Meet Lynette Burnette, Kennesaw's newest councilwoman

Feb. 6—Last year, in late October, Lynette Burnette rang up Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler. She had gotten busy with work, and was considering dropping out of the Kennesaw City Council special election.

Early voting, however, had already begun, and it was too late for her name to be taken off the ballot.

The only option at that point was to withdraw — her name would have stayed on the ballot, but votes cast for her would not have counted. Burnette, one of seven candidates, decided to remain in the race.

"I said, 'Let's just wait and see what happens here,'" she said.

A few weeks later, she was being sworn in as the new member of the council, representing Post 1. She told the MDJ in an interview that her work has since calmed down, and she has the time to tend her duties as a councilwoman.

A mother, grandmother and longtime resident, Burnette said she wants to give back to the community through service.

"I care about my community," Burnette said. "I love Kennesaw, that's home. It's a period in my life now that ... I have the time to do it. My seven grandchildren will be raised in this area, so I care about this community and the future of it."

In the November election, Burnette received 1,755 votes (18.27%). Second-place finisher Madelyn Orochena received 1,726 votes (17.96%).

The five-member Kennesaw council is elected citywide.

Kennesaw roots

Burnette was born in Charleston, South Carolina. Her family moved to Cobb when her father, who was in the military, was stationed at Dobbins Air Reserve Base. She attended McEachern High School before her family moved to Virginia, where she graduated high school.

Burnette studied business at Wytheville Community College in Virginia. She moved back to Cobb 27 years ago, and has lived here since.

She has worked since 2001 at Cobb County International Airport, in various functions. Currently, she's a corporate flight attendant for Aviation Development Group, which flies corporate jets and leases hangars. She flies all over for her job — "anywhere they want to go" — including both coasts of the U.S., Mexico, the Bahamas and Ireland.

Burnette also works in marketing for the company, and has helped assist film productions shooting at the airport.

The firm Burnette works for used to be the airport's fixed-base operator (FBO), which provides fueling, storage, and other services. The FBO since 2014 has been Hawthorn Global Aviation Services.

"It was a very small general aviation airport when our company bought (the FBO) ... It's a corporate airport now, with customs, and I was a part of the growth of that," she said.

Burnette, 61, is divorced, and has seven siblings, the majority of whom live in Cobb.

She has two adult children, plus seven grandchildren, ranging in age from two months to 16.

She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren. She also loves to travel — fitting, for her line of work.

"I love meeting new people, I love going to new places," she said.

Though the office is nonpartisan, Burnette said she considers herself politically conservative.

Election issues

Burnette's election was not a straightforward victory. Initially, she appeared to have come in second place.

Madelyn Orochena held a narrow lead in the days following Election Day, while outstanding ballots were still being counted. A week after Election Day, the Cobb Board of Elections certified Orochena as the winner, 16 votes ahead of Burnette.

That result, however, stood for about 24 hours. While preparing for an audit, Cobb elections staff discovered that a memory card containing 789 votes had not been properly uploaded. The new results flipped the election, putting Burnette ahead by 31 votes.

Three days after the initial certification, the election board certified the new results, declaring Burnette the victor.

Cobb elections then conducted a recount, which Orochena was entitled to under state law, since the margin was less than 0.5%. The recount upheld Burnette's win, albeit by 29 votes instead of 31.

The memory card debacle was one of several errors the county's election office made in 2022.

"It was very surprising, to say the least, because I thought the election had been finalized," Burnette said. "And then I get a call saying that the memory card had been found and that I'd won the election. So I was pretty shocked. Not shocked that I won, but shocked that the memory card had been found and it changed."

Some Kennesaw residents (and Orochena supporters) were surprised at Burnette's win, given that Burnette had not campaigned as aggressively as others, and was not present at candidate forums.

Burnette acknowledged she wasn't the most visible candidate, but said she hadn't planned it that way.

She started off strong in the first few weeks, campaigning at the annual Pigs and Peaches festival in August, and had started meeting voters and making calls.

But then her company got two significant contracts, and she started traveling more for work.

"And so it wasn't like I was trying to be MIA (missing in action)," she said. "I was just busy, I was just out of town. And so it looked like I was trying not to show up. But that simply wasn't the case. I wasn't expecting that to happen."

