The Fayette County Republican Party hosted an enthusiastic candidate forum Monday night in advance of the July 26 Primary Election Runoff, for which early voting starts Tuesday, July 5, but one could have almost heard “America the Beautiful” playing in the background as Third District congressional candidate Mike Crane took the stage in the absence of his opponent Drew Ferguson.
The forum’s format included asking both candidates in each contest the same questions and giving them a certain time in which to respond. As Ferguson, former mayor of West Point, did not attend Monday’s event, Crane, a sitting State Senator from Coweta County, had the floor to himself, and he used the opportunity to talk about his priorities should he win the Third District seat.
Crane also had the crowd nodding in approval as he said overhauling the national tax code would be a priority of his.“I love the fair tax as an idea,” Crane said. “They just tax consumption.
“What’s interesting about the Fair Tax is it takes all the tooth and claw out of government and out of the lobbyists, for now,” Crane said. But then he added a warning: “Even if we pass it, I’ll tell everybody this, wait a minute, here they come again, they’re going to try and mess this up. Even the income tax code was short when it first started.”