Cherokee County Brouhaha(ha-ha?)…which, apparently, IS no laughing matter for the parties involved.
by Bill Simon
In another thread, Kevin Bailey, a Democrat candidate for House District 22 in Cherokee County had a question about the charges filed against Republican candidate Mary Wilhite by Lee Martin, a campaign volunteer and campaign chairman for her Republican opponent, Sean Jerguson. So, I decided to put it here and start a whole thread on it.
The Cherokee Tribune has an update of the case where you can read it here and comment on it.
…(by the way…STICK to the subject at hand…any off-topic rants about NAFTA or the rage of a white woman in Macon will be summarily deleted) 🙂
August 20th, 2006 at 8:06 am
Bill Simon,
The article does not show up and it shows todays front page.
Kevin M. Bailey
August 20th, 2006 at 9:37 am
Well…it WAS there last night. (stupid idiotic online paper…)
August 20th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Bill,
Did you see the Georgia Gang today? The best thing for the Republican party in Cherokee is for this to go away.
First the flyer was a hit job on Mary Wilhite not being a real Republican because of her past work with Democrats. The only problem is Sonny Perdue was featured on the flyer. And much of what was on the flyer you could of said about him.
Second , you had party officials working against Mary in a primary election. My question are any of them voting for Sonny who made a big deal about her being a former Democrat.
Third party officials showing bias behavior in her debates. Do you think Dick Hall on the panel picking the questions while making faces to the audience while Mary is speaking is being non-bias.
I could go on and on.
The Martin’s(sp) seem like nice people. I just do not see anything positive about going after Mary.Sean and his supporters would be served reaching out to Mary’s supporters then nasty trial, because you know. everyone will look bad.
It just seems hypocritical for officers of the Republican party to go after Mary and do nothing about the Dick , Bart and Robert.
August 20th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
http://www.examiner.com/a-223229~Name_calling__assault_charged_in_state_House_race.html
Above is a working link. I’ve never heard of this newspaper but it seems to have the same story as other sources.
Wow, this is really ugly. It makes the Cherokee GOP look like a neo-confederate organization. Does this help or hurt?
August 20th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
John Konop,
So was Sonny endorsing the slams against Mary? Or was it slams against Sonny too?
I saw your debate on PP with BB. He’s really being nasty. Why can’t people just debate the issues?
Hugely ugly.
August 20th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
John,
I do see your point about the appearance of unfairness brought by Brannon and Dick(less) Hall against Mary Wilhite.
And, I did hear Jeff Dickerson preface his comments today regarding Lee being a bigger guy than tiny Wilhite…
BUT, here’s the thing: Since “big guys” or, rather ANY “guy” cannot slug a female who is encroaching on his space without someone screaming “sexual assault” on that person, the only way to properly address Mary’s actions are either to 1) ignore them and allow that crap to continue, or 2) fill-out an arrest warrant and have her charged with assault for what he believed was an unnecessary and illegal encroachment on his “space” and his actions.
Lee Martin is not an official with the Cherokee County GOP, and he was doing this campaigning on behalf of his friend that he believed was better suited for the position.
I was, as you recall, pretty much on Mary’s side on this house race until SHE pulled the race card bullshit against Lee by calling him a “fat, racist pig.”
AND then, when I confronted with Mary about that on the phone last week, she had the audacity to claim to ME that it was Lee who called her that first. That’s a crock, and I neither support liars nor do I support race baiters.
John, here’s my advice to you: I advise you to run for an officer position in the Cherokee County GOP next March at their county convention so that IF you get elected to it, you can start influencing people from the inside and change things there.
August 20th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
That last paragraph is key.
August 20th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
John, party officials working for the ‘favored’ candidate should come as a shock least of all to you. That does not excuse the behavior in any way, but you know what the Republican machine is all about. It will not change. Ever.
It seems we have racist charges and countercharges flying here. Yet, somebody destroyed and spray-painted Wilhite’s signs. Was it Wilhite’s campaign herself, in an effort to garner sympathetic media coverage? Was it Jerguson’s people? Was it unaffiliated white supremacists? I suppose we can never know for sure, but we all can have our leanings.
