Newton County BOC 5: The Choice Is Clear - LeAnne Long

 Howdy, Folks, and welcome back. 

As we wind our way to the end of early voting - and in preparation of Voting Day, Tuesday May 21st - TPC, and its Editor MB McCart, would like to relay the following: 

While this publication has previously written about why "William" Keith Ellis is not the one to lead the 5th district of the Newton County Board of Commissioners into 2025 & beyond, we did want to state why LeAnne Long is the right person for this all-too-important position. 

But first. The key reason why her opponent needs not be elected: 

William Thomas "Tommy" Craig, Esq. 

And yes, while I know that Keith has publicly stated more than once that he will not attempt to bring Tommy back as the home county's attorney, one should be sure to carefully analyze his words. Maybe not Tommy, per se, but what about his firm? What of his son? 

Those are the questions, in my opinion, that need to be asked. 

And, while it may seem to stretch any reasonable imagination or possibility, there does seem to be a belief by some that somehow the Bear Creek Reservoir could possibly be resurrected if Keith were to win. 

Look at the usual suspects. E.g. those that signed off on Keith's mailer last week. 

* * * * * 

LeAnne Long - The Right Candidate at The Right Time

I've known LeAnne for right at 25 years. 

I've always appreciated her for who she is & have always admired her willingness to always tell it how it is, as well as her tenacity, grit & work ethic. 

She's legit. 

She's experienced; she's previously served in elected office back in the late 90s. 

And she's an advocate. As many know, she has been on the front lines of the battle against irresponsible development time & time again over the years. 

Again, my friends, in my sincere estimation, she is the Clear Choice for BOC 5. 

This election is so very important. Truly hope things will turn out as they should & I believe they will. 

For the home county, 

- MBM 

Newton County REAL Politick: Democratic Primary - A Battle of Coalitions? #OneNewton vs The Tommy Craig Camp?

 (Covington, GA | Tuesday 5/7/24)

Welcome back, Dear Readers, and hope all is well out there. 

So we're exactly two weeks from voting day & now on our 9th day of early voting (we had both Saturday & Sunday early voting this past weekend; we will also have this upcoming Saturday for a total of 18 days of early voting including two Saturdays & a Sunday. Such a shame that Georgia has enacted such egregious voter suppression laws, ammaright?) 

As many have commented, there definitely seems to be two camps on the Team Blue side this election cycle. You can really tell by sign locations. Typically you'll see the same signs of the same candidates together, then you'll see the names of the other side together at another location. This is occurring all over the home county. 

Let's look at the dynamics of these races & try to break it down. 

For the purposes of this analysis, we'll go w/ the following names for the two camps/coalitions/sides: 

#OneNewton (Marcello Banes/Stephanie Lindsey crew) vs The Craig Camp (Tommy Craig/JC Machine/Reservoir People/Old Guard)

Now, for some of these races, we don't  have direct evidence for all candidates that their allegiance is necessarily to one side or the other. On some, we definitely do. For others, it is inferred based on conversations w/ sources & other political watchers & - again - based on those sign placements. 

At the top of ticket we'll draw our attention to the BOC Chair race between incumbent Marcello Banes & current Tax Commish - Marcus Jordan, and this one is very clear. We know Jordan has been utilizing Craig for legal counsel, so we know he's on that side.

And, I know for a fact, that Banes is diametrically opposed to both Craig as well as BOC 4 Rep JC Henderson. 

The next two are county constitutional offices & again this is simply my opinion & analysis based on the aforementioned criteria. 


Clerk of Superior Court 

John Bryant: either #OneNewton (Marcello/Stephanie) or unaffiliated w/ either faction. Definitely NOT Team Craig. 

Stephanie Finnie: possibly Team Tommy, per word on the street. 


Tax Commissioner 

Brent Bennett: either #OneNewton (Marcello/Stephanie) or unaffiliated w/ either faction. Definitely NOT Team Craig. 

Avis Williams: I know a good number of folks who are friendly w/ & like Avis. I believe she is Jordan's pick & based on what I'm hearing she would continue utilizing Tommy Craig for legal counsel for that office if she won. 

By the way, I believe this is the one Democratic primary that I will give an endorsement for. By all accounts, Brent Bennett is very impressive. Definitely qualified. And just seems like a really great guy. If you're pulling a blue ballot (which is what is being recommended for anyone regardless of political affiliation residing in BOC districts 1,2,3 & 4, I'd recommend giving this guy a look. 


BOC 3 

Similar to Chair, we 100% know about this one. Obviously Stephanie Lindsey is a part of her own coalition. Further, we also know that incumbent Alana Sanders is in league w/ JC & a part of the other side. 

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We're not covering Sheriff since Ezell is running uncontested in the primary. We've recently discussed Ezell's knack for paying Tommy Craig lots of money & we'll definitely be covering his general election race vs Justin Hipps moving forward. 


Conversations about BOC 1 & Coroner will also come later after we get into the general.

And I recently wrote about one of the candidates for BOC 5 & will cover that one again before May 21st. 

Okay for now, 

- MBM 

"William" Keith Ellis - A Closer Look

Hello, friends, and welcome back to TPC. 

So our old pal William Keith Ellis is running in the GOP primary for BOC 5 in this current election cycle (early voting started yesterday, by the way). 

Right off the bat, many have been pointing out that he's really been pushing his first name in this race rather than his middle name that he's always used in a presumed attempt to run from his political past. After his unceremonious single term as BOC Chair in which the home county embarked on a true jubilation when he, as an absolute persona non grata, announced he would not be running again, most thought we'd seen the end of his political career. 

But, not the case. 

So, since he is running, it seemed incumbent upon me to do this post. 

Here are some of TPC's "greatest hits" regarding the old feller: 

One of my personal favorites happened late in Keith's disastrous tenure, when he bizarrely claimed that two of the BOC Commissioners at the time were trying to blackmail him. 

Here's a guest post about Ellis that was penned by Samuel Hay III (back when we were still friendly) that really hit the nail on the head, I thought. 

One that was particularly galling to me had to do w/ one of the mitigation properties the county had previously bought for the was-never-gonna-happen Bear Creek Reservoir that had both Keith's as well WTC's fingerprints all over it. 

Presiding over a six seven hour BOC meeting when he'd developed a reputation for regularly presiding over three, four & five hour meetings (the People's time was way too valuable for that)


And also for your reading pleasure are some of Keith's "greatest hits" from other news outlets: 

What's behind the BOCs vote of no confidence

Four Newton County commissioners vote ‘no-confidence’ in chairman

Commissioner Henderson gets $4,500 interest-free loan from county

Legality of Henderson's check questionable

Yeah, a no confidence vote is always a bad sign.

And the the infamous "loan" to JC was particularly ill received by many at the time. 

More than anything, during Keith's entire tenure of January 2013 - January 2017, it just seemed as if everything was chaos. Everything was bad. 

*******

In my honest & heartfelt opinion, the last thing we need in the home county is a return of "William" Keith Ellis in any elected position. Been there, done that. 

***Also - in my opinion, a vote for William Keith Ellis is a vote to bring back William Thomas "Tommy" Craig, Esq. as county attorney*** 

Again, been there, done that. 

Until next time, 

MBM 

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