Credit monitoring sign-up opens for Georgia voters
by Kathleen Foody, Associated Press December 16, 2015
ATLANTA (AP) — An online sign-up for free credit monitoring opened Wednesday for registered voters whose personal information was released to media and political parties by the Georgia secretary of state's office.
The services with CSID opened Wednesday, 12 days after Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced that his office would cover the estimated $1.2 million cost with reserve funds. People registered to vote as of Oct. 13 can sign up for the services through Feb. 14.
"While I am confident that every voter's personal data is secure, these services are being offered to provide Georgia voters with peace of mind," Kemp said in a written statement.
Voters can sign up for the service at https://www.csid.com/gasos .
A lawsuit filed in November revealed that media and political parties received 12 CDs labeled Oct. 13 containing Social Security and drivers' license numbers and birth dates for nearly 6.2 million registered voters. Kemp has said his office destroyed or accounted for all of the discs.
A report produced by his office and released this week contained no details about that process. At least one recipient who regularly received the voter file has said he threw away the October disc, not realizing it contained sensitive information.
Kemp's office regularly sends an updated list of all registered voters in the state to political parties and news organizations as required by Georgia law. The state sells the file to others. It is supposed to include only a voter's name, residence, mailing address, race, gender, registration date and last voting date.
The report from Kemp's office faulted an employee in the office's Information Technology Division for violating policies and procedures, being unclear with a contractor and giving another employee his login to access a file containing voters' information.
The employee, Gary Cooley, was fired Nov. 17. He has said the report contained "a number of untrue statements."
Kemp has hired the Deloitte consulting firm to audit his office's technology operations, costing $395,000.
Gov. Nathan Deal this week also appointed three private-practice lawyers as special attorneys general representing Kemp in the lawsuit filed by two Georgia voters. No cost estimate was provided.
Deal's executive order said Attorney General Sam Olens and the Georgia Department of Law declined to represent Kemp "due to the potential conflict of interest." A spokesman for Olens said the office's consumer protection responsibilities could cause a conflict.
===============================
KEEP READING PEOPLE:
You might think that you are going to get a free look at your 3 credit reports.
Nope, not gonna happen. Here is what you get after you sign up:
"Welcome to the CSID Identity Monitoring Portal, provided on behalf of the Georgia Secretary of State.
You have now been enrolled into comprehensive credit and identity monitoring services.
You will receive Email notifications in the event that there are identity alerts to detect if there is any fraudulent activity around key pieces of your personal information, as well if there are any changes to your TransUnion credit file."
and:
"Alerts Summary
Good news! You have no new alerts. We are actively monitoring your identity. You will receive an email notification if there are changes to your credit report, or if your monitored personal information is found to be compromised.
Good news! You have no new alerts. We are actively monitoring your identity. You will receive an email notification if there are changes to your credit report, or if your monitored personal information is found to be compromised.
MDJ LETTER TO THE EDITOR
CASTLE LAKE - ROUND 2 IN SUPERIOR COURT
Regular readers of my various blog sites(*) are well aware of the Castle Lake Mobile Home Park and how 2/3rds of that downmarket trailer park was abruptly rezoned and brought into the City of Kennesaw, all in a remarkable time of 28 days from proposal to approval and also how badly the low income tenants were treated by Jeff Fuqua ("Atlanta's Most Controversial Developer") and the Vancouver, BC slum lords of the Ergas family.
The trailers on those 52 acres are now gone, the retiries, low income residents and the large Hispanic population are all scattered to other parks, counties and even other states.
The land clearing for the new 450,000 sq ft retail and residential buildings is well advanced. You can have lunch at the IHOP and watch the blasting and earth moving while you have lunch, which was quite likely prepared and served by former CLMHP residents as several cooks and waitresses once resided at the park and probably still work at IHOP.
What you may not be aware of, is that 10 months ago a dozen former residents and trailer owners of this park banded together and filed what is hoped to be a 'class action' suit against 3 of the corprate entities of the Canadian slumlord* for various misdeeds over the years in the administration of the MHP(**).
