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March 23, 2024 - Stew Peters Show
54:01
JESUS. GUNS. AND BABIES. w/ Joanna Hildreth, Alex Johnson and Catherine Bernard
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Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Jesus, Guns, and Babies.
I'm your host, Dr.
Candace Taylor.
I have an awesome show tonight.
I have three guests.
It's going to be fun.
You just can't wait.
It's going to be awesome.
We're going to start with 1 Samuel 1750.
David defeated Goliath with a sling and a rock.
He killed him without even using a sword.
David ran over and pulled out Goliath's sword and then he used it to cut off Goliath's head.
So I thought that was a fitting scripture for what we're going to talk about tonight because we're going to talk about defeating the enemy Of fake Republicans.
So welcome to the show.
I have Joanna Hildreth, who is the chairman of Catoosa County GOP. I have Alex Johnson and Catherine Bernard.
They're wonderful attorneys.
I think they're the best in the state.
And they are together in a law firm, Bernard and Johnson law firm.
And so welcome to Jesus Guns and Babies.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us on.
So, let's talk about kind of why we're meeting, because we're going to talk about something that's been happening in Catoosa, and it was with qualifications.
We had qualifications for our Republican candidates last week, but this has kind of been going on for several weeks for you, and so I don't know who wants to start.
Maybe, Joanna, since it's your county and you kind of set this whole thing into motion, if you can kind of tell the people what happened to bring us to this point.
Sure.
So for years here in Catoosa County, we have been dealing with and disappointed by Republicans who run for office and then once they're elected, they do not uphold the Republican platform.
Time and again, they have voted for things or taken other actions in office that have frustrated the very Republican voters here in Catoosa.
So, our county committee, which is full of America First loving county committee members, decided to implement qualification procedural rules that really just Outline what we already had the ability to do and just had never, the party had never put into practice.
Okay, I want to stop you in just a second because I want people to understand what we're talking about.
We're talking about a very red county.
You're in Northwest Georgia.
You're Colton Morris District, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
You know, you're in the most conservative part of the state.
And you're saying that people who have been running in your county, and it's not just your county, I know there was, you know, next door to you and other counties that had done the same thing and were having the same issues, they're calling themselves a Republican, but their voting record is very liberal.
It's very left-leaning.
And so these are the people you're talking about.
And if I could get Alex or Catherine, one, before we move on, Joanna, to say what is the Requirement or what do we have right to do?
Because I know in state convention we talked about doing an accountability rule, but in reality we already have that in place.
Is that right, Alex?
Kind of explain for the people, if you can, what we have the right to do as a party.
Yeah, so the Republican Party and all political parties have, under the First Amendment of the Constitution, freedom of association.
You can associate with who you want, or, as the Supreme Court of the U.S. has ruled, you can also have the right to not associate with people who do not share your values, specifically and especially candidates.
So we already had the right.
The whole reason for having an accountability rule type thing with the state party would be to make it so that only the largest group of the delegates could influence it on a statewide level.
But county committees by state law already have the ability to set up rules in order to make sure the people running in their counties are actually going to be Republicans.
I mean, county parties run qualification.
Catherine, do you have anything you want to throw in there?
Yes, and so that's the important thing to note about what Catoosa GOP is doing is they have set out some procedural rules.
They followed all of the procedures for their elected committee to change the rules of the local party.
They provided notice to everyone of it.
And of course, it's all through a process that's open to every voter in Catoosa County.
So they have changed the procedural rules of their party.
To make it clear that individuals need a qualifying affidavit from the county committee in order to qualify as a Republican for a county position.
So we're not saying that they can't run.
We're not saying, you know, they're access to the ballot.
We're just saying you cannot use our name, the Republican brand, if you do not meet the qualifications of being a Republican.
That's absolutely right, Candace.
And it is important to note that of the four individuals who tried to get qualifying affidavits in Catoosa County and did not, three of them are incumbents, and so they have automatic ballot access to be on the ballot.
And the other one has run for office many times before, and so he would certainly have access to the ballot as an independent through the petition process.
So nobody is being kept off of the ballot.
It's just a matter of who runs with the Republican label.
So, I think that's fair enough.
So, Joanna, let's go back.
So, you are the chairman of the party in Catoosa County, and you are the gatekeeper, and you are the one who leads and decides this is what we're going to do moving forward.
So, your team met, and what did you decide to do?
Yes, our county committee met, and it was very much a group decision.
The rules that we have in place now, as Alex stated, and Catherine also, require that in order to qualify with us during the qualifying week, the candidates have to have received an affidavit approving them for qualification, and that affidavit is obtained by A majority vote of the county committee.
