The runoff race for Fulton County District Attorney is in its final days and has grown contentious coming on the heels of ethics allegations and scrutiny over how the incumbent, District Attorney Paul Howard handled the killing of Rayshard Brooks.
Howard has been in office for more than 30 years and for about half of that time, Fani Willis worked in his office as an assistant district attorney. Willis is now chief magistrate judge in South Fulton and a lawyer in private practice.
This year, she won more votes than him in the primary, though not enough to avoid a runoff, and according to a recent WSB/Landmark Communications poll, she remains ahead.
Her campaign has focused on “integrity,” while Howard has been plagued by lawsuits, ethics allegations and other scrutiny.
Howard has positioned himself as the best candidate to help Fulton County make the largescale police reforms protestors have demanded after the deaths of Rayshard Brooks and George Floyd.
Howard’s decision to charge two Atlanta police officers within days of Rayshard Brooks’ killing drew national attention, but it also raised some eyebrows, because that decision came days after Willis forced Howard into a runoff. Republican Congressman Doug Collins called on the Department of Justice to investigate Howard’s decision.
“I say to you if you want more of the same then you should go with DA Howard. But if you are ready to see that before cases are charged they are investigated and everyone is entitled to due process, then you will make a selection for me,” Willis said in a July debate on WABE’s Closer Look.
“The current District Attorney with these two high profile media cases that he immediately charged has given the community a sense of distrust about his policies,” she said, pointing to more than 40 other use of force cases that he has not prosecuted.
Howard countered that the other cases have been much more difficult to investigate than Brooks’, where multiple videos and witnesses were readily available.
“It’s really hypocritical for the police union and Ms. Willis on one hand to criticize me for moving forward in the Rayshard Brooks case too fast, but at the same time criticize me for investigating cases that take longer,” he countered on Closer Look. “You can’t have it both ways.”
Howard has made responding to protestors’ demands, supporting large scale police reform central to his campaign.
“I am better equipped than any other candidate to make the community safe for everyone and that includes the Black males who live here in our community,” he said.
He has pledged to create a new division of his office dedicated to police reform, if re-elected.
“We are going to have to start from the bottom up and change the way police departments view their duties,” he said. “Because right now we see police officers protecting themselves and participating in what is referred to as a brotherhood and believing that that is their top priority, rather than to guard communities. And that is something that we must change and we must eliminate.”
Controversies
But the other controversies swirling around the race have largely obscured the candidates’ policy proposals.
Howard accused Willis of trying to hide a campaign contribution from a police union, which she called a clerical error.
Howard just agreed to pay a fine to the state ethics board for not reporting outside income. Howard told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the violations were “administrative” and should not be considered criminal conduct.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation in May began looking into Howard’s alleged funneling of city money to himself. He maintains the funds were a legal pay supplement.
The GBI has since expanded that investigation to include Howard’s handling of the Brooks’ case.
Willis has tried to highlight that if Howard is re-elected, that investigation will not go away.
“And that criminal investigation will lead to this district attorney being removed…a Republican governor getting to appoint and the voters having the choice taken away from them,” she said on Closer Look.
Howard also faces several lawsuits over sexual harassment, allegations he denies and suits he calls “political.”
“I just think that there are more important things that we ought to be talking about, one of them being the death of Rayshard Brooks,” he said. “And how are we going to make our community better. And it’s really difficult when someone is making these baseless allegations to even answer them.”
“I think people need to ask themselves if this guy was so bad, why did you stay with him for 16 years?” he asked, referring to her past service in his office.
Willis countered that at the time, she was proud to. She said her opinion changed when she said she heard an alleged audio recording of that behavior.
“I cannot tell you how many times I defended your honor. But I have personally heard the tape, and what is inappropriate is that it exists. I am ashamed that I defended you when it was actually true.”
Howard responded by again calling the allegations “baseless,” and saying it is “tragic” the race “has evolved to such a gutter level.”
Howard was the first African American District Attorney in Georgia history. Willis would be Fulton County’s first woman DA.
