2021 – Page 2 – Cobb County Republican Assembly

Making Traffic Tickets a “Cash Cow” Incentivizes Government to Criminalize More People, & Privatizing It Is Corrupt

February 16, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Issues

Jessica Szilagyi is a journalist investigative reporter who was a Republican activist in Cobb County for a while, and now reports regularly for several newspapers and forums across the state, including The Georgia Virtue. She published an excellent article today critiquing how the Republican-controlled state legislature has approved and financed contracts with a private company to facilitate the promotion of traffic tickets as a means of “cash cow” revenue for local government.

She writes: “The placement of privately-owned speed detection cameras in cities across the state are helping municipalities generate revenue with no effort or investment while private businesses profit off of otherwise criminal traffic offenses.

“As the prevalence of these cameras grows, however, so does the scrutiny under which they fall.…

“The entire process is authorized under OCGA 40-14-18, which was approved via HB 978 in 2017. The law took effect on July 1, 2018.

The article entitled “Limits On Policing For Profit Circumvented In GA Cities With Outsourced Traffic Citations” focuses especially on how the law is being applied in the city of Stillmore in southeast Georgia. Apparently, the city gets its name because the officials think there’s “Still More” ways they can tax its citizens other than by the normal usual methods.

Jessica writes:

“In Stillmore, a small town in southeast Georgia’s Emanuel County, the private company RedSpeed – Georgia reached out about installing cameras in the school zone inside the 3.2 square mile city limits. The town’s population is a mere 530 people, but the city is home to David Emanuel Academy and Cryder Foods, which place exponentially more vehicles in town than would be traveling through otherwise. …

“RedSpeed’s contract is for a period of five years with an automatic one year renewal after year five, up to five times. The contract allocates 67% of the fines collected to the City of Stillmore and RedSpeed retains 33%, plus any service fees. An additional 2% service fee for each violation is paid for a License Plate Reader. RedSpeed keeps video data for 25 days unless asked by the governing bodies to keep the footage longer. …

“According to public records obtained by The Georgia Virtue, since September 2020, a total of 564 violations have been paid due to the camera installations, resulting in $42,525 fines collected and $27,641.25 paid to the city. It is not clear how many violations were issued but had not yet been paid, nor does RedSpeed report to the city how many violations resulted in a lien.”

Photos of RedSpeed’s speed detection machines from Jessica’s article.

These cameras are currently also in use in other cities in Georgia, such as Vidalia, Brookhaven, and Dunwoody.

Jessica continues:

“RedSpeed Georgia, LLC was incorporated in September 2018 – three months after the legislation took effect in Georgia. Since November 2020, a total of $48,500 has been donated to representatives, senators, the Governor, Lt. Governor, and a Public Service Commissioner. …

Read more about what Jessica un-covered and exposed in her investigation on this subject in her full article “Limits On Policing For Profit Circumvented In GA Cities With Outsourced Traffic Citations,” which you can see here.

Democrats in Congress Show What Arbitrary Power Looks Like

February 14, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in events

Practically everyone who remembers the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton from 1998 remembers what the charges where against him. However, it’s been less than a year since President Donald Trump was first acquitted in an impeachment proceeding Democrats led against him, and hardly anyone can remember what Trump was impeached for!

That’s because in the past Congress had some sense of the gravity involved in making an impeachment charge against an elected official. Now Democrats are simply showing how with a simple majority you can impeach or sanction anyone you want—regardless of how ridiculous and strained the charges may be!

Their willingness to exercise arbitrary majority power illustrates the wisdom of our founding fathers in making us a republic rather than a democracy. In a democracy, the temporary 51% can reap whatever havoc they arbitrarily want over the 49% but in a republic the majority has checks and balances.

These last couple of weeks the Democrats’ arbitrary power was on full display has they led unconstitutional impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump even though he is no longer serving as President. The bitter partisanship of the strained charges compelled Georgia Congresswoman Majorie Taylor Greene (R-14) to file a bill likewise calling for the impeachment of recently sworn-in Democrat President Joe Biden due to the evidence that he leveraged his federal government connections with Ukraine to win his son Hunter favorable business.

Her bill so infuriated Democrats—who aren’t used to Republicans giving them such a taste of their own medicine—that they also brought up arbitrary charges against Congressswoman Greene in order to remove her from her committee assignments! Even people who do not agree with many things President Trump and Congresswoman Greene have communicated on social media can see what these proceedings were really about.