That's how the candidates get that affidavit.
And so you did that.
And how did you give them notice that you were kind of changing things this year?
Well, we put it in the paper with our qualifying notice that we had all the rules in there.
We also filed the rules with our elections director at the beginning of February.
And she sent those rules out to all of the incumbents, and I notified people that had declared that they were claimed to run for office.
So we tried to get it out to everybody.
Plus, it was in the paper, and we left copies there at the elections office too, so anybody new coming in, they were able to have that.
So it wasn't, you didn't have anything, any really pushback at that point?
There was no red flags?
No pushback.
Nobody contacted us with any problems, so we just proceeded as planned.
We also put out some press releases welcoming people to come and speak with us about running for office.
We were trying to reach out to conservatives in the county, so it was a very welcoming process.
And we held some interviews for people who wanted us to get to know them better.
And every single one of the candidates did come and interview with us.
So I was curious.
So the ones that were already incumbents or the ones that were not allowed on, did they have an attitude when they came?
Or were they kind of okay with the process?
Or how did y'all feel about that?
They were very friendly.
It was a very good...
And we were friendly to them.
And they didn't seem to have an issue with it until the next week.
So, your team met.
Y'all interviewed.
Y'all did this.
And then you...
Gave them their qualification paperwork.
What did you call it?
Not an affidavit.
Was it an affidavit?
It was an affidavit.
Okay.
And they took it to take with them to the elections office to qualify.
Well, actually, we were conducting qualifying not at the elections office because of the early voting for the presidential preference primary.
So we had the affidavits and we had notified our approved candidates And as they came to qualify, then we added the affidavit to the rest of their qualification paperwork.
So the ones that did not get the qualification affidavit, did they show up to qualify to and they didn't have the paperwork?
They did show up to qualify, but there was no affidavit for them, so they were not allowed to qualify.
Because also, per our rules, if anybody in the party made any attempt to qualify someone that did not have an affidavit, then that person was considered to have resigned immediately, and any actions they took to qualify someone who had not received an affidavit were considered null and void.
Interesting.
So, when did you realize it was going to be a problem?
When the first ones came in to qualify on Monday, and they brought attorneys with them.
Wow.
So they came in with attorneys.
And I knew something, because I received text messages from some of our friends, we have mutual friends, saying pray.
So I was praying during this whole week, praying that y'all would not be arrested.
Praying that nothing would happen crazy.
And I want to get into that and kind of the process of what went down, because people need to understand that Our government is supposed to be a constitutional republic and a representative democracy and we elect people to represent us and if you don't represent us and you just lie and say that you do but you don't meet the republican brand then that's our right.
You heard the attorneys.
We don't have to let you run with our name.
And so it's interesting that our government that's already in place thinks that they can Just strip that away from us.
That's why I wanted to have y'all on here so bad, because this is one more, one more way they're trying to take our freedom.
But this is huge.
This is a huge story.
This is a huge thing that happened, and it really, it could change everything, I feel like.
Been digging into this and researching it and hearing about it and then talking with Alex and hearing Katherine talk a while ago, but talking to her before even at the convention about accountability and what that would look like.
This is really, really big, Joanna.
It's really big.
And I know, and I want you to talk through the process and kind of the motions you went through because, I mean, you didn't back down.
I was like, golly, Joanna is one of me.
She did not stop.
So, and kind of go through the process, and even, I mean, I guess you probably reached out to Alex and Catherine at some point to get guidance from them, and maybe y'all just tell the timeline of kind of how things unfolded.
Well, that day, Monday, that the ones, most of our candidates came in to qualify that day, so there were some that were not approved, so that they did not have the affidavit, and They left.
They didn't qualify.
And then the next morning, another one came in or one of them came in again and had a court order that they had obtained that morning in a hearing that we hadn't been served for.
So I might let Alex pick up from here because with all the legal stuff at this point and then I'll fill in again.
Yeah, apparently they had an ex parte hearing, meaning there was no notice to Joanna or the GOP on Tuesday morning, getting a temporary restraining order, which is...
Typically, what you would hear about regarding, you know, violence and immediate threats like that, they got one of those, which we found out later in the petition for it, they said that the county party had not filed any rules with the election office, even though we know that was untrue.
And the petitioners put that under oath in a verified pleading.
But they got an order that way.
And then...
And Joanna and the people there continued to just not qualify them.
And then we moved.
Catherine and I and another attorney, David Olds, got involved and filed to get the restraining order quashed and their petition dismissed.
A hearing was set down later in the week.
