City Commission candidate Morris changes seat/opponent for third time in 10 days

City Commission candidate Charles A. (Tony) Morris has changed to a new seat and opponent for the August city election.

According to City Clerk Caroline Best, Morris filed to change to city commission seat 3. That seat is held by Commissioner Chip Ross, who is termed out and cannot run for re-election. Tim Poynter, a former city commissioner, is also a candidate for seat 3.

Morris originally filed March 15 to run for seat 1 which is held by Mayor Bradley Bean. But just two hours after Morris filed, Bean filed to run for re-election.

Six days later, Morris filed to run for seat 2, which is held by Vice Mayor David Sturges. Sturges filed as a candidate for re-election in January.

Now Morris has switched yet again.

"I am learning as I go with this running-for-office stuff. When I initially 'announced' that I was running, I picked Seat 1, because at the time, no one had yet 'announced' for it. It was vacant. I figured that would be the easiest way to ease in… maybe I would run unopposed," Morris said. "Shortly after I announced (within 2 hours), the incumbent decided (or let it be known) that he would run again. So, I switched to Seat 2. I try to get a 'feel”'for local politics by reading Facebook and NextDoor. My impression of Seat 2 was that, frankly, not a lot of people (on FB and ND) seem to know the seat holder. But many of the people I talked face to face with gave me a different impression of Seat 2. And now, based on 'advice from counsel' I have switched to Seat 3. That way, I won't be running against an incumbent. Incumbents are generally tougher to beat."