Burnette said her roots in the community likely helped her get elected.

"I've built a life in Kennesaw ... So I would get a lot of votes from just the people I know ... in business and family and friends. So that wasn't so shocking, because as far as she's (Orochena) concerned, you know, I'm a little older than her, I've had ... many more years to build those relationships."

Burnette did not raise any money for her campaign. She did, though, receive some advice from two friends — political consultants Heath Garrett and Neil Bitting (Garrett is married to MDJ general manager Lee Garrett).

"I always tell people, when you're campaigning door to door, when you get to that door, you can either win votes or lose votes," Heath Garrett said. "... Clearly some people went out and campaigned much more diligently in some cases, but that doesn't mean that the people of Kennesaw were buying their message."

Bitting noted that some of the other candidates had "been rejected before," by the voters.

"Some of the platforms, I think that another one of them ran on, was just frankly unpopular," Bitting said. "And so it's not a surprise to me that someone who is known in the community and trusted in the community was able to get the most votes."

Garrett said Burnette's strategy was not "super sophisticated" — being well-liked and not staking out controversial stances goes a long way.

"I do think not having a hyper vocal agenda in a city council race is probably a pretty good platform. ... You definitely can't be a single-issue type candidate in a city council race with seven people," Garrett said.

On the issues

For Burnette, one of her priorities is public safety and supporting the police. She also wants to support and partner with local schools.

"Because most people who move into the community are moving in because of good school systems. ... That's important to me, as far as our children and our future," she said.

Some of the most impactful — and controversial — decisions made by Cobb's local governments surround zoning and land use.

Burnette said Kennesaw needs to have a good balance of allowing higher density new development while preserving established, low-density neighborhoods.

"I think as long as the growth is smart growth. ... We keep up with our roads, keep up with the traffic, keep up with our school systems, being able to provide enough schools and enough room in classrooms as the growth happens," she said. "I agree with it if we do it smartly."

The special election Burnette won was triggered when former Councilman James "Doc" Eaton resigned his seat last June over the reopening of Wildman's Civil War Surplus, the controversial Confederate-themed shop in downtown Kennesaw.

For decades, Wildman's has attracted infamy as a storefront chock-full of Confederate memorabilia. Critics also argue that it's holding back downtown Kennesaw from reaching its full potential.

The store's founder and longtime owner, Dent Myers, died last January, age 90. The shop briefly closed, but reopened last June under the management of Marjorie Lyon, Myers' friend. Eaton announced he was quitting the council the same day, accusing the city of moral cowardice, and claiming the business wasn't up to code.

Following Eaton's announcement and a community uproar, City Manager Jeff Drobney defended the city's handling of the case. Wildman's, he said, had jumped through the proper hoops to receive a new business license, and is up to code. The city treats all businesses the same, he said.

Burnette agrees with Drobney's assessment.

"I don't know if they can force it. I think legally, it's open. ... I don't think we can close anything illegally, or neither can it stay open illegally. But at this point ... it's legally open.

The debate over Wildman's spilled over into City Council meetings and social media posts. Councilwoman Tracey Viars said last October that "the city has never felt this level of divisiveness and hostility in (her) time since moving here in 1995."

"I heard a lot of that controversy. But since I've been in, through just my six weeks in, I'm not feeling that as much," Burnette said of the Wildman's issue. "I think it's calmed down a little bit."

As for Burnette's personal opinion on the store, she said she's never been inside.

"Of all the years I've been here I've never been in the store. ... It's hard for me to make an opinion because I've never even walked into the store," she said.

Settling in

Former Kennesaw Councilman Tim Killingsworth got to know Burnette through her work at the airport, and described her as "a very nice lady."

"Based on what I've heard and what I've seen, it sounds like she listens more than she talks, which is always the best thing," Killingsworth said. "When you get a politician and they start talking, sometimes it's tough to get them to hush ... The no agenda is a big thing. You've got people that have run ... that always seem to have an agenda, and it's when they have an agenda, that's a personal thing, instead of being somebody that wants to represent the people."

Burnette is now learning the ropes, attending city events and participating in meetings. She's optimistic about the city's future.

"It's been really good. Everyone's been super nice, super supportive, very welcoming. So I'm really enjoying it and just getting to know everyone and doing a lot of listening right now, to learn," she said.