BY G.G. RIGSBY
912-826-1290
The Georgia Supreme Court today denied an application for discretionary appeal in the challenge of Effingham County Commissioner Vera Jones’ candidacy, effectively ending a three-month battle.
Rick Rafter, a Springfield attorney representing Andrew Brantley, a resident of Jones’ District 2, said he will not pursue the case any further.
The court announced today that all the justices concur in denying the application.
Rafter had argued that Jones was paid $590,000 too much in 2007 for sewer systems at subdivisions her company was developing in the county and that she refused to return the overpayment when asked.
The Effingham Board of Elections voted on April 4 to dismiss the challenge to Jones’ candidacy and Superior Court Judge F. Gates Peed on May 21 affirmed the board’s decision, saying there was “no evidence to support petitioner’s claim that any money was being unlawfully held.”
Rafter had told the state Supreme Court that allowing those decisions to stand “would be a total miscarriage of justice” because they permitted a person holding public funds to be a candidate for office, a “violation of the public trust.”
Jones’ attorney, Steven Scheer, called the appeal “frivolous.”
“Applicant should not be afforded yet another opportunity to advance the completely meritless, frivolous and frankly sanctionable claim Candidate Jones is the holder of public funds,” he said in answer to the appeal to the state Supreme Court.
On May 20, Jones defeated former commission chairman Dusty Zeigler to be re-elected to a second term in office, gathering 573 votes to Zeigler’s 469 votes, or 55 percent to 45 percent.