Steve Bradshaw is running for the DeKalb County Commission. He is black. He is married to a white woman.
I know this because of a flier distributed by his opponent, incumbent Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton. She, too, is black.
The photo of “Steve and Wife” was distributed by Sutton’s forces around District 4, the south-central district that includes Stone Mountain. Black voters outnumber white voters in the district 3-to-1 and Sutton, I’m assuming, hopes enough of them have a problem with Bradshaw’s marriage and will vote against him.
A photo of Sutton (appearing solo) also graces the odious flier that was distributed on the eve of last week’s primary election. It was a true 11th-hour sliming.
Sutton’s flier employed all the normal appeals to rally black voters in DeKalb — that her opponent is bought and bossed by the white northside Republicans and that he stands against the NAACP. The “Steve and Wife” photo simply brings that tactic down a notch.
I called Sutton and she played coy when asked about the rationale for the flier.
“Why’d he want to hide her?” she asked. “I wonder why he’s upset? There’s no issue here — unless he tried to hide her.”
By the way, Bradshaw’s wife is named Diane. They’ve been married 29 years, back when he was a young Army officer. She has accompanied him to several events in recent months.
Defeating an incumbent in DeKalb is hard, but Bradshaw’s fortunes have brightened considerably since 2012, when Sutton beat him by more than 3-to-1.
Last week, Bradshaw almost defeated Sutton outright in the Democratic primary. To avoid a runoff in July required 50 percent of the vote plus 1. He got 48 percent to her 43 percent.
The difference?
“This time, people know who I am,” Bradshaw said. “And people know better who she is.”
Sutton’s tenure demonstrates what’s wrong with DeKalb, why its mention draws instant eye-rolls.
She fought against having an independent auditor or ethics board. She came to office in 2009 amid financial ruin, with warrants issued against her for bad checks and her wages garnished for defaulting on her Lexus. Still, she loaned herself $60,000 to run for office, even though she lost her home to foreclosure during her first term.
In office, Sutton paid $34,000 in county funds to Warren Mosby, a political operative and her boyfriend.
And somehow in office, her financial picture brightened. By 2013, she told Channel 2 News that her $163,000 house was paid for. At the time, the TV station was sniffing around because she hadn’t paid her property taxes.
Bradshaw said his good showing in the election and the ouster of District Attorney Robert James, who was seen by many as not tough enough on corruption, prove that people in DeKalb want change.
Sutton’s flier was “an act of desperation,” he said. “There’s always going to be a market for that. But I don’t think it will resonate with enough people.”
While the flier was being disseminated, a person calling himself “Frank Sutton” took to the comments section on the AJC website to frequently deride Bradshaw, saying, “He wants to represent a district of mostly black women, whom he doesn’t respect enough to marry one.”
Commissioner Sutton said Frank Sutton is no kin to her and she does not know who he is, although he defended her frequently and vociferously.
George Chidi, a former AJC reporter who is now blogger/watchdog/future DeKalb commission candidate, went after Frank Sutton online.
Chidi told me he took this personally because his mother is white and his father was a Nigerian immigrant. "This seems like an attack on bi-racial relationships," he said. "The president of the United States is bi-racial."
“This is what black racism looks like, although I know I’m misusing the term racism here,” he said.
I know, it’s all complicated and it can get ugly real fast.
And, I believe, Commissioner Sutton is hoping to play on fears and on feelings of resentment to hang on to her seat.
“I’m afraid that if this works, this will define politics of this county for years,” Chidi said.
Fortunately, DeKalb voters have recently shot down similar offerings. There was the judicial candidate who let voters know Judge Dax Lopez was Jewish. It didn’t work. He got beat 2-to-1.
And Warren Mosby, Sutton’s former (or current, they won’t say) boyfriend, the one paid the $34,000, ran against Commissioner Kathie Gannon. Mosby sent out a flier calling for “all African-American voters” to support him against “closet Republican” Gannon. The voters sent him packing, 4-to-1.
It appears Sutton is fighting the tide of history. Statistics show Americans increasingly accept interracial unions. According to Pew Research, less than 7 percent of marriages in 1980 were interracial. In 2008, 15 percent were.
Perhaps, in 200 years the population will end up being the color of light mocha and none of this will matter.
But until then, go with your better self in the voting booth.
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