War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County

Chapter 3-Club Now Bullying Private Citizens-Local Warlords Apparently Running County Politics, Perhaps Even the Courts

Bullying Must Stop

Let me first say, I am not writing the present series, War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County, because I necessarily want to. It does not make me happy to discuss what you read here. This series of articles should not be necessary. Yet, unless light shines on certain relationships and intimidating political practices, there is a good chance that government of, by and for the people of Forsyth County will continue to give way to government of, by and for whichever coterie of local warlords has recently wrested control.

Forsyth County Political Warlords Wresting Control and Bullying the General Population

Several months ago, one local politician, a notable member of the “Club,” came up to me after a meeting, smiling pleasantly and expressing rather jokingly, “I live in fear of you.” It was an unexpected remark which caught me by surprise, and thus it seemed funny and we both laughed, me expecting he was kidding. Apparently, as it turns out, he was not kidding. I answered this individual with a chuckle and a smile, but earnestly urging, “Hey, just do good.” That’s all any politician has to do to stay out of my Substack, “Just do good.” Just keep your head down and represent your people and the people’s interests in the best way you can. That is what you said you would do when you ran for office, and that’s all you have to do to stay out of trouble. It’s really pretty simple.

Now, recall, I did not start this series of articles out of the blue. The “Club” started this discussion. The Mark Morris “hit piece,” published in the Forsyth County News and online, attacking two local REPUBLICAN representatives, who dared speak against members of the “Club” publicly bullying others, begot this series of articles. Bullying appears to be a way of life for the Club. They bully both their political opponents, but also, now recently, private citizens with whom “yours truly” has personal relationships.

That is not OK.

And so, let me conclude this introduction saying, if as a public official you find yourself in one of my Substacks, and if you disagree with the facts I place before the public, do not go to people we know in common, especially private citizens over whom you believe you may possess a degree of leverage, and threaten or coerce them to fight your battles for you. You know how to get in touch with me. The comment lines are always open. You, or someone you know have my cell. Using the power of elected office to bully people is the very practice which prompted this series of articles in the first place. Undertaking that activity, especially against disinterested private citizens, only proves the point. I do not expect any public official caught bullying private citizens would like that activity publicized. If you have a disagreement with what I write, I am the person who wrote it. I am glad to have that conversation. No one tells me what to write. No one else is responsible for what I say. I write based upon verifiable facts and circumstances that come to my knowledge. I give evidence for everything I publish. Call this a warning if you like. But I will not tolerate local “Re-CLUB-licans” using the power of their offices to bully private citizens who have nothing to do with anything I say or write. And those who do will not only see their names in lights, but they will also demonstrate the proof of my overarching thesis, that there is indeed a War Under the Waves and a Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County. You have been warned.

Revisiting the Unlawful Appointment of Joel Natt

This is a subject I have not written about in several months, the unlawful appointment of Forsyth County Board of Registrations and Elections (BRE) member, Joel Natt. There are new developments I have not publicly discussed, which when understood in their proper light lead right back into this conversation concerning a war under the waves for political control of Forsyth County.

Mr. Natt’s present term of office, which began last September, appears be his third unlawful appointment to the BRE. The law governing Natt’s appointment is interesting because it provides something many laws do not. And that is that, before the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners (BOC) finalizes an appointment to the BRE, Article III, Section 4(a) of the county code requires the board to CERTIFY THE PROCESS DESCRIBED IN LAW WAS ACTUALLY FOLLOWED. Here is what the law provides:

In essence, Article III, Section 4 requires the BOC to swear by its own hand, that the law was actually followed. In my September 4, 2023 Substack, I warned in detail, such that no commissioner might misconstrue, what it means to “CERTIFY” the law being followed. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, to CERTIFY means “to authoritatively confirm as being genuine or true as represented, or comply or meet specified requirements or standards.” In other words, when the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners CERTIFIES that Joel Natt “has been duly appointed as provided in this Act,” referencing Article III of the county code and state law, they use the authority of their office to confirm that statement to be true. As officers of county government they must sign their names to a document, swearing under oath that the law involving numerous democratic procedures truly was followed.

But, you see, in the case of Mr. Natt, the process required under Article III was patently NOT followed. None of the democratic requirements leading to a lawful nomination were followed. That means the nomination of Joel Natt was not lawful and any sworn certification saying otherwise would be in error.

And it is not as if the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners did not know all that I just told you. There were letters received from the newly-elected Republican Party chairperson, several public hearings, private meetings with the new Republican chair, and three widely distributed Substacks, written by me, along with a letter I sent to each commissioner, which they all read, detailing these facts.

