(News Alert! This coming week, the Milton Herald will be running a front-page, in-depth story about Milton’s Election Feasibility Committee’s flawed and biased report that conned city council into proceeding with self-running Milton municipal elections.  See details at Bits & Pieces.)

Once again, the City of Milton is in the news . . . and once again, the news is embarrassing . . . and once again Council Member Rick Mohrig is at the center of a swirling controversy.  Last week, I and the Milton Herald reported on the scandal involving Rick Mohrig’s meeting with poll workers and his (so far unsubstantiated) allegations of computer hacking.  (Links to my and the Herald’s stories are provided at the end of this post.)  Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the latest media outlet to expose Mohrig’s lack of integrity.  Following is a link to the AJC’s story published this morning.  A pdf of the article is provided at the end of this blog post.

AJC: Milton Councilman Under Fire For Privately Meeting with Election Workers

Following are the relevant quotes from the AJC article that relate the events and commentary surrounding this scandal:

1. “Mohrig has said his email was hacked when an invite for a meeting with the poll workers was sent from his email address.”
2. Mohrig “told his colleagues that he didn’t know anything about the meeting.”  “’Someone may have hacked my email,’” Mohrig wrote on Sept. 6. “’This was not from me, nor do I have any idea what the meeting invite is about.’”  (This was not true as you will read in bullet 8.)
3. Krokoff said “the Milton IT department and a third-party network security provider found that neither Mohrig’s email address nor the city’s computer system were hacked . . . councilman’s efforts to hide it (the meeting) raises questions and concerns.”
4. “the poll workers . . . have since resigned.”
5. “The police and city council are looking into possible false allegations by Mohrig that his email was hacked.”
6. “Mohrig declined to comment to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ‘while there is an active police investigation.’”  This is total nonsense and just more of Mohrig’s dodging the scandal and essentially pleading the Fifth.
7. “The councilman did not respond to questions from Councilwoman Carol Cookerly . . .  asking if he in fact met with the poll workers.”
8. “Krokoff told the AJC that Mohrig met with the poll workers on the date and time of the invite . . . he surveilled the poll workers’ subdivision entrance on that date and the time of the proposed meeting and saw Mohrig turn into the community.”
9. Mayor Jamison said “elected officials are expected to hold high ethical standards.  Any appearance of wrongdoing can undermine the integrity that voters have in the voting process.”

For nearly two years, Council Member Rick Mohrig has constantly demonstrated a singular lack of integrity in his actions relating to design, planning, and implementation of Milton’s municipal elections . . . elections in which he is running!  Furthermore, his misbehavior has extended to the conduct of his campaign, including his circumventing the City Manager (in violation of the City Charter) to direct city staff in what Krokoff stated might be viewed “use of government authority to suppress a political opponent.”  The optics of Mohrig’s meeting with poll workers is positively awful.  Furthermore, significant city resources have been wasted in investigating his hacking allegations . . . unsurprisingly turning up ZERO evidence of outside intrusion.  Mohrig also continues to refuse to answer questions, or else he provides evasive or deflecting non-answers.  This fall, voters should Vote FOR Election Integrity by Voting AGAINST Rick Mohrig.

Advocating For Election Integrity,

Tim

Following are links to 1) my original blog posts about the meeting with poll workers and the unproven hacking allegations and 2) the Milton Herald’s September 22^nd article about this scandal:

Election Interference (Part 7):  Milton Herald . . . Krokoff Surveils Poll Worker Meeting and Confirms Mohrig’s Attendance . . . Mohrig’s Weasel Worded Responses . . . Council Investigation in the Offing?

Election Interference (Part 6):  Mohrig Alleges Computer Hack . . . Cover-up For Meeting With Poll Workers and His Misuse of City Resources? (Long Version)

Election Interference (Part 6):  Mohrig Alleges Computer Hack . . . Cover-up For Meeting With Poll Workers and His Misuse of City Resources?   Mohrig Dodging Questions . . . What a Tangled Web He Weaves . . .

Milton Herald: Email Hack Inquiry Sparks City Interest to Launch 2nd Probe