Category: Government

Last week Sen. Ed Setzler (R- Acworth) announced he was considering legislation that will allow County Commission races to be non-partisan. This would allow candidates across Georgia to run “undercover” and prevent them from having to publicly state with which party they affiliate. 

It is self-evident how politicians would benefit from this new secrecy, creating more ignorant voters, but would voters and taxpayers benefit from not knowing the ideology of the candidates? 

“You look at Smyrna, Marietta, Acworth as examples, Powder Springs,” said Sen. Setzler. “These are well-run cities that run on consensus. There’s a lot less acrimony, and I think they do a whole lot better delivering services for our citizens than the Cobb County Commission of the last couple years has shown us. And I think Cobb would really benefit from making the change.”

One has to wonder why a self-professed Republican might be scared of candidates identifying with the Republican platform positions. Furthermore, why would we want to allow Democrats to hide their extreme ideology? After all, they are the ones who deny the basic biology of sex and believe it is morally good for minors to be exposed to pornography and permanently destroy their reproductive system with surgery. 

“As Shakespeare has said, ‘A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet’ and a Democrat by any other name would be just as bad,” said Nathaniel Darnell, Cobb RA Chairman. “We often observe that in other non-partisan races, such as judicial races, that low-information voters default to re-electing the incumbent.”

Some politicians like to talk like there is no ideology at play in local government, but this is false and anyone who has attended a Cobb Commission meeting in the last year knows it. 

Please contact Sen. Ed Setzler and let him know you oppose making the Cobb Commission candidates pretend to be bi-partisan.

• Contact Sen. Ed Setzler: ed.setzler@senate.ga.gov

Ideology Matters in Local Government

The “acrimony” in Cobb’s local government that Sen. Setzler is concerned about points to the fact that there is indeed ideology at play in local government. One of the fundamental differences between the political parties is a disagreement about what “services” local government should provide. Should the government give you cradle-to-the-grave, nanny-state socialism? 

In 2022 the Cobb County Commission wanted to provide the “service” of a county-wide trash removal program, a government monopoly to the company lucky enough to get the contract, thereby destroying the free-market competition provided by competing trash service companies. Democrats on the County Commission thought this “service” was a great idea to let the government forcibly take money from taxpayers and coerce them into receiving this “service”, whether they liked the service or not. This would have resulted in yet another monstrous, unaccountable, non-optional, government bureaucracy that is far more slow to respond to the needs of the people than the free market. Thankfully, Cobb RA members organized the community in a “Save My Cobb Trash Collector” campaign and successfully stopped this egregious assault on freedom. 

Should the County Commission fund a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” program to indoctrinate citizens with tax dollars? How would you know if a candidate is likely to support a DEI program if they don’t state a party affiliation up front?

Marietta, GA — Dozens of Cobb RA members and other conservative patriots showed up in force at the Cobb Commission meeting Tuesday night. Approximately 40 concerned citizens spoke out against the “Stormwater Fee” or “Rain Tax.” Only two women in favor of the tax presented. The meeting was “spirited” to say the least with Democrat Chairwoman Cupid pausing the meeting several times for breaks.

In the end, the commission voted to table the Rain Tax proposal until August.

Cobb RA member Christine Rozman, who oversees the Government Accountability Task Force (GATF) in Cobb, reported: “Fantastic results can happen when we show up for meetings and SPEAK OUT – and/or email the Commissioners or just FILL THE ROOM! Speaking of filling the room – it was PACKED and lots of folks standing.”

Citizens came holding lap signs with effective messaging that helped fuel the cause. It was close to 11:30 when the commissioners finally voted to table the Rain Tax issue until August. 

Fox 5 Atlanta reported further on the story here.

You can watch the full Cobb County Commission meeting and see all of the comments from citizens here:

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.

Last night, our Cobb County Republican Assembly chapter met at the Chuy’s Mexican restaurant near Town Center Mall to hear from a local guest panel of Cobb RA activists who provided us with a report on what is happening and what we can do to help locally with our Cobb County Board of Education, our Board of Elections, and our Cobb County Commission.

