Cobb commission candidate Fitz Johnson

Candidate profile: Jerica Richardson, Cobb Commission District 2

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Jerica Richardson, Cobb Commission candidate

With the possibility of significant political change abounding in Cobb County, Jerica Richardson wants to be more than a symbol of what she says has been transpiring for some time.

A self-professed policy wonk and technology professional, the 31-year-old aide in several successful local campaigns is making her first stab at political office.

It’s coming at a time when her fellow Democrats have been gaining momentum in recent elections in the county.

“That I’m running is really separate from that,” said Richardson, who is facing Republican Fitz Johnson for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners in the Nov. 3 general election.

Johnson has received the endorsement of retiring commissioner Bob Ott, while Richardson is being backed by former Gov. Roy Barnes of Cobb County.

She says she’s part of “new flavor” of Democrats that forms just one part of a “wide spectrum of candidates” who’ve been making inroads into what has been a strongly Republican electorate.

Her sizable campaign staff includes quite a number of young people responsible for such duties as Hispanic outreach, sustainability initiatives and social media fundraising.

Richardson’s website can be found here; East Cobb News profiled Johnson earlier this week.

A former state school superintendent candidate, Johnson has been pointing to his military, business and community experience in attempting to win his first election.

Most recently, Richardson directed the campaign of Cobb Board of Education member Jaha Howard and was his appointment to the district’s SPLOST oversight board until she decided to run.

On Sunday, she’s having a get out the vote rally with Howard at the green space at The Battery Atlanta, and has been “tag teaming” with other Democratic candidates in leaving campaign materials with targeted voters.

She was unopposed in the Democratic primary and received more votes (24,126) than the three Republican primary candidates combined (18,371).

She said she’s not taking those numbers for granted and is learning the lay of a very diverse district, which stretches from the Cumberland-Vinings area to northeast Cobb around Mabry Park.

Richardson, who lives in the Delk Road area, is familiar with the heart of East Cobb. Her family moved to the Hampton Chase subdivision as she was finishing up at North Springs High School, and her brothers attended Walton High School.

The family came to metro Atlanta after evacuating New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina. Richardson graduated from Georgia Tech with a biomedical engineering degree.

She said her vision in seeking office is to help better connect Cobb County—its citizens, communities and organizations—across a range of issues.

“The message is timeless,” Richardson said. “There are so many wonderful things that Cobb County has to offer, but we have some divisions. Connecting Cobb is the overarching message for that.”

She raises similar concerns as Commissioner Lisa Cupid, who’s running against Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce.

Whether it’s land use and development, transit and other issues, Richardson thinks county government leaders need to establish stronger working ties with other public officials and bodies and citizens and community groups.

“A lot of relationships are just broken,” she said, citing the process under which the Atlanta Braves stadium deal was brokered in 2013. “A lot of people felt that their concerns weren’t considered at all, and it was a missed opportunity. They didn’t feel like they mattered, and this is still going on in other parts of the county.”

Richardson said she would prioritize community engagement—what she calls her “empowerment” agenda—in numerous capacities, and according to what she calls “responsible transparency.”

Those include land use, zoning and development issues in a District that ranges from high-density commercial districts in Cumberland and traditional suburban neighborhoods in East Cobb.

Richardson advocates more master planning activities that includes community feedback beyond the current zoning process.

She also said the county needs to do a better job of steering citizens toward community resources.

“Only a certain group of people know how to find that kind of information,” she said.

Richardson said that while “the sky is not falling” in Cobb County in terms of political leadership, she thinks the commission has become too fractious, with commissioners acting “too separately” instead of the county has a whole.

“All five board members have equal votes on the issues that matter the most,” she said. “I want to look for solutions that affect everyone.”

Richardson opposes East Cobb Cityhood. A bill proposed last year by State Rep. Matt Dollar, an East Cobb Republican, included a city map with most of District 2 east of I-75. But a cityhood group said a year ago it was delaying its efforts.

After attending several cityhood town halls over the last couple of years, she said “I was very inspired by the community response. Democrats and Republicans were really united about that!”

She said that with cityhood, “you’re going to see higher taxes, you’re going to see a double layer of government.”

