Milwaukee, Wisconsin — President Donald J. Trump announced his pick for running mate: JD Vance from Ohio!
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance
We are particularly excited about this decision because at our NFRA Convention last year in Orlando, Florida, the NFRA delegates endorsed seven potential candidates for Vice President — and only J.D. Vance remained on the short-list.
We appreciate President Trump hearing our counsel and advice to have a better conservative like Vance on his team, rather than some of the other candidates who were on the short list. The Freedom Index, a scorecard provided by the John Birch Society, which upholds a high standard on a variety of issues, gives Vance an 80% voting record as a U.S. Senator.
Both former President Donald Trump and Senator Vance were both overwhelmingly nominated as the Republican nominees for President and Vice President in 2024 at the convention.
Former State Sen. Mike Crane congratulates Brian Jack for winning the nomination for Congressional District 3.
There were lots of potential good news from last night’s Republican Primary runoff! In particular, Establishment-candidate Sen. Mike Dugan (who had a 35% “F” legislative vote score in 2023) was defeated by Brian Jack in the 3rd Congressional District race.
After the Republican Primary in May, Jack was endorsed by Mike Crane and Phillip Singleton, both GRA members who have been previously endorsed by the GRA as legislators for their exceptional performance. Jack has also worked previously on staff for former President Donald Trump.
Jack is expected to be a more conservative Congressman than the retiring incumbent from the district, Drew Ferguson.
In other news, GRA member Gregory Howard from Gwinnett won his runoff for the nomination in the 7th District State Senate race. He’ll now face the Democrat incumbent State Senator in a district that leans Democrat.
In Pike County, former GRA-endorsed State Rep. Ken Pullin (with an 84%-88% “A” legislative score) won his runoff for county commission, defeating the incumbent:
This win for Pullin was seen as vindication after he was pressured to abandon his State House seat when the late former Speaker David Ralston worked to gerrymander his old House district during redistricting to ensure he would not be re-elected, just as he had done to Phillip Singleton in his former State House seat.
Vanita Hullander
Also it was noteworthy that two of the incumbent Catoosa County Commission candidates who the Catoosa GOP did not qualify as Republicans in the primary lost their Republican primary runoff elections last night. Both incumbent County Commission Chairman Larry Black and incumbent County Commissioner for District 3 Vanita Hullander went down to defeat in their races. Hullander was the commissioner who endorsed a Democrat in a local race and made the absurd retort to an angry local citizen at a commission meeting, when he was complaining about how local tax dollars were being spent by the commission, that “you act like we’re spending your money personal!” The citizen replied to her, “That is our money!”
Hullander and Black took legal action in March to get a local judge to force them on the ballot. That has led to two cases on appeal in both state and federal court where we trust this violation of the 1st Amendment’s “freedom of association” clause will eventually be overturned.
Atlanta, GA — Today GRA President Nathaniel Darnell appointed Fulton County activist and GRA member Jason Frazier as the Chairman of the newly-created GRA Election Integrity Action Group.
Frazier has exposed issues like this abandoned house in Fulton County that had 20 voters registered as living there.
Since the 2020 election, Frazier has successfully challenged and removed thousands of illegitimate registrations in Fulton County. He has testified before the State Senate, influencing election integrity legislation. Last year, he was nominated to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, although the Democrat-controlled Board refused to seat him. He’s developed analytical models to identify invalid registrations and collaborated with software developers to improve registration verification.
Now Frazier is looking to take the method state-wide that he has used to successfully uncover local problems in the Fulton voter rolls. GRA members from across the state will be coordinating with him to challenge voter registrations in Georgia by people who are also registered in other states, among other things.
After joining the GRA, Frazier reached out to GRA Chairman Alex Johnson a few weeks ago about his proposed idea to build a state-wide team from the GRA for this purpose. In a recent poll of our membership, many members responded with an eagerness to join the effort.
Send us a message if you would like to be a part of this significant initiative.
GRA-endorsed candidates pulled off some impressive victories Tuesday night sure to rattle some of the RINO Establishment’s cages. Very notably, GRA-endorsed candidate Noelle Kahaian defeated incumbent State Rep. Lauren Daniel (R-Locust Grove) in the House District 81 race! Daniel had earned a legislative vote score last year of 34% “F.” Noelle beat Lauren in the newly redistricted House seat by a margin of 52.78% to 47.22% when all the precincts were counted.
The GRA-PAC was proud to sponsor Kahaian’s race early.
“RINO Wrangler” State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) also made short work of his primary challenger in his race for re-election last night. Now that the Republican voters in the district have voted so overwhelmingly (70.44% to 29.56%) to re-nominate Moore as the Republican Senator for the district, it will be interesting to see if the State Senate Republican Caucus re-admits him.
