Scottie Pittman, longtime county commissioner for District 2, or Sand Mountain, is up for reelection this November, and he announced at Thursday’s commission meeting that he will shoot for another term.
Pittman, first elected in 2002— “I’m serving my 16th year right now”—took his seat in January 2003. Pittman was elected to the Dade County Commission in the (Democratic) primary in July 2002, was hired on by Norfolk Southern as an electrician the following September, and has served in both capacities continuously since then.
Pittman is married with four children, one 12 and the others young adults. He ran first as a Democrat but switched party allegiances in 2010, when he ran unopposed. He has run as a Republican since then. No one from either party has yet announced to run against him this year.
Pittman agreed that the biggest issue this election cycle will probably be the TSPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). “Some people will be totally for it and some people will be totally against it,” said Pittman. “I’m not going to try to force it on anybody.”
TSPLOST, which would raise the local sales tax from 7 to 8 cents on the dollar, was rejected by the voters in a special referendum election last November, but Pittman pointed out: “We didn’t have a big turnout." During the Feb. 1 meeting, he also made the point that no one had made much of an effort to explain TSPLOST to the voters. “I may try to have a meeting at Davis school, just for community input,” he told The Planet. “[But] I’m not trying to talk people into voting for it. I just want to find out what the general consensus is.”
Pittman said he isn't personally invested in TSPLOST one way or the other. "It’ll be on the ballot,” he said. “If it gets voted down, it gets voted down.”
Pittman may be reached via his commission cellphone, (423) 413-6572, or email address, spittman@dadecounty-ga.gov.
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