Elton Dean says he is running for Mayor...but he's not answering any questions.Dean released an online video. a safe question- free technique. He is the Chair of the Montgomery County Commission.
One major theme in Dean's video announcement is bringing the city together "West Side and East Side", for the good of all.
The city is majority black.
Dean talks about improving education, and in fact he has been a central figure in the push for a property tax increase. Yet when the Montgomery Education Foundation recently announced a plan to turn four county schools into charter schools, he was absent from the news conference. His office cited a scheduling conflict. But the property tax increase vote could come just before the August mayoral election, and the question of the best way forward for the system---including charter schools---is certain to be a central issue.
The list of people who have not announced, but who are said to also be considering a run includes: Montgomery County Probate Judge Steven Reed, former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis, and the owner of WCOV 20, the Montgomery Fox TV affiliate, David Woods.
Strange defeated Davis four years ago, and at the time Davis pledged he would run again in four years. The mayoral election is non-partisan.
Incumbent Todd Strange has said he is not running for another term, but will not endorse anyone. I talked with him for an Alabama News Network story last Fall, a year before the election. You can watch that report HERE.
If Dean, Reed or Davis are successful, the candidate would become the first African-Amercian Montgomery mayor.
Montgomery is the only largish city in the state which has never elected a black mayor.
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