Cathy Cox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lera Catharine "Cathy" Cox (born 1958) is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and the current Secretary of State of Georgia. A candidate for Governor of Georgia in 2006, Cox lost the July 18, 2006 primary after a hard-hitting battle. Her fellow-Democrat Mark Taylor opposed Republican Governor Sonny Perdue in November. [1] It is possible that due to her popularity in Georgia she may run for the U.S. Senate in 2008 aganist Saxby Chambliss.
Cox is not related to a Republican with a similar name, Georgia Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox.
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[edit] Biography
Cox was born and raised in Bainbridge, Georgia. After attending public schools, she earned her associate's degree in agriculture from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. She later obtained her journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Before entering Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law, where she was editor of the Law Review and was graduated magna cum laude. After graduation, she was a journalist for The Gainesville Times and The Post-Searchlight. She practiced law for ten years before being elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1993, where she represented Miller, Seminole, Early and Decatur counties. Following her terms as a Georgia Representative, she served as Georgia's Assistant Secretary of State until her election to her current office in 1998. She received 61 percent of the vote when she was re-elected in 2002, more than any other Georgia Democrat that year.
Cox is married to attorney Mark Dehler. They have no children and are active members of the United Methodist Church.
[edit] Secretary of State
Cox is the first woman to serve as Georgia's Secretary of State. Her first action in office was to move the largest division of her office from Atlanta to Macon, saying she "wanted to bring government closer to the people it serves." She also instituted a universal electronic voting system, making Georgia the first American state to use such a system. According to an MIT study and others, the system has led to increased voting accuracy in Georgia, although concerns over the security of the system have been expressed by some. Cox also created the Georgia Invests initiative to combat fraudulent telephone investment schemes.
A recent poll gave Cox a 62 percent favorable rating among Georgians.[2]
In 2004, the Nu Mu Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity held a voter registration drive from which Cox rejected all 63 voter registration applications on the basis that the fraternity did not follow correct procedures, including obtaining specific pre-clearance from the state to conduct their drive. The Wesley Foundation, the Georgia nonprofit charitable affiliate of Nu Mu Lambda, then filed a suit, Charles H. Wesley Education Foundation v. Cathy Cox, on the basis that the rejection of the registrations violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) by undermining voter registration drives. A Senior U.S. District Judge upheld earlier federal court decisions in the case, and found that private entities have a right under the NVRA to engage in organized voter registration activity in Georgia at times and locations of their choosing, without the presence or permission of state or local election officials.[1]
[edit] Gubernatorial candidacy
On December 27, 2004, in her hometown of Bainbridge, Cox announced her candidacy for governor of Georgia. In her announcement, she stated that she is "ready and willing to work with Republicans and Democrats alike to improve education, provide access to high quality health care, and promote economic development in every region of Georgia." Cox was opposed by fellow Democrat Mark Taylor, the current Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, and Republican Sonny Perdue, the current governor of Georgia. If elected she would have become the first female governor of Georgia.
Cathy Cox conceded defeat to Mark Taylor during a press conference at 12:00 AM on July 19, 2006.
[edit] In the news
[edit] Wikipedia controversy
On April 26, 2006, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Wikipedia biography of Mark Taylor, Cox's opponent in the 2006 Democratic gubernatorial primary, had been edited by someone using an IP address associated with the Cox gubernatorial campaign. According to the Associated Press, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales told reporters that the insertion of a paragraph relating to the arrest of Taylor's son on driving under the influence charges had been traced back to Cox's campaign, but said he had no way of knowing who made the change.[2] After the story broke, Cox denied any knowledge of her campaign manager's alleged actions and said she had instructed her staff not to make the incident an issue. Cox's campaign manager, Morton Brilliant, resigned shortly after the incident was made public.[3]
Bill Shipp reported in the Gwinnett Daily Post that Taylor's aides had known for months about the edits, which they easily traced to Cox's campaign. Taylor held back on publicizing the news until he could use it to upstage a speech by Cox that her staff called a "major policy address". The resulting media coverage gave much wider publicity to the problems of Taylor's son than the changes Brilliant made to Wikipedia [4].
[edit] External links
- Georgia Secretary of State
- Cox's gubernatorial campaign website
- Charles H. Wesley Education Foundation v. Cathy Cox.
[edit] References
- ^ "It's Taylor vs. Perdue in the race for Georgia governor".
- ^ Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- ^ Salzer, James (April 26, 2006). Cox's campaign manager resigning. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved on 2006-04-26.
- ^ Taylor staff knew of edits; timed their response. Gwinnett Daily Post.
| Preceded by: Lewis Massey |
Secretary of State of Georgia 1998 – present |
Incumbent |
| State Secretaries of State in the United States | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
AL: Nancy Worley |
HI: James Aiona* |
ME: Matthew Dunlap |
NM: Rebecca Vigil-Giron |
SD: Chris Nelson |
| *Lt. Governor performing the typical functions of a Secretary of State | ||||
