War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County
Chapter 2-Ghost-Writers in the Sky
Thank You and Welcome
I would like to thank all of those who have come out in support of my last Substack, War Under the Waves-The Struggle for Political Control of Forsyth County-Chapter 1- The Marc Morris Letter. I would also like to welcome hundreds of new subscribers and thank an anonymous benefactor who spread knowledge of my article via a mass-text campaign across the area, that effort occurring soon after another anonymous individual, or perhaps a group, maliciously reported my social media post of the article as a cybersecurity threat, resulting in it being censored. Apparently, Chapter one was, as they say, “over the target.”
I would also like to remark how fascinating I find it that detractors of my my previous article, seemingly in concert, operating as a veritable social media “attack team,” and without cause, simultaneously selected former candidate for Forsyth County Commission, Brian Estes, denigrating him as the individual who arranged the aforementioned text campaign, with no evidence, only an apparent fear that Mr. Estes might run for office again in the future. I have met Mr. Estes one time, at a public event, during which we exchanged pleasantries. I do not know Brian Estes beyond that. Thus, I see the attacks against the former county commission candidate as an apparent, coordinated effort to diminish him in the eyes of the public, using the same kinds of unfounded accusations one finds in the Marc Morris op-ed, such as to dare him against running for office in the future.
Notice the attacks against “Chapter One,” of this series, resulting in it being censured from social media, and the attacks on Brian Estes, who had nothing to do with anything, but dared run against the Club for a position in local government, the reason obviously, to censor him from running for office in the future.
What I describe is how the “Club” operates. They work to support each other and to suppress support for non-Club members who dare encroach on the Club’s presumed right to govern Forsyth County. That is what a cabal would do, which is one of the reasons I see such a close relationship among various local politicians, and their online support teams, as a danger to our community. And it is that kind of political activity, in my own back yard, instigated by people I know personally and have respected in the past, which motivates me all the more to fight back with the truth. The unnatural and unsupportable attacks against Mr. Estes, similar to the attacks by Marc Morris on two local non-Club member elected officials, are additional evidence of my thesis, that there is indeed a war under the waves for political control of Forsyth County. Those attacking Mr. Estes online have shown themselves to be agent provocateurs in that war in support of the Club. Why else would so many individuals, ostensibly on their own, arrive at the same obscure conclusion and attempt to pin one individual, scarcely known to them, with responsibility for helping to promote my article from last week?
And I also find it interesting that none of my detractors have successfully argued against the centerpiece of Chapter One, that former local state representative Marc Morris published what I term a “hit-piece” against two local representatives in which the facts he alleged were wholly unsupportable. Out of comparatively few online attacks on my article I have read, not one has validated Morris’ contention that an unnamed local representative, (who could only be Brent Cox (R-28)), somehow “launched an unwarranted ethics investigation against Forsyth’s only Jewish female County Commissioner as she was literally dying of cancer.” Because there are no facts to support that contention, publishing it made the Marc Morris op-ed, in my opinion, a “hit-piece.”
And as I have previously alleged, although he signed his name to the well-distributed op-ed, it continues to be my belief that Marc Morris did not write that letter unaided. I believe there was a political purpose to that hit-piece, which transcends the purpose to which the author signed his name, his stated purpose being to express a certain level of personal outrage to the community. That is what I believe, and now I will tell you the reasons I believe it.
First of all, on the surface I am led to believe all that I have expressed because I know of no other instance in which former representative Morris, apparently in his 60’s at this time, has chosen to published such a hit-piece. Thus, doing so appears against his basic nature. That being the case, I looked to the sphere of influence within the group I defined as the “Club” in Chapter One, and identified in the center of the coterie an individual whose very business is to publish hit-pieces against politicians, knowing that as public figures they have very little recourse should any facts the writers portray happen to exaggerate or veer from the truth. And that individual would be Jason (Jay) Williams of the Stoneridge Group (SRG).
Supporting my belief in SRG’s possible involvement in the Morris letter are several clues, the first being the SRG website itself, which informs us that the individuals working on on SRG political campaigns are what it terms, “story cultivators.”
To “cultivate” a story means to “nurture and grow” it, as “celebrities cultivate their images.”
