Here comes the judge...

Jason Harper embarks on his third new career as a State Court Judge

By Larry Stanford

Contributing Writer

  At age 35, most people are in the mid-stages of their first career. Not Jason Harper. At the ripe old age of 35, Harper is beginning his third career. He has already been an attorney and a County Commissioner. To that resume he is now adding State Court Judge.

  Harper is a native son of Henry County. Raised in McDonough, where his parents still live. Harper graduated from Henry County High School. He received an undergraduate degree from Mercer University and a Doctorate in Law degree from Georgia State University. Jason married his high school sweetheart, the former Emily Under-wood. They have three boys, Landon, 11, Hayden, 9, and Jordan, 5.

  Harper had been an attorney for several years when at age 26, he decided to run for the District Three County Commission post. He was elected to office in 2000, becoming at age 27 the youngest person ever elected to office in Henry County. Four years later, Harper made the decision to run for Commission Chair. He won that race and earned the title of the youngest person (31) to be elected Commission Chair. Now, four years later, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has appointed Harper as the fourth State Court Judge in Henry County, making him the youngest person in Henry County (35) to be a State Court Judge.

  Through his work ethic and his devotion to the people of Henry County, Jason Harper has established himself as a man of honor and integrity. Here is just a brief glimpse into his accomplishments.

Attorney

  Jason Harper became an attorney in 1997, but his desire to go into the practice of law began many years earlier, when he began working at age 16 as a “go-fer” for the Crumbley law firm in McDonough. Harper actually started working for Henry County while in law school.

  “I worked for Judge Del Buttrill in Probate Court for the four years I was in law school,” said Harper. “When I graduated and became an attorney, I still worked for him for a short time after, and then went back to private law practice with the Crumbley firm. Judge Buttrill let me be the Judge Pro Tem in Probate Court when he was gone on vacation or sick.”

  Harper received recognition from the state for his work as an attorney in 1998 when the Attorney General appointed him as a Special Assistant Attorney General for Henry County.

“I was a contract employee and was responsible for prosecuting Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) cases in Henry and Butts Counties.

That dealt with child abuse and neglect cases – taking children out of the home and those types of things. I did that for eight years, and when I stopped doing that, the court appointed me as the guardian for the children. That way, if DFCS has taken your kids and you have attorneys defending you, the kids get an attorney, too, to represent their interests. I did that until I left to become judge.”

County Commissioner

  During his eight years in office, four as District Three County Commissioner and four as Com-mission Chair, Harper played a key role in improving county services and facilities, including new libraries in Stockbridge, Locust Grove, and Fairview, new fire stations throughout the county, a new courthouse annex housing State, Magistrate and Juvenile courts, a new Public Safety annex, and improvements in parks, roads, bridges and intersections.

  High on his list of accomplishments is Heritage Park in McDonough. When he took office in 2000, Heritage Park was in the beginning stages of development. Under his leadership and vision, Heritage Park has become one of the premier parks in the county, featuring an historic village and museum, a train engine representing the era of the famous Camp Creek Train Wreck, lighted baseball fields and a concession stand, a new outdoor arena that bears his name, new offices for Parks and Recreation and the Extension Service, and most recently, the completion of the Veterans Wall of Honor. With all that, Heritage is receiving attention not only from county residents, but from others as well.

  “On the Atlanta Journal Constitution Access Atlanta page, Heritage Park was named the second best park in Metro Atlanta, only behind Piedmont Park. I thought that was pretty good,” said Harper. “Of course, the pinnacle of that was dedicating the Veterans Wall of Honor last week. I wanted to get that done, and the Board was gracious enough to let me do the ceremony, even though I missed it by a couple of weeks. In the lobby outside my office, I have framed portraits of the different stages of Heritage Park. That was one of my favorite projects during my eight years in office.”

  Other highlights of his time in office include the Service De-livery Agreement and the development of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

  “Getting the Service Delivery Agreement between the four cities and the county completed was a major goal,” said Harper. “That was my first week in office as Chairman, staying up until 2 a.m. in meetings with the four city mayors and council members and commissioners. We ironed out all our differences; so hopefully, we’re not duplicating government services. If there is duplication, we took that into consideration.  

  “The other thing is completing the Comprehensive Land Use Plan. We already have a Com-prehensive Transportation Plan that we all agreed to go by. Now we’re trying to do the Land Use Plan. That still hasn’t been adopted, but it’s almost there. I didn’t really push to get it adopted before I left, because I think it needs to be right before they adopt it. You’re asking four cities and the county to all agree on that document.”

