The field of candidates running for clerk of Superior Court in DeKalb County is crowded: five hopefuls. And there is a personal subtext to the race for the $127,000-a-year job.
John Carter is married to the woman who held the job from 2001 until a year ago when she resigned as her dementia worsened. Another candidate, Debra Deberry, assumed the job after Linda Carter and was her friend until Carter filed suit last year accusing Deberry of tricking her into signing a letter of resignation. (The lawsuit was settled last fall.)
Deberry has worked in the DeKalb County Superior Court Clerk's Office for a decade and been the clerk since March 2011. She said she wants to continue a project she has been working on for years, a system to file and research DeKalb County Superior Court records electronically.
"I want to keep pushing for the day we can do things more efficiently without paper," Deberry said.
John Carter, who could not be reached for comment, lists on his campaign website his qualifications and accomplishments: being an attorney licensed to practice law in Georgia and two other states; deputy clerk in Fulton County's court, and "husband of Linda Carter, former superior clerk of DeKalb County." He says he wants to focus on "customer service" and "restore trust and confidence."
The other three candidates also have experience in the court system.
Oretha Brown-Johnson retired from the DeKalb District Attorney's Office in March, after 20 years. Her last assignment in that office was case manager.
"I am the only candidate who can understand case management from the courtroom to the prosecutor's office as well as the clerk of Superior Courts. I understand the history and infrastructure of DeKalb County government," Brown-Johnson said.
Frank Swindle cites his years working for several judges and his experience with his legal document filing service as the reasons he is best for the job. He said he has seen firsthand the difficulties in a court system that is technologically behind and does not file records electronically and put them on the Internet for the public to access.
"There are large, metropolitan areas that have an online service but DeKalb does not," Swindle said. "They've been promising online services for 10 years. I want to make a state-of-the arts clerk's office, a more professional clerk's office."
Cheryl Vortice has worked in the court system 28 years, most recently as a case manager for a Fulton County Superior Court judge. She was the deputy clerk in DeKalb's court before moving to neighboring Fulton. Vortice said her focus will be on customer service, making the records secure and available to the public, and "going green. Right now there is a lot of paper," she said.
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