Here is an article from U.S. News on Obama's experience as a community organizer. It's got a few more details than I've seen elsewhere. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articl...3obama.htm.

I've not heard Obama talking about this as something that qualifies him to be president, so much as I've heard him talk about it as something that has shaped many of his opinions & ideas. It's basically his first job out of college (technically second, if I read it right, but sounds like his first was shorter) -- and to me seems like the kind of thing that could have an impact on a 23-year-old much like a couple of years in the military or peace corps or something could (Note that I'm not in any way equating it to McCain's military experience, which by any measure would have to be deeper and more impactful on one's life).

I truly don't understand how Giuliani and Palin could belittle the concept of community organizer so boorishly at the GOP Convention and still try to pin the "Elitist" label on Obama. Physicians, heal thyselves. I don't think that strategy helped the McCain/Palin ticket with anybody but the people in the room.

Back to this thread... to me, equating the general role of community organizer to Quanell X seems a bit like assuming all ministers are about like Jimmy Swaggart. Often people who make the news do so by being spectacularly extremist or hypocritical (or both) at whatever it is they do, but that certainly doesn't mean that the many others who pursue the same vocation should be lumped in with them without any apparent thought whatsoever.

Gravy Owl Wrote:

WMD Owl Wrote:The question is "What is a community organizer?"

In Houston the widely known examples of a "community organizer" is Morales and Quannell X.

Maybe in Houston its different from Chicago. If you mention the term, that is what I think of.

Who are your examples of a "community organizers" in Houston?

You could try reading some of the links ausowl provided above. Or you can continue trying to convince people that Obama is a crack dealer. Your choice.

He wasn't a crack delaer, but he WAS a coke user. I read the links. Its the equivalent of "punching the right ticket" in minority politics. Go from the grass roots and into politics.

Here is a story from the Houston Press (hardly a right wing rag) that tells the story about the younger Obama.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/n...med-at-me/

To Obama is all about the "myth" and the "legend." Not what he actually accomplished.


I admit that Obama "inspires" people- as evidenced by the video of the gaggle of youth dressed in cammo and gold combat boots doing a routine that looks like an out-take from "Stripes".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUEQz5dltmI

I admit that I don't like Obama. I think he is a Socialist. And I'm no too fond of McCain either.

WMD,
I'm still interested in hearing exactly how Obama's activities make him in any way similar to Quannel X. And sorry dude, but your representation that (and I'm paraphrasing here) "the most infamous example I can think of defines the category" is ludicrous. That much seems blazingly obvious, but I guess I'll have to provide a separate example to point it out (using your construction):

"The question is 'What is a US Army MP?'

The widely known example is Lynndie England.

If you mention the term, that is what I think of."


And Optimistic, I'm also still interested in hearing examples of Obama's campaign claiming that this Obama's organizing days represent relevant experience equal to or greater than being governor.
Oh, and here's a bunch of links providing greater detail on his activities as a community organizer (some pro, some con):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22...2&aq=f&oq=

I haven't read the complete thread yet, but it's funny that I was listening to a podcast from the Hudson Institute ("Mr. Obama's Neighborhood") about Obama and Community Organizing.

This podcast begins with a presentation from a community organizer talking about what it is. A subsequent presenter is the author of the article "Senator Stealth [2]" in the National Review. He presents a rather sinister view of Obama as someone who is concealing a radical agenda, with support and documentation from some of the community organizations that Obama has supported financially. Specifically, the Gamaliel Foundation and ACORN (the ACORN that stood to gain unspecified millions+ of dollars at the discretion of mayors and other local officials through the first draft of the bailout package).

One of the lines from the podcastis:

Stanley Kurtz Wrote:“What exactly does a ‘community organizer’ do? Barack Obama’s rise to prominence has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here’s a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high risk loans to customers with poor credit. In the name of fairness to minorities, community organizers occupy private offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes, forcing financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers. In other words, community organizers help to undermine America’s economy by pushing the banking system into a sink-hole of bad loans. And guess what? Barack Obama has spent years training and funding the organizers who do it.”

Maybe a community organizer is just another form of vagrancy.

OptimisticOwl Wrote:What do they do? specifically, what did Obama do and how is this experience relevant to being president?