The matter is alive and well, slowly winding its way through the convoluted Georgia legal system.
It is likely to be in the courts for several more years as these cases are seldom short and sweet.
The latest activity is just last month but going back one month more you find an interesting letter from the Plaintiff's law firm (see attached) and to show you just how litigious this is I will briefly quote from the Carroll Law Firm's 10/15/15 letter to Judge Kell. Keep in mind that delay is usual for Defendants in such proceedings, they benefit from drawing out such suits and 'papering' Plaintiffs as you will see is being done here:
"Dear Judge Kell:
I represent the Plaintiffs in the above-referenced class action lawsuit, which was filed on February 13, 2015. Plaintiffs would like to request that the discovery conference pertaining to class certification issues, as contemplated by OCGA 9-11-23(f)(1), be scheduled so that a scheduling order regarding class certification discovery and motions can be established.
Plaintiffs would also like to address at the conference voluminous discovery requests that Defendants have recently served on the class Plaintiffs. Collectively, Defendants have served Plaintiffs with 2,448 Requests for Admission, 756 Interrogatories, and 216 Requests for Production. Because such discovery relates to the merits of the case rather than class certification, and because the class certification discovery conference has not yet occurred,
Plaintiffs have objected to such discovery as premature".
While the millions of dollars of profit for the sale of those 52 acres is probably long out of reach of the Plaintiffs, there remains another 23 acres of the CLMHP and while it remains in the County the land is extremely valuable with the major retail and townhome development just across Noonday Creek from the shabby park.
Even with the delays by the CL lawyers, any future class judgment against the park owners is likely to result in substantial payouts to all those who have lived under egregious conditions mandated by the park owners(***).
Eventually the case will be tried for those 12 original plaintiffs and perhaps, if the class is certified, there will be hundreds or thousands who might benefit from this civil action.
-----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
** 1) Castle Lake Homes Corp, 2) Masal Partners Ltd LP and 3) Amak Partners LP. These are the offshoots of the Vancouver, B.C., Canada firm called 'The Ergas Group', owned by a wealthy Jewish family of property investors in Vancouver.
----------------------------------------------
*** What is the Castle Lake suit all about?
This class action lawsuit is premised on the egregious conduct of Defendants, who preyed on low-income tenants in Defendants' mobile home park by illegally taking on the role of law enforcement and ticketing and fining them - sometimes in amounts exceeding their rent - and by secretly charging those tenants for water and sewer usage well in excess of the amounts actually paid by Defendants to Cobb County.
Plaintiffs' Class Action complaint sets forth two classes of plaintiffs:
(1) All current and former tenants of Castle Lake Mobile Home Park who paid any Defendant for purported water and/or sewer charges; and
(2) All current and former tenants of Castle Lake Mobile Home Park who paid any Defendant for any fine or penalty.
Collectively, Defendants are the owners, operators and managers of a 300 plus lot mobile home park in Kennesaw, known as Castle Lake mobile Home Park (CLMHP). All of the 300 plus lots in CLMHP are rented to tenants on a month-to-month basis pursuant to written lease agreements.
Georgia law prohibits fines and penalties in contracts and such penalties are legally void and unenforceable. Nevertheless, Defendants repeatedly ticketed, fined and penalized tenants for alleged trivial violations and for alleged violations not listed in the tenants' lease agreements, such as parking in a neighbor's driveway with that neighbor's permission, hosting a birthday party or playing music.
Defendants threatened eviction, either expressly or implicitly, to all tenants who did not promptly pay the illegal fines, thereby extorting payment from each tenant. Illegal fines sometimes exceeding the amount of the tenant's monthly rent payment.
_______________________________
12/11/15
8 FINAL DOCUMENTS filed in the Closed Kennesaw Church case, are now available at: http://leonardchurch.blogspot.com/
Additional documents have been filed and most of the case can be seen at the Cobb County Superior Court web site.
--------------------------------------------------
12/9/15
A FINAL WORD ON KENNESAW'S PEDOPHILE COUNCILMAN
----------------------------------------
Below is from the City of Kennesaw Internet site. Keep in mind that the various mayor and Council members statements on the matter come AFTER Pedophile Church admitted his guilt on the 6 Felony charges.
