Tommy Craig Continues Ridin' the Newton Taxpayer Gravy Train, Compliments of Ezell & Marcus Jordan

*cross-posted at MB's Word on the Street 

 Friends, I remember it vividly, as I know many of you do as well.

That glorious moment in November of 2015 when the unthinkable happened. An event that many said would never happen: the home county finally ridded itself of its caustic county attorney, the one & only William Thomas “Tommy” Craig.

Hard to believe that’s been 8 & 1/2 years ago.

Unfortunately, before too long, the Newton County Sheriff - Ezell Brown - started to help his old friend out.

When Craig was the county atty making usually right around a cool million dollars per year, Brown was utilizing Craig as attorney for the Sheriff’s department, but was only paying him on average around $50K per annum.

But soon after Tommy got the boot from the county, Ezell’s payments to Craig exploded!

For several years those numbers grew. I reported on this a couple of times over the years over at TPC but wanted to give some current numbers for those interested.

Here it is:

For FY 2023, the most recent year for which full numbers exist, the Sheriff’s department paid Wm Thomas Craig, Esq. $315,447. It’s my understanding that a Sheriff of the size of Newton Co should NOT be paying anywhere near this sum.

It certainly ain’t chump change.

3/4 of the way through FY 2024 Ezell has already paid him $252,944 so it’s looking as if the ole fella will end up getting about the same amount here in a couple of months when we end the fiscal year at the end of June.

Ezell Brown has paid Tommy Craig upwards of $2 million over the last several years.

But he’s not the only one cutting checks to Craig.

Marcus Jordan, current Tax Commissioner for the home county, has also been utilizing Craig as legal counsel for his constitutional office. Has been for several years. His numbers haven’t been anywhere near the Sheriff’s, but is fairly considerable.

Tax Commish Payments to WTC:

FY2023: $29,825
FY2024 (through nine months): $21,925

So basically Tommy Craig has been making approx $350K per year just from Ezell & Jordan. Definitely not like the old days for him, but not too shabby. Probably was key to him fixing up the old place on College Ave a while back after it’d fallen into a pretty bad state of disrepair.

My, my, my…

A final thought.

As many know, it’s looking as if this current election cycle is a clear delineation of sides. The pro-Tommy Craig crew vs. the Anti-Craig slate. BOC 5, BOC 3, Clerk of Court, Tax Commish & the Chairman race. I believe they all have that same dynamic involved.

Stay tuned for the breakdown of all of those races.

DEVELOPING…

’til next time,

- MBM

2023 #COV Municipal Election In The Books: A Look Back

 Howdy, pals, and hope everything is going everybody's way out there. 

Well, another Covington election in the rearview mirror. Time just marches on, doesn't it? 

So let's break it down. 

I was very happy to see that both of the candidates I endorsed & publicly supported won their respective East Ward city council races. 

Congrats to good friend Travis Moore in Post 2, as well as Jared Rutberg for Post 3. Both of these fine gentlemen will be a great addition to the home city's voting body. 

Let's start w/ Post 3: 

As predicted, Jared won this one easily. 65% of the votes cast vs Dania's 35%. Honestly, for a municipal race, that's really a whooping. But again, not surprising. Having moved here only a year ago & being a relatively unknown quantity, it was expected for Bernard.

Again, congrats to Jared Rutberg. He's a good guy & he'll do a good job, I think. And if he doesn't - I'll let him know about it & will let you guys know as well. 

I will commend Dania Bernard for running a clean campaign apparently devoid of any lies or dirty politics. 

On the other hand, Post 2 played out much differently except for the final tally. 

Travis Moore won bigly, getting 64% of the final vote, basically winning 2-to-1 over Carla Ferry. 

But as mentioned, this one was different. It was NOT a clean campaign. It DID have dirty politics. 

I know for a fact that Travis was planning on & was wanting to run a campaign solely on the issues but Ms Ferry saw to it that that wouldn't happen. 