Travis Morales was Class of 1974 and I knew him at Rice. He ended up quiting Baylor Med to do his instigation work. He had grown up in the Memorial area and when he did his thing in the Fifth Ward, the locals wondered why he could not even speak Spanish. He might have done more good to the poor if he had become a doctor and worked in a clinic for the low income. However, he might not have had enough sense to be a decent doctor. The one thing I remember about him is that I never saw him smile.

Some things that Quanell X does are good such as getting the one who burned the body of his girlfriend to turn himself in. So there is some good mixed with the bad.

JOwl Wrote:

WMD Owl Wrote:Outsider of Rice's own Medical Student turned Communist Revolutionary and instigator of riots, Travis Morales, I'd say Houston's equivalent of Obama as a "community organizer" is former crack dealer and "HPD favorite"...Quanell X ...(center in the picture)

And what exactly makes you say that?

OptimisticOwl Wrote:It is his campaign and supporters that put this forward as relevant experience, apparently equal or greater than that of being a mayor or Governor, and i am just trying to see what it really is.

Really? Where has his campaign said that?

I45owl Wrote:I haven't read the complete thread yet, but it's funny that I was listening to a podcast from the Hudson Institute ("Mr. Obama's Neighborhood") about Obama and Community Organizing.

This podcast begins with a presentation from a community organizer talking about what it is. A subsequent presenter is the author of the article "Senator Stealth [2]" in the National Review. He presents a rather sinister view of Obama as someone who is concealing a radical agenda, with support and documentation from some of the community organizations that Obama has supported financially. Specifically, the Gamaliel Foundation and ACORN (the ACORN that stood to gain unspecified millions+ of dollars at the discretion of mayors and other local officials through the first draft of the bailout package).

One of the lines from the podcastis:

Stanley Kurtz Wrote:“What exactly does a ‘community organizer’ do? Barack Obama’s rise to prominence has left many Americans asking themselves that question. Here’s a big part of the answer: Community organizers intimidate banks into making high risk loans to customers with poor credit. In the name of fairness to minorities, community organizers occupy private offices, chant inside bank lobbies, and confront executives at their homes, forcing financial institutions to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in mortgages to low-credit customers. In other words, community organizers help to undermine America’s economy by pushing the banking system into a sink-hole of bad loans. And guess what? Barack Obama has spent years training and funding the organizers who do it.”

Gee, the same Stanley Kurtz who wants to convince us all that legalized gay marriage will give way to polygamy, and liberalism is anti-religious, also wants us to believe Obama's stint as a community organizer at age 23 means he's personally responsible for the current financial crisis? That's so unlike him.

JOwl Wrote:"The question is 'What is a US Army MP?'

The widely known example is Lynndie England.

If you mention the term, that is what I think of."

The sniping from many (though not all) parties on this thread has really turned me off and kept me out of the fray, but I wanted to take this opening to say what I think of if asked "what is a US Army MP?" (even though I know that the question was only posed as part of an analogy).

JOwl Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:It is his campaign and supporters that put this forward as relevant experience, apparently equal or greater than that of being a mayor or Governor, and i am just trying to see what it really is.

Really? Where has his campaign said that?

Do you remember the initial response the Obama campaign put out when Palin was introduced? It completely denigrated her mayoral experience and ignored her gubernatorial experience. When asked about his lack of experience, the Obama campaign replies with community organizer, State Senator, US Senator, and when asked about Sarah Palin's experience as a Mayor and/or Governor, they continually downplay the experience as irrelevant and inadequate. It definitely is not irrelevant, and if Obama's is adequate, hers is more than adequate. I think executive experience is important, and since other than CO, Obama's executive experience is nil, I wanted to see what he did and how well he did it.

I know what Executive abilities are needed to be a Mayor and a Governor, and I remind everybody that this race is for Chief Executive (in her case, more of Chief Executive in waiting). I wanted to know what his experience as a community organizer had to do with preparing him to make executive decisions. As for it shaping his world view, all our lives do that. My personal experience in international trade has shaped my world view, as did my experience in helping to start up a youth soccer league, but the former has done much more to develop my executive abilities.

erice Wrote:Gee, the same Stanley Kurtz who wants to convince us all that legalized gay marriage will give way to polygamy,

Well, erice, I support the legalization of gay marriage AND the legalization of plural marriage under the same principle of "let's find a legal framework that will give consenting adults of all kinds and numbers the same rights and responsibilities that are currently accorded heterosexual couples".

