Gasaway Calls on Erwin to Participate in Public Forum Series

Republican candidate for the 28th District Dan Gasaway is calling on his opponent Republican Chris Erwin to a series of public forums before the April 9th election.

Gasaway said voters in all three counties should hear from both candidates.

“I want to ask Mr. Erwin to join me in a public forum in every county in the district, Habersham, Stephens and Banks counties. I will have my people coordinate with him for the appropriate time and appropriate place, and I will debate him in every county. I think that it’s important that we do that prior to the election,” he said.

The former State Representative said Saturday it’s time for the two candidates to openly discuss the important issues being decided upon under the Gold Dome.

“The first issue I always think about is taxation,” Gasaway said. “I (also) see where Governor Kemp has approved raises for our teachers, which I think is important. We’re also hearing now about casino issues, which has been on the back burner for a couple of years. I don’t think that bill come all the way forward this year, but it’s important for citizens to hear about. But the main thing for our District is about taxes. Is state money being wasted, are members of the appropriation committee making an appropriate budget for the taxpayers of House District 28 to have to fund.”

In an interview with WNEG’S MJ Kneiser Saturday Gasaway also responded to allegations Erwin made on his Facebook page.

In a post dated February 13, Erwin accused Gasaway of using the two lawsuits to deprive voters in the 28th District of their legal right to representation.

Erwin said, “ These lawsuits have cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars with the cynical intention of disenfranchising thousands of legitimate voters.”

Gasaway said Saturday, the lack of representation in HD28 lies with Habersham County which refused to admit after the May 22 Primary that some voters who should have been in the 28th District had been put in House District 10.

“The Habersham County Commissioners had an opportunity to do the right thing, they just chose not to do it back in the summer. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a Representation, but again, we had some county election boards that just didn’t want to admint they were wrong in time for us to have a new election. And it’s unfortunate these (elections) were wrong, but we’ve got to fix our election system,” Gasaway said.

The Habersham County Board of Elections ultimately issued a statement in August stating at least 300 registered voters had mistakenly been put in the wrong House District.

Erwin also compared Gasaway to Democrat Stacy Abrams who ran against Brian Kemp for Governor.

In his February 13 Facebook post Erwin said, “These are the exact same tactics and messages being employed by Stacey Abrams.”

Gasaway countered on his Facebook page saying, “The contrast is clear between myself and Ms. Abrams. The only point I agree on is, the state does need a better system to monitor county registrars. It is the counties’ constitutional responsibility to conduct elections.”

Prior to the December 4th election, WNEG News reached out to Erwin to participate in a public forum with Gasaway at that time, but he refused.

WNEG News has reached out to Erwin a second time to see if he is willing to participate in a public forum, but as yet we have not received a response.