By Deborah Dance
In a stark reminder of what is at stake in the upcoming election, Cobb Superior Court Chief Judge Gregory Poole addressed the Metro-Marietta Kiwanis Club on Monday, October 7, explaining why he issued a judicial emergency for the Cobb County’s Superior Court in August.
A judicial emergency is no small thing and usually is reserved for extraordinary occurrences like COVID or hurricanes. But it was not a natural disaster that brought about the most recent emergency orders. Instead, the emergency resulted from management issues attributable to Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor. Judge Poole, with the backing of all Superior Court judges, stepped in when it became apparent that people’s constitutional rights were at risk.
Let’s look at what was really going on. The courthouse is one of the most important public institutions we have. It’s where justice happens. People trust that when they’re called to court, they’ll know about it, and that the system will work. As Judge Poole noted, when it operates smoothly, most people are not even aware of the work of the Clerk’s Office.
But beginning this past spring, Judge Poole noticed something alarming – people weren’t getting their court notices. Think about that: citizens were missing their court dates, not because they were irresponsible, but because the clerk’s office failed to send them the required notices. Even bond companies were asking questions, wondering why their clients weren’t showing up for court.
Alarmed, the Superior Court judges did what responsible leaders would do – they stopped issuing bench warrants when people didn’t appear. Why? Because the judges couldn’t trust that the citizens had been notified that they were supposed to be in court. They were not about to throw people in jail if the Clerk’s Office had failed to send them proper notices to appear.
On top of that, Judge Poole observed that the Clerk’s Office had suffered a mass exodus of experienced personnel. Whether employees quit or the Clerk fired them, the office was losing competent and talented staff members, and the institutional knowledge that keeps the office and the court system running smoothly disappeared with them. Suddenly, over half the positions in the office were vacant, according to numbers cited by Judge Poole. How can anyone expect the system to function when more than half the workforce is gone?
But there was still more chaos on the horizon. Despite her dwindling staff, the Clerk rushed to implement a new case management system – even though the vendor hadn’t been ready to “go live.” As a result, even the judges couldn’t access the system after its launch. How do you run a courthouse if the judges can’t get into the system?
Judge Poole characterized the situation in the Clerk’s Office as “unconscionable,” and he’s right. All ten judges supported his decision to declare the emergency on August 7 and extend it on August 28. Judge Poole also stepped in and interfaced with the vendor to address issues with the new system. His were not political moves or power plays – they were about doing what was right and fixing a broken system that was failing the very people it was supposed to serve.
All of the preceding events led Judge Poole to declare a judicial emergency on August 7 and to extend it on August 28. In those emergency orders, he explained that case files were incomplete, records were lost, and cases weren’t indexed properly – some hadn’t been updated since November 2023.
To be clear, this mess falls squarely on the shoulders of Clerk Taylor and her inability to manage the office. It should not go unnoticed that this is the same Clerk who has been under a GBI investigation since 2022 to determine whether she committed criminal offenses related to passport fees and the alleged destruction of public records.
If Judge Poole and the members of Cobb’s judiciary hadn’t responded as they did, who knows how many people would have been harmed? The judicial system is supposed to protect the people, not throw them into potential peril because of bureaucratic glitches.
Thankfully, your Superior Court bench has taken action to restore order to the courthouse.
While we continue to await the results of the GBI investigation and a decision from the Attorney General, I urge every citizen in Cobb County to vote on November 5 to remove Clerk Connie Taylor from office so that the courthouse and all of its stakeholders can function in the best interests of you, the people.
As a lawyer, and former County Attorney, I have offered myself as a candidate for this critical position, with a pledge to return competency, accountability, and transparency to the office of Superior Court Clerk. In doing so, I will safeguard the records and rights of all citizens.
