Georgia Green Party
http://www.greens.org/georgia
Candidate Press Release
Friends of Elaine Brown for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia
http://www.elainebrown.org
139 Altama Connector, #107
Brunswick, Georgia 31525
912-262-9811 (Telephone)
912-262-9813 (Facsimile)
CONTACT: Cathy Browning, 912-996-6523 (Brunswick, Georgia)
December 5, 2005
ELAINE BROWN WINS MOTION IN ELECTION CONTEST
At the December 1, 2005, Glynn County Superior Court hearing on the Contest of the Election filed by mayoral candidate Elaine Brown on November 15, 2005, Brown's Motion to Continue was granted. The hearing is now scheduled for December 19, 2005, at 9:30 a.m. The grounds Brown raised in her
contest included fraud and misconduct in the November 8, 2005, Brunswick municipal election and that Bryan Thompson, mayor-elect, is not eligible to take office. Brown asserts that Thompson's position as CEO and President of Blueprint Brunswick, Inc., is "incompatible" and a conflict of interest with his being mayor of Brunswick. Indeed, Blueprint Brunswick is seen by many as a "shadow" government of the City of Brunswick.
Despite the vigorous objections made by Thompson's attorney, Austin Catts, who is also a member of the Board of Blueprint Brunswick, and City Attorney Lynn Frey, representing the Glynn County Board of Elections, Judge Tom Pope granted Brown's Motion to Continue, based on, among other issues, Superior Court Clerk Lola Jamsky's failure to give proper notice of the hearing to all parties, including the other two mayoral candidates, Betsy Bean and Otis Herrington. Bean and Herrington asserted their intention to pursue their interests arising in Brown's Contest.
Pope also granted the Motion to Continue filed by Rev. Zack Lyde on his Contest of the Election, and Lyde's hearing date was also continued to December 19, 2005.
In the meantime, Elaine Brown has other legal challenges pending in her effort to address the gross misconduct in Brunswick's municipal election.
· Brown has appealed the October 31, 2005, decision of the Superior Court where, ironically, Senior Judge Tom Pope upheld (without explanation) the Decisions of the Glynn County Board of Elections to disqualify her as a candidate and remove her name from the voting rolls. The appeal was filed in the Appellate Court of Georgia on Monday, November 28, 2005.
· Brown's case in the U.S. District Court challenging the Board's decisions to disqualify her and remove her name from the voting roles based on violations of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is still pending.
· At the same time, Brown has petitioned the Georgia Attorney General's office to compel Blueprint Brunswick, Inc., to allow the public to review its records and attend its meetings, which Thompson, as CEO and president, has refused to do, in violation, Brown charges, of the Georgia Open Records and Meetings Acts.
