Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell said Friday she won’t be holding a scheduled swearing-in ceremony in public next week because of a court hearing about county redistricting.
Birrell said in a statement in her weekly e-mail newsletter that “due to a conflict in scheduling with the hearing regarding home rule I will be sworn in at a private ceremony. Thanks for understanding.”
She was to have taken the oath on Wednesday afternoon at the Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting room for her fourth term in office, representing District 3 in East Cobb, followed by a reception.
But a hearing has been called for the same time in Cobb Superior Court for a lawsuit filed by an East Cobb resident to stop the county’s efforts to invoke home rule over commissioner redistricting.
Larry Savage, a Republican candidate for Cobb commission chairman in 2012, 2016 and 2020, is the plaintiff in the suit, filed in Cobb Superior Court.
The suit claims that a vote by the Commission’s Democratic majority in October to file maps to keep District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson in office is illegal, and that only the Georgia legislature can conduct reapportionment activities.
The Republican-dominated General Assembly approved a map this year (see bottom) to draw Richardson, a first-term Democrat, out of her home in East Cobb, which would mostly be in District 3.
Savage’s claims echo those of Birrell and other state and local Republican officials.
But Richardson, local Democratic leaders and her other supporters have said that while the county’s action may be unprecedented, so is the legislature’s action in drawing a sitting incumbent official out of her seat.
Cobb officials filed a contested map—proposed by Democratic Cobb legislative delegation chairman Rep. Erick Allen but which were never voted on by the legislature—with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, anticipating a legal challenge.
Under state law, Richardson would have to change her legal residence to the new District 2 by Saturday in order to run for re-election in 2024, but she said she’s not moving.
Should the county’s legal challenge fail, Richardson would likely be removed from office and a special election would be called to fill the remainder of her term.
Birrell has said publicly that what happened to Richardson is unfair but that the home rule challenge is “politically motivated.”
During the legislative session, Cobb commissioners attended delegation meetings as the maps were being drafted.
Birrell opposed Allen’s map, which included much of the city of Marietta, concerned it wasn’t majority-Republican. She won with only 51 percent of the vote in 2018, but got 59 percent in winning re-election in a mostly-East Cobb district in November.
In recent months, both commissioners representing the East Cobb area have attended a number of public events in what would be the new District 3, including a town hall Richardson held regarding the delayed Lower Roswell Road traffic project.
Birrell also has included news and information about developments in what would be her new district that are currently in District 2.
The court hearing on Wednesday will be heard by Judge Ann Harris.
Related:
- Warnock cruises in Cobb, wins Georgia U.S. Senate runoff
- Ga. elections board to investigate Cobb absentee ballot issues
- Early voting surges in Cobb in U.S. Senate runoff
- Cobb Elections sued over absentee ballots in U.S. Senate runoff
- How East Cobb voted in U.S. Senate general election, governor’s race
- Cobb adds Saturday early voting for U.S. Senate runoff
- Recertified Cobb election results change outcome in Kennesaw race
- Birrell, Chastain re-elected in key Cobb races
- Cobb extends deadline for absentee voters not mailed ballots
- Cobb Election failed to mail out 1k+ absentee ballots
- Cobb passes home rule redistricting resolution in party-line vote
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