Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for January 21, 2022

On January 22, 1733, James Oglethorpe arrived at Yamacraw Bluff, where the colony of Georgia would be founded.

On January 23, 1775, the Georgia Commons House elected three delegates to the Second Continental Congress.

Lieutenant William T. Sherman was ordered to Georgia for the first time in his military career on January 21, 1844.

On January 22, 1861, following the passage of Georgia’s Secession Resolution, six delegates, including both from Gwinnett County, signed a statement protesting the decision to secede. On January 23, 1861, Georgia’s members of the United States House of Representatives resigned following passage of the Secession Ordinance; her Senators had resigned earlier. The next day, the secession convention in Milledgeville elected ten delegates to a conference of Southern states in Montgomery, Alabama.

On January 22, 1866, Georgia Governor Charles Jenkins signed a resolution by the legislature asking for federal troops to be removed from Georgia.

On January 23, 1923, Georgia ratified the Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution, which ended Presidential terms on January 20th following an election and those of Congress to January 3d.

On January 22, 1959, Atlanta buses were integrated after a federal court decision.

United States Senator and former Georgia House Speaker and Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr. died on January 21, 1971.

On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court issued its 7-2 decision in the case known as Roe v. Wade.

On January 23, 1973, President Richard M. Nixon announced that terms had been reached to settle the Vietnam War, a document known as the “Paris Peace Accords.”

On January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned draft resistors from the Vietnam War era and urged Americans to conserve energy.

On January 21, 1978, the Bee Gees Saturday Night Live album hit #1 on the sales charts, where it would stay for 24 weeks.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

RIP Dick Williams, long-time Atlanta Journalist.

Chief Medical Officers of six Georgia hospital systems pled with the public to help reduce the load of COVID cases, according to the AJC.

Top doctors at six of metro Atlanta’s largest hospital groups made extraordinary pleas on Thursday for Georgians to get vaccinated and take steps to reduce coronavirus infections to ensure emergency rooms and hospitals can care for people most in need.

In an hourlong briefing, the hospital leaders spoke of overflowing emergency rooms, dying patients, and devastated ICU nurses spread too thin. They said they are grappling with a combination of factors, including a high volume of patients, staff shortages and difficulty getting COVID-19 therapeutics. It’s all resulting in them having to ration care for only the sickest of patients.

“After two years of this pandemic people are tired of hearing the word COVID,” said Dr. Supriya Mannepalli, medical director for infectious diseases at Northeast Georgia Health System. All eligible Georgians should get vaccinated, boosted and continue to wear masks indoors and avoid large crowds and follow public health guidelines if exposed, she said.

The doctors asked the public to be patient. ERs are jammed, staff are exhausted and the reverberations from this latest wave could last for weeks. But noticeably absent was any request for state intervention or new mandates or coronavirus restrictions. Gov. Brian Kemp has resisted new restrictions, instead calling for people to take personal responsibility while fighting vaccine and mask mandates along with other Republican governors.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) has asked the Fulton Superior Court to impanel a special grand jury to investigate former President Donald Trump’s phone call about Georgia’s 2020 elections, according to the Associated Press via the Valdosta Daily Times.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher Brasher asking him to impanel a special grand jury. She wrote in the letter that her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.”

Willis has declined to speak about the specifics of her investigation, but in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month she confirmed that its scope includes — but is not limited to — a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.

In a statement Thursday, Trump said his call to Raffensperger was “perfect.”

“I didn’t say anything wrong in the call, made while I was President on behalf of the United States of America, to look into the massive voter fraud which took place in Georgia,” Trump said. He ended his statement by saying, “No more political witch hunts!”

Special grand juries, which are not used often in Georgia, can help in the investigation of complex matters. They do not have the power to return an indictment but can make recommendations to prosecutors on criminal prosecutions.

Willis said the special grand jury is needed because it can serve a term longer than a normal grand jury term. It also would be able to focus on this investigation alone, allowing it to focus on the complex facts and circumstances. And having a special grand jury would mean that the regular seated grand jury wouldn’t have to deal with this investigation in addition to their regular duties, Willis wrote.

She also asked that a superior court judge be appointed to assist and supervise the special grand jury in its investigation.

From the Georgia Recorder via the Rome News Tribune:

In February, Willis sent letters to Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan asking them to preserve documents and other evidence that might reveal election fraud, false statements, conspiracy theories, racketeering and other violations.

“Obviously she’s been slow-walking this,” Raffensperger said during an interview on Fox News. “She’s been in office for over a year now and now she’s just finally getting to this point. I think she’s just trying to score some cheap political points with her Democrat friends.”

Democrat Stacey Abrams kicked off her campaign for Governor, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

“I don’t want to live in a state of inaction. I want to live in a state of opportunity, and that means electing a governor who is more focused on serving the people than serving himself,” Abrams said.

She attacked Kemp’s refusal to expand Medicaid. Georgia is one of only 12 states that hasn’t done so. The federal government also began offering incentives to aid states that haven’t opted into Medicaid expansion.

“It’s taken billions of dollars away during the worst health crisis in 100 years and rather than invest in the people of Georgia, he fought to keep those very same people from having access to the health care they need,” Abrams said.

“We’ve got a governor who is pushing this conversation of public safety while he’s also pushing for criminal carry of firearms in this state,” Abrams said. “Because when you say that you want people to be safe, how can you say you’re willing to take away background checks and mental health checks before someone can have a weapon in the state? We need a governor who’s not pushing for criminal carry, instead is pushing for the future of every Georgian.”

