9th CD: Bill Stephens is in.

Received from the tip line:

Cumming, GA – Former State Senator Bill Stephens formally filed papers today with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District. The Campaign also announced the formation of the first part of a Regional Finance Committee.

The Campaign will be chaired by businessman Virgil R. Williams. A Finance Committee is being formed of prominent business and community leaders from across North Georgia, including former U.S. Senator and Georgia Governor, Zell Miller, and his wife Shirley. A partial list is attached.

“Strong, proven leadership is essential in the challenging times we face today. North Georgia deserves a member of Congress who knows them, will represent their interests and knows how to take on the power structure–and win”, said Stephens. “Given the opportunity to represent the 9th District, I will make sure that the voices of North Georgia are heard in the halls of Congress”.

Former State Senator Bill Stephens is the son of a welder and a teacher and a sixth generation native of Fannin County in the North Georgia Mountains. Stephens was elected to the Georgia Senate in1998 serving eight years and rising from a back-bench freshman to Senate Majority leader in four years. As a result of the Redistricting process, Senator Stephens represented 13 different North Georgia counties in the Senate at one time or another, including the majority of registered voters in Congressional District 9.

Bill showed authentic leadership from the beginning. Following his freshman term, his colleagues elected him as Senate Republican Caucus Chairman, where he helped bring about and lead the historic transition of the Senate from Democratic to Republican control in the election of 2002.

In January of 2003, Stephens was named the first Georgia Senate Republican Administration Floor Leader in 134 years. Six months later, his Senate colleagues elected him to lead them as Majority leader. Stephens sponsored or co-sponsored more than twenty pieces of major legislation and built a reputation for pointing out real examples of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. He was unanimously elected to a second term in that position. Stephens ran for Georgia Secretary of State in 2006 and lost in a runoff election.

Stephens’ business career has included more than a decade in the banking industry in Gainesville and North Georgia. Today he is Vice President of Southern Highlands, LLC in Blairsville, and still maintains other family
interests in North Georgia.

Stephens and his wife, Shannon Walshe Stephens, a former reporter/news anchor at WSB-television, keep up with five sons, including, Josh, a recent graduate of UGA who was a walk-on member of the 2006-2007 Bulldog Basketball team, and, Jordan, a member of the US Naval Academy Class of 2010 and a Defensive Tackle for the Midshipmen Football Team.

Regional Finance Committee
Virgil R. Williams
Campaign Chairman
President-Williams Companies
Flowery Branch

Frank M. Henry
Campaign Treasurer
President- Henry and Company
Gainesville

Zell and Shirley Miller
Retired U.S. Senator and Georgia Governor
Young Harris

Jimmy Adams
President-Adams Allied Companies
Gainesville

Neil Pruitt, Jr.
President-UHS Pruitt Co.
Blue Ridge/Norcross

Barry Conner
President-Americas Home Place
Gainesville

Dr. Jimmy Talbot
President-Talbot Dental
Ellijay

Tom Gilliland
Board Member-Tennessee Valley Authority
Blairsville

Jamie Reynolds
Vice Chair-Linger Longer
Dahlonega/Greensboro

Lawrence Lehman
Attorney at Law
Cumming

Orvin Lance
Chairman-Lance Trucking
Blue Ridge

Jim Williams
President-Southern Highlands Mortgage, LLC
Blairsville

Keith Morris
City President-Hamilton State Bank
Cumming

Ken Shugart