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| The democratic primary race for Fulton County Superior Court Clerk is between
incumbent Juanita Hicks and challenger Lewis Pittman, who is gay. (Pittman photo
by R.O. Youngblood)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: CHRISTOPHER SEELY
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While top-ticket races like U.S. Senate draw the most attention in the July 20
Democratic primary, gay candidates battle to make inroads in smaller seats.
Lewis Pittman, who is gay, seeks to unseat Juanita Hicks, the incumbent Fulton
County Clerk of Superior Court who has been in office since 1988.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face the lone Republican in the
race, S. Angelic Moore, on the November general election ballot.
“After 16 years of leadership, Juanita has gotten complacent,” Pittman
said. “Many of the same problems she talked about in 1988 when she ran
are the same things she is still going through now. She hasn’t got the
problems solved.”
Pittman, currently on leave from his job as case manager for Fulton Superior
Court Judge Joel Fryer, said he bases his calls for change on his 11 years
of court experience, including serving as deputy clerk of Fulton County Superior
Court from 1998 to 2000.
But Pittman is just repeating criticisms leveled at Hicks by her previous
challengers, Hicks said.
“It’s the perfect thing for people new to the office to say,” she
said.
Elected to a four-year term, the clerk of Fulton County Superior Court is
responsible for recording and maintaining documents filed in the Fulton court,
including civil and criminal records, property sales, property liens, professional
licenses, charters and other legal documents. The clerk is also responsible
for collection of real estate transfer taxes.
Hicks acknowledged that the clerk’s office has problems that need to
be addressed, but said the challenges are par for the course in an evolving
computer age and are best met by someone with her experience.
“We constantly have to change to meet the times,” she said. “We
are constantly working to make it more efficient.”
Among the pressing technological advances are an e-filing project and major
Web site renovation, Hicks said.
“We do have problems and delays and are doing more training,” she
said.
But Pittman claimed Hicks has not been “a fulltime clerk.” It
takes six months to get a property deed from the clerk’s office and people
are being held in jail because of paperwork delays, he said.
In counties of comparable size, such as Gwinnett, Cobb and DeKalb, the waiting
time for a deed is two weeks or less, Pittman said.
“It is costing the taxpayers money when you have information that is
not put together properly,” he said.
Christopher Seely can be reached at cseely@sovo.com.
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