Tea Party Activist To Challenge Ahrens For Commission Chair

Just when you thought the election season was over in Cherokee County, another candidate has stepped forward to run for political office. 

Former Canton Tea Party Chair Carolyn Cosby has announced her plans to garner enough signatures on a petition to be placed on the ballot as an independent to challenge incumbent Buzz Ahrens for the Cherokee County Commission chair seat.

"Now is the time to move Cherokee County forward," she said in a press release. "The people are ready to elect leadership we can trust and return Cherokee County to a sound financial footing." 

Cosby resigned her role as chair of the tea party so she can run for the seat.

Cosby said on Thursday she will need 5,982 signatures to turn into Cherokee County Elections Supervisor Janet Munda by noon July 8 to gain placement on the ballot. 

Cosby, who has been critical of the Cherokee County Commission after the failure of Ball Ground Recycling, said she's a "conservative Republican" who has served the party in various leadership capacities since the Ronald Reagan Era. 

"If the actions of Buzz Ahrens can be labeled and defined as 'conservative Republican' then we need major reform in the Republican ranks,” she added, noting she describes herself as a "classical conservative" whose values are in lock step with the national Republican Party platform. 

Ahrens defeated challenger Jackie Archer in the May 20 Republican primary. With no Democratic opposition, Ahrens was slated to cruise to victory. 

The incumbent county chair on Friday said the position he currently holds "is a high-level CEO management responsibility."

"This individual has no management experience," he said, referring to Cosby. 

Before coming to Cherokee County, Cosby, 62, was widely known for her anti-marriage equality campaigns in the state of Maine during the late 80s and early to mid 1990s. 

In 2012, she and her organization launched campaigns and backed candidates to unseat incumbent District 2 County Commission Jim Hubbard. The material Cosby circulated eventually was used as evidence against her in an ethic complaint filed with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. 

Cosby was accused by former County Commissioner Karen Bosch of raising money to influence voters on which candidates to support in the July 31 primary. 

The case was eventually turned over to the Georgia Attorney General's Office for "probable case" where it remains undecided due to a lack of staff with the state ethics commission's office. 

Cosby said while she understand the window of time to garner the signatures is tight, she won't let that deter her from her goal of becoming the "real conservative" Cherokee County needs.