The Empire Strikes Back
"Death Star Campaign" Launches Anonymous Disinformation Attacks - Who is "Forsyth Homeowners?"
My opponent’s nameless, faceless supporters and social media keyboard warrior teams are extremely nervous now, made that way because my campaign to defeat their county commission candidate and fellow Club member, Kerry Hill, is blowing the incumbent’s “Death Star Campaign” out of the sky. They are so desperate that they have been forced to violate a cardinal rule of incumbents running for reelection. They attacked the challenger, yours truly, by name. Doing so demonstrates that my campaign is over the target and that the Empire’s candidate, Kerry Hill, is in deep campaign trouble.
In his attack, the anonymous “Forsyth Homeowners,” whoever he/she or even “they” might be, published an ill-advised Substack article attempting to paint me as some “fat-cat” builder/developer, made that way by my heartless destruction of Forsyth County forest lands, claiming that I am part of the problem causing massive growth and traffic congestion in Forsyth County.
At the centerpiece of his/her lame attempt to discredit me and my campaign, is my last Substack, which when read certifies that I am the exact opposite of what this desperate and unknown character assassin portrays. Ask yourself why anyone who desires to be taken seriously would not proudly attach his (or her) name to his work. The answer is that, whoever wrote the Club’s attack piece against me is undoubtedly someone’s neighbor, or the guy down the street, or maybe a fellow church-goer. The last thing he would want is for his friends and neighbors to discover what an accomplished liar and fraud he is. To protect his personal image, given the duplicitous nature of the work he undertakes, such an individual would naturally mask his identity behind a pseudonym.
I, on the other hand, as you know, sign my name to everything I publish, and do so not only because I work diligently to express the truth as accurately as possible, but also because I back up whatever I say with certifying evidence.
Speaking of which, certifying evidence that our Anonymous Keyboard Warrior (AKW) meant to deceive, rather than inform his readers, is the fact that that he was careful NOT to provide a link to my article. He failed to follow that foundational rule of journalistic integrity for fear that his readers might actually read it and learn that our friendly anonymous character assassin is full of $h*t.
As he begins his assault, “Forsyth Homeowners” paints me as belonging to an association comprised of present commissioner, Todd Levent, and former commissioner Cindy Mills. Now, I would be glad to receive the support of either, however, Ms. Mills has announced her support for a different challenger in the race, rather than myself, and Commissioner Levent has no ties to my campaign at all, was not a member of my kickoff Host Committee, and did not attend that event. Neither have I solicited, nor have I received unsolicited endorsements from either of those individuals. Suffice to say that our unknown attack artist hoped to demonize me, by demonizing them, and associating me with them, contriving a practically mathematical, however truth-starved and unsupportable political strategy.
Now, the subject matter about which the anonymous “Forsyth Homeowners” centers his attacks (I’m just going to assume this person is a male), is my last Substack entitled, “Forsyth Commissioners’ Covert Zeal for Property Tax Revenue Increases Growth & Traffic, Despite Feigned Efforts to Diminish, Ignoring Stewardship as Developers Scar the Land - Tree Ordinance is a Joke.” According to AKW,
Sullivan’s allies passed an ordinance to make it easier and cheaper for developers to remove trees. Now, Forsyth is trying to fix that mistake and Sullivan is angry.
Sullivan claims a tree ordinance isn’t necessary “if lot sizes are large.”
This argument collapses with a single fact: Milton, the gold-standard for large-lot development, has one of the strongest tree ordinances in the region.
Of course, AKW’s claims are demonstrably untrue. Anyone who reads my referenced article knows how incredulous his statements are. AKW’s failed attempt to demonize me by associating me with others, is only overshadowed by his consistent misquoting from my article. For example, I never claimed that a tree ordinance is not necessary “ if lot sizes are large.” I actually wrote, “Forsyth County Does Not Need a Meaningless Tree Ordinance.” I wrote that line citing that the present county tree ordinance is being purposely ignored, and that,
The controlling members of the commission do not care. They only want newly-established property values to be incorporated into the county tax digest, so they can generate more and more tax revenues, to help build more and more county government, to better cement their political power and control every aspect of life in Forsyth County.
