Cupid Promises on Cityhood fall by the wayside

With a tumultuous year under her belt as chair, Lisa Cupid’s promises to the voting public of Cobb County when she was candidate Cupid are disappearing right before the eyes of voters who took her for her word. Citizens are witnessing promises after promises falling by the wayside since she took the top job and became Chairwoman Cupid. 

Cupid’s appearance before the House Governmental Affairs Committee at the Gold Dome underscored the latest promise to be kicked to the ‘proverbial curb’ by Cupid and this time it is on cityhood.

Voters will recall that Cupid campaigned for Cobb Chair on the promise that she would allow ‘citizens’ from the communities seeking cityhood to decide their own fate on the four cityhood movements. Now that the state governing bodies are back in session and cityhood is a topic that is percolating, Cupid showed her true colors and intentions last week when she made an appearance before the committee to speak against cityhood. The voting public of Cobb is waking up and realizing that promises made by Cupid were just sound bites – for the moment – to lull citizens into voting for her.  

Cupid, who has earned a much-deserved reputation over her first year for not showing up at the offices of Cobb County government – contrary to the office hours kept by her predecessors – decided she would leave the comforts of her new home to travel to the capitol to tell representatives how she felt about Cityhood. Please recall that we learned several weeks ago from a member of the Cobb Delegation that Cupid and her Board had failed to reach out to him on the all important topic of transportation needs for Cobb County. Yet, here she was at the Gold Dome on the topic of cityhood. 

To explain away her appearance at the capitol – instead of being in her office conducting County business – Cupid foolishly claimed her presence before the committee was in the interest of “providing due diligence to the citizens of (east Cobb), as well as to the entire county.”

Citizens we spoke with questioned why Cupid thought that going to the capitol to talk to that state body was a good idea, instead of coming to the people of Cobb and ‘telling us that she had misled us on this issue’?

Well, we can say she got what was coming to her as the committee grilled her on the subject of cityhood. Similarly, to the citizens we spoke with, State Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, did not take Cupid on her word for being before the body and grilled her about cityhood with the conversation going like this:

Fleming asked: If this legislature and the governor allows the people of east Cobb to vote on whether or not they’re going to be a city, are you going to campaign against it?”

Cupid replied, “Sir, I’m here to support everyone in Cobb County, and I’m here to make sure that accurate and complete information is provided.”

Fleming: “So the answer is you will campaign against it.”

Cupid: “That is not the answer. As I shared with you, I am here to make sure I serve all the citizens of Cobb County. Let me be very clear — city or county, you always have multiple people on a variety of sides of a matter. My role is to serve all citizens of Cobb County. To do anything that undermines some facet of our Cobb County, that directly would undermine my ability to serve them.”

Fleming: “So you’re in opposition to the bill, correct?”

Cupid: “I don’t believe I’ve stated that, sir.”

Fleming: “I’m asking.”

Cupid: “Sir, again, I’m in opposition to a bill being passed that has not been made clear, where information is inaccurate or incomplete for our voters to make a wise decision.”

Fleming: “Does that include this bill?”

Cupid: “Yes, sir. At this time, it does.”

Notwithstanding Cupid’s attempted meddling, the effort to create a new city of East Cobb, sponsored by state Rep. Matt Dollar, a Republican who represents the area, cleared a key legislative hurdle on Thursday, setting the stage for a possible voter referendum in November 2022.

If House Bill 841 is ultimately passed by both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly and signed into law, it would give voters a chance to incorporate what would become Cobb County’s third largest city, with a population of over 50,000 residents. Supporters of the cityhood movement said it would give them local control over issues they care about — chiefly zoning and redevelopment, although the city would also provide police, fire and code enforcement services.

The bill passed the House Governmental Affairs Committee with bipartisan support, over the objections of Cobb County officials, including Cupid, who requested more time to study what it would mean for county services. Several Democrats, including cronies  of Cupid, opposed the measure as they questioned whether the city would provide fair representation to those who live there.

Many of the communities pushing for cityhood say local representation is very important to give credible representation to their communities and that they should be allowed to decide their fate, not politicians. Members of the Cobb delegation who had been supportive of cityhood and wrote legislation in support of cityhood for these communities are now mum. Some in the community say they have had their wings clipped by Cupid, but their silence or reversal on this issue will not stop their push to have their community decide their fate. Several are up for re-election or seeking other offices. Citizens say they look forward to the dance these politicians will do on the issue of cityhood when they go before the same voters to ask them for their support and their vote. 

Citizens in Cobb say Cupid’s flip flop on cityhood is her desire to hold on to power and she is using every trick in the book to prevent it from occurring, including foolishly going before the state committee to speak against cityhood in Cobb.