By Josh Bergeron 

josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

After a foray into local politics with the political group La Resistance, Salisbury attorney todd Paris is making a run for the Salisbury City Council.

Paris, 52, is one of a dozen people who have filed for the race so far. He owns a law firm in downtown Salisbury. In his bid for Salisbury City Council, Paris says he is focused on improving Salisbury’s economic strength.

“Our local economy is the big thing I’m concerned about, and should be the big thing we’re all concerned about,” Paris said. “I really don’t think that Fibrant has been brought to its full potential. It’s the only real thing that Salisbury or Rowan County has that the next county over doesn’t have.”

Cabarrus and Davidson both have I-85 as an economic development tool, Paris said. No surrounding county has anything similar to Fibrant, a fiber-optic network owned by the City of Salisbury.

Paris is, perhaps, best known for his creation of the La Resistance political group, which was active in the 2014 Rowan County commissioners’ race. His legal career includes being an assistant district attorney for the Rowan County area in the late 1980s. Paris later joined the Wallace and Whitley Law Firm, which later became Wallace and Graham.

He received a bachelor’s degree in political science in history from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte in 1984. Paris in 1987 earned his law degree from the UNC School of Law in Chapel Hill.

He is a member of the Rowan County Bar Association, a member of the Rowan County Wildlife Association and has appeared in plays with the local theater company Piedmont Players.

Paris is the father of former Salisbury City Manager Doug Paris, who now works as interim town administrator in Midland.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246