November 2023 – Cobb County Republican Assembly

Cobb GOP Committee Meeting Splits Over Resolution Rules

November 30, 2023 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Issues

Marietta, GA—The Cobb GOP County Committee met at the Central Cobb County Library “Switzer” branch Wednesday evening to set the dates for the up-coming 2024 Precinct Caucus Meeting and the County Convention, to appoint committees to run these events, and to amend county party rules. Although the meeting was largely non-controversial, the meeting did get a bit testy when new rule amendments were presented governing how the Cobb GOP’s resolutions could be presented and passed.

Ever since September 2021 when the Cobb GOP County Committee overwhelmingly passed a resolution publicly “censuring” or reprimanding Governor Brian Kemp for failing to deal with illegal immigration as he promised (and, as some contend, for failing to fully investigate the allegations of election fraud before certifying the 2020 presidential election in Georgia) the Cobb GOP has reined in the power of the county GOP’s Resolutions Committee. The Cobb GOP was targeted for issuing that resolution even though other GOP organizations such as the 14th Congressional District GA GOP, the 3rd District GA GOP, the Whitfield County GOP and other official GOP organizations around the state have also issued public resolutions reprimanding Republican-elected officials at the state capitol for failing to promote Republican principles or policies, and for generally failing to advance the Republican agenda.

The public backlash against that Cobb resolution involved so much pressure immediately after it happened in 2021, that the county committee over-corrected a procedural mishap by approving rules proposed by Establishment influences within the Cobb GOP (which some say were led by then Rules Committee Chairwoman Donna Rowe, who now serves as the Parliamentarian). These rules stifled the Resolutions Committee’s ability to present proposed resolutions directly to the county committee without first going through the Cobb GOP Executive Committee.

Under those current rules, the Resolutions Committee is prohibited from presenting more than two resolutions at a time. The Cobb GOP Executive Committee also has to first vet any resolutions the Resolutions Committee wants to propose to the full county committee before they are allowed to do so.

One of the proposed rule amendments on Wednesday which passed enabled the county GOP Executive Committee to possibly allow for more than two resolutions, at its discretion. The more contentious proposal would have required the Executive Committee to give the Resolutions Committee 45-day notice of a forthcoming county committee meeting so that the Resolutions Committee could prepare timely resolutions in preparation for that meeting.

Cobb GOP Resolutions Committee Chairman Leroy Emkin from East Cobb used the discussion to argue against the two-resolution restriction on the Resolutions Committee. John McLean from West Cobb, who is also a member of the Resolutions Committee, said that the committee needed more time to produce timely resolutions before meetings, given the new restrictions that the Resolutions Committee has in order to have resolutions vetted by the Executive Committee 15 days in advance of the county committee meeting.

Former Cobb GOP Executive Committee officer Catherine Floam argued that the 45-day requirement would be too cumbersome for the Executive Committee, particularly when sometimes the Cobb GOP cannot schedule meetings related to things such as conventions until the state GA GOP completes preliminary business, and this may not allow for 45 days advance notice. Failure to follow the proposed 45-day requirement might invalidate the call of a committee meeting, Cobb RA President Chris Deeb expressed.

Cobb GOP Secretary Lily Deeb agreed that the proposed 45-day requirement would be too cumbersome for their team of volunteers, and argued that the 15-day requirement for the resolutions to be submitted for vetting to the Executive Committee was what was creating the problem.

All of the main participants in this debate, including Emkin, McLean, Floam, and Deeb are Cobb RA members serving on the Cobb GOP County Committee. In the course of the discussion, a motion was made to call the question and end debate, but that motion failed, and the debate continued until the 45-day proposal was eventually tabled.

“The problem stems from the Cobb GOP putting these additional restrictions on the Resolutions Committee since 2021,” said Nathaniel Darnell, the Cobb RA Chairman. “They should not require the Resolutions Committee to have all resolutions vetted by the Executive Committee prior to a county committee meeting, nor should they have a two-resolution restriction on the Resolutions Committee. We’ve never done it that way before during the last ten years I’ve been involved. The proposed resolutions should simply be shared with the Chairwoman and Secretary in advance to be included as attachments in the Call for a full Cobb GOP County Committee meeting, just like they do for proposed rule-changes from the Rules Committee.”

“The way they’re doing it now,” said John McLean, “I don’t understand what the point is of even having a Resolutions Committee! It really doesn’t motivate me to want to continue to serve on the committee.” McLean expressed interest in the Cobb GOP Rules Committee potentially adopting Darnell’s suggested solution. He just did not want Cobb GOP Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs to be blind-sighted by a proposed resolution prior to a county committee meeting.

