Cobb commissioners feud over resolving electoral map dispute

Instead of hammering out the beginning steps toward resolving a long, bitter dispute over electoral maps, Cobb commissioners on Monday launched into some of their harshest rhetoric yet on the matter.

During a work session to go over Tuesday’s meeting agenda, the partisan—and even racial—divides that have marked the saga boiled over more than they ever have.

The county opted last week to accept a Cobb Superior Court judge’s ruling that “home rule” maps adopted in late 2022 by the commission’s Democratic majority violated the Georgia Constitution.

As a result, the Cobb County Attorney’s Office proposed a resolution to adopt legislative-approved commission maps and give legal notice to vacate the District 2 seat—which had included some of East Cobb—due to residency issues.

That resolution is supposed to be on Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, but the work session Monday left that in doubt.

(You can watch the full discussion of the home rule issue in the video below.)

A notice to vacate, if approved, could mean that Democratic incumbent Jerica Richardson—who did not seek re-election—may have to leave office before her term expires at the end of December.

But Comissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb—one of two Republicans on the board—wanted her colleagues to repeal the “home rule” maps before doing anything else.

They were approved by the Democrats, claiming “home rule” exceptions under state law, after Richardson was drawn out of her East Cobb home. The Republican-led legislature did not consider maps approved by the county’s Democratic-majority legislative delegation that kept Richardson in District 2.

But in late July, Judge Kellie Hill said the Cobb’s action was unconstitutional because only the legislature can conduct county reapportionment. She also ordered special elections for next year to redo the results of primaries in District 2 and District 4 that were conducted with the “home rule” maps.

Birrell’s request to repeal those maps was opposed by Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, who said that action was not on the agenda and hadn’t previously been discussed in work sessions.

“Until [the home rule maps are] repealed, we can’t move forward with any notice” regarding the vacancy, insisted Birrell, who reiterated a desire for outside counsel.

She and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill questioned the advice commissioners were getting from their in-house legal counsel.

Gambrill said she noticed that during an executive session on the issue, the county attorney’s staff kept separate sets of notes, with two in red (indicating the two Republican commissioners) and three others in blue (noting the Democrats).

“This is strictly political at this point,” Gambrill said. “Is our counsel going by the law or going by the majority?”

She and Cupid began raising their voices over one another, then Gambrill took aim at Richardson, who said she would recuse herself from a vote, saying “this item is being sent directly to me . . . I’m leaving my future up the four of you.”

Richardson said a vote to repeal the maps would be a home rule act that has been ruled unconstitutional and that “you can’t have it both ways.”

Monique Sheffield, a first-term Democrat from District 4 in South Cobb, blamed Republican lawmakers for bypassing local delegation courtesies during reapportionment in 2022.

“This is very political and it started at the statehouse when Commissioner Richardson was drawn out of her district,” Sheffield said.

“What’s happening in Cobb County is what’s happening nationally. People are dug in on their side, regardless of what is right.

“We have become nothing more than political Bloods and Crips,” she added, making a reference to criminal gang rivals. “No offense to the Crips and Bloods.”

That remark drew some chuckles, but the nearly 40-minute discussion was far from a laughing matter.

Sheffield took a bleaker turn, saying Richardson had received “nasty and disgusting” text messages that “takes me back to a time where people were not welcome in this country. People are still not welcome.

“When you have a young commissioner who decides to move in an area still within her district and she’s drawn out, but when she’s told she should move to an urban area, and that someone wants to ‘protect’ their community, that may not resonate to some of you but that resonates to me.”

When a spectator objected to that comment, Cupid said “you can get up and leave.”

Sheffield said that if Richardson were a Republican, “would we see all of this here? I don’t think we would.”

Richardson didn’t say anything in response to Sheffield’s comments.

The last two years, commissioners have heard “we want her out of her seat. We want blood, we want blood,” Sheffield continued, pounding her fists on the table.

At that point, Birrell interjected: “I didn’t say that.”

Sitting just a couple of feet away, Sheffield turned to her and said: “I didn’t say that you did. . . . This is an indictment on whoever feels that way.”

Later, Birrell said that her request to repeal the “home rule” maps isn’t about any of that.

“This is following the law and upholding the Constitution of the United States, the state of Georgia and Cobb County,” she said.

“The only way to settle this once and for all” is to publish public notices like were done with the “home rule” map approval process with two public meetings before voting to repeal them.

“We need to repeal it once and for all.”

Related:

• Cobb may consider vacating District 2 commission seat
• Cobb judge upholds decision to call special elections
• Absentee ballot request period for Cobb, Ga. underway
• Cobb Elections Board opposes county’s redistricting appeal
• Advance voting schedule for Cobb general election approved
• Cobb special elections scheduled as map dispute lingers
• Cobb to appeal court order for new commission elections
• New commission elections ordered in redistricting ruling
• MORE: Visit the East Cobb News Politics & Elections Page

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