Samuel S. Olens

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Samuel S. Olens
Image of Samuel S. Olens
Prior offices
Cobb County Board of Commissioners

Attorney General of Georgia
Successor: Chris Carr

Education

Bachelor's

American University

Graduate

American University

Law

Emory University School of Law, 1983

Personal
Religion
Jewish
Profession
Attorney
Contact

Samuel S. Olens (b. July 8, 1957, in Miami Florida) is a former Republican Attorney General of Georgia. He was elected in the November 2, 2010, general elections, and took office on January 10, 2011. He won re-election in 2014.[1]

Prior to becoming attorney general, he served as the chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners.[2]

In October 2016, University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby confirmed after months of speculation that Olens was being considered for the position of president at Kennesaw State University. Olens interviewed for the position in a closed-door meeting on October 4; the hiring committee voted to appoint Olens on October 12.[3] The same day, Governor Nathan Deal (R) announced that Director of Economic Development Chris Carr would replace Olens effective November 1, 2016.[4]

Biography

Though native to Miami, Fla., Olens was raised mostly in New Jersey. He earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from American University before admission to Atlanta's Emory University School of Law brought him to the state which has since hosted and shaped his career.[5]

Olens' professional career has largely been in the legal profession. After graduating from law school in 1983, Olens worked for Ezor & Olens, P.C. until 2010. Before becoming attorney general, Olens was also chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners from August 2002 to March 2010. Previously, he was a Cobb County District Commissioner from 1999 through July 2002. Olens served as chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission from December 2004 through 2009, and was vice-chair of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District from 2005 through March 2010.[6]


Awards

  • Liberty Bell Award (2005) from the Cobb Bar Association
  • Excellence in Public Service Award (2007) from the University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute
  • Lexus Leader of the Arts Award (2007) from Public Broadcasting Atlanta
  • Tom Bradley Leadership Award (2008) from the National Association of Regional Councils

Education

  • Bachelor's degree, American University in international politics
  • Master's degree, American University in international politics
  • Juris Doctorate degree, Emory University

Political career

Attorney General of Georgia (2011-2016)

Olens was elected Attorney General of Georgia on November 2, 2010, and took office the following January. He succeeded Thurbert E. Baker (D), who had decided to run for governor in 2010 rather than seek re-election as attorney general.[7]

Olens' win in 2010 represented a victory of sorts for the state as well. For the first time in Georgia's history, a Jewish candidate was elected in a statewide, partisan race. Notwithstanding the patented Christianity of his conservative base, Olens understated the history-making implications of his win, indicating that geography (his New Jersey upbringing), rather than faith, was of greatest concern during the campaign.[8] He resigned effective November 1, 2016, in order to assume the position of president at Kennesaw State University.[4]

Noteworthy events

Ignoring law

Two consecutive chairmen of the Cobb County Commission, one of them Olens, the then-newly elected Republican State Attorney General, "told the county clerk to disregard a provision of a 27-year-old law that requires Cobb to document the actions of its county manager."[9]

County officials, who, by law, were required to keep minutes, contended that the requirement was cumbersome and outdated. Unlike the county chairman, the manager was not a publicly elected official who conducted business openly; the law, therefore, was designed to keep tabs on the person in power. This provision was not common in Georgia, as "neither the Georgia Municipal Association nor the Association County Commissioners of Georgia are aware of other jurisdictions that have to record minutes of their city or county managers."[9] Tim Lee, then-chairman of the Cobb County Commission, had said that the local government body had begun the process of repealing the measure in January 2011.

War against the tobacco industry

In December 2012, Olens accepted a plane ride from a tobacco lobbyist, raising questions about ethics violations. The ride, valued at $1,500, stood in contrast to his stance against the tobacco industry. In the midst of arbitration with big tobacco companies, in which the Georgia stood to lose $120 million, Olsen defended the flight, saying, "I was trying to save our state money."[10]

Ensuring the government's legal rectitude (with respect to the Georgia Constitution) and the full accountability of its activities are fundamental responsibilities of his office. As Attorney General, Olens has supported raising the government's ethical standards, with special attention to the issue of transparency. Although accepting the ride was not technically illegal, as it would be in some other states, the ethics issue remained, for many, in doubt.[10]

Olens fielded considerable criticism for flying on the lobbyist's dime, but insisted that the transparency which led to the public's discovery of said flight should be paramount in assessing the legal and ethical defensibility of his choice. In response to a reporter's question of whether he would make the same choice again under similar circumstances, Olens said, "I'm going to follow the law. I'm going to be transparent. And where I can save the state potentially 120-plus million, I'm going to try and save the state that money."[10]

Issues

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act
See also: State Attorneys General Against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

Olens' Democratic predecessor, Thurbert Baker, had refused Republican Governor Sonny Perdue's request to join the twenty-plus state attorneys general in filing suit against the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, saying that the states did not have "a viable legal claim against the United States."[11] Olens, on the other hand, argued during his campaign that the "law supersedes state sovereignty and the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution."[12] Once in office, Olens joined the lawsuit challenging the ACA.

