John Freeman (mayor)

John Freeman is a former mayor of Logan City. Freeman is married to Jenny. They have one child from their relationship, who they state is their "love child". Freeman claims to have been married to Jenny for 26 years, which either means he married her whilst she was having a relationship and 3 children with another man, or that she looks remarkably young for someone who must be over 60 years old.

Life in Logan

Freeman has been a Logan resident for 26 years. Moving to Logan after the 1974 Brisbane Flood where he lost everything he and his wife owned. With new beginnings they have built quite a successful fasteners wholesale business in Slacks Creek, a suburb in Logan; 80% of the employees of this company are Logan residents.

Politics

Freeman served as mayor from 25 March 2000 until 5 February 2006 when he resigned. During some of this period he served as the chairman of the Southern Regional Organisation of Councils (SouthROC) [http://www.southroc.qld.gov.au/content/view/5/76/ SouthROC] an internally elected position representing, then, four local bodies, with one cross-border council having attendance rights. Freeman was elected on 25 March 2001, the first Logan City mayor to hold the position.

On 31 January 2006 Freeman announced his resignation. This came as a shock to many councillors and a joy to many residents who were concerned about the offers of money he made to the general public during election campaigns that he, himself, had reported to the CMC [http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/asp/index.asp Crime and Misconduct Commission] .

Freeman cited “decisions made that were not in the best interest of the city”; “major errors in judgment” and “his demons had caught up with him” as reasons for his departure. He also quoted, during his resignation announcement, “I do believe that a number of major decisions that will effect how Logan develops in the future will be made easier by the elected council if I am not sitting in the chair as Mayor” and confirmed that he did not have an illness and was not being pushed out.

His resignation was effective from 5 February 2006 and a $250,000 by-election was held to replace him. Three days before nominations closed the Logan community were stunned to hear that his wife Jenny, whom he subsequently claimed had a life-threatening illness, had nominated for the position he had just vacated and that he was acting as her campaign manager. Mrs Freeman was unsuccessful and Division 5 councillor Graham Able was elected as Mayor. Cr Able’s new appointment sparked a further $30,000 by-election to replace him.

Just 10 months on Freeman shocked the community, yet again, by announcing that the real reason behind his retirement was "depression" and that he had now fully recovered and was ready to return to Council. Shortly after that he announced his nomination for councillor of Division 1 in the by-election of 28 October 2006. Mr Freeman’s nomination was not well received and newcomer Andrew Byron was elected as councillor.

On 3 September 2007 Freeman publicly announced that he would be running for the city’s top job again in 2008. He stated that his mental illness had been caused by his wife’s leukaemia and his son’s drug addition and claimed that he was free from depression and could guarantee it would not return. He stated that he “wanted to finish what he had started”. [1] [2]

Local Body Elections

The next round of local body elections [http://www.ecq.qld.gov.au/asp/index.asp Elections in Queensland] are due on 15 March 2008 [ [http://www.ecq.qld.gov.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=381 Elections - Local Government Quadrennial Elections ] ] .

References