Tatnall suspends campaign for mayor

In a statement released today, Rick Tatnall suspended his campaign for Richmond mayor: Dear Citizens of Richmond, I am writing to let you know that effective today I am no longer a candidate for Mayor of the City of Richmond. My decision to seek the office was an extension of a commitment I made in […]

June 8, 2012; 9:51 AM • by Church Hill People's News

In a statement released today, Rick Tatnall suspended his campaign for Richmond mayor:

Dear Citizens of Richmond,

I am writing to let you know that effective today I am no longer a candidate for Mayor of the City of Richmond. My decision to seek the office was an extension of a commitment I made in the year 2000 to advocate for the Community of Richmond for the rest of my life. For the last 12 years I have been crafting a plan to create a proud, unified Community of Richmond and I thought as Mayor I could significantly enhance my advocacy and positively impact the City of Richmond and the Richmond Region.

Unfortunately, being a political candidate has had a very negative impact on my recent efforts to advocate for Richmond and seriously endangers my long range plans. Many individuals, businesses and non-profits have told me they just can’t interact with me because I am a candidate. Many others now avoid me or have significantly changed their communication with me because of my candidacy. Community leaders who stand to gain from my efforts are afraid of political retribution for working with me because they might be perceived as supporting me.

My advocacy for Richmond has never been stronger, especially with our new Campaign to Establish Richmond as the Most Influential and Historic Community in America. I believe the next 6 months will usher in an amazing transformation for our community which will lead to significant social and economic growth. I am confident my candidacy would create many unnecessary stumbling blocks, preventing a lot of that transformation from developing. Bottom line, I have come to realize I can advocate for Richmond much better as a private citizen and will now concentrate all my efforts on the more important campaign to establish Richmond as the most influential in America.

This leaves only Mayor Jones and perennial candidate L.Shirley Harvey in the mayoral contest. June 12 is the deadline for candidates to qualify for November 6 ballot.