A worthless mayor and 4 useless Council members allowed this creep to sit on the dais with them from 6/27/14 until his conviction 12/7/15. Not one of these useless excuses for public servants had the guts to stand up on their hind legs and DEMAND that this sick SOB resign his position.
Yes, all of us with connected brain cells know that he could not be forced to resign but he should have been confronted in the open at Council meetings with the mayor's and Council's demands that he resign. The City should have been on record from 6/28/14 that he was UNWANTED on the City Council.
Now the mayor and Council members are slowly crawling out from their hiding places and whining and moaning about how they could not have done anything and they claim that they had quietly asked him to resign and he refused.
Quietly asking some scumbag in a back hallway to quit is useless, even if it did happen and I'm not sure it ever did.
What I know is that this totally useless group of elected officials not only refused to say anything in public BUT Debbie Williams came to the defense of this scumbag and her comments are on video tape and are summarized in the minutes of the Council.
This defense of Pedophile Church came after a local citizen spoke to the Council asking why they remained silent and HE demanded Church resign when the mayor and Council would not do so.
Debbie Williams subsequently resigned her seat to run for mayor and of course she lost big time, by 385 votes as I recall, and this was due in large part to her having come to the defense of Pedophile Church.
2016 finds Kennesaw with a new Mayor and 3 new people on the Council. None of these people have the baggage of the old administration and hopefully if some similar situation comes up they will have the guts that their predecessors did not have and they would handle the issue in a direct and forceful manner.
Those elected officials departing should go into retirement throughly ashamed of their silence for all those months that they sat next to this scumbag and said nothing.
----- From The City Site -----
Special Election Will Be Held to Fill Council Vacancy
December 7th, 2015 by Pam Davis
The following statement was released by Mayor Mark Mathews following the report of the conviction of former Councilmember Leonard Church:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with anyone who may have been affected by the former Councilmember’s actions. With the announcement of Church’s plea from District Attorney Reynold’s office, a vacancy has been immediately created on our city council. In accordance with state law and our city charter, a special election will be held in May to fill the vacant seat. As a city, we are closing this unfortunate chapter and moving forward.”
More information will be provided on the details of the Special Election in the coming weeks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
With Councilman’s plea deal, the black clouds lift over Kennesaw
December 09, 2015 MDJ Editorial
Kennesaw City Councilman and former mayor Leonard Church is led away by Cobb County Deputies on Monday after accepting a plea bargain with the state. Church was sentenced by Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary E. Staley to 40 years with 18 years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation. Church was arrested in June 2014 on child molestation-related charges. / Staff-Kelly J. Huff
The plea requires him to serve 18 years in prison. (Had a jury found Church guilty, he faced a lifetime sentence plus 100 years.) Ending this nightmare before it went to trial was the best outcome for the victim, the courts and the people and politics of Kennesaw.
Church’s plea was part of a negotiated plea bargain with the district attorney’s office that spared his victim, a 9-year-old boy, from having to take the stand.
“In this case, as in any case of this nature, it’s the state’s primary concern to keep the victim off the stand, as well as to not re-victimize the children (depicted in) the photographs,” said the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, Hannah Palmquist.
Church would have had three fewer years to serve in prison had he not rejected the district attorney’s offer last month of a 15-year prison sentence. But for whatever reason, he turned that offer down.
It was not until the first day of the trial Monday as jury selection was set to begin that he decided to accept the terms of the harsher punishment.
In the end, the plea deal is the best course for all involved. It saves the community from a protracted trial that would have attracted the kind of negative publicity no one in Kennesaw wants. It saves the young victim from having to take the traumatizing step of testifying and potentially being painted a liar by Church’s defense attorneys. And it allows the Kennesaw City Council to move on with the business of governing the city.
After his arrest on June 27, 2014, Church’s ability to serve his constituents was severely impaired with a court order preventing him from entering City Hall through the front door, given that children are able to attend council meetings. Instead, he had to attend the meetings by entering and exiting through a backdoor. A court order required him to be separated from the audience “by a long podium” allowing him “no contact with nor interaction with audience members.”
