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August 2006
McKinney concedes to Johnson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More than 12 hours after her opponent declared victory, Cynthia McKinney placed a call to Hank Johnson to congratulate him.
Johnson spokesperson Deb McGhee Speights said the outgoing congresswoman called Wednesday afternoon.
“She indicated that she also wants to see a smooth transition and would work to make that happen,” Speights said. “And she said that anything that he needs, her office would be accommodating.”
During his victory speech Tuesday night, Johnson said that he hoped for a smooth transition and sought party unity after the bruising primary.
“His words to me was that she was very gracious,” Speights said about the phone call.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County, Mobile
McKinney aide involved in scuffle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb police are investigating an altercation outside Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney’s would-be victory party Tuesday night.
According to a police report, a member of McKinney’s security team got into a scuffle with a photographer from WXIA-TV.
Steve Muhammad, 67, alleges that photographer Gary Stillwell, 24, hit him in the eye outside the Omega Psi Phi Center on Snapfinger Road about 11:25 p.m., according to a police report released Wednesday morning by DeKalb County police.
However, Stillwell contends Muhammad bumped his camera and later struck him, according to the report.
Although the police report indicates Muhammad was charged with battery, DeKalb police spokesman Herschel Grangent said Wednesday afternoon that no one had been arrested, and the incident remained under investigation.
Neither Stillwell nor Muhammad could be reached for comment Wednesday. McKinney’s campaign manager John Evans did not answer his cell phone.
WXIA-TV general manager Bob Walker did not immediately respond to an interview request.
McKinney lost her spot on the Democratic ticket to former DeKalb County commissioner Hank Johnson. He will face Republican Catherine Davis in the November general election.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County, Mobile
Election official expects McKinney to protest to feds
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A top election official in DeKalb County said Wednesday morning that she expects U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney to take her complaints about alleged voting irregularities in Tuesday’s election straight to Washington — just like she did when she lost four years ago.
“I guess I could be real optimistic and say when she wakes up today she’ll feel a lot different about this and she’ll just bow down gracefully,” said Linda Lattimore, DeKalb’s director of voter registration and elections. “But I’m not dreaming this morning. I’m just ready for whatever happens.”
McKinney lost Tuesday’s Democratic runoff election to former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson by a sizable margin. She complained throughout the day through her attorneys and on her web site of voting irregularities that ranged from her name not appearing on ballots to malfunctioning machines that prevented supporters from recording a vote for her.
McKinney at this point has not filed a formal complaint, and she could not be reached for comment.
A campaign volunteer who was answering the phone in McKinney’s headquarters Wednesday morning talked vaguely about voting irregularities in yesterday’s runoff and said she plans to fill out an affidavit with a lawyer. The woman, who would only give her first name Dana, called the election a “lie.”
“I’m a voter and I know what happened to me,” she said, without offering specifics. “This was predetermined. Everybody knew what was going to happen. We got bomb threats up here – we got all types of threats.”
She added the state’s electronic voting machines “are not valid.”
“The people of Georgia’s voice was not heard yesterday,” she said before walking away.
One of McKinney’s options would be to file the complaint in DeKalb, because that is where she lives.
Lattimore said local election officials investigated the campaign’s claims.
“We called all the polls right when she complained to get documentation,” Lattimore said. She said she found no evidence of any irregularities.
Kara Sinkule, spokesman for Secretary of State Cathy Cox, said McKinney can request a recount under Georgia law “when it appears that a discrepancy or error, although not apparent on the face of the returns, has been made.” This is the only recount provison McKinney can rely on becasue the vote outcome was not numerically close enough to qualiify under the 1 percent recount rule, Sinkule said.
McKinney conceded the election early Wednesday but did not indicate she would support the 51-year-old Johnson in the November race against Republican Catherine Davis. The majority of the 4th Congressional District lies in DeKalb but the district includes parts of Rockdale and Gwinnett counties.
Lattimore said McKinney can file a formal complaint with DeKalb County or the Secretary of State’s Office, but will most likely contact the U.S. Justice Department, as she did in 2002 when she lost to Democrat Denise Majette.
In 2002, McKinney alleged that some black voters were denied the right to vote because their precincts were intentionally overcrowded, Lattimore said.
“It was a bad situation that went from bad to worse,” she said. “We had the police out there, all my board members out there.”
The Justice Department had investigators come to the county and take depositions from various election officials, but they found no irregularities, Lattimore said.
“We probably provided them 10 oak trees worth of paper of everything we had here,” she said. ” They [the McKinney campaign] wants to accuse us of stuff they don’t have any proof of or that can’t be proved.”
Jeremy Redmon contributed to this report.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County, Mobile
Johnson appeals for McKinney’s support
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Working on about 90 minutes sleep, Hank Johnson, the Democratic nominee for the 4th District Congressional seat, visited television news studios early Wednesday, beginning a series of interviews about his win over U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney.
It was 6:45 a.m and the 51-year-old Johnson was worn out. But his strong victory in Tuesday’s runoff election attracted national attention, and everyone in the local news media wanted to hear from him.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m tired but happy,” he said between interviews, vowing to rest later. “I’m judging things not in weeks or months but hours.”
For his win over McKinney, Johnson credited his strategy of campaigning across the 4th Congressional District, which includes DeKalb County and parts of Rockdale and Gwinnett counties.
“We went out to all parts of the district and met the voters and asked them for their support,” said the former DeKalb County commissioner. “And we shared our views with them. I think from that people began to see Hank Johnson is the type of guy who would make a good representative.”
A preliminary Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis showed that about 64,000 people voted in the 4th District primary on July 18, but more than 70,000 voted in Tuesday’s runoff. The key to Johnson’s victory was the support he received in Gwinnett and Rockdale, where voters came to the polls in surprising numbers. Johnson carried those areas overwhelmingly, while also making inroads into McKinney’s traditional political strength in key parts of DeKalb.
Johnson said he would like to have McKinney’s support against Republican Catherine Davis in the November election. But he said he has not yet heard from the congresswoman.
“I would like for her supporters to be our supporters,” he said.
Later Wednesday morning, he said: “When and if she calls , we will accept her call. I would expect that if we are going to communicate, she would make the first move.
He said he hopes McKinney would cooperate in the transition if he wins in November.
“I think it would be in the best interests of our consituents that there be a smooth transition and we that we be fully briefed on where the affairs of her district are in so far as her office and her efforts are concerned, so we can move forward.”
“I would love for her supporters to be our supporters,” Johnson said. “I’m sure we will have a conversation when she is ready.”
It was not immediately clear what plans McKinney has for today. Late Wednesday morning, an aide at McKinney’s campaign headquarters in Decatur said the congresswoman and her campaign manager, John Evans, were not there and that no one else was available to talk to reporters. The aide also instructed another volunteer not to talk to reporters.
But a few of McKinney’s campaign volunteers talked about her upset outside the building, expressing shock and disappointment. They were waiting for the campaign to issue them checks for working at polling places yesterday.
“It’s terrible,” said Michael Scott, a retired cook from DeKalb County, who waived a McKinney campaign sign and handed out flyers for her at a polling station yesterday. “She got a raw deal as far as I am concerned.
Scott said he voted for McKinney because she has “an outspoken mind. I love a person who speaks their opinion… She was for the people.”
Scott said he won’t support Hank Johnson in the general election, adding that he plans to vote for the Republican, Catherine Davis, instead. Like Scott, Leonard Bolton) predicted McKinney still has a future in politics if she wants it.
“I was shocked. I was looking for her to win,” said Bolton, of Stone Mountain, who works as a vendor at the Georgia Dome. “She has a strong future ahead of her.”
