{"id":11698,"date":"2015-01-06T13:31:46","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T18:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=11698"},"modified":"2015-01-06T13:31:46","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T18:31:46","slug":"breakdown-martinsvilles-mayoral-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/06\/breakdown-martinsvilles-mayoral-election\/","title":{"rendered":"BreakDown: Martinsville&#8217;s Mayoral Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We had lots of political surprises in the Southside region yesterday. <a title=\"BreakDown: Pittsylvania County BoS Organizational Meeting\" href=\"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/05\/breakdown-pittsylvania-county-bos-organizational-meeting\/\" target=\"_blank\">We did a BreakDown on what happened in Pittsylvania County<\/a>, and now we&#8217;re going to do one for Martinsville.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/martinsvilledaily.com\/?p=19118\" target=\"_blank\">For background on what happened, read Bill Wyatt&#8217;s excellent rundown.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the background, and here comes the BreakDown. Let&#8217;s bring on the Big Board.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Just like Pittsylvania County, this didn&#8217;t happen on the spur of the moment. And also just like Pittsylvania County, sitting members on the council were caught by surprise.<\/li>\n<li>Sharon Hodge, Jennifer Bowles &amp; Danny Turner had this planned all along. They never lied about it but they hinted at what was going to happen. The Martinsville Bulletin said &#8220;Turner said he believes someone on the panel will nominate him to be the new mayor \u2014 he would not identify the person \u2014 but \u201cI will not second my nomination.\u201d As for Sharon Hodge, the Bulletin wrote &#8220;Chuckling, she said that in her two years on the council, she has learned there are \u201ctimes when it\u2019s appropriate to keep your mouth shut,\u201d and she believes this is one of those times.&#8221; Jennifer Bowles was conveniently unable to be reached for any comment. The fix was in.<\/li>\n<li>Sharon Hodge knows how to play the game. <a href=\"http:\/\/martinsvilledaily.com\/?p=9296\" target=\"_blank\">She&#8217;s proud to cause racial divisiveness and she doesn&#8217;t back down<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharonbrookshodge\" target=\"_blank\">She stood her ground on that quilt incident and laughed at the idiotic effort to get her recalled (and that effort never would have worked anyway)<\/a>. She knew that Danny Turner was the &#8220;odd man out&#8221; on lots of issues and she knew that she could use that factor in forming her alliance.<\/li>\n<li>Even though Danny Turner apologized for Hodge&#8217;s remarks in 2013, that didn&#8217;t stop him from joining her alliance so that he could become mayor. Hodge never would have gotten enough votes to become mayor herself and she knew that&#8230; but she could use newcomer Jennifer Bowles&#8217; vote to &#8220;take over&#8221; the council with the help of Danny Turner.<\/li>\n<li>Gene Teague and Mark Stroud are left on the sidelines now, and that&#8217;s just like the situation in Pittsylvania County.<\/li>\n<li>Jennifer Bowles was elected due to a bullet voting strategy in Martinsville&#8217;s black precincts. The election results show that a majority of voters in those precincts voted only for Bowles. Hodge will probably take advantage of that strategy as well and win reelection if she runs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what it all means. Danny Turner was elected mayor due to Sharon Hodge&#8217;s plan. Hodge&#8217;s alliance is fragile because Turner could flip over to Teague\/Stroud if they warm up to him. It&#8217;s also fragile because Jennifer Bowles has two ways of breaking free. First, she&#8217;s politically na\u00efve and could be easily swayed. Second, she could have upward ambitions of her own. If that happens, Teague\/Stroud could help her by forming their own alliance with her. Finally, if Sharon Hodge pulls another stunt like the quilt incident, Bowles might want to put a lot of distance between her and Hodge.<\/p>\n<p>One vote means a lot when there&#8217;s only five votes to be cast. Martinsville just got a lot more interesting.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"8644\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/13\/breakdown-danville-school-board-election\/sclogo\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?fit=120%2C120&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"120,120\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"sclogo\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?fit=120%2C120&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8644\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=120%2C120\" alt=\"sclogo\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We had lots of political surprises in the Southside region yesterday. We did a BreakDown on what happened in Pittsylvania County, and now we&#8217;re going to do one for Martinsville.<\/p>\n<p> [&#8230;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[101,16,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breakdown","category-martinsville","category-politicscentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-32G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10996,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/11\/05\/breakdown-the-election-results\/","url_meta":{"origin":11698,"position":0},"title":"BreakDown: The Election Results","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"November 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We know what happened. Let's talk about why it happened with a BreakDown that you'll never get from any other media source. We're going to stick to races that affected Southside, because that's what we mostly cover. US Senate: Mark Warner appears to have barely survived an amazing challenge from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BreakDown&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BreakDown","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/breakdown\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11695,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/05\/breakdown-pittsylvania-county-bos-organizational-meeting\/","url_meta":{"origin":11698,"position":1},"title":"BreakDown: Pittsylvania County BoS Organizational Meeting","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"January 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We made our predictions for Chairman of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors yesterday and we were comfortable with them until around 2PM today. That's when we started figuring out that things weren't as they appeared to be. Let's do a BreakDown on what happened and what it means... Brenda\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BreakDown&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BreakDown","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/breakdown\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31671,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/06\/19\/quickhits-61916\/","url_meta":{"origin":11698,"position":2},"title":"QuickHits! (6\/19\/16)","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"June 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunday is QuickHits day! Let's take a look at some of the stories around the region that have caught my eye in the last week. Let's bring out the old trusty QuickHits! Big Board... A Ferrum College student died in April, and six other students have been indicted on fraternity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;QuickHits!&quot;","block_context":{"text":"QuickHits!","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/quickhits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/HdKuMCl.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4859,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/28\/perriello-to-hold-tom-in-your-town-events-next-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":11698,"position":3},"title":"Perriello to hold &#8220;Tom In Your Town&#8221; events next week.","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"SouthsideCentral will be at the Danville event LIVE! From a Perriello press release... During the August district work period, Congressman Perriello will be visiting every locality in the 5th District and hosting \u201cTom In Your Town\u201d events. Tom In Your Town is a chance for constituents to meet one-on-one with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;EventsCentral&quot;","block_context":{"text":"EventsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/eventscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31370,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2016\/06\/14\/breakdown-the-berry-hill-industrial-park-announcement\/","url_meta":{"origin":11698,"position":4},"title":"BreakDown: The Berry Hill Industrial Park Announcement","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"June 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"On Monday, the Regional Industrial Facility Authority announced that a company was going to buy 300 acres of land in the Berry Hill Industrial Park and this would lead to a $250+ million investment in the region. Let's take a comprehensive look at what has happened and what it means.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BreakDown&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BreakDown","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/featurescentral\/breakdown\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/KuEywg6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12289,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/01\/photocentral-stem-h-summit-student-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":11698,"position":5},"title":"PhotoCentral: STEM-H Summit &#8211; Student Day","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"April 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Tuesday was Student Day at the 3rd Annual STEM-H Summit held at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. Let's take a look at some photos of the day's activities. Over 170 high school students from Danville, Pittsylvania County, Halifax County, Martinsville, Henry County, Patrick County and Franklin County attended.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Danville&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/a9Ok5CK.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/a9Ok5CK.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/a9Ok5CK.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.imgur.com\/a9Ok5CK.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11699,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11698\/revisions\/11699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}