Elections and Politics
A Talk with Scott Hilton, a Candidate for Georgia House District 48
Published
2 years agoon
Why is Scott Hilton running for office? What can be done about Georgia’s almost 14% inflation rate? What is his view on public safety, education, property tax bills and how will he represent Peachtree Corners? Rico Figliolini discusses these issues and more with candidate and Peachtree Corners resident Scott Hilton.
Listen to “A Talk with Scott Hilton, a Candidate for Georgia House District 48” on Spreaker.“I love Peachtree Corners. This is where we call home. I love District 48. It would be an absolute honor to serve you again. I’m the most experienced candidate in the race. The candidate that’s proven to be able to get stuff done, and the candidate that’s proven to be able to listen to both sides of the aisle, be sympathetic to everyone, listen to folks, and really be an effective leader for you in the state. I’m someone who is a common sense conservative, that you can trust and really get behind to fight for you and your families.”
Scott Hilton
Timestamp Where to find it in the podcast:
[00:00:30] – Intro
[00:02:17] – About Scott
[00:05:52] – Voting for People over Party
[00:08:32] – Problems in the Economy and Inflation
[00:13:03] – Housing and Education
[00:21:19] – Public Safety Concerns
[00:24:13] – Remote and Hybrid Working Issues
[00:27:49] – Becoming a Smart State
[00:29:08] – Expanded Airports in Gwinnett
[00:29:53] – Movie Industry Incentives
[00:32:03] – Space Ports in the State of Georgia
[00:32:45] – Georgia Tech in Peachtree Corners
[00:34:09] – Scott Asks for Your Vote
[00:35:21] – Closing
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Podcast Transcript
[00:00:30] Rico: Hi everyone, this is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life. This is one of these shows where we’re talking to political candidates about the upcoming election and their race. And my good friend Scott Hilton is a candidate for Georgia House 48. Scott, thanks for joining us.
[00:00:46] Scott: Rico, great to be here. Always good to see you. Thank you.
[00:00:49] Rico: Same here, glad to have you on. In the meantime, before we get into that interview, a couple of things, I just wanna tell everyone about our corporate sponsor for these shows and for our publications, is EV Remodeling. Eli is a great guy, he lives here in Peachtree Corners does a great job. You should visit him, he does a lot of remodeling, design to build type work. Just been a fantastic person to deal with. So check out Eli’s website, EVRemodelingINC.com. And that’ll take you to his showcase page and you can check out what he’s done. So before we even get into any of the questions for Scott, I’m gonna pull out some of our lower thirds here, and I’m gonna bring on the map so that people can understand where this district. This is a new house district, 48, first time being run in. It encompasses Peachtree Corners and that lower portion, as you can see, and Johns Creek, Alpharetta, and Roswell. Very big difference on some of the districts that are out there. Certainly this is a district that people have to get used to and may not even understand where they live. And who they’re gonna be represented by eventually, but the incumbent, if you will of this newly formed district, which is different from what the incumbent originally had anyway. So I don’t even know how that works, because it’s so different from what it was before. The incumbent right now is a Democrat by the name of Mary Robichaux, who only was elected, I believe in 2019, if I’m correct on that.
[00:02:15] Scott: 2018, yep. That’s correct.
[00:02:17] Rico: So, you’re running as a Republican candidate, you won your primary. You had over 6,000 voters come in. I think it was 6,400 votes come in. Granted, it was a contested republican race for some higher level statewide races there. You know, republicans had more votes coming out and like you said earlier before we got on, probably even some cross voting, maybe coming onto that. Whereas a democratic primary, very little voting going on there. I think the incumbent that you’re facing had only about 3,300 votes in that primary. But she had no opponent, I think in that race either. So that’s just to give a shape to where we are. And now I’d like to discuss a little bit, let some people actually know who you are, Scott. Give some background about where you’ve come from, what offices you’ve held and what you’ve been doing the last couple of years.
[00:03:04] Scott: Awesome. Well, I appreciate, that’s a great set up Rico. Always good to see you and talk to you. Love what you do for Peachtree Corners. I know I read the Peachtree Corners Magazine all the time and there’s always good info found in there. So for me and our family, we’ve been in the Peachtree Corners area and in this district a little over 10 years now. We moved here in 2011. And absolutely love it. And immediately was embraced by the community and got involved in public service almost right away. Joining the United Peachtree Corner Civic Association, my HOA board. Ultimately serving on a number of organizations in Gwinnett, including our local Fowler YMCA. And when you raise your hand enough times, people say hey, have you ever thought about, you know, maybe running for public office and the right doors opened at the right time. And I was able to run for what used to be House District 95. And was fortunate enough to win in 2016 and served in the state house for two years. And got a lot of good things done on behalf of families, in the areas of education, special needs, public safety, and was really proud of the work that we were able to get done. Unfortunately 2018 was a challenging year for a lot of Republicans across the Atlanta Metro area. And we found ourselves on the losing end. For me, like I said earlier, public service has just always been in the blood. And so at that time, Governor Kemp reached out and said, Scott, I’m creating a small business commission to look at cutting red tape and streamlining government for the benefit of small business. Would you lead that initiative for me? And anytime the governor calls, you say yes, sir. And so headed that initiative up for him for the last two years. We’ve got a lot of great stuff done in terms of streamlining government, reducing regulation, and really toward the tail end of our service, becoming a small business triage unit during COVID and helping small businesses with the resources they need to survive and thrive and get past COVID. And I applaud the governor and his leadership in keeping our state open and keeping our economy strong during that very difficult period. I then finished my work there, went back into the private sector where I’m a banker by trade. I’m a commercial banker now with South State Bank. My office is right here off of Spalding in Peachtree Corners. So we now truly do live, work and play in Peachtree Corners. My family is here. And opportunity opened up to run for the house seat again. We’re excited about it, had a ton of friends and family say, hey, why don’t you go ahead and jump on in, give another shot at it. Senator Isaacson, the late great Johnny Isaacson used to say, the only thing that can get politics outta your blood is the formaldehyde when you’ve been gone. And it’s, it’s so true. I found the same with me. I just love the opportunity to help others out. And this truly does feel like a calling.
[00:05:52] Rico: It’s interesting. Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever met a politician, like you said that doesn’t come back in or anything. I mean, they, you have to die in this essentially pretty much. It doesn’t leave. You answered one of my questions about why did you decide to run again? And that, that’s good. You know, you’ve lived here for quite a while. I’ve seen you at Light Up the Corners, you know, Glow Run and I’ve seen you at other events. Of course, you’ve been on the YMCA board. So you’ve been involved in the community quite a bit. You know, you’ve done, I believe a decent job out there. Of course, you know, being a Republican, there are competing issues, right? People believe in certain things and they, some of them will hold true to those issues that they believe in. But overall, I believe that you’ve probably done a decent job out there when you were in office.
[00:06:38] Scott: Yeah, I think Rico, one of the things I’m most proud about is even though we ended up losing in 2018, as we kind of broke down the data around what happened it was amazing to me to see a thousand people check the Stacy Abrams box and then went over and voted for me on the Republican side. And I think it just kind of speaks volumes to people really picking person over party. And that’s kind of our message this time around as well. You know, you can really trust me to listen to you. We may not always agree on the issues, but I’m going to be open, accessible. And like I said, really listen to you. And people admire that and they want that they want more of a uniter in politics than a divider. And that’s what I aim to be. And again, my goal this time is to, yeah, whether you’re Republican, Democrat or somewhere in between I’d love to be your candidate.
[00:07:25] Rico: It’s interesting. Politics is local. I mean, as you go up that ladder towards the Senate race and then the national races, things do get picked apart. And probably even more so now. I mean, if we look at what the New York Times just put out a few days ago about Democrats fretting over the race between Abrams and Kemp. That there’s not enough enthusiasm there right now. And that they’re actually afraid of what you’re saying, that people will jump that ballot. And vote for Kemp and then come back and vote for Democrats on other races or Republicans. More splitting of the ballot than ever before, maybe even in the state of Georgia for this type of race. At least from that top down.
[00:08:02] Scott: I think Georgia’s really unique in that standpoint, they talk about how we’re a purple state, but really a state that votes for good people. You saw Kemp in the primary get 70%. That was huge, you know? And I think as I talk to voters, a lot of them are looking at his record and yeah, maybe in 2018 they said, ah, I’m not sure. But they’ve seen what he’s done and how he’s managed. And I think that’s why Stacy’s having a tough time is, it’s hard to argue against the record he has in terms of keeping our state strong, safe, and on the right track. So we’ve got a good message this time around.
[00:08:32] Rico: And I think he’s avoiding the Trump trap, if you will, also. Trump’s not my favorite person to say the least. I don’t have a problem saying that out loud. I don’t think he’s fallen into that trap really. He’s his own man, it seems at least. So whether I agree with some of his issues or not is a different story. But for the most part, I believe he’s done some good things. And he’s planning to do some more it sounds like. Now biggest issue right now, aside from some of the social issues, which we could get into debates over abortion, for example, and stuff. That’s a very emotional type of debate I believe. So that’s a debate I’d rather leave off this particular talk because it’s just a very emotional type of thing. I think. It deals with beliefs, when life starts, we can agree to disagree about certain things. So let’s leave that aside for a minute, even though that’s an important issue, and then you can state where you stand on it. But I really wanna talk about the problem with inflation right now and the problem with the economy right now. So you have, originally there was high gas, that’s coming down. Now, I don’t know if that’s coming down for any good reason or if that’s gonna go back up as we get into the Fall again. We have 40 year high inflation in the state of Georgia. I mean, I know when I go shopping at Ingles or Publix, the price is like, where are these prices coming from? Food’s a lot more expensive than it used to be. There’s just things hitting the pocketbook with people. And even businesses not able to hire, even with that, not able to hire enough people. Whereas before they would never advertise the per hour job rate, let’s say, now I see it plasted on windows, $15 an hour start. That would never have been put up there. And every business person I talk to, I mean there’s a restaurant, fairly big restaurant that’s supposed to open on Peachtree Parkway that’s not opening yet because they’re afraid to open right now. Because there’s not enough workers to staff the restaurant. Okay. So there’s stuff like that. So tell us, you know, what do you think can be done? I mean, what can be done on a state level? That’s where you would be, so what can be done on a state level to combat that inflation?
[00:10:39] Scott: That’s a great question. Yeah, and Georgian’s unfortunately are really suffering the consequences of, we really overacted in Washington DC, overacted in terms of when Biden was sworn in and passed a number of spending bills that really, if you look at the US money supply, there is so much money out there that is just driving inflation to all new highs. And we’re unfortunately going to be suffering the consequences of that for at least the next year or so. And I know our families face it. Every time we go to the grocery store, it feels like we’re paying double what we were before. And so, what does that look like at a state level and how do we address that? So right now, because of all this spending, Georgia is actually, since we’ve done so well and budgeted so conservatively and done a fantastic job. We’re sitting on a lot of excess cash at a state level above and beyond what we need in our rainy day reserve. So the state keeps a rainy day reserve in case we have another COVID or economic shutdown. We have a few billion dollars above and beyond what we need to keep. And so the decision point for voters is do we elect someone like Scott, who’s gonna look at those resources, allocate them responsibility, even return a lot of them back to the taxpayer to help them combat inflation. And so that’s one of my campaign promises is listen, Georgians need more dollars in their pocket to kind of help combat some of this. The doubling of gas and grocery costs, et cetera. As opposed to kind of further expanding the size and scope of government. Number two, you know, a lot of the pain has come through supply chain issues. And we really need to focus in on, we’ve got a great airport, a great port in Savannah. Let’s continue to invest in those assets so that we can avoid ever having to go through those supply chain disruptions again. And then thirdly, workforce development. I hear the same thing that you do from all business owners that I just can’t find people. And if I do, I’ve gotta pay them outrageous rates. And so we’ve got to strengthen, enlargen our workforce. And so that comes down to education that comes with reequipping workers who maybe were in one industry and want to switch to another. And so I’m the candidate that has proven that I can get stuff done. And we’ll get down there and do that again, to kind of lessen the burden of policies that we’re facing from DC that are having real world impacts on some of the families right now. I mean, it’s easily the number one issue that I hear at doors is Scott, we’ve got to do something about inflation.
[00:13:03] Rico: Right. So talking about inflation, talking about what a state can do and stuff. I just got my property tax bill. I can’t even, I can’t even like, it’s just like, they can say they’re not raising the millage rate and they are right. But when they assess the property that much higher and essentially have increased my tax just by valuation, nevermind by raising the millage rates. It’s ridiculous. So now I understand there may be some support for Governor Kemp’s $500 property tax rebate for 2023. That something he’s proposing. Obviously we don’t know if he’s gonna be governor next year. The assumption is he may be, he may not be. Is this something, I don’t even know if this is something that Democrats would actually support? You would think that they would, but I don’t know. Is this something you support? Do you see this as a value thing? Do you see this as a reasonable thing for property owners? Residential? I’m assuming versus commercial.
[00:13:54] Scott: Yeah, that is correct. Yeah, so Governor Kemp has proposed this property tax relief, which I think is fantastic. Yeah, I mean all of us, we’re not selling our houses, so we’re not realizing the equity that we have, but the tax bill just goes up on the value. A lot of that again is driven by inflation. And so I fully support Governor Kemp’s property tax relief. It’s something that’s impacted again, our family with so many others across the district that I hear about. And so I think that is the difference. Again, as sort of you evaluate the two parties this November. I know my opponent has voted against some budget items that would’ve provided that kind of relief to families. And so yeah, as voters evaluate who they support in the polls. You know again, rather than kind of grow the size and scope of government. I want to return your tax dollars back to you in the form of relief on your property taxes. And so I think it’s just a prudent thing to do. Government is not in the business of making a profit. And so if we can help everyday folks out all across the spectrum, I think it makes absolute sense.
[00:14:53] Rico: Alright, cool. And my other two cents is, I would love to see a cap on these things too. There’s no reason just because evaluations have gone as high as they are, that these assessed values are that much higher. It’s like, I think some of them are like 20% increase. That’s just crazy. Especially if you’re retired. If you’re a retired person, which I’m not, but a retired person having to deal with that. It doesn’t make sense to me. Residents moving to Peachtree Corners because of our excellent schools. There are a lot people coming to Peachtree Corners. There are, my phone is either phone calls or text messages or emails or letters, of people just saying, are you ready to sell your house? We’ve got a cash offer for you. I’m just getting a little too tired of that. But apparently there’s not enough housing in Peachtree Corners. So I don’t know what’s, what is going on and how do we address some of these housing issues and make sure that our schools remain good quality schools, either through funding or programs. So tell us a little bit where you are with that.