Joel Natt Appointment Never Certified

Stubbornly, after doing nothing to resolve the issue over a period of months, rather than soiling their hands certifying an erroneous Joel Natt appointment to the BRE themselves, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners delegated the act of certifying Natt’s appointment to their general counsel, Ken Jarrard, whose firm is an independent contractor fulfilling the role of representing the commissioners in such activities.

A certification in keeping with the lawful requirements would have read something to the effect, “I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT JOEL NATT HAS BEEN DULY APPOINTED AS PROVIDED IN ARTICLE III OF THE CODE OF FORSYTH COUNTY.” The certification by the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, executed by Attorney Jarrard, however, does not say that at all. Mr. Jarrad’s sworn affidavit certifies only Natt’s name, address and the date of filing relative to the beginning of the term. The law governing this appointment does not require certification of any of that information, only adherence to the law itself.

Thus, according to the requirements of Article III, Section 4 of the Forsyth County Code, Joel Natt’s appointment to the Forsyth County Board of Registrations and Elections has apparently never been certified. Even so, on September 5, 2023, Natt raised his right hand and swore to uphold the law. Ironically, Joel Natt swore to uphold the law while apparently breaking the law. Does anyone see any problem with that?

So, why would the county attorney, acting for the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, make such an apparently egregious error in certifying, or better said, NOT certifying Joel Natt to a new term on the BRE?

Your guess is as good as mine, but just know that, were the new BRE member NOT “appointed as provided in the Act,” and should the county attorney, knowingly, certify that he WAS, I expect a reasonable case of perjury and/or falsifying government documents could be constructed against the county attorney. That is because Natt’s supposed “certification” was SWORN UNDER OATH, the first stanza of Mr. Jarrad’s affidavit, which evidently certified nothing at all, reading as follows:

Does that mean the county attorney purposely did not certify what the law requires, and masked the law’s requirements by certifying certain facts unrelated to those the law requires? I will let you ponder the answer to that question. But it is indeed a good question, one which must now be answered by the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners. That is because, although the signature you see on the last page of Natt’s “certification” is that of the BOC’s attorney, Ken Jarrard, in signing that document the county’s attorney merely represented the board of commissioners. That means that, in essence, the county attorney’s signature is THEIR signature on the certification. It is the “county governing authority,” in other words, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, who is responsible here. The law says the BOC is the body which must certify the appointment. The county attorney is responsible to them, but also, incidentally, responsible to the State Bar Association should that body determine that he misrepresented the certification of Mr. Natt in representing the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

So, what has to happen here? The Forsyth County BRE apparently has, as I have demonstrated over and over, a “Manchurian” member, Joel Natt, reinstalled for a third term last September, apparently unlawfully appointed to that position each time. Mr. Natt is charged with the authority of running Forsyth County elections. Everyone, including the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, and including Mr. Natt, either knows he was never lawfully certified to hold that office, or should know it, yet there Joel Natt remains, Forsyth County BRE vice-chairman.

On August 3, 2023, I wrote each commissioner a letter asking for them to instruct the county attorney to answer the concerns I expressed over the apparent unlawful appointment of Joel Natt, not the least of which was my concern over Mr. Natt’s forthcoming certification. I published this Substack which includes the letter I wrote. Regrettably, only two commissioners, Todd Levent and Cindy Mills, publicly supported that this tax-paying citizen’s concerns receive the dignity of an answer. The three remaining commissioners, “Club members” Alfred John, Laura Semanson and Kerry Hill, who as I have pointed out previously almost always vote as a block, ignored my request. Thus, no answer has ever been forthcoming regarding my concerns, the “Club member” commissioners and the county attorney remaining mum.

On September 4, 2023, I published my final communication with the Forsyth County BOC regarding the Natt swearing in, scheduled to occur the following day. In it, I explained what it would mean for the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to knowingly CERTIFY AN UNLAWFUL APPOINTMENT. So, it is not as if the commissioners were not made aware of these matters.

But, what the commissioners may not have recognized at that moment, at least until they read this Substack (giving them a VERY LARGE benefit of doubt here), is that the county attorney empowered to act for them, never certified Joel Natt’s appointment according to the simple requirements of the Forsyth County Code and State Law. So, what does that mean?

In the very least it means that the county attorney has some ‘splainin’ to do, should the Board of Commissioners ask for an explanation. If the commissioners do not ask for an explanation, that would leave us all to speculate the reason. One possible reason would be that they already know the answer, even to the extent that they knew what was going on with the apparently unlawful Natt appointment from the very beginning.