So I guess that's one.

OptimisticOwl Wrote:

JOwl Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:It is his campaign and supporters that put this forward as relevant experience, apparently equal or greater than that of being a mayor or Governor, and i am just trying to see what it really is.

Really? Where has his campaign said that?

Do you remember the initial response the Obama campaign put out when Palin was introduced? It completely denigrated her mayoral experience and ignored her gubernatorial experience. When asked about his lack of experience, the Obama campaign replies with community organizer, State Senator, US Senator, and when asked about Sarah Palin's experience as a Mayor and/or Governor, they continually downplay the experience as irrelevant and inadequate. It definitely is not irrelevant, and if Obama's is adequate, hers is more than adequate. I think executive experience is important, and since other than CO, Obama's executive experience is nil, I wanted to see what he did and how well he did it.

I know what Executive abilities are needed to be a Mayor and a Governor, and I remind everybody that this race is for Chief Executive (in her case, more of Chief Executive in waiting). I wanted to know what his experience as a community organizer had to do with preparing him to make executive decisions. As for it shaping his world view, all our lives do that. My personal experience in international trade has shaped my world view, as did my experience in helping to start up a youth soccer league, but the former has done much more to develop my executive abilities.

I don't recall that the Obama campaign ever said it quite that way (i.e. in a direct response to a question of qualifications), and I wonder if you're remembering what the McCain campaign SAID that the Obama campaign said, as opposed to what was actually said (both sides are very good at putting words in the others' mouths). Can you find an actual quote?

I'm not trying to pick a fight, and I readily admit I might be wrong. It's hard to remember who actually said what as opposed to what was said. In my mind, the Obama campaign has brought up the community organizer background more as a relevant life experience than as something that qualifies him for president.

erice Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:

JOwl Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:It is his campaign and supporters that put this forward as relevant experience, apparently equal or greater than that of being a mayor or Governor, and i am just trying to see what it really is.

Really? Where has his campaign said that?

Do you remember the initial response the Obama campaign put out when Palin was introduced? It completely denigrated her mayoral experience and ignored her gubernatorial experience. When asked about his lack of experience, the Obama campaign replies with community organizer, State Senator, US Senator, and when asked about Sarah Palin's experience as a Mayor and/or Governor, they continually downplay the experience as irrelevant and inadequate. It definitely is not irrelevant, and if Obama's is adequate, hers is more than adequate. I think executive experience is important, and since other than CO, Obama's executive experience is nil, I wanted to see what he did and how well he did it.

I know what Executive abilities are needed to be a Mayor and a Governor, and I remind everybody that this race is for Chief Executive (in her case, more of Chief Executive in waiting). I wanted to know what his experience as a community organizer had to do with preparing him to make executive decisions. As for it shaping his world view, all our lives do that. My personal experience in international trade has shaped my world view, as did my experience in helping to start up a youth soccer league, but the former has done much more to develop my executive abilities.

I don't recall that the Obama campaign ever said it quite that way (i.e. in a direct response to a question of qualifications), and I wonder if you're remembering what the McCain campaign SAID that the Obama campaign said, as opposed to what was actually said (both sides are very good at putting words in the others' mouths). Can you find an actual quote?

I'm not trying to pick a fight, and I readily admit I might be wrong. It's hard to remember who actually said what as opposed to what was said. In my mind, the Obama campaign has brought up the community organizer background more as a relevant life experience than as something that qualifies him for president.

Chicago — Barack Obama often cites his time as a community organizer here in Chicago as one of the experiences that qualify him to hold the nation’s highest office. “I can bring this country together,” he said in a debate last February. “I have a track record, starting from the days I moved to Chicago as a community organizer.” - quoted by Byron York, National Review, Sept 8, 2008

You can find plenty more by googling "Obama, community organizer" and "Palin, Democratic response." I must go now, be back in about 10 hours.