More than anything, Richardson said she questions the motives of those behind cityhood. “Whether it’s for political power or for demographic reasons, I don’t know.

“But I heard from a lot of people who were concerned about what would happen to the rest of the county,” she said, adding that she gets a few e-mails a week about the cityhood issue.

Richardson said she’s encouraged by the start of a step-and-grade salary structure for public safety employees.

She worries that “very conservative leadership” in Cobb over many years has the county, now with more than 750,000 people, budgeted at what she estimates is 60-70 percent of what “counties our size have been operating on.

“It’s thin but I don’t support raising taxes,” Richardson said. “I want to raise the tax base.”

She supports creating a potential Cobb sales tax for extending transit in the county in targeted areas, and would advocate a long-term public health response in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

Among those initiatives would be coordinating pandemic preparations with local school districts and have a strengthened working relationship with Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

“They’re at the table, but we need to figure out how to move past this in the long run,” she said.

As Cobb continues to grow and become diverse, Richardson said she’s eager to tackle the challenge of striking the right balance for a county that’s at an important crossroads.

“The task is to keep Cobb home for those who have been here, but also for those who are yet to come,” she said.

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Candidate profile: Fitz Johnson, Cobb Commission District 2

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Fitz Johnson, Cobb Commission candidate

After winning the Republican primary and runoff by a nose this summer, Fitz Johnson is facing a different challenge as he campaigns in the general election for the District 2 seat on the Cobb Board of Commissioners:

An energized Democratic electorate in the county that could yield historic gains in November.

Johnson, a retired Army officer, entrepreneur and civic leader with strong ties to Cobb establishment institutions, is facing political upstart Jerica Richardson.

Although she was unopposed in the Democratic primary, she received more votes (24,126) than the three Republican primary candidates combined (18,371).

Neither has been elected to public office before. Johnson ran for Georgia School Superintendent in 2014. Richardson is a first-time candidate who has worked on recent local Democratic campaigns, including that of Cobb school board member Jaha Howard, who’s been a firebrand in his two years in office.

Johnson, who serves on the board of the Wellstar Health System and is a trustee of Kennesaw State University, has been touting what he calls “experienced leadership” in the military, business and community service.

Here’s Johnson’s campaign website. Richardson has been contacted by East Cobb News seeking an interview.

The winner will succeed retiring three-term commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who’s endorsed Johnson.

“The message is the same,” Johnson said. “The target is different.”

District 2 includes much of East Cobb as well as the Cumberland-Vinings area and part of Smyrna.

Johnson is touting an emphasis on public safety, traffic improvements, fiscal conservatism on taxes and spending and protecting neighborhoods.

As he did during the primary campaign, Johnson is stressing his opposition to East Cobb Cityhood, limiting high-density development and boosting salary and incentives for police officers and firefighters.

He said he’s best situated to attend to those ongoing matters, as well as possible budget challenges due to the economic fallout from COVID-19 closures, because of his background.

“What stands out is my experience compared to my opponent,” he said. “I worrying about me and running my own campaign, but when you stack it all up, I’m the clear choice.”

During the primary Johnson campaigned extensively in East Cobb, which was unfamiliar to him but traditionally has been strong Republican territory. He admits that the district is diverse, but the message he’s hearing from East Cobb voters is a desire to maintain a suburban atmosphere of single-family communities.

The county budget that began on Oct. 1 maintained the same property tax millage rate, but the longer-term financial implications could pose some unpalatable budget decisions in the future.

Johnson admitted that “while we’re in an unprecedented” time, he will never support a tax increase to address budget shortfalls.

“That’s a no-compromise issue,” Johnson said, acknowledging that some hard decisions will have to be made.

Also off-limits would be any interruption in continuing a step-and-grade compensation program for public safety employees begun last year by commissioners.

“I will make sure we don’t take a step back,” Johnson said, adding that he thinks commissioners have “done a good job” handling the immediate financial impact of COVID-related revenue drops.

The District 2 winner would become the second African-American on the board, and if current commissioner Lisa Cupid wins her race to become chairman, the five-member board would have a black majority.

