JoEllen Smith is an East Cobb GOP Truther

JoEllen Smith is a bona-fide East Cobb Republican. She is a business woman and mom, involved in her children’s public education. Last year she ran in the GOP primary for the state house in East Cobb. She has been known to tell the truth.

Lance Lamberton and a number of other anti-tax Republicans are given to saying outlandish things in the MDJ. They were against last year’s Education SPLOST before the election. After they lost the election, they continued with their criticisms but this time they are criticizing the process, backed only by their prejudices, ideology, and baseless conspiracy theories. Acting like the bad losers that they are, they are blaming anyone and everyone for the election loss.

To the surprise of many Republicans, in the April 24, 2013 MDJ Letters to the Editor was a well-documented, fact based reply to the silly groundless accusations. http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/22336539/article--Lamberton%E2%80%99s-anti-SPLOST-suit-way-off-target?. JoEllen Smith responded politely with facts and logic to all of Lance Lamberton’s accusations.

Why was Ms. Smith kind to her opponent in a way that Mr. Lamberton has never been to any of his? Ms. Smith had an opportunity to verbally beat up Mr. Lamberton for his misstatements and lies. Did Ms. Smith think that Mr. Lamberton was not the originator of this pack of lies? Perhaps she thought that he was just passing on faulty information from friends without employing his own thought process and was giving them the benefit of the doubt?

Her campaign 2012 campaign website (www.JoellenSmith.com) may offer some clues. She was against the Transportation SPLOST and for ethics reform “Ethics Matter”. Republican legislators promised a Plan B transportation program after the election, and ethics legislation. Ms. Smith was introduced to Republican process called legislative skeet shooting. First, Republicans throw it up, and then they shoot it down. The Republican legislature voted for the T-SPLOST just before they turned against it and shot it down. Ethics legislation fared just as badly. The legislature had to pretend to show concern for two of the most important issues in the state and they did just that, they pretended.

Some Republicans still hold on to the belief that their party will do something about transportation. Perhaps Ms Smith sees Mr. Lamberton as a fellow Republican who swallowed the whole anti-Education pack of lies, just like she fell for the promise of a Plan B. Ms. Smith seems to have learned her lesson – fool me once…..    

We can only guess, is Ms. Smith just so much nicer than most Republicans who share their anger and fear in the MDJ or is she just an average East Cobb fact based, reason driven, truth telling Republican mom who is capable of evolving politically?

In the last election, we had two strong East Cobb Republican women who waged fact based campaigns against two good old boys whose only friends are lobbyist’s. JoEllen Smith ran in the GOP primary against the former Democrat, Don Parsons, who was criticized even by the MDJ for not being seen publicly in years in his district. She called him a “liberal” which was just plain dumb and inaccurate but understandable since it is how Republicans talk to other Republicans when trying to win an election or “I am more conservative”.

East Cobber magazine publisher Cynthia Rozzo ran against the equally invisible State Rep. Matt Dollar. Per the MDJ, Dollar said that he had town hall meetings years ago but no one showed up so he stopped having them.

Now more moderate Republicans in East Cobb and all of Cobb County are aware that their party has not been completely taken over by the most extreme fringe groups. Perhaps they will pay more attention to serious candidates like Ms. Smith and Ms. Rozzo in the future.

I only mention this in the Patch because the MDJ is read by so few in Cobb County. Even most Republicans don’t read the MDJ.

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