MACON, Ga. — An old issue has become a new point of contention in the race to become Macon's next district attorney.
The conflict revolves around coin-operated gaming machines.
Incumbent District Attorney David Cooke says some businesses use them illegally.
Challenger Anita Reynolds Howard argues Cooke's approach is an overstep.
Cooke's office has overseen raids on dozens of convenience stores hosting these machines.
They argue the businesses either unlawfully gave cash prizes or illegally modified the machines.
One raid led to the conviction of a Byron restaurant owner for illegal gambling, but a state appeals court later threw out that conviction.
Howard, in an interview several weeks ago, argued Cooke never should have prosecuted that case.
"The (state) court of appeals and the (state) supreme court has said the district attorney went beyond the scope of the law," she said.
One of her campaign ads makes that same case, arguing Cooke is "abusing his power."
The district attorney sees it differently.
He argues the state supreme court didn't say he went beyond the scope of the law, it just declined to hear the case.
He adds that the state district attorneys association supported his work on the Byron case.
"(They) actually filed an amicus brief saying all of the previous authority says that the way that Cooke prosecuted this was correct," he said.
Now, a new ad supporting Cooke's campaign accuses Howard of taking big donations from the gaming industry.
He says it comes from an independent group.
"I have nothing to do with the ad," said Cooke. "I didn't know about the ad until it was on TV and people called me about it, but from what I've seen, every word of it is true."
It argues the vast majority, as much as 90%, of Howard's contributions come from people and businesses associated with the gaming machines.
13WMAZ could not confirm that amount, but campaign finance disclosure forms did show Howard's campaign has received more than $70,000 from coin-operated gaming machine companies and convenience stores.
That's roughly 37% of her total reported contributions.
In a written statement, Howard said, in part, that a "select group" of her donors "has been unjustly criticized for operating legal businesses in this circuit."
In a statement of his own, Cooke argues Howard has been influenced by the gaming industry's contributions.
"No DA candidate in this circuit or in all of Georgia has ever been so completely funded" by such an industry, he said. "Because no DA candidate has ever offered herself so completely for sale."
Howard wrote that Cooke "is running the only campaign he knows how to run, a false and misleading one."
"It is unfortunate that an African American woman running to be the first in both categories is questioned about her legal and ethical fundraising when she has still raised less than half of her opponent," she said. "My campaign will continue to be fair, transparent, and accountable to all the people of the Macon Judicial Circuit.
"My opponent talks of transparency, but the most transparent part of this campaign is who is behind her and why she repeats the words they’ve paid her and their fancy lawyers to say," Cooke responded.
Election day is Tuesday, June 9.
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