Scott Bonder, a DeKalb County commercial litigation attorney serving on the newly-constituted board of ethics, resigned yesterday in protest of legislative changes proposed this year. House members advanced a bill to change the appointment process for the board, in anticipation of a court ruling in a lawsuit by former county commissioner Sharon Barnes-Sutton that may
Georgia House Judiciary committee member Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) had his constitutional hackles raised high during a Georgia House committee hearing last week on Senate Bill 1, which proposed a new domestic terrorism law. “It’s not the right to ‘lawful’ assembly, it’s the right to assembly,” he said to the bill’s author, Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens), taking
Last month, during the flap over Elizabeth Warren’s speech about Jeff Sessions, Marco Rubio took to the Senate floor in defense of civility. “I am just telling you that if this body loses the ability to have those sorts of debate, then where in this country is that going to happen?” he said. “What other
I called the elections officer in DeKalb a moment ago, to see how turnout had been in elections today for the new city of Stonecrest. Fewer than 900 people had cast a ballot so far. Stonecrest has 55,000 residents. Both Stonecrest and the shiny-new 100,000-person city of South Fulton have municipal elections today, while Cobb
Elections for the new city of Stonecrest started off with a curious, interesting dispute over the age of a city council candidate, and have devolved over time into one of the ugliest political races DeKalb County has had in quite a while. And yes, that’s saying something. Mystery mailers — a staple of DeKalb politics
Vernon Jones’ return to the capitol didn’t have a political honeymoon so much as it had an armistice. Jones sent a signal of sorts at the inauguration of Michael Thurmond. Present for the festivities was Sharon Barnes-Sutton, who had just lost her seat to Steve Bradshaw, becoming the first commissioner in two decades to lose
I was raised in the part of Massachusetts that Georgians don’t know exists. There’s a reddish-blue center to the state, in Worcester County, that better resembles Lawrenceville than Lindbergh Station. It’s the Massachusetts of Dennis Leary and Howie Carr, of gloriously obnoxious Patriots fans, and four wheelers at the kegger in the woods, and bitching
Mary-Pat Hector has been drawing attention as an activist for about a decade. She has commendations from Congress for her work in urban anti-violence initiatives, a community service award from President Barack Obama and a position with the National Action Network as its national youth director. She’s also one of the key local organizers of
Social media is beginning to notice that the Whitehouse.gov website deleted pages related to LGBT issues and climate change almost immediately after Donald Trump completed the oath of office. Add to that one more curiosity — the famed White House petition process appears to be thwarting an early attempt at asking the new president to
Sandra Austin, chairwoman of the DeKalb Democratic Party, died at home this morning. She was 69. Austin won re-election to a fifth two-year term as chairwoman in December, and was also serving as vice president of the Georgia Association of Democratic County Chairs. “We have lost a gentle giant,” said state senator Gail Buckner. She
