Cobb County Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor was indicted and charged with two counts of destruction of public records and two counts of violation of oath of office by the Georgia Attorney General on Thursday.
Taylor was formally indicted by a grand jury in Cobb County. Attorney General Chris Carr brought forth the charges years after a slew of controversies related to Taylor’s conduct in office.
Both charges are felonies, the AG’s office confirmed through a spokesperson. Deputy Attorney General John Fowler, who presented the case before the Grand Jury, declined to comment.
Now that Taylor is indicted, Gov. Brian Kemp can appoint a commission to decide if she should be suspended from her position, according to state law. The commission would determine if the indictment “relates to and adversely affects the administration of the office” and whether “the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected.”
If convicted of a felony charge, Georgia law dictates that Taylor would be removed from office.
The charges “stem from allegations that Taylor directed an employee to delete government emails and financial records in response to an open records request,” the AG’s office said in a statement.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in November 2022 about Taylor taking passport processing fees as personal income, which is legal in Georgia and resulted in more than $425,000 of additional income for the clerk in less than two years. The AJC submitted requests under the Georgia Open Records Act for emails, financial records and other documents to further that reporting.
A whistleblower employee from her office then came forward through an attorney alleging Taylor had ordered her to delete records related to the fees, instead of providing them to the AJC.
At the time, Taylor said the passport income included nearly $84,000 in expedited passport shipping costs, which she was not permitted to keep as personal income.
Her office agreed to return the shipping fees to the county, but did not do so until years later in February 2025.
The indictment alleges Taylor directed her employee “to delete a digital folder on the employee’s work computer titled ‘Passport’ which contained accounting records” and an email with the subject line “Expedited Passport Revenue Analysis.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced it was launching a probe of Taylor’s office later in 2022. The matter was referred to the AG’s office in 2024, the AJC previously reported.
“Georgians deserve honesty and transparency from their elected officials, and anything less undermines public trust,” Carr said in the news release. “Any attempts to conceal or destroy government records are serious allegations that cannot be ignored, and those responsible will be held accountable.”
Taylor declined to comment through Libby Blackwell, her office’s chief operations officer. Blackwell said Taylor will remain in her position, and the indictment will not impact office operations.
Superior court clerks are elected constitutional officers, which are independent of county government authority.
Douglas County Superior Court Judge William McClain presided over Thursday’s hearing. He said he was appointed to oversee the matter by order of the Judicial Circuits of the Seventh District after Cobb County Superior Court judges recused themselves.
The Cobb District Attorney’s Office also recused itself from the case, officials said in a news release.
Taylor faced more criticism last year, this time from multiple attorneys who practice in Cobb Superior Court and who told the AJC that her office was struggling to maintain proper record-keeping for the court — her main duty as an elected official.
The severe disruptions to court functions prompted the chief judge to take the extraordinary step of issuing an emergency judicial order, which set aside filing deadlines and eliminated penalties for missed hearings.
Taylor, a Democrat, was reelected in 2024 despite the controversies plaguing her first term.
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