[00:15:53] Scott: It’s a great problem to have. Like you said, I know personally we moved to Peachtree Corners because of the great schools. And so a lot of, you know, good education, that’s what drives businesses moving here, people moving here. We’ve got to keep them strong. And so when you ask me kind of what my platform is, it’s number one economy, we’ve gotta get that fixed. Education, got to keep our schools strong. And then public safety, we have to keep our area safe. But yeah, in terms of education, we’ve had some difficult past couple years, right? So with masking of students, keeping folks at home, it’s been challenging. And a lot of our students are behind and we’ve gotta figure out a way to get them caught up. We’ve gotta figure out a way too, to give parents more power in the decision making in regards to their kids’ curriculum ,the requirements in terms of how they go to school, what the school’s requirements are there. We’ve gotta keep our schools safe. I know the governor has invested millions and millions of dollars in keeping our schools safe. But we also have to empower our teachers as well. You know, so many of them have to teach to the test and there’s so much bureaucracy. We’ve got to remove a lot of that red tape and let teachers get back to what they do best, which is teaching. I previously served when I was in the house on the last time, I was on the education committee and was the leader in passing a charter school bill to increase the number of charter schools that we had in Georgia, giving parents more flexibility and choice in their child’s education. It shouldn’t be a one size fits all model. Every kid is different. Every family is different and we’ve gotta make those options available to them.
[00:17:21] Rico: What would you do for public school wise, also? Specifically, as far as program improvements or other things within the public school system, even. Are there any specifics that you would recommend?
[00:17:33] Scott: Well I, again, I support what the Governor’s done. And I think there’s still more room to do in terms of teacher pay. You know, one of the big things he did, is he did a dollar raise rather than a percentage raise. And what that did is that rewarded some of our newer teachers. You know, we need to really focus on the pipeline of younger teachers coming in. I think we’ve lost a lot of that and there’s been a lot of turnover. And we’re losing some of the best and brightest talent that we have in the state. So I would focus on how do we attract newer teachers into that K-12 environment. But then I also want to focus on higher education as well. That shouldn’t be a one size fits model too. We’ve seen a lot of kids go off and get a four year degree expecting a, a job of some type after that and it just doesn’t happen. And so we’ve been kind of trained that, you know, you’ve gotta go through that. Well, that model doesn’t fit everybody. We have tons of technical colleges, schools in Georgia that I want to promote some more that teach you real life skills that you can take to either start your own business or have a real life skill that you can add. And so that’s part of that workforce development that I mentioned earlier that’ll really help companies who are looking for good talent but it’s just not out there. And we’ve gotta bring more of that talent to our state.
[00:18:43] Rico: I think that’s a great idea. My youngest son went through Paul Duke’s Stem. I took a tour through there, we did a couple of articles in the magazine about the school, about their 3D printing about this certification within the school system where these kids essentially can graduate and actually go get a job because they’ve been trained in CAD software and 3D printing, and they can actually go out and get a job. He was, got into that school for the first year and then COVID hit. So interestingly enough, they were digital, they had digital Fridays a lot. So school, four days a week with the digital Friday. And for the last two years, sophomore and senior year, he was essentially out of the school, he was learning from home. And then his senior year, he was actually on the GSU’s Dunwoody Campus for all his courses. So he’s like 38% through ready. He just started Kennesaw, but he’s 38% through his degree practically. I mean, that’s the benefit of hope. That’s the benefit of some of these schools and digital learning. But like you said before, it doesn’t always help everyone. Younger kids, their reading level is shocked, some of these kids.
[00:19:46] Scott: Yeah, and it really pains me. We had these digital learning days and we still have them in Gwinnett and it drives, it frustrates me to no end. Because I don’t know about other parents, but it is really difficult with younger students to have them sit in front of a computer all day and try to learn. And there’s some families where both parents are working and it’s just not possible and it’s not, it doesn’t work. And so kids need to be in school learning. You know, again, another way to kind of differentiate between me and my opponent. I mean, that’s kind of a, my core belief is that we need less of, you know, behind a computer. Not everyone has access to a laptop or internet.
[00:20:21] Rico: Would you believe in more hybrid? You know, the willingness to adapt, like you said, there’s a choice you want to give, right? Charter school is a choice. So why not choice in the school, public school system, whether you want to have a hybrid learning where it’s three, four days a week in class, a day or two digital. If the parents would like that, if the kid, some kids work better that way. It’s an odd thing, right? And some kids work better being in a class in front of a teacher, it’s just the nature of the beast. Everyone learns things different, right? Some people learn better with videos. Some people learn better from reading a textbook.
[00:20:54] Scott: One of Georgia’s largest high schools, and one of the largest charter schools in the state is the Cyber Academy. It’s all online. That was even pre COVID, it was all online. And so for some students who a classroom doesn’t work, they’d prefer online. That’s awesome. We need to have those. Essentially we need to have every channel available for every student. Becau se like I said, not every student is widget, they’re all different and special in their own way. And we ought to be able to accommodate that.
[00:21:19] Rico: Cool. Now we were talking a little bit, you mentioned safety before. And of course, Uvalde, everyone knows that, I think now. And it’s sad, the things that they went through. Over a hundred officers there and yet for an hour, those kids just unbelievable. I just don’t know what was running through anyone’s mind at that point. Now we in Peachtree Corners, so I mean, these things can happen anywhere. Because it only takes that one time, right? We’re fortunate in the City of Peachtree Corners to be able to have certain things going right? There was that shooting at the QT that was essentially solved to some degree and quickly because of cameras, because of Crime Center in the Cloud type of operation. Because things were able to be found here and in Atlanta, through these technical online and in the cloud searches. There’s a lot of that going on. We don’t have our own police force, the City of Peachtree Corners. We have Gwinnett police that we hire to do our work. You know, where do you see safety, as far as what you believe should be brought back into local, into a city like Peachtree Corners? There’s a lot out there, right?
[00:22:24] Scott: Yeah, it’s huge. I mean, you mentioned that QT shooting. I think that was a wake up call for a lot of us, you know? It’s certainly been an issue in Atlanta and the problem is, it’s starting to impact our area. Certainly Buckhead has been struggling with it and it’s kind of creeping up our way. And so yeah, we have a lot of district attorneys and prosecutors you know, democrat prosecutors down in Atlanta who are not enforcing a lot of this stuff. And folks are getting back out on the street and yeah, the QT thing was scary. Because it was folks that managed to steal a car down in Atlanta, drive up here and an incredible young man lost his life because of it. And it’s horrible and it’s a tragedy. And so, you know, we moved to Peachtree Corners for a reason. For the good schools, the business, and public safety. And so yeah, we’ve got to elect folks who care about that. We don’t need to be become a police state obviously, but we need to be diligent about enforcing our laws. And, you know again, another differentiator between me and the opponent is, you know, I’m gonna vote in favor of a lot of laws that restrict the street racing and some of that stuff that’s plagued the suburbs. You know, folks stealing packages off your porch and all that. Just some of the nonsense that’s out there. While my opposition may have voted against that, I’m gonna be in favor of that because I think having a strong community is the underpinning of a lot of things. And so yeah, I think that’s incredibly, incredibly important. And it’s on a lot of folks’ minds. I mean, it’s just, we’re seeing this boiling of the pot of more and more activity. And if you put up with it, it’s kind of the broken window syndrome. And that’s what you see in Atlanta now. I mean, it’s pretty eyeopening to me. Every time I go down there I, you know, see office vacancies and businesses starting to move out. And our capital city in the state cannot go that way. I mean, we were the home of the Olympics. We’ve gotta keep Atlanta strong, prosperous, and then, so that’ll be part of our job.
[00:24:13] Rico: I’m curious what you think as an individual, as a citizen about remote work. What I’m seeing right now is that a lot of these businesses, not necessarily here in Georgia, although some of them too, are really wanting people to come back to the office full time. No remote work. The sad to say part is that the employee has become more powerful, if you will, than the employer over the last few years. Which is a good thing. You know, I think that’s a good thing. And now, because inflation, because of unemployment, may end up rising now because of what’s going on with the fed reserve and the raising of the rates. The employee may be losing some of that leverage they have, to a degree. I mean, do you think people should be going back to work? Like, do you believe remote work is okay or hybrid of that? How would you solve that employee issue that these companies are facing without removing the freedom that some of these people have?
[00:25:08] Scott: It’s a great question. You know, from a state perspective, I don’t think the government ought to be dictating, you know what private entities do with their employees. I think it should be up to the companies and their shareholders and employees. I will say how it impacts us at a state level is when we think about transportation, you know, that’s one of our biggest items we spend on in our $30 billion budget. And I know Peachtree Corners and Gwinnett at large has had a number of votes on Marta and other things over the years and if COVID taught us anything is that we need to be really innovative and rethink how people move around. You know, and you’re right Rico. Now you can work from your home, you can go into the office for a couple hours. It’s really kind of changed what transportation looks like in Georgia. And so we’ve gotta be forward thinking about that and how people are gonna be moving around in the future. But you’re right, there’s gonna be some pretty real world consequences in terms of folks losing jobs over the next, you know, 12 to 18 months. And that’s gonna impact a lot of people. And again, going back to that retraining and educating and equipping folks with new skills to allow them to get immediately back into the workforce is huge. But yeah, in terms of government mandates and stuff, I err on the side of you know, I think businesses and their employees know best what the best setup is for them. I know personally with three kids at home, I enjoyed going back to the office and having a little bit of quiet and stability in our office. But that was the decision that, that we made. Yeah.
[00:26:29] Rico: Right, right. Yeah. Everyone has, I mean, I’ve been working from home for a while. So it does, and it’s a great opportunity for when my kids were in for the most part. I have three, so one of, one of them is still here. The other one’s up in school and the other one lives on his own with his girlfriend. You know, having them down for lunch and breakfast and it’s all good to a degree, right?
[00:26:49] Scott: Well, I think one of the things that at a state level also we’ve been talking about, and I think that what the Georgia house and the Governor have done a real good job on is rural broadband. So right here in Georgia or in Atlanta and Peachtree Corners. We’ve got just about all the internet we need, but there were some sad stories about folks, you know, out in rural parts of our state went all digital having to drive to their local Wendy’s and piggyback off their WiFi in order to go to school, you know? And so we’ve gotta figure out and we’ve got the dollars to do it now, to get internet to parts of the state where, especially school-aged children really need it.
[00:27:23] Rico: Aren’t the federal dollars, didn’t that come in through federal dollars to the state? So then they can allocate it where it needs to go?
[00:27:30] Scott: Yep, that’s exactly right. So Georgia, the Governor’s Office, Office of Planning and Budget is doing that grant process right now to get those dollars in the hands of folks who can build kind of that last mile connectivity. You know, internet now is really kind of the new highway. And you’ve gotta build out these fiber optics to homes that before we weren’t able to reach.
[00:27:49] Rico: You know, we’re at sort of tail end of the interview, but I’d like to hit on a few different issues that we weren’t really thinking about, but things that come to my mind. What do you think about the autonomous vehicle stuff that we’re doing here in Peachtree Corners? Do you think the state should get more involved in creating a smart state? We have a smart city here. I mean, how much? And we’ve had the smart city, I think it was the smart expo. That was the world expo that came here, I think it was last year. You know, what do you think about that? Getting more businesses that are that type of tech oriented?
[00:28:20] Scott: I’ll tell you one of the very first bills that I’m going to sponsor when I get down there is called a regulatory sandbox. And what it is, is if you’re a new startup business, you operate in a sandbox essentially free of any type of regulation to allow you to test out innovative technologies and do things that are next level into the future. You have very few customers, you impact very little folks, but you all, you kind of work out. And then what happens is the government kind of works alongside you and figures out what the right mechanisms are from a regulatory standpoint. But it helps spur innovation, like a lot of the, what we’re doing at Peachtree Corners. So yeah, I am all behind that and I’m all behind, they’ve done it in a number of other states. Arizona, I think Minnesota, these regulatory sandboxes, where you kind of play, you figure it out, you innovate, and you create new business and new opportunities. I think it’s fantastic.
[00:29:08] Rico: I love that idea. Great idea. What do you think about, I know we have Heartfield International, do you think Gwinnett needs an expanded airport to be able to take on more traffic here?
[00:29:19] Scott: That’s a great question. I’m a big believer, I think Atlanta’s doing a fantastic job with its current airport right now. It’s the largest in the world, so. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it is kind of my position. Yeah, I’d love to have something right here in my backyard. But no, I think Atlanta’s doing a good job right now. Yeah, I mean, there’s been some discussion over the years in terms of, should the airport authority be managed by the state or the city? Frankly, I don’t know enough about the pros and cons of each to give you an educated opinion, but I think that would be something to look at or consider, but a second airport in my mind, at least doesn’t make sense at this point.
[00:29:53] Rico: Okay. What about movie incentives? The movie industry, movie entertainment industry has been, we’re the Hollywood of the east coast, right? More productions being done in the state of Georgia then almost any other state in the Southeast. Do you think that should continue? These incentives have really helped build, not just bring in these movies, but build all the peripheral infrastructure around it. Caterers, all the you know, electricians, the woodworker, everything, hotels, stay and all that. Do you think that we should continue with that type of incentive?
[00:30:27] Scott: That’s a great question. So just philosophically, I’m not in favor of the government kind of picking winners or losers in terms of certain businesses or industries. You’re absolutely right. The film industry has been a huge boom for our state and that’s fantastic. But it really seems kind of haphazard to say, let’s get behind film or healthcare insurance companies. I think we, as a government level, we ought to create a level playing field and let folks kind of compete to come here. Georgia is the number one state to do business, really in my mind, I don’t think we need to throw stuff out there to attract folks. I will say in terms of the film industry in particular, I do think that legislation needs to be tweaked a bit. We have a fairly large unfunded liability as a state right now of folks, these tax credits that we’ve offered that have been claimed but have not been sent into receive their money yet. And so the state has somewhere in the neighborhood of a couple billion dollars in tax credits that haven’t been claimed. And so that’s, that’s a liability on our balance sheet. We haven’t put a cap to it. So people can claim as many credits as they can, and that liability continues to grow. So if we were to make changes, that would be something that I’d be interested in tweaking.
[00:31:35] Rico: Okay. I think there was one other change I’d like to see probably on that one. And that is that people can sell, companies can sell their tax credits to other companies that are not shooting in the state of Georgia. I think that’s ridiculous.