The election loss was the second for McKinney, a six-term congresswoman and outspoken critic of the Bush administration.
Rather than addressing her loss late Tuesday night, McKinney responded by heaping more criticism on the White House.
During the runoff campaign, Johnson accused McKinney of not taking the primary seriously, saying she “ran a stealth campaign.” He said he used that to his advantage for his victory Tuesday night.
“I think she bought the line that the pundits were spinning - that she was unbeatable; there is really no need to give this guy any attention, and we already have our support locked up,’” he said.
McKinney’s controversial style also became an issue in the campaign. During a televised debate Saturday, for example, Johnson called her March confrontation with a Capitol Hill police officer an “embarrassing debacle.”
“She has a history and a record also. And so the voters were able to contrast her style and her record with mine,” Johnson said. “And they made a choice for new leadership.”
After finishing at WSB-TV, Johnson and his entourage went to the FOX 5 studio for another interview. He had a radio interview scheduled for later in the morning followed by a visit to CNN.
Johnson said he has been so busy since his victory Tuesday night that he has not had time to process what it all means.
“I tell you this time last year we were not thinking about Congress. And so it is amazing what can take place within the space of a year,” he said. “I guess my feeling right now is one of ‘I’m still kind of taking it all in.’”
He said he stuck with an election tradition and went to his DeKalb home to sleep in his own bed after his victory. But he said he got only about 90 minutes sleep.
“I had too much adrenaline flowing, so I had to sit up and do some channel surfing,” he said. “I just insist on sleeping in my own bed after a victory. I did that in my first [DeKalb County] Commission race and my second race. We always go home. We do not allow ourselves to party all night if you will. We like to call that to an end and try to get back into a regular routine. And that to me means coming home and sleeping in my own bed.”
He said he plans to go out of town with his family for a few days of vacation before starting Monday to prepare for the general election.
“We will go somewhere. But at this point we don’t even know where — not too far, though,” he said. “We have never been in this position before. We will survey the landscape and make all appropriate decisions probably come Monday. We will probably sit down on Monday and have a leadership team meeting and talk about our future at that time.”
Johnson said he expects his race against Davis to be “spirited.”
“We are not going to take any voter for granted. We have to go out and earn the votes,” he said.
Johnson noted that he has received calls of congratulations from U.S. Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the Democratic House Whip, and John Lewis, D-Ga. He also got a call from John Coyne, who placed a distance third in the Democratic primary with McKinney.
Johnson’s wife, Mereda Davis Johnson, admired her husband from behind the cameras as he did his interview with WSB-TV.
“I’m just really proud of him,” she said. “He’s a handsome man.”
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County, Mobile
Provisional ballots may decide Cherokee GOP runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a night where the candidates’ fortunes seemed to shift by the minute, Sean Jerguson held off Mary Wilhite by 35 votes in the Republican runoff for the state House District 22 seat.
But Wilhite is not ready to concede defeat in the hotly contested Cherokee County contest.
Jerguson, a construction business owner from Holly Springs, received 50.5 percent of the vote to Wilhite’s 49.5 percent.
Official results will not be released until Friday after provisional ballots are counted, according to the Cherokee County Board of Elections.
“The provisionals could make a difference,” said Janet Munda, supervisor of elections.
If the difference is within 1 percent, either candidate can request a recount in writing within two business days, Munda said.
Candidates cannot request a recount if it’s more than 1 percent, she added.
In addition, Dave Baldwin, Wilhite’s campaign treasurer, raised concerns about voter irregularities at polling places in Holly Springs.
He said he heard reports that some people were not allowed to vote because they did not have photo IDs, which are not required.
Munda said she had not heard of irregularities. She said voters can show one of 17 forms of identification at the polls.
Jerguson, who labeled himself as “the conservative Republican in this race,” will face Democrat Kevin Bailey in the November elections, if his victory holds.
“We’re just humbled that the voters of this district have chosen us to represent them,” Jerguson said. The race between Jerguson, 34, and Wilhite, 47, was also tight in the July 18 primary.
Wilhite won that contest by 59 votes.
Wilhite is working to become the first African-American Republican woman elected to the state House. In 2004, Wilhite lost to Rep. Chuck Scheid of Woodstock in a runoff.
Jerguson served as council member and acting mayor of Holly Springs from 2002 to 2004. This was his second time running for the House.
Permalink | | Categories: Cherokee County
Edmondson, Singleton victorious in Clayton
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two-term incumbent Carl Rhodenizer and Lee Scott, whose campaign billboards have dotted Clayton County for two years, lost runoffs Tuesday for seats on the Clayton County Commission.
Heritage Bank Vice President Michael Edmondson beat Scott, a business owner and the husband of District Attorney Jewel Scott, in the Democratic runoff for the District 4 Clayton County Commission seat.
The campaign took a contentious tone recently as Scott, who is black, accused Edmondson, who is white, of racial insensitivity in a flier and radio ad.
Scott said Edmondson led an Independence Day parade in Jonesboro at which the Confederate flag was displayed on a vehicle. The flier superimposed Edmondson’s face on a Rebel flag. Edmondson denied the charge and called the flier the act of a desperate candidate.
The race for District 4 opened up when longtime Commissioner Charlie Griswell decided not to run again. Edmondson faces Republican Michael A. Johnson in the Nov. 7 general election.
Sonna Singleton beat Rhodenizer by nearly a wide margin in the Democratic race for the commission’s District 1 seat, which covers north Clayton. Rhodenizer, a retired banker, backed a proposed commuter rail line between downtown Atlanta and Clayton County. Singleton, the public information officer for the Clayton Sheriff’s Office, criticized the use of county funds to operate the rail line. No Republicans are running for the seat.
“I’m excited and I’m happy,” Singleton said. “We worked very hard. The people are just not happy with the current leadership.”
Two other Clayton County incumbents were beaten. Clayton School Board members LaToya Walker and Connie Kitchens lost to challengers A. Michelle Strong and Sandra Scott.
In heavily Republican Henry County, Johnny Basler trounced County Commissioner Lee Holman in the GOP runoff for the District 5 Commission seat by nearly a 3-1 margin. Basler faces Democrat Bruce Holmes in the general election.
Reid Bowman Sr., a senior vice president of Bowman Construction Co., narrowly defeated incumbent county Commissioner Gerry Adams in the Republican runoff for the commission District 4 seat. The race got nasty in the past few weeks, with each candidate accusing the other of ethical violations. Bowman will meet Democrat Edith Gonsal in the general election.
Permalink | | Categories: Clayton County
McKinney’s machine breaks down
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was once thought she had an invincible political machine that could turn out the masses on command.
Late Tuesday night, that machine looked broken and her forces in disarray as six-term 4th District congresswoman and perennial firebrand Cynthia McKinney was soundly defeated by former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson.
Political analysts said it could spell the end of a political era for McKinney in the DeKalb-centered district that includes portions of Rockdale and Gwinnett counties.
“It’s the end of her political career,” University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock said. “I can’t think of anyone who’s come back from two primary defeats. It’s done some real damage to the notion that she’s got this loyal electorate that she can snap her fingers and mobilize.”
The defeat means McKinney will carry a double-loser label — she was beaten by fellow Democrat Denise Majette in 2002 — a fact that is likely to make it difficult for her to raise money for future races. Johnson, meanwhile, will be in prime position to consolidate his power and broaden his political base on what McKinney considered her home turf.
In the end, McKinney’s headline-producing actions — suggesting President Bush had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks and being accused of hitting a Capitol Hill cop at a security checkpoint — apparently exacted a toll. Her alienation of metro Atlanta’s politically active Jewish community only added to her woes.
