WHITE COUNTY, Ga. – Four strong candidates for White County Probate Judge brought their campaigns to a 90-minute candidate debate presented by Fetch Your News and the Republican Party of White County Monday.

Moderator Brian Pritchard of Fetch Your News questioned candidates on topics ranging from how they would deal with the 14 percent budget cut demanded by the governor to how they would deal with the backlog of court cases created by the coronavirus pandemic.

Two candidates – Don Ferguson, an attorney, and Carol Jackson, an Associate Vice President of North Georgia Technical College, – said being elected probate judge would require a significant pay cut, something both said they would willingly accept to serve the citizens of White County.

Ferguson said he would close his private law practice if he is elected. “It would be a conflict of interest. I also think probate court is a full time office that requires everyone’s complete and sole attention.”

None of the candidates saw the need for a tax increase to meet their departmental budgets. Randall Townley noted that since the responsibility of holding elections has shifted from the office of probate judge to the elections superintendent, the operational cost of running the office has already been reduced significantly.

Ferguson gave several specific examples of places he could cut the budget.

“There are some areas where we can trim,” he said. “There are some subscription items we can save on. There are some high-priced technology items we can save on, I think there are some insurance items we have an opportunity to save on. I’m not going to raise anyone’s taxes. I’ll do whatever it takes to meet the county’s budget goals.”

Each candidate was asked how long they would like to serve in office if elected. Cam Greene, the youngest of the candidates, said, “As long as I get in there young, hopefully I can use this as a long-term career and do exactly as Judge (Garrison) Baker has done and serve for over 30 years. Judge Baker has done a great job and I want to follow in his footsteps.”

Ferguson said two to three terms would be enough. Jackson said she would commit to serving no more than two terms. The rest said they would like to serve no more than three terms.

Jackson faced the stark reality that changes in personnel may have to take place but she said she wanted to see the approved 2021 budget before making any decisions. “If we have to cut a position, I can take up the slack and I will do that.”

Due to COVID-19, probate court has been shut down. Pritchard asked the candidates how aggressive they would be in clearing up the backlog of cases.

Ferguson said, “Court hasn’t been held in a couple of months and it may not be held for a couple more. So there is going to be a lot of tickets to resolve. We’ve just got to start court early in the morning and go through all day for as many days as it takes for those tickets to be resolved. I think the total backlog of cases can be resolved in five to 10 working days in court.”

“Jackson said, “I will be as aggressive as I need to be to move this cases through in a way that is satisfactory to the judicial system as well as the people being served.”

Advance voting begins next week in the General Primary Election and Presidential Preference Primary.

 

 

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