The Problem

When government operates in the dark, working families pay the price. In our district, critical decisions about how and where our communities grow — especially along our fragile coast — have been pushed into informal meetings dominated by developers and special interests, while ordinary residents were shut out until the deal-making was mostly done.

This didn't happen overnight. It is the predictable outcome when power is concentrated in a few hands and there are no real consequences for hiding the ball from the public.

How We Got Here

Georgia does not lack sunshine laws on paper. What it lacks is a legislative and regulatory culture that treats public engagement as anything more than a procedural checkbox.

In McIntosh County, commissioners quietly rezoned Hogg Hummock to benefit developers — and it took years of costly litigation before residents prevailed in January 2026. In Glynn County, developments have been approved without ensuring the roads, schools, and water infrastructure exist to support them — while residents who showed up and spoke against those decisions watched commissioners vote yes anyway. At the state level, the PSC rushed through a sweeping long-term energy plan in December 2025 before two newly elected commissioners could be sworn in, treating routine utility data as proprietary trade secrets rather than public information.

And in the Georgia legislature itself, Georgia's rules only require recusal when a bill solely benefits a member's own business — meaning a legislator can vote on bills that regulate and benefit the very industry they own or profit from, as long as others in that industry benefit too. That is not just a conflict of interest — it is a betrayal of the people those officials were elected to serve.

When public comment is ignored, decisions are made before the community walks in the door, and legislators profit from the votes they cast, sunshine laws become hollow promises.

What I Will Do

Georgia's zoning procedures are governed by state law — which means the General Assembly can strengthen them. And accountability requires more than better zoning rules. I will fight for:

• Amend the Georgia Zoning Procedures Law to require commissioners to produce written findings explaining how public comment was actually considered before any final vote — so that showing up means something

• Require a supermajority of commissioners to approve any rezoning that receives substantial negative public comment — the higher the opposition, the higher the bar

• Require a certified independent infrastructure impact study — covering traffic, schools, water, and sewer — paid for by the developer, not the taxpayer, before any significant rezoning is approved

• Require balanced representation on any planning or zoning workgroup affecting our coast — community members, environmental experts, and working families, not just developers

• Require mandatory financial disclosure and recusal when legislators vote on bills that regulate industries they personally own or work in — closing the loophole that currently allows legislators to profit from the votes they cast

• Fight to restore Georgia's independent consumer utility advocate, ensuring ratepayers have independent legal representation in PSC proceedings — because a Public Service Commission that hears only from the utility it is supposed to regulate is not regulation, it is rubber-stamping

• Strengthen whistleblower protections for government employees who report misconduct, so that the people closest to the problems have a safe path to expose them

• Fight for full public access to PSC proceedings and utility data, and enforce open meetings and open records standards for any body shaping public safety or land use — even when they call themselves informal

Accountability is not a courtesy. It is the structural check that prevents the powerful from writing the rules for everyone else — and from profiting while they do it. I will put you back in the room where decisions are made.

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