Our guest of panelists were Cobb RA members who have become local experts for each of these local government boards: Audrey Neu is a Cobb RA member who has worked with Truth in Education and serves as the official liaison between the Cobb Board of Education and the Cobb County GOP. Debbie Fisher is a former Cobb RA chapter President now serving as the Republican board member on the Cobb County Board of Elections. Christine Rozman is a Cobb RA member who serves on the Government Accountability Task Force (GATF) and provides vigilant oversight of virtually every meeting of the county commission.

With all the recent attacks from the left, on numerous issues and problems in every branch of government, activists like you and I can sometimes feel overwhelmed. You can’t fight everywhere all the time. 

These panelists have taken the wise course of focusing their efforts strategically, on a specific target. Folks came to learn how they could make a difference and help maximize their efforts.

There are a lot of exciting developments going on in each of these local arenas as we prepare for the primary season and elections next year! Although the federal government usually gets far more attention, local and state government have a huge impact on your life, and pose a significant threat to your liberty, your family, your home and your standard of living. We believe that civil government is most effective when it is more locally controlled. Citizens like you can have far more political impact at the local level, than in D.C.

Thanks to everyone who came to network, share ideas, and find answers to your questions from these like-minded patriot experts in our community.

Marietta — In a story that has gained national attention, the Cobb County Board of Education thankfully votied 4-to-3 in favor of parental rights and upholding the recommendation of the superintendent to protect children from transgenderism! They upheld the firing of the teacher who read the book pushing radical and unrealistic transgender concepts at the cost of Cobb taxpayers.

Cobb RA member & Cobb GOP education liaison Audrey Neu said: “Our board members showed tremendous courage tonight. Both the state law and county policy are clear on this issue. Parental rights must be upheld and respected by the teachers and staff. I’m thankful we have a Superintendent and Board willing to stand up and protect the children of Cobb County.”

As we reported previously, the ordeal began when a Cobb County teacher read a book promoting transgenderism to a group of gifted ten-year-old children without their parents’ knowledge and permission. A parent complained and the superintendent fired the teacher. The firing was appealed to a three-person panel of retired educators.

Local activists thought the panel would easily affirm the firing of the teacher, but even though the tribunal affirmed the contested facts in the appeal, acknowledging that rules were broken, they recommended that the teacher not be fired. The story swelled with national attention from the media as the Cobb Board of Education met last week to decide whether to accept the recommendation of the tribunal or of the superintendent.

Cobb RA members and other concerned activists in the county sounded the alarm and mobilized numerous people to show up at the board meeting Thursday evening to encourage them to do the right thing during the time for public comments. They argued for parental rights over education and against brainwashing children in the unrealistic radical ideas of transgenderism at taxpayer expense.

In Cobb County, the only elected civil government board that Republicans still have majority-control over is the Board of Education. The county commission is now composed of three Democrats to two Republicans, but even when Republicans still controlled the county commission Republicans frequently voted for Democrat policies such as tax increases rather than spending cuts. Constituents wondered if one of the Republicans in the majority Board of Education would likewise in this instance join with the Democrats to absolve the teacher.

If she was allowed to get away with this violation, how might other educators be emboldened to push the envelope in the future?

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) defended the teacher, arguing among other things that the book should be allowed to be read to enable a free-flow of ideas. The SPLC betrayed their hypocrisy, however, since they were the organization that back in 2001 sued Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore for having a Ten Commandments monument in the state Judicial Building. In that case, the SPLC argued that it was too offensive for an adult attorney to happen to see the Ten Commandments in his peripheral vision as he walked by to the law library—but the SPLC has no problem with minor children being forced-fed transgender ideology at the cost of the taxpayer!

This shows that although groups such as SPLC have claimed they defend freedom of expression, what they are really in favor of is using state power and tax-funding to coercively censor ideas they don’t like and to push ideas they do not. They do this not just on adults, but on vulnerable and impressionable minor children. They want to censor ideas contrary to their worldview, and indoctrinate children in the faith-based presuppositions of their worldview even though they have spent decades making that accusation against Christians in the public arena. This hypocrisy illustrates that they are devoid of credibility.

