Candidate profile: JoAnn Birrell, Cobb Commission District 3

As she nears the end of her third term in office, Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell is telling voters she’s a steady hand amid significant change in county government and the Northeast Cobb community she has represented for more than a decade.Cobb adopts $1.4B fiscal 2023 budget

She’s running for a fourth term in new District 3 boundaries in East Cobb that are more favorable for a Republican candidate. In 2018, she won with a little more than 51 percent in a redrawn district that included much of the city of Marietta.

Since then, however, the political dynamics have changed in Cobb, which is now governed by a majority of three Democrats on the all-female Board of Commissioners.

Birrell is one of two Republicans in the minority, and opposes a Democratic-led bid to invoke home rule provisions to keep District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson in office.

But the bigger issues facing the county, Birrell said in a recent interview with East Cobb News, center around how to fund a growing demand for providing and upgrading key services and solve major staffing shortages.

“Things are pretty critical,” she said. “We don’t know what the future holds.”

In the Nov. 8 general election, Birrell is facing Democrat Christine Triebsch, a former Georgia Senate candidate.

Birrell’s campaign website can be found here; Triebsch’s profile in East Cobb News can be found by clicking here.

Cobb enjoyed a record tax digest in 2022. But Birrell voted against the $1.2 billion Cobb fiscal year 2023 budget that took effect Oct. 1 and that included significant pay increases for county employees.

She said she did so because she wanted the county to fill existing positions before creating 148 new jobs across the government.

“I think right now we’re in pretty good shape [financially],” she said. “But I’m concerned that our budget next year is not going to be sustainable with the new positions.”

Some departments are experiencing 40 percent vacancies, including infrastructure functions such as transportation and water, sewer and stormwater management.

The budget also incorporates provisions of a pay and class study for county employees, as well as continuation of step and grade salary increases for public safety.

Those are measures supported by Birrell, who has said that public safety is her highest priority.

Cobb Commission District 3 map
For a larger view of the new District 3 boundaries, click here.

Commissioners will soon be hearing a proposal for a stormwater impact fee that Cobb has never imposed; Birrell said she opposes it because it would be another tax burden for citizens who are paying higher water bills.

She also was vocally against a proposal for the county to designate single haulers for commission districts, a measure that was tabled earlier this fall.

Birrell said Cobb doesn’t need to get into the business of regulating private trash providers.

“We get a lot of the complaints but it may not need to come back,” she said. “They’re in that business and they have to work together to make sure our citizens get service.”

Birrell has raised nearly $52,000 in the current election cycle (through Sept. 30), prompting claims from Triebsch that her opponent is more vested in business interests than those of average citizens and homeowners.

In her most recent campaign disclosure form, Birrell reported receiving $2,500 contributions from John Tanner and Cynthia Reichard, the CEO and Executive Vice President, respectively, of Arlyessence, a fragrance company that recently received $27 million in bonds from the Development Authority of Cobb County (commissioners appoint some of the members but aren’t directly involved in that process).

Another $2,500 contribution to Birrell’s campaign is from Tom Phillips, a businessman whose 50-acre property on Ebenezer Road was rezoned by commissioners last year for a 99-home subdivision. Pulte, the applicant, has since pulled out of developing that land.

But Birrell said she prides herself on being accessible to anyone.

“You can ask any citizen that I hear from that I’m very responsive,” she said.

As for charges that Birrell has been more sympathetic to development interests, she said “go ask the East Cobb Civic Association and homeowners associations about the things I have stopped that were too dense and not appropriate for the area.

“I always listen to my constituents,” she said, noting her rejection of a large-scale multi-use development in the I-575-Bells Ferry area last year.

Commissioners are expected to vote a second time next week on the home rule vote that Birrell said will end up costing taxpayers money in a legal wrangle she thinks the county is likely to lose.

“It was not fair that Jerica was drawn out of her district in the middle of her term,” Birrell said. “But the legislature draws our lines. Reapportionment is not a home rule provision.”

But Birrell said she isn’t animated by partisan motives when it comes to most issues.

“A lot of our votes are along party lines,” she said. “I’m outnumbered on some things but I’ve tried to work with the full board.

“You have to look at the issue and do what you feel is right.”

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Candidate profile: Christine Triebsch, Cobb Commission District 3

When she first ran for the Georgia Senate in a special election in 2017, Christine Triebsch offered herself as a Democratic voice in a district in East Cobb that has been strongly Republican.Christine Triebsch, Cobb Commission Candidate

She’s running for similar reasons for the District 3 seat on the Cobb Board of Commissioners against Republican three-term incumbent JoAnn Birrell.

“I saw a race that was uncontested,” Triesbsch said, “and that was my main goal—to give voters a choice.”

Triebsch, who lost three times to Republican Kay Kirkpatrick for the District 32 Georgia Senate seat, describes herself as “a compassionate Democrat who doesn’t have a voice here.”

She’s chastened by redistricting maps approved by the Republican-dominated Georgia legislature that drew current District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her East Cobb home.

Triebsch currently lives in District 2 and in a recent interview with East Cobb News said that “I voted for Jerica and my vote has been eliminated. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.

“What does this do to our voting rights? Was my vote meaningless? The gerrymandering has got to end.”

The new District 3 lines that will be in force for the Nov. 8 general election include most of East Cobb (see map below).

(The Democratic majority on the Cobb commission has voted to invoke home rule over reapportionment in a bid to keep Richardson in office in a move that is likely to be decided in the courts.)

Triebsch’s campaign website can be found here; Birrell will be profiled separately by East Cobb News.

Triebsch is a Marietta-based family law attorney whose husband Kevin is an assistant principal at East Cobb Middle School. They have a daughter and a son who graduated from the Cobb school district.

She said she’s trying to appeal to citizens and homeowners who feel as though they don’t have the same kind of clout with county leaders as more powerful business and development interests.

“Those who are left out and who are not being heard,” Triebsch said. “What I’m hearing is that people believe that businesses are more important to the current commissioner than the average homeowner.”

Cobb Commission District 3 map
For a larger view of the new District 3 boundaries, click here.

She’s pointed to campaign contributions Birrell has received from major corporate leaders in claiming that her opponent is beholden to special interests.

(Birrell’s latest financial disclosure reports show she has raised nearly $35,000 in the current campaign; Triebsch’s filings show she has raised less than $10,000).

Triebsch referenced affordable housing several times as a priority that “is important to me,” and specifically addressing the topic of workforce housing, for teachers, law enforcement personnel and others on public salaries.

Enabling more of those public servants to live in the communities they serve should be a higher priority in Cobb County, Triebsch said.

“If we can get people into housing with strings attached, that would be fantastic,” she said. “How can a Cobb County educator buy a house in this area?”

She noted that Birrell voted against the Cobb fiscal year 2023 budget that took effect Oct. 1 and that included significant pay increases for county employees. Birrell said she did so because she was concerned that newly created positions might not be sustainable in future budgets.

“She wants four more years,” Triebsch said of Birrell. “That would be 16 years” in office. “In this area, it gets gerrymandered. If we had a competitive area, the voters would have a choice.”

When asked about how “red” or Republican-leaning she thought the new District 3 is, Triebsch didn’t elaborate.

Should she win, that would give Democrats a 4-1 majority (the other commission Republican, Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, is running unopposed).

But Triebsch said she wouldn’t govern with partisan objectives in mind.

“It’s what is best for the homeowners and residents in District 3,” she said. “What do they want? I’m not going to rubber-stamp what anybody on the board wants.”

Triebsch said she wasn’t in favor of a proposal to designate a sole trash provider to areas of Cobb County. That code amendment proposal was rejected by all five commissioners—Birrell was especially vocal against it—and has been tabled until next year.

“Competition is good,” Triebsch said. “We don’t need the board deciding who gets to haul the trash.”

Triebsch said she supports better pay for county employees, but didn’t offer any specifics on what a “living wage” for them might be, and how the county budget would be crafted to accommodate that.

She said following the zoning code is imperative to control growth, supports more initiatives for public transit and supports measures to enhance quality of life, including green space for parks and recreation.

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Cobb early voting wait-time map for 2022 general elections

Cobb Early Voting Wait-Time Map 2022 General Election
To check the latest wait times, click here.

UPDATED, NOV. 30

If you’re looking for information and a the wait-time map for the U.S. Senate runoff, click here.

ORIGINAL STORY, OCT. 17

As it has done previously, Cobb Elections and the county government’s GIS office are teaming up up to provide an estimated wait-time map for early voting during the 2022 general elections.

Early voting began on Monday and continues through Nov. 4 (see our early voting guide for more how-tos and a list of local candidates).

The wait-time interactive map is periodically updated each day by the poll manager at each location.

The link can be found here

If you click the information icon in the upper-right corner you’ll find a color-coded legend explaining the wait times and other information.

Voting activity has been busy at several locations Monday morning, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road), where the wait times were estimated to be around 30 minutes.

That’s one of two locations in East Cobb that will be open for all three weeks of early voting, including the next two Saturdays, Oct. 22 and 29.

The East Cobb Government Service Center also has a drop box for absentee ballots that is available during early voting hours only.

Cobb Elections officials have begun mailing out absentee ballots. The deadline to apply to receive one is Friday, and you can apply online by clicking here.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operations officer for the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, said this morning that Cobb voters have requested more absentee ballots thus far (23,136) than any other county, and that 216,754 applications for absentee ballots have been submitted statewide.

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East Cobb early voting guide for the 2022 general election

Georgia runoff elections

From Oct. 17-Nov. 4, Georgia voters can cast their ballots in person in advance of the Nov. 8 general election.

The 2022 elections feature new boundaries for all elected offices due to redistricting, and voters in East Cobb will see very different maps for their elected representatives than the previous 10 years. More on that further down in this post.

When, where, how to vote

Early voting will take place at select locations around the county, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) as follows:

  • Oct. 17-21, Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • Oct. 22, Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Oct. 24-28, Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • Oct. 29, Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Oct. 31-Nov. 4, Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For more locations for early voting and drop boxes, click here. Cobb voters can cast early ballots at any location in the county regardless of where they live.

For the first time ever, Cobb County voters will be able to vote on Sunday, after the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration approved an early voting date for Oct. 30. That will take place from 12-4 p.m. at the new Cobb Elections office at 995 Roswell Street.

The Cobb Elections office and the Cobb government GIS office also are teaming up again with an estimated wait-time map for early voting, with updates provided at each location by the polling managers.

Voters also can request an absentee ballot for any reason, but the drop boxes available during the 2020 elections are more restricted this year.

There is a drop box at the East Cobb Government Service Center, but it is open only during early voting hours.

The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct. 22, and ballots can now be mailed in through election day. You can get an application online from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office by clicking here.

But absentee ballots must be received at the Cobb Elections office or delivered to a designated drop box by 7 p.m. on Nov. 8, when the polls close for good.

The Secretary of State’s office also has launched BallotTrax, which enables absentee voters to securely follow their ballots, whether they were mailed in or dropped off in person.

Who’s on the ballot?

To get a personalized sample ballot, click here.

Georgia voters will be deciding all statewide constitutional offices—governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, etc.—as well as a U.S. Senate seat

They also will choose all 14 members of the U.S. House and all members of the Georgia General Assembly, both the State Senate and State House.

The Cobb Solicitor’s race is the only countywide office up for election this year. Two seats on the Cobb Board of Commissioners and three seats on the Cobb Board of Education also will be determined.

The new Cobb Commission District 3 area includes most of East Cobb, and Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell will be seeking a fourth term against Democrat Christine Triebsch (District 3 map).

On the Cobb school board, Post 4 Republican incumbent David Chastain is being challenged by Democrat Catherine Pozniak (Post 4 map) in an area that includes the Kell, Sprayberry and some of the Lassiter attendance zones.

East Cobb News will be featuring candidate interviews in these races in the coming week.

U.S. House

District 6 will have a new representative, as Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath is seeking the 7th District seat. The new 6th includes East Cobb, some of North Fulton, Cherokee and Forsyth counties and all of Dawson County (East Cobb portion of 6th District map).

The candidates are Democrat Bob Christian of Forsyth, an Army veteran and small business owner, against Republican Rich McCormick, an emergency room physician who previously ran in the 7th district.

Reapportionment also placed some of East Cobb in the 11th District, which stretches from Bartow and Cherokee counties to include much of Cobb and northern areas of the city of Atlanta >(see Cobb portion of map).

Republican incumbent Barry Loudermilk of Cassville is seeking another term against Democrat Anthony Daza of Atlanta, who owns a ballroom dancing business in Buckhead.

Georgia Senate

Redistricting also carved up East Cobb into additional seats in the General Assembly.

In the State Senate, District 6 has been vacated by Attorney General candidate Jen Jordan, a Democrat. Her successor will be Republican Fred Glass, a financial advisor, or Democrat Jason Esteves, a former chairman of the Atlanta school board (East Cobb portion of District 6).

District 32 formerly covered most of East Cobb but now has only a portion (see Cobb area of map), stretching to areas of north Cobb, Woodstock and Cherokee. Republican incumbent Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb is seeking another term against Sylvia Bennett, a social worker.

Most of Northeast Cobb and a good bit of Johnson Ferry Road corridor is now located in District 56, which includes North Fulton (see East Cobb portion of map). The Republican incumbent, John Albers of Roswell, is on the ballot, and is facing Democrat Patrick Thompson, a clean energy entrepreneur, also from Roswell.

Georgia House

A sliver of District 37 remains in East Cobb (see map) in a Marietta-based seat held by Democrat Mary Frances Williams. She is seeking another term against Republican Tess Redding.

Three other East Cobb incumbent House members, also Republicans, are seeking re-election.

In District 44 (map), which has retained much of its Northeast Cobb boundaries, GOP Rep. Don Parsons is seeking another term against Democrat Willie May Oyogoa, a travel advisor.

Longtime State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican, was drawn into District 45 (map) after two close calls in District 43. Her Democratic opponent is Dustin McCormick, who unsuccessfully ran for a special election in District 45 in April after the resignation of GOP Rep. Matt Dollar.

John Carson, a Republican, is running again in District 46 (map), which retains most of its Northeast Cobb base and goes into Cherokee County. His Democratic opponent is Micheal Garza, the owner of a web development business.

A new legislator from East Cobb will be chosen in District 43 (map). The Democratic candidate is Solomon Adesanya, a restaurant owner. Republican Anna Tillman is a geologist.

We’ll have more coverage of these races as early voting continues.

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Cobb commissioners OK redistricting resolution in split vote

Cobb redistricting resolution approved
Commissioner Jerica Richardson said the home rule resolution is an option to address the legislature’s “unprecedented” redistricting against the wishes of the Cobb delegation majority.

In a strict partisan vote, the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved the first of two votes Tuesday to take an unprecedented step at invoking home rule powers over redistricting.

The board’s three-member Democratic majority voted to approve a resolution that would redraw the four commission districts according to a map accepted by the Cobb legislative delegation.

That map, which was not voted on by the Georgia legislature this year, would have kept current District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson in her district, which includes some of East Cobb as well as the Cumberland-Vinings area.

The two Republican commissioners voted against the resolution, saying it’s a violation of the Georgia Constitution for local governments to conduct reapportionment, which is a task of the legislature.

Another vote has been scheduled for Oct. 25 before the resolution would be sent to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, but a lawsuit by the state is expected in response and the matter will likely be resolved in the courts.

“We begin to make history with this vote,” Richardson said.

A map approved by the Republican-dominated legislature redrew Richardson, a Democrat in her first term, out of the East Cobb home off Post Oak Tritt Road that she moved into last year.

She would have to move into the newly redrawn District 2 by Dec. 31 in order to keep her seat. Her term expires at the end of 2024, but she has said since the legislative session that she will “not step down.”