Another possible explanation would be the BOC’s desire to sweep an apparent act of falsifying a government document, executed on their behalf by their legal representative, under the rug, hoping all this will go away. But I can tell you, this will not go away. The coming days will tell how this works out, but rest assured, it will not go away.

Quo Warranto Case Before Forsyth Superior Court Being Swept Away

Apparently, the only LAWFULLY-NOMINATED candidate for the BRE position presently occupied by Joel Natt is a local citizen, Stefan Bartelski, the Bartelski nomination checking all boxes of the county code and state law. Mr. Bartelski’s name was nominated by then Republican Chairperson Mendy Moore, now a candidate for Commissioner Cindy Mills’ seat on the very same county commission we are discussing. Mr. Bartelski’s nomination was ratified by the Forsyth County Republican Party County Committee, as required under the code. All boxes of the law were checked within the time requirements of Article III of the Forsyth County Code.

But since Mr. Natt has actually taken office, there appears only one way to force him out. And that would be to file a “Quo Warranto” petition with the Superior Court of Forsyth County, which was indeed filed on Bartelski’s behalf last October 19th.

The same day, the County Clerk representing Forsyth County Superior Court Judge Philip Smith summoned Mr. Natt to answer Bartelski’s petition:

On November 2, 2023, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to use Forsyth County taxpayer dollars to hire an OUTSIDE COUNSEL to defend Joel Natt in his position as BRE member.

Screenshot of BOC minutes from November 2, 2023 meeting

Importantly, at the moment the BOC approved hiring an outside law firm to defend Joel Natt, they either knew, or should have known of the apparently defective certification of Natt’s appointment, executed on their behalf by the county attorney. That is because the only reason for them to hire an outside attorney, rather than assigning the case to county attorney Jarrard, would be that the county attorney’s alleged defective work, performed in their name, is one of the items in the case falling under the scrutiny of the court. Because the BOC attorney’s work falls under court scrutiny, whether he said so publicly or not, apparently the county attorney was forced to recuse himself from defending Natt.

On November 23rd, Natt’s outside attorney filed a Motion-To-Dismiss with the court.

Acting for Superior Court Judge Philip C. Smith, on December 22, 2023 the clerk of court scheduled a trial to commence on March 11, 2024.

On January 29, 2023, however, before the case could be heard, all three Forsyth County Superior Court Judges: Jeffrey S. Bagley, David L. Dickinson and Philip C. Smith, simultaneously recused themselves from the case offering no explanations.

Yes, all three Forsyth County Judges RECUSED THEMSELVES from hearing this case.

And because Forsyth County’s Superior Court judges failed to offer a reason for their sudden “mass recusal,” we are left only to speculate why they would do so. Is Joel Natt a friend or relative of all three judges? I doubt it. Similar to the apparent situation of attorney Jarrard, are all three Forsyth County judges caught up in this case themselves? No, they are not.

That being the case, we are running out of possible reasons for ALL THREE JUDGES to suddenly, and unexpectedly, act in concert to recuse themselves from this case. One reason that appears to remain is the fact that all three of these judges occupy elected offices and Joel Natt sits on the board effectively supervising their elections. Is that a conflict? On the surface, some might say, yes. However, in reality, it is a conflict only if these judges recognize some possibility that sitting in his position, Mr. Natt could affect the outcome of their elections. But, of course, if Natt could somehow pull that off, doing so would be AGAINST THE LAW, would it not? So, if that is the reason for their “en masse” recusal, ironically, in effect, all three judges would be telling us that they cannot sit in judgment of this case for fear that the respondent might break the law each judge is sworn to uphold.

You might have to think about that one.

Ironically again, to prevent anything like that from happening is the reason this case was filed against Natt to begin with. For various reasons I have written in previous Substacks, many Republicans do not trust Joel Natt to represent the party’s interests on the Forsyth County Board of Registrations and Elections. With Joel Natt serving as the board’s vice-chairman, for example, decisions the BRE makes each month, such as whether to investigate or remove certain names on the county voter rolls, are heavily influenced by his presence on the board. Incidentally, under Natt’s supervision, Forsyth voter rolls have swollen to a level 12.2% larger than the total number of voting-age individuals in the county. According to Pew Research, the highest turnout rate for any national election since 1900 is 66%.” Given that fact, the present Forsyth County voter rolls could allow for the possible manipulation of outcomes by those whose purposes might be to do so, increasing their opportunities by a factor as much as 70% (112% / 66%).

