(Note: I am updating this post to reflect additional research, attendees’ accounts of the forum, and the forum’s aftermath. See the PART 2 at bottom of this post.)
I have been involved in Milton politics and government since 2015, so I have developed a sensitive nose for BS. I can sniff out a political set-up or dirty trick from a mile away. So I had myself a good chuckle when I was recently forwarded an email “invitation” (all quotes intentional) for a candidate “forum” sponsored by “Concerned Citizens for GA” that was sent to all four candidates in Milton’s upcoming city council races. I laughed because this political ploy was so clumsy and amateurish. Just what you would expect from the not-so-clever tricksters organizing this forum. (The invitation is provided at the bottom of this post.)
Upon reading the invitation, alarm bells started ringing and red flags began popping up. First, the invitation arrived out of the blue to candidates Cookerly and Cranmer. A forum had been established, including date, times, format, rules, etc. Everything was set . . . take it or leave it. And some of the rules struck me as odd, especially the rule that “Any question targeting one candidate will NOT be asked” . . . a rule custom-designed to protect an incumbent from answering any questions about his record . . . namely Rick Mohrig, who has an abysmal record that he does not want to debate. It struck me that this forum was really intended to pre-empt a real give-and-take debate that might ask tough questions and allow opportunities for rebuttals.
My suspicions aroused, I began to research the Concerned Citizens for GA (CCG), which asserts it is “group of grassroots citizens . . . not affiliated with any political party.” I googled Concerned Citizens for Georgia (both spelling out “Georgia” and using “GA” as used in the email invitation) and I found literally nothing . . . ZERO search results.
However, with a just little digging, I did find revealing information about the “Event Chair” . . . a Karen Gwyn. Ms. Gwyn is a partisan activist better known in Milton as Karen Dubin. I assume based on Google searches that Gwyn is her maiden name (although “Zlotnick” also turns up in Google searches as a last name for Ms. Dubin.) A half a dozen searches connected Gwyn to Dubin. See White Pages example below:
I suppose that Ms. Dubin is using her maiden name to evade candidates’ radars. Nice try . . . a swing and a miss. You see, Ms. Dubin is closely tied with Rick Mohrig, so she is not the neutral sponsor she implies. You might recall that Dubin figured prominently in the Milton’s Election Interference Scandal. Ms. Dubin was the person who first introduced (in January 2023) Mohrig to Vernetta Nuriddan, the consultant that Mohrig forced upon the City Manager and who was subsequently terminated by the City . . . costing Milton precious election planning time (and money). Later, in May 2023, Dubin interfered in contract negotiations with the elections consultant, pressuring the consultant to sign a contract with the City. Obviously, someone at the City was improperly sharing information with Dubin. Mohrig is the most likely suspect considering how he strong-armed the City Manager into hiring Nuriddan. Despite Ms. Nuriddan’s annoyance with Dubin’s meddling, Dubin continued to interfere with Milton’s election planning once Nuriddan had been hired, but Dubin requested secrecy. According to Nuriddan, Dubin called her (June 2023) to advise her not to mention Lisa Cauley to staff. Nuriddan expressed concern about Cauley and Dubin wanting to work “in secret.”
Attached at the bottom of this post is a pdf file with excerpts (from my blog post) about Dubin’s interference in the hiring and engagement of Milton’s elections consultant. You can access the blog post by clicking on this link: Election Interference (Part 2): Backroom Tampering in Hiring and Work of Milton’s Election Consultant. BTW, Ms. Dubin is also Recording Secretary of Fulton County Republican Women; Lisa Cauley is the president. So Dubin is not non-partisan as she claims. Similarly, an internet search of the moderator also indicates that she is a partisan activist leader.
For Karen Gwyn—aka Karen Dubin—to try to disguise herself off as a non-partisan, neutral, and objective sponsor of an elections forum is laughable, but more troubling it is dishonest. Dubin is a close Mohrig associate . . . and I suspect Mohrig had advance knowledge of Dubin’s ploy.
My understanding is that Cookerly responded that she could not attend the forum because of a prior commitment (i.e., a memorial service) and that Cranmer has not responded and therefore (it should be assumed) will not attend. Let’s see if Dubin (and Mohrig) move forward with the forum under the false pretense that both candidates for one or both races will be attending . . . a dishonest means to drum up an audience for Mohrig. Perhaps, Dubin and Mohrig will try to score some cheap political points by asserting Cookerly and Cranmer were no-shows and snapping a few photos of empty debate podiums.
This sort of campaign trickery is to be expected from Mohrig and his associates like Karen Dubin. Mohrig’s unethical and dishonest behavior on council is now being reflected in his campaign. The deceptive candidate forum only further highlights the need to reject Mohrig at the polls in November.
