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A low point in Fulton County

politics will come to a close next Tuesday when two candidates square

off for a Fulton County Commission seat in a runoff race.

Local businessman Bill Edwards

faces Khadijah Abdur-Rahman to determine who will fill former Commissioner

Michael Hightower's post on the commission. Abdur-Rhaman led the pack

of 13 candidates in the Nov. 7 General Election with 13 percent of the

vote, while Edwards garnered 11 percent.

Abdur-Rhaman has maintained

a relatively low profile in the race and did not attend a recent forum

sponsored by the South Fulton Chamber of Commerce or respond to questions

from the League of Women Voters. She also has not returned phone calls

from The Citizen.

Edwards has spent his time

talking to various groups around the county and emphasizing that the

commission and the Fulton County Board of Education must work closer

together to bring up test scores for South Fulton students.

The race has been fairly

clean and has not shown any sign of divisiveness. Many of the candidates

leading up to the primary emphasized that they were honorable and would

not be tempted like Hightower was to accept bribes for favorable treatment

Hightower pleaded guilty

to a criminal information charge that in September 1999, he accepted

cash from a county contractor.

According to information

presented in court, Hightower acknowledged that he accepted cash from

George Greene on several occasions during 1998 and 1999, totaling approximately

$25,000.

During the time Hightower

was accepting cash from Greene, Greene's company, Sable Communications

Corporation of Georgia, was a participant in a number of multi-million-dollar

contracts with Fulton County, including the Y2K computer compliance

contract and the Criminal Justice Information System contract.

The federal statute to which

Hightower pled guilty, Title 18, Section 666 of the United States Code,

makes it illegal for officials and employees of local governments that

receive federal funding to accept or solicit corrupt payments in connection

with government business.

South Fulton residents have

been represented by Chairman Mike Kenn and Commissioner Karen Webster

since Hightower resigned.

The polls are open from 7

a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.