The judge...
had read what we had filed and then kept saying in the order that the party was restrained from prohibiting the qualification of the candidates, which is a weird way of doing it, which I think is due to the fact that I think that the which I think is due to the fact that I think that the other side knows that they can't order a political party to That's unconstitutional.
So I think the other side, when drafting the orders, is trying to play a game to threaten and bully the Katusa GOP into caving.
But that didn't happen.
So basically, Alex, what I'm hearing you say, and I mean, Catherine, you might want to jump in here too.
I'm trying to understand, just from a normal person, not knowing all this legal stuff.
So the way they worded it was like bullying, but they couldn't demand that they qualify them because they know it's unconstitutional.
But they kind of did demand it, but it was the way they worded it.
Yes.
I mean, Catherine may have other insight on putting that, but I think the way you put it right now, Candace, is accurate.
Like, that's what they were trying to do.
They're threatening...
I mean, the fines are still on the table of, you know, thousands upon thousands of dollars.
They were threatening jail time, and that could still happen due to, like, the contempt charge.
I mean, we have the case on appeal right now.
We think...
I mean, it seems as if the...
The other side violated the law by qualifying without being approved by the party, but that's where it is right now.
It's a very odd situation where it seems like the system is trying to help these non-Republicans qualify as Republicans.
Okay, so wait, so they did qualify?
Like, the judge qualified them?
So the judge, the last order the judge entered, which may or may not be valid since we already filed a motion, a notice of appeal ahead of time, which is supposed to stop, oftentimes stops the case, the judge issued an order saying that the candidates could go qualify with the election board.
Even though the election board wasn't a party to the suit, which is normally necessary, and I would argue that that's a violation of state law.
You can't have the election board qualify someone as a Republican if the party's doing qualifying.
And it even sort of says it in the order that it's not following the law.
So...
That if I were those candidates, I would have rather probably qualified as an independent than the risk that they're currently under of not being on the ballot at all.
And that's right.
So what happened after that first order on Tuesday and hearing that we had on Thursday after our side had filed some responsive motions to try to quash this temporary restraining order, the judge entered another order You know, again, with this double negative of restraining the KATUSA GOP from prohibiting the qualification of these individuals.
And this is where the judge got very, you know, I would say aggressive in talking about jail time, thousands of dollars in fines racking up by the hour, and ordered that deputies accompany the candidates to the qualifying location in order to ensure that they qualified.
And so that's what was happening on Thursday afternoon of qualifying week, March 7th.
And again, the members of the Katoosa GOP held strong and did not violate the rules of their party.
They, you know, declined to qualify people who didn't have the qualifying affidavit.
The judge had then set a compliance hearing for Friday morning.
And this is where, you know, our brave folks from the Catoosa GOP showed up, you know, not knowing if they were going to be taken into custody.
And I mean, we're talking about upstanding members of the Catoosa County community who volunteer hundreds of hours for candidates doing the work of the Republican Party in Catoosa County.
And fortunately, the judge backed way off of the threat of incarceration.
And that's when he entered the order that Alex is talking about, which, you know, I've been kind of calling it an imaginary world order.
Because it says it is as if the county party had not provided notice of qualifications, which of course Joanna and the Katoosa GOP had, and as if the Board of Elections had provided the required three-day notice for qualifications, which of course they hadn't because the party had done it as they were supposed to.
So under this imaginary circumstance, that's how these individuals were allowed to qualify as Republicans.
I'm just blown away that the judge took the power from the people, which people mean the party.
The party is the people, just like the church is the people, right?
So we're volunteers.
We run the party.
We're our own political group.
And they took the power away.
That's like saying the government runs our political party.
That is exactly what is...
If this is allowed to stand, and I personally don't think it will be, but if it's allowed to stand, as you said earlier, it would be a radical change.
It would be a change where the political parties are subservient to the government, that they are responsible, and we just sort of have a fake system where the parties are controlled by the government.
Because if the government can force parties to associate with people, then...
I mean, it's all a sham.
It's all a game of theater where whoever has the money gets to buy a primary and then end up on the ballot and then say that they're whatever party that they can get elected for in their district.
It is terrifying if this is upheld, and I don't think it will be.
I mean, there is clear Supreme Court case law saying that political parties have a right of freedom of association.
I mean, is this the hill they wanna die on?
Because I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, you know, We have the election fraud.
We know all that.
We've seen all the backroom deals and all the things that were going on and they're pretending like we have a constitutional republic.
You know, we know we can't do a grand jury because they won't allow us to and the DA's get in the way even though we're supposed to be able to have a grand jury because they're supposed to be what is actually fair and not controlled by anybody except the people.