Troy Cook
In another upset against an incumbent, GRA Middle GA chapter President Troy Cookstomped on Crawford County Commissioner for District 2 Jackie McCowan, earning nearly four times as many votes as the out-going incumbent! Troy has also served as the Crawford County GOP Chairman.
GRA-endorsed candidate Ken Pullin also got one morevote than the incumbent and made it into a runoff for Pike County Commission. The GRA formerly endorsed Pullin for State House in 2018 and helped get him elected to that office. He had an “A” legislative voting score.
Pullin served for one term in the State House before the late Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) ensured his district was gerrymandered during redistricting in a way that was likely to decrease his chances of re-election.
GRA endorsed candidates did particularly well in most local races. Here is a list of our most recent tally of GRA-endorsed candidates who won their primary elections last night:
• Congressional District 9: Andrew Clyde(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State Senate District 53: Colton Moore (Catoosa, Walker, & Dade area)(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State Senate District 55: Mary Benefield (DeKalb County) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 20: Charlice Byrd (Cherokee County)(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 35: Gary Chaffee (Cobb County near KSU) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 81: Noelle Kahaian (McDonough & Griffin) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • State House District 83: Catherine Bernard (DeKalb County) (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Miller County Commissioner, District 3: Keith Bowen (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Murray County School Board District 3: Tony Abernathy (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Pike County Board of Commissioners: Ken Pullin (PRIMARY RUNOFF) • Whitfield County Commission Sheriff: Darren Pierce (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Whitfield County Coroner: Clyde McDaniel (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Cherokee Chief Magistrate: Trey Goodwin (PRIMARY WINNER!) • Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney: Keith Higgins (PRIMARY WINNER!)
Judicial Candidates Pinson & Davis Win!
Although judicial races are technically considered “non-partisan,” we made a point of highlighting two key judicial races in Georgia this week that were successful. State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson is a Republican jurist who beat long-time Democrat John Barrow with 54.95% of the vote!
Meanwhile, Jeff Davis is a Republican jurist who won his election to Court of Appeals with 57.02% of the vote against Tabitha Ponder.
We congratulate Justice Pinson and Judge Davis on their election victories and pray that they will do their utmost in our climate of judicial “law-fare” to oppose corruption and uphold justice in our state, properly applying our constitutional laws to protect all citizens from harm.
Rome, GA — Wednesday, federal Judge Billy Ray heard arguments from the Catoosa GOP that the Catoosa Board of Elections acted unlawfully when they followed state Superior Court Judge Don W. Thompson‘s order to violate the Catoosa GOP’s 1st Amendment protected right to freedom of association by forcing four known RINO candidates onto the Republican primary ballot. These candidates have a record of implementing democrat policies (like raising taxes, prohibiting property rights, etc.) and opposing basic tenants of the Republican Party platform. For the first time, attorneys for the Catoosa GOP were allowed to present their legal arguments in the courtroom since Judge Thompson had precluded any oral arguments on the merits of the Catoosa GOP’s position in his courtroom in Ringgold.
At issue is whether private organizations (such as political parties, businesses, clubs, or churches) have the right to freely associate or disassociate with someone who does not share the standards of that private organization. Recent SCOTUS precedent on that question says political parties do have that right, according to the Catoosa GOP.
Federal Judge Billy Ray
Unlike the courtroom in Ringgold, the federal courtroom in Rome hearing this case was not covered in police officers or following unusual measures in an effort to intimidate. Indeed, the federal courtroom did not appear to have a single officer in the room. Federal Judge Ray adopted a very inquisitive posture, asking numerous questions of attorneys, coming at the controversy from many angles, and musing aloud regarding the implications of different legal positions.
Judge Ray mentioned in the proceedings that the threats of jail time and exorbitant $1,000 per hour fines against the Catoosa GOP Executive Committee members that were imposed by Judge Don W. Thompson should, it seemed to him, no longer apply since that was from a civil case and the plaintiffs have already obtained their desired remedy. Time will tell if other judges in on-going proceedings agree with Judge Ray on that point.
“The crux of this case is really questioning the very essence of a political party,” said GRA NFRA Director Abigail Darnell. “If a political party plays nothing more than a superficial administrative role, rubber stamping every candidate with no regard to their beliefs or their record on public policy, then why have a political party at all?”
Some of the supporters of the Catoosa GOP who came to the Rome courtroom meet for lunch after the federal hearing Wednesday.