OptimisticOwl Wrote:Chicago — Barack Obama often cites his time as a community organizer here in Chicago as one of the experiences that qualify him to hold the nation’s highest office. “I can bring this country together,” he said in a debate last February. “I have a track record, starting from the days I moved to Chicago as a community organizer.” - quoted by Byron York, National Review, Sept 8, 2008

You can find plenty more by googling "Obama, community organizer" and "Palin, Democratic response." I must go now, be back in about 10 hours.

A National Review article, taking Obama out of context? Hmm... Here's the full article. And here's the actual transcript of the debate.

The quote is very near the bottom of the transcript. But here's a little context:

Debate Transcript Wrote:I will say this, that the reason I think I'm better as the nominee is that I can bring this country together I think in a unique way, across divisions of race, religion, region. And that is what's going to be required in order for us to actually deliver on the issues that both Senator Clinton and I care so much about.

And I also think I have a track record, starting from the days I moved to Chicago as a community organizer, when I was in my 20s, on through my work in state government, on through my work as a United States senator, I think I bring a unique bias in favor of opening up government, pushing back special interests, making government more accountable so that the American people can have confidence that their voice is being heard.

Those are things -- those are qualities that I bring to this race, and I hope that the people of Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont decide that those are qualities that they need in the next president of the United States.

Qualities, not qualifications.

In either case, it's certainly not like anyone has actually said that Community Organizer specifically trumps Mayor or Governor or Senator -- just part of Obama's background that's relevant in that it gives some sense to the voter of where he's coming from.

erice Wrote:Qualities, not qualifications.

In either case, it's certainly not like anyone has actually said that Community Organizer specifically trumps Mayor or Governor or Senator -- just part of Obama's background that's relevant in that it gives some sense to the voter of where he's coming from.

That jibes with what I've heard the Obama campaign say. When asked for qualifications, they usually say "well, he's qualified to be president because for 18 months he's been running for president".

Neither Obama nor Palin have the kind and depth of experience that you would expect to see of a presidential candidate. That said, Obama does give the impression of someone that is articulate and intelligent. I'd like to see more experience and accomplishment in a candidate though, setting aside his ideology.

OptimisticOwl Wrote:Do you remember the initial response the Obama campaign put out when Palin was introduced? It completely denigrated her mayoral experience and ignored her gubernatorial experience.

I remember that, OO, and I remember thinking it was a really stupid press release. And I also didn't like it when Obama later mentioned only her mayor job when making a valid claim that presiding over a large campaign was good experience. But I haven't seen them say anything like that since. (I can't vouch for the numerous unofficial surrogates.)

There is no question: Obama hasn't had an executive position anything like a state governor. I guess it comes down to how one weighs that deficiency against other qualities and types of experience. (And, of course, comparisons to McCain are more relevant, anyway.)

OptimisticOwl Wrote:

erice Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:

JOwl Wrote:

OptimisticOwl Wrote:It is his campaign and supporters that put this forward as relevant experience, apparently equal or greater than that of being a mayor or Governor, and i am just trying to see what it really is.

Really? Where has his campaign said that?

Do you remember the initial response the Obama campaign put out when Palin was introduced? It completely denigrated her mayoral experience and ignored her gubernatorial experience. When asked about his lack of experience, the Obama campaign replies with community organizer, State Senator, US Senator, and when asked about Sarah Palin's experience as a Mayor and/or Governor, they continually downplay the experience as irrelevant and inadequate. It definitely is not irrelevant, and if Obama's is adequate, hers is more than adequate. I think executive experience is important, and since other than CO, Obama's executive experience is nil, I wanted to see what he did and how well he did it.

I know what Executive abilities are needed to be a Mayor and a Governor, and I remind everybody that this race is for Chief Executive (in her case, more of Chief Executive in waiting). I wanted to know what his experience as a community organizer had to do with preparing him to make executive decisions. As for it shaping his world view, all our lives do that. My personal experience in international trade has shaped my world view, as did my experience in helping to start up a youth soccer league, but the former has done much more to develop my executive abilities.

I don't recall that the Obama campaign ever said it quite that way (i.e. in a direct response to a question of qualifications), and I wonder if you're remembering what the McCain campaign SAID that the Obama campaign said, as opposed to what was actually said (both sides are very good at putting words in the others' mouths). Can you find an actual quote?