There is some good news. I am told that Appen Media is going to organize a legitimate give-and-take debate . . . the sort of debate that Mohrig does not want and cannot win . . . I predict Mohrig will be a no-show. The real debate, sponsored by Appen, is scheduled for October 4th at St. Aidan’s Church at 7 pm.
PART 2: Even More Fakery – Posted October 1st (a continuation of the above story . . . just when you thought it couldn’t get more dishonest . . . )
The Concerned Citizens for Georgia (aka the Mohrig campaign) circulated flyers to advertise their phony candidate forum. The flyer is attached. The forum organizers have been incompetently trying to fool citizens into believing they are a legitimate and non-partisan group, when they are clearly just an extension of the Mohrig campaign. This is typical duplicity for the Mohrig and raises some potentially actionable ethical and legal issues (that I won’t broach here but may take up with elections authorities). Of course, with my initial investigation, I blew the cover of the organizers and proved the illegitimacy of their CCGa. So CCGa pivoted to a slightly different name in their flyers. CC for GA substituted “for” with “of” . . . they became the Concerned Citizens OF Georgia. The following is from the bottom of the forum flyer in tiny font.
Unfortunately, the slight name change did not work either. There is . . . or more accurately was . . . a Concerned Citizens of Georgia. However, Concerned Citizens of Georgia was administratively dissolved by Georgia’s Secretary of State on September 9th. You really can’t make this stuff up!
CCGa still has a Facebook page (with 14 followers), but the last posting was in March, so there is no mention of CCGa’s phony forum. Furthermore, there are no postings or other information that would indicate that CCGa has ever organized political debates, as the forum organizers asserted. So the second name was also a bust . . . another swing and a miss.
The CCGa did proceed with their phony candidate forum at Saint Aidan’s church. Rick Mohrig signs lined Cogburn Road on the approach to the church . . . a clear sign of the organizers’ partisanship. Interestingly, in the run-up to the debate, Mohrig’s internet trolls tried to pressure Mohrig’s opponent Phil Cranmer into participating in the debate . . . he and Cookerly did not take the bait.
Karen Dubin’s Plan B did not work . . . so onto plan C . . . yet another name change. This time, the phony forum organizers opted for a more radical and corny name change . . . drum roll . . . Concerned Citizens Horse Country. It is just one more transparent but failed attempt to provide a fig leaf of legitimacy for the organizers. However, an internet search provides just one result that provides no information about this political group. (Note: It does seems this CCHC group did organize a debate for the Congressional 6th District in 2022. However, it is unclear who they are and their actual affiliation with organizers of this debate. No information is provided at the one site I was able to find.) Here is a view of the crowd just as the “forum” was breaking up.
Oh, and Karen Dubin, who organized this phony forum under another of her names (Karen Gwyn) has once again changed the name she is using. She is now Karen Zlotnik. She posted the following at Nextdoor. And when she posted this, Ms. Dubin/Gwyn/Zlotnik knew that Ms. Cookerly had already declined (because she was attending her mother-in-law’s memorial service out-of-town) and Mr. Cranmer had not responded. Never let the truth get in the way of a good lie . . . or even a bad, transparent one. Zlotnik’s announcement that Cookerly and Cranmer were attending was just a ruse to goose attendance. It did not work. Attendance was sparse.
This is the deception and secrecy we have come to expect from Mohrig’s political comrades . . . fake names, fake organizations, secret Facebook groups, anonymous publications, etc. It is the same deception and backroom machinations we have witnessed from Mohrig on council.
Citizens, this is just how Mohrig operates. It is 24×7 treachery . . . and as you can see, he and his cronies are not very good at deception. Their dishonesty is only exceeded by their stupidity. It is so easy to expose Mohrig and his comrades that it is not even fun anymore. For 2+ years, they have been caught many times with their dirty hands in Milton’s cookie jar. Mohrig’s campaign mirrors his never-ending misbehavior on council. So far, we have witnessed Mohrig and his using governmental authority to suppress his opponent; meeting secretly with poll workers and then inventing a hacking story to cover up the meeting; using internet trolls to harass and bait his opponent; and orchestrating a phony candidate forum. I believe that with these tactics, Mohrig and his associates might have engaged in actionable ethical and legal violations . . . and this includes the organization and conduct of the phony campaign forums.
As always, I am providing all of my source materials, so readers can judge these matters for themselves. I am confident that you will arrive at my conclusions.
Advocating For Campaign Integrity,
Tim
Note 1: In fairness to Ms. Dubin or Ms. Gwyn (or whatever name she is using this week), in the past, Ms. Dubin has organized what I am told were legitimate candidate forums/debates.
Note 2: I strive not to name or even reference private citizens in my blog posts. This is because I do not want to dissuade average citizens from participating in local politics and governance. However, Dubin is critical to telling the story of Milton’s election fiasco. Furthermore, Dubin is a partisan activist leader. Accordingly, Ms. Dubin is political figure and thus is fair game. The same is true for Lisa Cauley.
Milton Coalition 