Pressure grows to force out Hoschton officials
Republican and Democratic leaders join forces to show residents how to file complaints against city leaders who made racially charged remarks.
A steady stream of Hoschton residents filed into a rented hall next to City Hall Wednesday to fill out paperwork they hope will force Mayor Theresa Kenerly and Councilman Jim Cleveland out of office.
The chairs of the Jackson County Republican Party and the Jackson County Democratic Party joined forces in assisting residents in filling out complaints. The forms claim the two officials racially charged remarks subjected the town to public ridicule and violated city ordinances for behavior in office as well as state non-discrimination laws.
The bipartisan effort is the latest attempt to ratchet up pressure on Kenerly and Cleveland following an
Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation into comments the mayor reportedly made during a search for a new city administrator. According to city documents and accounts by two members of the City Council, Kenerly said she withheld the application for one finalist because he is black, and the city isnt ready for this.
Then, in an interview with the
AJC, Cleveland defended the mayors comments and made matters worse by volunteering his opinion that interracial marriages were against his Christian upbringing. I have black friends, I hired black people. But when it comes to all this stuff you see on TV, when you see blacks and whites together, it makes my blood boil because thats just not the way a Christian is supposed to live, the councilman said.
Read more:
https://www.ajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/pressure-grows-force-out-hoschton-officials/rRaHAJ8VEZv0DUxPrUiHKK/