Will The Next Ga Attorney General Be A Chia Pet?
by PV
Rumors have it that Governor Nathan Deal is planning on replacing Attorney General Sam Olens with current Georgia Economic Development Department Commissioner Chris Carr whenever Sam Olens quits as AG to take-on the job as the new Kennesaw State University President. Stories in the news have been floating for about a month in various newsy-oriented publications, the most recent one being today’s Atlanta Business Chronicle (See story link here).
PV Sez: Oh, really? Hey, nothing personal against Chris Carr…he is a fine, fine Southern gentleman…he happened to attend the same high school as the PV’s Chief Bottle Washer…and then after Carr graduated 12th grade, well, his life took an unfortunate turn. He stumbled into a really bad gang of folks that have been terrorizing the Georgia landscape for over 200 years…their hideout is located in the sleepy town of Athens, Georgia…where, like The Eagles song Hotel California, you can checkout, but you can never, ever leave…and that insanity remains with you for the rest of your life as you wake-up every day with the urge to shout “Go D**gs!” and then search for the closest bush or fire hydrant to sniff and pee on.
ANYWAY…all that aside….there’s a teeny-tiny problem with Chris Carr becoming the next Attorney General of Georgia. Simply put, he is not qualified in the legal, lawyer sense. Two glaring problems:
1) According to the Georgia Constitution, Article V, Section III, Paragraph II (b): “No person shall be Attorney General unless such person shall have been an active-status member of the State Bar of Georgia for seven years.”
According to the current State Bar Status of Mr. Christopher Michael Carr (See PDF copy dated 9/27/2016 here) Mr. Carr’s status is “Inactive Member in Good Standing.”
On the Ga Bar Website, that status is stated to mean the following: “Member who is in good standing, paid inactive dues, but by member’s election is currently not eligible to practice law in Georgia.”
And…here’s the deal: Mr. Carr was admitted to the bar 11/1/1999. PV is not sure where he worked for the first few years after that admittance date, but, beginning in about mid-2003, Chris Carr started working for Johnny Isakson in his first run for US Senate in the 2004 election as the campaign manager.
After Isakson got elected, Carr went to work for Isakson in some capacity…he was not immediately made Chief of Staff of Isakson during the first few years…Heath Garrett was CoS of Senator Isakson’s office first, but Carr was working, perhaps, in the Georgia office for Isakson. Sometime passed, and several years later, when Garrett left the Isakson CoS position, Chris Carr filled that slot for Isakson’s CoS.
After serving with Isakson straight thru for a number of years, Carr was appointed to the Georgia Economic Development Commission. In none of these positions did Chris Carr EVER serve as a “practicing lawyer.”
2) Maybe Chris Carr spent the four years after being admitted to the bar in November 1999 doing some kind of lawyer-type work. But, even if he did, he stopped practicing law by mid-2003 when Johnny started his run for US Senate, and Carr has never worked in the practice of law since then.
So, the Ga Constitution is pretty clear: Must be active member for seven years.
Maybe the State Bar will let Chris Carr cheat…by him just showing-up at the State Bar Pay Window and forking over money to declare himself a “practicing lawyer” and “Ta-Da! Instant Attorney General! Just add cash and watch it grow!” (kinda like a Chia Pet…maybe we will call Chris Carr the ‘Chia Pet Attorney General‘ if he gets the appointment.)
BUT…he has no trial court experience to speak of…and, he has no true, operating knowledge of the law. Sure, as Isakson’s CoS, he may have edited legislation that “made law”…but he has no idea how to actually ‘practice law.’ Big difference, Folks…BIG. Difference.
Now…if Governor Deal wants to cheat the citizens of Georgia…by wrangling with the State Bar to let them easily change Carr’s bar status, guess no one can stop him from doing that.
But…this we know…by Chris Carr not knowing one thing about the true practice of law…he will be relying on Department of Law lawyers for his ‘guidance’…and some of those guys/gals regularly engage in violations of the Georgia RICO Act, as well as engaging in other notorious acts of legal malpractice.
So, if Mr. Carr would like to risk his future as being the Top Legal Chia Pet (even though he would be unqualified to advise someone on even how to fight a traffic ticket at this juncture), be our guest in getting sucked into a cesspool of malpracticing, crooked-to-their-core Georgia government lawyers. Hey, nothing like a federal indictment landing at your front door to wake you up in the morning, eh, Mr. (future) Chia Attorney General?
October 15th, 2016 at 10:03 pm
Good and thorough article. I wonder if this is Nathan Deal’s way of paying off Isakson in advance for retiring after he gets reelected so Deal or one of his cronies get his seat. Very troubling to have an AG for all intents and purposes with no experience practicing law after law school.