The councilman was also reportedly quiet during council meetings, rather than arguing on behalf of his constituents. Although, even if he were to debate, his ability to make any convincing argument was overshadowed by the criminal charges.
Retiring Councilwoman Cris Eaton-Welsh repeatedly called for Church to step down while he faced the charges, a call he ignored.
“It was completely counterproductive and very uncomfortable” to have him on the council, Welsh said.
District Attorney Vic Reynolds shed some light on why Church may have not stepped down, saying it’s easier to admit murder than admit molesting a child and possessing such a large volume of child pornography. Investigators found between 800 and 1,000 images of child pornography on computer devices in Church’s home.
“I hope and pray that he was remorseful for what he’s done … whether … (his tears were) sincere or not, I can tell you he’s going to have a long time to think about it,” Reynolds said.
Following his plea deal, Church was transported directly to the county jail in preparation for transfer to Jackson State Prison. A special election for this council seat is set for May.
The dark cloud overhanging Kennesaw since Church’s arrest 17 months ago has now lifted.
For Mayor-elect Derek Easterling and new members of the Kennesaw City Council, the plea deal offers a fresh start for the New Year. With this horrifying chapter in the city’s history behind them, city leaders can carry out what they were elected to do in a positive environment free of the distractions.
12/8/15
Special election to be held for Church’s Kennesaw City Council seat
December 08, 2015
Church had refused to step down following his arrest in June 2014 and indictment in January 2015. His conviction leaves his seat open immediately, and just over a month after Kennesaw held municipal elections.
Mayor Mark Mathews offered “thoughts and prayers” to “anyone who may have been affected by the former Councilmember’s actions,” in a statement announcing the special election.
Janine Eveler, director of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, said she anticipated the special election would be held concurrently with primary elections on May 24.
“We’ve just been business as usual,” he said.
Councilmember Cris Eaton-Welsh, who has repeatedly called for Church to step down, painted a different picture of the atmosphere on the council over the past year and a half since Church’s arrest.
“It was completely counterproductive and very uncomfortable” to have him on the council, she said.
Eaton-Welsh said many people were angry that Church refused to step down, only to plead guilty.
“Why would you carry a community that you love through the darkest chapter of your life?” she asked.
City Attorney Randall Bentley said he was still researching whether Church would lose his vestment in the city’s pension plan.
Councilmen Jim Sebastian and Tim Killingsworth could not be reached for comment. Mayor-elect Derek Eastlering could also not be reached for comment.
Councilman pleads guilty: Church gets 18 years in prison on molestation, child porn charges
by
December 07, 2015
Kennesaw City Councilman and former mayor Leonard Church is led away by Cobb County Deputies on Monday after accepting a plea bargain with the state. Church was sentenced by Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary E. Staley to 40 years with 18 years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation. Church was arrested in June 2014 on child molestation-related charges. /
Staff-Kelly J. Huff
When Judge Mary Staley asked Councilman Leonard Church if he was guilty of child molestation and possession of child pornography, she was met with a long pause, followed by a shuddering inhale from the disgraced former Kennesaw mayor.
“Yes, ma’am,” Church replied through tears.
After pleading guilty to six counts of sex crimes against children on Monday, the same day his trial was set to start, Church, 67, lost his seat on the council and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
His guilty plea was part of a negotiated plea bargain with the district attorney’s office that spared his victim, a 9-year-old boy, from having to take the stand.
A visibly emotional Church offered no words of apology or remorse during the hearing, limiting his answers to “yes, ma’am,” “no, ma’am” and “guilty.”
“In this case, as in any case of this nature, it’s the state’s primary concern to keep the victim off the stand, as well as to not re-victimize the children (depicted in) the photographs,” said the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, Hannah Palmquist.
She then went on to describe the events leading up to Church’s indictment.
On May 9, 2014, the boy was at Church’s home in Kennesaw when Church asked him if he wanted to play videogames on his computer. Instead, Church showed the child pornography, and asked him if he liked it. He then switched to a computer card game and fondled the child.
