The head of Alpharetta elections said accusations that a City Council candidate is ineligible to run for office are unfounded. But the accuser said he intends to pursue the matter further.
City Council candidate Donna Murphy has met the qualifications to run and serve in office according to state law and the city charter, Erin Cobb said in a Tuesday statement. Cobb, who is also City Clerk, announced her decision Tuesday following a public hearing on the matter that was held on Monday.
“I feel it was purely political and it was personally difficult,” Murphy said, Wednesday, of questions raised about her eligibility to be a candidate.
Murphy, 61, is running for City Council Post 1 against incumbent Donald Mitchell. Her candidacy was questioned by Clifford Martin, a longtime resident. He alleges that Murphy doesn’t live in the city, as required to run for office, and filed an official challenge to her qualifications with the city clerk’s office on Sept. 1.
Martin, 66, ran for City Council twice in recent years and has told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he is acting as a concerned citizen in raising objections to Murphy’s eligibility.
Murphy lives in downtown Alpharetta on Commerce Street. But Martin submitted 2021 notices from the Forsyth County Board of Assessors to the city clerk that indicate a homestead property tax exemption for property Murphy and her husband own in Cumming. Homestead tax exemptions are granted on a person’s primary residence.
Forsyth County guidelines require only one of them (Murphy’s husband) make the Cumming home their primary residence to qualify for the homestead exemption, Murphy told the AJC. The apartment she is leasing in Alpharetta is in her name only.
According to Cobb, an attorney for Murphy provided copies of Alpharetta rent leases in her name, rent checks utility bills and her voter registration card showing her Commerce Street address.
Martin told the AJC he continues to believe that Murphy is ineligible based on a Forsyth County application for homestead exemption that she signed in 2016. He obtained the form through open records, he said, although he didn’t receive it in time for the public hearing.
Martin said he plans to take action through the Secretary of State’s office to have Murphy’s voter registration card invalidated.
“That would prohibit her also from running or serving,“ Martin said. “In the state of Georgia you cannot have two primary residences.”
Murphy said that if she hasn’t contacted Forsyth County to let officials know that she resides in Alpharetta, it was an unintentional oversight. She said Martin’s pursuit is a tactic to distract votes but still upsetting.
“I’m a legal (Alpharetta) resident and I proved it,” she said. “This makes people not like politics or the political process. Its so sad and unfortunate.”
Murphy is a realtor and grew up in Alpharetta and graduated from Milton High School before attending the University of Georgia.
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