WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Hair to run for State Senate
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SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Former Chatham County commission chairman Billy Hair announced he will run for the state senate seat vacated this week. Hair, who served two terms as commission chair, wants to fill the vacancy left by Eric Johnson's resignation. He said he is critically aware of local issues and a broader picture.
"The thing affecting the local community is the same thing affecting the state which is the budget crisis. And my opinion and the opinion of a lot of people is the mismanagement of the budget for so many years is what got us in this situation," he explained.
He also disagreed with the ways Johnson and others had reacted to the problems.
"You don't lay off teachers, you don't lay off troopers. That's not the way," he noted.
Hair said part of his platform would be a restructuring of state budgets and requiring accountability for department budgets.
"Right now, their budgets just roll over from year to year and they're only asked to explain whatever increase they request - not the millions of dollars they receive each year just because they got it last year,"
Voters in Chatham, Bryan and Liberty Counties will choose a new District 1 senator in November in conjunction with any local municipal elections.
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