  Harper became well known outside the county as well, making numerous trips to Washing-ton, DC, to lobby for more funding for Henry County projects.

  “Those trips to Washington, DC, netted several hundred thousand dollars for the county,” Harper said. “The Criminal Justice Integrated Computer System grant is $467,650, and that involved going up there and lobbying for that. If we hadn’t gone and met with those Congressmen and implored them to help us, we wouldn’t have gotten it. We received a $250,000 grant for the Bruton Smith Parkway interchange; that came from Washington, too. I think it was well worth it for the time and effort I put into it. I hope Ms. Mathis continues to do that, and I think she intends to.”

   For all of his accomplishments, Harper acknowledges that there are some things he did not get done, and others that he hopes to still be able to play a part in doing.

  “There are plenty of things we tried to do but didn’t. For instance, two years ago we tried to impose a building moratorium. The reason we did was not to punish the builders and developers, but we saw there was a glut of product on the market and they continued to pump it in there. Now you see what is happening. I’m not saying our moratorium would have prevented that from happening, but at least there wouldn’t be so much stuff on the streets of Henry County and banks having to take developments back that have no homes built in them. That was something I think would have helped if we could have done it. But that’s water under the bridge. You can’t go back and do it now.

  “The only thing that I did not get accomplished, which I am continuing to volunteer my efforts for, is the interchange redesign for the Bruton Smith Parkway and bridge – the gateway to Atlanta Motor Speedway. We have a $250,000 grant for construction, and the Board of Commissioners hired a design firm to design the interchange. Once that is complete, we will go out to bid. We were in the process of going through a draft of the design when I resigned to become State Court Judge. I am continuing to volunteer my efforts. That’s the only thing I really wanted to get accomplished that I could not.”

State Court Judge

  After eight years in office, Jason Harper felt it was time to turn the reins of leadership over to someone else. He had already decided not to run for re-election when it became known that he was a candidate for the fourth State Court Judge position in Henry County. In November that candidacy became a reality when Governor Sonny Perdue appointed Harper as the new State Court Judge. The appointment meant resigning his position as Commission Chair two months prior to the end of his term. Harper said he had always considered becoming a judge, but was surprised when it happened.

   “I always thought that maybe one day the possibility would present itself. But I didn’t anticipate it presenting itself when it did,” said Harper. “I feel blessed that I got the appointment. But I had already made the decision not to run for chairman again, so had I not gotten the judgeship, I would be practicing law, which is what I intended to do. But to be able to continue in public service and in the field of law, that worked out very well and I feel privileged for that.

  “This is my third week. They gave me a full caseload from day one. I was sworn in at 3 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday morning I was on the bench doing criminal court. I have been on the bench virtually every day for the past three weeks. One of those three weeks was jury trial every day, and 80 percent of the cases have been criminal. I would say it is a fair statement to say that they are letting me learn from experience by just throwing me in the fire.”

  Harper said Henry County owes a great deal of gratitude to Chief Magistrate Court Judge Robert Godwin, who filled in as a temporary State Court Judge until the decision was made to seat a fulltime judge.

   “Henry County does not understand how privileged they are to have Robert Godwin as Chief Magistrate. He has filled in as a fourth state court judge that hasn’t been appointed for months now,” said Harper. “He has also filled in at Superior Court as needed. He doesn’t charge for this, he gets his salary as Chief Magistrate. He could just do that and nothing else and it would be perfectly legitimate. But he volunteers his time to assist other courts as they need and they really owe him a debt of gratitude, and the county government owes him a debt of gratitude because they are not having to pay visiting or senior judges when he agrees to do that. So there is not a backlog because you’ve had somebody able to fill in and do the work of a fourth judge. But based on the volume of work that I’m doing, if they didn’t have a fourth judge, there would be a backlog. The position was definitely needed.”

  Harper said his plans for his future are to remain a judge. But he doesn’t discount another foray into politics if the situation arises.

  “My term is for two years,” said Harper. “My intention is to seek a full term after that. I’m enjoying this. People ask what is next. This may be it. I can say that these have been three enjoyable, though busy, weeks.  This is my field of expertise and what I went to school to be trained to do.

  “I don’t know if I would go back into politics. I’m not going to be dishonest and say I never would, because I’ve learned in my life to never say ‘never.’ When I told everybody when I was 26 that I was going to run for office, they were skeptics, but I think I’ve proven, if you work hard enough, that anything is possible. But I can say that I’m content with what I’m doing.”

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Last modified: Thursday, November 20, 2008

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