In my article, I subsequently criticized large developer/builders clear-cutting subdivisions, a practice the Board of Commissioners apparently believes is a proper method of creating residential developments in Forsyth County. I then described a better method of developing residential property, doing so by limiting the ability of developers to remove trees outside of the right-of-ways. I wrote:
The alternative to clear-cutting new residential developments is to require developers to provide larger lots, as in the “old days.” With few exceptions, a truly effective, workable and simple tree ordinance, which would cost county taxpayers virtually nothing to administer and enforce, would be to prohibit tree removal except as necessary to grade for roads and underground utilities. After that, trees within twenty feet of a home’s proposed footprint, decks, patios, driveways, etc. may be removed during the home building phase. Add a few buffer requirements and not only will you have an effective, workable tree ordinance, but you will also have saved the character of the remaining portions of Forsyth County yet to be developed.
Now, where did I say a a tree ordinance isn’t necessary “if lot sizes are large?” I didn’t. I wrote the opposite. And I speak with the authority of a home builder for the last 40 years. One simply needs to drive through Polo Golf & Country Club or Aberdeen where I built homes. Both of those developments were built exactly as I describe. They were beautiful then, and have remained that way over the years, standing proof of what I am saying.
Next, our resident Death Star campaign propagandist, the Anonymous Keyboard Warrior, summarily misrepresented to his readers my position on dismissing the county arborist. According to AKW:
Sullivan has gone so far as to call for the removal of the County arborist—the professional charged with reviewing tree-removal plans and ensuring recompense and replanting. Why attack the very position tasked with enforcing development standards? The answer is obvious: those standards slow down developers, and slowing down developers slows down profits, and Hank Sullivan is allied with the Good ‘Ole Boy Club who need to maximize profit off the back of Forsyth County
What I actually said is that the county arborist should be dismissed because he is not doing his job saving trees, writing,
Why does Forsyth County need a County Arborist whose job it is to look the other way while developers raze the land? We don’t. The Forsyth County Arborist needs to find forests to plunder in some other county.
Continuing with his mischaracterizations, AKW wrote:
Sullivan’s assertion that “moratoriums hurt everyone” ignores the simple truth that Forsyth homeowners and taxpayers benefit when the county takes time to correct policy failures.
That statement is laughable when one considers what I actually wrote concerning a moratorium that has been forced by public outrage against the lack of action by the controlling members of our county commission. I actually wrote,
I suppose it is somewhat gratifying that our county commissioners have recently initiated a move toward larger lot development requirements. That is a good thing. But it is too little, and too late for much of Forsyth County. Make no mistake, any movement in the direction that I have long advocated, has been forced on this commission by public outrage, outrage against a county population growing faster than infrastructure can handle, outrage against the natural traffic congestion that accompanies accelerated population growth, and outrage that our commission has had every chance to repair all this for years, but has had to resort to declaring a zoning moratorium to deal with the problems they did not address at the proper time. Moratoriums hurt everyone. Moratoriums are not the way to deal with these problems. They simply postpone dealing with the problems.
And now that the moratorium is entering its second six-month duration, noting that our county commission has still done nothing of practical importance to assuage the impact of development in Forsyth County, my statement that our commissioners are merely “postponing dealing with the problems” is proven to be true.
AKW Blames Everyone Except Those in Power
Our anonymous political assailant would like his readers to believe that every problem citizens of Forsyth County experience today, most notably high taxes, elevated population growth and traffic congestion, can be laid at the feet of others outside of the controlling junta whose operatives have occupied the seats of commission power for the last four years. That ruling lot would include Chairman Alfred John, Commissioner Laura Semanson and my opponent in the May 19 primary, Kerry Hill. Mr. “Forsyth Homeowners” would like you to forget that of the three, Laura Semanson and Alfred John, have occupied the Chairman’s seat five of the last seven years. And it is that triumvirate, including Commissioner Hill, that is solely responsible for the horrendous decision to build the Freedom Parkway Administration boondoggle. “Forsyth Homeowners” would like the public to believe there was nothing any of them could have done for the past seven years, dating back to January 1, 2019 when Laura Semanson became commission chairman, which could have made any difference in the rate of increasing residential development and ensuing traffic congestion in Forsyth County. They want you to believe that, despite every valiant effort, a moratorium was the only step available to them to slow the rate of development in Forsyth County. Those same three commissioners, who control the outcome of every decision on the commission, are also the ones responsible for doubling the size of Forsyth County Government every five years, and for wasting $34 million to renovate a long-since-finished and beautiful Sharon Springs Park located in the heart of Alfred John’s and Laura Semanson’s combined districts.