In 2002, her father, former state Rep. Billy McKinney, blamed “J-E-W-S” for her loss to Majette. That incident, coupled with the congresswoman’s pro-Palestinian politics, led many in the Jewish community to back Johnson.
DeKalb County resident Lonnie Smith, 49, helped propel Johnson to victory Tuesday night.
“Cynthia McKinney doesn’t need to win,” said Smith, a businesswoman who voted for Johnson at Avondale Middle School. “She is an embarrassment to the law, an embarrassment to being female, an embarrassment to being black and an embarrassment to being a Christian. She’s loud and obnoxious and exhibits no sense of class.”
McKinney, however, toned down her image after being forced into a runoff, personally reaching out to voters in her district and changing tactics to make herself available for media interviews and a series of debates with Johnson.
But McKinney’s legendary talent for turning out grass-roots support failed this time. Long-time friends and supporters such as state Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) criss-crossed DeKalb County on her behalf over the weekend. McKinney also hit the pavement, showing up at churches and community forums, on street corners and in live television and radio debates. But her machine had run out of gas.
Johnson gained momentum by casting himself as the moderate alternative to McKinney’s outspoken political style, which had turned off north DeKalb voters years ago and also seemed to be wearing thin with some of her core supporters in south DeKalb.
An analysis of primary voting by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested that McKinney’s strength was waning even in parts of DeKalb where she had been strong before.
Runoffs are usually lightly attended, but Gwinnett and Rockdale voters came to the polls in surprising numbers, another fact that helped Johnson. In the July 18 primary, 2,054 Democrats voted in the 4th District primary in Gwinnett County, and 4,623 in Rockdale County. However, in Tuesday’s runoff, more than 2,100 Gwinnett voters cast ballots in Democratic race, and more than 5,600 voted in the district’s Rockdale County precincts. Both counties went 3-to-1 for Johnson, helping him build a substantial lead even before officials began counting the DeKalb County ballots.
McKinney’s campaign manager, John Evans, admitted the obvious to reporters about 11:15 p.m. as he waited for McKinney to arrive and concede the race.
“It’s over,” he said. “They just beat us. He got a lot of white votes, a lot of Republican votes, and he took some of our votes where she has been stable.”
Johnson was referring to south DeKalb where McKinney counted on a strong turnout to beat back Johnson’s strength in north DeKalb and Gwinnett and Rockdale.
“If Johnson was able to pick up 10 to 15 percent in what were considered McKinney strongholds, it would indicate the district has changed,” said William Boone, a political scientist at Clark Atlanta University. “It shows a determined opposition can accomplish a lot.”
Evans said the “Capitol Hill incident” was especially damaging to McKinney. The avalanche of publicity surrounding it could have kept some McKinney backers from the polls, he said.
“I think there’s a lot of ABC involved — Anybody But Cynthia,” he said.
McKinney had hoped to overcome the bad press with loyal voters like Kim Stevens, 41, a Lithonia day-care center operator who mourned the congresswoman’s defeat Tuesday night.
“She put up a good fight,” Stevens said. “I think people have a fear of those who are outspoken. She is our voice. Sometimes she will speak about things other people won’t. Just because she hasn’t won the seat doesn’t mean she won’t be on the forefront fighting for the people of District 4.”
Robert Thomas of Lithonia voted for McKinney in previous elections but said he made a different choice in Tuesday’s runoff.
“We’re due for a change in the 4th District,” said the 56-year-old real estate agent. “Time will tell whether it’s a good change or a bad change.”
Staff writers James Salzer, Ernie Suggs and database editor David Milliron contributed to this article.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
Legislative races suggest historic breakthrough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A gay man from Atlanta and a black Republican woman from Cherokee County were battling to make historic inroads into the Georgia General Assembly in Tuesday’s primary runoffs.
A longtime House Democrat from Atlanta was in a too-close-to-call race as unofficial results trickled in from nine legislative runoffs across the state.
Gay activist Allen Thornell and attorney Robbin Shipp battled back and forth for the lead in Atlanta’s District 58 House seat. If Thornell wins the winner-take-all runoff, he would be the first openly gay man elected to the Georgia General Assembly. Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), the state’s only openly lesbian legislator, took office in 2001 and is unopposed for re-election in November.
In the House District 22 Republican runoff, the vote was tight between builder Sean Jerguson and consultant Mary Wilhite. With all votes counted, Jerguson had a 35-vote lead over Wilhite. If elected, Wilhite would be the state’s first black Republican woman in the Legislature. Wilhite did not concede, and is waiting on results of provisional ballots.
The runoff winner faces Kevin M. Bailey, a Woodstock Democrat, in November.
With all votes counted, incumbent state Rep. Douglas Dean (D-Atlanta) lost to businesswoman and community activist Margaret D. Kaiser in District 59. Supporters of Kaiser denounced Dean’s record for routinely failing to file timely reports on his campaign expenditures and contributions — as the law requires.
In the winner-take-all Democratic runoff in House District 76, Mike Glanton, a minister from Jonesboro, was leading Janice Scott, a Jonesboro teacher, with more than half the vote counted. The winner will succeed state Rep. Gail Buckner, who opted to run for secretary of state.
In Hall and Jackson counties, Gainesville dentist Lee Hawkins appeared headed to victory over former Gainesville Mayor Mark Musselwhite in the Republican primary runoff for the District 49 Senate seat. The winner faces Democrat and Gainesville attorney Arturo Corso in November for the right to succeed Sen. Casey Cagle, now the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.
Hawkins had stressed community ties, his Capitol connections as a longtime leader in the Georgia Dental Association and his interest in pushing for major tax reform. Musselwhite, who finished in first place in the primary, had touted his city government experience and his commitment to be accessible to constituents.
In portions of Rockdale and DeKalb counties, Democratic voters appeared to have picked Ron Ramsey, a 46-year-old attorney and school administrator from Lithonia, as their nominee for District 43 state senator.
With most of the votes counted, Ramsey held a sizable lead over 65-year-old real estate broker Bobbie Kennedy Sanford of Decatur. The winner faces Willie Hinton, a Republican and retiree from Lithonia in the November general election for the right to succeed Democratic state Sen. Steen Miles, who lost a bid for lieutenant governor last month.
Outside metro Atlanta, voters settled two Democratic and one Republican House runoffs.
In the Democratic primary runoff for the District 16 state House seat, Cedartown attorney Rick Crawford appeared to be headed for victory over W. Wright Gammon Jr., also a Cedartown attorney. The winner faces GOP nominee Roger Waldrop, a Rockmart attorney, for the seat of retiring longtime state Rep. Bill Cummings (D-Rockmart).
In the Augusta area, business owner and pastor Hardie Davis had a sizable lead in early returns over retiree Richard L Colclough of Bracewood in the House District 122 primary runoff. The winner will succeed incumbent state Rep. Pete Warren, who was defeated in the July primary.
In Macon, restaurant owner Allen Peake seemed destined to sail to easy victory over Stebin Horne, a local attorney and son of former legislator Frank Horne, in the winner-take-all Republican runoff to succeed state Rep. David Graves (R-Macon) who is retiring.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Cobb ousts incumbent Johnstone from school board
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb voters gave a resounding rebuke to school board member Kathie Johnstone on Tuesday. The one-term incumbent, who has been dogged by controversy over laptop computers and evolution-disclaimer stickers, lost in a landslide.
First-time office seeker John Crooks drew 75 percent of the vote while Johnstone, the board’s former chairwoman, received 25 percent. Crooks jumped to an early lead and maintained it through the evening.