[00:31:47] Scott: Yeah, that’s why I talked about the unfunded liability. If we have folks who have nothing, you know, these film companies, their tax liability is in California. So the tax credits have no value to them in Florida. So they then sell it. And we’ve got Georgia taxpayers who have tax credits that haven’t been claimed yet. So, yeah.
[00:32:03] Rico: So that’s, that’s crazy. I agree with you there. A space port. I know there’s a thing on the coast that wants to be, I think it’s in Camden county there. We want to be a space state almost, I guess some, in some people’s minds. Do you think that maybe Elon Musk should be planning a space port in the state of Georgia? Do you think we should be doing something?
[00:32:22] Scott: I think it’s exciting technology. I do know the voters in Camden kind of overwhelmingly voted against it. But I’m in favor. I think Georgia lends itself just where we’re located. We’ve got the coast there. We’d love to compete with Florida on that. So if it’s not Camden somewhere. I think Camden does lead itself naturally to be a space sport, but again, that’s for the locals to kind of figure out if that’s something they want in their backyard.
[00:32:45] Rico: Alright, cool. I think we’ve gone through most of what I wanted to get through. Well, maybe one more thing, one last thing based on that list that I just gave you and that’s Georgia Tech. I know that Georgia Tech is doing Coding Camps at Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners. Love to see what would happen if Georgia Tech decided to do a satellite campus here in Peachtree Corners. I mean, I think it would be a natural extension for them. Is that? I don’t know if the state gets involved in that type of thing. You know, based on Intuitive Robotics buying five buildings, essentially setting up a biotech campus for robotics, for medical robotics. Does it make sense for us to lure, the city of Peachtree corners to lure a college, a university like Georgia Tech to build a campus here in Peachtree Corners. Any thoughts personally?
[00:33:28] Scott: No, I think it’s fantastic. And yeah, I’d do whatever I could to make that happen. I think just given our city’s history with Paul Duke and his connection to Georgia Tech, it makes all the sense in the world. Especially what we’re doing with the Innovation Lab and everything here in Peachtree Corners. So yeah, the Board of Regents is really the important entity to make that happen. I’ve got a lot of connections there, obviously. And yeah, if that’s something that both sides have an appetite for, I would be happy to help facilitate that and make it happen.
[00:33:54] Rico: Great. Thank you, Scott. You’ve been very patient with me and all my questions. Before we leave, I’d like you to tell everyone, you know, why they should vote for you, when the date is and ask for the vote essentially. And where they can find out more information about Scott Hilton.
[00:34:09] Scott: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And Rico, thank you again for your time today. I love Peachtree Corners. This is where we call home. I love District 48. It would be an absolute honor to serve you again. I’m the most experienced candidate in the race. The candidate that’s proven to be able to get stuff done, and the candidate that’s proven to be able to listen to both sides of the aisle, be sympathetic to everyone, listen to folks, and really be an effective leader for you in the state. I’m someone who is a common sense conservative, that you can trust and really get behind to fight for you and your families. You can learn more about our campaign at ScottHiltonGA.com. And on there, you can click on a map to be able to scroll in, to see exactly where you live in the new district. You can sign up to volunteer. Contribute to the campaign or get a yard sign. Early voting starts Monday, October 17th. I think Pinckneyville Community Center is probably the closest one to us here. That’ll run for two weeks, Monday through Friday and on weekends as well. We encourage you to go in, vote early and get that done. But again, I ask for your vote, early vote and your vote on November 8th. Again, thank you so much for your support. It would be an honor to serve Peachtree Corners and our community again. Thank you.
[00:35:21] Rico: Scott. I appreciate your time here. Everyone, check out Scott’s website and information where he stands on the issues. You can find out a little bit more about him there. Certainly if you have questions for Scott, please direct them to Scott. Because he’s been great about answering all sorts of questions and he is local. So if you’re not gonna ask you won’t know. And be diligent, you know, be aware of what politics, you know, you like you don’t and where you wanna vote. And don’t just stick to one party because you feel that’s the party that you feel overall works for you. You have to really look at the issues and the local candidate running. So Scott, thank you again. I appreciate your time. Hang in there while I say goodbye to everybody. Check out LivingInPeachtreeCorners.com. That’s the Peachtree Corners magazine website. Our latest issue is out. We’re working on next issue right now. If you have any interesting stories, feel free. Send it to Editor@LivingInPeachtreeCorners.com. Always looking for good ideas to write about, good stories to tell. We’re curating things. Check us out online on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook we’re there. And these podcasts of course, and thank you again to EV Remodeling, Inc. For being a sponsor of these programs. Take care guys. Be safe.
Related
Elections and Politics
Regina Matthews in Run-Off June 18 for Gwinnett Superior Court Judge
Published
4 months agoon
June 16, 2024This run-off election decides who will serve on the court.
Magistrate Court Judge Regina Matthews is a candidate for the upcoming June 18th runoff election for Superior Court Judge in Gwinnett County. Regina discusses improving court efficiency by setting deadlines, utilizing magistrates and senior judges, virtual hearings, digitizing processes, and maintaining accurate records. She also discusses challenges like housing insecurity’s impact on crime, accountability courts, and public engagement. The Run-off is Tuesday, June 18th. Host Rico Figliolini.
Resources:
Regina’s Website:
https://judgematthews.com/
Timestamp:
00:00:00 – Magistrate Judge Regina Matthews on Local Politics
00:01:19 – Importance of Voting in Runoff Elections
00:04:17 – The Varied Responsibilities of Superior Court Judges
00:07:22 – Strategies for Reducing Court Backlogs
00:11:29 – Adapting Court Proceedings to Virtual Platforms
00:14:00 – Addressing Housing Insecurity to Reduce Recidivism
00:17:17 – Housing Scarcity and Mental Health Challenges in the Court System
00:20:19 – Navigating Limited Resources in the Justice System
00:21:59 – Challenges in the Court System: Lack of Resources and Prioritizing Treatment 00:26:32 – Increasing Awareness of Available Services
00:27:51 – Embracing Law Enforcement: Building Community Ties
00:30:20 – Balancing AI Benefits and Risks in the Legal System
00:33:33 – Continuing Accountability Courts and Upholding Judicial Integrity
00:37:09 – Serving with Integrity as a Judge
Podcast Transcript
Transcript:
Rico Figliolini 0:00:01
Hi, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life, a podcast that talks about politics, culture and all things going on in Peachtree Corners or that affects Peachtree Corners. So I have a great guest today, Regina Matthews. Hey, Regina, thanks for being with us.
Regina Matthews 0:00:17
Thank you for having me. I’m delighted to be here, Rico.
Rico Figliolini 0:00:20
Absolutely. It’s very important, important times here. We just had that primary in May, and you and another candidate are in a runoff June 18.
Regina Matthews 0:00:31
That is correct.
Rico Figliolini 0:00:33
Right. So let me introduce you a little better. Regina’s from Chicago, went to school in South Carolina and ended up here in Georgia going to Emory law school. You’ve been, you live in Lowburn, you have two kids. They both play soccer. You have a dog. You’ve been working actually as a Magistrate judge. And you were appointed by eleven Gwinnett County Superior court judges along with the chief magistrate judge appointed you to this position. I think it was 2020.
Regina Matthews 0:01:02
Correct.
Rico Figliolini 0:01:03
And you’ve been serving in that position ever since. So what I’d like you to do is because most people don’t know what a magistrate judge does, maybe you can tell us a little bit about yourself and what that position actually does. Go ahead.
Regina Matthews 0:01:17
Well, yes, and thank you for that introduction. I am happy to be here. And again, thank you for doing this because I’ll just start off by saying, you know, you mentioned our runoff election, and I know that a lot of people don’t show up to vote in runoff elections historically. So hopefully we will change that. Hopefully people will get out and vote. This is an important election. It is the only county wide election on the ballot. So, you know, if you’re anywhere in Gwinnett, you can vote for this particular race.
Rico Figliolini 0:01:52
Not only that, it’s a nonpartisan race. So what happens here June 18 decides the position does not go to November, does not go into a general election. This is it. If you’re not there to vote for this position between two candidates, you’ve lost your chance to do that. So sorry, I just want to put that out.
Regina Matthews 0:02:12
Thank you for that distinction, because that is an important one. And sometimes people also want to know, like, what ballot do I need to choose in order to vote for judge? It’s on every ballot. Nonpartisan, republican, democratic. But you’re right. If you don’t vote in this runoff, you will miss the opportunity to select who will hold this judicial seat for the next four years. But going back to your question, I do service as a magistrate judge currently in Gwinnett, we have part time magistrates and full time magistrates and there is a distinction in my current role. I was appointed so that I could provide judicial assistance primarily for our superior court judges. But we also, as full time judges, do sometimes sit in our state courts, you know, wherever we’re needed. Juvenile court, probate court, recorders court. We’re sort of the judges that kind of get pulled in different directions. But 95% of my time on the bench is in superior court. So the eleven superior court divisions that I sit for, basically what those judges do, they sign what are called judicial assistance orders. So when a judge meets my assistance, they will issue an order giving me the authority to sit in their courtroom and handle, you know, their caseload. So I hear everything that the elected superior court judges hear. I’ve been designated, I think, at this point two hundred times by our superior court judges. And, you know, we hear primarily family law and felony criminal prosecutions. That comprises about 70% of the caseload in our courts. The other 30% are general civil cases. So it could be anything from an appeal from magistrate court, property tax appeals, unemployment benefit appeals, contract disputes, court actions. I mean, the list is long and extensive, so, you know, but that’s basically what I do every day.
Rico Figliolini 0:04:20
So, basically, it’s fair to say that even though you’re not doing the job of a superior court judge, you’re doing work for them. You’ve been exposed to those cases, you’ve done support work for them, essentially.
Regina Matthews 0:04:36
Correct. That is correct. And what I will say is, you know, it’s an interesting and intense vetting process. When our superior court judges choose, you know, who they want to appoint to these positions, because ideally, you know, they want someone, an attorney who has practiced primarily in the areas that the superior court judges here. So, again, that’s primarily family and criminal. So if you have a background as a practicing attorney in those areas, typically you’re going to be better suited, you know, to serve in superior court. You know, that’s vastly what we do.
Rico Figliolini 0:05:17
And there’s eleven superior court judges in Gwinnett county.
Regina Matthews 0:05:22
That is correct.
Rico Figliolini 0:05:23
And do they handle budgets of the court? Now, do the individual superior court judge handles the budget for their section, if you will, or is it done as consolidated between the eleven?
Regina Matthews 0:05:38
So each of the judges has their own budget, but they are similar budgets, if that makes sense. So it’s not like one judge is going to have a different budget than the other judges. I mean, you have the same amount of money allocated. What happens is, you know, the judges will go to the board of commissioners to make their pitch as to what it is, you know, is needed. So if their budgets need to be increased from year to year, it’s sort of a collective bench decision, or pitch, so to speak, as to establishing what the budget should be. But then the judges have control over the money that’s allocated to them individually.
Rico Figliolini 0:06:20
Okay, so then, so judges are not just sitting on a bench. They’re also doing administrative work. They’re also handling budget requirements and the work through of what needs to be done in a court system, if you will.
Regina Matthews 0:06:37
That is correct. Some of it is administrative, and some of it, you know, I think people tend not to think about this part of the job, but a lot of times, what you’re doing is also, you know, finding out how to effectively manage your cases and, you know, the best and most effective way to handle, you know, disposing of cases in a way that’s responsive, responsible, and responsive to the needs of the people, which is having, you know, efficient resolution of their cases. And so a lot of that, honestly just comes from experience knowing what works and what doesn’t work to kind of move cases along.
Rico Figliolini 0:07:16
Right. So, okay, so we segue into that part of case management, if you will. Not just that, but the backlog, that was exasperated because of COVID I mean, there was backlog before, but it got worse because of COVID So, yeah, so this backlog, case management, how do you handle, what are the strategies that you would use to resolve some of these things? I know from experience, it’s one thing, but what, in effect, would you do to make this better?
Regina Matthews 0:07:47
Right. And I will say, I think that people should know that there are some court divisions that operate without a backlog. People find that hard to believe. And we sort of hear, you know, about this backlog, and it sticks with us, there are some divisions that do have a backlog, but some of them operate without one. I will tell you division five, which is the position or the division that I’m running for. Judge Byers, I will say, and I used to work with her as a staff attorney. So, you know, I know very specifically how she does her case management, but she’s been very effective in scheduling cases. And I always say one of the things you can do as a judge is aggressively schedule cases. And what that means is, you know, when you show up to court and you see a courtroom full of people, that means that judge has probably aggressively scheduled that calendar. So there are some judges who may call in one case or two cases. But if those cases, you know, resolve, and they often do when they come to court, the attorneys talk or the parties talk, and they resolve it right then and there. And then if you’ve only called in one or two cases, for example, then you have the rest of the day gone because you’ve only called in those two cases. So, you know, I think aggressive case calendaring, I think using our mediation services and our courts helps move cases along to resolution so that in many cases, those, you know, lawsuits or disputes don’t even reach us to a trial capacity because they’re resolved earlier on in the litigation. Judges can also issue, particularly in civil cases, case management, or case scheduling orders, which dictate to the attorneys or the parties specific deadlines that they have to meet in order, again, to help move the cases along. Because in some instances, you have cases where motions are filed over and over, and it just prolongs the litigation. But if you give strict deadlines and it makes sure people are, you know, held accountable to those deadlines, again, it keeps the cases moving efficiently. The other thing I think that helps is obviously, courts utilizing, you know, full time magistrates and our senior judges to help manage the cases. There are some judges who use us more than others, but I think anytime you have judges, you know, available who, of course, have been appointed because they have the requisite skills and knowledge to help, you know, hear those cases, I think we need to utilize them. And so those are the things I can think of off the top of my head. And also, I will add, using when you can, technology. We learned, obviously, during COVID that utilizing Zoom video conferencing for some types of hearings can make things move more efficiently as well. Obviously, you can’t do everything on Zoom, but there are some types of hearings that can be handled more efficiently that way.
Rico Figliolini 0:10:51
So let’s stick to the technology for a little bit, because that was a big deal during COVID took a little while to digitize the process, if you will. And now that you have it, you’re right, I can see certain cases itself in court, need to be in court. You need to be able to eye the participants of this. But certain promotions and other things that are administrative motions and stuff can all be done by Zoom, right? Or digital services of a sort.