It started w/ the event at Corrydale early on which is when the wheels really first started coming off her campaign. Making it abundantly clear that basically her entire campaign would be focused on lies & half truths directed at Mr Moore, her campaign never really had a chance for getting traction. 

After that early performance, the writing was already on the wall. 

She turned it up to 11 a while later when she sent out a direct-mail hit piece against Travis, again completely NOT rooted in facts & full of non & half truths, and really showing a lack of any fundamental understanding of how the planning commission, or really simply government in general, works. 

After that, it was Newton's Third Law time. 

The Moore campaign hit back - and they hit back HARD - as well he should've. 

Once the other side plays that game -- all bets are off. 

And I'm hoping folks now will finally appreciate the old adage of -- "Signs Don't Vote" 

There's no substitute for canvassing & "REAL Politick." And obviously likability & credibility are key as well. 

Well done, Travis Moore! Congrats & looking forward to your contributions. 

Mayor 

In the semi-surprise of the night, Fleeta Baggett won the Mayoral race WITHOUT a runoff. W/ five candidates running it seemed as if a second round would be a foregone conclusion; however, as the race wore on, and as Fleeta got after it (by all accounts she ran one helluva campaign) while her opponents floundered, the word on the street leading up to election day was that she was going to take care of it Tuesday night. And by golly that she did! 

Congrats to my old frenemy. It was kind of weird voting for you. We expect big things & we'll be keeping an eye on you, Madam Mayor. Remember: "Do the right things & do things right." 


And to cap off a pretty darn good night for the home city & county, the referendum for senior citizens relief on the BOE tax passed easily. 

Alright, gang, until next time. 

- MBM 

TPC REAL Politick: #COV Municipal Election Time - Welcome to the Fun House!

 Greetings, Fearless Readers, and we sure hope it's all lovely out there. 

So it's that time. Covington election time! And we're all real excited about it! 

Time's a wastin' so let's get right down to it. 

EAST WARD POST 2 

So my good friend Travis Moore seems to be in the driver's seat for this race & for good reason -- he is definitely the most qualified. Plus, he's a great guy. I've known him for years, as have many of you. He's legit! Good people. 

It's my understanding that his opponent's campaign started to see the tea leaves a few weeks ago so that's when she first decided to go negative w/ a direct mail piece. 

Probably a bad idea there... 

What's the old saying about bringing a knife to a gun fight? 

Or, to reference the popular meme - (do something) & then "find out." 

I've really gotten a kick here lately how her surrogates have been pushing this same line about - "hey...just look at her campaign page - she hasn't been going after him" 

No, here lately, she's been doing that w/ direct messages that she's been sending out to numerous Covington voters, many of whom are supporting Travis, and many of whom have been taking screen shots. In other words - there are receipts. 

The flailing death rattle of a flailing - and pointless - campaign, in this writer's estimation. 

"bUt wHaT aBoUt aLl hEr SiGnS," I can hear some of you saying. 

She had more signs two years ago & lost by 14 points to Susie Keck, a semi-unknown quantity at the time. 

That's the thing.

Travis is C-Town. Born & bred. Multi-generational. 

People know him. They know that he's been fighting against apartments ever since he was first appointed to the Planning Commission. 

Straight up lies are simply straight up lies. 

There's only one set of facts, people, and the facts are the facts. 

EAST WARD POST THREE 

Dania Bernard apparently moved to Covington approx a year ago. She's seemingly moved all over a lot of places most of her adult life. Purportedly she's an investor w/ Archer Aviation - the outfit that clearcut that beautiful land just east of Oxford. And supposedly she's worked as a flight attendant some as well. 

Who knows? 

Also, basically, she's running as a Democrat in a non-partisan race. All one has to do to confirm that is to see where her signs are throughout town, as well as what she's been telling folks all throughout town. 


I'm voting for Jared Rutberg in this one. 


MAYOR 


Don't ask, don't tell...? 

I'm still not exactly sure who I'm going to vote for in this one, or if I'm even going to vote in this one. 