Attorneys Alex Johnson and David Oles (also the 11th Congressional District Chairman) were on hand to represent the Catoosa GOP, and Catoosa County government attorney Christopher Harris represented the Catoosa Board of Elections members. Harris also represents the county commissioners — three of which are also among the four rejected candidates — which, as an employee of the county, paid by those commissioners, appears to be a conflict of interest.
Harris made the argument that the Catoosa GOP procedures for vetting and qualifying candidates were “inconsistent” with the GA GOP state party rules. Attorney Alex Johnson pointed out that there is no “inconsistency” because the GA GOP State Party rules do not address county processes on this point, and certainly do not preclude county party’s vetting and refusing to qualify candidates who don’t demonstrate a track record of faithfulness to Republican Party platform principles. The Catoosa GOP rules, including the new accountability measures and candidate vetting process, were unanimously approved by the delegates at the Catoosa GOP County Convention after the rejected candidates filed their lawsuit.
Harris also argued that such an Accountability Rule was rejected by the GA GOP State Convention last year. When Judge Billy Ray asked attorney Alex Johnson about that event, Johnson pointed out that he was actually the delegate at the convention who had submitted the proposed Accountability Rule last year, and that that proposed Accountability Rule had nothing to do with county party organizations. He also pointed out that the rule was never actually allowed to be voted on at the convention since it was blocked in committee and the convention chairman did not allow the proposal to be brought up from the floor.
Far-left newspaper Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein was in the federal courtroom observing and incorrectly reported yesterday that Johnson’s proposed Accountability Rule would have given the GA GOP the power to reject candidates to state office. In actuality, the GA GOP already possesses the constitutional authority to reject candidates under the freedom of association — and has recently done so for the presidential ballot last year as well as for former K.K.K. clansman David Dukes when he attempted to run for president as a Republican in 1992. The proposed Accountability Rule from last year would have only provided a process for the delegates at a state convention to vote on potentially blocking a state candidate from running for future office as a Republican instead of that authority being seen as exclusively the domain of the GA GOP 28-person Executive Committee or the 180-person State Committee. According to the Call of the GA GOP, the state convention has a capacity this year of 2,641 delegates.
In Star Wars, Chancellor Palpatine violates the freedom of association of the Jedi Council by forcing them to allow Anakin Skywalker to have a seat on the council. Later Palpatine would dissolve the Republic, declaring himself Emperor.
Federal Judge Ray allowed Johnson to chronicle how Judge Don W. Thompson had called an ex parte hearing with little notice to the attorneys on the Tuesday morning the week of candidate qualifying, and did not allow attorneys to present oral arguments on the First Amendment issue of right of association. Johnson delved deeply into the extensive case law from the United States Supreme Court which repeatedly applies that legal right specifically to political parties.
Judge Ray asked Johnson about the interplay between state law specifying the procedure for how candidates are qualified and the U.S. Constitution in the 1st Amendment. Attorneys for the four RINO candidates have argued that the state law does not specify that political parties have any discretion over qualifying candidates who appear and follow the process. Johnson argued that the state law must be seen to be in conformity with the First Amendment and not in conflict with it. If somehow the state law did prohibit freedom of association, Johnson pressed, the 1st Amendment from the U.S. Constitution must have supremacy over state law. “That’s what the Civil Rights movement was all about,” Johnson said.
The Catoosa GOP’s county committee voted unanimously to adopt the procedures in their organization’s rules for vetting and qualifying candidates. The members of that committee are elected every two years by the local activists in Catoosa County, and serve as the representatives of the Republican voters in that county. They are responsible for guarding the interests of the local Republican Party, says the Catoosa GOP, including upholding minimum standards of quality that Republican voters can rely on when they go to vote in the primaries. Approving a candidate for qualifying as a Republican operates as a stamp of approval that voters, who cannot often pay close attention to local government operations, can rely.
Catoosa GOP’s Muzzled Ballot Questions
The hearing on Wednesday also addressed ballot questions the Catoosa GOP had submitted to the Catoosa Board of Elections to be included on the Catoosa Republican Primary ballot. Some of those questions inquired about voters’ awareness of the candidate qualifying controversy, and awareness of public votes of the County Commission and were not an example of defamation. County attorney Harris said that the Secretary of State’s office had told the local BOE to refuse to use the questions because, they argued, they were illegally “electioneering.” However, Harris admitted “in candor to the court” that the Secretary of State’s office called him and said they are no longer claiming the ballot questions are “electioneering” and that the decision rested solely with the Catoosa Elections Board. Judge Ray pointed out through his questions that the statute prohibiting “electioneering” says no “person” shall engage in that activity, and neither a printed ballot nor a voting machine are a legal person under that statute. He also said that the statute relating to qualifying questions from political parties says they “shall” be posted and do not give the Board of Elections much discretion on whether to post questions submitted or not.
