Former State Senator Bob Guhl has died

1
Dec

Former State Senator Bob Guhl has died

Posted by Todd Rehm / Georgia Politics

From Walton County Republican Party Chair Roy Roberts:

Fellow Republicans,

I regret to report that our good friend Bob Guhl passed away last night after a very brief illness. As you remember he had a lifetime of public service, most recently as Commission Chairman of DeKalb County and after moving to Walton County became our first Republican State Senator for many years. He has always supported me and the Republican Party and I will very much miss him Please keep his wife Shirley and his family in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult period for them.

Senator Guhl was first elected from District 45 (Walton County and parts of Barrow, Newton and Rockdale Counties) in a special election in the spring of 1993 and served until he was placed in a district with fellow Republican Mike Crotts in 2002.

Guhl was the first Republican elected to the DeKalb County Commission, serving from 1969-1972 and served as Chairman and CEO of the County from 1973-1976.

Guhl’s campaigns against DeKalb Democrat and bar owner Manuel Maloof were legendary:

Richard Nixon’s victory over George McGovern in 1972 seemed a foregone conclusion, and no DeKalb Democrat would risk running on the party ticket for a commissioner post that was up that year. Mr. Maloof talked to “about 150 people,” he estimated, trying to get them to enter the race. Minutes before filing deadline, Mr. Maloof himself became a candidate.

During the campaign, he and incumbent A.C. “Bob” Guhl, DeKalb’s first Republican commissioner and the man whose face Mr. Maloof slapped on a tavern toilet seat, swapped insults.