I like the Preacherman. I really do. But not so sure about him being Mayor. 

I like Felton. Not so sure about him being Mayor, though. 

I like Eric. [see above] 

Definitely not voting for Kenny. 

So, there's a fifth candidate running. At least a few of you know who she is. 

I'll just say this: she might be okay as Mayor, but I'm just not entirely so sure. 

Planning to make my mind up tomorrow morning when I vote... 

### 

Remember: ELECTION DAY tomorrow. 

And remember: voting will be at regular polling precincts (NOT at City Hall) due to the countywide referendum happening. 

- MBM 

Covington Municipal Election Ballot Catastrophe

 Apparently way worse than originally thought...

--NOBODY SHOULD EARLY VOTE UNTIL THIS IS REMEDIED--

Multiple West Ward Electors voting for East Ward candidates; multiple East Ward Electors voting for West Ward candidates.

Again - DO NOT VOTE until this gets fixed.

Apparently it's going to be on the WSB TV news tonight.

This is nothing short of gross incompetence on behalf of the Newton County Board of Elections (though they're purportedly blaming the GA Sec of State. Regardless, they have a duty to confirm & verify, obviously).

Stay tuned in this space & at The Piedmont Chronicles & MB's Word on the Street for follow ups.

DEVELOPING...

###

- MBM

Finally, Another Check-in From The Editor - Don't Call It A Comeback...

*cross-posted at MB's Word On The Street 

 …I been here for years

I'm rockin' my peers, puttin' suckers in fear
Makin' the tears rain down like a monsoon
Listen to the bass go boom…”

—LL Cool J

Ahhh Yeah! We back!

Though we were never gone, really. No, the last few months I’ve kind of been keeping my powder try & working my patented ant hill kicking a little more on the down low opting for more direct communications via phone & text.

However, I understand that a fair number of folks who like to keep up w/ my particular brand of foolishness, hyperbole & - dare I say at times - frivolity haven’t been privy to my direct communiques.

So, here we are.

Of course, not much has really happened here recently, right?

Pretty quiet.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

Obviously the elephant in the room at the moment is the seemingly pending foray into WWIII.

Hell, what did you expect? With the Ukraine spigot looking to possibly slow down, the war machine needs Dat Ca$h Money!

Seems to be working - just look at the stock prices of all the MIC players.

And the world keeps on humming as it always has.

LOCAL

Well, the #COV races are definitely heating up. Things are gettin’ really REAL out there. Lots of lies & dirty politics floating around. Desperate people getting desperate. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Signs being put up w/out permission & also in violation of code while signs being illegally taken down.

You know? The usual.

It’s just good stuff!

COVID

Just as some of us have been saying for 3 & 1/2 years - they lied to us. About everything. Almost all totally & verifiably proven.

The death rate was never anywhere close to what they were claiming. They lied. Proven.

Masks. Don’t work. They lied. Proven.

Myocarditis from the vaccines. It’s a thing. They lied. Proven.

Died w/ Covid being way higher than “because” of Covid. They lied. Proven.

More people were probably killed by doctors & hospitals due to Remdesivir & ventilators. They lied. Almost all but proven (and right quick - when this one really gets the light of day it deserves, that’s when maybe, just maybe, folks will be ready to really get pissed. Not holding my breath, though.

Ivermectin & Hydroxychloroquine both work. They lied. Proven. Big Pharma couldn’t have cheap competition, now could they?

A regimen of Vitamin C, D3 & Zinc really does help. They lied. Proven.

Yep, folks like me were basically right on everything. That just kills some people out there. Their ego no likey.

However, something that did cause some optimism for me is this - for a few weeks there a while back the powers-that-be & their legacy media minions really went into a full-on gaslight mode vis-a-vis Covid & then proceeded to get totally eviscerated from just about everybody. And then it stopped.

Hey, a small win. We’ll take it.

So on that positive note, I’ll leave it for now.

Good to be back. Stay Tuned.

- MBM