“This is yet another atrocious example of bias and discrimination against the Catoosa GOP,” said Abigail Darnell. “If this illegal action is allowed to stand, it will demoralize GOP activists and discourage party participation across the state. I mean, why would I want to give unpaid volunteer hours to an organization just to be strong-armed by the government? Party activists shouldn’t be forced to conform to a government-approved message or government-forced association.”
Time is Ticking
The ballots will soon be finalized for the upcoming primary election in May.
Federal Judge Billy Ray pointed out that he has particular experience in the subject matter of the case since he was formerly a Republican State Senator from northeast Georgia from 1996 to 2002, so he was familiar with candidate qualifying procedures, and he had also formerly been a Gwinnett County GOP officer responsible for qualifying candidates. In 2002, Ray was appointed to the state superior court by out-going Democrat Governor Roy Barnes. Ten years later he was appointed by Republican Governor Nathan Deal to the Georgia Court of Appeals. In 2018, he was appointed by former President Donald Trump to the federal District Court for Northern Georgia.
Judge Ray cautioned at the conclusion of the proceeding that he would not be making any promises on how quickly he would decide on this case. He made it clear he did not want to be rushed, even though he was mindful that the ballots would soon be printed for the Catoosa Republican primary election in May. He also pointed out that even if the four candidates do end up on the ballot, the Catoosa GOP could still pursue monetary damages.
Not all Republicans are the same. What is the difference between a good Republican and a bad one?
One of the major distinctions between a GRA-endorsed candidate and a run-of-the-mill Republican is how the candidate would determine if a piece of legislation is good or bad.
(R to L) Former Congressman Paul Broun with his wife and former State Sen. Mike Crane
The esteemed former Congressman Dr. Paul Broun (GA-10) developed an excellent method of evaluating legislation that could serve as a model for any candidate. It was a simple four question test.
1) Is it Moral? 2) Is it Constitutional? 3) Do We Need it? 4) Can We Afford it?
Dr. Broun required the legislation to pass all four questions to receive his support. Using this grid, he earned the nickname “Dr. No” while serving in Congress because of the minuscule number of bills that passed his four question test and earned his “yes” vote.
Of course, all of these questions presuppose that the legislator has actually read the bill. In the event the legislative leadership places a large bill on your desk in the morning and expects you to vote on it by Noon, the default vote should be “No.”
In addition to Dr. Broun’s four question test, I imagine our founding fathers might ask these questions as well:
Does this legislation conform to the laws of nature? Is this legislation in harmony with the Law of nature’s God? Would this bill be just to all of my constituents?
The T-shirt most of the incumbent “Republicans” are handing out at their fundraisers this time of year. 😉
By contrast, the establishment RINO candidates have a strikingly different grid for evaluating legislation that goes something like this:
1) Does the Republican Leadership approve of this bill? 2) What would my large donors think about this bill? 3) Would this legislation advance my personal political career? 4) How is the mainstream media likely to characterize this bill? 5) Would I be criticized for supporting this bill? 6) Would I be marginalized by other legislators for supporting this bill?
Another factor to consider as we attend candidate forums this year is the character of the candidate. The Bible provides a divinely inspired list of qualifications for determining whether an elected official is worthy of being entrusted with authority. Exodus 18:21 says:
“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:”
Following the Exodus of God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, Moses was tasked with implementing a system of government for adjudicating controversies among the 3 million former slaves of the fledgling nation. It was not a centralized government. It was decentralized. (See this article.) They established rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
This became the requirement for the rulers and judges over the people, at every level:
⁃ Able men (competence) ⁃ Fear God ⁃ Men of Truth ⁃ Hating Covetousness
Founding Father Noah Webster, who wrote the first American Dictionary, said: “When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, ‘just men who will rule in the fear of God.’ The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” [Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337.]
An inclination of magistrates to greed, corruption, accepting bribes or special interest lobbyists money has been a concern for more than 4,000 years. It crosses party lines and remains one of the major concerns among honest American voters today.
According to Exodus 18:21, one of the qualities you should look for in a civil magistrate is someone who has a righteous indignation and disgust for covetousness. Any candidate who truly hates covetousness is probably not, for example, going to be able to vote in good conscience for the Georgia budget next year without a massive overhaul to remove the corporate welfare handouts to Hollywood companies, among other things.
Similarly, lying politicians must have been a problem 4,000 years ago as well, because “men of truth” is another requirement. A commitment to the truth is vital among those leading in the civil realm. A man of truth keeps his campaign promises. A man of truth doesn’t tell constituents he is pro-life, then tell the feminists he supports abortion, and change his position a dozen times based on the audience present or the latest polling data.