So we're seeing this onion like layers peeled off of how the government is in control of every facet and we didn't know.
We've never had to do these things so we didn't know that we couldn't, right?
Because we're supposed to be able to.
So they're showing us time and time again that we can't do what we're supposed to be able to do in a free country.
And I really think that they better stop right now and understand if they take away our political party and the volunteerism and the heart behind that and the aspect that we're in control of that and what we stand for, if they take that away, it's a total facade and we know it.
It's just like chess pieces that they're just moving around and manipulating.
It feels like we're in the Hunger Games.
It feels like we're in this utopian society.
It's crazy.
I can't even believe we're having this conversation.
Joanna, I want to go back to when you realized that you could be arrested.
First they send attorneys, then they send police officers.
It's like one thing, let's see how much pressure we can apply.
Talk us through those emotions and the emotions of your committee that was there.
What was going on?
Well, the first we caught wind of that being a possibility, you know, arrest being a possibility, was I think Wednesday.
I received a phone call from someone who had spoken with someone who had been in a courtroom with the judge, and the judge had mentioned if they don't qualify, Those candidates today, I'm going to have them arrested.
Now, that was just something someone called me and told me about.
So it wasn't anything that I had heard personally.
But just hearing that, because that wasn't something that I had considered, that really was kind of a gut punch.
And the rest of that day, Wednesday, We all wondered, is this something that's about to happen to us?
So then Thursday, we go to the court and to the hearing, and the judge did, as Catherine mentioned, he listed arrest, jail time, as a possible consequence of not qualifying them.
So when we went Thursday, since we did not qualify the four people who did not have the affidavit, we went into court Friday morning,
all six of us who are named in that, thinking we may walk out of here and have to go to jail instead of go back over to qualify more candidates.
Because qualifying was still open.
We were working qualifying every day, and we didn't know where we were going to be going once that hearing was over Friday morning.
We all got ready knowing that we could be going to jail.
But those other five women, they're amazing.
We all, we put on our patriotic clothes, our Trump gear, our CATUSA GOP shirts, and We went to court.
I was going to say, I didn't have to go to jail.
I was sitting there thinking, you know, I want to tell you, this is crazy, but the night that I was swatted, I didn't know why they were coming.
Like, I had no idea why these police were around my house.
Didn't know there was a fake call.
Didn't know.
And so I just got out of the shower and my 18-year-old, he was like, Mama, there's police all around the car, around the house.
And I thought, they're coming to arrest me.
I don't know why they would arrest me.
I've never broken a law, but...
You know, and so I'm looking through my underwear drawer, all right, because I got my towel on, and I'm thinking, what underwear is the most conservative underwear do I have?
Because I might be in jail, like, down to my underwear.
I don't want to be embarrassed, you know?
And I'm digging through my underwear, and I've had this one pair of underwear in my head I wanted, and I couldn't find it.
And, I mean, I remember my son saying, Mama!
You're taking forever.
I'm like, hold on a second.
And so I remember having that thought in my head about you've got to make sure your undergarments are right because I didn't know why they were at my house.
So I know those are the kind of thoughts that were going through your head.
It's trauma.
It is traumatic to not know and you think I haven't done anything wrong but they could arrest me for just doing what's right.
That it's the system our government set up, but they could arrest me for that.
I mean, it's traumatic.
Yes.
Yes, it was for all of us.
And that's why I'm just so amazed by the bravery of all those women.
I am too.
Honestly, it's amazing.
And thank y'all for not backing down and not being a coward because it's much easier just to give in.
And that's what they counted on.
They counted on you giving in.
It's like Alex said, bullies.
It certainly seems so.
I mean, they tried for four days and then when we didn't, they went around us.
And I just, I think Why would they have tried so hard for the party to qualify if they thought that this was something that was a legal route all along?
That's what I don't understand.
Why didn't they just do that from the beginning if that was something that was so easy to do?
Alex, what do you think about that?
What are your thoughts?
My thoughts are exactly what Joanna just said, which is that if they could do it legally, they would have just done it.
But I think that what went on is that if a political party qualifies someone, I think that The candidates could feel a lot safer, because even if there's some sort of legal appellate process, a lot of judges would turn around and say, well, the party qualified them, so that was the party's choice.
And I think that that is exactly what they were hoping would happen.
I think they were hoping the ladies of the Caduceus GOP were just going to be afraid and turn around and say, okay, fine, we'll qualify them and deal...
Deal with it later, but at that point, it may have been better for those RINO candidates.
I just don't see how the orders are not going to get overturned on appeal.
I frankly don't understand how that could happen based on U.S. Supreme Court precedent, but we'll see.