I'm not trying to pick a fight, and I readily admit I might be wrong. It's hard to remember who actually said what as opposed to what was said. In my mind, the Obama campaign has brought up the community organizer background more as a relevant life experience than as something that qualifies him for president.

Chicago — Barack Obama often cites his time as a community organizer here in Chicago as one of the experiences that qualify him to hold the nation’s highest office. “I can bring this country together,” he said in a debate last February. “I have a track record, starting from the days I moved to Chicago as a community organizer.” - quoted by Byron York, National Review, Sept 8, 2008

Apparently some in Chicago have less than sterling memories of Mr. Obama's efforts in the community....

"On the stump, Obama has frequently invoked his experiences as a community organizer on the Chicago South Side in the early 1990s, when he passed on six-figure salary offers at corporate law firms after graduating from Harvard Law School to direct a massive voter-registration drive.

But, as a state senator, Obama evaded leadership on a host of critical community issues, from historic preservation to the rapid demolition of nearby public-housing projects, according to many South Siders.

Harold Lucas, a veteran South Side community organizer who remembers when Obama was "just a big-eared kid fresh out of school," says he didn't finally decide to support Obama's presidential bid until he was actually inside the voting booth on Super Tuesday.

"I'm not happy about the quality of life in my community," says Lucas, who now heads a black-heritage tourism business in Chicago. "As a local elected official, he had a primary role in that."

In addition to Hyde Park, Obama also represented segments of several South Side neighborhoods home to the nation's richest African-American cultural history outside of Harlem.

Before World War II, the adjacent Bronzeville community was known as the "Black Metropolis," attracting African-American migrants seeking racial equality and economic opportunity from states to the south such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Storied jazz clubs such as Gerri's Palm Tavern regularly hosted Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many others. In the postwar era, blues legends Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King all regularly gigged in cramped juke joints such as the Checkerboard Lounge.

When the City of Chicago seized the 70-year-old Gerri's Palm Tavern by eminent domain in 2001, sparking citywide protests, Obama was silent. And he offered no public comments when the 30-year owner of the Checkerboard Lounge was forced to relocate a couple years later.

Even in Hyde Park, Obama declined to take a position on a years-long battle waged by hundreds of local community activists fighting against the city's plan to replace the historic limestone seawall along Lake Michigan — a popular spot to sunbathe and swim — with concrete steps.

It would be comparable to representing Barton Creek in Austin, and sidestepping any discussion about conservation.

Obama's aloofness on key community issues for years frustrated Lucas and many other South Siders. Now they believe he was just afraid of making political enemies or being pigeonholed as a black candidate. Lucas says he has since become an ardent Obama supporter.

"His campaign has built a momentum of somebody being born to the moment," Lucas says. "He truly gives the perception that he could possibly pull us all together around being American again. And the hope of that is worth the risk when you look at the other candidates. I mean, you can't get away from old school when you look at Hillary."

Obama has spent his entire political career trying to win the next step up. Every three years, he has aspired to a more powerful political position.

He was just 35 when in 1996 he won his first bid for political office. Even many of his staunchest supporters, such as Black, still resent the strong-arm tactics Obama employed to win his seat in the Illinois Legislature.

Obama hired fellow Harvard Law alum and election law expert Thomas Johnson to challenge the nominating petitions of four other candidates, including the popular incumbent, Alice Palmer, a liberal activist who had held the seat for several years, according to an April 2007 Chicago Tribune report.

Obama found enough flaws in the petition sheets — to appear on the ballot, candidates needed 757 signatures from registered voters living within the district — to knock off all the other Democratic contenders. He won the seat unopposed.

"A close examination of Obama's first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career," wrote Tribune political reporters David Jackson and Ray Long. "The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it."

Three years later, in September 1999, Obama was already preparing his first national campaign. He ran for U.S. Congress against veteran incumbent Bobby Rush, a former co-founder of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.

Rush painted the largely unknown freshman lawmaker as an out-of-touch elitist, and won the 2000 primary by more than 30 percentage points.

Three years later, in January 2003, Obama announced his bid for the U.S. Senate, where he cruised to victory thanks to the self-destruction of his top opponents in both the primary and general elections.