These requirements, and the Law of God, became the foundation for the Hebrew Republic. Our founding fathers recognized the importance of these qualities as essential to the preservation of our constitutional republic. (See this article.)
So, as you attend candidate forums this year and consider which Republicans to support in the primary, try asking the candidates “If you were elected, how would you evaluate legislation?” And judge them by the Exodus 18:21 standard. What are some other questions that you have found useful? Please comment them below.
Atlanta, Georgia—On Wednesday the halls of the Georgia Capitol were filled with nearly fifty patriots rallying for election integrity and government accountability as the legislature convened its first day of the special legislative session. The legislature was convened to take up reapportionment and redistricting of maps for the state, but
Journalists capture the press conference
GRA members and allied patriots took the opportunity to hold a press conference for election integrity at the north wing of the Capitol. GRA member Kandiss Taylor opened in prayer and was the first to speak. “We are here today because we finally—after three years of affidavits, and notices, and conversations, and demands, and speeches, and putting pressure on our legislators—we finally get a special session! In fact we were told we could not have a special session for three years but, amazingly, it is constitutional, and it is legal,” Taylor exclaimed, “What a miracle!” Taylor urged legislators to “hold the line” and not forfeit Republican seats to Democrats. “We are not asking for backroom deals,” Taylor said. “We are asking for fair legal redistricting, and fair legal voting.”
Over the last few years, the Georgia Governor was urged to convene a special legislative session to address election woes and to deal with Fulton County District Attorney FaniWillis, but this special session was called exclusively to address reapportionment and redistricting.
The State of Georgia was ordered to redraw the congressional and legislative maps by U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones who wrote “…the Court determines that in certain areas of the State, the political process is not equally open to Black voters.” The “minority” population of Georgia has increased, while the number of white or Caucasian citizens have decreased, according to Census records cited by the court. Judge Jones was appointed by Barrack Obama and has notably opposed protections for pre-born children from abortion in Georgia. The state has filed an appeal of that order.
Other speakers at the press conference included David Cross, Kim Brooks, Dr.Doug Frank, Beth Mercure, Stacey Doran, Field Searcy, Sam Carnline, and Kevin Parker.
GRA members Holly Kesler, Brittany Brown, Kandiss Taylor, Wayne Canady, & Gary Chaffee
“We need Governor Kemp and the legislators to come together, and extend the call of the special session” to address election integrity concerns, said Field Searcy, GRA IT Chairman and a leader with Georgians for Truth.
GAGOP 2nd Vice Chairman David Cross referenced the Haldeman report, and gave examples of errors in the counting of ballots, and why we cannot have confidence in the Dominion voting system.
Referencing voter data from 2020 and 2022, Kim Brooks said, “We have found manipulation of inactive voters and infrequent active voters unlawfully receiving credit for voting.” Brooks said she has proof that votes were cast in those elections for dead voters as well.
“Every single fraudulent ballot is depriving one other citizen’s vote—their constitutional right”, Dr. Doug Frank said. “When your state and your legislature and your Secretary of State tell you, ‘you have to use these systems,’” Frank suggested to the audience, “You can tell them ‘pound sand, because you are depriving us of our constitutional right of our ballot.’”
Beth Mercure, a Cherokee County activist pointed out that well-documented concerns about election integrity have been largely ignored by politicians across the state. Mercure urged legislators, “We beg you to fix it now!”
Delivering a petition to the Governor’s office
Whitfield County election integrity activist Stacey Doran stated, “Brian Kemp and Brad Rafensburger refuse to do their job.” Georgia officials claimed the 2020 election was secure, yet removed signature verification and allowed remote drop boxes. “It can’t make sense; you can’t make an argument for it,” Doran said of the lack of election security.
Sam Carnline of Georgians for Truth shared that Georgia is in the world spotlight because of state officials’ refusal to fix the election system. He urged the legislature to do “whatever it takes” to return us to hand-marked paper ballots.
Tyranny can be overturned by the Sovereignty of God, Kevin Parker reminded attendees. He referred to the passage in Psalm 7: “his mischief shall return upon his own head.” Parker drew from historical instances of this and warned evildoers that their evil might return to them like a boomerang. “We call upon the supreme court of Heaven to deliver us from evil.” “We ask this legislature and this governor to rid us of unlawful voting systems,” Kevin Parker urged, “and replace it with hand-marked paper ballots, and give us our voting rights back.”
Dr. Douglas Frank with Holly Kesler
Dr. Doug Frank concluded the press conference by leading attendees in singing a verse of the song My Country Tis of Thee.