Before Tuesday’s vote, she reiterated previous public remarks that the legislature’s action to draw a sitting commissioner out of office during a term is unprecedented, and needs to be challenged.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell

She said it’s the opinion of the county’s legal counsel that the Georgia Constitution allows for local governments to claim home rule powers.

That has not occurred with regards to redistricting. “That it has not been used in this manner does not mean it cannot be used in this manner,” Richardson said before the vote.

District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a Republican whose new district includes most of East Cobb, said of the resolution that “this action is illegal” and goes against the state constitution.

She said she twice asked Cobb County Attorney William Rowling for a second opinion but noted that “this was not done,” then read from a letter by the state Office of Legislative Counsel questioning the constitutionality of the resolution.

Rowling responded that several times the language in that letter stated “it appears” and took issue with referenced federal redistricting cases.

“Federal cases do not speak to Georgia law,” he said. When Birrell asked him if home rule could apply to local redistricting in Cobb’s case, he said “Yes ma’am. I do think it’s undecided.”

Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, the other GOP commissioner, accused her Democratic colleagues of “playing politics over enforcing policy” in advancing the resolution in executive session.

Judy Boyce

She also said the “local courtesy” tradition of the legislature honoring county delegation maps isn’t law, and Cobb “has no legal authority to enact redistricting.”

Monique Sheffield, a first-term Democrat who represents South Cobb, said Richardson was elected for four years “and she should have the opportunity to do so.”

That was the sentiment of public speakers in support of the resolution. They included Jackie Bettadapur of East Cobb, who is the head of the Cobb Democratic Party. She didn’t identify herself as such, but said that Cobb’s Republican lawmakers who presented their own maps “went rogue” in getting them approved.

“This is voter nullification,” she said, adding that the GOP “is overturning 2020 election results.”

“State overreach into local government matters has got to stop,” Bettadapur said. “Give voice to our votes and honor the 2020 election results” that resulted in the first Democratic majority on the commission since the 1980s.

Pam Reardon of East Cobb, a Cobb Republican activist who also didn’t mention her party ties, countered by saying that the approved maps are the law and that “this lawsuit is going be a colossal waste of taxpayer funds.”

She said Richardson, who narrowly was elected in 2020 by roughly 1,200 votes over Republican Fitz Johnson, knew redistricting would occur and moved “all the way across District 2” into her new home.

Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid tried to move the vote up on the agenda to allow public speakers to have their say beforehand.

But she couldn’t get a majority, and after the vote, speakers on either side of the issue had their say.

They included East Cobb resident Judy Boyce, whose late husband, Mike Boyce, was the Republican chairman from 2017-2020.

She said she voted in the May primary with the new lines in effect, including District 3, in which Birrell is seeking a fourth term against Democrat Christine Triebsch.

The resolution doesn’t affect 2022 elections, but it could create chaos if it ultimately prevails, and Boyce urged commissioners not to vote for home rule.

“What happens to my vote?” she said, getting emotional. “What you did today nullifies my vote. I deserve to have my vote honored. How does this work now?

“I don’t think what you’ve done today is legal. It’s politically motivated.”

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Cobb resolution to redraw commission seats to be considered

Cobb commissioners redistricting resolution
Cobb is challenging a legislative-approved map at right and wants to replace it with the one on the left that would allow District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson to keep her seat (in pink).

An unprecedented legal ploy by Cobb County to invoke home rule provisions for reapportioning commission district lines will be considered for a vote Tuesday.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked to pass a resolution to redraw the four commission districts according to a map drawn earlier this year by State Rep. Erick Allen, the Cobb legislative delegation chairman, that would preserve the District 2 seat for commissioner Jerica Richardson.

But Cobb Republican lawmakers ignored Allen’s map and pushed through the GOP-dominated Georgia legislature that took most of East Cobb, where Richardson lives, out of District 2.

Under state law, Richardson, a first-term Democrat who was elected 2020, would have to move out of her home off Johnson Ferry Road and into the new District 2 if she wants to remain in office. 

Last month, she announced she would be challenging the legislatively adopted maps, after saying in March that “I will not step down.” 

She has claimed it’s the first time in state history a sitting elected official has been drawn out of a district, and that the legislature ignored longstanding courtesy by not accepting the local delegation map.

The resolution is on the commission’s regular agenda (agenda item here), and will be followed by a second consideration and vote on Oct. 25. 

You can read the proposed resolution by clicking here; and more background information can be found by clicking here.

The Cobb challenge will have no bearing on the upcoming Nov. 8 general election. Voters in East Cobb will have the District 3 commission race on their ballot (in yellow on the maps above).

That seat is currently held by Republican JoAnn Birrell, who is seeking a fourth term and is being challenged by Democrat Christine Triebsch.

Cobb’s resolution, should it pass, is likely to be challenged in court by the state. Birrell has previously said that she didn’t think it was fair for Richrdson to be drawn out of her seat.

But she is against changing the maps approved by the legislature, saying it’s confusing to voters and “isn’t even legal.”

The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found by clicking here. It will take place starting at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.

You also can watch on the county’s websiteFacebook Live and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.

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Contested school board race in NE Cobb’s Post 4 heating up

Cobb school board race Post 4

Cobb school board chairman David Chastain is accusing his November election challenger of “trying to score some cheap political points” in comments she made about a special review conducted last year by the Cobb County School District’s accrediting agency.

In a campaign e-mail sent Wednesday, Chastain accused Catherine Pozniak of being “a politically activist opponent” for her criticisms of the board regarding the special review.

Chastain, a Republican, is vying for his third term representing Post 4, which includes the Kell and Sprayberry clusters and a portion of the Lassiter attendance zone. Pozniak is a Democrat who graduated from Sprayberry and only recently returned to East Cobb after attending college, teaching and being a school administrator in other states.

Near the top of Chastain’s e-mail was a headline entitled “The Discredited COGNIA Report,” under which he said he was “very proud of the SUCCESSFUL and VIGOROUS defense of our school’s accreditation.

“Engaging in selfish political behavior, which puts our students at risk, is not the type of leader we need on our Cobb school board.”

In March, just before Cognia, the Alpharetta-based accrediting agency, reversed findings of its special review, Pozniak blamed the board’s Republican majority for “not having a clear plan for teaching and learning.”

In an interview with the Cobb County Courier, Pozniak said “I think it’s unfortunate the way the board leadership has approached this, which is to not talk about it at all. These are not unfixable problems and issues, and while they are avoiding the topic, they are also not coming to a solution.”

In his e-mail this week, Chastain included the first part of the first sentence and highlighted it in yellow, as well as her charge about the board “avoiding the topic.” He didn’t cite the specific source except to say “local media blogs.”

Under an italicized headline in red, “NEWS ALERT,” Chastain said “the problem for my politically activist opponent comes directly from the recanted accreditation report. . . . ‘there was no real issue.’ ”

That’s a quote from Cognia president Mark Elgart, who in announcing the reversal told the board that the agency’s special review team “did not adequately contextualize or incorporate factual evidence provided by the School District, drawing erroneous conclusions.”

The initial report, issued in November 2021, gave the district a year to make improvements in several areas. All of them were rescinded with the exception of board governance.

The Cobb school board has a 4-3 Republican majority, and the Post 4 race could determine party control.

Chastain is the only Republican board member on the ballot this year.

He easily defeated Democrats in his first two elections in a post considered to be strongly conservative.

But Pozniak has outraised Chastain, who held a fundraiser last month at Atlanta Country Club.

She has $18,357 in cash on hand and has raised $7,505 since January, according to her latest financial disclosure reports. In all, Pozniak is reporting she has raised nearly $23,000.

Chastain, a Wheeler High School graduate, has collected $5,625 in the first six months of 2022 and has $4,850 on hand.

In his e-mail this week, Chastain wrote that Cognia realized it had been “played” by “some political activists and some rogue board members,” a reference to the board’s three Democrats who asked the accreditor to conduct a review.

He accused Pozniak of “joining the assault on our students and our schools.”

Pozniak told East Cobb News that in her discussions with parents on the campaign trail, “Cognia doesn’t come up” that often.

