Biography

Rep. Ed Setzler represents the communities of Kennesaw and Acworth in the Georgia House of Representatives. First elected in 2004, Ed serves as the Chairman of the General & Juvenile Law Subcommittee of Judiciary Committee (Non-civil) and serves on the Education, Appropriations, Transportation, and Rules committees.

Born in Atlanta, Ed grew up in the Southeast and attended Furman University in Greenville, SC where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and the designation of Distinguished Military Graduate with his Army commission in 1992. Ed served his country on active duty for 9 years as a US Army Officer with challenging leadership assignments in Europe, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf. A graduate of the US Army Ranger School, Ed completed his active military service at Fort Stewart, Georgia as Commander of a 200 soldier transportation company in the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized). Since 2001, Rep. Setzler has worked full time at MACTEC, a nationwide engineering and environmental firm based in metro-Atlanta.

As a husband and father of four, Rep. Setzler is active in a number of community and statewide non-profits. He works regularly with students in the Cobb County schools, Cobb youth sports programs, and serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster in BSA Troop 2096 in Acworth. The Setzler family worships at Christ Community Church in Kennesaw where Ed and Tracie are active in small group discipleship ministry.

Political career

Since first being elected in 2004, Representative Setzler has been a leader in statewide education reform and in efforts to protect the fundamental rights of individuals.

As the Chairman of the House Education, Charter School Subcommittee, Ed has played a statewide leadership role in providing real public school choice options for Georgia’s families. As the Sponsor of HB-831 (2008) regarding charter school facilities funding and HB-469 (2007) regarding alternate charter school authorizers, Ed provided statewide leadership in the effort of creating more successful, innovative public charter schools. These publicly accountable schools of choice allow students from all ends of the socioeconomic spectrum to receive publicly funded, private school-like educations that have proven nationwide and in Georgia to out-perform traditional public schools.

Ed’s commitment to educational choice for all Georgia families supported the creation of the SB-10 (2007) scholarship program to support special needs children that are underserved by their local public schools. Additionally, Ed’s support of HB-1133 (2008) created a nationally recognized program in which low-income and middle class families can defray the cost of private education by qualifying for tuition scholarships funded by local businesses and individuals who make tax-deductible contributions to scholarship foundations.

As the Chairman of the 2006 House Study Committee on Biological Privacy, Representative Setzler brought together a panel of nationally recognized experts to advance policies to prevent governments and private entities from using emerging technologies to violate the personal privacy rights of citizens. Representative Setzler was also instrumental in the passage of SB-77 (2006) the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. With its passage, Georgia became one of approximately 30 states that will now prosecute a violent crime against a pregnant woman as crimes against two distinct persons. Under SB-77, a person found guilty of causing the death of an unborn child shall be guilty of “feticide”, a crime punishable by life in prison. Not only did SB-77 provide tougher penalties for crimes against women, it provided protections under Georgia law for unborn children beginning at the moment of conception.

Additionally, Representative Setzler is the sponsor of HR-9 (2009) the Freedom of Ownership Amendment (FOA) to the Georgia constitution. When adopted by statewide referendum, this innovative measure will allow Georgia property owners to make an advanced payment to local governments equaling 20 times the current year's property tax obligation. Once this payment is made (estimated at 30% of the property value), the subject property will be permanently and unconditionally free from ad valorem property taxation, a benefit that will be transferable upon sale to all subsequent owners. Similar to a small public retirement system, this 20 year cash payment will provide an annuitized stream of investment revenue equal to or greater than the annual tax revenue generated by a property.

2004 Election

With an open House District 35 seat created by federal court redistricting, the 2004 Republican primary was an extremely competitive race between four candidates, the result of which was decided in a primary run-off election between Ed Setzler 63.5% and Daryl Kidd 36.5%.

Results of the July 20, 2004 Primary Election

Daryl Kidd 1,048 22.8 %

Paul McKittrick 1,028 22.4 %

Mike Serkedakis 1,007 21.9 %

Ed Setzler 1,505 32.8 %

After having won the Republican primary runoff, Setzler went unopposed in the 2004 General Election.

2008 Election

After having again won unopposed in 2006, Setzler was challenged by local Lost Mountain Middle School teacher Jason Adams. On Nov. 4, 2008, Setzler received 60.8% of the vote to Adams 39.2%

Results of the November 4, 2008 General Election

Ed Setzler (R) 14,178 60.8 %

Jason Adams (D) 9,149 39.2 %

In outperforming Republican presidential candidate John McCain by more than 6% in his House District, Representative Setzler focused his grass-roots campaign on education reform, providing vital infrastructure, and his record of common sense conservative

Common sense conservative

A common sense conservative is an advocate of conservative politics who adopts the rhetoric of "common sense" to frame his or her arguments. The term is almost always used to apply to domestic and fiscal policy...

 leadership on behalf of ordinary citizens.

Committee Assignments

Appropriations

Judiciary (Non-civil) - General & Juvenile Law Subcommittee, Chairman

Education - Charter School Subcommittee, Chairman

Transportation

Rules

External links