McLean added that he believed the Resolutions Committee needs to be able to issue timely resolutions as our elected officials face pending bills and deadlines in order to provide feedback and accountability.

Sorry, Not Sorry: Governor Kemp Has Only Himself to Blame

November 22, 2023 by Cobb Republican Assembly in Government / Issues

In a recent article entitled “You Have Only Yourself to Blame” from The Marietta Daily Journal about the previous Cobb GOP breakfast, State Senator Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) was asked by several participants why Governor Brian Kemp is doing so little to help his fellow Republicans in our county and in the state in general. “He says he’s a Christian,” said one questioner. “When is he going to act like a Christian?”

Questioners reportedly asked in particular about the Executive branch’s failure to help with the “home rule” controversy pertaining to the Cobb Commission maps, and about the Governor’s refusal to call a special session to hold Democrat D.A. Fani Willis accountable for her harassment of the alternate electors (and other charges of misconduct).

Senator Setzler replied that he believes Kemp is retaliating against the Cobb GOP for issuing a public reprimand against the Governor in September 2021 after he certified the 2020 Presidential Election without fully investigating it for evidence of election fraud.

“When a party organization, you may think you’re justified, when a party organization formally and in writing censures a sitting governor from their own party in a rebuke, I can guarantee you what that “When a party organization, you may think you’re justified, when a party organization formally and in writing censures a sitting governor from their own party in a rebuke,” Setzler is reported to have said, “I can guarantee you what that means. Your party organization’s voice vanishes. … That doesn’t mean whether you are right or wrong on the issue. Set that aside. But when parties rebuke in writing and resolution their own sitting governor — you have every right to do that, but when you feel like your voice isn’t there anymore, you have only yourself to blame.”

Here is another case in politics of the tail wagging the dog. In our constitutional system, we are told that it is “We the people” who are in charge of the civil government, and that the Constitution is “the Supreme Law of the Land” but we still we have elected officials who seem to think they are over the people and the laws, and will make personal vendettas a higher priority ahead of doing the right thing to help the state, or even their own party. It’s also incredibly ungrateful since these folks have campaigned for Kemp, donated to him, and voted for him. It’s a slap in the face.

At best, it’s like a team’s football quarterback has decided to throw easy interceptions to the opposing team instead of his own team because he’s mad at the defensive lineman for not blocking a tackle when the quarterback previously lobbed the ball to other team.

“This confirms what we all know,” said Cobb RA President Chris Deeb. “Kemp is small, petty, and vicious.”

While we at the Cobb Republican Assembly at the time did take exception to some of the procedure used in how the public reprimand of Governor Kemp was adopted in Cobb, we have expressed from the beginning and still to this day affirm that we believe the Cobb GOP ultimately did the right thing in calling out the Governor. When Republican officials will not receive private entreaties and/or when their wrong actions are public in nature and harmful to the community at large, it is appropriate for those actions to be publicly rebuked. Otherwise, the rest of the society might assume that all Republicans approve of such bad actions.

Christians have a Bible verse that reminds them “judgment begins in the House of God” (I Peter 4:17). It means that before Christians can preach against sins they observe in the rest of the world, they first have to address their own sins in the Church. By the same token, before Republicans can rebuke Democrats with credibility, they have to first hold their own accountable to what they preach.

Accountability is what we need more of in the Republican Party throughout Georgia. Not a lap-dog mentality to those in positions of high office.

If we genuinely respect God more than politicians, we have to confront them when they violate God’s transcendent moral principles (upon which our Republican Party platform principles are based) found in “the laws of nature and the laws of nature’s God” (i.e. the Bible)—just as our founders did. God will certainly hold us accountable if we do not hold our political officials accountable.

Cobb RA Convention: Panel with Georgia Freedom Caucus Leadership & Officer Elections

November 13, 2023 by Cobb Republican Assembly in conventions / events / Government / Issues

We enjoyed a great county convention last Monday for our Cobb RA chapter as local officers were elected & attendees got to hear from Georgia Freedom Caucus leadership State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade), State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee), Mallory Staples, & Blake Bassham on the dynamics of politics at the state capitol. They discussed up-coming legislative efforts, including ones to revise the RICO laws and provide relief for the alternate electors.

Our friends at TurningPointUSA also held a table at that event and shared about their initiative to increase voter registration.

The members present at the business portion of the county convention voted to elect the following officers for our chapter: Chris Deeb as the Cobb RA President, Nathaniel Darnell as the Chairman, Matthew Hardwick as the 1st Vice President, Jerry Ramsey as the 2nd Vice President, Sophia Farooq as the 3rd Vice President, Nancy Rikard as the Secretary, and Angie Rawles as the Treasurer.

Those who missed the event can now watch the video interview with State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) presented that evening here: