About Roger
A fair shake for Georgia
About Roger
Let’s build a better Georgia together
I grew up in North Georgia, within walking distance of the Chestatee River.
I camped in these mountains and hiked these trails. This place helped make me who I am.
After college I went to work for Fulton County Family and Children Services, in the housing projects of Northwest Atlanta. I wanted to help people, and there was no better place to find people in need. I spent thirty years working for DFCS — starting as a caseworker working with families in poverty, and retiring as budget director, responsible for 8,000 employees and a $1.2 billion organization. I know how government works. I have seen it fail.
The families I served in Atlanta weren't so different from families right here in these mountains — working people who fall through the cracks when the people making the decisions are too far from - or looking the wrong way - to see the consequences of their decisions. I devoted my career to serving those families, the least among us.
After retirement I spent ten years traveling the US in an RV, looking for the best place tosettle down, and traveled extensively overseas. The place I found to settle was three miles from the house I grew up in. NowI'm home, but those years on the road showed me what thriving small communities have in common — and what struggling ones share too.
I'm running because the same failures I watched in Atlanta and saw across theUnited States are showing up here — in underfunded schools, in a healthcare system that leaves too many people behind, in a landscape that's being sold off piece by piece.I have seen this before. I know what causes it. And I know how to fix it.