Kenneth Zachary presents petition to state for House 151 run

ATLANTA — House District 151 Rep. Gerald Greene said Tuesday he expects the Rev. Kenneth Zachary’s name to be placed on the Nov. 8 general election ballot despite “issues” associated with Zachary’s candidacy.

The Georgia House Democratic Caucus sent out a release Tuesday announcing that Zachary, a pastor at three small churches in Southwest Georgia, had submitted slightly fewer than 3,000 petition signatures to Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office in an effort to meet the requirements that would allow him to appear on the ballot as an independent candidate.

State Democrats enticed Zachary, who had previously been ruled ineligible to run for sheriff in Calhoun County because of past legal issues, to sign up for an independent run at the House District 151 seat when Kemp and later an administrative law judge ruled that Democratic qualifier James Williams, of Albany, was ineligible to run for the seat because he does not live in the district.

Kemp’s office issued a statement saying the Dougherty County Elections Office had erred in allowing Williams to qualify for the HD 151 seat.

Greene, R-Cuthbert, said Tuesday he would not challenge Zachary’s independent candidacy even though he has reservations about his meeting state qualifications.

“Here’s a guy who was disqualified from running for sheriff, so they turn around and run him for the state House,” Greene, who was at a speaking engagement in Kentucky, said. “There are certainly issues with his candidacy, but I’m not going to challenge him. We’ll just let the people decide.”

State law requires an independent candidate for the Georgia House to submit signatures of registered voters equal to or greater than 5 percent of the total registered voters in the district in the most recent election. In the 2014 election, HD 151, which encompasses all or part of nine Southwest Georgia counties, had 29,737 registered voters. Zachary, thus, needs signatures from 1,487 of the district’s registered voters.

“Knowing these signatures have to be approved by Brian Kemp’s office, I’m sure Rev. Zachary is not taking any chances,” Albany attorney Maurice King, who represented Zachary in an unsuccessful challenge of his disqualification in Calhoun County, said Tuesday. King, who is representing Williams in his appeal to be placed on the ballot, said the Democratic candidate is maintaining his efforts to be included in the election.

“Mr. Williams’ case in Fulton County is still pending,” King said. “We’re waiting for a ruling from a Superior Court judge there. We hope he rules on some of the matters that were not addressed by the administrative law judge (Ronit Walker).”

Greene said he’s heard from voters in HD 151 who said they were duped by state Democratic Party officials who collected petition signatures on Zachary’s behalf.

“I understand that some of the people from Atlanta who came down to our district to collect signatures did not tell the voters that Zachary would be running against me,” Greene, who has represented the district for 33 years, said. “Some of them even told me that they asked if (Zachary) would be running against me and they were told that he would not.

“What those people don’t understand, but the people in District 151 do, is that I’ve always represented all of the people of this district. They’re making it about party and politics, but it’s more about the needs of individuals to me. If he gets the numbers (of signatures), we’ll move forward and challenge him in November. This whole situation, it is what it is. It’s time to forget all this other stuff and get on with the campaign.”