After the press conference, many of the patriots spoke directly with legislators about their concerns, others attended the legislative floor sessions.
Senator Colton Moore gave a rousing speech from the floor of the Senate that echoed the concerns of the Patriots at the rally.
Field Searcy & Sen. Colton Moore
“I’ll tell you what: for the last three months I’ve been calling for a special session. The people in northwest Georgia–they’re going to be mighty excited today because we are in a special session! Mr. President, I called for a special session with such intensity that I was booted out of the majority caucus. I am now a free and independent agent sitting in the back. Mr. President, it’s very disgruntling to me that I called for a special session for three months, and then we come to this special session and the proclamation that the governor has given us does nothing to address the concerns that millions of Georgians have in our current state of affairs.” Moore continued, “People in northwest Georgia, they don’t like thieves, and in 2020 people in my district believed the election was stolen, they’re upset that the governor took nineteen days to certify the election results, and if it takes that long, then how can you protest when other people agree that maybe the election was stolen? Mr. President, it’s one thing to have a difference of opinion of whether an election was stolen or not, but we’re in a much darker side of politics now in our state. Because now if you disagree with the political ruling class you can be held political prisoner, and right now we have a former president and eighteen others–even a member of this body–who are facing the rest of their life in prison for questioning an election.”
Click the video to watch Sen. Moore’s speech on the Senate floor in full.
Moore concluded, “Mr. President, if our maps are racist then let’s bring justice to our maps, but let’s also bring justice to a stolen election. Let’s also bring justice to the nineteen individuals who are facing the rest of their life in prison.”
Atlanta—Yesterday’s state Board of Elections saw another great turnout of patriots present. 30 of them withstood 10 hours of listening in on cases, petitions and comments. The greatest success of the meeting was that all of the charges harassing GRA member Jessie Blankenship were dismissed. Moreover, the harassing criminal charges against North Metro RA President Richard Jordan were also dropped, and now he only has to deal with some pending civil charges. Jordan has his own countersuit against the parties harassing him with a lawsuit for activities during last year’s election. GRA member David Oles served as the attorney representing Mr. Jordan.
For those not familiar with their cases, Jessie Blankenship had offered to drive people in her community to the polls during the election so they could vote, and for this act of generosity a complaint was filed against her. In Richard Jordan’s case, he asked to see a poll manager at the polls to inquire about the security of the “QR” codes on his ballot. After he made this inquiry, the police were called and it was falsely reported that he was making a disturbance. Video of the police approaching Mr. Jordan show that he was disturbing no one, and he asked the officer to leave him alone because the officer was violating his privacy by coming within view of his ballot, which had not yet been submitted to be counted.
Participants learned the people in NGOs are fraudulently registering people (some non-existen fictitious people) to vote.
A petition asking action from the State Board of Elections compiled by GRA IT Chairman Field Searcy, who is the co-founder of GeorgiansforTruth.org, also contained elements on injury voters have experienced from governing bodies. Many other GRA members signed that petition. Marilyn Marx from Coalition of Good Governance’s submitted a request for hand-marked paper ballots based on confidentiality of the ballot. This proposal was defeated but the Board asked to have a further dialogue with Marilyn and other activists. Board member Matthew Mashburn led a more public friendly meeting than Chairman William Duffy did at the previous meeting.
One of the board members privately told the patriots that the on-going persistence is having an impact on the legislators, and encouraged them to keep it up.
One might be surprised that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is echoing our calls to see the Republican-controlled Georgia General Assembly go back to the drawing board and pass meaningful election integrity reform. Except that Raffensperger wants to run backwards in his recommended policy suggestions.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
Specifically, the Secretary of State is urging the state legislature to put an end to runoff elections and instead adopt rank-choice voting. Since many of us are still skeptical that in an election system that he controls Raffensperger genuinely beat Congressman Jody Hice in the Republican Primary without a runoff, we understand why Raffensperger doesn’t like runoffs, but this is not the kind of election reform we had in mind. The Secretary of State also only narrowly won election to his position after a runoff with Democrat John Barrow in 2018.
However, rank-choice voting has demonstrated itself to be a disaster for small-government conservatives pretty much wherever it’s been tried around the country. If the greatest weakness of primaries and general elections is that they prey upon ignorance, ranked choice voting exacerbates that problem.
Sarah Palin & Senator Tom Cotton
It’s no coincidence that the most liberal states like California, Hawaii, and New York have pioneered rank choice voting. Former Governor Sarah Palin twice this year lost a Congressional race to a Democrat in Alaska’s rank choice voting system. “Ranked-choice voting is a scam to rig elections,” U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted. “60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion—which disenfranchises voters—a Democrat ‘won.’”