Several weeks later, the child showed pornography to his friends, telling them that Church had shown him how to look it up on the Internet. He eventually disclosed the molestation to his mother.
A search warrant for Church’s computer was issued to corroborate the child’s story that Church had shown him pornography.
“Once the … first computer was searched, it became evident that there was child pornography on it,” Palmquist said. “When the other devices were searched, hundreds of images were located.”
Investigators also found websites and search terms that indicated Church intended to access child pornography. The images were dated as far back as 2006 and numbered between 800 and 1,000, according to District Attorney Vic Reynolds.
Church’s lawyers emphasized that most of the images had been downloaded in 2006 and deleted, and pointed to Church’s history of active civil engagement as mitigating factors.
Palmquist said the victim and his family supported the terms of the plea bargain.
Judge Staley recognized Church had “admitted his actions and accepted responsibility,” adding that the punishment handed down to him promotes public safety and spares the victim the ordeal of having “his honesty questioned” on the stand.
Church was originally charged with six counts: aggravated child molestation, child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of children. The aggravated child molestation charge was reduced to child molestation as part of the plea agreement. Aggravated child molestation is child molestation that results in the physical injury of the child.
Church previously turned down a plea bargain of 30 years with 15 to serve in prison. If he had been found guilty at trial, he faced a lifetime sentence plus 100 years.
Speaking to reporters after the sentencing, Reynolds said he was adamant that Church accept responsibility for his crime on the record, rather than entering a “half-baked plea” simply because it was in his own interest.
“Hopefully by what’s happened today, the parents can explain to this young victim that ‘you were believed,’ that not only did the DA’s office believe you, but everyone in the court system does now because this defendant has accepted responsibility,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said there was a good chance, given his age, that Church would die in prison, but if he were to be released at some point in the future, he would be under strict supervision as a sex offender. The DA acknowledged the case generated a great deal of public interest, especially in Kennesaw, due to Church’s standing there as a former mayor and sitting councilman.
“It’s easier to admit a murder than it is molesting a child and possessing the volume of child pornography that he possessed,” Reynolds said. “I hope and pray that he was remorseful for what he’s done … whether … (his tears were) sincere or not, I can tell you he’s going to have a long time to think about it.”
Church was transported directly to the county jail in preparation for transfer to Jackson State Prison. A special election for this council seat is set for May.
Church was born in DeLand, Florida, but moved to Cobb County when he was 2 years old. He graduated from Sprayberry High School in 1966 before attending the Dental Technology School for two years. Church worked in the dental field for decades, opening Church Dental Prosthetics in 1987. He moved to Kennesaw in 1994 and was sworn in as mayor in 2000. In 2007, Mayor Mark Mathews ousted Church from the mayor’s seat. He ran for and won a seat on City Council in 2013.
Church has two children with his first wife. He married Karen Church in March 2013 and between the two of them, they have six children and nine grandchildren, according to a 2014 MDJ article.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Former Kennesaw mayor admits to child molestation
WSB-TV (ABC) Monday, Dec. 7, 2015
COBB COUNTY, Ga. —
The former mayor of Kennesaw passed on a plea deal and admitted to child molestation charges on Monday.
Leonard Church, 67, stood before a Cobb County judge and pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
He is a two-term mayor who most recently served on the City Council.
Church admitted he molested a 9-year-old and exposed the child to 800,000 images of child pornography.
Channel 2’s Dave Huddleston sat in the courtroom behind Church as he received his sentence – 40 years, to serve 18.
Church will be 85 years old when he gets out of prison under strict supervision that keeps him away from all minors.
Prosecutors said Church abused the boy in the spring of 2014.
“Hopefully by what’s happened today the parents can explain to this young victim that you were believed. That not only did the DA’s office believe you but everyone in the court because this defendant has accepted responsibility,” said Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds.
Church was offered a plea deal two months ago but rejected it. The sentence is severe but it’s a sentence that prosecutors and the victim’s family said provides justice.
An election for Church’s council seat will be held in May.