Regina Matthews 0:11:21
Yeah, I agree. I think when you have, for instance, we hear a lot of motions, particularly in civil cases, where it’s just the attorneys coming to court to argue some issue in the law, and they just want to make a record, you know, to the courts and to argue their position on whatever that legal issue is. And so we’re not hearing evidence. You know, we’re not listening to witnesses. And so those types of hearings, I think, easily could be handled by Zoom or some sort of video conferencing technology. But as you said, other cases, you know, where we are hearing live testimony from witnesses, and we’re receiving a lot of evidence, you know, in the form of documentary evidence, then clearly those are instances in where we need to be.
Rico Figliolini 0:12:08
In person in court, not to get into the weeds. But I just thought about this. When you’re using Zoom like that on these types of things, will it transcribe as well? I mean, do you keep copies like that, even if it’s in a digital form?
Regina Matthews 0:12:25
So what we typically do, and in civil cases, you don’t have to have the case reported, but most oftentimes, the attorneys or the parties want that service. So we have our court reporters available on Zoom as well, so that they can make a record just like they would be able to if they were in court.
Rico Figliolini 0:12:43
Okay.
Regina Matthews 0:12:44
And additionally, you know, lawyers that are really savvy, they’re really, you know, I guess during COVID they became more savvy in how to introduce documents through Zoom, you know, how to share, use the screen sharing function, or how to attach documents as part of the Zoom video conferencing features. So, you know, we’ve worked around it, and I think, again, there are ways we can make it continue to work in order to make sure that our litigants are receiving effective and efficient resolution of their cases, because the last thing we want is for people to wait years unnecessarily to resolve a case.
Rico Figliolini 0:13:27
And I would think it’s easier this way, too, because you’re digitizing everything. You’re keeping files that way. I mean, automatically, I would think. And, in fact, probably within a year’s time, the transcription part can even be done through voice to text versus just having a transcriber there. There’s so much out there. I mean, you all have to, I guess, figure that out all the time. Keeps going. All right, so a couple of the other issues that’s near and dear to you, I think, that, you know, spoken of, obviously, through not just you, but other candidates and stuff. So one of them is housing and security. You mentioned that as a significant issue in Gwinnett county. So how do you propose the court system can address this issue effectively?
Regina Matthews 0:14:14
Yeah, and that’s a tough question. It’s one I struggle with and think about all the time, because I think the issue of housing insecurity sort of leads to other issues that we see in our courts, obviously, you know, people don’t have a safe place to live. It’s going to affect our crime rates. It’s going to affect recidivism. It’s going to affect people just being able to function in our community. So I think it comes down to resources, and that’s really one of the unfortunate practical realities for our courts, is a lot of times we want to, of course, help people. Courts are rehabilitative and to some extent. But when we have individuals who simply don’t have a place to go, for instance, I’m going to step aside a moment and talk about our accountability courts. So we have three in superior court, veterans court, mental health court, and drug courts. And all of those courts, obviously, operate for the purpose of establishing rehabilitative services and treatment services for individuals so that they don’t keep committing crimes, so that they don’t re offend, and so that they can be productive members of society. Those courts can only operate to their full extent if we have the appropriate resources in the communities available. We are limited, and that’s just the reality. So, for instance, when we have individuals who successfully complete one of those treatment programs, and there have been many, I can go on and on about the efficacy of those programs. But what I find is that they sometimes come back not because they’re not taking their medications or they’re not seeing their treatment providers, but it’s because they don’t have housing. So we send them through treatment. They do everything they need to do, but either because of their past or just because of the cost of living, they find themselves back in the courts because they’re on the street. So I don’t know what the solution is, other than really having our communities help us advocate to our legislators, to our commissioners to give us more funding so that we can try to establish appropriate housing in Gwinnett county. There are some places that work with our program that will provide transitional support in housing for people that are in our accountability courts, but it’s only temporary. So once they meet that threshold of time, then they’re sort of left to their own supports and connections to try to find affordable housing. And I know affordable housing is an issue everywhere. It’s not just in Gwinnett county, but for sure, yeah.
Rico Figliolini 0:17:11
I mean, there’s not enough. Everyone wants to go to the higher price tag. Land is becoming scarce, even in Gwinnett county, apparently in certain places. So they want to put as much as they can and still charge as much as they can. So sticking with this, too, because mental health and veterans court as well. Right. Both. Those also are issues that go hand in hand, almost actually, with housing insecurity. Right. And what you’re looking at is support from nonprofits that are helping and doing stuff with federal monies and donations, corporate donations. But it’s a tough track. Right. So how do you, yeah. How do you feel that, you know, with mental health, what is it, 500 prisoners or so in the Gwinnett prison system that probably shouldn’t be there? Many of them they probably should be. They should be treated, obviously. How do you, how does the court system, how can the court system help with that?
Regina Matthews 0:18:14
So again, it’s tough because of, honestly, the truth of the matter is we have limited capacity. And, you know, if you look at places where we send people, for instance, for inpatient treatment, we’re talking about Lakeview, they have about 124 beds. Summit Ridge, they have a little under 100 beds. Peachford, which is all the way out in Atlanta, they have about 250 beds or so. We have way more people that need to be to get inpatient treatment than there are beds. So a lot of times what happens is people sit and wait. So for those people that we know need treatment, and we’re not just going to send them back out in the community without it. We keep them in jail and we try to arrange, there are some treatments that the jail medical staff can assist with while they’re waiting for beds. But a lot of times, honestly, we’re just having people wait for open beds because so many of them, I would say 70% or so, need some type of inpatient treatment. Now, our mental health accountability courts help a lot of people that are sort of not as much of a need of services, if that makes sense. I mean, they’re all in need of services, but to a different degree, because there are outpatient services that our treatment providers offer for those individuals where they can still, you know, live on the outside and work and do those things. But, you know, for those, the vast majority of people who need more intensive help, again, it’s just a matter of having the limited bed space.
Rico Figliolini 0:19:55
Well, not only that, it’s security, too. Right? Secured bed space, because there’s still, they’re still serving time, but they should be serving time in a place that at least will help them get better.
Regina Matthews 0:20:07
That is correct. That is correct. So, and, you know, I don’t know what the answer is. I know, you know, people never want to hear that we’re supposed to have all the answers. But, you know, I sit in court every day and I struggle with that. You know, you want to help people, you know, how important it is for them to get the help they need and to every extent possible, you know, I do that, you know, but when there’s, you know, only a limited number of bed space and the hospitals are saying, we can’t take this person right now, then we just have to do the best we can do. And that is, again, engaging with our medical staff at the jail and with our treatment providers who can come into the jail and offer services while those individuals wait. But, you know, otherwise we’re relying on, you know, what we have.
Rico Figliolini 0:20:58
Right, right. It’s a struggle, I imagine, because it’s almost like the sports industry here in Gwinnett county, right. We can only get certain amount of sporting events that the hotel system can support. Right. And then we have to turn away events because maybe there’s not enough space during that time. Same thing with jails. Right? To a degree, if you want to make that comparison, it’s like, I’m sure that you all have to figure out, well, you know, we have. We hit capacity. You know, where can, you know, can we, you know, put more prisoners into the system when you fix the capacity? You know, and I don’t know if we’ve actually hit that capacity yet or. Not hit the capacity for. To have occupancy in a system like this. You know, do we have enough?
Regina Matthews 0:21:44
I think we have. I mean, I can tell you as someone who not only sits in our superior courts, but who also presides in the absence of the judges who preside over our accountability courts. You know, I sit in those courts as well, and I’m very intimately familiar with how those treatment courts operate. And I can tell you that we are at capacity and we want to take in more people, but the practical reality is we don’t have the resources. And that is the. It’s really, it’s sad for me. It’s one of the most heart wrenching things as a judge to know that someone again needs help and they either have to wait in order to get it or we just have to come up with another solution.
Rico Figliolini 0:22:34
So going to that, I mean, obviously there’s so many challenges. This is one of them or several of them that we’ve just discussed. Are there other challenges you see in the court system that you would like to attend to?
Regina Matthews 0:22:49
I think those, honestly are the biggest challenges. Those are the ones that I’m confronted with every day. People who need assistance and treatment for trauma or substance use disorder or they need housing resources. Again, I don’t really notice a backlog that a lot of people refer to, because I think if you talk to lawyers who practice in other areas outside of Gwinnett, they will tell you Gwinnett handles cases way more efficiently than some of the other jurisdictions. So I think we do a good job of utilizing the resources we have by way of, you know, full time magistrates and our senior judges. I think we do things well. We use our, you know, alternative dispute resolution resources to a great extent. I think that helps us in that regard. So I think overall, we do things well in Gwinnett, in our courts. But again, I do think, you know, we have to prioritize with our money, you know, having more resources available for, you know, people struggling with substance use disorder or mental illness or a combination of both. We have a lot of people who are dual diagnosis. Right. So they have substance use disorder and mental illness, and a lot of times are housing insecure. So they obviously need a lot more resources, and that all falls struggle.
Rico Figliolini 0:24:20
Yeah. How do you see the role of the judiciary system when it comes to educating the public about the legal system? Their rights is all that falls hand in hand with what we just discussed, I think because sometimes the legal system can take the easy way out because it must, because there’s no other way to do. To do it at this point. Right. So what do you think the role is of the judicial system here as far as education, educating the public?
Regina Matthews 0:24:48
I think it’s important. You know, as a judge, I want people in our community to feel like they are knowledgeable about our courts. They sort of know where to go when they need to file a particular type of case. I think we as a judiciary, can do a better job of putting information out there that is available to the public. We have taken a lot of strides in Gwinnett in our courts. I will tell you that there are, particularly for magistrate court, our chief magistrate, Christina Bloom, she keeps brochures in the magistrate court office that is available to people, anyone who walks in. They can get a pamphlet on landlord tenant issues, you know, in those cases and how they’re handled and sort of the issues that come up in those cases, small claims, you know, basically step by step. I don’t want to say instructions because we can’t give legal advice, but we do give people resources. Like, this is where you can go. Our courts also operate a family law clinic. So for individuals who may want to represent themselves or maybe they. They don’t have the money to hire an attorney and maybe they don’t qualify for legal aid, they’re sort of stuck in the middle. There are resources available because of the goodwill of some of our attorneys who volunteer their time to do clinics to help people sort of navigate those processes. So we have information there. I think we can do a better job about making sure people know that the information is out there so that they can utilize it.
Rico Figliolini 0:26:25
That’s interesting. I didn’t know about that.
Regina Matthews 0:26:28
A lot of people don’t.
Rico Figliolini 0:26:29
Yeah, yeah. No, that sounds like another good podcast, actually.
Regina Matthews 0:26:33
So great idea. As a great idea, I wish more people knew about those types of services, and it’s just a matter of figuring out how do we get that message out to people.
Rico Figliolini 0:26:44
Yeah, it’s not easy. And then to get people to listen, actually, too, because they may not need it at that moment. Until they need it, right.
Regina Matthews 0:26:53
Until they need it. Yeah.
Rico Figliolini 0:26:54
Yeah.
Regina Matthews 0:26:54
The other thing I tell people, too, you know, I think people are generally afraid of courts or maybe they’re just apprehensive when it comes to, you know, courts. And so I tell people, don’t always think about it in a negative way. I encourage people to come out and observe court proceedings, you know, when you can. I know most people have full time jobs, so that may not be feasible all the time, but, you know, courts are open forums, so if you want to come and observe a divorce trial or, you know, a criminal trial or whatever type of trial, you know, come to court, observe, see how, you know, things go. And I think that might help prepare people, too, better for, you know, you know, the times that they have to come to court and face that same situation.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:41
It’s funny, I think people think of court system like the IRS. Just stay away and don’t go near it.
Regina Matthews 0:27:47
That’s right. People don’t want to come anywhere close if they don’t have to. I get that. I get that.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:52
Although I got to say, the Gwinnett county police do a great job when they do ride alongs. That, depending on how you do that program, even some of the local small town like Suwannee, I think, in Duluth do similar type of things where you can go with the police and see their normal day, if you will.
Regina Matthews 0:28:08
I love those programs, too, because, you know, our law enforcement, I also think that they sort of get that reputation of, you know, like, we don’t want to deal with law enforcement unless we need them. Right. Like, we stay away, you know, and I think we have to embrace, you know, our law enforcement officers as, you know, our friends. You know, they’re here to help us. They want to protect us and keep us safe. So I’m so glad, you know, so many of our police chiefs have taken the initiative to really be present in the community, you know, for reasons outside of, you know, crime, safety and prevention. But just so that people know, you know, they’re friendly, they’re neighborly, they want to, you know, you know, help us, but also be, make sure that we know that they’re part of the community to help and not just to get the bad guys, for sure.
Rico Figliolini 0:28:59
Right, right. Yeah, true. And a lot of them do a good job that way. We talked about technology before, but I like talking a little bit more specific about artificial intelligence, AI, and what that means in a court system or in preparing court documents or in having to worry about evidence that may be submitted that could have been tainted by AI. So what, you know, what do you think are the potential benefits and drawbacks of using AI in the court system?
Regina Matthews 0:29:35
Yeah, admittedly, you know, it’s a discussion we’re having to have more often. Even some of our continuing judicial education classes are starting to talk about this issue. And candidly, it scares me a bit because I’m just trying to imagine a court system whereby human intelligence is replaced by artificial intelligence. I mean, just the thought of it is a little alarming. I do think that there are ways in which AI can be beneficial. You know, for instance, when you’re an attorney or a judge, you know, or a law clerk who’s working for a judge, and you want to find information about a specific case or a legal topic, you know, doing research could be, AI could be great because it could make you more efficient and getting the answers you need. But I will say, as a caveat, there has to be a human, I think, sort of checking that. So even if you use it for research purposes, it is still artificial intelligence. So I would like to think that we would still need some human to basically double check to make sure of the accuracy of whatever information you’re getting. So I think there could be some benefits for efficiency when it comes to operating in a courtroom setting, though I’m more afraid of AI than I am of welcoming of it, because I foresee issues where we’re presented with evidence, for example, and we have to test the credibility or veracity of that evidence. And again, there’s just no substitute, I don’t think, for human intelligence as opposed to AI. And I think about the floodgates opening up with even court filings and us getting backlogged because of AI and something other than human filing court documents and how that could just really cause a backlog.
Rico Figliolini 0:31:34
You’re worried about more filings happening because it can be generated faster through AI.
Regina Matthews 0:31:39
That is correct. That is correct.
