MARIETTA - In a surprise move Wednesday afternoon just before the qualifying deadline for the Nov. 3 election expired, developer Wes Godwin signed up to run against City Councilmember Van Pearlberg.

A Marietta native, Godwin, 64, has made headlines over the years for his controversial business dealings with the city.

Pearlberg, a senior assistant district attorney who was elected in 2005, expressed surprised that Godwin elected to challenge him.

"Given his lack of positive involvement in the community, I am surprised that he entered the race. I have worked diligently for Ward 4 and the city for the last four years and will campaign just as hard so I can continue to do so," Pearlberg said.

Godwin said a group of "friends and associates" asked him to run for the seat about a year ago.

"And every so often they would come back and ask and finally, I'd given it a lot of thought, I talked to my family, my family's behind me, my friends are behind me, so I decided I would go ahead and run," said Godwin, declining to reveal which friends and associates urged him to enter the race until they gave him permission to do so.

Challenging Pearlberg will be tough, he said.

"Absolutely. Van is an incumbent. He's quite a personality. He's a very friendly and outgoing guy. He already has, I think, about $30,000 in his war chest from all indications and he's Van. Van is Van," Godwin said.

Godwin, who moved from Vinings to The Commons off Kennesaw Avenue about a year and a half ago, said he already has about $30,000 pledged to his campaign as well.

"Money doesn't win an election, but the lack of money will lose an election real quick," he said.

He denied rumors that Councilman Philip Goldstein encouraged him to enter the race.

"I am friendly with all of the council members, none of them or the mayor has ask or encouraged me to run. I was approached some months ago by a group of citizens of Marietta, as stated to you at City Hall this afternoon," Godwin said in an e-mail late Wednesday.

Despite the various controversies he's been linked to in the last few years, Godwin said he's proud to stand on his record.

"There are no improprieties, no wrong doing, no one was harmed. The city has benefited greatly," he said.

"I think I have a lot to offer both from my military and my business experience. We're faced with some challenging times nationwide. I believe that I'm better equipped to offer innovative solutions than my opponent," he said.

Godwin resigned from the Downtown Marietta Development Authority as well as the city's Historic Board of Review in July 2008 after the city summoned him to appear in municipal court for a code violation for subdividing his property without city permission.

In mourning the resignation, DMDA Chairman Tom Browning referred to Godwin as his "right hand."

Without city approval, Godwin retained a sliver of land, 0.03 acres, when he and his wife, Eva Godwin, sold the historic 1844 Bostwick-Fraser House off Atlanta Street in April 2008 for $292,515 to Douglasville-based attorney Rob Coats. In response, the city gave Godwin until July 17 to submit an application detailing how he would come back into compliance. City zoning chief Rusty Roth stated two ways Godwin could come into compliance: either request a variance from the Board of Zoning Appeals or convince the new owner of the Bostwick-Fraser House to give him back enough property so that he had the required 9,000 square feet as required by city code. Since Godwin didn't take action on either of these positions by the deadline, he was cited for a code violation.

Godwin said he kept the sliver of land in order to remain eligible to serve on the eight-member DMDA and 11-member Historic Board of Review. To serve on the DMDA in Godwin's seat, it is required that the member be a downtown property owner. The DMDA is also allowed to appoint four members on the 11-member Historic Board of Review, which is how Godwin also served on that board.

To come back into compliance with the code violation, Godwin deeded his 0.03 acres on to Coats.

A stone's throw from the Bostwick-Fraser House is Godwin's Marietta Mill Lofts condominium, which he lost in during bankruptcy proceedings despite help from taxpayers courtesy of a controversial retroactive $400,000 Tax Allocation District subsidy.

The Journal also uncovered in 2007 that Godwin had occupied the old city-owned Clarke Library on Church Street near the Square as his offices without a lease for more than 42 months.

Mayor Bill Dunaway described the city's failure to renew the lease as "an oversight," saying that someone must have "dropped the ball."

A McEachern High School graduate, Godwin holds degrees from the University of Maryland and Woodrow Wilson Law School.

He is a licensed pilot, and Vietnam veteran, serving from 1966 to 1968 in the U.S. Air Force. Godwin said he became friends with former Cobb Schools Superintendent Joe Redden during his service in Vietnam.

He and his wife have a son who lives in Buckhead, a daughter attending Kennesaw State University, another daughter who lives in Colorado and two grandchildren with another one on the way.