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Anthony Montcalm (Douglas County Commission, District 4, Georgia, candidate 2022)
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Anthony Montcalm (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Douglas County Commission, District 4 in Georgia. He was on the ballot in the Democratic primary on May 24, 2022.[source]
Montcalm completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
Per our coverage scope, Ballotpedia does not provide election results for this particular race. Check your city or county government's election website for vote totals.
General election
General election for Douglas County Commission, District 4
Yvonne Shaw and Mark Alcarez ran in the general election for Douglas County Commission, District 4 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | ||
Yvonne Shaw (D)  | ||
| Mark Alcarez (R) | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Douglas County Commission, District 4
Dominique Conteh, Anthony Montcalm, and Yvonne Shaw ran in the Democratic primary for Douglas County Commission, District 4 on May 24, 2022.
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Douglas County Commission, District 4
Mark Alcarez ran in the Republican primary for Douglas County Commission, District 4 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| Mark Alcarez | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Anthony Montcalm completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Montcalm's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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A lifelong Democrat, Tony Montcalm was born in Douglas County and raised in Winston where his family has resided since the 1830s. Both his parents spent their careers in public service as Douglas County employees. His mother worked in the clerk of courts office and probate court and his father worked for the board of assessors for 40 years. Montcalm earned his bachelor’s in liberal studies from Fort Valley State University, an HBCU, and also studied political science and philosophy at Georgia State University. Before joining the nonprofit, Carrollton-based Tanner Health System, Montcalm was a newspaper reporter, working at the Douglas County Sentinel as a staff writer, the Paulding Neighbor as an editor and the Times-Georgian as a senior staff writer. He also served as managing editor of the Georgia State Signal. Montcalm’s wife, Ashley, is a women’s health nurse practitioner and he has two children: a daughter, Ellie, and a son, Charlie.
- We must catch up on infrastructure in Douglas County’s District 4 and put the infrastructure in place we need for the generations to come. District 4 is the western frontier for the county, and it’s going to experience a population surge. We must get our roads and recreation improved and in place before that happens to ensure a better quality of life for ourselves and our posterity. We should leave our community better than we found it.
- We must expand broadband access in District 4. Other parts of Douglas County have Google data centers, but swaths of District 4 are stuck on unreliable satellite internet. The pandemic has proven that reliable, high-speed internet is as much a utility as electricity and municipal water. The state has programs to help local utilities run fiber; we need that in place before these areas begin to grow. Reliable high-speed internet is a necessity.
- One of our fastest growing demographics are those 65 and older, but District 4 has no senior center. We deserve a resource that will improve the physical and psychological needs for our senior neighbors. The facility, the programing — and the transportation to remain independent as long as possible — should be available for our friends, parents and loved ones.
I’m interested in making high-speed internet accessible and affordable to everyone in Douglas County’s District 4. I want to help residents take advantage of evidence-based income programs, have access to online marketplaces and, should we experience another 2020, continue their educations. I also want to improve pay for first responders. We’re safer when a deputy’s cruiser is parked down the block or an EMT-trained firefighter lives next door. They should be able to afford to live in the community they serve.
Your county commissioner paves your roads, maintains your parks, pushes code enforcement to keep your community neat and has more interaction with you than any other level of government. We have an opportunity to move forward with the Fourth if we elect the right person.
My grandfather, Charles Waldrop Jr., taught himself to be an electrician because he was tired of working as a sharecropper. His sharecrop farm was behind the current Ephesus Baptist Church, where he was a deacon. He served in World War II, came home, raised a family (even lit the boiler at Villa Rica Hospital to keep one of his daughters warm after she was born) and then spend about a year in a VA burn unit in Savannah after a gas boiler at an Army depot blew him through a cinder-block wall. Growing up, he made the Depression, the war, everything tangible to me; this wasn't history, but things that could happen again. I take a long view for what's next.
"Pragmatism," by Louis Menand.
Transparency and accessibility are central. I'm the only candidate (so far) to file his campaign disclosure report, and I've been walking neighborhoods and knocking on doors. Don't think you're better because you paid a qualifying fee; get out there and hear what matters to your constituents. And be clear about who's backing your campaign.
We need someone to represent District 4. Not someone who switches parties, not someone who runs for whatever seat is open; we need investment.
The first I remember was the Berlin Wall coming down, but the thing that shaped our lives was 9/11. I was in college at Georgia State when it happened. A sports writer mentioned off-hand that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers; I went down the hall to a TV lounge and saw the second plane hit. I had former service members coming in to my newspaper office because they'd heard our phones were still working. They were calling to re-up.
First, I was an editor and agent for freelance writers. But I got my first taste of real life at Carollo's Italian Restaurant in downtown Douglasville. I worked there for a year, but it made me fearless in the kitchen. You want escargot? I got you covered.
"On the Road," because it reminds me of the two weeks I spent on the road with my best friends.
"Dirty Work," Steely Dan
The Planning and Zoning Board often sides with the district commissioner. Along with appointing representation, I can also make sure your neighbor doesn't build his shed inches from your bedroom window.
I think knowledge matters. No one for this office has much to offer in the way of experience; none of us have been elected before. But knowing what policies work and which don't can be invaluable. So does having a long-term view of those policies; my kids will be here after I'm gone, as were their grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents...
Congeniality. Our current commissioner loves to appeal to her base with allegations and misstatements; I intend to foster a better working relationship with our governance. You need three commissioners in Douglas County to do anything; it'd be nice if District 4 was one of those every now and then instead of being a reliable "nay."
"What do you call a dead polar bear? Whatever you want; it's dead."
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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