Lynch: Experience and Discipline Make Me a Better Option

I recently conducted a phone interview with Michael Lynch, one of the four candidates running for Georgia House District 107, the seat vacated by Len Walker. Lynch is running against three others in this race - Paul Smith, Mark Banks and Tom Kirby.

Michael Lynch has extensive experience in local government. He says he was prepared for this kind of service from his 14 years in the U.S. Army, where he earned the rank of Captain. He started as a combat medic and was then commissioned a medical officer During his last tour, he was Company Commander, Chief of Security and Deputy Chief of Operations for his brigade.

The Loganville resident said the Army “reinforced those same values instilled in me by my parents."

“It was about that spirit of serving something bigger than yourself,” he said.

Lynch said the Army prepared him for any and all tasks presented to him. The most vivid impression one gets when talking with Michael Lynch is his strong sense of confidence.

The decision to join the field of candidates for Georgia House 107 was one he made after much thought and talking to his wife, Michelle, who is currently a Loganville City Councilwoman.

“I saw the candidates, talked it over with my wife and decided that I am a better option than the others,” he said.

When asked why he first got involved in local government, the candidate said that he has three children and he "wanted to have the kind of community where he could feel good about raising his children."

He served on the Loganville City Council from 2008-2010 and as Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee.

Michael Lynch said he is already familiar with parliamentary procedures from his own experience in local government.

Lynch said that experience gave him insight into how to properly introduce measures and push legislation if elected to serve District 107 in the Georgia House.

I already understand the legislative process; for example, the process from first reader to second reader.” Lynch was referring to the process involved in the Georgia Assembly’s approach to studying and discussing new legislation.

"I don’t question the others motives or qualifications, but I think I can do it better,” he commented.

Michael Lynch is a lifelong resident of Loganville and a graduate of Brookwood High School and West Georgia State University.

Besides being involved at the local government level, the former Army medic has worked for 11 years as a regional corporate sales manager, where some of his work has left him with an increased awareness of certain issues.

His time working with educational publishers like McGraw Hill have left him with definite ideas on the problems that face education systems on both the state and national level.

As a state representative, Lynch said he would make education a top priority. Programs like No Child Left Behind, he said, “ are flawed in their implementation.”

He also observed that Georgia’s system of monitoring and testing schools is just not working. According to Lynch, its a matter of apples and oranges. “The CRCT, used by almost all elementary schools," he said, “is flawed in that each year different teachers teach a whole new set of students with a variety of different methods. The outcome of the children’s education is almost certainly to be non consistent from year to year.”

The result of such an incongruous method of testing and monitoring our educational programs is the Atlanta Public Schools System, candidate Lynch said. “Its’ a colossal embarrassment and it’s a system that is just not working.”

Another area of education Lynch said he wants to see improvements in is the area of physical education. He finds the number of obese kids to be extremely troubling and he wants to see Georgia take the lead in establishing more rigorous physical education requirements and programs in its schools.

He is also anxious to see progress made this year in the Georgia House on the Job Tax Credit program. He wants to see the number of employees needed to qualify taken from the very high 50 down to 15. “I want to see the Georgia House provide a more positive impact on local businesses where we live.”

Michael Lynch also sees prioritizing the Savannah Harbor Project as especially vital. “it’s the most important public works project in the state of Georgia”, he said.

The House 107 candidate went on to say that ”Georgia is one of the few states who don’t aggressively campaign to improve its harbors. We need to change that attitude and put the Savannah harbor at the top of our to-do list,” Lynch said. He said that the importance of serving the larger cargo ships through deepening the harbor cannot be overstated. “It will increase revenue tremendously,” he said.

When I asked him about the issue of immigration in Georgia and what he thought of the legislation passed last year regarding it, Michael Lynch said he is a big fan of the e-verify system of identifying illegal immigrants and thinks for the most part, it usually works well.

“But I would also say that I want us to reserve post-secondary educational benefits strictly for Georgia residents and ‘lawfully present’ immigrants,” he added.

At the local level, Michael Lynch wants to work to address the ongoing problem of more adequate funding for local emergency services to make sure District 107 has the best people, equipment and training possible to provide only the best of care to its citizens. He has first hand knowledge of the state of emergency services in District 107 from his time as a volunteer firefighter in Walton County.

Michael Lynch told me that many candidates spend far too much time talking about the bigger issues. “Lots of folks have lots of high ideas, like FairTax-grand ideas that are national ideas and aren’t applicable to the 107's immediate problems.”

Michael Lynch believes that with his experience as an local elected official and with his disciplined Army background, he has a wide knowledge of issues and the confidence to carry out the duties that would befall a member of the Georgia Legislature.

“I look forward to supporting policies that are based on principles, not principles based on policy.”

He says, “ Not everybody is going to like my answers, but you need to know who you are voting for before you enter that booth on Feb. 7 and vote for your next Georgia House Representative from District 107.”