Former Alpharetta mayor announces his run for Sec’y of State

On March 25, David Belle Isle, previously mayor of Alpharetta, announced his run for Georgia Secretary of State to Warner Robins citizens during a meet and greet event held at the Houston Lake Country Club. Belle Isle will be running in competition of Republican Jody Hice and current Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. According to Belle Isle, Raffensperger has made a “mess” of the voting process in the state of Georgia, and he wants to fix it.

Houston County Commissioner Dan Perdue attended the meet and greet and endorsed Belle Isle. “Here’s what I like about David. One, you’ve got proven executive leadership. He was the mayor of Alpharetta and did a phenomenal job with that. David’s a family man. He and Candice have led a Sunday school class at North Point Ministries. He led a scout troop, okay? These are rooted-in-American-values, family people here. He’s a successful business guy; he leads a law practice there in Alpharetta. He’s been doing it now for many, many years.” Perdue went on to call Belle Isle an “Out Front Leader.”

Bethany Ballard, first vice chair of the Houston County Republican Party, briefly spoke before Belle Isle took the floor. “A lot of people have been asking me why Isupport David, and my answer has been, he is honestly one of the finest people that I know. Had we elected him in 2018, we would not be in the mess we are in. David is also one of the smartest people I know, I’ve worked with him for many years, and he has a plan for fixing the absolute disaster that Brad Raffensperger has single-handedly waged on Georgia.”

Belle Isle also gave a statement to his followers. “I’m here to announce that I am running for Secretary of State, against Brad Raffensperger, whether he chooses to run as a Republican or a Democrat.”

Belle Isle showed great concern for the state of conservatism. “You’ve probably noticed this, but it seems like common sense and conservatism is completely under attack.” Belle Isle continued. “It’s just getting out of control. You’ve got corporate America, and we like businesses, we like the opportunity they provide, but sometimes in their race to be woke, they reject some of the most basic of American values such as ‘America is good.’ That seems pretty basic. Then you’ve got the big tech industry spurred by the California left, who is seeking to cancel us, to censor us and ban us. It’s frustrating. It’s not right.”

Belle Isle also showed great concern with the election process in Georgia. “I never would have thought that a member of our own party would bring Georgia’s election integrity and our voter confidence to its knees.”

After the meet and greet, The Journal was able to pull Belle Isle aside for a brief interview. “The current Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has brought Georgia’s election integrity and Georgia’s election confidence to its knees. I’m running to clean up the mess, secure the mail-in ballot and restore voter confidence in Georgia.” Belle Isle plans to immediately “tear up” the consent decree signed by Stacey Abrams, Brad Raffensperger and Fair Fight Georgia. According to Belle Isle, this decree “makes it nearly impossible for the counties to reject invalid mail-in ballots, and as a consequence, in the last election only .03 percent of mail-in ballots were rejected out of 1.3 million ballots.”

When Belle Isle was asked what his thoughts were on the in-process voting legislation, he replied, “I’m glad to see that election integrity is finally getting some, it’s unfortunate how we had to get here. There’s some great pieces within that legislation; I applaud the legislature for taking this on. One of the things I’m particularly hopeful for is, I know they’re trying to get rid of no-excuse absentee ballots voting, and I hope that goes through. I also hope that the provision to essentially allow the state election board where counties are failing. To be able to step in when they see those systems failing, set it back on a right footing, and then let the locals take over again.”

When Belle Isle was asked about his thoughts on the legislation’s potential for voter suppression, he responded, “You have to define what voter suppression tactics are. In my mind, voter suppression is when people don’t have confidence in the system, so they don’t come out to vote because they don’t think the secretary of state cares a difference between a valid vote and an invalid vote. That’s where we saw actual suppression that can be counted. Having to bring a photo I.D., having to figure out how to register to vote more than once every 12 years if you’re not voting, having to reregister if you’ve moved from one county to the other, that’s not voter suppression, that’s life.”

Several of Belle Isle’s supporters also offered brief statements after the meeting.

Ballard stated “I’m hoping that David will clean up the Secretary of State Office and get it back on track. Right now, we do not have any confidence in our elections process. After the outcome of 2018, the Democrats expressed a lot of lack of confidence with the outcome then. The Republicans have expressed it now; it’s obviously bipartisan across the board. I think David is the one to get in there, put his head down, get to work and solve these problems.”

Perdue also gave an additional statement. “I think when we look at how I’ve been disappointed with the Secretary of State Office, primarily it’s been the lack of good strong out-front, present leadership. When things are going wrong, we don’t want to see employees of the Secretary of State Office, we want to see the secretary of state. We want to know that the buck stops with him, and he’s leading well. I’m confident David will do that, and unfortunately, that has not been the case for last 18 months with the Secretary of State Office.

Finally, Elaine Hollis, a long time Republican Party supporter and past president of Middle Georgia Republican Women, gave her statement. “Election integrity. I know people are hearing those same two words a lot, but that’s what we’re looking for—for every vote in Georgia, no matter which party they belong to. We’re looking for election integrity to come out of the Secretary of State Office. We want to be able to count on that.”

The election for secretary of state will be held on November 8, 2022.

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