By Andy Ashurst, Times-Courier
Ellijay, Ga. – A prominent Georgia Republican began calling for Brian Pritchard to step down from his post in the state party following a finding he violated Georgia voting laws.
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Pritchard, first vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party and former candidate for the State House District 7 seat, was found to have voted illegally in Gilmer County nine times while still serving a felony sentence in a Pennsylvania case.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) called for Pritchard to step down from his state party post “or be removed,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.
“Our state party should be the leading voice on securing our elections. ... It is unacceptable for our party to have a man in leadership who has repeatedly committed voter fraud himself,” Greene told the Journal-Constitution.
Administrative Law Judge Lisa Boggs released her decision March 27, finding Pritchard voted in Georgia elections between 2008 and 2010 while serving a felony sentence.
In the hearing, Pritchard admitted he pleaded guilty in the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County, Penn., to two counts of forgery-after writing and one count of theft by failure to make required disposition funds in 1996. He received probation, fines and was ordered to pay restitution.
Pritchard testified he pleaded “no contest” to forging two checks illegally for $38,000. He said he was working on a construction contract, and the checks were two-party checks.
He denied knowing he was serving probation in the case despite signed court documents from Pennsylvania in which his probation was extended to 2011. Boggs ordered Pritchard to pay $5,000 in fines, to cease-and-desist from violating the law in the future, to be publicly reprimanded for his conduct and pay $375 for investigative costs.
During closing arguments, Senior Assistant Attorney General Russell Willard, who was prosecuting the case, said he believed Pritchard knew he was in violation of the law.
“This is somebody who chooses when they don’t want to understand something,” Willard said in his closing arguments. “He knew when he went in all nine times and signed that voter certificate he was voting illegally.”
Pritchard, owner of fetchyournews.com, did not responded to a request for comment by press time.