Thus, SRG publicly proclaims that it’s writers “nurture and grow” stories against politicians; that they apparently enlarge the available facts, possibly embellishing, or augmenting those facts, or even making up “fake facts” against them. Recognizing that any particular set of facts is finite, because the consulting firm “cultivates” stories, thus “nurturing and growing” those stories, the SRG website leads us to expect the political consulting agency essentially “makes stuff up” against their political adversaries and uses “nurtured and grown” facts to tarnish the image of candidates opposing their stable of clients.
SRG appears proud to “nurture and grow” stories against their political adversaries, perhaps being better at “making up stuff” than their competitors, the SRG website boasting of doing what no one else will do in order to win.
Given the SRG website messaging to which I refer, and given certain knowledge of past campaigns involving SRG, and given the role of Mr. Williams’ firm conducting numerous recent campaigns leading to Club members’ victories in Forsyth County, the available facts lead me to expect with high probability that the “story cultivators” at SRG had a guiding hand creating the content of the Morris op-ed.
But, as I indicated, I do not register my belief of SRG’s role in constructing the Marc Morris op-ed solely on the evidence contained in the letter, or what the SRG website generally claims. In addition to those factors, certain knowledge of facts from the past add much weight to my belief, facts which when understood today provide a pattern for observers to examine and form conclusions with what I believe to be a high level of certainty.
2016 FEC ‘Fake News’ Complaint Against SRG
In 2016, I filed a Federal Election Commission complaint* against SRG for a similar variety of work as I allege above, that time, however, the work SRG provided was on behalf of the Doug Collins campaign against Georgia 9th District challenger, Dr. Paul Broun. I did not work in the Broun campaign. There were four challengers, including Broun, competing for that congressional seat. I was aiding a friend, Mike Scupin, in his campaign and filed the complaint, with candidate permission, under both his name and the name of one other participating challenger. That said, I knew (and still know) the former 10th District Representative Broun, and spoke with him regularly during the time in question.
Certain facts of the complaint derived from phone conversations with Dr. Broun, during which he retrieved accurate information from his personal phone records, which I documented in the complaint. The complaint centered around allegations that SRG published paid campaign materials for the benefit of Representative Collins, but without lawfully-required campaign disclaimers, those materials essentially written as “fake-news” articles, published anonymously on a web-based news outlet, a complaint which, if determined true by the FEC, could violate FEC regulation 11 CFR 110.11(b)(1), which requires:
"On a public communication that is authorized and paid for by a candidate or his/her campaign committee, the disclaimer notice must identify who paid for the message."
The background of the complaint was that, in early March of that year, I received advice from a source that SRG owner, Jay (Jason) Williams, had acquired ownership of a politically-conservative web-based news outlet, Zpolitics.com. The following two exhibits, taken from the complaint, certified the ownership and registration of the now extinct “news” website.
According to my source, SRG actively published campaign materials on Zpolitics, written against certain of SRG’s clients’ political opponents, portraying those campaign ads as objective “news” stories, without disclaimers, thus undertaking campaign activities which, in keeping with the SRG motto above, apparently made good on the promise to do what “competitors refuse to do.” Proved to be true, the referenced ads, paid for by client campaign funds, published as news articles on a self-described news website, without disclaimers, would be against FEC regulations. For that reason, I recall using the term, “fake news,” even before President Trump placed it into the modern political vernacular. Taken directly from the complaint, the facts, as written in the submission, and the resulting allegations were as follows:
1. On Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at approximately 1:30 PM, prospective 9th District US House candidate Paul Broun placed a call to Georgia 9th District US Representative Doug Collins on his private phone, a call which Collins shortly returned, the purpose to inform the congressman that the former would run against him in the May 24, 9th District Republican Primary. That information comes directly from a conversation with candidate Broun.
2. On Thursday, March 3, 2016, two days later, a website known as Zpolitics.com (ZP) published an article purporting to be independent “news” entitled, “Paul Broun will run for congressional seat despite federal grand jury investigation.” [See Exhibits I-A&B] In that article are numerous statements disparaging and attacking Paul Broun, his record and intentions, those statements accruing obvious benefit to Rep. Collins’ re-election campaign. Importantly, the article refers directly to the private phone call candidate Broun made to Collins two days before. Because it was private, and because only Collins and Broun knew about the call, the unnamed source for that information could only have been Collins himself, a fact establishing a link between Collins personally, and his knowledge of the writing of the March 3 article purporting to be independent news.