Presidential preference

2012

See also: Endorsements by state officials of presidential candidates in the 2012 election

Samuel S. Olens endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election.[13]

Cobb County Commissioner, Board member (1999-2010)

After having served as Cobb County District 3 Commissioner for three years starting in 1999, Olens was elected as chairman of the five-member Cobb County Board of Commissioners. Republican Governor Sonny Perdue appointed him to represent the 6th Congressional District on the state's Department of Community Affairs Board in 2003. He was re-elected as chairman of the Cobb County Commission in 2005, where he remained until April 2010 when he resigned in order to concentrate on his attorney general campaign.[14]

Elections

2014

See also: Georgia attorney general election, 2014

Olens won re-election to a second term as Attorney General of Georgia in 2014.[15] Olens was unopposed for the Republican nomination in the primary on May 20, 2014, and overtook one challenger, Democrat Greg Hecht, in the general election. The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

Results

Georgia Attorney General, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngSamuel S. Olens Incumbent 56.9% 1,436,987
     Democratic Greg Hecht 43.1% 1,087,268
Total Votes 2,524,255
Election results via Georgia Secretary of State

2010

See also: Georgia Attorney General election, 2010

Olens announced his candidacy for attorney general in April of 2009. A little over a year later, Olens placed first in the Republican primary on Tuesday, July 20, 2010, but failed to garner enough popular support to avoid a runoff contest.[16] He officially secured the party nomination three weeks later in the Republican primary runoff on August 10, 2010.[17]

2010 Race for Attorney General - Republican Primary[18]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Republican Party Approveda Samuel S. Olens 39.9%[19]
     Republican Party Preston Smith 30.6%
     Republican Party Max Wood 29.5%
Total Votes 576,492
2010 Race for Attorney General - Republican Primary Run-Off[20]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Republican Party Approveda Samuel S. Olens 58.9%
     Republican Party Preston Smith 41.1%
Total Votes 508,853
2010 Race for Attorney General - General Election[21]
Party Candidate Vote Percentage
     Republican Party Approveda Samuel S. Olens 52.9%
     Democratic Party Ken Hodges 43.6%
     Libertarian Party Don Smart 3.5%
Total Votes 2,551,722

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Samuel S. Olens campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2014Attorney General of GeorgiaWon $1,851,616 N/A**
2010Attorney General of GeorgiaWon $1,776,201 N/A**
Grand total$3,627,817 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

2016 Republican National Convention

See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Samuel S. Olens
Republican National Convention, 2016
Status:At-large delegate
State:Georgia
Bound to:Unknown
Delegates to the RNC 2016
Calendar and delegate rules overviewTypes of delegatesDelegate rules by stateState election law and delegatesDelegates by state

Olens was an at-large delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Georgia.[22] In the Georgia Republican primary election on March 1, 2016, Donald Trump won 42 delegates, Marco Rubio won 16, and Ted Cruz won 18. Ballotpedia was not able to identify which candidate Olens was bound by state party rules to support at the national convention. If you have information on how Georgia’s Republican delegates were allocated, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.[23]

Delegate rules

See also: RNC delegate guidelines from Georgia, 2016 and Republican delegates from Georgia, 2016

Delegates from Georgia to the Republican National Convention were elected at district conventions and the state convention in June 2016. Delegates from Georgia were "bound" to the candidate to whom they were allocated through the first round of voting at the national convention unless their candidate withdrew from the race after the state primary election—in which case Georgia state law required those delegates to be "unpledged" at the national convention.