Obama joined a crowded field of seven candidates vying to fill an open Senate seat being vacated by retiring two-term incumbent Peter Fitzgerald. For months, he polled in the middle-of-the-pack behind frontrunner and former securities trader Blair Hull, who spent $30 million of his own fortune on the primary.

But Hull's campaign imploded just weeks before the election when his divorce files were unsealed, revealing an ex-wife's charges of verbal and physical abuse.

Obama unleashed a barrage of television ads just before the election, when the other candidates had largely depleted their war chests. He won the nomination with 53 percent of the vote.

In the general election, Obama squared off against another multimillionaire: Jack Ryan, who later dropped out of the race after a judge ordered his divorce files unsealed.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/n...ed-at-me/1

Ok, I started this, and I am satified that i have the answers to my question. "Community organizer' is a giant, amorphous term that encompasses a lot of very different people. I was surprised to see, in the wikipedia article, Pat Robertson's name next to BO's in a list of prominent CO's. Just goes to show the breadth of inclusion. My own defintion now of CO is "Someone who works for the benefit of his community, which may be the entire community or a subset of same".

By all accounts, BO was ineffectual as a CO, presiding over unattended meetings and not getting very much in the way of results. Apparently his best result was a partial victory regarding asbestos in the project - he didn't get what he wanted, but he got something. He was so unsuccessful that he decided to return to school. As far as i can tell, he never acted in an executive position within the CO activity.

All of us can make up our own minds as to whether this time of his was relevant in any way to his being a qualified candidate for president. I suspect those already for him will accept it, those already against him will reject it, but at least now I know more about him. It hasn't changed my thoughts and opinions on him one whit - either for or against.

You can quibble over over whether this CO experience is presented by anybody as relevant experience, and i suspect once again it depends on your already held views. I think we will continue to hear the words "community organizer" from his campaign, his supporters and him - perhaps even tonight! - and at least now I have have a better sense of the reality behind those words. Thank you, everybody, and now on to other things for me.

So, Obama is an ambitious, pragmatic politician who didn't always do the bidding of liberal community activists, insisted on adherence to election laws, once badly lost an election to a former (?) black nationalist, and campaigned opportunistically. This picture is consistent with what many of us know about him. Not all Obama supporters have stars in their eyes over some sort of Messiah of the Left.

Sorry, OO - I didn't mean to add a coda to your attempt to close the thread. My response to the Houston Press article was started before I saw your post.

Here is how they sometimes handle political opponets here in Georgia, including perhaps "community organizers"..

Voodoo priestess says Cobb official bounced checks

Death rituals. A voodoo priestess. A cancer-causing curse. A Cobb County Police report details the lengths Cobb Commissioner Annette Kesting allegedly was willing to go to get even with her political rival.

Kesting wrote $3,000 in bad checks, allegedly for the services of a “high priestess of voodoo” to prepare an untimely demise for commissioner-elect Woody Thompson. Kesting wanted the priestess, identified by authorities as George Ann Mills of Blythewood, S.C., to cause Thompson to “catch cancer” or “have a car accident” according to a police report obtained by WSB-TV.

“It is very bizarre,” said Thompson, who soundly defeated Kesting in a runoff earlier this year. “I find it almost hard to believe.”

Law enforcement authorities in Georgia and South Carolina are investigating the allegations. Mills did not return a call late Monday seeking her comment.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident. GBI spokesman John Bankhead said “we haven’t had a chance to verify if the allegations are true, or whether a crime has been committed yet.”

Reached Monday night, Kesting declined comment and referred questions to her attorney. Her attorney could not be reached.

According to the police report, the priestess told police that Kesting paid her with a $2,000 check for the ritual on Aug. 27, and post-dated another $1,000 check for Sept. 11. Both checks bounced, the woman told police, although she said Kesting paid cash to make up for the first bounced check.

Kesting defeated Thompson, a two-term Republican incumbent in the 2004 general election to become Cobb County’s first African-American commissioner. Thompson said he learned of the voodoo incident from a Cobb County official.

Kesting’s term as commissioner — which ends in December — has been marked by unflattering financial disclosures and personal blunders. She was delinquent in paying taxes to the county in 2007 for properties she owned in Powder Springs, and was also written up for code violations on several of her properties.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/c...hecks.html