So have y'all received a lot of press about this, like big press?
Because I don't understand how this is not national news because this is huge.
Well, we did get a little bit of international attention on this from a DeKalb County blogger turned journalist for The Guardian who reached out to us Friday afternoon before publishing his negative piece.
And so that was what was interesting because this blogger happens to be, you know, socialist, communist, pretty openly leftist.
And so we thought that was a pretty interesting alliance that was coming up of these Frankly, RINO candidates in Catoosa County, which is, as we've noted, a hard-read Republican county, and socialist left-leaning folks from the metro area.
So that alliance, I think, really tells you who is on which side here.
There are certain people who want the government to be able to exercise control over individuals and their political choices, and You know, then there's the other side, the people who like freedom and who like freedom of association.
And, you know, this has been cast again as trying to keep people off the ballot, which it's not.
No, absolutely not.
Not ballot access.
And I think, just for your listeners, I think there's an important big picture here, too, to think about.
So you have the people locally who are not able to trick voters anymore by running as Republican.
Like, they obviously are going to be bothered.
And then you have the Democrats, who are clearly, the Democratic Party is going to want to attack anything like this just to make Republicans look bad, so that Democrats get more votes.
But the real big picture of what's going on is that it's about who has a seat at the table.
And right now, you can call them the Republican establishment, you can call them cronyists, you can call them the uniparty, but there are plenty of people, and I would put Hillary Clinton and George Bush in this camp, Where they just want money going from the government to private interests.
They aren't really Democrats wanting to go and give a bunch of money to allegedly poor people.
They aren't Republicans advocating freedom.
They are a group of people that if Republicans are in charge, like the majority in an area, they'll just buy the Republican primary.
If the Democrats are in charge, they'll buy the Democrat primary.
Right now, that is the system.
They're the ones who win.
By having the political parties have more influence over this process, it just means that the people have a voice, the public have a voice, that if you're betraying the principles, you aren't going to get to run as a Republican, or if the Democrats did it, or as a Democrat.
So I think that that's where this really comes from, is that if If they win, none of us have a voice.
None of us continue to...
We all continue to not have a voice.
Which is what they want.
They don't want us to feel like we have any choice.
You shouldn't primary anybody.
If you primary somebody, then they'll crucify you for that.
You definitely should not raise money or donate to somebody.
They might find out about it.
And godly, you're forbidden to keep them off the ballot, especially if they're an incumbent.
Because this is a monarchy, Alex.
This is what we're in.
We're in this mentality of We're talking about Colton, Senator Moore a while ago.
Let's talk about that for a second because this week he stood up against a memorialization of David Ralston who was a former Speaker of the House in Georgia who did not make good choices as a Republican and people know that and he did not represent the people.
He represented himself and special interests and lobbyists and we all know it and he passed away and I hope he was saved and I hope he went to heaven.
I don't wish anybody to go to hell so I hope he was.
This was not his funeral.
This was not his memorial.
This is the House and the Senate chambers meeting.
This is the capital of Georgia that we own.
The people, it's our House, it's our Senate, it's our chambers, we own it.
Colton got up and said, I don't agree with it, I'm not gonna be voting for it, blah, blah, blah.
Lieutenant Burke Jones tried to cut him off several times and then basically was like, this was not appropriate.
Yeah, it's appropriate.
It's appropriate right now.
And people clap when Burke kind of chastened him.
And I didn't appreciate that.
What I really got mad about was the speaker now, John Burns, who tried to spank him by saying that he couldn't come in the House chambers or he couldn't come on the House floor.
Like, he would do that anyway.
He has no authority over Colton.
Colton's a senator.
But he did that rhetoric Just to try to spank Colton for saying what he said.
And, you know, people were calling me and they were saying, well, you know, I think it wasn't the right time.
And I said, why?
It's not his funeral.
It's not a memorial.
This is our capital.
It belongs to the people and we don't want to memorialize him.
He was supposed to be a Republican.
He didn't act like a Republican.
At what point do we quit saying, oh, you're a king, right?
You can't say anything about it.
It doesn't matter if the king has affairs.
It doesn't matter if the king is a child molester.
It doesn't matter if the king steals money.
It doesn't matter what the king does, we bow to the king and we don't say anything about him and we just pretend.
This is not a monarchy.
This is a constitutional republic.
What would George Washington have done?
What would he have said about David Ralston being memorialized?
He would have said, if you're not with me, you're against me and I'll kill every one of you.
Because that's what he did.
They literally, our founding fathers, killed everybody so that we could survive as a republic and be free.
