Home > Election Day > Archives > 2006 > July > 19 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USSzabo prevails in solicitor’s battle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Veteran prosecutor Rosanna Szabo prevailed Tuesday in the hotly contested race for solicitor general. Gwinnett voters chose longtime prosecutor Szabo over young defense attorney Jonathan Aurelia by nearly 2 to 1 in Tuesday’s Republican primary election. Szabo led with 66 percent of the precincts reporting just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“I am really humbled by the support I received,” Szabo said from a festive party at Lawrenceville restaurant Bistro Sol Terra. “I have realized that one person can’t win a political campaign; it takes a huge group of people.”
Aurelia conceded defeat from a gathering in Norcross late Tuesday.
“She won. It has been 2 to 1 all night,” said Aurelia. “I am not even paying attention to the numbers anymore.”
Szabo will take over as head solicitor for Gerald Blaney, who retired after 20 years in the office. Szabo, 44, had worked in the solicitor’s office for 17 years. For nine years, she was Blaney’s chief assistant in the solicitor’s office. Before that, she worked for about a year as an assistant district attorney in Milledgeville. Aurelia, 31, worked at the county solicitor’s office from 1999 to 2003. Szabo was his boss. After that, he worked in DeKalb County as an assistant district attorney for two years. Since then, Aurelia has been working in private practice.
The solicitor’s office prosecutes thousands of misdemeanor cases, such as those involving arrests for DUI, battery, shoplifting or traffic offenses.
The race between the two former colleagues had been cordial. But as the election approached, they began to attack each other in the press.
Aurelia claimed that Szabo had been lenient in dozens of DUI cases to solicit campaign contributions from defense attorneys. Szabo passionately denied the allegation then released to the media court records of a 10-year-old DUI arrest of Aurelia in Duluth.
Aurelia confirmed that he had been arrested when he 19 years old.
Szabo said she will continue to prosecute offenders aggressively and to keep numerous cases from backlogging in the system.
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