Gathering with supporters at Ritters Restaurant on Lower Roswell Road, Crooks was jubilant as his numbers rolled up. “I’m very humbled at what the Republican voters in the Post 6 community have elected me to do,” he said.
But the Baptist minister, who serves as administrator at Roswell Street Baptist Church, isn’t popping the Perrier yet. He faces one more hurdle for the Post 6 seat. In November, he takes on Democrat Beth Farokhi, a retired Georgia State University College of Education administrator.
Crooks said he’ll be ready. “I look forward to facing my opponent in the fall campaign,” he said. “I hope we confine the debate to the issues in a positive manner.”
In an aggressive campaign, Crooks hammered Johnstone on the failed take-home laptop proposal that would have put computers in the hands of all middle and high school students. Johnstone chaired the board in 2005 and championed the sweeping technology proposal that later was abandoned by the board as too costly. The courts ruled that it would have been illegal for the school board to spend Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax dollars on the laptops because that isn’t what the board promised voters in the SPLOST referendum.
Even in defeat Tuesday night, Johnstone stood by her actions of the past four years and her efforts to equip students with the take-home computers.
“I would not change anything I did over the last four years,” she said. “Giving today’s technology tools to today’s kids was the right thing to do. Perhaps we failed in communication.”
Johnstone pinned her defeat to the fact that she chaired the board during an intense time of controversy over everything from evolution-disclaimer stickers on textbooks to redistricting and the failed laptop computer proposal.
“I was chairman through much of what went on,” she said. “It was my face on television speaking for the board. I think people who were truly informed, the people who worked in the district, understood the good things that happened here.”
Al Daniel, one of the last voters Tuesday evening at the Mount Bethel precinct at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, voted for Crooks.
“I was concerned with the laptop scandal,” he said. “I want a board that is accountable. Sometimes change is good.”
East Cobb resident Larry Baugh didn’t like the idea of handing out laptops to students either. He also voted for Crooks. “I didn’t agree with a computer for everybody. I consider $100 million to be rather expensive and students would break them, lose them or sell them.”
Permalink | | Categories: Cobb County
Black cruises to Ag Commissioner victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican voters on Tuesday picked Commerce farmer and agribusiness lobbyist Gary Black as their choice to challenge 37-year incumbent state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin in November.
Black, the frontrunner in last month’s four-person GOP primary, credited his easy runoff victory over state Sen. Brian Kemp of Athens to “running 57 weeks with a positive message.
“Gary Black only talked about Gary Black’s vision for the future of agriculture,” said Black, who celebrated with supporters Tuesday night at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry.
Republicans, who control the governor’s office and General Assembly, are openly making a grab this year for some down-ballot offices that Democrats have held for decades, including agriculture commissioner, secretary of state and lieutenant governor. They see Irvin as vulnerable, in part, because of his age. He’s 77.
Irvin, who is dean of the state’s constitutional officers, has been agriculture commissioner since 1969. He is promising to make this his 10th and last election and to run on his agency’s record on food safety, consumer protection and animal disease prevention.
“I realize the perilous times our state and nation are facing…,” Irvin said recently. “Now is not the time for on-the-job training.” Black, 47, relied heavily in his primary campaign on contacts he established in 17 years as president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, a chamber-of-commerce like organization representing agriculture with more than 650 member businesses.
He also gave credit to a network of team leaders he had in each of the state’s 159 counties, working to spread his message in true, old-fashioned grassroots style. Black said he believes the race against Irvin may be contentious, but winnable.
“The rhetoric will be competitive, no doubt,” he said. “But this job does not belong to one person.” Black said results of the 2002 general election — in which 42.6 percent of the agriculture race vote went against Irvin — show the incumbent is vulnerable.
“I’m pretty sure I can get more than 10 percent more to vote for me so long as we keep focused on the issues,” he said.
He finished first in the July 18 primary with 42.3 percent of the vote and carried 137 of 159 counties. Kemp, 41, came in second and later was endorsed by the other two primary candidates, farmer Deanna Strickland of Brooklet and businessman Bob Greer of Suwanee.
Black’s financial backers include former Attorney General Michael Bowers, a confidant of Gov. Sonny Perdue, and U.S. Rep. John Linder, dean of the Georgia congressional delegation.
The state Department of Agriculture, with an annual budget of about $43 million, has a lot on its plate — from helping farmers and inspecting food to regulating pest control companies and measuring the accuracy of gasoline pumps. The department also protects Georgia’s coveted Vidalia onion against inferior imitators.
The commissioner runs for re-election every four years and currently earns $112,452, a year. Kemp, once considered a legislative rising star, has pledged to back Black in the general election.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Handel, Buckner to face off in SOS race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two women from metro Atlanta will compete to become Georgia’s next Secretary of State.
One, Fulton County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel, is hoping to make history as the first Republican elected to the post. The other, state Rep. Gail Buckner, is hoping to keep the job in the hands of a Democrat.
Handel, of Roswell, and Buckner, of Jonesboro, cruised to fairly easy runoff victories Tuesday to emerge as their party candidates for the November general election. Libertarian candidate Kevin Madsen is also on the fall ballot. They are seeking to replace outgoing Democrat Cathy Cox, who lost a bid for the governor’s office in July.
Handel and Buckner survived an opening field of 10 candidates — four Republicans and six Democrats — for the secretary of state’s job, the most crowded field for any statewide office in Georgia.
Several factors have combined to make the secretary of state race the most competitive: the lack of an incumbent candidate, the job’s high visibility and election controversies throughout the nation, such as those that emerged from the 2000 presidential election and Georgia’s new voter ID law.
Handel bested state Sen. Bill Stephens of Canton in a bruising campaign to win the GOP nomination. Handel, with husband Steve at her side, declared victory shortly after 10 p.m. before about 200 supporters at her Chamblee campaign headquarters.
“A lot of people said Karen Handel is nothing but a metro Atlanta candidate, but the numbers will show something different. I’m a candidate for all of Georgia,” Handel told a roaring crowd. “I’m going to look forward to debating more on the issues now. “
Stephens conceded shortly before 10 p.m. at a Buckhead hotel. He thanked his campaign staff and supporters, and pledged his support to Handel. “I have offered my help in any way,” he said. “I think that’s the right thing to do.”
On the Democratic side, Buckner beat out business executive Darryl Hicks. Buckner led a pack of six candidates in the July 18 primary with Hicks close on her heels. Buckner did well in the Democratic stronghold of DeKalb County, where voters deciding a congressional race featuring incumbent Rep. Cynthia McKinney, helped give her a deciding edge.
Buckner celebrated in her Jonesboro home with a handful of family, friends and supporters. Shortly before 11 p.m., she began to gain confidence in her apparent victory, even though all the votes had not been counted.
“I’m very pleased to have been received by the citizens of this state,” she said in her living room. “I’m just excited to have the runoff behind me and I’m ready to go to work for November.”
Buckner also said she was looking forward to discussing issues, a departure from the Republican primary in which the candidates fought over issues having little do with the office, including gay marriage and abortion.
Handel pitched her combination of political and business experience as perfect for the job. Prior to election in 2003 to the Fulton County Commission, Handel worked as a deputy chief of staff in Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office. Before that, she was head of the North Fulton chamber of commerce and also worked for major corporations.
Buckner campaigned on her 16 years in the Georgia House of Representatives. Buckner said her work as a legislator, dealing with budgets, policies and law-making, gave her an inside look into the operation of the secretary of state’s office.
