Jody Cooley Announces Candidacy for Ninth District Congressional Seat

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Jody Cooley, a Gainesville lawyer, has qualified today to run for the new Ninth District Congressional seat. Cooley qualified as a Democrat.Cooley is a partner in the Gainesville law firm Hulsey, Oliver & Mahar, and has practiced business and corporate law in Gainesville for 25 years. He has been married for 25 years to his wife Lora, who is a preschool special education teacher in the Hall County school system. He has two daughters in college, one at Georgia Tech and one starting at UGA in the fall.

Cooley has served on the Gainesville City School Board, the Gainesville Parks and Recreation Board, and is a former president of the Gainesville-Northeastern Bar Association. He has been active in various community organizations through the years, including United Way of Hall County, Rehabilitation Industries of Northeast Georgia, the Christian Education Center, Inc., where he currently serves as Chair of the Board, and the Gainesville Jaycees. He was awarded the Gainesville Jaycees Young Man of The Year Award in 2000. He is a member of Gainesville First United Methodist Church, where he has taught eighth grade Sunday School for over fifteen years. He has been a Meals on Wheels volunteer for 5 years.

He-said he qualified because he loves Northeast Georgia and its people, and believes that all of its residents should have a choice and a voice in the general election.

“There are many issues and perspectives that are not represented on the Republican side of the ballot. With the explosion of hyper-partisan media, including talk radio and tv shows, many people are intimidated from expressing their particular views and opinions.”

He believes the country faces serious budget challenges, but believes shared sacrifice is the only appropriate response.

“The value of shared sacrifice is no longer a part of political discussion. Nobody challenges people anymore to do what’s best for the country; it’s all about how this program or this tax affects me.”

Cooley said. Cooley will work to try to preserve adequate funding for education, needed infrastructure, middle class opportunities, and governmental assistance to the poorest.

He supports comprehensive immigration reform as a matter of faith and basic human rights and believes that it would have great economic benefit while also reducing or eliminating the new regulations imposed upon employers.

He believes

“the American military has completed our job in Afghanistan, and the troops should come home now. We can’t control how the Afghan people live and govern, so we need to come home.”

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