campaigns at Monday meeting

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Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith

The Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club will present a panel discussion by a group of women who have been candidates or elected to public office at its meeting on Monday, February 27. The club will host a soup dinner at 6 p.m. Monday at the Clinton Community Center, which is at 101 South Hicks Street in Clinton.

The women will discuss campaigns—what works and what doesn’t—as they also encourage other women to become candidates for office, a press release said.

On the panel will be Ellen Smith, current Oak Ridge City Council member; JoAnn Garrett and Ann McNees, both former Oak Ridge Board of Education members; and Mary Headrick and Melody Shekari, both former Democratic Congressional candidates in the Third Congressional District. [Read more…]

Letter: Suggests Oak Ridgers consider electing another woman, a Democrat, to Congress

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To the Editor:

During the years 1974-1994, a woman, who was a Democrat, represented Oak Ridge and the Tennessee Third Congressional District. Her name was Marilyn Lloyd.

She wrote several bills, including the Energy Research Development Administration Bill (1976 and 1977) and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. During her tenure, she was chair of the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Development and was on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. She was on the Public Works Committee and and the Armed Services Committee.

ORNL and associated contractors did well while she was in Congress.

I would like to suggest that Oak Ridgers who have not yet voted consider electing another woman, who is a Democrat: Melody Shekari, who has been endorsed by the Chattanooga Times-Free Press. [Read more…]

Meet the candidates at Civic Center on Thursday

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You can meet candidates for the Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Board of Education, and Oak Ridge candidates for Anderson County Charter Commission at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Thursday.

You talk directly to the candidates at the meeting, which is scheduled from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, October 13, in the Oak Ridge Civic Center gym.

It’s a free community event hosted by DFET (Democracy for East Tennessee), a community organization that hosts this nonpartisan event every two years, a press release said. [Read more…]

Anderson County Democratic Party Headquarters now open

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Anderson County Democratic Headquarters July 2016

Anderson County Democratic Party Headquarters is pictured above at 136 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

The Anderson County Democratic Party celebrated the grand opening of its headquarters at 136 South Illinois Avenue with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, a press release said. The headquarters are in the former Polaris Travel Building.

After the ribbon cutting, there was a watch party for the historic acceptance speech of Hillary Clinton, the press release said.

“We had such a large turnout, that headquarters couldn’t hold everyone, and some of the people met at Swifty’s across the street to watch it,” the release said. “The party headquarters will become the one-stop shop for all matters related to Team Hillary 2016.”

Among those attending were Melody Shekari, a candidate for the United States House of Representatives Third District and Herman Collins, write-in candidate for State Representative for the 33rd District. [Read more…]

Aug. 4 ballot: Competitive races for Congress, AC Commission in Oak Ridge

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Voter Registration Month

The ballot is set for the August 4 county general election and state and federal primary elections. The competitive elections include the Republican and Democratic primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Third Congressional District, which includes Oak Ridge, and the race for one of two seats in Anderson County Commission’s Eighth District, which includes the Woodland, Hendrix Creek, and Emory Valley precincts in Oak Ridge.

There is also competition for two seats on the Anderson County School Board, one in the Third District and the other in the Fifth District.

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, an Ooltewah Republican, is the incumbent in the House’s Third Congressional District. He has two opponents in the Republican primary on August 4: Allan Levene and Geoffery Suhmer Smith. (Signs for Fleischmann and Smith have both recently been posted in Oak Ridge.)

There are also three Democratic candidates on the ballot for U.S. House, Third District. They are Michael Friedman, George Ryan Love, and Melody Shekari.

The Republican winner will face the Democratic winner in the November 8 federal general election. [Read more…]