So for us just to say, I'm not saying that we should kill anybody, we should not kill anybody.
But what I'm saying is, for us to speak our mind, We can't even speak truth now.
We've come all the way from them slaying everyone to be free to now we can't even speak truth because if we do, we're going to get spanked for doing it.
But yet Colton's representing us.
He's representing we the people.
And so I tweeted out that, you know, enjoy your two years because I'll find somebody to primary you myself.
And so I've gotten calls about that this week.
That's okay.
I don't care.
We are running things.
And that's how it's going to be from here on out.
We're all awake, we see what's going on, and we're not going to stop.
But I'm so sick of this monarchy mindset.
And that's what we're seeing right here in Katoosa, is that how dare Joanna and her committee, how dare the Katoosa GOP say that you can't qualify with their name?
How dare they say that?
You know, you're right, Candace.
And to bring these two stories together, Some of the same people that are upset or even some of the petitioners themselves, the ones that went around the party to qualify,
they have been posting on social media how outraged they are by what Colton did and trying to encourage people to vote for a candidate who qualified at the last minute.
Against Colton and she was a Libertarian candidate who ran against Marjorie Greene two years ago.
And so they are this same group of people that are attacking the Katoosa GOP are pushing a candidate, a Libertarian candidate, pro-abortion, you know, pro-LGBTQ, pushing that candidate against Colton Moore.
Desperate.
Just desperate.
So, where are you now?
I know you're in appeal process.
If this happened, a judge would be really stupid because the SCOTUS would never...
Honestly, I would like to see their faces if they received this on their desk.
This is embarrassing.
It really is embarrassing.
I'm just a normal person.
I'm not an attorney.
But me looking at this, it's embarrassing.
I mean, I agree.
I mean, I find it very odd because the case law, I mean, there's the major case, the Jones case, California Democrat Party v.
Jones, says that parties have freedom of association.
And then you also have a case from the Eleventh Circuit that dealt with Georgia when the Republican Party kept David Duke off the ballot.
And the Eleventh Circuit was pretty clear that the political party could choose to not associate with someone.
So right now, there is a hearing scheduled for later in the month with the Superior Court, the same judge we've been in front of, although we will be pointing out that since the case has already been appealed, since his previous orders have been appealed,
that we should be focused on that appeal to the Georgia Court of Appeals regarding the way that things went in court The other week because we think there were a lot of improprieties in the way that that went down.
So, improprieties is a nice word, Alex.
It was very frustrating when the other side called Joanna as a witness.
And, you know, asked her a number of aggressive and disrespectful questions, and then objected when I tried to ask her about the very same things, about their decision-making process on the county committee.
And the judge sustained the objection.
So to me, that really shows, did they want the truth to come out?
Did they want the information to be presented to the public?
Or did they just want to have the appearance of a hearing so they could go forward with the decision that they had already made?
So, if you get through the appeal process and that goes higher than this judge, they will surely look at that, right Catherine, and the transcript and see that they've shut you down and didn't let you even ask the same questions, right?
Yes, I do think that will be an issue that...
The judge improperly sustained objections on relevance to, you know, some very relevant material and Joanna didn't get the opportunity to present the facts about the procedure by which her county party made these decisions.
Because I do think we've got to note that the other side is relying on this one part of the election code Section 21.2.153 that provides for how county parties can qualify people.
And it does say that, you know, no person shall be prohibited from qualifying if they meet the procedural rules of the party.
And so the argument from the other side is that these are not procedural rules.
And well, they seem very procedural to us.
This is the procedure that was agreed upon and accepted by the Catoosa County GOP. And if the Catoosa County GOP isn't allowed to make decisions like this, what's to stop someone like Stacey Abrams from coming up and demanding to be qualified as a Republican?
If you follow the other side's logic to its conclusion, there is no say for a county party.
The people doing the work of the county party, the people elected to these positions, Their argument is that those people should have no say whatsoever on who qualifies as a Republican.
So y'all may have already done this, but are y'all going to countersue them?
Because I'm just thinking in my brain, could we not countersue them for qualifying them unjustly?
So that's something that I've thought about, that we've thought about.
But who qualified them, though, technically, is the election board.
But the election board did it outside of the law.
And there is a process in the law that says that if someone is qualified unlawfully, voters can challenge it.
To the election superintendent, and then depending on how the election superintendent, the election board rules, it can be appealed to the superior court of the county and then on to the Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court.
So it's really less of a countersuit.
I mean, there might be a possibility for the party to go after the election board in that way, But I think the law already provides a way for the citizens to challenge it and for it to be struck down.