August 20th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
caroline,
The flyer look like Sonny was endorsing the attack against Mary for being and working with Democrats in her past. But I have no idea if Sonny approved or even knew about the flyer.
Bill,
As I said, the Martin’s seem like nice people from the limited time I have been aroud them.
The problem is the people involved like Conrad are officers of the Republican party. Right or wrong , with all the negative history from Robert Trim, Dick Hall and Bart Brannon nothing positive will come out of this mess.
If the Martin’s and Sean took the high road ,they could focus on bringing people together on an election that was won by only 37 votes.In fact many people I know who voted for Sean made simular comments to me.
The sad part is Sean, the Martin’s , Conrad and Mary are not bad people.In fact I think Sean will become a good member of the house.But is this what you want to have your supporters focused on?
August 20th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
Charley,
You are right , when you combine what you posted, with the stuff guys like Bart and Dick did in no way can this be good for the Republican’s statewide ticket.
That is why many of us are hoping this will go away. It makes all of us look bad in Cherokee county.
If this was an isolated situation it might be different.
By the way ,thanks for coming to the debates. It was great meeting you.Feel free to contact me,it would be great to talk politics with you sometime.
August 21st, 2006 at 12:36 pm
[…] Bill Simon at the Political Vine has a post about charges filed against former GOP State House Candidate Mary Wilhite. Wilhite lost in a runoff to Sean Jerguson by a mere 35 votes. The AP had an article about the charges: Lee Martin, a Jerguson supporter, told sheriff’s deputies that as he campaigned the day before the runoff, Wilhite followed him around, calling him a “liar,” “racist” and “fat pig.” […]
August 22nd, 2006 at 9:33 am
{Bill, I hope you will let this reply be posted…staying on topic, no personal attacks despite the arrows shot my way by all who posted on this topic}
In response to the posts on this thread regarding my activities as a volunteer member of the Cherokee County Republican Party Executive Committee:
1. CCRP Bylaws state that only the Chairman and VC for Candidates & Elected Officials are prohibited from participating in GOP contested primary elections. Did I personally support Sean Jerguson, absolutely because I have known Sean and his wife for quite some time and they are friends of my family. Did I do anything unethical in supporting Sean to either of his opponents in the general primary, absolutely not. Did I use my position as VC Communications with CCRP to show favoritism toward ANY candidate, absolutely not.
2. Mary Wilhite and I sat together at the annual Woodstock AME Church MLK Breakfast in January. She was already running for the District 22 seat and asked me to have coffee with her to discuss the election which I agreed to do. We set a time but she cancelled due to being sick without ever rescheduling. I was hoping to clarify exactly what caused her to switch from supporting people like Al Gore and Bill Campbell to being a conservative Republican. Unfortunately we were never able to have this discussion.
3. Mary and I once again sat at the same table during the President’s Dinner in March. We had a good conversation with other folks sitting at the table and discussed possibly having coffee sometime before qualifying in April.
4. Throughout the campaign, Mary Wilhite’s announcements were posted promptly on the CCRP website by me. They were also prominently displayed in weekly eLetters sent by me to CCRP members. Her website was posted from day one on the CCRP website. Mary Wilhite has no legitimate complaint with CCRP as it pertains to how she was treated during this election.
5. Regarding the candidate forums — my only involvement was to invite all candidates for every race and coordinate locations / times for the forums. I did not submit a single question during the District 22 forum nor did I advise others about questions to submit. Mary got upset because someone from Sean’s team was taping the forum which is always a smart idea in case a candidate says something that can be used in a subsequent lit piece. She also got mad when asked about her support of Bill Campbell and Al Gore. These are valid questions that must be addressed by party switchers whether it be someone running for governor or a state house seat. Chairman Pete Castello, VC Precincts Dick Hall and Moderator Rich Garafalo all reviewed questions before asking the candidates. Mary was made aware of this setup prior to the forum without objecting.