She said the comments she made to the Courier were published on March 3. The following day, the school board announced a special-called meeting for March 7, at which the accrediting agency reversed the findings of the special review.

“My quotes in that article were not in reaction to Cognia’s reversal–it hadn’t happened, yet,” she said

“I hear a lot from parents who have reached out to him and they hear nothing from him,” Pozniak said of Chastain.

“People who have not heard back from him are now being reached out to under these circumstances,” Pozniak said, a reference to Chastain’s campaign e-mails.

She said she’s seen the most recent e-mail and said it contains “petty stuff.”

Pozniak also called out board leadership for not publicly responding to more recent issues, including complaints of a new East Side Elementary School logo resembling a Nazi symbol, and school safety measures that include hiring armed non-police personnel at schools.

“People are dissatisfied with what they are seeing from this board,” she said. “There’s not one issue that’s driving this race.”

East Cobb News contacted Chastain seeking comment, and he requested questions via e-mail. He replied late Friday afternoon.

When asked to identify the “political activists,” Chastain said the following, via a campaign media coordinator:

“It has been extensively documented who has sought to tarnish the Cobb County School District’s great reputation, in public comments, emails, social media comments, and those who aggressively seek face-time on television and the radio. In addition, a quick review of Pozniak’s campaign donation list clearly demonstrates groups and individuals who do not share Cobb County values in limiting instruction to the state standards.

 “We will consider putting some links on our website and other platforms in the very near future to assist voters to understand who those groups or individuals are. On the first review, it seems like it would be a good addition to our messaging and education of the voters.”

He also was asked who is receiving the e-mails and whether some of the addresses may have come from a list kept by fellow East Cobb board member David Banks, who sends out an occasional e-mail newsletter.

Chastain said that “while it is unfortunate that Catherine Pozniak has only lived in Cobb County for only a few months as an adult, the harsh reality is that her failing campaign simply does not have the right to know where our numerous email lists come from and how far our broad base of support extends.”

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Cobb 2022 general election update: Sample, absentee ballots

Cobb 2022 General Election Sample Ballot

The Georgia Secretary of State’s office is providing sample ballots for voters for the 2022 general elections that culminate on Nov. 8.

The revamped My Voter Page (click here) allows voters to access a customized sample ballot that includes candidates in all the elected offices for which they are eligible to vote.

That includes federal, state and local offices and four statewide ballot questions.

In addition to a U.S. Senate seat, Georgia governor and all state constitutional offices will be decided, along with all legislative and U.S. House seats.

In Cobb, there’s just one countywide race—Cobb Solicitor—and in East Cobb, voters will be deciding District 3 Cobb Board of Commissioners and Post 4 Cobb Board of Education representatives.

Two Republican incumbents are being challenged in those races: Commissioner JoAnn Birrell by Democrat Christine Triebsch, and current school board chairman David Chastain by Democrat Catherine Pozniak.

A potential challenge to Cobb commission redistricting to keep District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson in her seat would not affect November elections; District 3 has been redrawn to include most of East Cobb.

Post 4 on the Cobb school board still includes most of the Kell and Sprayberry attendance zones and has been redrawn to include some of the Lassiter cluster.

Redistricting also given voters East Cobb a second member of Congress and additional legislative seats.

The area will have two representatives in the U.S. House: District 6, which will have a new member after incumbent Democrat Lucy McBath opted to run in the 7th District, and the 11th District, in which GOP incumbent Barry Loudermilk is seeking re-election.

House districts 37, 43, 44, 45 and 46 will continue to have East Cobb constituencies, but the lines have been reapportioned substantially in some instances.

State Senate District 32, which has included most of East Cobb, has been redrawn to include a portion of Northeast Cobb and some of Cherokee. Senate districts 6 and 56 will now include portions of East Cobb in addition to north Fulton.

The Secretary of State’s office also has launched BallotTrax, which enables absentee voters to securely follow their ballots, whether they were mailed in or dropped off in person.

Any registered voter may apply for an absentee ballot, and the earliest day to mail an absentee ballot is Oct. 11. That’s also the last day to apply to register to vote.

The last day to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct. 22.

Advance voting will take place in Cobb from Oct. 17 to Nov. 4.

For more information, visit the Cobb Elections website.

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Cobb to propose ordinance to redraw commission districts

Cobb ordinance redraw commission districts
Cobb commissioners will consider a resolution in October to replace newly drawn lines (at right) putting most of East Cobb in District 3 with a proposed map (at left) that would keep District 2 relatively unchanged from what it is now.

Cobb County Government has placed a legal ad announcing a proposed resolution that would amend the county code to enable the Board of Commissioners to redraw commission districts.

The ad published Friday in The Marietta Daily Journal states that the measure will be discussed at commission meetings on Oct. 11 and Oct. 25, with a vote scheduled on the latter date, to invoke home rule powers under the Georgia Constitution.

Home rule powers are used to amend local legislation, although redistricting duties typically have been the province of the Georgia General Assembly.

Commissioner Richardson priorities
Commissioner Jerica Richardson said in March that legislative maps redrawing her out of District 2 “ignored the will of the people.”

Earlier this year, Republican-dominated legislature approved Cobb commission district boundaries that redrew District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her seat, which includes some of East Cobb.

The first-term Democrat moved to a home off Johnson Ferry Road last year that starting on Jan. 1, 2023 will be in District 3, which covers most of East Cobb.

But under state law, by that date she would have to reside inside the new District 2 boundaries, which include the Cumberland-Smyrna area and much of the City of Marietta.

The county’s legal ad indicates that the proposed ordinance, which would take effect Jan. 1, would not affect upcoming general elections in November. District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a Republican, is seeking re-election to a fourth term.

Richardson vowed in March that “I will not step down” and hinted at a challenge to the new lines that she did not specify at the time.

In an interview with East Cobb News on Friday, Richardson admitted that the proposed resolution is out of the ordinary. But so was the act of the legislature, she said, adding that in trying to come up with a response, “we realized there is no playbook.”

She insisted that it’s not about her staying in office but addressing a precedent of the legislature, which ignored a vote by the Cobb delegation to adopt maps drafted by Democratic Rep. Erick Allen of Smyrna, the delegation chairman, that would have kept the current lines roughly the same.

Allen’s bill, HB 1256, got a vote of of the majority of the Cobb delegation but did not come up for a vote in the legislature. Instead, Republican House members John Carson of East Cobb and Ed Setzler of North Cobb sponsored HB 1154 that included the maps that were eventually adopted and signed into law.

Richardson said it’s the first time in state history a sitting elected official had been drawn out of a district during reapportionment.

“For me, it’s about the principle,” Richardson said. “Will there be a check and balance to state control?”

She said she “was very surprised” at the GOP end-around and added that “I did hope Cobb County wouldn’t succumb where a portion of the delegation would be breaking away” from what she called a “gentleman’s handshake.”

City governments have had such home rule powers for years; should Cobb’s resolution be adopted and withstand any legal challenges it could have implications for county governments around Georgia.

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said a copy of the proposed resolution, which would include the Allen maps, isn’t immediately available and “won’t come before the board until the October meetings.”

He later distributed a statement from Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid backing the proposed resolution.

She said that “the drastic nature of the state’s action has undermined the cooperation that generally does occur and should occur with counties and their local delegation when redrawing district lines. It has also undermined the expectation voters should have in trusting that those they elect to serve will be able to do so.

“I could not sit idly by and watch the integrity of this board’s composition and our citizens’ vote be callously undermined.”

Birrell told East Cobb News Friday she is against changing the maps approved by the legislature.

“Not only does it cause confusion for the citizens of Cobb County which is entirely disrespectful, it isn’t even legal,” she said.

East Cobb News has left a message with Carson seeking comment.

Richardson said her understanding of the home rule law is that since Allen’s map was signed off by the legislative reapportionment office, that satisfies state constitution provisions for invoking home rule.

“I’m going off counsel that has been provided to the board,” she said. “I trust them on so many other matters, I trust them on this.”

She said she didn’t think about moving to the new District 2 “because I’ve been in this community.”

