Suit seeks to null vote

Sat, Nov 19, 2005
Ousted mayoral candidate goes to state court

By KEITH LAING

Brunswick mayor-elect Bryan Thompson was able to fend off opponents Otis Herrington and Betsy Bean in last week's municipal election, but he is still being challenged by Elaine Brown.
Brown, a mayoral candidate until the Glynn County Board of Elections removed her from the ballot because she did not meet a one-year residency requirement, has filed suit in Glynn County Superior Court, contesting the results of the Nov. 8 vote and asking that a new election be held.
Brown based her request on her claims that Thompson, as president of the non-profit development group Blueprint Brunswick which has received money from the city, holds an incompatible office and that the elections board improperly removed her from the ballot.

Zack Lyde, a supporter of Brown's failed campaign, filed a similar action.
Elections board chair Patricia Gibson said Friday she is confident the results of the election will stand, while Brown said that although she was not sure how a court would rule, but felt compelled to make her case.
"I'm not sure how far it will go, but there are a lot of people in despair (over the election result), so I want to let the challenge play itself out," she said.

Brown, a former national president of the Black Panther party, reiterated her claim that Thompson cannot be both mayor and Blueprint Brunswick president because the organization received initial funding from the county and city and because it reserves positions on its board of directors for the mayor and the chair of the county commission.
Thompson declined to comment Friday on Brown's action, but has previously said through his attorney that there is no conflict between his public and private roles because Blueprint Brunswick is a non-govermental agency and the mayor can appoint another commissioner to its board of directors.

The debate on whether of not the positions conflict is not new. It became an issue in the hotly contested mayoral race, with both Brown and Bean raising it regularly at candidate forums. In September, Bean challenged Thompson's qualification by the elections board to be a candidate, but the board found that no conflict existed.
Thompson's attorney, Austin Catts, said that the fact that ruling was not challenged should have been sufficient in answering it.
"The issue has been fully heard by the board of elections and no challenge had been made," he said. "I realize that Ms. Brown was not party to it, but the issue has been fully aired."
Catts pointed to Thompson's margin of victory as evidence of his qualification to hold the mayoral position.
"The voters of Brunswick have elected Mr. Thompson by a sweeping majority, (so) we believe this challenge has no merit," he said Friday of the action Brown filed Tuesday.
Thompson received nearly 64 percent of the more than 1,900 votes cast in the citywide election.
No date has been set for a hearing or ruling on Brown's challenge.