6. Mary failed to attend the runoff forum after being sent multiple invites. She instead sent a 17 year old campaign volunteer who was denied the opportunity to speak on her behalf as it was a “candidate forum” and Mary did not contact anyone in advance to inform CCRP of her plans.
In conclusion, Mary Wilhite was treated with respect and fairness throughout this campaign by the Cherokee County Republican Party. Those of us serving on the Executive Committee do so as unpaid volunteers and strive to provide equal service to all GOP candidates no matter our personal leanings. Mary thanked me personally on a number of occasions both in writing and verbally for sending out her announcements and for the job I was doing as VC of Communications. She never complained once to me about mistreatment or unfairness during the campaign.
Some question whether members of the Executive Committee of political organizations should get involved in campaigns. I see both sides of this issue, but believe sincerely that one can support a candidate while being fair to other candidates in the same race. In my case, I know in every race that all candidates were given equal access to CCRP resources as set by a policy letter sent out prior to the primary by Chairman Pete Castello. As Bill suggested, if someone feels the policy should be changed, then by all means submit your name for consideration by CCRP members at the March County Convention.
August 23rd, 2006 at 9:28 am
BB,
Anyone who went to the debate saw the behavior of you and Dick. Pete got letters about your behavior and Dick Hall. Why not be a man and tell the truth?
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:09 am
As Col. Nathan Jessup said, “you can’t handle the truth” Konop. Truth be told, didn’t you leave that debate early?
August 23rd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
As I recall, Col. Jessup got his ass thrown in jail…amazing how your heroes, Bart, end-up in the same place where you once spent a few hours… 🙂
August 23rd, 2006 at 2:22 pm
Bill,
Do you think Bart thinks he found his manhood in jail. Like badge of ………
August 23rd, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Bill…clever reply.
No Konop, but did find a guy who had naked pictures of your wife using your credit card to contribute to Ohio democrat candidates. Would you like to continue in this vein or can we get back to the topic as Bill suggested in his original statement?
August 23rd, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Bart, I thought it was enough of a sin for John’s wife to have given to Democrats…you’re one sick puppy…but, it’s good that you live in Cherokee County. That’s the den of unequity.
August 23rd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
BB,
So are you bringing the rope to Mary’s hanging when you guys are done?
Why even waite for the trial?
You could make this into a money raising event for your new group(RR).
August 24th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
BB,
As far as what you heard,about the solid case against Mary and assauult charges.
” Chief Magistrate Judge Ben Abney said there was not enough evidence for an assault charge, but at press time he was still deliberating whether Wilhite should be arrested for disorderly conduct, using fighting words and littering”.
http://www.ledgernews.com/top%20stories.html
The rest of the case looks like he said she said case. I wonder what she will say about you and Dick Hall if it comes up ?
August 24th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
And here is news from Woodstock’s other state house seat. What is it with CCRP-supported candidates seeking revenge after victory? That’ll teach ’em for trying to run against the establishment! Is Byrd also threatening legal action against people who innocently, incorrectly signed the petition (signing for a spouse too, using both maiden name & married names in order to get it right, etc.)? I guess NO ONE is innocent in Cherokee politics, not even an naive soccer mom at Bruster’s randomly asked to sign the petition and doing so incorrectly. Never a dull moment in Cherokee…
Carr says Byrd’s accusations are just sour grapes
Thursday, August 24, 2006
From staff reports
The Towne Lake woman accused of possible fraud in her unsuccessful campaign to run as an independent is accusing the incumbent of a “political vendetta.”
State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock) on Tuesday asked the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the campaign of Gina Carr. Mrs. Carr fell short of collecting the required signatures to run as an independent in the Nov. 7 election to unseat Mrs. Byrd.
According to the police report released Wednesday, Mrs. Byrd asked the sheriff’s office to investigate because some signatures on Mrs. Carr’s petition appear to be illegal. She cited instances where a woman signed using her married and maiden names and someone signed for themselves and their spouse.