When she was a student at Georgia Tech, her family moved to a neighborhood near The Avenue East Cobb and her brothers attended Walton High School.

After living in an apartment in the Delk Road area, Richardson said she bought her home in the Johnson Ferry-Post Oak Tritt area because “I was looking for a home as a young adult, growing into your career and into a community where I am from.”

She said she didn’t consider running in the new District 3 because she would have had to resign her position and a special election would be called for District 2.

Richardson has organized a political advocacy committee, For Which It Stance Inc., that was incorporated by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office as a 501(c)4 domestic non-profit organization.

That was created in March, as she announced her plans to contest the redrawn lines; the executive director of For Which It Stance is Mindy Seger, who led the East Cobb Alliance, which fought against the now-defeated East Cobb cityhood referendum.

Seger told East Cobb News that For Which It Stance was “set up to engage the community on issues of encroachment of governing powers,” the first of which is Richardson’s bid to stay in office.

Seger sent out a For Which It Stance press release Friday saying that “a Georgia elected official has never been forcibly removed from office during their term by the state’s redistricting process. . . Many Cobb residents have been anticipating a county response to this overreach of state control. That day is here.”

The release goes on to say that county action to invoke home rule “sets the scene for a legal battle that could create a powerful check and balance between state and local control. . . . If Commissioner Richardson is forced to resign, nearly 200,000 residents and Cobb’s economic epicenter, including the Battery, will be left unrepresented until her seat can be filled.”

A website has been set up for that campaign, called DrawnOutGA, which said that Richardson was not gerrymandered but “Jerica-mandered.”

The website has online petition and donations button, and there will be a “Local Control Summit” on Oct. 8 that includes “community courses” and a dinner.

Seger said plans for that event are still in the works, including a location.

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Cobb Elections to hold open house, job fair at new facility

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration recently moved to new offices on Roswell Street near the Big Chicken.Cobb Elections open house

There’s an Open House scheduled for next Saturday, Sept. 10 that also will include a job fair to fill positions for the November general elections.

The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the new facility, 995 Roswell Street, Marietta.

The agency recently moved there from offices on Whitlock Avenue. The Cobb elections board voted earlier this month to relocate early voting to the headquarters, which features expanded and more secure space.

The ribbon cutting takes place at 11 a.m., and the job fair starts at 12 noon.

Representatives from every department within the elections office will be available to speak with job candidates about the open positions, which include poll workers, warehouse prep and more.

For more information about Cobb Elections, click here.

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East Cobb lawmakers part of Georgia-Israel Caucus delegation

Georgia-Israel Legislative Caucus trip
State Rep. Mitch Kaye (directly under the Star of David) and State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (standing at his right), both of East Cobb, are part of the 16-member Georgia-Israel Legislative Caucus delegation.

State Rep. Mitch Kay and State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb are part of a bipartisan legislative delegation from Georgia currently traveling in Israel.

Members of the Georgia-Israel Legislative Caucus arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday, meeting with members of the Israeli Knesset, as well as representatives from the country’s military, diplomatic, business and legal communities.

The legislators also met with Major General (Ret.) Alon Levavi to learn more about the Georgia Israel Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE).

“This trip is about strengthening the deep bonds of friendship and shared values between Georgia and Israel,” Kaye, a Republican from House District 45, said in a release issued by the Georgia House of Representatives.

“I am already encouraged by the warm welcome we received upon arriving in Tel Aviv, and I look forward to expanding our understanding of this incredible nation over the next several days.”

Kaye was the first Jewish Republican elected to the Georgia legislature in the 1990s and earlier this year won a special election to fill the unexpired term of former State Rep. Matt Dollar through the end of the year.

Other legislators and their families making the trip include House members Debra Bazemore (D-South Fulton), Micah Gravley (R-Douglasville), Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City), Karen Bennett (D-Stone Mountain), Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) and Darlene Taylor (R-Thomasville).

The release said the Gov. Brian Kemp issued a commendation recognizing the trip, noting that Georgia exported more than $280 million worth of goods to Israel and imported $652 million worth of goods from Israel in 2021.

His commendation “also also commended the launch of the Georgia-Israel Legislative Caucus, the expansion of direct flights between Atlanta and Tel Aviv starting next year and the GILEE program with Israel,” according to the release.

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Cobb school board chairman to hold campaign fundraiser

Cobb Board of Education chairman David Chastain, who is up for re-election in November, is holding a campaign fundraiser later this month in East Cobb.David Chastain, Cobb Board of Education

The fundraiser is Tuesday, Aug. 30, from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Atlanta Country Club (500 Atlanta Country Club Drive; info and RSVP link here).

Chastain is a Republican who is seeking a third term from Post 4, which includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters.

He is being opposed by Democrat Catherine Pozniak, a Sprayberry High School graduate and a former teacher and state education administrator in Louisiana.

Both were unopposed in the May primary election; Chastain received 13,921 votes to 6,105 for Pozniak.

Their contest could determine party control of the seven-member Cobb school board.

Republicans hold a 4-3 edge on a board that has been rife with partisan conflict over the last three-plus years.

On his campaign website and in recent social media postings, Chastain stressed the need “to keep STABILITY and STEADY LEADERSHIP” on the school board.

His priorities include focusing on “age appropriate” education and to “keep politics out of the classroom.” He also vowed that he “will never support removing campus police officers from schools” and supports the senior tax exemption and fiscal budgeting.

But he is trailing in campaign fundraising to first-time candidate Pozniak, according to financial disclosure reports filed for the first half of 2022.

She has $18,357 in cash on hand and has raised $7,505 since January, according to her reports. In all, Pozniak is reporting she has raised nearly $23,000.

Chastain, a Wheeler High School graduate and a proposal analyst at Lockheed-Martin, has collected $5,625 in the first six months of 2022 and has $4,850 on hand.

Chastain’s contributors include Melissa Bottoms, a former Cobb Leadership member and owner of The Retreat, a senior-living residence in Marietta ($1,000); the campaign of fellow Republican board member Randy Scamihorn ($500); Georgia Public Service Commissioner and former Cobb commissioner Stan Wise ($300); and former Cobb Commission Chairman and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens ($125).

The biggest donors for Pozniak, an educational consultant, include Democrats for Educational Equity, a Washington, D.C. political action committee that contributed $3,000.

She also has a $1,000 donation from Christine Ortiz, a Florida-based “equity-centered” design entrepreneur who attended the Harvard graduate education school—where Pozniak earned her doctorate—and who has created K-12 “microschools.”

Her other $1,000 donors include James Garvey, an attorney and former state board of education member in Louisiana, and Anne Mellen, an Atlanta employment and labor attorney.

Outgoing Democratic board member Charisse Davis chipped in a contribution of $105 to Pozniak’s campaign.

Last week, Pozniak announced she had been called up for six weeks of duty in the U.S. Army Reserve, where she is a captain and adviser on educational issues.

She said she will return to active campaigning by mid-September.

The school board clashes have included the Cobb school senior property tax exemption; racial, diversity and equity issues; the Cobb County School District’s response to COVID-19; and a special review conducted last year by Cognia, the district’s accrediting agency.

Democrats Jaha Howard and Charisse Davis, at the center of many of those controversies and whose 2018 elections reduced what had been a 6-1 GOP majority, are not seeking re-election this year.

Chastain is the only Republican incumbent on the November ballot. Davis, whose Post 6 currently includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters, will be succeeded by Democrat Nichelle Davis, a former classroom teacher, who is unopposed.

That redistricted post’s East Cobb footprint has been reduced to include only areas along Powers Ferry Road.

There is a general election battle for Howard’s Post 2, which takes up the Campbell and Osborne clusters.

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Cobb to add Sunday early voting in 2022 general election

Cobb Elections Board 2022 general elections early voting dates

Over protests from poll workers and conservative activists, the Cobb Board of Elections on Monday voted to allow one Sunday of early voting in the 2022 general election.

After hearing lengthy public comments both for and against the measure, the five-member board voted to have early voting on Sunday, Oct. 30, from 12-4 p.m. at the Cobb Elections new office on Roswell Street.

