ANDERSON COUNTY — Mark Powell, an often outspoken citizen at Anderson County Council meetings and member of the county’s transportation committee, has begun a write-in campaign to try to unseat state Rep. Dan Cooper.

Powell says one of his main objectives is to have the state run as efficiently as possible.

“Our state budgets have grown excessively during Cooper’s 20 years,” he says. “Our schools and governmental agencies are now declaring crisis because for so many years Cooper and other cloaked liberals have spent every tax dollar available during a good economy.”

Cooper, the chairman of the House Ways and Means, says he has worked to trim the budget, and that every agency has been slashed over the past few years.

Although Cooper refers to himself as a conservative, he says he’s not a libertarian.

But Powell refers to Cooper as a “RINO” — a “Republican in name only.”

Powell says he’s running on a campaign of accountability, access and action. He strongly favors roll call voting, contending that state legislators aren’t kept accountable for their actions.

Powell says his role as a board member on the Anderson County Transportation Committee has enabled him to gain insight into a lot of financial waste being spent on the roads.

“The committee recently spent 300 percent more on low traffic count roads that should have been listed as county,” he said. “Because they were listed as state roads we spent well over $400,000 extra that could have been used for other roads in desperate need. County vs. state roads should be based upon traffic count.”

Cooper narrowly defeated Joshua Putnam in the Republican primary in June.

Constitution candidate Dave Ballard is also running against Cooper.