Mrs. Carr said asking for an investigation is “sour grapes” and that Mrs. Byrd has a “political vendetta.” Mrs. Carr said Mrs. Byrd and her husband, Cherokee County Commission Chairman Mike Byrd, are angry she has publicized their ownership of commercial property.
“The district would be better served if Mrs. Byrd spent her time on school overcrowding and traffic problems,” Mrs. Carr said.
Mrs. Byrd said she filed the report over concerns of illegal campaign activities and the possible waste of taxpayers’ money.
“It costs the county hours and hours of time to verify 212 pages of signatures and the Secretary of State’s Office did the same thing,” Mrs. Byrd said.
The Cherokee County Board of Elections earlier this month spent more than 40 hours reviewing the more than 1,850 signatures collected by Mrs. Carr to determine her eligibility for office.
The board verified 1,139 signatures belonged to registered voters in the district, which is short of the required 1,213 signatures, or 5 percent of voters in the district. The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed the county’s total last week.
The board of elections checked all signatures, regardless of whether pages were properly notarized. If the improperly notarized pages were thrown out, Mrs. Carr would have fallen much shorter of the required total.
According to the law office of McKenna, Long and Aldridge, which Mrs. Byrd hired to prepare for a possible challenge, 39 of the 212 petition sheets did not include a required notarized circulator’s affidavit and 54 were improperly notarized.
August 24th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
PS – Bart, what’s your take on this? I usually disagree with you, but I give you credit for having a good political mind. I know you support the Byrds, but my bet is that you’re too smart to support Charlice on this.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
A better question would be is HOW will Byrd be paying for the legal action? Out of her own pocket, or out of campaign funds?
Seems to me that only if there was a threat to her candidacy could she (possibly) use campaign funds.
But, Carr is not on the ballot, so “no harm, no foul” tells me that Byrd may be in trouble if she thinks this is a viable use of campaign funds…if, as I said, she is using campaign funds to pursue this. If not, then what a waste of money, but whatever.
August 25th, 2006 at 8:17 am
Chris,
My take, Carr admitted to knowing that she collected erroneous signatures yet submitted them anyway. If the elections office will not investigate, then it is left up to a private citizen, in this case Charlice Byrd. While I realize not much will likely happen even if it is proven Carr intentionally broke the law, the case should be investigated.
Even more amazing is the elections office wasting time and taxpayer money to review 50+ pages of signatures that were either not notarized or improperly notarized. Those pages should have been summarily tossed immediately upon receipt.
Carr accomplished her main goal with this farce — bring more attention to the Byrds for investing in Cherokee County property. Had she been serious about running against Charlice, she would have signed up with a party during qualifying week. She didn’t and now must face the consequences for knowingly submitting erroneous names while attempting to get on the November ballot. Bill would be the first to file ethics charges if the person accused of such action was named Ralph Reed or Charlice Byrd.
August 25th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Erroneous names on a list that people sign to get a candidate’s name on a ballot does NOT fall under the purview of the State Ethics COmmission. It falls under the State Elections Board and, as such, is a completely more involved process than filing an “ethics complaint.”
That being said, if this case by Charlice Byrd goes to the State Elections Board, Randy Evans will have to recuse himself since he works for McKenna Long.
It’s all a very strange case for Charlice to file.
August 25th, 2006 at 11:00 am
I agree with Bart AND Simon (is that possible?) on this.
Carr shouldn’t have submitted signatures that she knew were erroneous, so a complaint should be filed. But, leave it with state officials – getting the Sheriff’s office involved is over the top. (Take the high road, even if others haven’t in the past.)
August 25th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
I talk to Gina Carr Today she told me she never said “to knowing that she collected erroneous signatures yet submitted them anyway”.
This is the work of an element of the Cherokee Republican party that attacks anyone who is not part of the club!
We have gangs, illegals…… and this is what our elected officials want the police to focus on.
Georgia is known for making it hard for third party candidates.So Mrs. Bryd solution is throw them in jail.
August 25th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
From Wednesday’s Cherokee Tribune –“Mrs. Carr acknowledged there were some cases when a spouse illegally signed for their significant other.” If she was misquoted, she should ask for a correction.
