Jacobs may not be out of the woods yet
August 5, 2008 at 5:04 pm by Scott Henry in NewsJust yesterday, we noted what a sorry effort DeKalb Democrats seem to have made to reclaim the House seat lost when former Democratic up-and-comer Mike Jacobs switched parties last year. They began the election season with two potential challengers, but looked to be throwing in the towel with both their candidates disqualified.
Not so fast, says Michelle Conlon, one of the two would-be candidates. She’s appealed a decision by Secretary of State Karen Handel that Conlon hadn’t gathered enough valid signatures to qualify as an independent candidate. Conlon, a sales manager with a renewable energy firm, had tried to get on the ballot after Democrat Keith Gross was disqualified for not meeting residency requirements.
Conlon says she gathered far more than the 1,027 signatures required to qualify, but Handel threw out more than 800 John Hancocks, leaving her 51 short. Conlon has filed a formal appeal in DeKalb Superior Court. No hearing date has been set, but in the meantime, she says she plans to keep campaigning.
Conlon also says the Jacobs campaign tried to influence Handel’s decision by challenging the validity of her petitions. It’s also been speculated that a Jacobs proxy filed the residency challenge against Gross.
“It appears that Mike is trying to litigate his way to re?election,” Conlon says. “Even by his own lawyer’s count, I received more signatures than he received votes in the July Primary. It is clear to me that voters in the district want a choice on the ballot in November, and it seems to me that Mike is looking out for Mike’s best interest, not the best interest of voters.”
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August 5th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Wait, I think I’m missing something here. From my understanding from a few years back, the counties do the signature count, not the Secratary of State. So how can Jacobs influence Handel’s decision if she doesnt make it???
August 6th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Everything I’ve read said it was Handel’s decision. Perhaps they rigged it that Handel decides for democratic leaning counties.
Would be interesting to see how 800 out of 1000 signatures could be thrown out.
I signed it, they were legitimately collecting them in my neighborhood and in front of the neighborhood Kroger.
But Mike Jacobs desperately needs a challenger. He injected Race into the CEO race by forwarding the rightwing PeachPundit falseness against Watson.
And he sold out his entire district by being one of the cheerleaders for Dunwoody Cityhood which basically happens by cherrypicking the Perimeter CID taxbase from the rest of DeKalb’s citizens. And none of Mike’s district is in Dunwoody!
August 6th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
They didn’t throw out 800 of 1000… they threw out more than 800 of the over 1027 votes needed which left Conlon 51 short. that means she had around 1700 to 1800 sigs.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Sorry typo, its 800 of the 1,800 signatures. What’s amazing is that Mike’s reasoning for selling us out to Dunwoody was the right to vote (well not the right for his constituents to vote on Dunwoody taking the Perimeter CID taxbase which is our neighbor and where our police station is located).
So with Gross and Conlon he is doing everything to make sure his constituents don’t have the right to vote.
Oh wait that is consistent, because in both cases Mike supported not letting his constituents have a voice in the decision at hand.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Why is my Google search basically only finding mention of this story here and in a paper in South Carolina?
http://www.fortmilltimes.com/124/story/247282.html
AJC?
August 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Anyone know how I can get more information on Michelle Conlon having about half her signatures thrown out. Is the decision published?
One blog said they misapplied an old ruling to throw out a whole page of signatures if one signature on the page was by an ineligible voter.
GA has a problem with being so unfriendly to non mainstream party candidates.
August 8th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Conlon told me she thought the “whole page” approach may be the rationale for eliminating huge numbers of her signatures.
I have yet to confirm this with Handel’s office, but if true, it’s an argument that strikes me – if I may invoke highly technical legal jargon – as totally fucking bogus.
The decision is now in the hands of the courts – although Handel has already shown her willingness to ignore judges’ rulings on qualifying disputes (see Powell, Jim).
August 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Thanks! It almost sounds like Handel didn’t provide Conlon with specific reasoning for throwing out signatures yet?
It is absolutely scarey how impossible it is to keep up with these backroom decisions.
I constantly try to think that our government is picked by voters but stuff like this makes me feel like a naive fool for thinking that.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
http://billshipponline.com/node/347
Shipp has a good write up on this