The real reason Marjorie’s received so much scrutiny and flack is because she is taking the fight to the enemy. Republicans have never harassed radical leftists such as “AOC+3” like this for the kinds of extreme and wild things they’ve said or done to the point of talking about “expelling” them. The Democrats are trying to use Marjorie as an example to intimidate all Republicans so they’ll stay nice little docile creatures and let the Democrats get away with anything they want for the next two years.

Let the record show, however, that we want more Republicans who will take the fight to the Democrats over the next two years.

If you haven’t seen Marjorie’s excellent speech from the House floor, click the image above to watch it now!

End the Mask Mandates in Your Community

February 13, 2021 by Abigail Darnell in Campaign / Issues / Rallies

It can be easy to feel helpless under the crushing weight of government actions that can all be excused by simply saying “due to the coronavirus.”

One of the most popular demands now is “we must mandate masks!”

Social media post sarcastically mocking the peer pressure to wear masks

Many people are understandably shocked to see their community fall so quickly under the thumb of local tyrants.

But we decided that instead of just giving in, we were going to do something about it.

By keeping elected officials accountable and refusing to back down, we were able to defeat the mask mandate in Whitfield County Georgia!

Unfortunately, many other counties and cities all across Georgia still force people to wear masks.

Whether it is everywhere or only inside public buildings or businesses a mask mandate is an infringement on your rights.

With the help of freedom loving Georgians like you, we can end mask mandates in the Peach State.

By working at the local level to defeat mask mandates we will bring freedom to our state while building a coalition of pro-freedom Georgians to make sure the mask mandates stay gone.

This is how we fought and won in Whitfield County, and how we can help you win in your community. Read More

Two Announce Candidacy for Cobb County GOP Chair

February 6, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Campaign / conventions / Election / events

This morning at the Cobb GOP Headquarters for the monthly breakfast, two activists announced their intention to run for Cobb GOP Chairman to replace Jason Shepherd as his term is about to end mid-April: Pam Alayon and Lisa Adkins. Both have been active in the Cobb County Republican Party for years. Dr. Lisa Adkins has been a leading volunteer in the Cobb YRs for years, and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the 11th District GOP organization. She made a soft announcement several days ago on social media, and publicly presented her candidacy at the conclusion of today’s breakfast meeting. Lisa is running on a motto to “modernize and revitalize” the Cobb Republican Party.

Prior to that during the breakfast this morning, activist Jeff Souther (who formerly served on the Executive Committee for the Cobb RAs) sponsored the announcement from Pam Alayon that she would also be running. Pam has been serving as the Vice Chair of Membership in the Cobb County Republican Party under Jason Shepherd, and serves on the Diversity Board of the National Federation of Republican Women. Pam announced her proposed slate of executive officers that would be campaigning with her:

Chairman – Pamela Alayon
First Vice-Chair – Jean Young
Vice-Chair of Party and Grassroots Development – Dr. Fun Fong
Vice-Chair of Communications and Information – Jeff Souther
Vice-Chair of Membership – Mario Russo
Secretary – Catherine Floam
Treasurer – Dave Tolka

Former Georgia Republican Party Chair Sue Everhart from Cobb spoke expressing her endorsement of Pam Alayon as well. Alayon announced that her candidacy represents a more collaborative leadership style than many other chairs have applied in the past. She indicated that her slate of executive officers would be empowered to lead the organization more, that she would not be micro-managing or top heavy as has been done in the past, but would equip experts in different fields and delegate to them.

Lisa Adkins said her candidacy would seek to bring groups together and return us to our roots and values. Both candidates spoke about reaching out to segments in the community that have been overlooked in the past.

Speculation continues as to whether any third person would be announcing his or her intentions to join this race.

In the past, the Cobb County Republican Assembly has hosted candidate forums to give candidates in local races an opportunity to represent themselves to the activists who would be voting in the county convention to elect them. Expect the Cobb RAs to announce a similar forum in the weeks ahead. After forums, members of the Cobb RAs have the opportunity to endorse a candidate by a two-thirds majority, if they so choose.