Instead of passing any kind of rank choice system, the Georgia General Assembly should do what they should have done with the much derided S.B. 202. Namely:
First, they should get rid of all absentee drop boxes. Any persons who come in to submit a ballot prior to Election Day (if allowed at all) should only be able to submit such a ballot for themselves, and should have to show their photo I.D. to elections personnel to prove they are really only voting on their own behalf and that they personally are of a sound mind.
Rather than getting rid of absentee drop boxes, the state legislature under Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan‘s guidance actually increasedthe number of drop boxes—requiring one per county! Only the state of Texas has more counties than Georgia.
Second, they should get rid of the “QR-code” on the Dominion Voting machine ballot printouts. Anything in the digital elections system that could conceivably open up the system for possibly difficult to detect computer alterations should be avoided for obvious reasons. There are many other states that use the Dominion Voting system, but have opted to not use this part of their system. Why should we?
Honestly, we would not be heartbroken if Georgia got rid of the Dominion Voting system altogether. Whatever it was supposed to do to make elections more efficient or trustworthy has clearly failed. It now takes just as long, if not longer, to report outcomes, and now parties on both sides complain about treachery more than ever before.
Humorous satire from FreedomToons
Third, no county in Georgia should report their numbers from Election Day until all counties have a final tally ready to present simultaneously. This is a simple matter of “keeping” honest election boards honest (yes, we’re talking about you, Fulton & DeKalb).
Fourth, any window for early voting should be shrunk. The policy of Georgia elections should be to maximize the number of people who vote actually on Election Day.
Ideally, we should all vote only on Election Day. That’s why it’s called “Election Day” and not “Election Month.” Both the state and federal government should make Election Day a holiday to encourage all businesses to give their employees the day off to go vote. We should make it normative for people to only vote on Election Day.
Anyone who might be granted an exception to the rule of only voting on Election Day should have the burden of proof on them that they have a special situation that merits such an exception. (Even then, a regular citizen should be allowed to vote no more than a week early.) Serving in the military would be such an exception. Having a mental incapacity would definitely not.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Raffensperger wants large counties to open up more locations for early voting. That suggestion would only encourage more people to vote early rather than on Election Day. This is counterproductive because the whole point of election integrity reform is to increase the trustworthiness of the final reported election outcome, but longer windows for voting only provides cheaters with more opportunities to cheat and ballot harvest.
Seriously, you’d think Raffensperger was being fed these bad ideas from the Democrats themselves.
Magic: It’s all about misdirection!
Even so, this week Secretary of State Raffensperger has been conducting “random” ballot counts around the state in 137 counties to try to demonstrate that the current system can be trusted. Of course, no once suspects that the particular batches of ballots selected for counting were not hand-selected in advance specifically because those particular batches were safe from having any evidence of fraud. One has to wonder if this is little more than an elaborate magic show where the illusionist knows the trick to the art of magic is that “it’s all about misdirection!”
If you want greater election integrity and transparency, let your voice be heard! Contact your State House representatives with their information from this web site, and for the State Senate get their information at this web site. To contact the Secretary of State, go to this web site. If we don’t speak up, if YOU don’t speak up, nothing will change. You can also add your name to the petition below from our endorsed State Senator Colton Moore (R-District 53) to express your opposition to Raffensperger’s proposal for rank-choice voting.
The Georgia State House Republican Caucus came back to Atlanta a little bit smaller Monday morning. Before last week’s election, the Republican Caucus had been 103 members. But at least two seats (maybe three) were projected to have been lost last week, bringing the size down to no more than 101. One of those lost was GRA-endorsed State Representative Philip Singleton (R-Coweta), whom Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) had vengefully and deliberately thrown under the bus by arranging to redistrict him out of his district, apparently because Ralston would rather give more seats to the Democrats than allow a strong conservative to stay in office.
In fact, the House Republican Caucus has been slowly diminishing under Ralston’s leadership for the last six years. In 2020, Republicans lost five seats in the State House. In 2018, Republicans under David Ralston’s leadership lost nine seats. Not since the election of 2016, when President Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, have Republicans in the State House not lost seats in their caucus. That year they gained a modest two seats.
How the Republican control of the State House under Ralston has diminished over the last three elections.
During the wave of the T.E.A. Party movement in the first half of the 2010s, Republicans saw steady gains in Georgia and across the country. But as Republicans have failed to live up to the promises of reform made under that movement, Republican voters have become increasingly disillusioned.
Barry Fleming speaks to the caucus
97 of the House Republican Caucus members gathered in Atlanta to vote on who they would support to replace Ralston as Speaker of the Georgia State House. Both State Rep. Jon Burns (R-Newington) and Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) claimed they had been promised sufficient support by their fellow Republicans to win the election. But the vote was conducted by secret ballot without any way of knowing if someone would violate their pledge.
