Conservative Forum 7-12-08

We had a packed house for the Conservative Forum on July 12, 2008, and the First Amendment was in full swing.  Although sponsored by the Hall County GOP, all are invited to hear conservative speakers at our Forum.

In attendance were the following elected officials:  Representative James Mills, Representative Carl Rogers, District Attorney Lee Darragh, State Court Judge Charlie Wynne, Hall County Commission Chairman Tom Oliver, Hall County Commissioner Bobby Banks, Probate Judge Patty Cornett, School Board Member Craig Harrington, and Hall County Commissioner Billy Powell’s wife Helen Powell.

The following non-elected officials were present.  U. S. Marshal Richard Mecum (also former Hall County Sheriff and Former Hall County GOP Chair), Associate Magistrate Court Judge David Burroughs and Chief Assistant Solicitor General Jennifer Scalia.

The following former officials were present: Former Sheriff Bob Vass, Former Hall GOP Chair P. Martin Ellard, Former Hall GOP Chair Joe Cwik, and former Hall GOP Chair Gordon Sawyer.

The following candidates for office were present:  Candidate for State Court Judge Sonny Sykes, Candidate for Elections Commissioner J.C. Smith, Candidate for Hall County Commissioner Chris Masters.

The speakers were the candidates for Hall County Clerk of Court: Charles Barker, Jennifer Gibs, and Bob Vass.  All three speakers started with a 5 minute opening statement.  Then they fielded about 10 questions.  All three candidates agreed that the passport money should be returned to Hall County and pleged to do so.  They all agreed to have clerks in the courtrooms during open court and to have clerks be in charge of the clerk’s files for court (something not done now one attorney had a client bring a clerks file in a felony case to her office one time).  They all agreed to provide certified copies of convictions for outside agencies (something the DA’s office does now).  They all agreed that the jury pool needed to be expanded. 

The differencees I heard were that Charles was most interested in the expanded jury pool and the technical issues surrounding that process and he has 30 years of experience working under Dwight; Jennifer wants to put her audit and computer experience to work to automate the clerk’s office to include electronic filing and she had concerns about employee overtime and specifing the amount of work each employee is required to do; and Bob has experience as a former elected official in Hall County, managing a large Hall County budget, and understanding the Hall County court system.  I was timing the speakers to I might have missed some interesting stuff, but so did Access North Georgia.

Of interest to the press was Charles Baker’s revelation that he had questiond Clerk Dwight Wood’s authority to keep the passport fees and that the Commission has requested that Dwight return $25,000 of that money to the budget.  Everyone keeps saying there is nothing “illegal” about keeping the passport money, however, for what it is worth, I have an unofficial opinion of the Attorney General that says the money must be returned to the County account.

After the forum, we had an informal meeting with the members of the Executive committee, James Mills, Marshal Mecum and others to discuss the Bob Vass matter.  No offical action (or reconsideation of any prior action) was taken at the meeting.  I will develop a written statement and present it on this blog (and through other media  outlets) when appropriate.  Since I have been criticized by many Democrats (who support Bob Vass) and personally threatened by Bob Vass’ Democrat campaign manager Alex Taylor, I guess I better be careful what I say.  😉