Rico Figliolini 0:31:42
I mean, certainly AI has issues, and I don’t, you know, as fast as it’s moving right now, who knows? In a year or two, probably less than two years, I bet based on what’s been going on in the last two years, we’re going to end up being able to. If you have someone that doesn’t speak the language, that can be translated through the system, Google does that right now. The Google Translate, right. And voice, you can have real time fact checking occurring where you can look at, you know, place it to chat, GPT 7.05.0 when it comes out, where you could check those facts. So there are certainly good side to it, but as fast as that’s moving, the bad side can move just as fast.
Regina Matthews 0:32:29
I can say, yeah, I agree, it’s troublesome. And because I guess we’re not sort of there yet, it’s hard to really appreciate how. How much of an effect it will have on our courts, whether a good, you know, good or bad, because, like you said, it’s happening so quickly, it’s almost hard to grasp. But, yeah, it’s gonna be here, if it’s not already, we’re gonna have to confront it. And. And it does give me some, some. I don’t know, I’m concerned a little bit.
Rico Figliolini 0:32:59
Well, it’s good that you all are getting education on it, right? Continuing education, if you will. So that’s a good part, that it’s being proactive, at least.
Regina Matthews 0:33:07
Yep.
Rico Figliolini 0:33:08
If you were to win the Gwinnett County Superior Court judgeship, what do you think, in brief, would be your long term vision for it?
Regina Matthews 0:33:17
So I will say, first of all, I’m the only candidate in the race who has unequivocally indicated that I will, without question, continue the accountability courts that Judge Byers started. And particularly those accountability courts are veterans treatment court and mental health accountability court. She is the only judge currently sitting on the bench who operates those treatment court programs. So once she resigns her seat at the end of this year, those programs could effectively go away. And so I have made an unequivocal promise to continue on with those programs. Honestly, I can’t imagine our courts not having them. So that is the first thing I will continue her legacy. You know, she started those courts. I think we just celebrated the 11th year, and so I want that to be, you know, a long term program, both of those to be long term programs that Gwinnett can be proud of forever. So I promise that I foresee a court whereby litigants feel that Judge Matthews is fair. She’s even handed, she’s even tempered. She may not always issue a ruling that I agree with, but I will trust that Judge Matthews has followed the law, you know, above all else, and that she treated me with dignity and with respect. You know, I was a practicing lawyer for a long time, and I remember appearing in front of judges who, I don’t know, seem like they would make sport of humiliating litigants or humiliating attorneys. I’m sure. I mean, you probably have seen or at least heard of those types of judges, and it was just troubling to me. And I, you know, said a long time ago, if I ever became a judge, you know, I will never be that type of judge where, you know, someone comes in and they have, you know, an issue that’s important enough to them to either file a case or be involved in whatever the litigation is. But, you know, people deserve to be treated with dignity, no matter what. And I include, you know, people who are charged of criminal offenses. You know, obviously, we don’t condone criminal behavior. I don’t like it. But those people deserve to be treated with dignity at the very least. And so that’s what people will get from me, judge, again, that’s going to be fair. Who’s going to operate independently, who is not going to be swayed, you know, politically. Who’s really just going to follow the laws, as I’m bound to do, the constitution of the state of Georgia, the constitution of the United States, and the laws passed by our legislators.
Rico Figliolini 0:36:03
Okay, well, thank you for sharing that vision. We’ve come pretty much to the end of our talk. But what I’d like you to do is give us, in short, two minutes, maybe ask for the vote, essentially tell everyone why they should be voting for you and ask for that vote.
Regina Matthews 0:36:23
Thank you, Rico. And, you know, I have to tell you lawyers, you probably know this. Lawyers and judges are not good with time limits. So I hope I can do the two minutes. If I started to go over, just stop me, because we’re not good at keeping time out. Yeah, put your hand up or something. But again, thank you for this opportunity. I take being a judge as something that is meaningful. It is difficult work. You know, the decisions that I make, that we make as judges every day, you know, we realize that they impact people in very significant ways. And so what I can tell the voters is that’s not something I will ever take for granted. You should vote for me not only because I have a deep concern and care for the people of this county, not only because I currently serve the county, but also because you need a judge and you deserve a judge who has the experience to do the job and to do it on day one. As I talked about earlier, I currently sit in superior court every day. At this point in my judicial career, I’ve made decisions, probably I want to say hundreds, but it may be even close to thousands of cases. This point I’ve done so diligently. I’m a judge that operates with the utmost integrity, and you don’t have to just take my word for it. I’ve been tried, vetted and tested, so to speak. The eleven superior court judges that you elected and the chief magistrate judge you elected in Gwinnett county have already vetted my qualifications. They wouldn’t designate me to sit for them over 200 times if they didn’t believe that I was suitable to do the job of a superior court judge. And that is what I do every day. I make a commitment to the voters that I will continue to have deep respect for the rule of law, I will always follow and adhere to the rule of law, that I will operate with integrity, and that I will do everything to make sure the court processes run efficiently. Thank you again, and I hope to have your vote. You overwhelmingly supported me in the primary election. I hope I can get you back out to vote for the runoff. You can find more information on my website at judgematthews.com, I’m also on social media Regina Matthews for superior court or judge Regina Matthews. I’m on LinkedIn. I’m on Instagram. I’m pretty much all the social media platforms. But again, I just hope the voters can remember that, you know, you need and deserve someone who has the experience doing the job. And I’m ready on day one.
Rico Figliolini 0:38:59
Great. By the time people hear this, early voting, I think will have ended. So June 18, Tuesday is the day.
Regina Matthews 0:39:06
Tuesday, June 19. That day you have to go to your assigned voter precinct for early voting. Obviously it’s different, but on June 18, you have to go to your designated polling place, seven to seven.
Rico Figliolini 0:39:22
Thanks for that. So thank you, Regina Matthews. Appreciate you being on with me. Hang in there for a minute, but thank you. Everyone else. If you have questions, certainly put it into the comments. Whether you’re listening to this on Facebook or YouTube, or you have comments that you want to send directly to Regina Matthews, just go to her website, judgematthews.com, and you’ll be able to do that. So thanks again. Appreciate you being with us.
Regina Matthews 0:39:48
Thank you, Rico.
Related
Elections and Politics
Tuwanda Rush Williams in Run-Off June 18 for Gwinnett Superior Court Judge
Published
4 months agoon
June 16, 2024This non-partisan run-off election decides who will serve in the seat
The Tuesday, June 18th run-off election for Gwinnett Superior Court Judge is almost here. In my interview with candidate Tuwanda Rush Williams, you will find out why she is running, her plans for mental health issues in the inmate population, why transparency and responsibility are important to her, and how she will rebuild trust in the judicial system. Tuwanda discusses the role of technology in modernizing the court system, the need for more lawyers to provide indigent defense services, and the importance of judges being visible and engaging with the public to build trust in the courts’ fairness and impartiality. With your host Rico Figliolini.
Resources:
Tuwanda’s Website: https://www.tuwanda4judge.com/
Timestamp:
00:00:00 – Tuwanda Rush Williams Runs for Gwinnett Superior Court Judge
00:01:15 – From New York to Georgia
00:03:54 – Improving Mental Health Care in Jail
00:07:50 – Addressing Mental Health in the Justice System
00:11:21 – Improving Court System Efficiency, Addressing Indigent Defense, and Leveraging Technology
00:15:53 – Balancing Technology in the Courtroom
00:18:06 – Concerns About AI in the Courts: Lack of Empathy and Transparency
00:22:15 – Ensuring Impartiality in Judicial Decisions
00:25:38 – Canine Incident Leads to Lawsuit
00:29:55 – Employing More Senior Judges to Clear Backlog
00:32:13 – Qualifications Beyond Being a Judge
00:35:29 – Tuwanda Rush Williams’ Campaign Resources and Endorsements
Podcast Transcript
Rico Figliolini 0:00:01
Hi, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life, and we have an election coming up. It’s actually a runoff June 18, and I have one of the candidates for one of those runoffs, which is the candidate for Superior Court Judge here in Gwinnett County. Tuwanda Rush Williams. Hey, Tuwanda, how are you?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:00:20
Hello, Rico. How are you?
Rico Figliolini 0:00:22
Good, good. Appreciate you spending the time this afternoon coming out to speak to us and answer questions and talk about your candidacy. So appreciate you doing that. Absolutely.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:00:35
Thank you for the opportunity.
Rico Figliolini 0:00:37
No, for sure. And I think our readers and followers enjoy this type of thing. We just did one for the school board race, district three, and I got good responses on that. They enjoyed that, learning a bit more about candidates that are running. So why don’t you. Why don’t we start off Tuwanda with you telling us a little bit about yourself and tell us why or what motivated you to want to run for Gwinnett Superior Court Judge.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:01:05
Absolutely. Thank you. So, my name is Tuwanda Rush Williams, and I have been a resident of Gwinnett county for about 24 years now. Quite a while, I guess. 2000 is when we moved here, beginning of 2000. And I’m originally from Rochester, New York, but I have been in Georgia for the last 32 years, so I consider myself a Georgia peach at this point. But I am married and I have. My husband is doctor Anthony Williams. He is a retired Gwinnett county public school systems assistant principal, and he is also an army veteran. And we have two adult children, one who is in pharmacy school at UNC Chapel Hill, and the other is a youth college and young adult minister and an information technology specialist at Cox Enterprises. And so I’ve been practicing law for 31 years, a long time, most of that time here in Gwinnett county working for Gwinnett county government, and for the past year working at the law firm of Thompson, O’Brien, Kapler and the Sudie in Peachtree Corners. So why am I seeking this position? Simply because of what I observed in my 18 years working for Gwinnett county government, I rose to the position of second command. So I was deputy county attorney in the county attorney’s office, and I represented all 5300 employees, which included the district attorney, the clerk of court, the solicitor general, the sheriff, the tax commissioner, and the judges on all six courts. So I spent a lot of time at the Gwinnett county jail, and what I saw were the large number of persons with diagnosed mental illness sitting in the Gwinnett county jail. When I left the county in May, of last year in order to run for judge, and I had to leave my job because it was a conflict of interest to run for judge when I defended the judges when they were sued. When I left the county, there were 500 people with mental illness, diagnosed mental illness sitting in the jail. They tend to be socially isolated. They require around the clock observation. They are a higher suicide risk, and they require a lot of manpower resources. Because of that, there were another 2200 inmates in the regular population who were pretty much on their own, neglected. They were getting showers one day a week. It was very difficult for them to meet with their lawyers to prepare for their cases to go to trial. They also did not have much recreation time simply because there was not enough staffing to manage the 2200 regular inmates and simultaneously take care of the 500 inmates with mental illness of some type. So one of the reasons why I decided to run is because I don’t want to see people with diagnosed mental illnesses sitting in the jail awaiting trial. They don’t get better sitting in the jail. They need to have alternative custody arrangements. They need to be able to be in a mental health facility, or they need to be at home with counseling services, therapy services, medication stabilization, and a case manager while they are awaiting trial. And what I see in the county right now is that we have accountability courts, but they need to be expanded, and judges need to put a request in their budget to expand those courts so that we have a place to put people who have been charged with a crime but are not good candidates for being locked up in our jail. So I would like to see judges not send people to jail that have mental illness, but also send them to places like a viewpoint health, which is inadequate for staffing purposes. Right now they only have 16 beds. So we need to actually advocate in our court system for more money to take care of those with diagnosed mental illnesses as opposed to sitting in the jail.
Rico Figliolini 0:05:42
So for most people that don’t understand, they might think Gwinnett Superior Court judge is just a sitting judge listening to cases, felony cases, family law, divorce, child custody. But it is more as well an administrative role, deciding budgets and personnel. Right?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:06:01
That is exactly true. Superior court judges have a budget just like any other county department or state department, and they actually, they will go down to the Capitol and advocate for various issues as well that impact the court system. And one thing you said, Rico, that I want to follow up on. Most people think of superior court as criminal felony cases and family law cases are heard there. But did you know that there are a large variety of matters that are also heard in superior court that I handle over the last 19 years as a government lawyer, such as your property tax appeals, condemnation cases, inverse condemnation cases, elections lawsuits, civil rights lawsuits, contract disputes, all kinds of declaratory judgment actions, stormwater issues, things that people don’t really think about that are heard in superior court. And you would only have experience in those areas if you have been a local government lawyer, such as myself.
Rico Figliolini 0:07:11
You’ve been doing this for 31 years. Practicing here in Georgia.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:07:17
Yes, practicing in Georgia. 31 years. I practiced most of my career in Gwinnett county. So the last 19 years I worked here in Gwinnett, 18 years in the county attorney’s office, rising and promoted to second in command, and for the past year, working at Thompson O’Brien law firm, where we represent the city of Norcross, Bryan county and some other municipalities, doing a variety of work.
Rico Figliolini 0:07:47
So, getting back to a little bit about that budget, about the mental health issues, which is a challenge, a rising challenge. Obviously, like you said, mental health issues, putting people into prison doesn’t make them any better. They don’t have the programs there. But in everything, everything costs money. Someone says to me, oh, can we just do this? Well, everything costs money, and you’re just adding to the bill. So that’s one thing that costs money. Then you have other things that cost money, whether you don’t have enough staff to be able to do the things you need to do and all that. So, understanding you want to lobby for money, understanding that you have a finite budget right now, what would be the first thing you do when you, if you were to win, to attend to those mental health issues? What is one of the first things that you would do in there? Knowing that you have a finite budget, you know, you don’t have anything more coming at that moment.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:08:49
So the first thing that I would do as a judge is I would look for opportunities to sentence those with a diagnosed mental illness to arrangements that are not in our jail custody. So if they were a candidate to be able to be at home with counseling services and case manager, that’s where I would send them while they were awaiting trial, as opposed to putting them in our jail, because that would be the first thing I would do, is I would look for opportunities to send people who’ve been accused of crimes to their home environment, as opposed to putting them in the jail, which is a place where they’re just not going to get better and there’s just not enough resources. But then after I looked at who would be a good candidate for being home because everyone can’t be home with a diagnosed mental illness. Right. Then I would look for opportunities to advocate for the budget for a superior court to be expanded such that we can maybe take monies from some other area. Right. We have a mental health court. We have a veterans court. We also have a drug court. But the mental health court is where we have the greatest financial need simply because of the number of individuals who are coming through the court system with a diagnosed mental illness. So I would look at those other two courts to see if we could reallocate funds from those courts to the mental health court so that we could expand the budget to take care of those people. Viewpoint. Health will take individuals who do not have insurance or who are underinsured, who have a diagnosed mental health condition. The problem is that they only have 16 operable beds, which is just not enough, which shows you that they need to be expanded. They need to have larger facilities, more beds, more staffing. So we’ve got to figure out a way to cut the budget in some other areas in the county and add that money to mental health services.
