Fulton County, Georgia, is at the center of the news cycle right now. First, District Attorney Fani Willis brought RICO charges against Young Thug, YSL and Donald Trump, which led to the first-ever mug shot being taken of a former U.S. president. Now, a Fulton County commissioner is embroiled in a sex scandal.
In federal court, Commissioner Natalie Hall admitted to having sex with her former chief of staff, Calvin Brock, in her office. County commissioners voted 5-to-1 to censure Hall. During the public comment period, a citizen performed a song mocking the relationship.
So, a Fulton County Commissioner was outted for having a sexual relationship w/ her Chief of Staff after they broke up & it was learned she put a tracking device on his car.
If that was not enough to show that Atlanta is an unreal & unsophisticated place—Public Comment today… pic.twitter.com/8awIGX7kJ2
— Wiley D (@BrotherInLawATL) September 7, 2023
Wild start to this meeting! A citizen sings during public comments before Fulton County commissioners decide whether to publicly censure Commissioner Natalie Hall who’s being sued by her former Chief of Staff Calvin Brock for sexual harassment. @ATLNewsFirst pic.twitter.com/APatGxJNkM
— Rebekka Schramm (@Rebekka_Schramm) September 6, 2023
State Sen. Sonya Halpern, an Atlanta Democrat who represents District 39 in the Georgia Legislature, spoke to rolling out about how she focuses on her job amid Fulton County scandals and more.
Fulton County is in the news right now with headlines about Donald Trump, DA Fani Willis, and Commissioner Natalie Hall, who’s been accused of being in an inappropriate relationship. With all that attention, how do you continue to focus on your job?
I keep the main thing the main thing. A lot of that other stuff is chatter in the background, and it can be a distraction. But for those of us who are intent on doing our jobs, we are focused on the actual work. And the rest of that stuff will sort itself out. But it is not where the attention is going to be for the people who are actually trying to make good things happen.
What is something you’re trying to push through on a state legislative level right now?
One of my strategic pillars really is around wealth, creating an inclusive economy and economic mobility. So I’m doing a lot of work around that. That also directly relates to workforce development and education.
Those are the areas I’m focused on now because if you can support yourself and your family, that’s the foundation. From there, things can get easier. For me, it’s an inclusive economy, so Georgia is set up to be the equitable, diverse and prosperous state it is and it really can be even more.
Communities United for Justice, a new advocacy collective, held a meeting today to go over some of its intentions. How did that go?
It was great. I think we are really launching something that’s going to be phenomenal and make a difference for the community to actually work together in order to get some major changes happening and underway in our state in all of the areas that are most important to the people, and especially in our communities that have been underserved historically.