Cobb RA Board Elects a New Secretary

February 5, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Election

Today we have a bittersweet announcement: Jeff Souther has been not only an amazing activist member of the Cobb RAs for the last several years, but also one of our key executive officers. Most recently, he has been serving as the Secretary of the Cobb RAs. But now Jeff has to step down to prepare for some new things in his life. He will continue to be a valued and appreciated member and activist. We know that all who have had the pleasure of working with Jeff have been grateful for him.

However, we are pleased to announce that the Cobb RA Executive Committee has elected Catherine Floam to fill in his role as Secretary moving forward. Catherine has a passionate vision for improving the Republican cause in Georgia. Formerly, she served as an officer of the Greater McLean Republican Women’s Club in Northern Virginia and as a volunteer for a number of campaigns and recently as a monitor and poll watcher for the 2020 recounts and senate runoff. Catherine also worked as the director of production for two political consulting and direct mail firms in Washington DC and as an HOA Vice-President. She currently is launching a small business and managing a rental property.

Catherine holds a BA from Loyola University Maryland. She has three children—a son who is a West Point grad and an officer in South Korea; another son who works in the film industry in Atlanta; and an 18-year-old daughter. Catherine enjoys reading, cooking, entertaining, playing tennis and meeting new people. Catherine and her husband, Andy, live in Marietta and attend StoneBridge Church.

Andy is on the bar in Georgia and Maryland and is a partner of a law firm based out of Maryland practicing patent law. Catherine’s oldest son is a West Point graduate and currently an officer in the Army serving in South Korea; her middle son works in the Atlanta film industry and lives in Smyrna; and her youngest daughter is a senior in high school with a customized hybrid homeschool education. They reside in Marietta in West Cobb.

We hope you’ll join us in welcoming and congratulating Catherine in the new role!

Cobb GOP Sets Its Mass Precinct Meeting to March 13th

February 2, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in conventions / events

It’s convention season for the Republican Party in Georgia, and to kick that off, activists will have the opportunity to participate in the Mass Precinct Meeting in Cobb County!

The date for Cobb: March 13, 2021.

Some have expressed confusion because material being put on on social media shows the Mass Precinct Meeting scheduled for “March 20th.” That material is over-simplified. To explain: The Call of the GAGOP allows counties with populations over 80,000 to schedule their Mass Precinct Meeting anytime between March 11th and March 20th. The Cobb County Republican Committee met on February 2nd and voted to schedule their Mass Precinct Meeting on March 13th. Other counties with over 80,000 may have their Mass Precinct Meeting on March 20th, if they so choose.

Cobb RA members at the Cobb GOP Committee Meeting were successful in defeating a proposal that would have apportioned delegates to the county convention on April 17th to only one delegate for every 250 voters in favor of Donald Trump last November. (Normally the ratio is one delegate for every 50 voters for the presidential nominee.) The proposal would have meant five of Cobb’s most Republican precincts would have been under-represented as delegates compared to previous years.

The Cobb GOP Mass Precinct Meeting will open registration at 8:30am on Saturday, March 13th at the Hilton Marietta Conference Center and participation is free. No admissions will be permitted after 10:00am.

Victory for Freedom & Self Government: Whitfield County Commissioners Abolish Mask Mandate Following Community Outcry

January 28, 2021 by Abigail Darnell in Issues

In a great example for Cobb and other counties in Georgia, on January 11th the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners voted to repeal a controversial mask mandate imposed on all citizens within county facilities and vehicles. Reconsideration of the mask mandate was not originally on the meeting agenda, but after receiving stacks of petitions, calls and emails from constituents decrying the mandate the week prior, the Commissioners amended the agenda to address their concerns. Supporters of the repeal are calling it a “huge win for freedom and personal responsibility in Whitfield County.”

Billy Jo Wilson delivers End the Mask Mandate! petitions to County Clerk Blanca Cardona

Billy Joe Wilson spoke at the meeting in favor of the repeal “I have heard the comments that this is only for county buildings, this is still a mandate that I can’t use these buildings which are tax payer funded unless I abide by your arbitrary mandate.”

Wilson is a life-long resident of Whitfield County and when asked why he chose to do something about the mask mandate replied, “The almighty God does not force me to obey His righteousness, He convinces me that His way is better. Just because you have a good idea doesn’t mean you have the right to give a man a gun and force it.”

