Athens tax commissioner Democratic candidate fails in bid to remove rival from primary ballot

Barring any move he might make to appeal the decision, local insurance agent Brant Spratlin lost his bid Monday to have his challenger in the upcoming race for Athens-Clarke County tax commissioner, J.P. Lemay, declared ineligible due to his status as a county government employee.

Spratlin has 10 days from Monday’s decision by the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections to appeal its ruling to Athens-Clarke County Superior Court.

Both Spratlin and Lemay are running as Democrats in a race that has no Republican or independent candidates. As such, the race will be decided in May 21 primary balloting, or in a close contest, in any subsequent recount that may be needed.

The five-member elections board, comprising three Athens-Clarke County Commission appointees, and one appointee each from the county’s Democratic and Republican party organizations, rejected Spratlin’s challenge to Lemay’s candidacy in a 3-1 vote. Willa Fambrough, a commission appointee to the elections board, did not attend Monday’s special called meeting.

Ann Till, the election board’s Republican appointee, cast the sole vote against the motion to turn back Spratlin’s contesting of Lemay’s eligibility for office. Voting in favor of turning back Spratlin’s challenge were the board’s Democratic appointee, Rocky Raffle, and commission appointees Hunaid Qadir and Adam Shirley.

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Spratlin argued unsuccessfully Monday that a county ordinance provision addressing political activity by county employees barred Lemay’s run for the office. The local provision mandates that “no person holding a position with Athens-Clarke County Government, except elected officials, shall be active in political affairs or campaigns in any election for office in the Athens-Clarke County Government other than to vote and privately express opinions.”

Lemay, a project manager with the county’s Department of Leisure Services, countered that the ordinance cited by Spratlin covered only political activity at work, and did not prevent him from seeking office.

In addition, board members were told Tuesday by county counsel that, in any event, state law on qualifications for tax commissioner pre-empts local ordinance provisions. That’s because county tax commissioners are “constitutional officers,” elected locally but occupying offices created under the state constitution. State law is silent on the issue of whether a county employee is barred from seeking the office of tax commissioner.

Under the applicable state code section, to be qualified to run for county tax commissioner, a candidate must be a US citizen, a county resident and a registered voter. Additionally, a candidate for tax commissioner candidate must be at least 25 years old, have a high school diploma or its equivalent, and have no convictions for any felony or crime involving moral turpitude.

State law is silent on the question of whether a county government employee can run for tax commissioner.

“Only Georgia state law sets the qualification criteria for candidates seeking the office of tax commissioner,” Lemay argued Monday. He went on to note that guidance from the county’s human resources department indicated that the local ordinance is interpreted to mean only that “an employee cannot campaign while at work or on the clock, which I will not do during this campaign.”

Lemay went on to note that in recent years, a number of county employees, including sitting Tax Commissioner Toni Meadow, who is not seeking reelection, sitting Sheriff John Q. Williams, and sitting Athens-Clarke County Clerk of Courts Elisa Zarate, have run for office while working for the county. Meadow was at Monday’s meeting to remind the elections panel that she had, in fact, been a tax office employee while seeking office.

Spratlin said Monday he was notified of the local ordinance provision “by a past ACC (Athens-Clarke County) politician, who no longer is a politician … and they told me they didn’t think J.P. was allowed to run.”

The local ordinance, Spratlin further contended, “… is pretty black and white in what it says.” Later in the meeting, Spratlin argued that it is only the county human resources department that “said that’s the way to interpret it, that there’s no campaigning while on the clock.”

But, he added that in his view, that interpretation has stood only because until his challenge, “nobody has really pushed the code. It's like saying the speed limit is 50, but I’m going to interpret it to go 70. The code’s in black and white. I think they’re (county staff) just interpreting it that way to keep from a lawsuit occurring, in my opinion, because nobody has pushed the subject in the past.”

In her vote against the motion to turn back Spratlin’s contesting of Lemay’s eligibility to seek office, Till expressed her support for the local ordinance provisions. Raffle, Hunaid and Qadir, on the other hand, cast votes based on the county counsel’s guidance regarding pre-emption of the local ordinance by state law.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Athens tax commissioner candidate fails in bid to remove rival from ballot