Cobb County Primary Run-Off Voter Guide 2020

County Commissioner, District 2

Fitz Johnson (R)

• Served 21 years in the Army and served as a Medical Service Corps officer
• Believes the gang activity in Cobb county is out of control and says every high school in the county has some form of gang activity
• Wants to keep Cobb County taxes the lowest in the region, have the best public safety in the world and
tackle mobility and traffic to decrease trip times
• Believes that the citizens are first when it comes to the land use zoning
• Wants to make sure that they are involving the community with all the decisions that are made on land use issues.

Andy Smith (R)

• Wants to preserve the existing neighborhoods and then allow development or encourage development in the areas suitable for higher density
• preserving the character and density of established residential neighborhoods is his philosophy. ( sounds very exclusionary to me)
• Smith stated in and interview that the controversial Sterigenics facility in Smyrna should not be open unless it’s safe and two days later it was temporarily opened
• “My focus will be to do the job to eliminate the need for cities. Everybody wants Cobb County to remain the place it was when they settled here. It’s going to evolve but we want to have control of how it evolves.”
• supports the current process of seeking extensive community feedback before finalizing a project list however he want to ensure these are needs and not wants
• Controlling zoning to protect our neighborhoods

County Commissioner, District 4

Sheila Edwards (D)

• Served as the Assistant Executive Director for the Charter Review Commission for the City of Atlanta, Communications Director for the Fulton County DA’s office
• Wants to bring MARTA to Cobb and thinks we need a renewed commitment to transportation accessibility. Says residents in South Cobb should be able to get to Kennesaw State University and Town Center without using cars
• Fought against a waste transfer station tha
brought waste from other municipalities into the community while operating a few hundred feet away from homes and the Chattahoochee River
• Founded Legacy Cares, a grassroots community organization created to oppose expansion of the waste transfer station near homes and won
• Is looking at Tiny Homes as a way for veterans, seniors and homeless people on the rebound
• Would support a land bank authority, and would discourage the creation of more auto-related businesses along Veterans Memorial Highway.
• Feels we need effective community policing
• Worked at the Kennedy Space Center with Lockheed Martin in 1986, after the Challenger space shuttle exploded, to update the documentation to process and launch the space shuttles and helped reform the way they communicate during their shifts. It was apparently very chaotic before.

Monique Sheffield (D)

• Amend zoning laws to give residents greater control over the type of businesses that move into communities, don’t crowd our school systems and traffic solutions
• Supports “step and grade compensation”
• Wants to increase the number of sidewalks and trash receptacles on Riverside Pkwy and Mableton Pkwy
• Supports a capital improvement plan line item for transportation in the county’s budget, in addition to the current Special Project Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST).
• Supports Atlanta region Transportation Link or the ATL authority, which will bring together 13 counties.

Clerk of Superior Court

Connie Taylor (D)

• Former member of the Cobb County Board of Tax Assessors, worked as a Governmental Grants Compliance Manager, is a licensed Real Estate Broker
• She serves on the Cobb County Library Trustee Board, SPLOST Oversight Committee, Cobb County Parks Bond Advisory Committee, Keep Powder Springs Beautiful and Keep Cobb County Beautiful Board.

Nancy Syrop (D)

• Nancy Syrop is an attorney with close to three decades of legal experience.
• Nancy has served as Pro Tempore Judge for the Juvenile Court of Cobb County and serves as a Guardian ad Litem in Superior Court.

Superior Court Judge, Cobb Judicial Circuit

Greg Shenton

• Has 20 years of experience representing small business owners and Fortune 500 companies
• Served on the Board of Directors of Kiwani’s Club of Marietta, member of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Cobb County Board of Trustees and President of the Greenwood Homeowners Association
• Named Best Overall Attorney by Best of Cobb, 2019
• Will work to eliminate institutional biases and the disparity in access to the courts that comes with inequality–whether economic, racial, or otherwise
• Has fought for family-owned businesses and represented mothers owed back child support pro bono.
• Advocates for diversity on the bench and vote by mail
• Says bias and bigotry will have no place in his courtroom
• His campaigning included going around putting the American flag up

Jason Marbutt

• Has been a prosecutor for 15 years and is Senior Assistant District Attorney with the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, Adjunct Professor at Emory School of Law and Chairman of the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force (CEATF) and Mock Trial Coach at Walton High School
• Founded Justice for Elderly and Disabled Individuals Multidisciplinary Team (J.E.D.I. MDT)
• Passionate about elder abuse and very invested in white collar crime
• Advocates for vote by mail and protecting the elderly by fighting again scams directed towards them
• Vows to protect the elderly and disabled and fight against domestic violence against women
• Regularly trains law enforcement and other prosecutors on how to investigate and prosecute those cases
Believes his experience in protecting the most vulnerable citizens makes him most fit for the position

House District 35

Lisa Campbell (D)

• Running to ensure that Georgians have diversity in state government
• Dedicated to expanding equal access to quality education and affordable healthcare
• Wants to create laws, systems and investment strategies where everyone has equal access to make decisions about our own bodies, relationships and families.
• Supports #8cantwait, hate crime legislation, annually funding education and expanding tech resources
• Wants to repeal stand your ground law and citizen’s crime arrests
• Opposes teacher furloughs and tax cuts
• Wants to use lottery fund to bolster pre-k programs, dismantle unfair lending and affordable housing policies, increase transportation options, increase public health services in GA, protect reproductive rights and ensure fair elections
• Advocates for criminal justice reform at all levels and enacting fair hiring, equal pay and childcare practices

Kyle Rinaudo (D)

• Pro choice, decriminalizing marijuana and term limits for elected officials and will support efforts to pass anti-discrimination bills.
• Plans to repeal HB 481, stop dangerous conversion therapy and close the gun show loophole.
• For legislation that protects reproductive healthcare and wants to improve public health education and access to contraceptives.
• Plans to expand Medicaid, wants to expand access to mental health treatment options and improve and address racial disparity in maternal healthcare.
• Wants to fully fund public education every year, not just election years.
• For lowering Georgia’s carbon emissions and encourages green energy generation and cleaning our rivers and streams.
• Wants to invest in public transportation and utilize the Atlanta Transit Link for Cobb County’s benefit.
• Supports automatic voter registration, vote-by-mail and putting an end to gerrymandering.
• Supports Governor Deal’s criminal justice reform proposals (which removed some mandatory minimum sentences and released Georgians who had been incarcerated for low level offenses for much of their lives) that Governor Kemp is trying to undo.
Supports community policing and keep citizens safe.
Improve conditions at Cobb County’s jail.