Rico Figliolini 0:11:08
Let me ask you something. Not that we can solve the issues here, but the jail system is run by the sheriff. Correct? The budget and all that.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:11:16
It is. It is.
Rico Figliolini 0:11:17
So. And you’re moving with the thought is there’s 500 prisoners that have mental health issues. Obviously not all of them. Some of them are violent criminals that are going to have to sit there. There’s no other place to put them, most likely. Right. So if you’re moving 100 of them out of there, though, maybe. Does it make sense then to look at the jail system and say, okay, they’re spending a certain amount of money per prisoner doing that? I know this is not the norm, looking at budgets from different departments, but shifting money from within a department. Is that a county commission responsibility?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:11:57
It is a county commission responsibility, but the commissioners have to receive a budget from the various county courts and departments in order to set a budget for them. So you are correct. The budget, the overall budget is approved by the board of commissioners, but they have to receive a budget request from the court system as well as from the sheriff so that they can make the right decisions. So you’re correct.
Rico Figliolini 0:12:25
So when you know some of it’s okay. So aside from the mental health issues, which is a big issue, obviously there’s other issues within the system. Covid brought that to light to a degree. Right. And different things were done. Things were done differently a bit because of not being able to meet in person. Some of it’s successful. Some of it, I think, is still continuing. Some of it isn’t. Do you think that technology, the role of technology in modernizing the court system makes sense? You talked before about how individuals can’t meet their lawyers. Well, you know, is that an in person visit, or is that a lawyer that can meet them on a Zoom call? I mean, is there areas that you’d like to see changed, or, you know, within the court system that can be helpful?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:13:18
Yes, there are a couple of things that I’d like to see improve. One thing that we definitely need to improve is the number of lawyers that are appointed as indigent defense attorneys, because we have a large number of persons accused of crimes who cannot afford a lawyer. And so in Gwinnett county, we utilize private lawyers to represent those individuals, and they receive an hourly wage. That program is governed by an indigent defense governing committee, and I served on it for seven years before I left the county. And one thing that I’d like us to do to improve upon that system is to recruit more lawyers who are willing to defend persons who cannot afford a lawyer. What’s happening right now is the courts are backlogged with their criminal cases because there’s just not enough lawyers available to appoint to represent someone accused of a crime. And one thing we need to do is to increase the hourly rate of private lawyers who are able and willing to represent indigent persons. So I’d like to see the county improve the hourly rate for those individuals. Another thing I’d like to see is what you alluded to is greater use of technology. During COVID a lot of the hearings were held by Zoom, and that was great. When you just have a lawyer on either side of a case who has the ability to present information over Zoom, it doesn’t work for trials because you have to have a jury.
Rico Figliolini 0:15:09
And so that probably works best when you have the individual in person, actually.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:15:16
That is correct. And you’ve got to be able to determine that person’s demeanor and everything else. Right. But certainly we can continue to use technology for a routine motion, for example, you know, a motion to exclude evidence that certainly can be heard using virtual capability. So I’d like to see us continue to use technology for what I consider hearings and very short matters, and maybe even expand upon it, because it worked really well during COVID But much of the use of technology for virtual hearings has disappeared in the last couple of years. The judges, most of the judges, tend to have those hearings in person.
Rico Figliolini 0:16:06
Again, I think from one of the lawyers. I heard also, technology wise, that things are digitized, all the files that are digitized, so it’s easier to look them up. But the other problem with that is, of course, a lawyer can’t go back and check the cartons of files, let’s say, of things that maybe weren’t scanned, because not everything is scanned, unfortunately. It seems so. There’s a two edged sword right there, I think. Right? Yeah. You got to make sure everything scanned or you’re going to. And you’re going to have to still hold the physical evidence for later, right?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:16:50
Yes. Yes, absolutely. That is an issue.
Rico Figliolini 0:16:54
Okay. Do you feel, have you seen as a, as a lawyer, and do you foresee AI being an issue, whether it’s deep fakes or it’s documents being presented that are false documents, for example, do you see AI being an issue, or how would you attend to that technology in the run of the courts?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:17:18
That is a very good question. I have mixed feelings about AI. I think that it would be beneficial to use artificial intelligence for basic research purposes. So if the lawyer or the judge wants to know the statute of limitations for a particular civil case, then AI would be great, because you just simply ask, what is the statute of limitations? You get to answer, it’s easy. What I think is bad about AI for purposes of the courts is that AI is digitized, which means it has no feelings, it has no emotions. Right. So you cannot use AI to determine a person’s individual circumstances or background, particularly when you are making decisions based on family needs, custody arrangements, visitation arrangements, or when you are dealing with someone who has been accused of a crime. Because AI doesn’t have compassion, AI doesn’t have empathy. So I would never want to see a quote unquote robo judge. I think you have to have human beings making decisions and weighing the credibility of witnesses. But I do think that AI could actually speed up the handling of cases from the perspective of staff attorneys who conduct research for judges as well as for the lawyers themselves who represent clients.
Rico Figliolini 0:19:07
Dealing with public trust and transparency. Some are maybe true, maybe not true, maybe just myths, maybe just legends, maybe just people think this is the way the system is and it’s not fair. The reality could be a little different. So how would you handle or improve public trust in the judicial system? Because that always seems to be a negative thing there. But how would you try to improve that?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:19:38
Well, one of the things that I talk about on the campaign trail is the lack of visibility of our judges. And what I mean by that is most people don’t know who the judges are. Most people have no idea what types of matters are heard in each court. So one of the things that I would do to try to improve public trust is to require the judges to be more visible in the community and maybe have something like a. Just coffee with a judge once a month, where you put the judges on rotation so that the public members can come in and ask questions about the process. You know, how do I go about filing a lawsuit? What types of cases are heard in your court? For instance, you may have the probate court chief judge one month, and then you may have the state court chief judge another month, and then the superior court chief judge another month, and then the magistrate court and the recorder’s court and juvenile court. Just because if people don’t feel like they have access to the court system, they are less likely to trust the court system. They’re less likely to see it as fair. But when they are able to interact up close and personal with the judges, then they can ask the questions that they need to ask to feel more confident that the system is fair. So that’s one thing that I would do. Obviously, judges take an oath to be fair and to be impartial at all times. And, of course, they must use good judgment. They’re required to have continuing education, just like a lawyer. So there are things that are mandated by the code of judicial conduct of Georgia that judges are required to do to make sure that they maintain fairness and so that the public can trust that the decisions they make are legally sound and fair, but that’s not seen by the public. So I think we have to have our judges more visible in the community.
Rico Figliolini 0:21:57
Sounds good. To ensure impartiality and fairness in the judicial decisions. I know that, for example, there’s a family that I know that’s trying to get custody of the children of their daughter’s kids who passed away. And, you know, I know that the court system likes to make sure they prove they keep the kids with the immediate family, but sometimes that’s not always doable for a lot of different reasons. Maybe the individual person is not a good steward or caretaker for those kids. How do you, you know, you’re dealing with lawyers presenting cases versus the individuals per se, but how do you deal with that? How do you deal with that impartiality or the empathy that you should have in a case like that because you’re a judge?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:22:53
Well, again, you are relying on the lawyers for each party right to present evidence, and the standard is the best interest of the child. And because that is the legal standard. Depending upon the age of the children, the judge might hear from the children themselves. Right? And of course, if they are age 14, they can choose which, where they want to be, who has custody of them. If they are age twelve, the judge can take that into consideration as well. The judge can literally ask, you know, do you want to be with your paternal grandparents or do you want to be with your biological father? Tell me why. Tell me what your life experience has been to this point. And those hearings are held in camera, which means that the public is not allowed to come in and hear that minor share his or her story with the judge. But that’s one way that you would get at impartiality, which is actually considering what the child or the children want. But remember, you’re relying on the lawyers who represent these parties, who have also taken an oath to present all of the evidence that is uncovered, whether it’s for or against their client. And that goes directly to impartiality in the decision of the judge.
Rico Figliolini 0:24:28
With all the cases that you’ve tried, legal issues that you’ve handled, has there been any significant case or situation that has impacted you in a good way or bad?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:24:43
Well, for many, many years, I tried a lot of civil rights lawsuits, and I tried them in federal court, some in superior court. There’s one case that I tried involving an individual who sued Gwinnett county, as well as several Gwinnett county police officers for excessive force. And it involved an individual had allegedly stolen a television from an apartment complex. Our police was summoned to the scene, and our canine unit came. And in this particular case, the gentleman dropped the television that he was carrying, and he ran. And then he jumped down into a ravine. And our police officer sent the canine to retrieve the gentleman, and he was significantly, he has permanent disfigurement as a result of that. I won the case. I was able to show. Well, the interesting thing is the gentleman sued not just Gwinnett county and the officers, but the gentleman sued the canine, which was the strangest thing. I never had a case where somebody sued the dog, but in this case, he sued, which is insane. I was able to win the case, ultimately. At first, I lost the case trial level, because the judge determined that the use of force was. But I appealed the case to the US District Court of Appeals, and I won the case because I was able to show that the use of force was reasonable because this guy, you know, tried to escape. But the case gave me. I felt like I should have lost it only because I don’t believe that our officers follow proper protocol, because you cannot send the canine in to attack someone until you’ve given the suspect fair warning. And I don’t think that that was.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:18
How long ago was that the case?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:27:21
It was several years ago. I want to say it was in probably 2017, but that was the one case where I felt like we should not have won it. Between you and I, and this guy is now permanently disfigured. But other than that I feel very good about the decisions that were made, and I won 95% of the cases that I ever tried.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:48
And there’s a lot of cases out there. A lot of backlog of cases, apparently.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:27:54
Yes.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:55
And I know you touched upon it a little bit, but it is a lot of cases out there. Is there any suggestions what you do to clear that backlog?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:28:05
Yes. So, of course, the backlog existed even before COVID but it was exacerbated by COVID, as we know. And that was largely because the courts actually had to shut down for a period of time because it was not out for the presence of the litigants. They had to put up plexiglass in the jury boxes. They had to put up plexiglass in front of the podium where the lawyer or the litigant speaks, and in front of the judge’s bench as well. And after that, the county was running about four years behind on the criminal cases and probably three years behind on the civil cases. And criminal cases legally have to be tried. One of the things that definitely needs to be done more of is greater use of senior judges. We use magistrate judges to handle cases. In fact, my opponent is a magistrate judge, and she handles a lot of family law cases and criminal law cases. She’s not utilized for a lot of the areas that I do, like your property tax appeals and condemnations and stormwater cases and, you know, those kinds of suits, because her background was criminal law and family law. But we need to also employ greater use of senior judges. We use some senior judges, but in order to clear the backlog, we need to use more. These are individuals who have retired from the bench, but they will come back and handle cases for a very hefty hourly rate. Some will say they get paid more as senior judges than they did when they were full time.
Rico Figliolini 0:30:06
Is that what you want to do, though?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:30:08
I’m sorry?
Rico Figliolini 0:30:09
Is that what you want to do, though? I mean, that’s just add to more exasperated. More to the budget, I guess.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:30:16
Well, I think you’ve got to clear the backlog and so even though it does add more to the budget, they already have the experience to handle those cases because they were judges until they retired. So they can resolve them a lot quicker because they’ve seen the issues before. So I think you want to use more senior judges. They are already using magistrate judges in superior court. They’re not fully using them in state as they can. But superior court does use part time and full time magistrate judges to clear the backlog. And my honest opinion is that Gwinnett county needs more superior court judge seats. We have eleven full time superior court judges and Fulton county has 17. And yet we are the second largest county in the state.
Rico Figliolini 0:31:13
Why is that? A lot more crime?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:31:16
You got to have somebody to advocate for it. You got to have your elected state representatives and your senators to say, we need more full time superior court judges. And we are asking the state. It takes someone to advocate for it. Just 11th position in 2021.
Rico Figliolini 0:31:44
Long time ago and things just got more busier. County is growing. Have we touched, is there anything we haven’t touched upon that you’d like to mention?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:31:56
I just wanted to share my background and experience as opposed to my opponents, because what I found during the runoff was that somehow people think my opponent is the incumbent because she is a magistrate judge. And, you know, I want the voters to know she’s not the incumbent. There is no incumbent in this race. This is an open, nonpartisan seat, which means that our names appear on any ballot that you pull. Because candidates for judge must run nonpartisan, because they should. Because the judge’s responsibility is to follow the law of the state and the law of the land and not interpose his or her opinion or prejudge a case. So my position is an open position, which means there is no incumbent. We are seeking to replace a judge who is retiring at the end of the year. And I also wanted to state that when you are looking for someone to elect to the bench, I think you need to take into account more factors than just this person is already a judge. You need to consider diversity of experience. I know 25 years of the law very well because I was a government lawyer for most of my career. My opponent doesn’t have that background as a lawyer. And there’s a difference between practicing law, being a zealous advocate for someone, and being a judge who considers the weight of the evidence, the facts and the law. You also want someone who has ties to the community. And I have served Gwinnett county for the last 24 years that I’ve been here. I have served on a lot of nonprofits. I’ve performed hundreds of hours of community service, and so I am woven into the fabric of Gwinnett County. I know Gwinnett County. I know its citizens. Im a leadership Gwinnett grad. I’ve worked on several learning day committees on Gwinnett giving girls, nonprofit, hope nonprofit. I’ve been on family promise of Gwinnett. I’ve done a lot. Very active in the Gwinnett county alumni chapter of Delta Sig Pothatus rorty incorporated. So I’m committed. I have a longstanding history of service to the county, in addition to having been in the county attorney’s office for 18 years until I had to resign in order to run. I would hope the voters would consider all of that. And just saying, well, you know, this person’s already a judge. She’s not a superior court judge. Never has been, never been elected. Neither have I. So we’re equal in that regard.
Rico Figliolini 0:34:50
Okay. I think pretty much you’ve given the speech where you’re asking for the vote, so that’s pretty good. So that’s good. That’s what you should be. Because if you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it. Where can people find out more information about Tuwanda Rush Williams? What website? Where can they find you?