Going into the general election, Handel enjoyed a healthy fund-raising advantage. She raised $689,721, including contributions from many of the state’s most well-known businesses and deep-pocketed donors. Buckner, meanwhile, loaned $245,000 to her own campaign. The rest of her money, about $44,460 came from donors.
The Georgia secretary of state’s office has responsibility for a wide range of governmental functions, including oversight of elections; the licensing of 64 trades and professions, from cosmetologists and psychologists to auctioneers and geologists; regulating investment advisers, the issuance and sales of securities; and the registration of corporations and nonprofit groups. It also oversees the state’s archives and the Capitol museum. The job pays $114,376 a year.
Staff writers Jennifer Brett, Paul Kaplan, Mary Lou Pickel and Ty Tagami contributed to this article
Complete election returns coverage
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Handel & Martin win runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Karen Handel won the Republican runoff for Secretary of State Tuesday and Jim Martin triumphed in the Democratic runoff Lieutenant Governor, according to election results as of 10:25 p.m. Tuesday.
Apparent winners were emerging in other statewide races, too, with 87 percent of votes counted from precincts around Georgia.
In the Republican runoff for Secretary of State, Bill Stephens conceded defeat and said he would support his opponent, Karen Handel. Handle, chairmwoman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, had 56 percent of the vote compared with 44 percent for Stephens, a state senator from Canton.
Other races were shaping up with likely winners, as well.
In the Democratic contest for Lieutenant Governor, Martin had 61 percent of the vote in his race against Greg K. Hecht. Martin has served as a state legislator. He also led the state Department of Human Resources. Hecht is an attorney who also has served in the legislature.
Hecht acknowledged defeat about 10:30 p.m.
In the Democratic contest for Secretary of State, Gail Buckner, who has served in the legislature, had 54 percent of the vote compared with 46 percent for Darryl Hicks, a former corporate executive.
Meanwhile, in a much more high-profile race, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney had 42 percent of the vote compared with 58 percent for her opponent, Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, a former DekKalb County commissioner.
Those figures were based on reports from 51 percent of precincts in the 4th Congressional District, which covers parts of DeKalb, Gwinnett and Rockdale counties.
In DeKalb County, where political experts say the race is likely to be decided, Johnson had 52 percent of the vote compared with 48 for McKinney. Those figures were based on results from about 40 percent of DeKalb precincts.
In the Republican contest to produce a candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture, Gary Black had 60 percent of the vote, compared with 40 percent for Brian Kemp.
Complete election returns coverage
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Smith turns tables on Fayette incumbent
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jack Smith didn’t have a ready explanation for his easy win over veteran Fayette County commissioner Linda Wells in Tuesday’s runoff election.
Smith, a Fayetteville CPA, beat Wells by 1,139 votes after Wells had finished far ahead of Smith in the July 18 primary. He took 59 percent of the vote.
“I can’t answer that,” Smith, 56, said on his cellphone at his victory party in downtown Fayetteville Tuesday night. “I talked about growth and traffic and county employee morale. Apparently, they believed my message more than they believed hers.”
Wells, 58, who’s spent 12 years on the commission, is a close ally of commission Chairman Greg Dunn, who lost to attorney Eric Maxwell last month. She couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Dunn and Wells led expensive legal battles against popular 30-year Sheriff Randall Johnson over his spending and the duties of the county marshal’s department.
Smith said voter anger with Wells over that dispute probably couldn’t explain why he coasted to victory. “I’m sure the sheriff may have had an issue in it, but I don’t think it was the main issue,” he said.
Wells said before the election that if turnout was low, the outcome would be hard to call, even though in the primary she took 48 percent of the vote to Smith’s 28 percent.
Only 12.7 percent of Fayette’s eligible voters cast ballots in the runoff election.
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Martin to face Cagle in Lt. Governor’s race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jim Martin of Atlanta, a former longtime state lawmaker, claimed the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket Tuesday, cruising to an easy runoff victory over Greg Hecht of Jonesboro in the race for lieutenant governor.
“Faith and values and patriotism does not belong to any party — they belong to all of us. And we cannot allow any political party to claim those values,” Martin told a cheering crowd. “I’m a church elder and a grandfather — I’ll take that fight to them.”
Martin, 60, now faces state Sen. Casey Cagle of Gainesville, who won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor last month with a surprisingly strong victory over former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed.
Allen Buckley, a Libertarian candidate, also will be on the ballot.
Martin credited his victory to an issues-oriented campaign that also told the story of his bout with polio as a child, his Vietnam service, and the kidnapping of his 8-year-old daughter in 1980.
“It was the whole campaign, who I am, what makes me tick and what I stand for,” Martin said while mingling with supporters.
Republicans immediately promised a general election campaign free of invective. “[Martin] focused on issues rather than personal attacks. He and Casey served together in the Legislature, and we feel certain it will be a strong campaign focused on the issues,” said Cagle spokesman Brad Alexander.
While Hecht, 42, a Jonesboro attorney who served two terms as a state senator, held his own in smaller rural counties outside Atlanta, Martin rolled up huge leads in the state’s largest counties.
Hecht conceded at 10:30 p.m., shortly after long-awaited votes began pouring in from DeKalb County, nearly 2-to-1 in Martin’s favor.
The defeated candidate immediately promised to support Martin and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor of Albany, who won the Democratic nomination for governor in July. Hecht again expressed remorse for a mail flier he issued against Martin that was shown to be false. It acted as a drag on Hecht’s own campaign.
“There are some things I regret in this campaign. In terms of Jim, I love him, I want to help him, I hope you want to help him,” Hecht told his supporters.
Martin, who served 18 years in the state House, won with the backing of some of the most influential members of Georgia’s Democratic establishment.
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin endorsed Martin shortly after he made it into the runoff. Martin also was supported by former Gov. Roy Barnes, who appointed him to head the state Department of Human Resources. After Barnes’ defeat in 2002, Martin stayed on for a year, serving under Republican Sonny Perdue, earning a reputation for bipartisanship.
During his campaign, Martin took issue with Perdue on cuts to education and health care for children. “That doesn’t mean Sonny Perdue is a bad person, an evil person,” Martin said in an interview shortly before Tuesday’s vote.
The primary job of lieutenant governor is to preside over the state Senate. Since its creation shortly after World War II, it has never been held by a Republican
Five Democrats formally entered the race in the spring, toiling in near-anonymity while the Republican side of the contest — which featured Reed, a national GOP strategist — gathered all the attention.
Martin and Hecht, both attorneys and former members of the Legislature, took the lion’s share of Democratic votes in the July 18 primary — Martin with 41 percent and Hecht with 36 percent.
On the issues, differences between Hecht and Martin were often a matter of emphasis. During the three-week runoff campaign, Hecht, a former assistant prosecutor, emphasized crime-related issues, but also promised an investigation into alleged price-gouging by oil companies.
Martin focused heavily on health care, with proposals to create an health insurance pool for small businesses and help seniors stay out of nursing homes.
Differences between the two included abortion and gay marriage. Though both candidates described themselves as “pro-choice,” Hecht criticized Martin for blocking a bill in the Legislature to ban so-called partial birth abortion.
Both opposed gay marriage, but only Martin favored civil unions.
The runoff campaign was filled with accusations of low blows. Hecht accused Martin of starting the fight, by accusing Hecht of being soft on women’s issues.
Shortly afterward, Hecht put out a mail flier that mischaracterized Martin’s efforts to change Georgia’s rape laws while he was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. On Sunday, the Macon Telegraph withdrew its support from Hecht, citing the flier.
