Coffman Intends Run For City Council
Brent Finnegan -- January 12th, 2010
Greg Coffman, a longtime member of the Harrisonburg City School Board, has announced he intends to run for one of the two City Council seats as a Republican this fall.
There can only be two official Republican candidates, and neither Ted Byrd (currently the only Repub on Council) nor Charlie Chenault (the Repub who was voted out of office in 2008) have officially announced their intentions for office this year.
According to Jeff Mellott’s story in today’s Daily News-Record, Coffman pledges to raise no new city taxes, but to “support the city’s core responsibilities of education, transportation and public safety, while also making a commitment to be responsive to what the public wants.”
Coffman had been considering a bid for council for a number of years but the city’s move to hold municipal elections in November instead of May starting in 2008 affected his decision. Coffman said he chose to run in a non-presidential election cycle because he believes it would have the least effect on council races.
Last month Joe Fitzgerald announced his intentions to run as a Democrat for one of the two available seats.
By all unofficial projections I’ve heard, voter turnout is expected to be low.
Tags: City Council, Harrisonburg
I’m not sure what his major policy positions are or will be for his council run, but Mr. Coffman has been an incredibly active and supportive school board member. He frequently shows up at school activities to support the students and faculty, which is one thing I have always appreciated about him.
Does he have an official website? Anyone know of credible information on his positions, record, how supportive he’s been of diversity, etc.? Of course, Mr. Coffman is welcome to make his own comments here.
Sam Nickels
Mr. Coffman has been very critical of the technical school that the city and the county share. He pushed hard to close programs and was against the idea of sending Harrisonburg students to a school for “not so bright” students. Ask some of the people he served with on our city board how he was to work with.