Is The Board of Tax Assessors Trying to Impart Itself Into the District 3 Hall County Commission Race
The District 3 race for the Hall County Commission is a close race between Tyler Crawford and Shannon Davidson. It has been a tight race with Crawford holding around a 5% lead in votes after the primary. The runoff is on Tuesday, June 16th. That is where this story takes a wild and questionable turn.
A little background here. Tyler Crawford won the primary race over Shannon Davidson and Steve Gailey. Tyler won around 37% to Davidson’s 32%. Davidson beat Gailey by 49 votes to eek into the runoff. It had been a clean race with all three candidates being civil and getting along.
Crawford was the longshot here and he spent less than $2,500 on this race and didn’t make donations. Davidson on the other hand has raised over $42,000 in donations and has given himself a couple of sizable loans. He had spent over $60,000 on this race. He also had the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Doug Collins’ son, Cameron, as his campaign manager. Davidson has spent over $60,000 for a seat that pays around $42,000 a year.
Until Stan Hunt dropped out of the race because of citizen blowback from his dismissal from the planning commission, Davidson was friendly and in contact with the other two candidates. Then it went dark. He no longer communicated with Crawford nor Gailey. He only attended limited events. A few weeks after Hunt dropped out Davidson started trying to take credit for the firing of three Hall County Planning Commissioners when he knew nothing about it. Tyler and Jodi White were the ones who discovered it and alerted Davidson so he could tell Commission Chairman Gibbs. Davidson admitted under oath to the investigator he knew nothing about it.
Davidson Goes on Attack after SuperPAC Injected Itself into the District 3 Race
Then right before the primary, news broke that a SuperPAC out of Texas had been sending out flyers on behalf of Tyler Crawford and District 1 Commissioner, Kathy Cooper. This was done without their knowledge or consent. The way SuperPACs work is this. They can do what they want when they want as long as they conform to a set of very loose rules. They can back, or bash, a candidate. Since 2010 when Citizens United was overturned by the federal government, it has allowed the SuperPACs to run wild. Most of the commercials you see on TV are done by SuperPACs as they don’t have donation limits.
Davidson went on to attack Crawford, claiming he benefitted and used over $50,000 from this SuperPAC. Crawford or Cooper never saw a dime. Davidson continued to attack Crawford for being born in California, even though Crawford has lived in Georgia since he was 5 years old. Then a resident of the Hall County area since 2008. He even put a pledge online that says he would never accept any money from a SuperPAC. That is an impossible pledge to make because candidates have no say so in what a SuperPAC does. It was an attempt to discredit Crawford.
Everything went smoothly for the last couple of weeks except for the normal repeating of accusations from the Davidson camp, which was expected once he started the mudslinging. Then Davidson got very personal with outright slander and lies that you would expect. There were vague posts in several groups on Facebook about Tyler, who were accusing him of doing things under the table and lying to the county government. These comments were made by people under nicknames that can be used in some groups.
The most pointed one up to that point said it was too bad the details couldn’t come out until June 17th, the day after the election. This got the buzz going. When you checked the calendar of events for the Hall County Government you found out that the Board of Tax Assessors was the only meeting on that day.
Fast forward a couple of hours and in the Friends of Clermont, Georgia group, a member hiding behind a nickname posted the letter. I shared the link with Tyler to get his thoughts about it, and he told me that he had not even seen it yet. His wife had just gotten it out of the mailbox not long before. This was after 9 pm at night. He read the letter and was shocked.
Lo and behold, Shannon Davidson had posted the letter in full and made up some nonsensical story that was obviously produced his campaign. You can read it here. It is basically claiming Tyler lied on his application that he was a farmer so he could get a CUVA tax break. That is a conservatory that allows you to save on taxes as long as you meet and agree to certain conditions. Shannon claimed Tyler only ran his fabrication business there and he is cheating on his taxes and other Hall County citizens are picking up the slack. Davidson also said the race should be about integrity and honesty while out here slandering Tyler.
The ONLY way Shannon could have gotten this letter before Tyler did was if someone provided it from the tax assessor’s office or the Board of Tax Assessors. It is interesting to note that his friend, Casey Ryals, is a member of the board, as is former Hall County Commission Chair, Richard Higgins. Higgins is good friends with Tyler’s neighbor and blocked Tyler from opening up his fabrication shop on his land while Higgins was chair. After Higgins lost the election in 2024, Tyler’s application and variance cleared the commission.
How Did the Letter Get in Davidson's Hands? How Will it Affect the District 3 Race?
The letter was most likely taken out of the packet that was provided to the members of the Board of Tax Assessors in preparation for the June 17th meeting. There is no way Shannon could have gotten an open records (ORR) request back that quickly. It typically takes up to 72 hours to receive the documents from an ORR.
What is funny about this is Tyler had no issues with the county inspecting his property and granting the CUVA in 2025, but now they miraculously have an issue with it, right before the election. Davidson is running in the election and has taken over $42,000 in donations from people that are developers, home builders or real estate agents.