3. Zpolitics.com, as it turns out, is not an independent news and commentary website. Instead, ZP is listed as the personal property of Jason (Jay) Williams [See Exhibits II-A&B], founder and managing principle at The Stoneridge Group, LLC (SRG), a campaign consulting firm heavily involved in Rep. Collins’ past campaigns, (from past FEC filings [See Exhibits IIIA&B]) as well as one that appears and is likely to be running material aspects of his 2016 campaign (payments made to SRG in 4th quarter 2015 FEC filing [See Exhibit IV]). We expect the 1st quarter 2016 Collins FEC campaign filings will demonstrate that SRG has been receiving payments for services rendered on an ongoing basis for Collins’ re-election campaign during the time in question.
4. Any payments the Collins campaign makes to SRG constitute payments accruing to the benefit of SRG owner Jason Williams, personal owner of Zpolitics.com, who as its owner is solely and personally responsible for that website’s content, and who is therefore personally responsible for publishing the March 3 supposed “news” article disparaging candidate Paul Broun and benefiting Rep. Collins. Because the Collins Campaign makes payments to Jason Williams through a media entity Williams owns, and because in-turn Williams posts news and commentary accruing to the favor of Collins Campaign, while disparaging Collins’ opponent on another media entity he owns, but without campaign disclaimers, we view this ongoing, purposeful process as nothing less than information laundering, an attempt to deceive the public, posturing partisan campaign materials as independent news and commentary. Obviously, there is only one way for Jason Williams to have known about the private phone call between Candidate Broun and Rep. Collins. And that would be that Collins conveyed that information to him. Thus we believe the March 3 published article constitutes, “a public communication that is authorized and paid for by a candidate or his/her campaign committee.” That being the case, 11 CFR 110.11(b)(1) further requires that a, “disclaimer notice must identify who paid for the message." Because the paid-for-news article did not offer a disclaimer, we believe this communication is in violation of FEC regulations.
5. We believe a second count violating that same regulation can be found in the place of a follow-up ZP article, one dated March 10, 2016 entitled, “Paul Broun announces, then attacks begin to fly in the ninth congressional district.” [See Exhibit V-A&B] That second, supposed independent “news” article is even so bold as to provide a link to a vicious, 60 second “sneak preview” radio campaign commercial subsequently to be launched against Candidate Broun, the radio commercial produced, and noted as authorized and paid for by the Collins campaign. Importantly however, we believe the article itself, containing numerous disparages against Candidate Broun, as well as a link to the vicious radio ad attacking Broun, was paid to be published, either directly or indirectly, by the Collins campaign. We believe it was another paid-for publication in the same manner as the first count, the payment going to SRG, SRG appearing to most of the world as a legitimate recipient of the funds, SRG and its owner Jason Williams apparently however serving as nothing less than an “information laundering agent” between the Collins campaign and Zpolitics, neither of these “fake news” reports offering campaign disclaimers.
6. We believe a third count regarding the Collins Campaign, and Rep. Collins personally, violating 11 CFR 110.11(b)(1), occurred on April 7, when still another article, one entitled, “Paul Broun’s former Chief of Staff was just indicted,” [See Exhibit VI] appeared on Zpolitics.com. This was yet another article serving Collins’ re-election campaign purposes, showing Collins’ opponent Paul Broun in a bad light. And we believe it should not be lost on the FEC that none of these articles simply linked to legitimate news services offering objective assessments of the circumstances. Instead, all of these articles were apparently authored and produced in-house, credit given each time to, “staff,” this even though several Zpolitics staff writers are listed by name on one of the website’s pages. We expect that an FEC investigation will uncover that all of these paid-for-news articles attacking Collins’ opponent Broun will have been written by SRG campaign consultants rather than any of the staff reporters working the beat for ZP.
We believe that each of the March 3, March 10 and April 7 Zpolitics.com articles, paid for by the Collins Campaign to SRG, and offered to an unsuspecting public as independent news and commentary, but with no campaign disclaimers, constitute prima facie evidence of violations of the regulation referred above.
To aid the Scupin campaign, I created the following video, which provides the text and evidence of the FEC complaint, which I uploaded to the campaign website for public consumption.