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:35:12
Absolutely. My website is tuwanda4judge.com. So it’s spelled like my name. Tuwanda, the number four, judge.com. and there’s all kinds of information on there about me and tons of endorsement. Charlotte Nash is someone who has endorsed me. Many people know who she is as well as the former district attorney Danny Porter. You can find my entire bio, all the places that I’ve worked, all the other reasons why I’m running beyond my concern for the people who are sitting in the jail with mental illness. We need to reduce crime and recidivism. We need to offer better support for survivors of human trafficking in Gwinnett. Huge problem. So I hope they’ll check me out there.
Rico Figliolini 0:36:02
Cool. Well, Tuwanda, I appreciate you being on the show with us and answering questions and talking about the issues that you want to let everyone remind everyone. Again, June 18 is the runoff date. There is early voting, depending when you’re listening to this, and I’ll have that in the show notes as well. The opponent is Regina Matthews. So there’s only two of them. So go listen to the podcast, be out there, Google their names. You should be able to find out more information. Again, Tuwanda, stay there with us for a minute. Everyone else thank you again. Yeah, no, for sure. And thank you again, everyone, for listening. There’ll be more information as well at livinginpeachtreecorners.com or southwestgwinnettmagazine.com. so check that out. Follow us on social media and appreciate you being with us. Thank you.
Tuwanda Rush Williams 0:36:54
Thank you.
Related
Education
Steve Gasper, in the Run-Off for Gwinnett County School Board, District 3
Published
4 months agoon
June 6, 2024Gwinnett School Board Run-Off Election is June 18, 2024
Steve Gasper is a candidate for the Gwinnett County School Board runoff election on June 18th. As a parent with children in the Gwinnett County public school system, Gasper wants to maintain high-quality education while addressing policy changes. Steve highlights the importance of transparency, the challenges posed by technology, and the need to support and listen to teachers to improve morale and keep experienced educators in the classroom. With host Rico Figliolini
Resources: Steve’s Website: https://www.votestevegasper.com/
Timestamp:
00:00:00 – Steve Gasper: Candidate for Gwinnett County School Board
00:01:48 – Raising a Family, Serving the Community
00:03:53 – Qualities of an Effective School Board Candidate
00:08:44 – Balancing Discipline and Accountability in Schools
00:12:52 – Technology’s Impact on School Discipline and Safety
00:14:24 – The Impact of COVID-19 on Student Learning and Behavior
00:17:20 – Embracing AI in Education: Challenges and Opportunities
00:20:25 – Balancing Digital Learning and In-Person Education
00:23:10 – Improving Teacher Recruitment and Retention in Schools
00:26:39 – Balancing Parental Involvement and Inclusive Education
00:30:15 – Navigating Book Selection for Classrooms
00:33:56 – Collaborative Leadership for Gwinnett County Schools
Podcast Transcript
Rico Figliolini 0:00:01
Hi, everyone. This is Rico Figliollini, host of Peachtree Corners Life. I want to say thank you for joining us. This is a special podcast with one of the candidates running in the runoff for Gwinnett county school board, Steve Gasper. Hey, Steve, thanks for being with us.
Steve Gasper 0:00:16
Hey, Rico, how are you doing? Thank you for having me. This is a great pleasure.
Rico Figliolini 0:00:20
Yeah, no, no. It’s always good, love talking to candidates, hear their opinions, and just have a conversation about what they believe in and where they’re going. So this is a good thing. This is for school board district three, and the runoff is June 18. There’s some early voting going on, but I think that stops at a certain point. I forget when, but I’ll have that in the show notes, and you can share that with us at the end of the podcast. In the meantime, what I want to do is I want to be able to share that Steve and his wife Kelly live in Suwannee. They’ve been here in Suwannee since 2009, actually. They have twin kids that attend middle school, I think 8th grade, 8th graders.
Steve Gasper 0:01:00
Just graduated.
Rico Figliolini 0:01:01
Yep, just graduated. Cool. They’re going heading into high school. Good. They are freshmen, and Suwannee is great. Has some great schools up there as well. Of course, it varies in Gwinnett County a little bit, but in Gwinnett county is the largest county in the state and probably the largest school system because of that. So we’re going to have a lot to talk about. In the meantime, the first thing I’d like you to do, Steve, is just share with us a little bit who you are, why you’re running, and just give us a little background of that, a little taste of who you are.
Steve Gasper 0:01:34
Yeah. Happy to Rico. Thank you. So, of course, I’m Steve Gasper. I’m originally from deep in the valley of southern California. My whole family still lives out there. Attended the University of Southern California. I got a degree, bachelor of science in business administration, minor in marketing and management. And I have two beautiful. Now going now 9th grade twins, boy girl twins, super smart, super talented. My wife and I have been married for a long time, and we have two dogs and two cats at home. So we have a full house, if you could only imagine. Came to Gwinnett county, and I really came here for these, for our great schools. And the reason why I’m running for school board is I want to continue the great work that I’ve been doing over the last four years of being so involved in the school system. And I know we’ll probably touch on some of that later, but that’s really the main reason, is to just keep the good work going and really keep our schools great.
Rico Figliolini 0:02:34
So Gwinnett county has, over the last two to four years, has changed. The board makeup has changed a bit, bringing a little bit more diversity to the board, a little bit different perspective also from different people. Things have changed with regard to disciplinary in the schools as well. And, you know, and, you know, my kids have been through the school system, public school system as well, all three of them, from elementary, middle school, and high school. Even a stem, stem school at Paul Duke here in PC.
Steve Gasper 0:03:09
Absolutely.
Rico Figliolini 0:03:11
Yeah. It’s just a phenomenal school. Norcross high school, also great. My kids went through the other two, went through the IB program there, made them better students. It was a harder course to go through a lot of writing, but I think things have changed since then, even simple things like cursive writing. It’s not taught anymore.
Steve Gasper 0:03:34
Right, right.
Rico Figliolini 0:03:35
Sorry. I don’t even know how people can give you a signature if they can’t do cursive, but that’s besides the point.
Steve Gasper 0:03:42
Signing a check. Right, Rico?
Rico Figliolini 0:03:44
Can’t do that. Can’t do that, apparently, without the cursive. Right, right. So, but, so because the board has changed, because the policies have changed, what do you think makes for a good board candidate? You know, running for this? A tough job. It’s part time, doesn’t pay well. So what’s. Who’s the right person for this job?
Steve Gasper 0:04:05
Yeah. No, you hit it right on the head, Rico. It is a. It is a tough job. It is. It is one of these jobs that you are on the ground floor of everything going on in Gwinnett county. I look at our schools as one. As one of. One of the main pillars of any. Any community. With. With great schools come great business opportunity, come great growth in the community. You know, comes housing, great house, great home values. People want to move into the community, and so it really is a true. A true pillar of our community, and we have to. We have to hire board members that. That really touch on many different experiences in life. And I like to look at my experience of being a former classroom teacher to being a small business owner, and all the way up to the last 23 plus years in the corporate space, mentoring, hiring, training, coaching people from all walks of life, and then to kind of top all that off, just being heavily involved in the community over the last four years with regards to our schools, speaking at school board meetings, participating in district committees, from the superintendent transition committee, to the discipline action committee, to the Instructional Resources Review committee to speaking at school board meetings on behalf of parents and some teachers who are afraid to speak up and in fear of retaliation. So bringing all that together, I think, I’d like to think I checked the most boxes in terms of bringing a diverse idea of qualifications to this position and to the seat. And, you know, having all of that helps because we are. This is. The school is essentially a business. It is a. Our 183,000 students, 22 or so thousand staff, teachers, and those that support, those that teach. You really have to understand how not only education and what the needs of our teachers are, but also what the needs of the business as a whole, in the school system as a whole, is $3.2 billion budget, and we have to be able to manage it effectively.
Rico Figliolini 0:06:17
It’s interesting the way you said that before, earlier, you said about hiring, you hire your board members in a way that is the case.
Steve Gasper 0:06:24
Right.
Rico Figliolini 0:06:25
Because people have. You’re going through an interview process. The grueling campaign is really an interview process. It is. Right. And if you get pulled up for a second interview, which is what this runoff is, if we can make that comparison, then there’s more. More questions that come at you.
Steve Gasper 0:06:43
Absolutely.
Rico Figliolini 0:06:44
You talked about the big budgets. Should it be treated as a business? It certainly needs to be treated with responsibility. You have to be good steward of the money. You have to know where it’s going. That’s right. And some people say there’s not enough transparency in the school board that they don’t share. Not only. I mean, the budgets they may share, but also the statistics of what’s going on, the turnover rate of all that. Do you feel the same way about that, about transparency in this?
Steve Gasper 0:07:16
I do. And I think a lot of that comes from just the involvement that I have had in the schools over the last four years, from meeting with the former superintendent to the current superintendent to other senior district leadership. And, you know, looking at the data that has been presented to us as community members, as you know me, I’m a parent, an outsider for the time being, and not privy to any additional information that the school board members might be privy to behind the scenes and looking. Transparency is hugely important. It’s one of my platform pieces on my campaign is transparency and fiscal accountability. And like you said, this is almost an interview process. I’m being hired for a job, and the voters are gonna select the best candidate for this position based on what we stand for and the voters in it, that in return, we have to give them the pleasure of what is going on in our schools. We have to be transparent with where the money’s being spent, how it’s being spent, and we also have to provide the data to the community that they can work with and not feel that data is missing or these numbers are being cushioned or protected. And if that’s, that’s what we need to do better at. And that’s. That’s my, that’s my commitment.
Rico Figliolini 0:08:37
When it comes to discipline challenges over the past few years, right. If it’s an incident, but it’s not reported to the outside, it’s not considered in the data that’s released from the school, apparently. Well, at least that’s what I understand. Unless you see it on next door somewhere. There’s always questions of people saying, did you hear about the fight that happened at the school? Or things going on? My son works in technology park, for example, and he’ll see four or five kids just hanging out in the woods behind their office, which is literally next door to Norcross high school. So he’ll see kids out there like that know they’re not doing anything bad, per se, but they’re not in school, obviously. And then there’s disciplinary stuff. So I know it’s changed over the past couple of years, but what do you see necessary? What are steps that are necessary in your mind that relates to that, that the board’s not doing, that they should be doing?
Steve Gasper 0:09:38
Yeah, we. I go back to a couple years ago, summer of 2021, when the superintendent and the board had rolled out this new restorative justice discipline process. And we quickly, not only as parents, but as teachers and even some board members and community, realize that this was not the right time to roll this out. There was an effective training. It essentially took away the disciplinary tasks at the school level and put them up at a cluster. But I like to call, like, a regional perspective, which I think that’s not effective because the principals, the teachers, and the local administrators at each individual school know their schools the best. They know their students the best, they know their teachers the best. That needs to remain at the schools. And so for me, it’s important to have a good, structured discipline policy, but there also needs to be room for teachable moments. And our k through twelve kids, they’re constantly learning. They look to adults for affirmation, for support. And if we’re just disciplined kids, sending them away, sending them in suspension, and at least not letting them understand what it is they’ve done wrong, then we’re not succeeding as a school system. So I do believe in consequences for actions. Just like if you and I walked out on the street and I got in a fight or I punched somebody, I would be arrested for assault. That students should understand that actions have consequences, and we need to do better at helping our students understand what they did wrong, but also holding them accountable for their actions and not being repeat offenders. And for me, a great example is South Gwinnett High School. I look at the new principal that came into South Gwinnett a couple years back, and. And year over year, discipline referrals are down over 75%. And that is data that I presented at the last school board meeting. When I spoke to the school board and the superintendent, and you know how they’re doing that. They. The super. The principal was kind of no nonsense. He came on and said, hey, if you’re going to. If you’re going to break our rules, we’re going to hold you accountable, and it’s going on your record. And they have put teachers and administrators in the hallways in between classes and periods. That way, there’s more eyes and ears as to what’s going on. So it’s leading me to believe that it’s. The students are going to be less inclined to get into any sort of mischief, whether it’s in a bathroom or in an unobserved hallway or corner. That’s what we need to really improve upon. I know the school board is looking to reintroduce this program, and. And I know they’ve gone through a long and extensive training process, and I. It’s my hope that this is an effective program, and. And I’m going to make sure that it is, personally.
Rico Figliolini 0:12:42
All right, sounds good. You know, with that comes challenges. Obviously, technology can be part of that challenge, right? Phones in the hands of kids, social media, to some extent. You know, everyone wants to be a content producer, so that. Just videoing, whatever happens. And, you know, if Joe Smith decides to be disruptive in a classroom, there’s a video right there. It’s going to be posted later, maybe. Do you see that technology, you know, in some schools, in some. In some countries, and in some places, phones are not allowed in the school, or they are locked or they are put in place. That’s not, like, in their hands in the class, right? I mean, do you see things like that happening? I mean, I think was the state of Georgia. You have to be 16 and older to be able to be on social media. I think Kemp cited that into law, if I remember correctly, although that’s easy to say, but that’s difficult to implement. It’s impossible to implement, actually. But how do you say technology with regard to discipline, with regard to these types of challenges? Done. Both public safety, the money that’s going to each school for public safety, there was also another grant from Governor Kemp to. It was 45,000 to every school in the state. So. Yeah. So talk about technology, safety, discipline. Give me something.
Steve Gasper 0:14:09
Yeah. And to your. To your point, Rico, just over the past several years, and really, a lot of this has come out of post Covid, and you have to take a step back and kind of think about maybe why this is coming into play. And our kids were truly traumatized during COVID We went from in person learning to complete lockdown. Schools were all digital. Kids were at home trying to learn on this new, unfamiliar platform or way of learning. I saw my kids personally struggle from digital learning. But on a different note, you know, not knowing what the home life situation is for our other kids, it’s. They could. They. They may not be from the nuclear family home. They could be from. From broken households. And. And, you know, I’m certainly sensitive to that. And I saw it when I was. When I was a teacher and had a deal with students that that came from broken households or single parent homes or a non parent home, a grandma, grandpa, and uncle taken care of, or.
Rico Figliolini 0:15:09
Even two parent homes where they’re working hourly jobs. Yes. Home when the kids get home. Right.
