Rep. Taylor Points to House Leadership Role in District 57 Race

Editor's note: The July 31 General Primary pairs Democratic State Representatives Pat Gardner (57) and Rashad Taylor (55) against each other in the District 57 race. The newly redrawn district includes a portion of Midtown and a profile of Gardner can be found here. 

For Rashad Taylor, going into politics was inevitable. Having grown up in Washington, D.C., Taylor moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College.  “Politics may have been born into me,” he said.

Elected as a state representative for District 55 in 2008, Taylor has wasted no time climbing the political ladder. In 2009, he was elected Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, beating three other caucus members without a runoff.

“My colleagues respect my leadership at the Capitol,” he said.

Because of statewide redistricting, Taylor is running for re-election in District 57, not 55. His opponent is Rep. Pat Gardner, who currently holds the seat.

Taylor is not intimidated by being forced into a primary. “District 57 is the heart and soul of Atlanta,” he said, referring to the new district’s shape. It stretches diagonally across the city, from Cheshire Bridge Road to the West End.

District 57 is also familiar territory for Taylor. “It’s similar to my current district,” he said.

He added that although there are “a cross-section of issues” important to District 57 constituents, he thinks that there is room for compromise. “We agree on more than we disagree on,” he said.

One issue that Taylor refuses to compromise on is the re-creation of Milton County, something he said is on the agenda of House Republicans.

Republicans want to break off the northern half of Fulton County and “leave the rest of Atlanta to fend for themselves,” according to Taylor. “Atlanta as you know it would probably not exist,” he said.

A new Milton County would cordon off some of Atlanta’s high-income neighborhoods like Buckhead and Brookhaven, depriving Fulton of much-needed tax revenue.

Taylor says he has spoken to many of the mayors of north Fulton, asking where they see differences between their neighborhoods and the rest of the county. The response he receives most frequently from Milton advocates is that the two halves of Fulton are “culturally different,” an argument he rejects.

Taylor may not be at the table next year when the issue of Milton County comes up, however.

The representative has a history of failing to file essential paperwork required of those who run for public office. As of July 27, 2012, according to the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission website, Taylor had not filed the most recent campaign disclosure report, which was due at the end of June.

Campaign Disclosure reports show how much a candidate has raised and spent in a given period. Specific donors are also made public. 

Taylor acknowledged his tardiness. “They’re done and I mailed them,” he said of the campaign reports. He added that he had raised around $42,000 this past quarter.

Nonetheless, Taylor has $750 in outstanding fees from the Campaign Finance Commission. The fees are mostly for failing to file campaign disclosure reports on time and go back to 2008, when Taylor first ran for the State House.

In addition, Taylor has failed to pay individual state income taxes, resulting in two liens against him for $1,865.97 and $1,295.21, according to the Georgia Department of Revenue website. The liens were recorded in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

The representative said of the liens, “I found out about them at the end of last year. I think one of them is for penalties and fees. The other I’ve got to find out about. I’ll pay [them.]”

Despite these problems, Taylor is confident that his political style will lead him to victory in the primary election next week. “Me and my opponent are different styles of legislators,” he said, “I’m not going to apologize for advocating what I believe in.”