When the results were announced, members say it was reported that Jon Burns won the vote. However, both candidates agreed not to announce the final tally.
Jon Burns celebrates
Rep. Burns has served as the Majority Leader in the State House since 2015, and he was reported to be Ralston’s pick for his replacement. We hope that Rep. Burns will learn from the errors of his predecessor and allow legislation promoting Republican principles and possessing grassroots support to freely reach the House floor for a debate and vote. Continuing to go to war with conservatives in his own party will only lead to political suicide.
The errors of Mr. Ralston that we hope Mr. Burns learns to avoid are voluminous. Yet last week, the sycophants for Big Government Corporate Cronyism at Peach Pundit attacked us for celebrating Ralston stepping down as Speaker of the House, even accusing us of somehow being “jealous” of him for being so “successful.” That was funny.
Comic of Benedict Arnold, traitor of patriots in the War for Independence
To set the record straight: We’re as “jealous” of Ralston as George Washington was jealous of Benedict Arnold in the middle of the War for Independence. Ralston’s been the best player on the Democrat team. Think about it. No Democrat in the state legislature has blocked more Republican principle-led legislation over the last thirteen years than Ralston. No Democrat has passed more Big Government expansions than Ralston. No one in the GRA is jealous of Ralston’s success at promoting the Democrat agenda.
Time would fail us to recount all the things Ralston has done over the last decade to antagonize heroes within the Republican Party and block the advancement of Republican principles from our platform. Earlier this year he attacked our endorsed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly on the House floor, and Greene really has been a heroine for our principles.
For years Speaker Ralston prevented the Constitutional Carry bill from reaching the floor for a vote, and he attacked former Republican State House Rep. Charles Gregory (R-Cobb) and then later Rep. Matt Gurtler (R-Tiger) and Rep. Colton Moore (R-Dade)(now elected to State Senate) for trying to advance that bill. (He recruited Burt Reeves to run against Gregory, and now Reeves’ district has flipped Democrat.) Only this year when Governor Brian Kemp thew his weight behind Constitutional Carry did Ralston finally relent and allow the bill to come forward for a vote.
During the pandemic, Ralston harassed fellow Republicans such as Rep. David Clark (R-Suwanee) to get tested, be contact traced, and wear a mask just to be able to perform the role they were elected to do on the House floor, even when they had no symptoms of any illness—the folly of which measures are only now being fully realized.
Herschel Walker
Speaker Ralston shoved down our throats legislation that many Republicans and conservatives had great alarms over (e.g., the recent “Mental Health Parity” bill). Meanwhile, he blocked legislation to enact real election integrity reform to prevent cheating, making it hard for those of us who have been volunteering at the polls to be able to catch all the ways Democrats may attempt to cheat in these elections. As a result, it is possible that because of David Ralston’s actions Herschel Walker could have been cheated out of a win in the U.S. Senate race. How can we motivate activists to push for a runoff when so many have doubts about election integrity?
But perhaps the worst of all, although Speaker David Ralston had promised before he was elected Speaker that he would allow one pro-life bill per year, for most of the thirteen years he was Speaker he blocked legislation that would have saved the lives of tens of thousands of preborn babies!
Former State Senator Mike Crane
Beyond that, he also twice blocked legislation that would have simply said we don’t have to pay for abortion murder with our tax dollars. For these alone, Ralston has blood on his hands before God. He has made himself an enemy of God, an enemy of the helpless (and God has harsh words in the Bible for those who pervert justice for the helpless), and an obstacle of heroes such as former State Senator Mike Crane (R-Coweta) (now 3rd Congressional District GA GOP Chairman) who bravely brought forward the legislation in 2012 and 2013 that would have permanently ended that tax subsidizing of abortion. (Governor Nathan Deal provided only a temporary solution.)
As Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Ralston’s sickness ought to be a warning to others who act as he does that God is just, and just as the Scriptures tell us that God providentially brought sickness upon King Asa and King Herod of old, God sometimes even today brings sickness upon His enemies to stop them from furthering harm.
And we haven’t even brought up the criminal victims who never got their day in court because of the endless case postponements Ralston was able to get as an attorney for his clients while Speaker. As the AJC reported, “Ralston has tied up cases for clients charged with child molestation, child cruelty, assault, terroristic threats, drunk driving and other crimes.”
In short, David Ralston has been the worst thing in Georgia Republican politics over the last thirteen years. Let the newly elected Speaker Jon Burns take note and not repeat his evils.