Thus, in the facts regarding the 2016 FEC complaint to which I refer, as is the case with the Marc Morris op-ed, we see evidence pointing to a similar practice of “ghost-authorship,” or “ghost-writing,” on the part of SRG, its owner, Jay Williams, seen below situated among a group of Club members, which includes numerous happy SRG client politicians from Forsyth County after their recent primary victories. (Also pictured are former Representative Mike Dudgeon in the rear, as well as Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman, neither of whom have I seen evidence of a client relationship with SRG.)
In politics, ghost-authorship, or “ghost-writing,” is the kind of activity we see all the time. You likely receive texts or emails, ostensibly from candidates for office, who, as most would realize, have no hand in writing or sending, only a hand in authorizing their campaigns to pay for the efforts of anonymous others. Those communications are sent by “ghost-writers” pretending to be the candidates hoping to elicit campaign contributions. Very few who receive those kinds of communications would ever imagine they are dealing directly with the candidates the senders claim to be. But that would not be the case here. The Morris letter appears to be a professional, ghost-written, hit-job, but one to which he signed his name, apparently purposed with intentions well-beyond any level personal outrage.
All in the Family
You will notice that, three of five prospective Forsyth Commissioners going forward into 2025, they being primary winners Alfred John, Laura Semanson and Mendy Moore, are in the above photo. A fourth commissioner, Kerry Hill, two years into her four-year term, is seen below among many of the same group attending the victory celebration. Commissioner Hill’s daughter apparently either worked for, or still works for Representative Jones’ (second to Hill’s left) company. Senator Dolezal is one of the investors in Jones’ company. So, there are personal, familial and financial relationships among Club members which go well beyond those we might consider “public.” On their campaign disclosures, all four prospective county commissioners going forward into 2025 show SRG as their campaign consulting firm. Note that in the past, it has been a rare occasion when Commissioners John, Semanson and Hill, all SRG clients, do not vote as a block on zoning requests. Commissioner Cindy Mills, generally a loyal oppositionist in her votes, retires this year. Barring an upset that defies gravity, SRG client Mendy Moore will replace Mills in January. That would mean four of five Forsyth County commissioners would be clients of Jay Williams and SRG.
Regarding the Forsyth County Board of Education, on the two contested seats, the odds-on favorites to win election in November would be new members, Dorian Usherwood (not present) and Trisha Hoyes (pictured above), both SRG clients as well. Should that occur, and it likely will, according to their report fillings, three of five Forsyth County Board of Education members, comprising a majority, would also be clients of Jay Williams.
The influence that a Jay Williams, therefore, could wield through these elected officials is palpable. The group’s prospective unification as an operating team of decision-makers, each Club member having his or her votes heavily-influenced by the tightly-knit machine of teammates surrounding them, all under one political roof, pulling for each other, campaigning for Club members in public, secretly campaigning against opposing candidates, some Club members even helping to fund the campaigns of others, is not a healthy or proper set of circumstances for a local community. On the contrary, it is a proper set of circumstances for a local cabal. Should all prevail in November, missing on both the Forsyth County Commission, as well as the Board of Education, would be be any practicable power associated with a dissenting opinion should Club members decide to “lock arms,” as in the past. We are apparently witnessing a takeover of Forsyth County politics by a veritable “good ole boy” cooperative network, the helm of its political campaign operations effectively manned by an unelected campaign consultant, each member of the network I term “the Club,” therefore, depending on both Jay Williams, and each other, to deliver future election victories.
Club Promotes from Within
Just this week, we saw the Club’s internal cooperative effort expanded by Commission Chairman Alfred John, extending a political appointment to the wife of Board of Education member Mike Valdez. It is all in the family, friends.
Now, Ms. Valdez might do a fine job in her new appointment, that’s not the question. The question is, out of a population of 270,000 Forsyth County citizens, were there no other reasonably-qualified candidates for this appointment? Did Alfred John send out a public notice to discover whether any other community-minded individuals might be interested in this position? No. Why is it that the Club only recruits appointments from within its ranks, rather than from within the ranks of the entire community affected by those appointments? There are excellent candidates throughout the Forsyth County community who would enjoy a chance to serve on the library board. But, no, that’s not going to happen. Bringing in an outsider would “contaminate” the Club, compromising its abilities to promote purposes associated with the personal goals of its members. Someone from outside of the Club might even be “watching.” Remember, in Chapter One we took note how the Club treats outsiders. They make up attacks about them and publish them in the local paper. So, forget it, fellow citizens, if you are an outsider, if you are not a member of “the Club,” apparently you will not be invited, or even allowed to participate in your local government, even for a volunteer position. You, sir or madam, are not worthy to “give back.” You are not in the Club. Only those promoted from within the Club, will be allowed to “give back.” And they will, of course, take credit for their work.
