The Democrat-led Fulton County Board of Commissioners is once again defying a court order in its determination to block two Republicans from taking their seats on the county’s elections board.
The Republican Party of Fulton County nominated Julie Adams and Jason Frazier to serve on the elections board in May. Despite state law requiring that the county commissioners “shall” accept the appointments, they had previously refused to do so, criticizing Adams and Frazier for their election integrity efforts.
Even after the Fulton County Republican Party filed suit in June, and the court found in their favor early in August, the commissioners still refused to comply.
Last Wednesday, the board of commissioners filed a motion asking the court to reconsider. Two days later, Fulton County Superior Court Judge David Emerson once again ordered them to confirm Adams and Frazier at the board’s “next regularly scheduled meeting,” describing their actions as a “bad faith” stall tactic.
“The court directs the defendant board to comply with its order,” Emerson wrote.
The board of commissioners even filed an emergency motion with the Georgia Supreme Court, which was transferred to the Georgia Court of Appeals and quickly denied.
But even that did not stop them from behaving like petulant children who aren’t getting their way. In a 2-2 vote on Tuesday, with three members absent by the time the vote happened, the board of commissioners failed to pass Republican Commissioner Bridget Thorne’s motion to confirm the appointees. (You can watch the relevant portion of the meeting here, or read an AI-generated transcript here.)
Thorne argued that the unlawful delay caused “irreparable harm,” and noted an upcoming special election for a state senate seat. It’s a point that Fulton County GOP Chair Stephanie Endres has also emphasized. “There are elections happening right now and our representation is being denied,” Endres told me.
In response to Thorne’s motion, Democrat Commissioner Dana Barrett insisted “no judge” could “compel” her to approve the nominations, minutes before claiming to “respect the rule of law.” She told the activists at Democracy Docket she was willing to “risk contempt charges and fines or jail.”
Her fellow Democrat Commissioner Mo Ivory chimed in, saying “No one should force an elected official or any voter to cast a particular vote.” Ironically, Democrats’ complaint about Adams is her decision not to certify the results of a primary election.
Following Wednesday’s vote, Jason Frazier told me he was “disappointed by the decisions of the Democrat board members,” and that his “only goal is to help Fulton County follow election laws and run clean elections.”
Julie Adams said simply, “The Fulton [Board of Commissioners] was ordered to comply with the order of the court on Friday or risk being held in contempt. Today, they defied that order.”
The Fulton County GOP filed a motion on Thursday asking the court to hold the commissioners in both “civil and criminal contempt.” Georgia statute allows local officials to be charged with a misdemeanor for “deliberate means to delay or avoid the due course or proceeding of law,” punishable by removal from office, among other penalties.
Over the last few years we’ve all heard Democrats repeat their favorite mantra: “No one is above the law.” We’ll see if that’s true for the Democrats on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.