Judge tosses challenge to Brandon Beach candidacy

Administrative law judge Ronit Walker has turned down a challenge to the candidacy of Republican Brandon Beach of Alpharetta, who is running against Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of Woodstock.

State law prohibits a candidate who holds one elected state or local office from running for another.

Robert Grove, a resident of the Senate district, had questioned whether Beach, a member of the state transportation board, ran afoul of that restriction. State DOT board members are elected by state lawmakers. Read the decision here. In part:

“Elective office” generally refers to “an office filled by citizens registered to vote
and voting in an election” and is defined as being “filled by the direct exercise of the franchise of
the voters.”

…While the Georgia Code bars candidates from running in two races simultaneously, in the instant case Respondent’s candidacy is neither barred by the Constitution nor by statute.

The judge declined to address whether Beach should have lost his spot on the DOT board when he qualified for the state Senate race.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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24 comments Add your comment

td

July 12th, 2012
5:16 pm

This is a no brainier. Of coarse this guy is eligible to run for the Senate.

Hypocrite Hunter

July 12th, 2012
5:33 pm

Not sure I agree that it was a no brainer before the decision but it certainly is now, Reading it, I am curious how a per diem for showing up is different from getting paid to show up…but that’s why I don’t get the big bucks. I don’t think its going to matter, in the long run, but don’t see how GDOT doesn’t remove him.

double

July 12th, 2012
5:36 pm

More republican infighting.The only time they are happy,when creating problems for others.

honested

July 12th, 2012
6:08 pm

To quote E.J. Dionne from earlier today, “Who am I to interfere with republican infighting?”

mark

July 12th, 2012
6:11 pm

Maybe Chip Rodgers is afraid that his gambling and loan issues may led to him lossing his seat? So he dug up the only way he will win is by running oppossed.

Centrist

July 12th, 2012
6:49 pm

Beach’s GDOT and GRTA appointments are a hindrance to his candidacy since those poorly run organizations are well known to voters. His support for TSPLOST is not going to sit well with the voters in his district who will likely vote it down. This CEO of a Chamber of Commerce is not being considered a good representative of potential constituents.

The AJC unreported absent vote by Beach that allowed the GA 400 tolls to continue, and his AJC unreported support for supplanting the Fulton and Dekalb 1% MARTA tax with a metro wide 1/4% tax are devastating to his campaign.

hiram

July 12th, 2012
7:08 pm

Choose your poison. That seems to be the nature of the Republican party in Georgia.

hiram

July 12th, 2012
7:51 pm

Health Care Law Repeal Efforts By House GOP Cost Nearly $50 Million: CBS Report:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/health-care-law-repeal_n_1666917.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

Kris

July 12th, 2012
9:20 pm

53 Million, to hold a s@#$@#@#$#$ Vote and waste Tax Dollars on Nothing. Since the all dumb and crooked GOP is alway CRYING how do we pay for this…Well to the crooked Slimy GOP Who do the citizens send the Bill to…BONEHEAD…SMITTY. You would think after 32 times voting they stupid GOP would figure out its a waste of $$$$$

OBAMA

honested

July 12th, 2012
9:39 pm

hiram,
How many teachers could have been hired with the money wasted on ‘ACA repeal vote number 33′?

MiltonMan

July 12th, 2012
9:50 pm

“Choose your poison. That seems to be the nature of the Republican party in Georgia.”

As opposed to the morons you guys nominate in this sate like Roy Barnes, Vernon Jones, Jim Martin, etc., etc.

Baech is going to be defeated once again at the ballot box.

hiram

July 12th, 2012
10:06 pm

I like the Republican’s logic – when you’re talking about the indefensible baggage of a current Republican politician, their only come back is, to cite an irrelevant Democrat.

td

July 12th, 2012
10:22 pm

hiram

July 12th, 2012
10:06 pm

“when you’re talking about the indefensible baggage”

Laying the spin on a little thick tonight. This is a real non story. Jim is just filling space for some reason or another with subject that make you libs feel a little better about being irrelevant in Georgia.

hiram

July 12th, 2012
10:28 pm

td,
I love it when you use your best elementary school playground trash talk – “you libs”…

Centrist

July 12th, 2012
10:59 pm

Both libs and cons should like this, since the guy is obviously ethically challenged (and Galloway will certainly have it tomorrow since it is a Republican):

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/balfour-ethics-investigation-extended-1477118.html

Kris

July 12th, 2012
11:07 pm

Put baker and beach in a sack and shake it up ,,,stand back and watch what slithers out.

53 million will hire 1060 teachers at 50K ea. or put some of the $$$ in the pot to recall and impeach the Dirty Deal and ralston, rogers that stile leaves money for 1059 Very Badly needed teachers.

Centrist

July 12th, 2012
11:56 pm

I’m on a mini vacation and came across the following which might be something most of us can agree upon:

(Excerpt near the end) “The best of the WASP elites had a stewardship mentality, that they were temporary caretakers of institutions that would span generations. They cruelly ostracized people who did not live up to their codes of gentlemanly conduct and scrupulosity. They were insular and struggled with intimacy, but they did believe in restraint, reticence and service.

Today’s elite is more talented and open but lacks a self-conscious leadership code. The language of meritocracy (how to succeed) has eclipsed the language of morality (how to be virtuous). Wall Street firms, for example, now hire on the basis of youth and brains, not experience and character.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/opinion/brooks-why-our-elites-stink.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Buckhead Boy

July 13th, 2012
4:23 am

MiltonMan refers to Roy Barnes and Jim Martin as “morons” in a two-sentence post replete with grammatical and spelling errors. Is he incapable of recognizing that such only informs our worst prejudices against the average Republican? I suppose, of coarse (sic), as td would put it.

Attack Dog

July 13th, 2012
5:24 am

Since Democrats are irrelevant in Georgia, why do Republicans call the GOP controlled Georgia legislature corrupt, incompetent, and inmaterial,and run by criminals? Forget the 1-in-1 billion cases of voter fraud, who won the GOP primary in Iowa?

[...] holding a post on the GDOT Board, which is elected by legislators, and running for state Senate, dismissed the complaint. For the record, you can download the order [...]

Karl Marx

July 13th, 2012
8:20 am

GDOT members like Beach should not be elected to public office. Just look at the mess they have made in the “Department of Transportation”. the entire GDOT should be fired and replaced. By the way thanks for extending the GA 400 toll booths for the next thousand years…….Bozos.I will NOT vote for Beach PERIOD.

MiltonMan

July 13th, 2012
8:45 am

“MiltonMan refers to Roy Barnes and Jim Martin as “morons” in a two-sentence post replete with grammatical and spelling errors. Is he incapable of recognizing that such only informs our worst prejudices against the average Republican? I suppose, of coarse (sic), as td would put it.”

Gotta love the libs and their “let’s be spell checkers constantly on this board” mentality. Who are you clowns going to nominate for governor in 2014??? Roy Barnes yet again? Must be painful to know that the Democratic party in GA is nothing more than a 3rd party.

Slip

July 13th, 2012
8:54 am

The real question is “who is Robert Grove?”

Buckhead

July 13th, 2012
9:32 am

Bigger question is who called Charles Robertson in to represent Bob Grove.

Robertson a friend of Robert Trim (Rogers criminal campaign manager) was removed from the bench by the JQC and GA Supreme Court after it was revealed he had no right to run for office because he was convicted of a felony while in the military and had not had his rights restored.