“We overreacted to some hits we took from the other campaign. I’ve apologized to Jim for what was wrong,” Hecht said as he waited for returns on Tuesday night.
Staff writers Eileen Drennen and Craig Schneider contributed to this article.
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Laughinghouse keeps Forsyth seat, Conway loses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a county that’s not kind to sitting incumbents, a Forsyth County commissioner made a little history Tuesday.
District 1 Commissioner Charlie Laughinghouse held off a strong challenger, Pete Amos, to do something that no sitting commissioner has done in at least a decade: He won a second term.
Tuesday’s runoffs were not as kind to Commission Chairman Jack Conway. He lost a lopsided race to former county Republican chairman Jim Harrell, who operates a Forsyth-based community Internet site, Cumminghome.com. Like Laughinghouse, Conway was seeking his second term on the five-member commission.
Growth was a strong theme in the campaign, but the elections came in a summer that also has seen the county struggling with water shortages. Before the state imposed strict limits on outdoor water use, Forsyth County imposed a complete ban on watering in June after supplies in county storage tanks dropped to a dangerously low level. The rules were eased a week later, but residents are still living with rules that allow watering only two days per week. Statewide restrictions allow watering three days per week.
The winners of the runoff have no opposition in November. In this heavily Republican north metro county, no Democrats qualified to run for the county commission.
During the campaign, Laughinghouse and Harrell paired up as a team, sharing signs, mail pieces and get-out-the-vote efforts. They called for slowing growth while pushing for road, sewer and water system improvements. Conway and Amos were widely viewed as more pro-growth.
Laughinghouse and Harrell were propelled to victory by heavy turnout by homeowners in the largely built-out southern part of the county. Even though they serve in single-member districts, all commissioners are elected countywide.
It’s no surprise that growth is a hot political topic here in this north metro county that borders Lake Lanier. Forsyth, with a population of 131,865, led all Georgia counties in population growth, jumping 42.7 percent from 2000 to 2005.
The stakes in the election were high. Forsyth County is in the midst of a building boom that is recasting the county from a rural to an exurban community. Traffic jams are a constant headache, even at country backroad intersections. The commission is divided about what to do about its ongoing water crisis.
Turnout was strong in Forsyth County. Nearly as many votes were cast in the county commission runoff as were cast in the July 18 primary.
Permalink | | Categories: Forsyth County
Computer woes slow DeKalb results
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The hottest race of Tuesday’s runoff was the last to be counted because of computer problems in DeKalb County that stalled the tabulation until late into the night, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Chris Riggall, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office, said DeKalb County officials were having trouble uploading the cards that contained vote totals from each of the 135 DeKalb County precincts in the 4th district.
“They were having considerable problems,” Riggall said about 9:30 p.m.
Unlike many other counties, Riggall said DeKalb County officials don’t transmit results quickly from precincts. Officials instead carry the cards containing each precinct’s results to the main election office, where they are counted, Riggall said.
Tuesday night they were having trouble loading the results into the computers, he said.
Because of that, the outcome of the 4th congressional race between incumbent Cynthia McKiinney and former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson was unknown Tuesday evening, while many statewide races were all but decided by 9:30 p.m. The first DeKalb County results weren’t reported by the Secretary of State until about 9:45 p.m.
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McKinney alleges voting irregularities
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shortly after the polls opened on Tuesday, allegations of voting irregularities began appearing on U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney’s campaign Web site.
At 8:14 a.m., the first complaint appeared: “Less than an hour into voting, McKinney’s name is not on ballot, opponent’s is,” read an item on her blog.
Other similar allegations would follow throughout the day as 4th Congressional District voters decided whether to send McKinney back to Congress, or give the Democratic nomination to runoff opponent, Hank Johnson, a lawyer and former DeKalb County commissioner.
The McKinney Web site noted voting machines not working or mysteriously casting incorrect ballots, “insecure” voting equipment, police harassment, and poll workers refusing to hand out Democratic ballots.
At one campaign stop Tuesday, McKinney said, “We also had a problem at Midway [elementary school polling place], where my name was not on the ballot,” McKinney said.
“My opponent’s name was on the ballot. … We are disappointed that the secretary of state’s office has not dealt adequately with these electronic voting machines and the deficiencties. Also, polling places have opened up and some of the machines were not zero-counted out. … And that is a problem. That is a serious problem.”
Dana Elder, the precinct manager at the school, said there was a power failure around 2:20 p.m. affecting one machine that lists registered voters in the precinct, but it posed no problem because there was another backup machine. The broken machine was fixed within 10 minutes and did not affect the actual voting machines, Elder said.
“It was really nothing,” Elder said.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office kept an eye on the elections, with 15 roving monitors on the ground in the 4th District, said spokeswoman Kara Sinkule.
Sinkule noted that the complaints were only coming from the McKinney campaign. “We are not having voters saying we are having equipment malfunctions,” Sinkule said.
McKinney has always held a distrust of the state’s new touch-screen voting machines. She has appeared at events promoted by activists opposed to electronic voting in Georgia. One of her congressional aides, Richard Searcy, was one of the most outspoken critics of Georgia’s electronic voting platform before taking a job in McKinney’s office.
When McKinney beat out five opponents in the Democratic primary in 2004 to re-claim her congressional seat, she did not question the voting machines’ accuracy or the results. On Tuesday, she was anything but silent on the issue.
“Voters should be able to go into the precinct with the assurance that their vote is actually going to be cast, first of all, and counted,” McKinney said Tuesday. “But at this point we have had voters to tell us the voting machines took several tries before they would actually even cast the correct ballots.”
McKinney made other claims about voting problems but did not elaborate or take questions before disappearing into a truck.
Both local and state elections officials said they are taking McKinney’s allegations seriously. But they were also quick to say many of the complaints were unwarranted.
The DeKalb County elections office released a statement addressing complaints from the McKinney campaign.
In answer to an allegation that a voter tried to vote for McKinney, but the machine popped up a vote for Johnson, the office said:
“Upon investigation by the manager, it was determined while the one candidates’s name was touched by the ball of the finger, the fingernail hit the name,” the statement read. “We do not expect voters to cut their nails to vote, but we are cautioning everyone to make certain they are satisfied with their choices before they hit the ‘cast ballot’ button.”
“We don’t have a problem addressing any claims that they have,” said Linda Lattimore, head of elections for DeKalb County, where much of the 4th Congressional District lies. “We’ll investigate and respond to each claim.”
The statement from Lattimore’s office addressed other issues raised by the McKinney campaign, claiming they were immediately rectified when brought to officials’ attention.
Some voters who wanted to vote in the runoff did not realize congressional lines were redrawn by the state Legislature in 2005, Lattimore said. So some voters accustomed to voting in the 4th District were perplexed at not being able to do so.
Lattimore said some voters who were told to wait while a poll worker investigated a problem misinterpreted it as being turned away from the polls. “We ask a voter to wait a second and suddenly [they think] we turn them away.”
Staff writers Jeremy Redmon and Julie Turkewitz contributed to this article.
Complete election returns coverage
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Power outage at Clayton precinct
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A late afternoon storm has caused a power outage at one of Clayton County’s voting precincts today.
Clayton Board of Elections Director Annie Bright said the brief storm knocked down a tree which downed power lines to one of the precincts, though she didn’t say which precinct it was.
But Bright said the casting of ballots continues at the precinct and shouldn’t be affected by the loss of power.
“The machines are running on batteries,” Bright said. “I’m just concerned about how long the batteries will last.”