Thankfully, the Cobb Board of Education voted along party lines to uphold the firing of the teacher. Those in favor of parental rights and protecting children overwhelmingly outnumbered the other side.

You can watch the video of the two hearings before the board recorded last Thursday and see the public comments expressed by many Cobb RA members at this link.

The GRA’s 3rd Vice President Abigail Darnell from Cobb, who spoke at the hearing, was interviewed by WSB radio Saturday evening about the story on the MalaniKai Show, and you can hear her interview here at timecode 20:50 of the broadcast.

Marietta, GA—Cobb RA members & other concerned citizens packed the room at the Cobb County Commissioners Meeting on July 25th to speak against the proposed tax increase. Roughly 30 citizens spoke, the overwhelming majority opposing the proposed property tax increase.

Many of the homeowners demonstrated how significantly their property tax bill has increased and explained how higher taxes harms their family. One gentleman asked the board, “What should we cut from our budgets? Should we turn off the AC in Summer and our heat in Winter? Should people turn their pets in to the County shelter because they can no longer afford it? Should we drive on bald tires? Should we stop buying presents for our children and grandchildren? Please let me and the thousands of other homeowners know what we should cut in order to pay for this tax increase.”

The vote did not occur until after 9:30pm. Cobb County Republican Commissioner Keli Gambrill (previously endorsed by the Cobb RA and victorious in a contested primary) made a motion to substitute the proposed Democrat budget with a decrease from 8.46 mills to 7.168 mills for the general fund. Cobb Republican Commissioner JoAnn Birrell seconded the motion.

Sadly, Gambrill’s motion failed and the original proposal for the tax increase just passed along party lines. The Democrats on the Commission voted to raise our property taxes and increase the County budget for next year by $19 Million!

The Commissioners indicated that the increased budget was to offset inflation for County employees, and the additional funds would go to provide salaries, pensions, healthcare, etc. But why should government employees be shielded from the effects of inflation, at the expense of non-government employees?

GOP activist and Cobb Republican Assembly member Pam Reardon said, “We’re going in to a big recession and we are all hurting, but you’re not, because you have our money!”

“We are all feeling the effects of inflation, but our Commissioners are like Marie Antoinette who said, ‘the people don’t have bread, so let them eat cake’, said Cobb RA Member Jan Barton from the podium.

As partisan as the results were last night, many of the activists in the room still remember when it was Republican Commissioners in Cobb County as late as 2017 leading the charge to raise taxes rather than to cut spending. The results of that disastrous policy had much to do with what led to the county commission fliping Democrat in recent years. It is a reminder that is not enough for a candidate for county commission to call themselves a “Republican.” They must be committed to small-government, fiscally-responsible, and low-tax policy as the Republican platform has historically committed.

Likewise the School Board has increased their budget to unbelievable proportions, despite the fact that since 2019, the number of students enrolled in Cobb schools has diminished by 4,000-6,000 students. This departure is a national trend since the Covid lockdowns, as more and more families are choosing alternative education for their children.

“My question is this, why do you need more money to teach fewer students?” asked Abigail Darnell during her public comment. She went on to show that the Fiscal Year 2024 budget for Cobb Schools is more than $1.4 Billion. When that number is divided by the 106,703 students enrolled, it shows Cobb County is spending a whopping $13,579 per student, per year. This amount is far more than what is spent by most homeschool families in the private sector, who are also not given any relief from the school tax that pays for the bloated government education system that they do not use.

One of the many tax reforms needed includes an exemption from the school tax for all families who choose alternative education for their children, or who are empty-nesters without school-aged children.

Special thanks to Cobb RA member Christine Rozman for helping to get the word out about this hearing through her Government Accountability Task Force newsletter, and to the folks at CobbTaxRevolt.com for helping to create awareness as well.