Earlier this summer commissioners adopted an anti-racism resolution that caused some consternation, and they voted last month to create a new community diversity council.

Johnson said “this is a very good start they’ve put on the table,” in reference to the latter, whose members include citizen members chosen by commissioners.

Racial concerns and disparities won’t go away, he said, just by appointing people to serve. “What we need now is results. We’re not going to let this go.

“It’s important to the entire quality of life in Cobb County” to address racial and cultural disparities, he said.

“I don’t have a scorecard, but I feel I’m being treated well as an African-American in Cobb County,” Johnson said.

“But we’re not finished by any means,” in reference to making greater progress in racial relations. “We need to make it better so it doesn’t continue to be an issue.”

Johnson said while he’s working to get his based energized, he acknowledges a need for crossover votes from independents and what he calls “soft Democrats.”

An appeal to that kind of open-mindedness, he said, will be important as he seeks to fill “some very big shoes” being left behind by Ott.

“I believe there are many voters out there who willing to zig-zag down the ballot.”

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Cobb commission candidate spotlight: Fitz Johnson, District 2

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Fitz Johnson, Cobb commission candidate

After serving in a variety of military, business and community leadership roles, Fitz Johnson is seeking the District 2 vacancy on the Cobb Board of Commissioners as an extension of a question he says he’s asked many times in those other capacities:

“What can I do to help?” said Johnson, a Vinings resident, in an interview with East Cobb News.

“This job is the best way for me to get involved. The time is right.”

He’s one of three Republicans vying to succeed retiring three-term Commissioner Bob Ott in the June 9 primary.

The others are Kevin Nicholas (profile here) and Andy Smith (profile here).

(Here’s Johnson’s campaign website).

This isn’t Johnson’s first campaign for office; in 2014 he unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for Georgia school superintendent.

The retired U.S. Army officer, retired entrepreneur and former pro sports team owner (the Atlanta Beat women’s soccer team) said that he has the time and passion to represent a diverse District 2 that includes most of East Cobb and the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area.

“I have a passion for working with citizens and helping to make the county better,” Johnson said.

Since he began his campaign, he’s heard a lot from citizens about a wide range of topics, including East Cobb Cityhood, which he opposes.

“I’m not in favor of it,” Johnson said. “It would add another layer of government. I’m a fiscal conservative who believes in keeping taxes low.”

That mantra figures to be challenged in the coming months and years as Cobb County, like many other state and local governments, begins to address the financial fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.

Johnson said he recently tested positive for the virus and sought emergency room treatment and has been recovering for a few weeks. “It really takes you down,” he said.

He said his experience working with complex business budgets and employing a long-term perspective would be assets on the five-member commission.

Commissioners will soon be meeting to discuss how the county might use $132 million in federal stimulus funding, but that’s just the beginning of a long way out of what figures to be a fiscal challenge greater than the recession.

“Now more than ever, we need a commissioner who understands budgets and finance,” Johnson said. “And not just now, but the next 5-7 years. That’s what we’re going to be looking at.

“Now is not the time to panic, but we have to take care of our citizens.”

Johnson said he does not support increasing the property tax millage rate to fill budget gaps.

He also thinks the county can continue to implement a step-and-grade compensation system for public safety employees that took effect in March.

“It still can be done, we have to do that,” he said. “That’s going to cost us more money if we don’t.”

But the post-virus financial scenario also figures to be a factor in how that issue is addressed.

“We can’t see into the future but we can look at what we think is going to happen,” he said, suggesting that some modeling might be done based on what the county did during the recession.

Another major issue throughout District 2 is zoning and development, and Johnson said as commissioner he would adhere to the Cobb Future Land Use Plan.

During Ott’s time in office, he has overseen four master plans, including one in Vinings near Johnson’s home that favors preserving what’s already there.

“We need to continue to have the community put together what they want,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he supports the county’s Special Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), but said we’re going to have to do better. We have to make sure the oversight is there.”

Johnson and his wife Suzann have three children and four grandchildren.

His other community activities include serving on the Kennesaw State University Board of Trustees, the Cobb Hospital Authority and the Wellstar Health System Board of Trustees.

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