Because that's what I think the other side was trying to avoid, was a judicial order that required breaking the law.
Because I think that now that they've been qualified contrary to the law, I don't think the courts can uphold it.
I just cannot believe they're qualified without the Republican Party's blessing.
All the things that they have to do.
I cannot believe that they qualify.
How does a court make them, a judge, qualify somebody?
And that's the thing is, I don't think that the judge's order, I mean, because again, the judge's order said that the candidates can go qualify with the election board, but the election board wasn't a party to the suit.
So the election board did it on their own.
So now the election board has messed up.
The thing is, the election board did something based on an order that did not have them as a party to the action.
So I think the election board's actions were incorrect by qualifying them.
But at the same time, since when does a judge's order involve people that aren't party to a suit?
A judge can't just write an order today, Candace, and say you have to turn over all of your property to the government.
And then you just have to turn it over because the judge wrote it without you ever having an opportunity, a due process, to show up in court.
Well, maybe you can, Alex, because they just do whatever they want to, right?
That's a scary day.
I mean, it's like, turn your guns over, turn your property over, turn your children over, like, turn everything over to the government.
I mean, this is insane.
And the thing that we have to remember is that we all have due process rights, according to the Constitution in this country, where you're supposed to have notice and opportunity to be heard.
A hearing, appellate processes, everything else.
And I think that what's being missed here is that it was very, as Catherine mentioned, it was very outcome-oriented.
The outcome they were wanting is to end up on the ballot as Republicans.
And it seemed like the entire system was very designed to try to get them on there, even though the law and the Constitution are saying something different.
And I think that in the end, the Constitution is going to win out, but you have to think Most of the lawyers that are involved in politics, they're there to get money off of this system.
They are there to help a local GOP stand up against this type of, I mean, I don't know if tyranny might be an overstatement, but tyranny.
Judges involved, it's tyranny.
I was thinking about due process, even for, in my job, I'm a tribal hearing officer, so you can't change a public school child's placement to alternative school without due process.
They can bring a weapon to school, they can bring illegal drugs to school, they can threaten to shoot the school up, they can assault a staff member, but you still can't just say, the handbook says that you do this and you're in alternative school.
They have to have due process.
They have to have an opportunity to be heard and present evidence and And hear their side and go through a due process procedure, or they have to sign a waiver if a waiver's offered and have the opportunity for due process.
You can't just put them there.
And so we give due process for everything, or we should, to be in line with the Constitution.
So why are they just totally stripping that?
And with the elections like they are, and with everybody's eyes on it, I mean, to me it seems so dumb that they would do this.
I agree.
I mean, it's very dumb that they would do this, and I think that ultimately a lot of people have just forgotten about the basics of the Constitution.
I mean, I think that that's what it comes down to.
I mean, the idea that you could force people to, I mean, even forcing an individual to state support for someone, that's a violation of freedom of speech.
Pushing organization, freedom of association, doing things without notice in a hearing, that's a violation of due process.
Not including a party to a lawsuit.
I don't even know what that is.
Like, if you're going to order someone to do something, I think they normally have to be a party to the action, yet that isn't what happened here.
I mean, it seems as if...
I mean, I was joking, but it almost seems as if the Constitution was just not applying in Catoosa County.
And that is a scary place for things to be, but then again, that just shows why it's so important to have better elected leadership in Catoosa County.
And that's what I think that the GOP is trying to do there, and they're running into a very hostile establishment there that looks down on we the people.
Imagine that, raising a standard.
The Bible talks about God raising a standard.
So why shouldn't the Republican Party, and we do it, like you said earlier, by counties, that's where the county party, we raise a standard.
Why wouldn't we do that?
I mean, I think that's a wonderful thing for Joanna to do.
And to have some kind of moral code and some kind of...
Identification with our party standards that you are actually that person and fit that area, not as a Libertarian or Democrat, but as a Republican, if you want to use our name.
It's crazy.
Joanna, what part have we not talked about that you want to share?
Well, I was just going to say, not only was the lie being put out there that we were Keeping people off the ballot as if they had no chance to run unless they ran as a Republican.
Of course, as we've already covered, they could run as independent.
They could go run as a Democrat if the Democrat Party would have them.
But another thing that they kept pushing from the start of the week, qualifying week, was that, well, they have handpicked candidates.
There will only be their one choice on the primary ballot, and that is not accurate.
We have contested primaries in two of those races, and we were thinking we were going to have even another one in the third race, but one of the approved candidates opted to not qualify.
So we approved multiple candidates, and we were very welcoming to people throughout this whole process.
So that's something I want people to be aware of, too.