--------------------------------------
December 07, 2015
Kennesaw City Councilman and former mayor Leonard Church is
led away by Cobb County Deputies Monday after accepting a plea bargain with the
State. Church was sentenced by Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary E. Staley to 40
years with 18 years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation. Church
was arrested in June
2014 on child molestation-related charges. Staff-Kelly J.
Huff
Church, 67, a former mayor of Kennesaw, was arrested in June 2014 and charged with six counts — aggravated child molestation, child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of children for allegedly possessing child pornography.
The aggravated child molestation charge was reduced to a second count of child molestation as part of the plea deal.
Church was sentenced to 40 years Monday, with 18 years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation.
The Kennesaw councilman rejected a plea deal from the Cobb District Attorney’s office in November that would have seen him receive a 30-year sentence with 15 years to serve in prison.
Leonard Church trial to start Monday;
defense faces difficult balancing act
MDJ Article of December 05, 2015
Leonard Church
Church’s trial is scheduled to begin Monday, when Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley is expected to deny a motion submitted by the defense to compel the prosecution to hand over copies of certain evidence.
Church, 66, a former mayor of Kennesaw, was arrested in June 2014 and charged with six counts — aggravated child molestation, child molestation and four counts of sexual exploitation of children for allegedly possessing child pornography.
Defense attorneys who have represented clients accused of sex crimes against children said the prosecution will likely center its case around the testimony of the boy and the evidence collected from Church’s computers.
The defense could try to undermine the prosecution’s timeline, which Church’s lawyers have already indicated they intend to do. They could also attempt to show that Church was unaware of the child pornography prosecutors say was stored on his computers, or argue that the child was coached or somehow influenced to make his accusation.
However, focusing too hard on the boy could backfire.
“You can’t go after a kid, the jury is going to hate your guts,” said Jill Polster, an attorney with the Cohen Law Firm in Atlanta.
She said often there was not much to be gained through cross examination of a child witness, but some attorneys choose to ask the child seemingly innocuous details in an attempt to discover inconsistencies, such as asking them to recall details of the room where the alleged abuse took place.
John Garland of Garland, Samuel & Loeb in Atlanta, said strict guidelines exist for forensic interviews with children because deviation could bias the testimony.
“The child may in fact believe it’s true” even if it’s not, he said. Rather than accuse the child of lying, he said, a good defense lawyer would highlight external factors that could have influenced the child by asking questions such as “isn’t it true that this person was disciplining you? Isn’t it true that your mother had just caught you watching porn when you said that?” At a hearing last month, Church’s lawyers suggested a similar tack, arguing they needed more time to examine a PlayStation on which the child was allegedly caught viewing porn.
Attorney Kevin Pratt of Atlanta said when working with young children he would talk to them about their imagination.
“Try to show that he was told a story and that he’s just retelling that story,” he said, adding that the defense could also question the motives of the first person the child reported the abuse to.
The prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Hannah Palmquist, will not rely solely on witness testimony, however. Polster said the child pornography allegedly found on Church’s computer would be seen to substantiate the child’s accusations.
“If they find him guilty of child porn, they will convict him on the other charges,” she said. “That’s an uphill battle on that defense.”
Garland said the case could hinge on the analysis of the devices taken from Church’s home. He said details such as whether the contraband was in the search history or downloaded, how it was downloaded and whether it was buried in a larger file or mislabeled could all help put distance between Church and the images.
“There has to be a detailed analysis of how the images ended up on the computer, and who had access to the computer,” he said. But the window of plausible deniability was narrow, he suggested.
“All they have to prove is you had it and you knew about it,” he said.
Judge Staley has ruled that hundreds of images investigators say they found on devices belonging to Church could be admitted as evidence.
Before any arguments, lawyers for both sides will have to find unbiased jurors, which could be difficult given Church’s status as a public figure.
“There’s that extra scrutiny on it, so you have to worry about taint of the jury pool,” said Garland, but added: “You would be surprised at how many people will say ‘never heard of him.’ Some people just don’t ever look at the news.”
Pratt said, handled correctly, Church’s involvement in civic affairs could play well with the jury, but bringing his character into play would open the door for the prosecution to do so as well.