Clayton’s counting of ballots was delayed for hours on primary election night in July when computerized cards for machines in each precinct didn’t work. The cards lock the machines before they are transported to the county’s tabulation center. New cards had to be delivered to each of the county’s 53 precincts. The problem led to a long delay in vote counting. Officials didn’t finish counting votes until 2:30 a.m. the next morning.
State officials said Clayton County was not at fault. They said the county received a batch of cards that had not been pre-programmed.
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Votes for the two camps: McKinney and Johnson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Robert Thomas of Lithonia voted for incumbent Cynthia McKinney in previous elections but this year he made a different choice in the Democratic runoff for the 4th Congressioinal District.
“We’re due for a change in the Fourth District,” said the 56-year-old real estate agent, who cast a ballot for challenger Hank Johnson. “Time will tell whether it’s a good change or a bad change.”
Thomas said McKinney seems to take “us for granted. I think she should pay more attention to what we need here in the Fourth District.”
For instance, Thomas said, DeKalb County needs more greenspace “so families can go walking, [so] single females can go and walk and feel safe.”
He said that is a concern “that comes up quite a bit” when he is talking with clients.
“I thought she was attentive, outgoing and vocal and not afraid to step outside the box,” Thomas said. “I think she still has those qualities. I just don’t think she picks the right time and place to do it. I think she’s uncompromising in some cases with situations and people. I have nothing against Cynthia at all. But as a voter, I’m just exercising my right to vote.”
By 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 120 of more than 1,400 registered voters had cast ballots at the Panola precinct at St. Paul A.M.E Church in Lithonia.
“We really have a lot [of people] who haven’t shown up,” said poll manager Aurelia Henley. “I’d like to see a whole line like in the presidential election. I wish everyone would cast their vote.”
In Stone Mountain, John Lonon, 50, voted for McKinney.
“She lives in the community so she knows the issues here,” said Lonon, a head-hunter for businesses. “She’s always been a strong advocate for us and keeps us abreast of the issues. And you know, she’s just visible all year long. When I’m out driving in the community, she ‘s out there walking, jogging. She just seems like somebody who is in touch.”
He said he admires McKinney for speaking out early against the war in Iraq.
“She was one of the first people who said that there were no weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “The other guy…he’s had a lot of problems, financial as well. It would be difficult to have somebody in government who can’t manage their own finances.”
Jerome Barker of Stone Mountain voted for McKinney at White Oak Hills Baptist Church. “I think deep down she’ll help my cause the most,” said Barker, 56, who’s retired from the county’s public works department. “You know, equal opportunity for everybody.” In particular, Barker said, more working people need health insurance, and McKinney understands that.
At Avondale Middle School, DeKalb County resident Lonnie Smith, 49, voted for Hank Johnson. “Cynthia McKinney doesn’t need to win,” said Smith, a businesswoman. “She is an embarrassment to the law, an embarrassment to being female, an embarrassment to being black and an embarrassment to being a Christian. She’s loud and obnoxious and exhibits no sense of class.”
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
County commission race fires up Forsyth voters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Despite the presence of some statewide races on the ballot, voters in one Forsyth County precinct were focused on two very local races.
At First Redeemer Church, one of the county’s larger polling places — located just off Ga. 400 in south Forsyth County — a steady stream of voters passed under the glass-domed student and family center on their way to cast ballots. Several people interviewed Tuesday afternoon said they were motivated to vote in order to settle two undecided County Commission races.
Charles D. Cerosa, 63, wheeled his 93-year-old father, Charles M. Cerosa, to and from the polling place. The younger Cerosa said he voted for incumbent Charles Laughinghouse for District 1 County commissioner because of his position on growth issues.
“He’s more cautious about growth,” Cerosa said. “He wants to provide more infrastructure.” He said the same reasoning guided him to vote for Jim Harrell for District 3 commissioner over incumbent Commission Chairman Jack Conway.
“He’s less prone to sanction unbridled growth,” Cerosa said.
As for the older Cerosa, he jerked his thumb toward his son and said, “I’m the same as him.”
The younger Cerosa said he votes every chance he gets.
“This is America,” he said. “If we can vote, we’re going to vote. I’m a vet and I don’t know why more people don’t vote. People complain about what they get, but if you don’t vote, then you can’t complain.”
“That’s the way I raised him,” said his father.
Jim and Linda Warner both cast ballots for Charles Laughinghouse and Jim Harrell.
“I thought Mr. Conway and his crew didn’t provide the leadership we need,” said Linda, 65.
Jim, 66, concurred, adding, “I don’t think the board of commissioners gets along with the city, the administration, they don’t get along with anybody. Four years ago, Conway said he was going to slow down the growth, but he hasn’t. Now we have too many people.”
It’s no surprise that growth is a political topic here. Forsyth, with a population of 131,865, led all Georgia counties in population growth, with a growth percentage of 42.7 from 2000 to 2005.
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East Cobb school board race attracts voters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb voters were trickling into polling places across the county in slow, but steady numbers by mid afternoon Tuesday in the runoff election.
Heaviest voting appeared to be in east Cobb where there is high interest in a hotly contested school board race. Republican incumbent Kathie Johnstone is attempting to fend off challenger John Crooks, a Baptist minister, who took 44 percent of the vote in the July primary to Johnstone’s 28 percent.
Elections director Sharon Dunn said voter turnout was slower in north, west and south Cobb than on the east side of the county. “East Cobb appears to be voting more. I assume it’s because of the school board race.” She reported no glitches by 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The Post 6 school board seat seat encompasses the Walton and Wheeler high school attendance zones. Winner of the Republican runoff will face Democrat Beth Farokhi in November.
It was the school board race that drew Dickerson Middle School parent Diane McCauley to cast her ballot Tuesday afternoon at the Mount Bethel 03 precinct at the East Cobb Government Center. “I missed voting in the primary but wanted to vote for Crooks,” she said. “I don’t know him personally, but I’ve heard very good things about him.” She said she was dissatified with the school board—Johnstone in particular —and looking to make a change.
“It’s been slow, but they’ve been coming in by ones and twos,” reported poll manager Robert Brown. By 2:45 p.m. 157 ballots had been cast out of 2,650 registered voters at the government center precinct on Lower Roswell Road, he said. One of the ballots cast was from U. S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, said poll worker Thomas Okerberg. “He was our second voter this morning.”
“A lot of people are interested in the school board race,” Okerberg said. “I’ve hard more comments from people that they’re here because of the school board.”
At Terrell Mill 01 precinct at East Valley Elementary School, 131 votes out of 1935 registered voters had been cast by 3:05 p.m. “It’s been very, very slow. We haven’t even got 10 percent yet,” said poll manager Imogene Yentsch. “There are only two runoffs on the Democratic ballot and three on the Republican ballot. It’s not enough to bring them out.”
The story was the same at Sedalia Park 01 precinct were 75 votes had been cast out of 1450 registered voters with only four hours to go before the polls closed. “It’s been rather slow but for a runoff that’s to be expected,” said poll manager William DeMonye Sr. At Eastside Elementary, poll manager Pat Eads said 70 ballots had been cast out of 1,000 voters.
Dunn earlier had predicted a 10 to 15 percent turnout based on early voting, but said Tuesday it may fall shy of that.
Permalink | | Categories: Cobb County
Cherokee voters trickle in
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voting in Cherokee County polls went slowly Tuesday afternoon. Poll officials said that the hot weather and the fact that it was a primary runoff with only one local race kept voters away.
At Towne Lake Community Church in Woodstock, David Blazek said he was the day’s 81st voter at about 1 p.m. He said he voted for Mary Wilhite in the runoff for State House District 22 because he had misgivings about her opponent, Sean Jerguson. He said Jerguson, who owns a construction company, is backed by developers. Wilhite, he added, was “sufficiently conservative.”
