The Dougherty County Taxpayers Association has officially thrown its lot behind former railroad executive Terry Hart in his bid for the Ward 5 Albany City Commission seat currently held by Bob Langstaff. Thursday night, the DCTPA made it official, though it was already a foregone conclusion that they would. Bob Langstaff is one seat they specifically targeted, and Hart is the only challenger.

We’ll find out how accurate Ward 5 City Commissioner Roger Marietta was when he allegedly referred to the group’s endorsement as “the kiss of death.”

Unfortunately for Commissioner Langstaff, Marietta may well be his worst liability. Recent comments likening the group to “domestic terrorists” wasn’t a good idea. Commissioner Marietta quickly apologized, saying he was taken out of context. Of course, the Albany Journal reports that he did it at least one more time. Yeah, not such a good thing.

But how does this impact Commissioner Langstaff? To start with, it built up animosity between DCTPA membership (and supporters who aren’t members) and the City Commission. A lack of any statement denouncing Marietta’s comments, or even a polite disagreement, from any other commissioner doesn’t help improve relations.

Time will tell whether or not this is going to be an issue. Bob Langstaff isn’t an easy target in the least. He’s not going to be easy to beat, make no mistake. However, I don’t think that a DCTPA endorsement is any kiss of death, especially in Ward 5 where more people own their homes than some other wards.

For Hart to win, he’s going to have to be vocal, engaged, be a hell of a candidate. I don’t know him personally, so I can’t say for certain that he’s any of those things. But we’ve got some time until the election, so we’ll see. It my intent to try and sit down with all candidates in the contested races so you can make an informed decision.

Written by Tom Knighton. Read his blog at SWGA Politics.com. A lifelong political junkie, Tom started out his adult life as a journalism major at Darton College before leaving school to serve his nation as a U.S. Navy Corpsman. Through the years, he has watched government from outside and inside. A former Reagan supporter, then later a Democrat, Tom now finds himself quite comfortable as a card carrying Libertarian and all around smart-elec.