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11 JUL 04: MAD MAXINE
The race to the Georgia Primary is in its final days - and one local campaign official may have had all she can stand. Look at what landed in our In-Box Friday:
I just happened to run across your website last night as I was researching other Columbus-related business on the internet. I had no idea that it existed, before. It is very entertaining and I think I'll be back.
I am the treasurer for Judge Daniel's election campaign. I will tell you frankly that Judge Daniel's campaign is giving very strict orders to all campaign workers to avoid saying anything that smacks of
mudslinging, so I could get in trouble with them for writing this to you. On the other hand, this has weighed heavily on my mind for some time.
I noticed a few weeks ago that Bobby Peters ran an ad in the Columbus Ledger with endorsements from a number of "former prosecutors." What Peters failed to indicate in that ad is that most of those "former prosecutors" are now criminal defense attorneys. There are a number of criminal defense attorneys who are very unhappy with Judge Daniel's decisions.
That is one reason Judge Daniel is assuring people that she will make fair decisions even when those decisions are unpopular. The real prosecutors in the District Attorney's office are not allowed to endorse either judicial candidate. My information, however, is that the District Attorney's office supports Judge Daniel.
The thing that most bothers me regards one of the criminal defense attorneys mentioned in that ad: Mark Shelnutt. Judge Daniel is my best friend, and Mark knows that. I am a lawyer, but I no longer practice criminal defense law. Nevertheless, Mark Shelnutt called me last year and asked if he could speak to me about one of his criminal cases. He offered me $10,000.00 if I could persuade Judge Daniel to reduce a sentence on one of his clients who had been convicted of armed robbery. I declined the offer and I immediately told Judge Daniel it. Mark did not get his sentence reduction from Judge Daniel.
Yesterday, I read in the Ledger that Mark Shelnutt is credited with organizing support for Bobby Peters. So what do you make of that?
Thank you for writing, Maxine Hardy - and yes, I DO hope you come back to visit the blog. But after the polls close July 20, things may not be quite as "entertaining" as they are right now.
I guess we now know why pro-Roxann Daniel e-mails have been scarce, in the Superior Court Judge race. Her supporters don't seem to know how to write mud-free messages.
Hopefully Maxine Hardy will NOT get in trouble for using her freedom of speech, and writing the blog. If she winds up getting fired by the Roxann Daniel campaign - well, I guess the judge will add that to her "right but unpopular" decision list.
(Instant Message to Attorney General John Ashcroft: If you want a court to uphold some of the censorship questions of the Patriot Act, you might want to head for the Government Center - fast.)
I personally have NOT seen the newspaper ad, where "former prosecutors" back Bobby Peters for Judge. I don't know whose names are on it. But keep something in mind - if any of them are parents and they've tried to learn the truth about
their children's misbehavior, they've probably acted as prosecutors. Not to mention judges and juries....
Maxine Hardy writes: "a number of criminal defense attorneys.... are very unhappy with Judge Daniel's decisions." Yet the Judge's commercials have NOT come out and said she's tough on crime. Maybe she's letting the suspects go - and the
attorneys are losing money they'd make appealing verdicts.
Can anyone else confirm Maxine Hardy's "information" that the District Attorney's office supports Judge Daniel? If so, this would be stunning -- since a converted Republican would be backing someone who had three big-name Democrats
endorse her on TV.
(This is why I'm anxious to check Election Board reports on campaign contributions. If someone has a donation from a "Mrs. Conger," that'll settle everything....)
But uh-oh -- I think Maxine Hardy is accusing Mark Shelnutt of bribery, with that $10,000 offer of "persuasion." I haven't even been able to get a Bobby Peters supporter to pay me two bucks, to get their letter posted.
So Mark Shelnutt is a big backer of Bobby Peters, eh? It happens when I visited Joseph Roberson's South Columbus United Methodist Church last month [21 Jun], Shelnutt was the guest "Men's Day" speaker at the early service I did not
attend. The title of his message was: "Whatever...." [True] Could that possibly be his ethics statement?
(Have I mentioned Pastor Joseph Roberson STILL has not called me, to "schedule an interview?" I could ask him some easy questions - like naming all the books of the New Testament in order.)
By the way, someone told us they saw a couple of Roxann Daniel signs on the sides of liquor stores in recent days. So Bobby Peters's name is next to the Boom Boom Room, Daniel's name is next to booze - why, you'd almost think all the Phenix City criminals of 1954 switched sides of the river.
So as we approach one week left in the race for Superior Court Judge, here's the updated e-mail count: Pro-Peters messages 7, pro-Daniel messages 1 - and potential lawsuits for slander 2.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE:> We decided not to awaken Mark Shelnutt late Saturday night to ask for a comment on Hardy's claim. But we'll certainly try to reach him Sunday, so he can reply.)
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