Activist groups opposed to the new Georgia election law moved their protest this week from the Augusta National Golf Club to the Waynesboro Courthouse where they demanded that Barry Fleming be fired as Burke County attorney.
The protesters ultimately did not achieve a victory in their quest.
Well over 100 people attended the Burke County Commission meeting in a peaceful protest of the 2021 election law. They demanded Flemming be fired because he sponsored the bill.
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The Burke County Attorney Barry Fleming is also the 121st District Georgia State Representative Barry Fleming who sponsored the House election bill 531 that passed earlier this year. The Republican-backed tightens restrictions on absentee voting and places limits on early voting.
Opponents of the new law say it disenfranchises minority voters while proponents say it fills the gaps to stop fraud when it comes to casting absentee and mail in ballots.
So far, protests against the bill have been directed at Georgia corporations that have publicly opposed the measures, but now the protesters are going after Fleming personally by showing up at a Burke County Commission meeting and demanding his ousting as the county government’s attorney of record.
Gayla Keesee of The Peoples Agenda, a local political action group that helped organize the protest, made it clear that the group’s aim was to hit Fleming in his pocketbook, as Fleming’s firm handles the routine business for many rural counties in southeast Georgia.
“He makes hundreds of thousands of dollars representing all these counties, and he is not representing the people, his very own people. He should be fired,” Keesee said.
Keesee identified herself as a resident of Richmond County, not Burke County.
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Michael Searles, coordinator of the Burke County Voter Project said that he feels that Fleming stabbed voters in the back.
“This law is a grievous attack on democracy,” Searles said. “I think the Republicans wanted to do this in the shadows, hoping it would go unnoticed. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
Searles also blamed Fleming, as sponsor of the bill, for causing the atmosphere where Georgia lost its host site in Atlanta for the Major League Baseball All Stars Game of which he said was a $150 million dollar loss for the city of Atlanta.
“Is that the last shoe to drop in Georgia?” Searles asks, “How much money is Georgia willing to lose?”
On Tuesday, the protestors gathered in Waynesboro, holding signs outside the Courthouse, then peacefully filed into the building where two speakers were allowed to take the dais. The Commission declined to take any action in firing their longtime attorney.
Meanwhile, Fleming clarified to The Augusta Press that his private law firm, Fleming and Nelson LLP, acts on a “case by case” basis in most instances with county governments and his firm’s relationship with government-based clients remain in good standing.
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“We recently stopped working in Hancock County, but that was a mutual decision between us and the county and really nothing more,” Fleming said, adding, “our law firm works with anywhere from eight to 12 county governments when needed.”
Fleming said he supports the protests even though they are directed at him personally. “I totally support the right for people to protest the government peacefully and I hope it leads to more dialogue about the law,” Fleming said.
Scott Hudson is the Editorial Page Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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