By Laura Armstrong Monica
West Cobb School Board Post 1: Veteran and Educator vs. a Ghost Candidate
In the Cobb School Board Post 1, (North Cobb, Allatoona and Kennesaw Mountain high schools), northwest Cobb voters have a choice between retired educator and school board Chairman Randy Scamihorn and a woman who maybe resides here in the area but teaches all the way over in Alabama, hours away. Randy served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, then became an educator and served admirably in a variety of community roles. His opponent is running for a second time in my post yet has never introduced herself. We know very little about her. Most important, parents hear this: Scamihorn’s re-election this year is crucial to keeping our schools among the best in the nation. Do NOT leave your school board post unmarked in the ballot booth.
Note to Scamihorn’s challenger: a mailer, a door knocker, something, would indicate that you take this election seriously. You are a ghost.
State Representative Dist. 42 (Smyrna, The Battery, Dobbins area): Militant Socialist vs. Longtime Productive Resident
In the state legislature race in District 42 in the Smyrna area we have Walton grad, Gabriel Sanchez, an upstart Socialist, running against Diane Jackson, a business owner and resident of Smyrna for over two decades. Sanchez makes sure to say in every article I found that he’s from a “working class family” and fights for social justice, yet a little digging shows a life of elitist privilege. From a gated community in south Florida to a $600,000 home in an east Cobb cul-de-sac, Sanchez’s background is hardly “working class.” His father is an immigrant businessman, owning a successful Walk Ons restaurant franchise in the Avenue West Cobb – and you don’t get one of those without at least $1.5 million in net worth and a half million in liquid capital. Sanchez himself advertises extensive elite soccer camps and other expensive training in his own Walton Soccer recruiting video.
And yet this young man, about 27 years old, comes across in interviews as angry and militant. He hasn’t held what would be considered a real job other than waiter (at his dad’s restaurant?) and instead spends his time with organizers of the radical encampment Stop Cop City, an ongoing Occupy-type location near the Public Safety Training Center location (85 acres somewhere near ATL). Since early 2023, the anarchist and socialist associates of Sanchez have targeted violence on the police, firefighters and community. Twenty three Sanchez associates were charged with terrorism in March of 2023 and one was even killed, their violent uprising spreading downtown and onto Peachtree Street. Sanchez and his friends are not playing kid games. The governor actually declared a state of emergency, and yet Sanchez told 11 Alive news the violence “was overstated.”
District 42, the area this young hypocrite wants to represent, is where The Battery, Dobbins Air Base, the Georgia Hospital Association and so many good families reside. Do they want this radical militant brat representing them? Let’s hope their answer is a resounding no and the deserving and qualified adult, Diane Jackson, is sent to the Gold Dome.
Sheriff: Wannabe King vs. Hardworking LEO
Nothing is more interesting than an elected official who believes they’ve been elected KING. And Sheriff Craig Owens has exhibited symptoms of this since his first successful campaign. Sadly. He ran on criticizing former sheriff Neil Warren for inmate deaths, yet inmate deaths including murders under Owens’ watch have far surpassed his predecessor’s, with one strangling another dead as recently as Oct. 4. The liability this brings on the county, you know there are lawsuits, is passed right along to We the Taxpayers, no matter Owens’ excuses. Other features of his reign include unnecessary transportation expenses (basically Owens pimped his ride at our expense) and procuring his own stable of exotic horses, purpose still unknown. Declining jail infrastructure and low deputy morale, plus his elimination of longstanding immigrant policies are bad enough, but Whopper Gate seals the NO DEAL for me here. Our nationally disgraced sheriff actually called out deputies with lights and sirens because the subjects, er, part time workers at Burger King forgot to hold the mayo on his wife’s sandwich. His kingly outrage was so scary the poor employees literally locked themselves into the store until deputies got there on Owens’ behalf. Talk about misuse of one’s elected office! Time to boot this monarch and vote for his opponent, the professional LEO and Iraq combat vet David Cavender for Sheriff.
Superior Court Clerk: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
The U.S. President’s salary is about $400,000 per year. Take home pay for Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor, thanks to her audacity, about matches that of the leader of the free world!
Ms. Taylor is:
- A former self-employed realtor with zero outside job experience listed on her website.
- The woman who created a “catastrophic” mess in our court system, prompting Cobb judges to declare an emergency that is ongoing.
- The self-aggrandizing bureaucrat who rewarded herself an extra $220,000 in 2022, (certainly more over years) in addition to her $170,000 official annual salary, putting her in the same salary range as the U.S. president.
- Responsible for Passport-Gate, an arrogant money grab featuring an illegal cover up and a whistle blower — over egregious and dishonorable actions by Ms. Taylor, the most UN-deserving public official who remains under investigation by the GBI and perhaps other authorities, yet asks for our vote as if we owe her.
Let’s show Ms. Taylor the door this month and vote for the outstanding former county attorney and planning commission member Deborah Dance.