The motion also included providing signage at the former offices on Whitlock Avenue to direct voters to the new location, which opened last week near the Big Chicken.

Cobb 2022 general election early voting schedule
For a larger view, click here.

The vote was 4-1, and moments later, a woman who shouted disapproval was asked to be removed from the meeting room.

“I’ve said it many times,” said Tori Silas, the chairwoman of the elections board, “we’re not going to do that.”

Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler proposed a three-week early voting schedule (at right) that runs from Oct. 17-Nov. 4 and includes the East Cobb Government Service Center and the Tim D. Lee Senior Center.

Election Day is Nov. 8.

Georgia’s elections law that was passed last year allows for up to two Sundays of early voting, at the discretion of county elections boards.

Proponents of Sunday voting say it will give them flexibility with work travel schedules and caregiving roles.

Cobb resident Lisa Thomas cited both in urging the board to adopt Sunday voting. Sunday is one of the few days of the week her husband, who travels frequently out of the country on business, is home “and there are no meetings.”

She’s also a caregiver for her mother in law, and needs someone to watch her while she votes.

Salleigh Grubbs, Cobb GOP chairwoman
Salleigh Grubbs, Cobb GOP chairwoman, said Sunday voting caters to the agenda of Fair Fight and “the extreme radical left.”

But Cobb resident Bill Allen, who’s been a poll worker, said via a virtual comment period that “there’s ample time to vote” in advance and that “Sunday voting is not necessary.”

He said Cobb Elections is already understaffed and he adamantly said he would not work on Sunday.

Claudia Falk, an area supervisor for Cobb Elections who’s hired and recruited poll workers, said staffing early voting has become a “nightmare” and expanding those hours would be “a bigger nightmare.”

“We’re all tired, we’re all stressed,” she said during the public comment period. “We need to step back and give ourselves time to build strong teams to ensure the integrity and honesty of the elections process.”

Eveler showed slides indicating that Sunday early voting in Fulton and Gwinnett counties had the lowest figures of any days of the week.

“With our reduced number of resources, we need to put those resources where you can take advantage of the most voters,” Eveler said.

She was asked by Silas to provide information on the possibility of Sunday voting at the main location. Eveler said a total of 38 poll workers would be required, costing the county $4,765 in personnel costs.

Cobb elections board chairwoman Tori Silas
Cobb elections board chairwoman Tori Silas

Eveler proposed extending existing early Saturday hours, but the motion that the board passed did not include that option.

Sunday voting is a priority of Fair Fight Georgia, a voting access political action committee created by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

What it calls its “gold standards of early voting” also includes 7-days a week voting from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and expanded early voting locations.

Some speakers spoke in favor of those measures, including Lisa Cunningham, a Democrat who’s running for a Georgia House seat in North Cobb, who advocates 17 early voting spots.

The Cobb elections board adopted Eveler’s request to have 13 early voting locations, as well as the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekday schedule and 8 a.m. to  5 p.m. hours on two Saturdays.

Salleigh Grubbs, the head of the Cobb Republican Party, said that “Cobb is a target of Fair Fight and the extreme radical left” and “if you vote for Sunday voting” and expand early voting locations, “you’re showing your allegiance for Fair Fight.”

East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, echoed those comments, saying Fair Fight interests have been pushing for Sunday voting in Cobb when it wasn’t being proposed.

“It’s not a legitimate request,” she said.

But the board’s vice chairwoman, Jessica Brooks, an appointee of the Cobb Democratic Party, made the motion to include Sunday voting, although she didn’t explain her reasons.

The issue of absentee ballot drop boxes also was raised. The new Georgia elections law allows only one drop box per 100,000 people as well as one at a county’s main elections office.

Cobb’s maximum is six drop boxes, including one at the East Cobb Government Service Center. The law permits drop boxes to be open only during early voting hours.

The best drop box there is, said East Cobb resident Pamela Reardon, is by going “to the end of your driveway” and putting an absentee ballot in the mail.

She proposes getting rid of them altogether, and board member Pat Gartland, an appointee of the Cobb GOP, agreed.

“You can mail it in,” he said. “We don’t need drop boxes.”

Gartland was the only vote against the motion by Brooks. His earlier motion to adopt Eveler’s proposal as is failed for a lack a of a second.

Of the other elections board members, Silas and assistant secretary Steven Bruning were appointed by the Cobb legislative delegation–which has a one-member Democratic majority–and secretary Jennifer Mosbacher was appointed by Democratic Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.

For more information about Cobb Elections, click here.

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Cobb school board candidate called up for Army reserve duty

Catherine Pozniak, who is challenging Post 4 incumbent David Chastain for a seat on the Cobb Board of Education, will be away on U.S. Army Reserve duty the next six weeks.Catherine Pozniak, Cobb school board candidate

She announced in a video on her campaign website that she is reporting for duty next week, and will return in mid-September.

She is a military government specialist for the reserve’s Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command and advises on educational issues.

Pozniak, a Democrat who graduated from Sprayberry High School, has been holding “office hours” sessions with voters at various coffee shops in the area, including Mzizi Coffee on Johnson Ferry Road.

Those and other in-person campaign events will be discontinued while she is on reserve duty.

Post 4 includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters; Chastain, a Republican who is completing his second term, is the current school board chairman.

“As a member of the Army Reserve, I proudly join tens of thousands of men and women who stand ready to serve when our country calls,” said Pozniak, who is a captain and is a third-generation member of her family to serve in the military.

“While I am serving, I ask that you continue to engage with our campaign team through our website and social media,” she added.

Pozniak said she’ll still respond to e-mail, though it will be “a little bit slower” and “I will continue to provide virtual updates.”

Pozniak, whose father is a retired Army officer, graduated from Sprayberry in 1997 and attended Daniell Middle School and Kincaid Elementary School.

After teaching on a Lakota reservation in South Dakota, Pozniak was an assistant state superintendent of education for fiscal operations in Louisiana and the head of an educational non-profit in Baton Rouge, La.

She currently is principal at Watershed Advisors, an educational and workforce consultancy. This is her first campaign for public office.

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Bills filed to name Atlanta VA office after Johnny Isakson

Members of the Georgia U.S. House delegation and Georgia U.S. Sen Jon Ossoff have filed bills in Congress to change the name of the Veterans Administration regional office in Atlanta after the late Sen. Johnny Isakson.Isakson blisters Trump

“Senator Isakson spent decades of his life in service to Georgia and our great nation,” said U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of the 6th Congressional District in a statement issued by her office.

“Senator Isakson’s career left an unforgettable mark on the U.S. Senate and the country as a whole. We shared a passion to make Georgia the best place to live and raise a family, and a dedication to upholding our nation’s commitment to the men and women who served in our armed forces. I am proud to join with my colleagues to support this bill that salutes his legacy of service to Georgia veterans.”

Isakson, a realtor from East Cobb, died in December 2021 from Parkinson’s disease, after a 45-year political career in the Georgia legislature and Congress.

In the U.S. Senate, Isakson, a Republican, was chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee.

“He worked across the aisle to ensure that we honored the sacrifice of those who have served in America’s armed forces,” said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, like McBath a Democrat from the 3rd District. “He retired from Congress as Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Naming the Veterans Affairs Atlanta regional office after him is a fitting tribute to this proud son of Georgia. I am proud to lead this bill with Congressman Allen to honor Senator Isakson’s legacy with the support of Georgia’s entire U.S. House delegation.”

Georgia Congressional members also wrote a letter to veterans committees in both houses saying that Isakson “championed important reforms to improve the quality and accessibility of services for our nation’s military veterans. We believe that Senator Isakson’s service to the veterans of Georgia warrants this tremendous recognition, and that naming this facility is a fitting tribute to his legacy.”

 The rest of the letter can be ready by clicking here.

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Cobb, Georgia elected officials react to Roe v. Wade ruling

Elected officials in Cobb County and Georgia reacted along predictable partisan lines Friday to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

Cobb officials react to Roe v. Wade ruling
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath

By a 6-3 vote, the Court reversed Roe v. Wade, which in 1973 gave women a constitutional right to privacy under the 14th Amendment.