I will list all of these donors that Davidson has accepted funds from at the end of the article.
Davidson was interviewed on the radio June 12th and said he was willing to put homes on ¼ acre lots, which is denser than allowed in the comprehensive plan. Davidson’s vision for District just changed from controlled growth to favoring developers and higher density growth. Below is the snippet where Shannon talks about it. You can listen to the entire show here on Glory 97.5 Community Focus. .
Where this gets even more convoluted is that Ryals is good friends with Commissioner Gregg Poole. Poole has been caught on a hot mic during a commission meeting calling Tyler a “Frigging Loser.” I have the clip. This was after Tyler, my co-host and I talked about how Hall County spent around $500,000 to put in a culvert and pave a dirt road with two houses on it off of GA-365.
One of the owners of land was the Mansfield family, one of the richest and more influential families in the area. Gregg Poole happens to own 100 acres that connect to this property off Harrington Road. We have the invoices. Not to mention that Gregg Poole and Shannon Davidson are cousins. No conflict there.
Poole attacked Tyler from the commission seat one other time, not by name, but was staring him down the entire time and everyone knew who he was talking about. Then he brought the culvert back up when they were awarding paving and roadwork contracts for the county a couple of weeks ago. Poole directly asked the guy from public works if he had ever personally asked for a culvert to be built. Poole claims no wrongdoing, but he sure has a funny way of showing it. Poole has also said many times to vote for the Candidate in District 3, which is a lifelong resident of Hall County. WE all know that was a slight to Tyler who didn’t move to the area until 2008.
Is Old Nemesis Richard Higgins Involved? If So How Far Does it Go?
Now let’s get to Higgins. Richard Higgins is why Tyler ran for office. Because of all the hoops the commission and planning staff made Tyler jump it took him 2 ½ years to be able build a barn on his property so he could work from home. Higgins is the ONLY new member on the board that has a history with Crawford. Higgins started his tenure in January of this year. I find it funny that Tyler gets called in front of the Board of Tax Assessors and investigated right before the runoff election.
Higgins’ campaign has already donated $1,500 to Gina Pilcher, who would be Tyler’s opponent if he wins the District 3 GOP runoff. She used to be a Planning Commissioner and will be running as an independent if she qualifies.
Crawford has even received an email trying to demand Tyler make one of two choices by the 17th of this month. This is not due process, and he has not had the opportunity to defend, explain himself or speak to counsel. Tyler wrote a detailed response on Facebook responding to the accusations. You can read that here.
It is obvious that this is politics at its lowest and right before the election runoff. Can Davidson win on his merits alone? Has his campaign resorted to half-truths and lies? Are there others involved? Ryals, Higgins, Poole or does it go higher?
We know Hall County is corrupt to the core and these past two years have shown more than we expected. People that are not in the “Good Ole Boy” network and challenging them are getting attacked on all sides. Residents have been threatened. Social Media groups have been slandered and infiltrated to cause issues. Fake social media accounts have been created to spread lies and further people’s agendas.
Hall County is growing and the powers that be DO NOT like what is going on. They are losing control of the narrative and don’t like it. Gainesville, and Hall County, are in a transition stage and becoming a more urban city instead of a small town. The area has always had strong ties to State and National politics, but this is getting out of hand with the corruption and attacks on people that want an honest and transparent government.
You can also catch up on a lot of the topics and posts in the North Georgia Advocate Facebook Group. Please join in the conversations. We don't censor and we welcome all sides to a topic or story.
Some Donors of Shannon Davidson that are tied to developments, real estate, and building
| Donor / Entity | Affiliation / Business Tie | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Santi | Controller at Cook Construction and Real Estate | $3,000 | April 27, 2026 |
| Casey Ryals | Ryals Brothers | $1,000 | September 9, 2025 |
| Rountree Homes LLC | Real Estate / Home Builder | $500 | November 17, 2025 |
| Kacy Cronin | Waste Eliminators | $3,500 | November 17, 2025 |
| Buffington Real Estate Services LLC | Real Estate Services | $2,500 | November 19, 2025 |
| Roland Dickerson | Chestatee Industrial Contractors LLC | $500 | February 11, 2026 |
| Hawk Investments LLC | Investment / Development | $2,500 | March 11, 2026 |
| Brett Wright | Wright Land and Cattle Company | $1,500 | September 11, 2025 |
| Prime Community Management LLC | Property Management / Real Estate | $700 | March 10 & April 27, 2026 |
| McCall Properties LLC | Real Estate / Properties | $1,000 | March 10, 2026 |
| Larry Glover | NCP Holdings | $1,000 | April 23, 2026 |
You can access our Podcasts at the following links:
Below are some of the flyers and other documents that are relevant. You can get campaign finance documents at Peachfile. It is the State of Georgia's Financial Disclosures with the State Ethics Commission.
Documents Relative to the Article.
0 Comments