Blythe City Councilwoman Judy Cordova has asked Gov. Brian Kemp to suspend Councilman Daniel Martin who faces pending charges of vote-buying and providing alcohol to a minor in exchange for a vote.
Cordova’s letter to Kemp reads, in part, “We expect our elected officials to observe the law. That includes election laws. We don’t expect to see our elected officials intimidating people at the polls.”
The charges against Martin stem from the contested 2018 race for mayor of Blythe that current Mayor Phillip Stewart won. The vote was challenged in court by Stewart’s opponent, Cynthia Parham, when Martin was indicted for voter fraud.
Martin was also accused of using his truck to limit access to the Blythe City Hall polling place and placing supporters at the entrance on election day as a means of intimidation. Richmond County Elections Board Director Lynn Bailey was forced to intervene and make Martin move his truck.
The case went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court, which found there was no evidence that the alleged vote-buying swayed the election enough to make a difference. It allowed Stewart to remain in office.
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When forced to testify in the case, Martin repeatedly invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.
That same year, Martin ran for city council and after a second election due to a tie, lost to Cordova by three votes. Martin ran again in 2020 still while under indictment and won.
Cordova said that at first she thought there was nothing she could do about the matter of having an indicted councilman until she read where the Governor suspended Waynesboro Mayor Gregory Carswell who was charged with identity theft and fraud as well as Augusta Commissioner Sammie Sias who was indicted for alleged evidence tampering and lying to the FBI.
“The charges of vote-buying are serious enough, but I have grandkids, and I don’t think we need someone who buys alcohol for kids sitting on the city council,” Cordova said.
Martin has also faced criticism for racist and homophobic posts he made on social media. One post referred to Muslims as “third world filth,” another post proclaimed “homosexuality kills” and yet another post he described rap artist Eminem using a racial slur.
There are also photographs of Martin shared on Twitter that show him marching behind a Confederate battle flag, which has become for many a symbol of white supremacy.
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Cardova said she found it incredible that Martin was ever elected to office given his troubled past.
“Well, he removed those Facebook posts, so a lot of people never saw them. To be honest, most folks in Blythe don’t really pay that much attention to social media. I think that if people knew he was a white supremist, they would never have voted for him,” Cordova said.
The case against Martin has been bogged down in the court system for nearly three years.
Originally, Augusta District Attorney Natalie Paine was to prosecute the case but it was delayed, like many others, due to the pandemic. Once the current district attorney, Jared Williams, was elected, the case hit another roadblock as Williams was acting as Martin’s defense attorney before being elected.
The conflict of interest forced Williams to refer prosecution to the Georgia Attorney General’s office.
As was the case with Sias, the governor can appoint a committee to make a recommendation as to whether or not to suspend Martin and allow the city council the ability to select an interim replacement.
Martin could not be reached for comment.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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