And, oh my goodness, would you look at the hubris on display as Mr. Valdez jokes to Jay Williams in a way that only Club members might find humorous, making fun insinuating that the “Club” to which I call attention, offering mounds of evidence in the process, does not exist, all the while reacting to the news that that same supposedly non-existent Club, in the person of County Comission Chair Alfred John just appointed Valdez’ wife to another Club position. I just love irony.
And recently, Mr. Valdez’ engineering firm hired a member of the Club’s online support team to a position in his firm, that Club supporter’s social media page literally saturated with posts supporting “Da Club.” Just goes to show, hard work for “Da Club” will be rewarded.
Mr. Valdez’ should provide plenty of work for this hard-working online Club supporter, his firm apparently in the middle of a lucrative 5-year contract for services with Forsyth County to support $300 million of construction projects.
Oh, but of course, there is no Club. We are “conspiracy theorists.”
Beware Local Ghost-Writers
Before I leave the subject of “Ghost-Writers in the Sky,” several individuals have forwarded to me newsletters from an anonymous source calling itself, “Forsyth County Homeowners.” That source apparently broadcasts emails from an address, “news@forsythhomeowners.news.” I warn anyone against trusting sources who do not publicly identify themselves. Everyone who reads my Substack knows who I am. If readers have comments, I am glad to receive them, even if they do not agree. And to the extent that I have time, I try to answer them. Very few, if any, who receive newsletters from news@forsythhomeowners.news know who that source is. That being the case, I am not surprised to find in their archives a long history of hit-pieces published against local, non-Club member political figures, while showering praise on members of the Club. Perhaps I will be honored with the next hit-piece. Suffice it to say, if you do not know a source, you are likely reading fake news from one of those “Ghost-Writers in the Sky.” Now, who would do such a thing?
Be Concerned
The citizens of Forsyth County should be concerned about such a close association of local politicians, the “Club” as I put it, working together as they obviously do. Citizens should be just as concerned that some elected Club members have common business interests outside of any public relationship, providing services to government agencies, the regulations governing the manner they conduct business thereby subject to their personal influence, thus creating an unavoidable network of conflicting interests.
Unfortunately, when you put this many local politicians working in concert, guided by the same political consulting operation, and also guided by mutual personal interests, they become a veritable team, a monolith of political power. When that happens, team members begin to cover each other’s backs. Synergies develop, making it all too easy for internal cooperation to further purposes which are not solely confined to the work of the people they are elected to represent. Private insiders, integrated into the ranks of the Club, become part of a network of relationships, using those connections to promote private purposes apart from any purposes of the general public. And very unfortunately, that is what I see occurring in Forsyth County.
So I ask the Forsyth County community at-large, is this the picture you want our local political environment to look like? Are you happy with the prospect that a veritable cabal, guided by the variety of political artistry I describe above, has taken over your county government? Are you content knowing that several who represent you at the state and possibly local levels, are in business together outside of their elected offices? Does it make you happy that members of a local clique may be working harder to maintain the power of their positions, for personal reasons, while aiding others within the Club to do the same, rather than representing your interests? I, for one, believe the behavior of the Club about which I write to be reprehensible. And with everything I have shown you so far, just know, I am barely scratching the surface.
It is time to break up the band.
Next up, Chapter 3.
*Note: Weeks after filing the FEC complaint referenced above, the FEC wrote back informing me that I had made a mistake in the filing procedure and asking me to fill out more paperwork. By then, the primary was over, and the effort would have been in vain. I therefore chose against investing any additional time in the project and did not respond.
Thank you for fighting for truth, Mr. Sullivan.
As for the establishment cabal, let’s look at what they defend:
1) No audit of millions in finances in over a decade and
2) obvious conflicts of interest of corporate officers for GRP, Inc.
Keep digging, please
You are certainly brave to go against the “club”. They are perfectly ok destroying anyone that’s gets in their way. It is mind blowing, the people that are willing to believe something that is “anonymous”. There is only one reason to do so, you are not being truthful.