Friday’s ruling (you can read it here) upheld a 2018 Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks. The Supreme Court also struck down a 1992 ruling, Casey v. Planned Parenthood, that reaffirmed federal abortion rights.

“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” concluded the court majority, all appointed by Republican presidents.

The three dissenting votes were from justices appointed by Democratic presidents. The ruling had been anticipated after a draft majority ruling written by Justice Joseph Alito was leaked to the Politico publication in May.

In Georgia, abortions are illegal after 20 weeks from fertilization (or 22 weeks after a woman’s last menstrual cycle), with exceptions for a threat to the mother’s life or if a baby’s health is severely compromised.

In recent years, the GOP-dominated legislature has been trying to impose more severe restrictions.

Kemp lifting shelter-in-place order
Gov. Brian Kemp

In 2019, HB 481, the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, or the so-called “heartbeat bill” was passed that made abortion illegal in Georgia once a doctor could detect cardiac activity in a fetus (typically around six weeks).

That bill, sponsored by State Rep. Ed Setzler, an Acworth Republican, and Ginny Erhart, a Republican from West Cobb, is considered one of the harshest in the nation.

It contains exceptions for rape and incest, if the life of the mother is endangered or if a doctor determines a fetus is not viable for medical reasons.

But women also must file a police report in the case of rape or incest.

The law was struck down by a federal judge in 2020 on constitutional grounds. The state appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said last year it could not issue a ruling until the Supreme Court decided the Mississippi case.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is up for re-election this year, hailed the Supreme Court ruling as “a historic victory for life.”

By mid Friday afternoon, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr had filed notice with the 11th Circuit in Atlanta to lift the stay on the law. Unlike some other states, there is not an automatic trigger provision for the Georgia law.

“There is, simply put, nothing left of the Plaintiff-Appellees’ argument that Georgia law imposes an unconstitutional burden on the practice of abortion,” said the notice.

State Rep. Sharon Cooper
State Rep. Sharon Cooper

Stacey Abrams, Kemp’s Democratic opponent in the November general election, said that “if you’re a woman in Georgia, you should be terrified right now.”

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who is up for re-election in November, said that “I’m outraged by the Supreme Court’s decision. As a pro-choice pastor, I’ll never back down from this fight. Women must be able to make their own health care decisions, not politicians.”

His Republican opponent, former UGA football star Herschel Walker, who supports a total ban on abortions, said the court ruling “sends the issue of abortion back to the states, where it belongs. I stand for life and Raphael Warnock stands for abortion . . . I won’t apologize erring on the side of life.”

Two pro-life Republican lawmakers from East Cobb opposed the heartbeat bill. State Rep. Sharon Cooper and Sen. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, retired medical professionals, said at the time that the bill would be ruled unconstitutional.

Kirkpatrick was out of town attending a funeral and was formally excused from voting when the bill came up for final Senate action. Cooper, the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, voted no on final passage.

East Cobb News left messages with Kirkpatrick and Cooper on Friday seeking comment.

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a Marietta Democrat who represents East Cobb in the 6th Congressional District, denounced the Supreme Court ruling.

“Today, every woman in America has been made less free,” she said in a statement issued by her Congressional office. “Today, extremists on the Supreme Court have stripped away a woman’s right to make choices about her own reproductive health care. Today, our nation’s highest court has rolled back the clock and stripped women of their liberty.

 “Today, SCOTUS overturned a half century of precedent, and Dobbs will now join Plessy as one of the most regressive decisions in our nation’s history.”

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock

The latter is a reference to Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 Supreme Court “separate but equal” ruling that upheld segregation laws, saying they didn’t violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

That ruling lasted for several decades, longer than Roe v. Wade, which prompted widespread activism from Christian conservatives and evangelicals.

The Cobb Republican Party posted a message on its Facebook page with a group photo of the Supreme Court saying “Prayers answered!!!” On Twitter, the message was “Life Wins!”

In 2018 Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to speak to the national March for Life rally in in Washington. His three Supreme Court justice nominees made up half of the majority that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Bryant Wright, the retired pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in East Cobb, tweeted “PTL! 50 years, at last a long awaited answer to prayer that every life is created in the image of God.”

The Catholic Church of St. Ann posted on its Facebook page a response from Archbishop Gregory J. Hartmayer of Atlanta hailing the ruling, saying that “No matter how the court ruled today, we will never stop working to protect women and their babies. Whether or not abortion is legal, we want women to know that we are here to support you, to accompany you and to love you and your babies.”

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6th Congressional Republican runoff: McCormick defeats Evans

Gwinnett emergency physician Rich McCormick easily defeated East Cobb attorney Jake Evans Tuesday in the Republican Party runoff for the 6th Congressional District.Rich McCormick, 6th Congressional District candidate

According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, McCormick received 27,418 votes, or 66.54 percent, to 13,788 votes, or 33.46 percent, for Evans.

McCormick, an emergency physician at the Gwinnett Medical Center and a former Marine pilot and Navy veteran, will face Democrat Bob Christian, an Army veteran and restaurant manager from Dawsonville, in the November general election.

“The voters of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District have spoken, and I am honored to be their Republican nominee,” McCormick said in a social media message. “We must unite the Party to secure victory in November for Georgia Republicans up and down the ballot. Together, we will Revive Freedom and Save America!”

The newly redrawn 6th District includes parts of East Cobb, as well as parts of Cherokee, North Fulton, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties and all of Dawson County.

McCormick got 43 percent of the Republican vote in May and enjoyed a huge fundraising lead in a large GOP primary field.

Evans was backed by former President Donald Trump and ex-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, but McCormick won 46 of the 47 precincts in East Cobb in the runoff.

During redistricting last fall, Republican majority in the Georgia legislature redrew the 6th District to one heavily favoring the GOP after the seat fell into Democratic hands in 2018.

Second-term U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta switched to the 7th Congressional District, which covers most of Gwinnett County, and defeated another Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux, in the Democratic primary last month.

McCormick, who lives in Suwanee, narrowly lost to Bourdeaux in the 2020 general election in the 7th District.

Another part of East Cobb was redrawn into the 11th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Barry Loudermilk of Cassville.

He was unopposed in the GOP primary in May, and in November will face Antonio Daza-Fernandez, a Democrat who owns a dance studio in Buckhead, and independent candidate Angela Davis.

In another runoff election Tuesday, Sonja Brown defeated James Luttrell to win a non-partisan seat on Cobb Superior Court. Brown, who got more than 63 percent of the vote, will succeed retiring Judge Robert Flournoy in January.

There were several other Congressional runoffs on Tuesday and a few statewide party nominees decided.

They included a Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, won by Charlie Bailey, who had 63 percent of the vote against former Atlanta City Council president Kwanzaa Hall.

In the Democratic runoff for Secretary of State, Atlanta State Rep. Bee Nguyen received 77 percent of the vote. In November she will challenge Republican incumbent Brad Raffensperger.

More results can be found by clicking here.

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Federal lawsuit filed challenging Cobb school board redistricting

Cobb school board redistricting town hall
New Cobb school board maps push Post 6 (in turquoise) completely out of East Cobb.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and other organizations and individuals have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the redistricting of Cobb Board of Education seats.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta, claims that legislators used race as “a predominant factor” in redrawing the seven school board posts, diluting black and Hispanic voting power in Cobb County.

The suit alleges that the board’s four white members “forged ahead with a secretive map-drawing process to maintain their tenuous majority over the Board’s three Black members.”

But the only defendants named are the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration and director Janine Eveler.

Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt told East Cobb News that Daniel White, the Cobb Elections attorney, was not aware of the lawsuit.

The suit (you can read it here) is asking the court to declare that the redrawn posts 2, 3, and 6 violate the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution and to order an interim redistricting plan for those three seats.

Late last year, the board’s Republican majority approved maps that were later introduced by Cobb Republican lawmakers and that were passed by a GOP-majority Georgia legislature in February.

