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Jefferson announces as write-in candidate in 77th District race

Jonesboro attorney Sherri Jefferson has announced that she will run for State House District 77 as a write-in candidate against Darryl Jordan, who won the Democratic primary in July.

House District 77 is mostly in Clayton County but covers a northeast quadrant of Fayetteville, roughly running up Ga. Highway 85 to Riverdale.

In a press release, Jefferson said she believes Clayton and Fayette counties need strong representation and a voice in the Capitol.

“Statistics show that Clayton County leads the metro area in job losses, high school dropouts, and foreclosures,” said Jefferson in announcing her candidacy. “Clayton County has no industries seeking to establish an operation within its borders. The taxpayers of this county are suffering and do not need to suffer anymore.”

Further, she cited discussions about merging the Clayton County police and sheriff’s departments as cause for concern.

“The county has spent millions of taxpayer dollars building two new facilities to house the two departments,” Jefferson declared in her press release. “Despite the clear differences in their duties, the departments currently operate in the same manner as most counties and such an issue should not be placed before the taxpayer/voters. The taxpayers will spend years of the county budget addressing such a mistake.”

Jefferson claimed both Fayette and Clayton counties are experiencing an increase in juvenile delinquencies, truancy, child abuse cases and displacement of children.

“In addition, while both counties have a ‘No Child Left Behind’ system in place, it is not successful,” read her press release. “State legislation needs to allow parents more time for notification that their child's school is on the NCLB list. Also, they need at least 45 days to transfer their child before the start of school. Currently, they do not notify parents and schools until August, when school begins, after that, they have until September to transfer. The current process disrupts learning.”

However, in Fayette County, no schools failed “Adequate Yearly Progress” this year and so no Fayette schools were required to allow parents to request transfers.

Jefferson also cited “complaints about shoddy-home building and predatory lending and their nursing homes,” according to her press release.

“We must protect homebuyers and the elderly from such abuses. We must afford Department of Human Resources funding to engage in proper inspections of care facilities with follow-up. We must enforce laws to protect our seniors. Further, we must enact legislation to govern the home-building industry and discipline predatory lenders.”