Congratulations Claudia

Tom Stubbs has decided to step down from his spot on the Board of Governors and Claudia Saari is being appointed to replace him. So, while I'm sad I won't get to serve on the board with Tom, I'm glad that Claudia will be his replacement. This means that a majority of the board members from the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit will be women. Already a majority are government employees of one sort or another.

Here's what Tom had to say about his decision to leave the board:

Last week, I wrote Bryan Cavan, your president of the State Bar
of Georgia, to resign from the Board of Governors. I want to thank
all of you who gave me such help in that work. It was fun and an
honor to represent you. I especially want to thank my fellow DeKalb
BoG members, who showed me more patience and warmth than I can ever
repay. With two kids in college, including one who will be playing
lacrosse for his school a few states away, I thought it was a good
time to focus a little more on the practice, and maybe make time to
catch a few of my son's distant college lacrosse games.
I am especially pleased to announce that my departure will
enable DeKalb lawyers to "trade up" with its representation at the
BoG. President Cavan has appointed the amazing Claudia Saari of the
DeKalb P.D.'s office to take my place and finish my term (through May
of 2011). She will be a fantastic addition to your already-great
plate of BoG representatives.
Please join me in congratulating Claudia. She will be attending
the annual meeting this June in Florida on your behalf!

Thanks Again For Your Votes

Today I received a response to my email to the State Bar asking what the vote count was for the Stone Mountain Circuit, Post 1 election. It was as follows:

Jay Eidex, Atlanta 76

Claudia S. Saari, Decatur 179

Katie Wood, Atlanta 198

Write-in 2

Unexercised Vote 111

Multiple Mark 0

Total 566

Thank you again, everyone who voted for me.

What I find most astonishing is how few votes were cast for any candidate. The Stone Mountain Circuit has a total of 2,734 members, of which 2,438 are active members. I knew that participation in these elections is low, but still I am surprised by these numbers. In any event, I am grateful to have almost 200 friends, professional colleagues and acquaintances willing to vote for me.

BOG Blog Purpose

My pledge in running for the Board of Governors was to keep lawyers in the Stone Mountain Judicial Circuit informed of issues coming up before the board, to listen to concerns people may have, to relay those to the board, and to report back the results of the debate. Not sure how long it will be up, but you can find my original mission statement here:

http://gabar.org/news/2010_state_bar_of_georgia_election_information/wood/

Seems to me the best way to do this is by creating a BOG blog. Assuming anyone tunes in, readers of the BOG blog will be able to chart my learning curve. So far, I know that I will be sworn in at the annual meeting at Amelia Island in June.

http://gabar.org/public/pdf/meetings/AM10_web.pdf

More to come.