Bill Bozarth, former Common Cause director, running for state House as independent
Longtime citizen activist don’t need no stinkin’ parties
- Friends and Neighbors of Bill Bozarth
- Bill Bozarth
Bill Bozarth, a longtime citizen activist and former executive director of government watchdog Common Cause Georgia, is running to represent a large chunk of North Atlanta in the state House of Representatives.
And he’s running not as a Republican or a Democrat, but an independent candidate. The district, which includes Brookhaven, Buckhead, Lindbergh-Morosgo, and other communities, was most recently represented by state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Buckhead, who’s stepping down to run for Congress.
Bozarth, a Garden Hills resident, has played a key role in many local initiatives, including MARTA’s Lindbergh transit-oriented development and the preservation of the former North Fulton High School which ultimately became the Atlanta International School.
The husband and father of four, who also spent more than 25 years at IBM, has served on nearly every neighborhood civic group you can name in addition to organizations such as the Atlanta Council on International Relations, the International Club of Atlanta, and the Civil War Roundtable of Atlanta.
From 2002 to 2010, he served as the executive director of Common Cause Georgia, where he regularly advocated for ethics reform. (Also, per his “about” page: “I don’t have cable TV. I do my own yard work. I drive a 2000 Neon that was my youngest daughter’s car in college.”)
“During those years fighting for honest and accountable government, I witnessed the overwhelming influence of money in the political process, and I promise to be a different kind of representative, whose actions and votes in office can never be questioned as payback to special interests for favors done,” Bozarth says on his website. “While other candidates may seek maximum contributions from those who would offer them, I will not. My loyalty will be to my own sense of what is best for the average voter in my district and the people of the state of Georgia.”
First, however, Bozarth will need to petition for ballot access, which is quite ridiculous in Georgia. Between January and July he’ll try to collect approximately 2,000 signatures from the district’s registered voters so he can qualify.