Steve Gasper 0:15:15
Yeah, that’s a perfect example as well. And that’s where my wife, too. My wife and I both worked. Even through Covid, our companies found ways for us to work. And so it was hard to just be present with our kids, helping them do digital learning. And we knew that we needed to give them an option for in person instruction. But kind of back to your original question. It’s technology is great and powerful, but it’s also has created a platform for students to videotape discipline. Incidences in the schools, fights, kids setting fires in the bathrooms, kids talking back to teachers, yelling at teachers. And that, to me, poses more of a dangerous situation than we really need to have involved in our schools. And so I believe that it’s good that my kids, I know through junior high they couldn’t take their phones out of their backpacks. They had the few times during the day where they can check their messages, but they couldn’t use their phones. And they had computers. They have chromebooks that they can access technology through. But I think that we need to at least give our kids an opportunity to learn in the classroom. And there’s different. There’s other times of the day for social media, for interacting with their friends, for being online, quote unquote. But really the main focus is getting a quality education, being present in the classroom, helping our teachers teach all of our kids equally and not be a distraction. And these are things that are important to me.
Rico Figliolini 0:16:51
Staying with technology a little bit. High school level or STEM? Stem level. Lots of schools. I know there’s a elementary school here locally that wants to start. They’re doing the three year process to become a STEM elementary school, for example. The technology is important, right. AI as, even with chat GPT 4.0, which isn’t, I mean, I use it still not obviously where people saying it is, but you can still do certain things on it and it will continue to grow and change over the next year. These kids are going to be using it in college because at some point, even colleges have to accept that AI will be used in the school system, in the classrooms for a variety of things. How are you looking at that? How. It’s a challenge for private and public schools. Right? How are you looking at that? Where’s your viewpoint on that? Where would you like to see that go?
Steve Gasper 0:17:45
Yeah. For me, my belief is, obviously it’s here to stay. It’s inevitable. We know that AI is something that we as adults see on a daily basis, and our kids are being exposed to it through, through social media, and we have to embrace it. That’s, that’s really, that’s really it. We can’t, we can’t not live without it. We can’t not deal or, you know, operate without it. We know, you know, students, like you said, are using, you know, chat GPT. And, and we also know that, that teachers are, are also, you know, following up and using their own chat software to, to at least make sure their students understand what it is they’re doing and not just getting something written just because they want to turn it in for a grade. But I think that, and we’re seeing that happening, too. And our kids are very, very smart. Our students are extremely computer literate. My kids are a lot smarter on technology than a lot of my family members are, including some instances with me, too. But it’s important to embrace that this is our future. This is what they need to have to function.
Rico Figliolini 0:18:59
Does the school, and I don’t know this, but does the school system have a task force that’s dealing with this to be forward thinking about policy, how high school kids may be using it on paper or how the school system itself, how teachers can use it in a way because it’s being implemented through different companies, different industries. So is there an active development of looking at how things can work in this? Is that something that you think is worth funding? Because money has to come from somewhere.
Steve Gasper 0:19:34
I guess it does have to come from somewhere. No. And I know there is. They are actively researching this. They’re actively finding ways that this can be beneficial to our schools. We have a really good IT department. In fact, the school board just approved about 21 and a half million dollars in funding for the IT services for this coming school year. And so a lot of money is being given to that area. And I think, you know, we need to really focus on how we can use it in a beneficial way. Part of the IT team right now is trying to figure out how we can keep our kids off of malicious and salacious websites while in the school buildings or, you know, even on the school chromebooks. How do we figure out how to keep kids from. From watching the NCAA final four basketball tournament in the middle of the classroom, or gambling or playing poker or blackjack? You know, these are things that we need to resolve these issues. And. And I do know for a fact that the IT team is, is implementing some. Some changes in the upcoming school year that’s going to help help offset some of that, as well as bring AI into the end of the mix.
Rico Figliolini 0:20:48
Do you think digital learning days are. My kids went through, my youngest actually went through digital learning on Fridays. So four days in one day, remote, he was fine with it. He one of the few kids, I guess, that could do it and met deadlines and stuff. When they first implemented, it wasn’t that way. They had to keep sending out emails every Sunday night to make sure kids did their work and stuff.
Steve Gasper 0:21:15
Right.
Rico Figliolini 0:21:16
But it also, in a world where half the people or more are working, hybrid or remote, it almost makes sense to allow that sort of flexibility in there. Maybe. But do you see that as something that should be done across the school system and not just at certain schools? I don’t even know if it’s done at all schools, but, yeah.
Steve Gasper 0:21:38
So the GCPS calendar does implement digital learning days across the entire system. So all schools do participate in digital learning days. And I think there are reasons why they do it. A lot of them are teacher days. Just like you said, students can find some time, study on their own to learn on their own. And it’s not a whole lot of them that are on the calendar. But to your point, we are a society where I was in a hybrid work environment for a couple of years out of COVID And I know a lot of organizations are just now getting back to requiring employees to be back in office. So I think it’s a very delicate balance that we have to, that we have to walk with our, with our students, with, with especially the younger students, the elementary grades.
Rico Figliolini 0:22:37
Sure.
Steve Gasper 0:22:37
Because those are the ones that, that if it’s, if it’s not in person with a teacher and, and they don’t have someone at home to help direct them, like you said, it’s, it may not get done that day, and then they come into school the following day and they’re, they’re slightly behind. And what is that? What does that turn into?
Rico Figliolini 0:22:56
Right. And I totally agree with you. I think elementary school needs to be handled differently anyway, in some ways. Less on the testing and more on actually bringing up young people to understand the world and to be able to take responsibility and things. But that’s the way I feel about it. Invest more time in those five years and you will have a better student coming into middle school and then high school.
Steve Gasper 0:23:20
That’s correct. Yep.
Rico Figliolini 0:23:21
But you do need teachers. So that’s the other thing. Right? Teacher recruitment, retention, morale over the last several years has been a little low. Burnout rate. Teachers work in the public school system, all of a sudden decide, I’m done with that, I’m going to the private school system because it’s more money. It’s a little different. So how does the county, how can the county compete to recruit and then to retain those teachers? What are your thoughts on that?
Steve Gasper 0:23:52
Yeah, I mean, just, just as a whole, Rico, for me, teacher recruitment, retention and morale is, is a top priority for me. Being a former educator, being a former teacher, having spoken to a lot of teachers over the last many, many, many years, I could just tell that it’s down. And GCPS really has to do a better job of supporting our teachers and listening to them. That is the one thing that we’re struggling at is we’re not listening to those folks that are on the ground floor every day in the classroom, talking with parents, talking with, with administrators. They have wonderful ideas and we have to listen to these ideas and we have to see how we can implement them into our school day. And that is what’s going to help us retain good teachers. It’s going to help us recruit quality teachers, and it’s going to help improve morale. And that is we are not doing a good job. And I think, and a big part of it is the discipline issues. Teachers don’t feel like they’re being listened to. They don’t feel they have the proper control and the limits of control in their own individual classrooms. And when we’re not supporting that, teachers are. They’re not going to stick around. And I don’t blame them. Why would you? I mean, the last number I saw, latest data is over 30% of our current teacher base has zero to one year experience only. And we used to. In years past, we used to attract three, four, 5000 applicants to GCPS, recruiting, teacher recruitment, career days. And over the past couple of years, we were only getting 500, maybe 1000, maybe 1500. I know this year our teacher contracts are up, the signing of contracts are up, and that’s good. And we saw some recent pay raises, both from the governor and GCPS has offered pay increases to Gwinnett county public school teachers. But we still have to do better. I know Atlanta public schools has increased their pay for teachers, which I think a starting teacher coming in is over $60,000. The last calculator that I saw. And so. And of course, they exponentially give them more as they have different levels of degrees and certificates. But this is one thing. The teachers are the lifeblood of our school system. Without them, GCPs would cease to exist.
Rico Figliolini 0:26:24
I think part of the teacher problem or morale problem maybe also is part of something else that we all want, right? Parental involvement. We want parental involvement, but that’s a two edged sword, right? So you get parents that want to come in to discuss, well, my kid, why is he being disciplined and he shouldn’t be disciplined or my child, why is he looking. Why are they making him read this book? I don’t want him to read this book. It’s not to my beliefs or anything. The school system is broad. Right. Culture is broad. We’re broadening not only the culture of our students. I forget how many different nationalities are represented in this county, how many languages.
Steve Gasper 0:27:14
Yeah, there are about 98 different. I think students hail from about 98 different countries. Yeah.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:21
So quite a bit of that going on. English as second language, different genders, people identifying in different genders as well, LGBT, you, society, we have to have good places for everyone. Right. Diverse communities to be equal.
Steve Gasper 0:27:37
Right.
Rico Figliolini 0:27:40
But when you get parents coming in sometimes on that other side of that sort, if you will, that says, I don’t want that here. Well, I don’t want my kids being exposed to certain culture or certain things that go on LGBTQ or stuff. How do you attend to that and make sure that everyone is, you know, treated equally and that the school system works for everyone.
Steve Gasper 0:28:05
Yeah. And that is, that is our, that is our job as a school system is to. Is to be welcoming to every single person that walks through the front door. And, you know, another piece of my platform was safe and inclusive schools. And, and, you know, regardless of your, your, your background, your, your beliefs, your, your, you know, how you identify, we need to. We need to accept all people. That that’s just, that’s just stand up story. There’s. There should be no question about it. I am. I am certainly in full support of that. And I know GCPS, you know, does, does a good job when it comes to certain things that students or parents that are involved feel that. That their student shouldn’t learn. Specifically when it comes to certain aspects of the sex education program, depending that grade level, parents have the opportunity to opt their kids out for whatever reasons that they have. And I think that’s acceptable. But we, society right now has really come to a point where this is all on the forefront and it’s in the news and the media is talking about it. You know, we need to stop making it as scary as it is, because it really isn’t. At the end of the day, it’s not. It’s. We’re all, we’re all individuals. Regardless of who you are, how you identify, we’re all individuals. God put us on this earth to love, to love everyone equally. And I’m a church going man and I truly believe that.
Rico Figliolini 0:29:38
Good. Yeah, because there are certain people out there that, you know, it’s good that the system lets you opt out of certain things because this way you can, you can continue on with the way you want to be, but everyone else can also learn the way they would like to learn.
Steve Gasper 0:29:54
Absolutely.
Rico Figliolini 0:29:55
And it becomes difficult. I know my wife at one point, I think there was a book selection committee. I think every so often they do this in the school, but she was part of that committee and she had to read certain books to see if that would be suitable for the classroom. Right. But it’s interesting how other people may look at it and say, you know, I didn’t read that book. I read the synopsis or something. No, I don’t think it’s appropriate. And so the. I don’t know. Sometimes when there’s certainly an age level. Right. There should be an age level. What’s appropriate, maybe. But I think the school system has to, you should be able to pull out a book, especially if you’re in a high school and even middle school to a degree. Right. Be able to pull out a book and say it’s not censored or it’s not. Yes, it’s open to be able to be used because kids need to know that they’re going to go into a higher level education ignorant of things. Doesn’t make sense to me.
Steve Gasper 0:30:56
Yeah, no, I fully agree. People talk about, well, these books don’t belong in our schools. These books don’t belong in our libraries. I don’t believe in banning speech. I don’t believe in banning books, but I do believe that they should be put in age appropriate sections for our kids. There’s no reason why elementary kids should be accessing books that are age appropriate for high school kids and even junior high kids. There’s no reason we need to at least have some protections in place for our kids. But outright removing books and eliminating them, I don’t agree with that because it infers on you your right to free speech.
Rico Figliolini 0:31:41
I think we do that in a variety of places. Right. You go to a movie, it’s PG 13 or R rated or whatever, G rated. So I mean, we do that in society in a few different ways, which is somewhat reasonable. Right. So. And not all of us follow those rules, but they’re guide, their guide rails is what they are. Right.
Steve Gasper 0:31:59
Right.
Rico Figliolini 0:32:00
My kid may be mature enough to do a PG 13 when he was ten because of the nature of that movie, let’s say. But maybe someone else’s kid is not mature enough to do that. You know, it just depends on the student, I guess.
Steve Gasper 0:32:13
That’s right.
Rico Figliolini 0:32:15
Have we left out anything? I mean, there’s tons to go. We could have went through standardized testing or other things like that. Is there anything particular that you’d like to hit on that we haven’t touched on? Steve?
Steve Gasper 0:32:30
No, I think, I think you, I think you did a pretty, a pretty far reaching interview and had some, had some phenomenal questions and, you know, hard pressing on hard pressing issues that are important to our parents, to our community, to our schools. And, you know, I think it was a great opportunity for me to talk through my responses and let people know where I’m coming from and, and know that I’m going to do the best that I can if I’m lucky enough to get elected.
Rico Figliolini 0:33:00
Sounds good. So then what I ask of you right now is to give the audience a one or two minute, call it an elevator speech, if you will, ask for the vote, tell them why they should vote for you, where they can find that information and anything else you want to say about the mechanism of voting on June 18 or before. So go ahead.
Steve Gasper 0:33:21
Yeah, no, excellent. Thank you. Thank you, Rico. So again, I think selecting the right person for this job, you have to look at all aspects of background and experience. And for me, being a former classroom teacher to a current small business owner, to 23 plus years in the corporate space, developing business acumen, being an involved community member for the last four years at all levels of the schools and interacting with hundreds and hundreds of people, and as well as, you know, being out. Being out and just talking to people, I think is truly important when you’re considering who to vote for in this race. It is. This is a highly critical election. And, you know, we need someone in there that’s going to be strong and be able to collaborate with other school board members. Because, again, this is not all about me. This is the. This is we. I’m just one of five on that, on that, on the school board. And, you know, part of. Part of, you know, part of getting to a point in time is collaborating with your fellow school board members. And I’ve worked with other school board members trying to build bridges. In the event that I do get elected, I know I’m going to have to work and negotiate with them as well. So. And it is our job to manage the employment of the superintendent. And if he is not doing his job, you have to be strong enough to. To stand up and say, you are not doing these things as what was written out, and we have to address it. So again, I’m Steve Gasper. June 18 is our runoff election day. Early voting does start this weekend, on Saturday at four early voting locations, and the other six early voting locations open Monday next week and go through the 15th. I am asking for your vote to continue the great work that I’ve been doing in Gwinnett county over the past four years to bring fresh ideas to the school board and to be that person that can work in a collaborative space amongst the other four school board members while holding the superintendent accountable and having an open mind to the rest of the community, including our teachers and those that support those that teach. My website is votestevegasper.com. If you’d like to learn more right from there, you can. You can send me a message, and I’d love your vote if when you get to the ballot box on June 18.
Rico Figliolini 0:35:51
Thank you for sharing that. Everyone else, Steve, hang in there with me for a second. But everyone else, thank you for being with us. Feel free to share this. You’ll find this video podcast on, on YouTube, our Facebook pages, Twitter, and it’ll be posted in other places. The audio podcast will be on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get that as well. So thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.
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