Longtime talk radio show host Kevin Elkins is running in the upcoming special election for Montgomery City Council District 3.
The Montgomery City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to vacate Marche Johnson from her District 3 seat because she does not live in the district.
Candidate qualifying for the special election will begin on Tuesday and remain open through July 14. The special election for the District 3 seat will be held on September 1. If no candidate receives the required number of votes, a runoff election will be held on October 13.
Elkins told 1819 News on Monday he expects probably eight or nine people to run for the seat.
"Nobody has a guarantee to the seat. Nobody owns the seat. The seat belongs to the people. What you won't hear from me is a lot of platitudes because everybody says the same crap all the time," Elkins said.
Elkins, a U.S. Army veteran, said he's wanted to run for the seat for a while but couldn't while working in the radio industry because of FCC regulations. He now has his own podcast.
"I would've ran a long time ago, but since I had the privilege and the pleasure of being a talk show host for 34 years, they wouldn't let me run unless I quit my job. Well, nobody can make me quit my job on the podcast. Now, I can finally do it since the opportunity did come up and I actually live in District 3," Elkins said. "My biggest deal is the lack of humility in public service today. People act like they are doing us a favor by serving. When you go down to a city council meeting not only in Montgomery, but all over the place, people look over those glasses from their high perch on the city council seat (and) look at you like you're not worthy of being in front of them. Humility is something that keeps you teachable no matter what position you have or how much you have. I just think sometimes logic and reason is gone out of politics. I'm so sick and tired of the black and white issue, I don't know what to do. Every decision is somehow tempered with 'it's us against them' and 'if they're black, they're this way and white, they're this way.' I'm strictly a down-the-middle guy, if it makes sense, let's do it. If it don't make sense, let's not do it. I just think sometimes you run for office saying all these things that you're going to do and realize that one man on the city council can't do anything unless he has the cooperation of the majority."
He continued, "I want to bring some common sense and some humility back into politics. I won't be thinking about politics when I make my decisions. I won't be thinking about getting re-elected. It'll be about what's good for us and the people. It's a humanitarian thing for me, just make sure everybody gets a fair shot. We give money away every year to different organization that come before the council and we've been giving the same money to the same people for years and guess what? A lot of things haven't changed. It may be time to erase that list and let other people try their ideas. Let's fund some of them."
Elkins said he wanted to use retired police officers to improve staffing levels at the Montgomery Police Department.
"I have come up with a solution to the lack of police officers if I can get it implemented and that is take any retired policeman and make him what the military calls a warrant officer. What a warrant officer is, he's an officer that's not above lieutenant but he's above sergeant," Elkins said. "In this case, it won't affect his retirement pay or anything. He goes on as an hourly worker and as a warrant officer he only answers to the chief of police. It helps us out for the time being."
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