Lewey, Graham ready for new term
By Staff
Jason Houston FCT Managing Editor
It was an unusual political campaign for Norris Lewey, to say the least.
Lewey, who Tuesday night became the first commissioner in Franklin County to be elected to three consecutive terms, spent most of this year in Iraq, serving his country with the locally-based 115th Signal Battalion.
Lewey defeated Republican challenger Jerry Fancher for the District 4 seat by almost 3,000 votes, garnering 62 percent of the votes cast.
In Lewey's absence, his wife Brenda Lewey was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley to serve on the commission. Also, Brenda spearheaded campaign efforts in both the primary and general election.
Lewey said he sees the vote as a sign the voters are pleased with the job he and the rest of the commission is doing. Every incumbent commissioner that ran for re-election won their race.
Lewey said he appreciated Riley's appointment of his wife to the post in his absence, and said he plans to ask the governor to re-appoint her to serve on the commission until the 115th returns to Franklin County next spring.
Lewey is on a 15-day leave from his unit. He will be sworn in with the rest of the commission next Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. and will depart again for Iraq on Nov. 16.
In the only other contested commission race, Gene Graham won his second consecutive term in District 2, defeating Lowell Moore in a rematch of the 2000 general election.
Graham said he was pleased that the new commission will resemble the old one so closely. He said his No. 1 goal for his new term is to continue cleaning up the roads from the recent hurricane damage and to continue bridge repair projects in the county.
Graham won all but two boxes in the county, receiving 6,553 votes to 5,117 for Moore.
Incumbent commissioner Jackie Bradford (District 1) did not face opposition in the general election, nor did newly-elected District 3 commissioner Rayburn Massey.
Massey, the only new face on this year's commission, takes the place of Curtis Bragwell, who did not seek re-election.