“Should Abortion Remain Legal?” Survey Sparks Dialogue at Dalton State

January 27, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Campaign / events

On Tuesday, Cobb GRA member Abigail Darnell led a group of 17 pro-life activists in conducting an informal survey of student opinions on the campus of Dalton State College on the subject of abortion and other controversial bio-ethical practices that kill human beings. The activists were predominantly members of Northwest Georgia Right to Life (NWGRTL), the organization that hosted the event.

April Fry, the Director of Education for Georgia Right to Life said, “We are here to talk to the students about the sanctity of human life so that they would value all innocent human life, including those that cannot speak for themselves.”

“What you all are doing here, it is making a difference. It really makes people question how they think,” said Mellissa, one of the students surveyed.

The GRA has a strong pro-life position in its statement of principles in favor of life being protected from conception, and GRA members appointed to a committee for the GA GOP passed a platform for the Georgia Republican Party last summer that included the assertion: “We believe in the right to life from conception, beginning at fertilization, to natural death.”

To create interest in the subject at Dalton State College and help inform the dialogue, the pro-life group on Tuesday set up a large display containing pictures of a developing pre-born child, some thought-provoking stories of experiments on human life in the laboratory that raises bio-ethical concerns, as well as some graphic pictures of abortion victims. Read More

Read, Set, Fight!

January 19, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Election / Government / Issues

It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot. For at least the next two years in Georgia, Republicans still have control of the State Capitol. There’s no time to waste!

With the legislative session in Atlanta having just begun, our elected Republican state legislators need to get serious and address the horrendous holes in our state’s election system that led to concerns about probable voter fraud and abuse in the previous general election and runoff!

Here are some things they should prioritize:

Georgia should have NO absentee ballots issued in an election that do not require proof of I.D. and/or a notary.
DeKalb & Fulton Counties should NOT be allowed to submit their vote totals hours after everyone else! They are the most urban counties in the state. If anything, they should be more high-tech and the first to report.

Cobb County RA Chair Nathaniel Darnell volunteering as a poll worker on January 5th.

After all of the complaints expressed about ballot counting for the November presidential election, our Cobb RA Chairman Nathaniel Darnell volunteered as a poll watcher at a precinct for the U.S. Senate runoff. “Having paid very close attention to how the Dominion voting system worked,” Nathaniel said, “I see no reason why, if Fulton and DeKalb are using the same system, it should take them so much longer to report than it did for Cobb. As soon as the polls were closed, the poll workers at our precinct in Cobb showed me a printout receipt that had the exact totals of all the votes each candidate received in our precinct. It was instant.”

Fulton and DeKalb should have had the same instant totals. The only thing left to be done would have been adding those numbers to the absentee ballot totals and early vote totals, which should have been ready to add very simply and just as instantly. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger should require each county to have all early votes and absentee ballots counted and ready to add to the day-of election votes so that there is no delay that could feed concerns about about counties such as Fulton stuffing ballots to change the outcome.

Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan demoted three Republican senators who called for a special session and more thorough investigations into the alleged voter fraud.

In addition, there have also been calls for the legislature to re-evaluate the security of the Dominion Voting System, and this should receive due scrutiny.

However, our leaders in Georgia are off to a bumpy start in addressing these and other related concerns dear to the hearts of thousands of Republican voters across the state. To his credit, Governor Brian Kemp has declared that making Photo IDs required for absentee ballots will be “front and center” this year.

Fulton County Election Court Case Continues!

January 19, 2021 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Election

Unbeknowdst to most, the court battle over Fulton County’s ballot-stuffing at State Farm Arena on November 3rd continues!

Activist Garland Favorito with VoterGA.org has been keeping folks in the loop about the progress of the case. “Our lawsuit to inspect Fulton County absentee ballots is alive and well!” said Garland. On Wednesday, January 6th, he continued: “We received a protective order to prevent Fulton from tampering with the ballots and we were granted a hearing to determine if Fulton County violated Open Records Request law.” You can watch the hearing held for injunctive relief against Fulton County for the alleged stuffing of absentee ballots at the State Farm Arena during the presidential election on November 3rd. The Constitution Party of Georgia has also helped to spread the word on the latest developments. Monica Perez interviewed Garland on her podcast two days ago. Prior to that, Garland was also interviewed by former State Senator & 3rd GAGOP District Chairman Mike Crane on Common Ground:

Year: 2021