The Cherokee Republican Party has nothing to do with this case just as it had nothing to do with Wilhite who BTW will be arrested Thursday at 10am after the judge found probable cause in the Martin v. Wilhite matter this afternoon. In both cases, individuals filed the complaints, not CCRP.
Georgia is not the only state where it is difficult to qualify as an independent or third party candidate. I support making it easier and hope it will one day be an issue that gains traction.
August 25th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
BB,
So that is what you are hanging your hat on.
At the end you would would rather have the police focus on this than real crime.
As I said this will hurt the party. But you guys are to selfish to care.
BTW I said elements of the party and you make my case.
August 25th, 2006 at 7:48 pm
BB,
I heard you were at the hanging. Did you bring a rope.
August 25th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Very interesting indeed. For what it’s worth…
1. In response to the Cherokee Tribune article, indeed I was misquoted. For that matter, it was not a quote, it was his interpretation of what I said. Take a look. I did speak to Ashley Fuller regarding the last paragraph in Wednesday’s article. He acknowledged that he mis-stated what I had told him and apologized to me. Call Ashley. Ask him.
Imagine that – the Cherokee Tribune getting something wrong!
However, you have to be smoking something to think the CT would print a correction that would benefit an enemy of the Byrd Coalition. Even when they erroneously announced that I had ALREADY collected enough signatures when I had not (I’m SURE they didn’t do it intentionally!), they didn’t even mention in the “revised” story that they had gotten it wrong previously. They just printed it like it was the first time they had run the story. Truly amazing!
2. Speaking of how fair the CT is to me, does anyone else find it surprising to know that when Ashley interviewed me on Tuesday for the Wednesday story, he failed to EVEN MENTION that a police report had been filed. Said he didn’t know. Apologized for not trying to contact me after he supposedly DID KNOW.
The bias shown by the CT is unbelievable to anyone who looks carefully and has a clue what is really going on.
Too bad Ashley works for such a biased publication. He seems like a pretty nice guy.
3. Regarding this specific issue of a spouse signing for the other, I explained to Ashley that as I reviewed some of the signatures that were thrown out – AT the elections office – the elections official showed me where some of the signatures on my petition clearly did not match the signature they had on record. I guess I was supposed to look at every signature and know which ones were accurate and which ones weren’t. Yeah right!
For all I know, perhaps someone pretending to be friendly to my cause signed the petition erroneously just to cause trouble down the road. I’m sure no one on the opposing team would have thought of doing something sinister like that!
4. The elections office told my team to “turn them all in.” Even so, we scratched through a number of them that we realized were invalid based on some checking we did. BTW, it is the candidate’s job to put forth their best effort to gather as many valid signatures as possible. It is NOT the candidate’s job to ENSURE that all signatures are valid.
5. What some people fail to realize here is that the elections office looks at a petition as a gold mine of information. They use every record on the petitions to update their own records. People who haven’t voted in years are re-activated by merely signing a petition. According to the elections office, that shows they are participating in the electoral process. Call Janet Munda. Ask her.
6. Thanks to my petition drive, Cherokee County now has more active voters than they did before. I think that is a good thing.
7. Thanks to a willing media outlet, Mrs. Byrd has accomplished her goal – tar and feather anyone who would dare speak out against her and her husband. I can’t remember. Did Mike Byrd lose by 60% of the vote or was it 61? So sad.
August 26th, 2006 at 6:55 am
Wow, you folks in Cherokee County need to lighten up a bit. I’ve never seen such wanton diplomacy; like a story out of the twilight zone.
August 26th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Konop,
Are you ever happy? Every submittal to any blog comes across as someone full of anger, rage and hostility. Get a grip dude.
