E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSAhead of Tuesday's Georgia primary, the attorney general's race is worth watching.
It's taken a bitter turn in the Democratic primary with the release of a slickly produced ad featuring a mother whose son, she says, "was lying on the ground unarmed when a police officer shot him twice in the head." The ad features grainy video of the incident, which at the time of its prosecution stirred racial tensions.
The mother claims prosecutor (and candidate) Ken Hodges didn't get an indictment on the officer, because Hodges "forgot to swear him in, tried to hide the video and then refused to reopen the case. I could never get an answer why." The teary-eyed mom continues, "Mr. Hodges should not be our next attorney general."
The ad is being run by Democratic state Rep. Rob Teilhet.
Hodges shot back this way at a debate Sunday: "The death of Kenneth Walker was a tragedy, and my heart continues to be with the family. The fact that my opponent wants to exploit the family's grief and use it for political purposes is, quite frankly, disgusting."
And it has pushed back in other ways, per AP: "Greg Edwards, who was Hodges' co-counsel in the Walker case, said Hodges never tried to hide the video and has repeatedly said he would bring the case back to a grand jury if there was new evidence. The case did prompt Georgia lawmakers to pass legislation this year requiring prosecutors to swear in all witnesses who testify in front of grand juries."
AP's context: "With less than a week before the state primary, the bare-knuckles race for attorney general has managed to make the battle for governor appear almost tame in comparison."
This is the first time the state AG seat has been "open" in 60 years, AP notes.
More: "Hodges, a former Dougherty County district attorney, was appointed the special prosecutor to present the case to the Muscogee County grand jury in November 2004. The panel decided not to indict Glisson, stirring racial tensions in Columbus because Walker was black and the deputy is white."
The Republican race, meanwhile, has stirred charges of sympathizing with atheists, party-switching, and yes, being from New Jersey.
*** UPDATE *** The Hodges campaign contacted First Read and alerted us to its "comparative ad":
Leave a Comment:
Republicans are going to play dirty, they always do because they can't stand on their issues alone because they would lose if they did. Unfortunately if you're going to play with the piggies you're gonna get dirty and so it is time the Democrats got dirty since they are having to play with the Republican piggies.
Everything (plus more) that has been said about Ken Hodges is true. I am from Albany, where he resigned as DA after he was sued for malicious prosecution in another case. That case, called the "Phoebe Factoids" case, was where he prosecuted two hospital whistleblowers for criticizing the local hospital, run by his friends and contributors. Hodges issued fake grand jury subpoenas to get the whistleblowers email and phone records, and finally they were indicted (later thrown out by a judge) THREE times as a result of Hodges sham investigation. Hodges wife then got a cushy job in the hospital PR dept. as their "video spokesperson", then Hodges became a partner in the hospitals' law firm after he resigned as DA. There is an entire independent documentary about the whole mess, see www.donoharmdoc.com . He must have thought voters in the rest of the state would never find out about all his messes.
Teilhet is a sleazy politician and has used Ms. Walker for his own political gain.
Facts about the case that is misleading or outright lie on the ad:
1. Hodges presented the video to the Grand Jury multiple times. After the GJ hearing there was an ongoing independent investigation into the Muscogee co. police dept and the videotape was not released until the conclusion of both the hearing and the investigation.
2. There was written sworn testimony from the officer and while he wasn't sworn in for his oral statement - it did not contradict anything that was in the written sworn statement.
3. 23 Muscogee Co. residents chose not to indict - all of them - on criminal charges. However, in a civil suit, that was settled - Walker's wife and daughter were paid $525,000 dollars.
4. Hodges met with Walker's family mulitple times and told her that if new evidence came up it would reopen the case.
5. 5 of the 7 police officers testified and there were over 900 pages of documents.
The fact is that Teilhet is trying to cause a racial divide to win the black vote and doesn' t care about the facts of this case or Walker's mother.
Teilhet is a sleazy politician and has used Ms. Walker for his own political gain.
Facts about the case that is misleading or outright lie on the ad:
1. Hodges presented the video to the Grand Jury multiple times. After the GJ hearing there was an ongoing independent investigation into the Muscogee co. police dept and the videotape was not released until the conclusion of both the hearing and the investigation.
2. There was written sworn testimony from the officer and while he wasn't sworn in for his oral statement - it did not contradict anything that was in the written sworn statement.
3. 23 Muscogee Co. residents chose not to indict - all of them - on criminal charges. However, in a civil suit, that was settled - Walker's wife and daughter were paid $525,000 dollars.
4. Hodges met with Walker's family mulitple times and told her that if new evidence came up it would reopen the case.
5. 5 of the 7 police officers testified and there were over 900 pages of documents.
The fact is that Teilhet is trying to cause a racial divide to win the black vote and doesn' t care about the facts of this case or Walker's mother.
Teilhet is known as an Atlanta socialite who likes to drink and go to parties. He has absolutely no qualifications to run for Attorney General. He is an attorney who has been in the courtroom 19 times and half for traffic related offenses. The one case he was involved in - he represented a teacher who forced a student to eat dog food - that is just creepy. This guy is unfit to hold public office.
The Teilhet ad "Last Minute" is blatantly false. It's disgusting of Rob Teilhet to have used this mom and to push lies about the case and Ken Hodges. Teilhet decided to run a dirty campaign because he has no experience trying criminal cases and was going to lose the race. 2 of our local news stations have done reports on the dishonesty in this ad. Can't put links here but if you are at all concerned about this race please look up the stories on 11 Alive and Fox 5.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution's "Politifact" has just released an article stating the Teilhet "Last Minute" ad is "False". That's right - it did not qualify for "True" "Mostly True" "Half True" or even "Barely True". It is just plain FALSE!!!!!
Ken Hodges did not hide any video tape, did not refuse to reopen the case and the officer did not need to be sworn in to have his testimony heard for the case.
Please if you have any interest in this race go and read this story immediately, and while we're at it - Shame on you Rob Teilhet. Shame on you for using a grieving mother to try to further your career. Shame on you for blatantly lying to try to destroy the reputation of your fellow Democrat. Shame on you for running around with your campaign staff gloating that this man's death was a "slam dunk" for your campaign.