Yeah, I mean, you just didn't let the people back on there who do not vote Republican.
They've been using our name inappropriately for past terms, and they don't get to do it anymore.
So it's just drawing a line in the sand.
And I think that it's the standard that we all need to have as Republicans.
And they can run Democrat or they can run Independent or whatever they want to do, Libertarian.
But if you want to use the Republican brand, then you have to be conservative.
That's right.
I know we need to raise money because you are being sued, right?
And you have to have money to pay for attorneys.
And I know Alex and Catherine are helping.
I think David Owens is helping, which is great and wonderful.
But they have families and they have to pay their bills too.
And so I know we're going to put on the bottom of the screen where they can go and give.
Do y'all want to talk about that a little bit?
Sure.
You know, we are very thankful for our attorneys.
They're donating their time to us, but we also have this threat of massive fines, and that is something that has been used to try to intimidate us, and we appreciate so much that people have already started pledging some money to us so that we don't have to worry about what could possibly happen if If we ended up having to pay any of those fines because right
now it could be as much as $20,000 a person and there are six of us named plus the party and that's a huge amount.
It is.
It's a huge amount.
And so we need to donate.
So everybody, $20.
We can't even go to a fast food restaurant for $20.
So y'all can donate $20.
She has a Give, Set& Go set up.
We're going to put it on the bottom of the screen.
I'll put it in the link whenever you go to the description of the interview.
You can click there.
Go give $20.
If you can give $1,000, give $1,000.
Give what you can give to help them because this is going to, I mean, it could create case law, right, attorneys?
I mean, couldn't that happen when this is, because you set a precedence for future cases.
Is that correct?
Absolutely.
I mean, any appellate decision on this is going to, it's going to either reaffirm the right of political parties to maintain its brand and make sure that we have good candidates on the ballot, or it will say that the government gets to, you know, trick people using the title Republican and Democrat by instituting laws that make the parties into their puppets.
I mean, that's what will come down with appellate case law in this.
I was waiting for Catherine to see if she wanted to say anything.
Catherine, you want to chime in?
Well, I totally agree.
That's the silver lining of losing at the trial court level is we have the opportunity to make good case law and precedent at the appellate level.
So, you know, maybe there will be a silver lining to the fact that There was this unfairness happening with Judge Thompson in Catoosa County, and it will be an opportunity to reaffirm that right of freedom of association and making participation in a political party meaningful.
So it's important, guys.
It's important that we give.
It's important that we help them.
They're not backing down.
They could.
They could just say, forget it.
They've already let them qualify.
But they're not.
They're not backing down.
So we need to support them all over the country.
I know when I was raising money for Ryan's probate race, my first donation came from New York.
We have people watching the show from everywhere.
I'm just saying $20 because this will get 100,000 views.
If everybody gave $20, just think about how much money they would have.
It would help tremendously.
If you can give more than that, give more than that.
Go on the link and do that for us.
Anybody want to say anything in closing?
I just want to mention that I know people around the nation are listening to this.
I mean, people need to be involved in their local Republican parties.
And if those are hostile to patriots like the ones listening, they should be involved with other grassroots groups nearby, form their own, join the Republican assemblies, but do something to be involved.
Because this is about we the people.
And it's not about some small group.
It's about the people versus A very small group of insiders that are making money off this stuff, the corporatists.
Joanna?
Well, I just want to thank you so much, Candice, for getting our story out there and for sharing our link.
I appreciate, we've received a lot of support from all over Georgia and outside of Georgia, and I I'm thankful for the people that I work alongside here in the Catusa Republican Party.
We have just a great, great group of people.
We're looking forward to our convention coming up.
We're hoping that we'll have new people coming to our precinct caucus and convention.
And we're just going to keep doing the work of the party.
And we are excited.
We just got our Trump signs in.
We're excited to help President Trump get elected and we just hope that we keep bringing people alongside us that love the country and our state like we do.
It's definitely God's country up there.
I could live in Northwest Georgia just like that.
I love it so much.
Thank you all so much for coming.
I appreciate you.
We'll be praying for you.
We're going to donate.
My viewers will.
They're awesome.
We're going to make good case law, pellet case law, whatever Catherine and Alex said.
We're going to do that with this case.
It's going to help everybody in the country.
Thank you all for tuning in.
I'll see you next week on the Studio Peters Network, 8 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time.
God bless you.
I love you.
God loves you.
Hey everybody, I want you to go to HeavensHarvest.com, promo code KANDACE, and I want you to get We don't know what's coming, who knows, but regardless whether it's a hurricane, national disaster, or the whole government shuts down, they have awesome deals on freeze-dried food.
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