Those new lines pushed three seats entirely into the South Cobb area, including Post 6, which currently includes the Walton and Wheeler attendance zones.

The new lines, which go into effect in January, cut out the East Cobb area of that post, which solely includes the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.

Post 2 and Post 4 also are in the South Cobb area, and along with Post 6 have are represented by three black Democrats.

One of them is Charisse Davis, who was elected in 2018 to serve Post 6. She is not seeking re-election this year.

Nor did Jaha Howard of Post 2, who ran in the Democratic primary for Georgia school superintendent last month.

The new maps split East Cobb into two districts: Post 4, held by two-term Republican chairman David Chastain and that includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry clusters; and Post 5, held by Republican vice chairman David Banks, which comprises the Pope, Walton and Wheeler clusters.

Chastain is up for re-election this year and in November will face Democrat Catherine Pozniak.

“Ultimately, the Board and General Assembly enacted a redistricting plan that whitewashed the northern, eastern, and western districts by packing Black and Latinx voters into the Challenged Districts, as a last-ditch effort to limit the power of their emerging political coalition,” read the lawsuit.

“The Plan is a product of the Board’s pattern and practice over the last several years to impose policies that disproportionately and negatively impact students of color and their families.”

SPLC Cobb BOE maps

The lawsuit also catalogues a number of conflicts on the Cobb school board along racial lines over the last three years, and concerns from black legislators about the redistricting proposals that they may violate the federal Voting Rights Act.

“As shown in the maps [above] which reflect Black and Latinx voting age population figures by voting district utilizing 2020 census data, the majority of Cobb County’s Black and Latinx communities live in the southern half of the County, while most of the County’s white population lives in the north,” according to the lawsuit.

Other plaintiffs include the Galeo Latino Community Development Fund, the New Georgia Project Fund, the League of Women Voters of Marietta-Cobb and some Cobb school parents in those three posts.

Other legal groups involved in filing the suit include the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the ACLU Foundation of Georgia and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law.

This story will be updated.

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Georgia primary ballot questions deliver lopsided results

Cobb absentee ballot drop boxes
Republican voters want absentee ballot dropboxes eliminated, while Demcorats want their availability expanded.

The biggest winners in the Georgia primary elections on May 24—at least in terms of percentage of the vote—weren’t individual candidates or those fighting against Cityhood referendums in Cobb County.

The respective Republican and Democratic questions that appeared on partisan ballots were overwhelmingly lopsided, which isn’t a new trend.

The state parties assembled questions on topics familiar to their voting bases.

The results are used by the parties to shape messaging and to collect information, but this year they touched on a number of cultural and other hot-button topics.

Republicans were asked about border security, education spending, absentee ballot access and Buckhead cityhood in relation to crime concerns.

Regarding the latter, a proposed Buckhead cityhood bill was scotched by outgoing GOP Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and the bill had no local sponsors.

The ballot question that got the most one-sided response from Republican voters was transgender athletes, with 95 percent saying female-identified biological males should not be allowed to compete against girls in high school sports.

But the GOP-led Georgia legislature couldn’t pass a bill requiring high school athletes to compete with the sex of their birth.

Another bill passed this year gave that authority to the Georgia High School Association, the governing body for high school athletics. On May 4, the GHSA’s executive committee, by a 62-0 vote, changed its bylaws to bar transgender athletes from competing along gender identity lines.

Democratic voters were asked about student loan forgiveness, Medicare expansion, expanding voter registration access and parental leave.

Five of the nine questions had YES votes of 90 percent or more, including incentives for Georgia to promote the creation of renewable energy sources.

Only 80 percent said YES to a question if marijuana should be legalized and regulated, similar to alcohol, for consumers aged 21 and over, with tax revenues to fund education, health care and infrastructure.

You can view additional results by clicking here.

Republican Party Questions

1. The Biden administration has stopped building the border wall and illegal border crossings have dramatically increased. Should securing our border be a national priority?

  • YES: 93% statewide; 89% Cobb

2. Education is the largest line item in the state budget. Should education dollars follow the student to the school that best fits their need, whether it is public, private, magnet, charter, virtual or homeschool? 3. Florida has passed a law to stop social media platforms from influencing political campaigns by censoring candidates. Should Georgia pass such a law to protect free speech in political campaigns?

  • YES: 78% statewide and Cobb

3. Florida has passed a law to stop social media platforms from influencing political campaigns by censoring candidates. Should Georgia pass such a law to protect free speech in political campaigns?

  • YES: 83% statewide; 81% Cobb

4. Two of the three current federal work visa programs are lottery based. Should federal work visas instead be issued on job skill? 

  • YES: 86.6% statewide and Cobb; 

5. Biological males who identify as females have begun competing in female sports. Should schools in Georgia allow biological males to compete in female sports?

  • NO: 95% statewide; 95% Cobb; 

6. To prevent ballot tampering, state law prohibits political operatives from handling absentee ballots once they have been marked by the voter. To protect the integrity of our elections, should the enforcement of laws against ballot tampering be a priority?

  • YES: 95% statewide; 92.8% Cobb;

7. Absentee drop boxes are vulnerable to illegal ballot trafficking. Should absentee ballot drop boxes be eliminated?

  • YES: 85% statewide; 75% Cobb

8. Crime has dramatically increased throughout the country including in our capital city of Atlanta. Should the citizens of residential areas like the Buckhead community of Atlanta be allowed to vote to create their own city governments and police departments?

  • YES: 80% statewide; and Cobb

Democratic Party Questions

1. Should the United States remove obstacles to economic advancement by forgiving all student loan debt?

  • YES: 85% statwide; 81% Cobb;

2. Should all Georgians have access to paid parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child?

  • YES: 95%% statewide; 96% Cobb

3. Should every three- and four-year-old in Georgia be given the opportunity to attend a high-quality preschool free of charge?

  • YES 96% statewide; 95% Cobb

4. Should Georgia voters have the right to gather signed petitions to directly place questions on the ballot, whether to change the law or poll the public?

  • YES 87% statewide; 86% Cobb

5. Should families earning less than $150,000 per year receive an expanded tax credit to help cover the costs of raising children?

  • YES 88.8% statewide; 87.6% Cobb

6. Should the State of Georgia expand access to health care for over half a million Georgians by utilizing federal funds to expand Medicaid?

  • YES 96.9% statewide; 96.8% Cobb

7. Should the State of Georgia expand voter access by increasing early voting opportunities, allow same-day voter registration, removing obstacles to voting by mail, and installing secure ballot drop boxes, accessible at all times, through Election Day?

  • YES: 95% statewide; 97% Cobb

8. Should marijuana be legalized, taxed, and regulated in the same manner as alcohol for adults 21 years of age or older, with proceeds going towards education, infrastructure, and health care programs?

  • YES: 80% statewide; 84% Cobb

9. Should the State of Georgia incentivize the development of clean, renewable energy sources to support America’s energy independence?

  • YES: 96.9% statewide; 97.9% Cobb

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Some East Cobb precincts change for primary runoff elections

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration has announced some precinct venue changes for the June 21 primary runoff elections.

Among those contests headed to a runoff is the Republican primary for the 6th Congressional District, which includes some of East Cobb, and pits Jake Evans against Rich McCormick.

The changes were made after Cobb Elections was told that some regular polling places would not be available on the runoff election day.

The locations of three East Cobb precincts will be different but Cobb Elections said they are only temporary and for the runoff only. They include the following:

  • Fullers Park 1: From Fullers Park Recreation Center to Immanuel Korean United Methodist Church (945 Old Canton Road);
  • Murdock 1: From Atlanta Chinese Christian Church to Murdock Elementary School (2320 Murdock Road)
  • Roswell 2: From Mt. Zion United Methodist Church to Episcopal Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (1795 Johnson Ferry Road).

Advance voting in the runoffs starts Wednesday and continues through June 17 at various locations. Some will have absentee ballot dropboxes, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road). For more information, click here.

You can check your registration status by clicking here.

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