Only you would compare a probable cause hearing to a hanging. Judge Abney went to great lengths to accomodate Wilhite even letting her set an appointment for arrest next Thursday. He emphasized multiple times that this was not a finding of guilt, just a ruling to agree there was enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant. You can try all you want to make this a racial issue Konop, but it just ain’t the case. Wilhite lost control and now must pay the price. She could have avoided all of this by simply apologizing for her antics, that’s all Lee wanted. Instead she pressed forward and now gets front page coverage so she can attempt to twist this into her being the victim (is Chris Quinn, AJC on her payroll??). Some will fall for this deceptive tactic, but most see right through her transparent sympathy seeking response.
August 26th, 2006 at 11:24 am
BB,
You have no room to talk about Mary.
Your comments are filled with hate !!!!!!!
August 26th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
BB,
The racial issue is about what you said as VC of The Cherokee Republican party about Mary using her “SKIN COLOR” to win.
The nasty behavior toward Mary I saw as well others, was you and Dick Hall also a party official.
The hanging was not about the judge Abney or the case.It was about you VC of Republican party and Mrs. Bryd an elected official hanging around like you were going to a party.
I expect more class from party officials and elected members serving all the people(not just your club) of any party.
Look how fast you went after Gina. And in that case as well you should no class.
August 26th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
OK, I understand Gina’s position. How are candidates to know which signatures are valid? A candidate’s job is to collect signatures, not verify them. Verification IS the JOB of the election’s office, so to complain about all the hours they spent doing their JOB to ensure democracy is pretty stupid. It’s also stupid to file charges against the candidate for turning in signatures that the candidate did NOT know were invalid. If Gina knew, then yes, that’s bad. But since she didn’t know, how can she be held accountable?
Whatever the case, since it’s word against word, it looks bad to the AVERAGE citizen (no one on this message board) for Charlice to pursue this matter. I’m surprised that in Cherokee politics, more thought doesn’t go into the AVERAGE voter’s take on things. But all of this does make for good entertainment. It’s like middle school for adults.
August 26th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
In order to avoid another useless back and forth with you Konop, I will no longer dignify the BS spewed from you with replies. If anybody else would like to carry on respectful dialogue regarding the topic at hand, I look forward to an intelligent discussion of this issue as it proceeds through the litigation process.
August 26th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
Chris,
The sad part is Charlice as well as Mike Bryd are bright people.I have told Charlice and her husband that on spending votes Charlice has done a good job for the community.
The Mary and Gina issue is not about politcal issues to me. it is about making sure people can disagree and run for office without fear of going to jail.
Also party officials need to show class.
August 26th, 2006 at 12:51 pm
Chris,
The signature must match the way you put it on the voter registration card.
For example , sometimes I use my middle name. Do you think most people would remember ?
That is why candidates always get more signatures knowing about 25% to 35% are bad. All candidates know that some of the signatures are bad they turn in. So do we throw them in jail? Would this not only help office holders over the people ?
That is why the Gina Carr case is a big issue!!!!
August 26th, 2006 at 1:05 pm
OK, for example, pretend my name is Joseph James Smith and my voter-registered name is Jospeh J. Smith. Are you saying that if I provided my correct address and signed the petition Joe Smith or Joseph Smith or even Joseph James Smith, it’d be ruled invalid??
August 26th, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Chris,
Yes!!!!!!!
It is a game to protect both parties.
That is why so many of us are upset. This is about punishing people who dare challenge the incompent or party.
The same people attacking Mary Wilhite are the same group behind the Gina Carr situation.
I voted for David Farrow not Mary or Sean.And Gina Carr and Mrs, Bryd are out of my district.I told Mrs. Bryd her votes on spending were good.To me this is about being an American, end of story.
September 4th, 2006 at 11:21 am
Not to steal the thunder from John and Bart’s ongoing duel. Before I give my new web page address I was wondering since John is for the event to raise money at the courthouse. The Democrats could sponsor a boxing match in the square maybe some of the funds could go to repair the gazebo. The new web page address is http://www.kevinforhd22.com
Once more I would like to thank John and Bart for keeping me amused in the past two weeks. For those worried the actors John and Bart would not be hurt in the boxing match had to include the disclaimer in that line.
Thanks,
Kevin M. Bailey