“If he has no criminal history … absolutely you bring it out and you might even try to make it political,” he said.
Pratt said in cases like Church’s, the jury will want and expect him to take the stand, even though they are instructed not to hold it against the defendant if he does not.
“If he doesn’t deny it, the question becomes why not,” he said.
Church and his attorneys, Reid Thompson and Jimmy Berry, did not return calls for comment. The DA’s office declined to comment on specifics.
12/4/15
What comes after the Church trial?
A reply on this topic from the Office of the Attorney General and also look at this referenced cite which is to long to post here http://law.ga.gov/opinion/2014-1-0 :
Dear Mr. Harris:
The Attorney General has referred your email, copied below, to me for response.
Our office’s authority is limited to providing legal advice and representation only to our clients within state government, and we cannot do so for private citizens.
Therefore, I cannot give you any legal advice in response to your question.
However, I have copied below O.C.G.A. § 45-5-6.1, a portion of Georgia law which I believe is responsive to your inquiry. You will see that O.C.G.A. § 45-5-6.1(b) provides that if a public office is convicted of any felony, then that official is suspended from office by operation of law. That suspension might be lifted later if a conviction is overturned on appeal, but in the meantime a temporary replacement may be designated in accordance with the appropriate legal authority. Here is a link to an opinion of the Attorney General, 2014 Op. Att’y Gen. 2014-1, which addresses the operation of this statute and another statute that provides what may happen when an official is indicted, but prior to any trial or conviction. http://law.ga.gov/opinion/2014-1-0.
I hope this information is helpful in addressing your question.
Sincerely,
Dennis R. Dunn
Deputy Attorney General
45-5-6.1. Suspension and vacation of office of public officials convicted of felonies.
(a) As used in this Code section, the term "public official" means any elected county officer; any elected member of a county governing authority; any elected member of a city-county consolidated government; any member of a county, area, or independent board of education; any school superintendent of a county, area, or independent school system; any solicitor-general of a state court; any elected member of any municipal governing authority; any member of the Public Service Commission; and any district attorney.
(b) Upon initial conviction of any public official for any felony in a trial court of this state or the United States, regardless of whether the public official has been suspended previously under Code Section 45-5-6, such public official shall be immediately and without further action suspended from office. While a public official is suspended from office under this Code section, he shall not be entitled to receive the compensation from his office. If the conviction is later overturned as a result of any direct appeal or application for a writ of certiorari, the public official shall be immediately reinstated to the office from which he was suspended and shall be entitled to receive any compensation withheld under the provisions of this Code section.
(c)(1) For the duration of any suspension of any elected member of any municipal or consolidated city-county governing authority under this Code section, a replacement officer for the public officer suspended shall be appointed as provided for in any general law, local law, ordinance, or resolution governing the filling of a temporary vacancy in the public office affected. For the duration of any suspension of any other public official under this Code section, a replacement officer for the public official shall be appointed as provided for in any applicable general or local law governing the filling of a temporary vacancy in the public office affected. If no such general law, local law, ordinance, or resolution governing the filling of a temporary vacancy is applicable, then the Governor shall appoint a replacement officer for the public official suspended.
(2) Upon the final conviction, the office of the public official shall be vacated immediately without further action. Said vacancy shall be filled in the manner provided by law for filling vacancies in such office.
(d) The provisions of this Code section shall not apply to any conviction rendered prior to January 1, 1987.
(Code 1981, 45-5-6.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 600, 3; Ga. L. 1996, p. 748, 26.)
From: <Harris20@aol.com>
Date: December 3, 2015 at 9:46:59 PM EST
To: <AGOlens@law.ga.gov>
Subject: Filling vacant City Council seat
Mr. Sam Olens
Attorney General
State of Georgia
On Dec. 7th the trial for a sitting Kennesaw Councilman starts for his 6 Felony Pedophile charges.
Assuming that he is found guilty, will you please advise as to how he will be removed from office.
Bill Harris
Citizen Journalist
http://leonardchurch.blogspot.com/
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