Mike Crawford is the former District Attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit. The opinions expressed here are his.
Dear Editor,
I was elected 6 times to serve as the District Attorney of the Mountain Circuit, and I’ve been retired for 11 years now. I would like to ask you some questions. If you caught a man burglarizing your home and had him arrested and he refused to admit his guilt and demanded a trial, do you think you are responsible for costing the county the expense of a trial? Of course not, because you were not the one at fault. All you wanted was justice. Now, if the man got out on bail or after serving his time and the same thing happened again and he demanded a trial again, do you believe it is your fault that the county had to go to the expense of trying him again? I suspect if you have any common sense your answer is no.
Yet, I read on facebook and hear out in the community that some people blame Dan Gasaway for the cost of the upcoming election. Every person has a right to run for office if they meet the qualifications and they have a right to expect that election to be fair and legal. And, if it is not fair and legal they have a right to challenge the results of that election. And that’s what Dan Gasaway did. And, he didn’t do it just for himself. He did it on behalf of the people who voted for him, because, after all, they are entitled to a fair election, too. Like the burglar victim all he wants for himself and his supporters is fairness and justice.
“It appears to me that the reason the counties have joined together against Dan Gasaway is to cover up their own mistakes.”
Both elections were set aside by an impartial judge who was not from the 28th district. So, he was not subject to local political pressure. It is my understanding, that in the first election, many voters in Habersham County were given the wrong ballot and did not get to vote in the 28th district house race even though they resided in that district. That certainly was not Dan Gasaway’s fault. In that election, the fault lies squarely on the people running the elections. In June, after the Primary, the county sent out letters to hundreds of people informing them they were not given the right ballot. Yet, instead of conceding the point that the election was invalid, they drug the contest out in court for another three months. And, then they have the gall to blame Dan Gasaway for the added expense of the litigation.
It appears to me that the reason the counties have joined together against Dan Gasaway is to cover up their own mistakes.
In the second election, people who were against Dan Gasaway were allowed to vote when they did not live in the district. That certainly was not Dan Gasaway’s fault. If someone knowingly voted in the district in which they did not reside then they may be guilty of election fraud. And in my opinion, if it can be proved they did it knowingly, then they should be prosecuted for that, and the county should sue them for the extra cost of a new election. However, that could also be the fault of the election officials if they allowed them to vote and they had reason to know their address was outside of the district. In either case, it was not Dan’s fault.
I hope the upcoming election will be fair and legal. The sad thing is Dan has had to spend thousands of dollars of his own money to try to obtain fairness for himself and his supporters, while the other side of the contested election has been financed by our tax dollars through the counties hiring expensive lawyers from Atlanta. If someone is opposed to having a fair and legal election, that should give you some insight into their character. Go vote.
Mike Crawford
Cornelia, Georgia
