Demorest councilman to seek state House seat

DEMOREST - Demorest City Councilman Bruce Harkness has announced he will seek the District 10 seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.

A native and lifelong resident of Habersham County, Harkness is a practicing attorney in northeast Georgia for the past 15 years after attending Truett-McConnell College, Piedmont College, North Georgia College and the John Marshall School of Law.

Harkness is seeking the position most recently held by Rick Austin of Demorest, who has announced he will seek the District 50 State Senate seat held until Jim
Butterworth of Cornelia resigned to accept an appointment as adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard.

Qualifying for the special elections for State Senate District 50 and State House District 10 will be held Monday through Wednesday, Oct. 3-5, in Atlanta,
according to Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

"Right now I'm looking at kind of three or four areas that I want to make as my priorities," Harkness said. One of Harkness' priorities is bring jobs to Georgia, especially the north Georgia mountains area. He hopes
to accomplish that by luring the movie industry to film here.

"I think if we work harder, we can get more jobs -- even through tourism and even through the movie industry," he said.

"Also, I helped get $20 million in grants and low-interest loans for the City of Demorest," Harkness said. "There's a lot of grants out there for small
towns and small governments."

Another area of concern Harkness hopes to address is the need for a sustainable water source for the counties in the district, which includes Habersham and
White.

"I think Habersham and White County needs a water plan," he said.

The other area Harkness wants to address if elected is lowering taxes for working people.

"I want to represent everybody, but I especially want to get some type of relief for the property owners and the middle class," he said. "Basically the property
owners and the middle class can't pay any more. They're stretched to the limit."

Prior to his work as an attorney, Harkness was a teacher and worked in the insurance industry in Habersham County.

"My ancestors were some of the first settlers here in Habersham County," Harkness said. "I've got a lot of desire to serve Habersham County and White County because I've got a lot of relatives in those counties.
I want to offer myself as a homegrown, hometown boy who's lived here all my life."

Harkness has three children, Jerry, Adam and Amanda; and a grandson, Ayden.

If elected, Harkness will have to resign his city council post effective Jan. 1, 2012.