Georgia primary results

See also: Presidential election in Georgia, 2016
Georgia Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes Delegates
Green check mark transparent.pngDonald Trump 38.8% 502,994 42
Marco Rubio 24.4% 316,836 16
Ted Cruz 23.6% 305,847 18
John Kasich 5.6% 72,508 0
Ben Carson 6.2% 80,723 0
Jeb Bush 0.6% 7,686 0
Chris Christie 0.1% 1,486 0
Carly Fiorina 0.1% 1,146 0
Lindsey Graham 0% 428 0
Mike Huckabee 0.2% 2,625 0
George Pataki 0% 236 0
Rand Paul 0.2% 2,910 0
Rick Santorum 0% 539 0
Totals 1,295,964 76
Source: Georgia Secretary of State and CNN

Delegate allocation

See also: 2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules
Logo-GOP.png

Georgia had 76 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 42 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's 14 congressional districts). District-level delegates were allocated proportionally; the highest vote-getter in a congressional district received two of that district's delegates, and the second highest vote-getter received the remaining delegate. If a candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote in a given district, he or she won all three of that district's delegates.[24][25]

Of the remaining 34 delegates, 31 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 20 percent of the statewide vote in order to be eligible to win any of Georgia's at-large delegates. If a candidate won more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, he or she received all of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[24][25]

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Samuel + Olens + Georgia + Attorney"

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Olens and his wife, Lisa, have two children named Lauren and Jonathan.[26]

Contact information

Georgia

Capitol Address:
Office of the Attorney General
40 Capitol Square, SW
Atlanta, Ga 30334

Phone: (404) 656-3300
Fax: (404) 657-8733

See also

External links

Campaign links

Campaign Facebook
Campaign Twitter
Campaign YouTube

Footnotes

  1. Sam Olens for Attorney General 2014 Official campaign website, "Homepage," accessed April 1, 2014
  2. Attorney General of Georgia, " Biography of the Attorney General," accessed August 27, 2013
  3. Atlanta Journal Constitution, "Kennesaw State vote on Sam Olens’ presidency set for Oct. 12," October 4, 2016
  4. 4.0 4.1 AJC.com, "Breaking: Georgia’s next attorney general is Chris Carr," October 12, 2016
  5. Sam Olens, "Meet Sam," accessed August 27, 2013
  6. Attorney General of Georgia, "Biography of the Attorney General," accessed September 12, 2011
  7. Fresh Loaf, "WSB: Sam Olens to run for attorney general" 21 April, 2009
  8. Blogs: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Sam Olens breaks through an ancient Georgia barrier," November 6, 2012
  9. 9.0 9.1 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Cobb County manager law not followed" 13 Nov. 2010
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 11alive.com, "Olens:I took lobbyist trip to save state money," January 31, 2012
  11. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Thurbert Baker’s answer to Sonny Perdue: Health care lawsuit a waste of money" 24 March, 2010
  12. Paulding County Republican Examiner, "Sam Olen's statements regarding Healthcare lawsuit" 14 Sept. 2010
  13. The American Presidency Project, "Mitt Romney Announces Support of Georgia Elected Officials and Leaders," October 27, 2011
  14. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens resigns" 5 April, 2010
  15. Georgia Secretary of State, "Qualifying Candidate Information: Attorney General," March 6, 2014
  16. Georgia Secretary of State - 2010 Primary Election Results
  17. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Olens wins GOP runoff for attorney general" 10 Aug. 2010
  18. Georgia Secretary of State - 2010 Republican Attorney General Primary Election Results
  19. Even though Sam Olens received the most votes, he failed to receive over fifty percent of those votes required by Georgia state law. A runoff election between the top two vote recipients, therefore, was required to decide who went on to the general election.
  20. Georgia Secretary of State - 2010 Republican Attorney General Primary Election Results
  21. Georgia Secretary of State - 2010 Attorney General General Election Results
  22. AJC, "Ted Cruz backers lose bid to pack Georgia GOP delegate slate," June 4, 2016
  23. To build our list of the state and territorial delegations to the 2016 Republican National Convention, Ballotpedia relied primarily upon official lists provided by state and territorial Republican parties, email exchanges and phone interviews with state party officials, official lists provided by state governments, and, in some cases, unofficial lists compiled by local media outlets. When possible, we included what type of delegate the delegate is (at-large, district-level, or RNC) and which candidate they were bound by state and national party bylaws to support at the convention. For most delegations, Ballotpedia was able to track down all of this information. For delegations where we were not able to track down this information or were only able to track down partial lists, we included this note. If you have additional information on this state's delegation, please email editor@ballotpedia.org.
  24. 24.0 24.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
  25. 25.0 25.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
  26. Project Vote Smart, "Biography: Sam Olens," accessed January 17, 2013


Political offices
Preceded by
Thurbert Baker (D)
Georgia Attorney General
2010–2016
Succeeded by
Chris Car