An accusation made by a Cobb Republican claiming County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid broke state law last fall has been shot down by the Cobb County Board of Ethics.
The charge was filed by Lance Lamberton just before the November election as a part of his campaign to prevent the expansion of public transportation in Cobb County.
Lamberton has filed similar complaints in the past over public transportation, which were also thrown out. In each case, Lamberton tied up county resources and funds in the pursuit of his vendettas.
This time around, the Cobb republican claimed Chairwoman Cupid crossed the line between education and promoting a special sales tax program appearing on the November ballot. Known as “MSPLOST,” the measure would expand and fund Cobb County public transportation for the next 30-years.
Lamberton’s argument was based solely on his personal interpretation of if the statements on the county website painted the program in a positive light. His logic was so muddled, the Ethics Commission dismissed his complaint outright.
While the MSPLOST measure was defeated, Cupid secured her reelection bid on the same ballot, much to the chagrin of local republicans like Lamberton who hoped to rush the ethics hearing and disrupt her campaign.
“We are relieved to finally put this unnecessary ordeal is behind us,” said Essence Johnson, Chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee. “The GOP’s relentless attempts to disrupt the work of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners are both shameful and a waste of valuable resources.”
Although Lamberton presents himself as an unaffiliated citizen with his organization the Cobb Taxpayer Association, he and the group are little more than a branch for the local Cobb republican party.
“I like to be amongst my own kind in a suburban county like Cobb County,” Lamberton said at a Cobb GOP meeting in May 2023. “This is what the transit tax (MSPLOST) will do: it will further urbanize the county; it will create a demographic tsunami in Cobb County to the point where we will never ever, as the Republican Party, ever be able to recapture the majority on the Board of Commissioners. We might become DeKalb County. Is that a pleasant thought?”
Republicans are currently trying to take back the board of commissioners after they drew District 2 Commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her seat during her term and forcing a special election in districts 2 and 4.
The GOP candidate hoping to fill Richardson’s spot (for whom Lamberton is coincidentally volunteering) will have to face off against the winner of the Democratic Special Primary on February 11, 2025. There are four candidates currently competing for District 2 while District 4’s primary has two candidates.
Click here for the list of candidates.
Cupid will be sworn in for her second four year term as Cobb County’s Board of Commission Chair Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. As leader of the county government, she saw Cobb through the COVID-19 pandemic, started progressive community initiatives, supported small local businesses, and advocated for Cobb citizens at the state capitol.