Edward Brown makes case in run for state Senate District 12 post

ALBANY – When Edward Brown showed up recently in Fort Gaines to speak with residents, he said, some of them were shocked to see a candidate in their small city.

“They said, ‘We hardly ever have anybody come over here and talk to us,’” the state Senate District 12 candidate said.

As a senator, the first-time candidate said, these often-neglected parts of the state would be a focus.

“We need somebody to advocate for them and say, ‘You are going to listen to those voters and respect them,’” Brown said. “‘And you’re going to listen to me.’ I care about legislation that improves people’s lives. That’s it at the end of the day.”

Brown is one of three candidates of the original five who remain in the race for District 12, which includes 13 counties, some of them the most economically depressed in the state. After the withdrawal from the race of long-time Democratic Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, Brown, Camilla City Council member Corey Morgan and Albany firefighter Tracy Taylor are the three remaining candidates.

A Dougherty County native, Brown left to continue his education, earning a master’s degree in economics from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree and Ph.D in economic history from the University of Cambridge.

He served on President Barack Obama’s Council on Economic Advisors and also worked at the Open Source Policy Center, where he developed analytical tools used by members of Congress from both parties to assess long-term tax policy implications.

Despite his successes, both academically and in government positions, Brown said that his desire was always to return to his southwest Georgia roots.

“Six months into four years in (England), I realized I needed to come back to Albany,” he said. “I realized if I waited 15, 20 years to come back, it might be too late and I’d regret it. I felt that I could have a much bigger impact here than I could going back to (Washington) D.C. I need to be here.”

Ensuring that rural counties like those in southwest Georgia receive the funding needed to grow is among Brown’s biggest priorities.

“We have to invest more in smaller cities and rural areas or else Atlanta is just going to be overpopulated and it’s going to crumble,” Brown said. “I know there are a lot of people living in Atlanta who would like to be living in Albany, to be living in Parrott (but) they didn’t have the opportunities there.

“I lived in England for four years in the late 2000s, early 2010s. The British government decided they were going to stop sending economic assistance and investment to England’s smallest towns. What happened? Those local economies collapsed; the tax base collapsed.”

Last year, out of a $38 billion budget, the state’s Department of Community Affairs had an insufficient amount of only $35 million allocated for rural development, the candidate said. To boost investment in rural parts of the state, he plans to push for a Georgia economic development bank.

“That’s just not going to cut it,” he said. “We’re sitting on $15 billion in our surplus account earning next to no interest. Meanwhile, we have communities begging for capital infusions.

“The Georgia economic development bank is something I would think Republicans would be on board with. It would award grants and low-interest loans for the sole purpose of economic revitalization.”

As Brown envisions the bank, it would be able to issue grants and loans in a timely manner rather than waiting for legislators to have to vote on each individual expenditure.

“You won’t have to go through the political process,” he said.

Education is another area where Brown said he would like to boost the opportunities for students who cannot afford to attend college even when they qualify for scholarship money.

“You can have a child who is brilliant and they qualify for HOPE (scholarship), and they still may not be able to go to college because they can’t feed or house themselves,” he said. “I would propose room and board vouchers for HOPE students at need.”

Public schools also need a boost and should not be short-changed to provide taxpayer funding to wealthy private schools, the candidate said.

“Social scientists will tell you it’s more expensive to educate a child living in poverty,” Brown said. “Our legislature needs to make that adjustment right now.”

For those voters in Fort Gaines and elsewhere in the district, Brown said he would carry their issues to the state Capitol.

“I’m not going to make promises I cannot keep,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to ensure your voice is heard in Atlanta.”