Ninth District Candidate Bicknell Offers Solutions, Not Talk, to Gilmer County

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“They’re both talkers; I’m a solutions person”

The auxiliary room at The Davis House Restaurant in Ellijay is slowly becoming an interrogation cell for Ninth District Candidates. In November, Rep. Doug Collins was in the hot seat, questioned by some of the most politically active members of Gilmer County. And just last week, on December 2nd, Jackson County Commissioner Chairman Hunter Bicknell found himself in the same seat.

Like the Collins event, Bicknell answered questions over breakfast and coffee. Voters corralled around the table, sipping mugs and scribbling notes on paper beside them, waiting to ask their questions.

Collins and Bicknell, though, have something else in common beside the scrutiny of Gilmer voters.

During the meeting, Bicknell said that while considering his Ninth District bid, Collins paid Bicknell a visit.

“He (Collins) met with me,” Bicknell admitted, “and said, ‘you really don’t want to get into this race.’”

In response to Collins subtle comment, Bicknell said,

“I differed with him.”

Here, Bicknell’s anecdote begs the question: Why did he enter the race? Prior to his announcement, two candidates were already running, Talk Show host Martha Zoller and Rep. Doug Collins. So, why did the Commissioner feel the need to throw his hat in the ring?

“I wasn’t comfortable with voting for either one of them,” he said, “because they’re both talkers; I’m a solutions person,” adding, “I provide solutions based on experience, knowledge, and an understanding of our economy.”

Bicknell’s slogan seems to go a step further than Collins’ campaign quip. When Collins first announced his candidacy, he said that experience matters. Although he said he was both friend and neighbor of Zoller, he said she did not have the right experience for the job. He said that experience matters. When it comes to budgets, he said that he has experience with budgets, while Zoller only talked about them; Collins made the same points regarding his military service and his political career. Later, in her interview with FYN, Zoller said she in fact does have experience with budgets. She noted that when she worked for the department store Rich’s, she had worked on the store budget.

“If litigations and dinners with lobbyists are the kind of experience that you need,” she said referring to Collins’ experience as politician and lawyer, “then, I think there’s a problem.”

But, Bicknell brings a different kind of experience. Although, Collins said that he had owned a business at one point, a scrapbook store in Gainesville, Bicknell’s experience in the private sector seems to be for a longer period of time and more involved. In addition to rising to Southeast Regional Vice President of Marketing for Sperry Hutchinson, he owned a string of sandwich shops and also later worked for a company called Sky Climber. So, with this experience in the private sector and his stint as Jackson County Commissioner, for Bicknell both Collins’ and Zoller are talkers. Evidence of Bicknell’s solutions most recently come in the form of his work in local government. As commissioner, despite the reduction in revenue in Jackson County, he said that he helped make adjustments

“to prevent any kind of millage rate increase. Most people in Jackson County are paying less in taxes today than they were three years ago (before he came into office),” adding that “we (Jackson County) have also been successful in re-working some of our debt.”

Bicknell said that his website will be up and running within a few days and offered voters to contact him if they had any further questions.

Watch Bicknell Discuss Competition

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