“She satisfies my requirements that she’d be a conservative,” he said.
At Hillside United Methodist Church in Woodstsock turnout was small. At about 12:30 p.m., only 74 people had voted, out of nearly 2,700 registered voters in the precinct, said poll manager Doug Steingraber.
Cherokee County elections director Janet Munda said the runoffs were going very slowly. “It’s very slow, very quiet, peaceful,” said Munda. She expected an 8 to 10 percent turnout today, mostly because there’s only one local race.
Permalink | | Categories: Cherokee County
A slow start in Norcross
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voting at Best Friend Park in Norcross was so light polling place volunteers were excited to see one person waiting in line.
By 10 a.m., 21 people had voted.
Still, poll manager Jim Moore was expecting more people today than the 125 who voted in the primary last month.
The biggest problem Moore has face is voters trying to vote in a party election that is different than the party they voted in the primary. While Georgia law allows voters to elect which party primary to vote in, they must maintain that party choice if there is a run-off.
Shirley Champion, 73, of Norcross, is a retired state employee with a low opinion of politicians. “They’re all crooks,” Champion said. “I know how it works. If they’re not crooks when they go in, they’ll come out that way.”
Champion, a Democrat, said she found Bill McKinney’s attack ads against Gwinnett Commissioner Kevin Kenerly distasteful, and this influenced her vote. “I’m going to come back and vote again in my disguise,” Champion joked.
Though now old enough to vote, 19-year-old Jeff Hart has been a poll volunteer for a couple of years. Today, he took off from his job at a specialty engraving business to help out at Best Friend Park.
“My work was really supportive of it,” Hart said. “I’ve learned more in the past two years than I have the rest of my life.”
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
Low turnout for Commission Post 4
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fayette County’s only local election involves a runoff between Jack Smith and Linda Wells for Fayette County Commissioner Post 4.
Carolyn Combs, acting elections supervisor for Fayette County said as of 10:45 a.m. voter turnout was light.
“Most of the 36 precincts so far this morning have reported a small turnout,” she said. “One precinct reported about 50 people this morning. I think we wiill get a turnout of about 10 percent or less.”
Combs was surprised at the early voting turnout last week, which is open up to any registered voter that wants to cast their ballot early for any reason.
“I was surprised because while we didn’t have long lines, there was always two or three voters at the counter all week, ” Combs said. I wonder if this is an indication that more people will be taking advantage of early voting rather than going to the polls for any election.”
Permalink | | Categories: Fayette County
Early votes go both ways in 4th District race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trinity Baptist Church in Ellenwood in south DeKalb County was one of the polling places where U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney and challenger Hank Johnson jockeyed for the Democratic nomination to represent the Fourth District.
Shawn Manns, like many McKinney supporters, blamed the media for a negative portrayal of the outspoken lawmaker. “I think it was a witch hunt,” the 38-year-old Atlanta firefighter said. “She’s had her controversy but she’s human. I feel like she’s done a good job.”
On the other side was Gregory Johnson, a 45-year-old mortgage banker. He said he voted for Hank Johnson because he “has his priorities in order. He puts the community and their interests first.” He said Johnson had run a campaign with “integrity” and discussed issues while McKinney’s message was negative. “Negativity is contagious. It’s a cancer, “ Gregory Johnson said.
Rodney Carmichael, 32, said he was a Cynthia McKinney supporter. Carmichael pointed out that he grew up in Ellenwood so he understood the needs of south DeKalb and how much McKinney had met them. “I just feel like people who live in this area for a long time have a better understanding for who she is and don’t get caught up in the hype used in recent years to smear her.”
His mind was not changed by media coverage of McKinney’s problems. “I feel like it was another case of McKinney’s political opponents trying to put people up against her like they did with [former Congresswoman Denise] Majette in 2002,” Carmichael said. He found Johnson inarticulate and lacking in energy.
George and Catherine McIntyre were another pair of McKinney supporters in Ellenwood. George McIntyre, 71 and retired from the Air Force, resented people trying to force McKinney out of office. Catherine McIntyre, 72, said she like McKinney because “she tells it the way it is.”
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
Kenerly hangs on
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett Commissioner Kevin Kenerly will try for a fourth term in his District 4 seat after a narrow victory Tuesday in the GOP primary runoff.
Kenerly, a 43-year-old real estate investor, held off a challenge by Jodie Rosser, a 27-year-old real estate closing attorney who promised to end “cozy relationships” between elected officials and developers. Rosser also pledged to stop “overdevelopment” in Gwinnett.
Kenerly said in the end voters “really believe I’m making the best decisions I can without putting the county at harm.”
“They know I love the county as a whole, and I think that’s one thing that may have put me over the top,” said Kenerly, speaking by cellphone from his victory party at Taco Mac near the Mall of Georgia.
Kenerly will face Democrat John Kenney in the Nov. 7 general election. Kenney, a 49-year-old technology company owner, has mounted three unsuccessful campaigns in Gwinnett.
On Tuesday, the vote was so close that at one point Kenerly held a one-vote lead with about three-quarters of the precincts counted.
“This has been one of the most exhausting things I’ve ever done in my life,” Kenerly said of his primary campaign.
Turnout Tuesday was about 8 percent countywide and inDistrict 4. The district includes Buford, Sugar Hill and Lawrenceville. The part-time commission post pays just less than $14,000 a year.
Despite making it into a runoff, Rosser was unable to overcome Kenerly’s $389,000 campaign war chest — a record for a district commission race in Gwinnett. She tried to woo voters with promises that she would approve new development only after roads, schools and other services were ready for the increased population. Rosser raised a fifth of what Kenerly raised.
Rosser could not be reached for comment after returns were in.
Kenerly placed first in the July primary, beating Rosser by 5 percentage points. But the third place finisher, Butch Poss, took a surprising 27 percent of the vote, then threw his support to Rosser.
Kenerly wants to focus his fourth term on reducing traffic congestion by finishing widening projects on Ga. 20 and Ga. 324 and finishing construction of the Sugarloaf extension south of Lawrenceville. He also wanted to finish several park projects in the district. Kenerly spoke against impact fees even though he set up a citizens committee to study whether Gwinnett should adopt them.
This year’s District 4 primary race was supposed to be about who can better manage Gwinnett’s breakneck growth. Instead, the issues were overshadowed by a political scandal that led to Gwinnett’s first ever indictment for election law violations.
A Gwinnett grand jury indicted Gwinnett political consultant Bill McKinney last week on charges he failed to register an organization he created, beatkevin.com, as an independent campaign committee and to report its contributions and expenditures. Prosecutors say McKinney used beatkevin.com to send three anonymous attack ads slamming Kenerly. One of the mailings included a DVD of Kenerly gambling with developers in Las Vegas.
McKinney has said he acted alone against Kenerly and no candidate in the District 4 race was involved.
Rosser campaigned on ethical government, saying she would serve no more than two terms and push for term limits. She said she also wanted to “stop overdevelopment” by imposing impact fees. Rosser said she wanted to help control the spread of crime by putting 75 new police officers on the street every year. Kenerly won his first four-year term on the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in 1994, promising to protect homeowners from choking development.
Kenerly rebuffed contributions from developers during that first campaign but reversed his policy after his GOP primary victory. Kenerly ran unopposed in 1998 and faced a Republican challenger in 2002, whom he beat without a runoff.
Kenney, the Democrat in the race, has focused this campaign on what he said is a lackluster county home inspection division, and he has criticized commissioners for allowing traffic congestion and other problems to fester.
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