Who Is “Forsyth Homeowners?”
So now we see this discredited, anonymous purveyor of disinformation, “Forsyth Homeowners,” leading the Hill campaign attempt to discredit me and my campaign, charging me with advocating the exact opposite of my platform! Who is this person?
While hardly anyone outside of Kerry Hill’s failing Death Star Campaign might know that answer, I have every reason to believe that this individual, “Forsyth Homeowners,” is a local, Forsyth County elected official. Why else would he be so concerned to mask his identity? And how would it look for a such as elected official to be unmasked, especially after being shown to be such a fraud?
You see, friends, this is what the good people of Forsyth County are up against, a covert local power structure, its seats of control occupied by individuals, many of them elected officials, largely but not exclusively, from the south end of the county. And to expose what I describe is why I wrote a series of articles I entitled, “War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County,” links below. The anonymous keyboard warrior, “Forsyth Homeowners,” is an archetype of the cooperative assemblage I call, “The Club.” The Club desires to occupy and covertly control every seat of elected and appointed power, and every governmental decision in Forsyth County, including the City of Cumming. Imagine the amount of political and economic control such a coordinated effort might wield over the future of this county, and for the good of whom? The Club’s members and supporters, of course.
The Club’s ambassador on the northwestern quadrant of the county is Kerry Hill. She has always voted as the Club wants her to vote. Kerry Hill carries the Club’s water in District 1. Kerry Hill does not represent District 1 in any practical way. She rarely answers phone calls from constituents. She only recently began attending events because she is running for reelection. In other words, Kerry Hill represents the Club to District 1, and not District 1 to the county commission. Think about it, if Kerry Hill were truly representing District 1 on the Forsyth County Commission, why would she go along with Alfred John and Laura Semanson allocating $34 million in SPLOST revenues to renovate a long-since finished and beautiful Sharon Springs Park, located in the hearts of their overall districts, while District 1 only receives $1.5 million to build a largely inaccessible vantage point on the top of Sawnee Mountain? The answer is that Kerry Hill does what the Club tells her to do, and is beholden to the Club to gain her election for another four-year term. To aid in Hill’s election, the masked marauder from the south side, “Forsyth Homeowners,” was tasked to destroy my credibility, but in the process, destroyed his own. To that purpose, in the words of Charlie Daniels I would simply echo, “Come on back if you ever want to try again.” I will be ready.
Below is a reading list of my articles relating to Forsyth County governance:
Chapter 5-How Three County Commissioners Screwed Over the City of Cumming-Vote NO on SPLOST
Forsyth Officials Apparently Attempt to Hide Quid Pro Quo Deal Proposed to City
Forsyth County Commission Owes Advocates a Referendum on Mental Health Facility
Commissioners Circle Wagons to Sugar Coat Grandfather-Gate Zoning Ordinance Debacle
South Forsyth Story-Please, Not Again
Forsyth County Commission - Irresponsible Taxing and Spending Sucking Dollars From Your Wallet
So the Smear Campaign against your candidacy has begun. I have read both your original article and the article by the “Smart” people.
I humbly disagree with your acronym and instead would use this one:
Anonymous Keyboard Coward or Clown, take your pick but I will use AKC in this response.
A “Warrior”in my mind would fight with honor and integrity but this not the case here.
The AKC in their piece uses underhanded and evil techniques to smear your candidacy knowing full well that that is not what you wrote but choses, instead to deliberately misquote you and assign to you “bad” motives for attempting right several wrongs in the current State of Administrivia which now resembles our County, presently.
Your refutation of the lies and misquotes and recital of the facts in your article are accurate and spot-on.
Finally, I wish you well and keep keepin’ on as you fight the good fight for truth. As in the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 32, where it says: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free".