Thomson mayor meets the governor who’s pondering his fate

THOMSON, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - A natural disaster brought together Thomson’s embattled mayor and the man who’s deciding whether to oust him.

Gov. Brian Kemp came to Thomson on Wednesday to see the damage from Hurricane Helene and talk with local officials.

Those officials include Mayor Benji Cranford, who’s been indicted by a grand jury.

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On Friday, the Georgia State Election Board adopted new rules related to election workers in the Peach State.

Cranford was there as the governor mingled with local officials around 3 p.m.

The Grovetown and Harlem mayors are serving on a commission to advise Kemp on the fate of Cranford, who’s been charged with a felony.

The panel will be made up of Grovetowm Mayor Gary Jones, Harlem Mayor Roxanne Whitaker and Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr.

Appointed by Kemp, they were supposed to decide whether the grand jury indictment “relates to and adversely affects the administration of duties by Mayor Cranford such that the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected.”

The panel was supposed to issue a written report to Kemp by last Friday with a recommendation on whether Cranford should be suspended from office.

Cranford is accused of buying a bottle of gin, and then purposefully putting it in a ditch for a prison detail to come across.

The mayor had just finished meeting with the City Council in executive session on Aug. 14 and was walking out when Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents approached him, arrested him and took him to jail.

He bonded out quickly.