So, five months after filing a Quo Warranto petition, there has been no hearing to remove and replace Joel Natt from unlawfully occupying a seat on the Forsyth County Board of Registrations and Elections. Five months!!

Recently, fellow Forsyth County citizen, Bill Quinn, sent an open-records request to the Forsyth County Superior Court, asking for any emails sent among the three superior court judges leading up to their simultaneous recusals on this case. Interestingly, the individual who answered Quinn’s request is the same Forsyth County general counsel, Ken Jarrard, admitting in his response that he does not represent the judges, but offering a response to satisfy the judges’ right not to respond nonetheless, expressing:

“I hope you are well. Superior Court Clerk Allen forwarded your ORAR to my office for a response. I know Greg responded to you and directed you to Ms. Rooks, the Court Administrator. While I do not represent the judges, I do want to provide you some information in hopes that we can get you what you need – while otherwise adhering to the law.” -BOC General Counsel Ken Jarrard

So, what is going on here? Apparently, abeit unofficially, Mr. Jarrard is effectively recused from the case of Bartelski v. Natt, yet he becomes the respondant chosen by the court to answer an open records request regarding communications among those judges recusing themselves from that same case. Why did not the superior court, or the judges themselves answer Mr. Quinn’s request by their own hand, even if they have no information to offer? In his response, Mr. Jarrard states clearly he does not represent the judges or superior court. Could it be that the war under the waves for political control of Forsyth County incorporates the courts as well as the board of commissioners and certain other elected officials? I cannot answer that question, however, Quo Warranto is an EMERGENCY measure in the law, to potentially remove an unlawful government official BEFORE he or she can potentially void all of the work resulting from an invalidated appointment. According to state law, where the petition is based solely on matters of law, which is the case in this matter, it must be adjudicated in superior court within 10 days.

https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-9/chapter-6/article-4/section-9-6-64/

This petition was filed eight months ago. We are now almost ten months into the four year term. Why is everyone involved in this case ignoring the law?

The Forsyth County political system system is broken. It has been taken over by a gang of Club members intent on executing their own agenda, bullying and intimidating individuals, including private citizens, in pursuit of their own purposes.

Apparently, our local judiciary is broken as well, it’s judges both REFUSING, and RECUSING themselves from standing in judgment of what easily appears to be an unlawful government appointment. As a result, we seem to have an interloper occupying a vitally important BRE seat, regularly making decisions that affect every Forsyth County resident, and possibly the entire country, as the November presidential election steams toward us.

Finally, we apparently have a private attorney making the decisions for, and operating as our elected county commission, the members of that body appearing fearful of questioning his work, perhaps afraid that should they be sued he will not perform his utmost to defend them should they disobey his judgment or instructions. My concern is to understand what Mr. Jarrad’s judgment or instructions to the BOC are based upon. They certainly do not appear to be founded on the will of the people of Forsyth County.

So, friends, this is how your Forsyth political system is working. This is how a relatively small Club of individuals is manipulating events to ensure the status quo to remain in county control. If you are a citizen of Forsyth County, Georgia, whether you are Republican or Democrat, you should be outraged that members of your elected government, and their ancillaries, are treating you as if you do not matter. They are manipulating events and bullying those who are not in their Club, to either knuckle under and support them in their purposes, or get bullied until they do. This is not the America in which I grew up. This is some weird, third world, tin-horn government run by a cooperative cabal, a Club, of local, petty warlords.

Local Forsyth County Warlords Bulling Private Citizens

Your local political class has gone rogue. They are not for you. They are for them. And they cooperate even when they don’t particularly like the outcome, such as the Natt appointment, because apparently, there are reasons for their actions we are not privy to, causing them to wage a War Under the Waves for Political Control of Forsyth County. Do you now doubt me?

Thank You to My Wonderful Readers

Before signing off on this installment, I want to thank all of the remarkable people who have recently come up to me at public gatherings and offered their heartfelt support for writing this series of articles. In so doing, I have learned of a public perception that writing the truth about Forsyth County politics might not be good for one’s health, if you catch my drift. There is a sense among regular people in this county that exposing what I describe as a war under the waves for political control in Forsyth County could be a dangerous project for me to undertake. Now, I do not share that concern. I do not consider anyone about whom I write to be a danger, either to me or to anyone else. But I urge our local political class to recognize the kinds of public perceptions their statements and actions have helped to create. And just for the record, I am happy, I have a wonderful life and plan on living life to the fullest for a very long time to come.

Next up, Chapter 4.