“I believe this [federal election] legislation can be passed because I know that we’ve done it before. This is a very important issue as President Biden said when he was here,” Abrams said ahead of the congressional debate. “This is a generational issue but we must also remember that civil rights and voting rights took a long time. … I’m proud of the work that’s going to happen on Capitol Hill today to keep this issue front and center.”

“I am a proud Democrat and President Joe Biden is my president,” Abrams said. “I am proud to work with him on not only the issues facing us and voting rights, but I’m proud of the resources he has sent to Georgia, the CARES Act resources that unfortunately are being misappropriated and misspent by Brian Kemp.”

Governor Kemp announced that Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped for a 24th consecutive month, according to a press release.

Governor Brian P. Kemp celebrated Georgia’s unemployment rate dropping for the twentieth straight month to 2.6% for December 2021, setting yet another record for the state. Georgia is also once again reporting a new all-time high for the number of individuals employed.

“Once again, Georgia is setting new economic records because of our mindset throughout the pandemic to trust our citizens and employers to be part of the solution rather than treating them as part of the problem,” said Governor Kemp. “While some criticized our decision to open as quickly as was safe to do so, we chose to put the lives and livelihoods of our citizens first. Now, our unemployment rate remains significantly lower than the rates of our critics, over 97% of Georgia jobs lost due to the pandemic have been regained, and our economy shows no signs of slowing down. Our conservative, pro-business policies will continue to attract job creators and opportunities for hardworking Georgians, and we look forward to continuing to lead in the Great Recovery.”

From the Georgia Department of Labor and Commissioner Mark Butler:

Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler partnered with state officials during the pandemic to make decisions for Georgians that led to quicker economic recovery helping our businesses to bring employees back to work more successfully. These economic strategies have contributed to Georgia leading the nation as one of the top ten states for lowest unemployment rates as well as the lowest unemployment rate among the top ten most populated states.

Today, Commissioner Butler announced an all-time low unemployment rate for December 2021 of 2.6 percent, dropping two tenths of a point from November’s rate of 2.8 percent. The national December 2021 unemployment rate was down three-tenths to 3.9 percent.

“Making critical decisions early in the pandemic has allowed us to get Georgians back to work quicker and allow business owners to provide the goods and services Georgia needed for our economy to rapidly recover,” said Commissioner Butler. “We are grateful for leadership that limited restrictions on businesses and avoided the steep job losses seen in other states.”

Georgia’s November rate of 2.8 percent, and now all-time low rate of 2.6 percent in December, greatly outperforms other states who imposed much stricter guidelines for businesses during the pandemic.  New Jersey’s and New York’s unemployment rate of 6.6 percent during November 2021 is two and a half times that of the Peach state. Nevada is still under an indoor mask mandate in most counties and ranked 50^th nationally with an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent, right above California’s rate of 6.9 percent.

“Last month, seven industries saw job growth of more than a thousand,” said Commissioner Butler. “Although our unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the nation, we have to focus on getting people back into the workforce to fill the jobs Georgia businesses are creating. Now is one of the best times we have seen for finding employment.”

Georgia’s number of jobs was up 24,200 over the month and up 198,200 over the year to 4,648,000, making up for over 97% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. Job numbers were at an all-time high in the Trade and Transportation, Retail Trade and Transportation and Warehousing, Professional and Business Services, and in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services and Administrative and Support Services sectors.

Commissioner Butler also announced today a new all-time number of employed Georgians up 14,026 to 5,041,987 in December. The labor force was up 3,701 to 5,177,893, and the number of unemployed was down 10,325 to 135,906, the lowest figure since January 1980 when the labor force was at 2.46 million.

Georgia State House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) discussed legislative priorities in a speech to the Gwinnett Chamber, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Ralston said public safety and mental health are major issues facing the state. Those issues, along with getting the state’s budget passed, are three major areas the speaker said the General Assembly has to deal with.

“These are just a few of the high points of what I expect will be a productive, if sometimes contentious, legislative session,” Ralston said. “Contentious just means we’re spirited, but we have diversity. We’re not going to agree on every issue, but we’re going to be civil and respectful.”

“In the last decade, you added approximately 150,000 new residents and the population now is just shy of one million people,” Ralston said. “That means that approximately one out of every 10 Georgians live in Gwinnett County. Now, that’s amazing and I know you all understand both the joys and the pains that are associated with such tremendous growth.”

Ralston said public safety needs to be addressed because of a rise of crime that has been seen, not only in metro Atlanta, but across Georgia.

“Georgia is a state that backs the blue and we need to give our law enforcement officers more resources so they can effectively pursue, capture and convict criminals,” Ralston said. “We’re going to add funding to the GBI to speed up the processing of evidence, including sexual assault evidence.”

“For far too long, Georgia has been ranked among one of the worst states in the nation for mental health quality and accessibility,” Ralston said. “We are working to change that because mental health is an issue that touches almost every family in Georgia.”

“And, I believe that, if we’re going to continue to be the best state in the nation to do business, then we must be a good state that takes care of the needs of all of our people, however they are hurting.”

A federal appellate court ruled that Butts County Sheriff Gary Long cannot require warning signs in the yards of registered sex offenders on Halloween, according to 13WMAZ.

13WMAZ first reported on this story in 2019 when Sheriff Gary Long placed the signs outside the homes of three men, who filed a lawsuit.

One judge ruled against the sheriff. The next year, a different judge said the signs were OK.

But this week the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta said Long violated the men’s 1st Amendment rights by posting the signs on their private property without their consent.

Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Timothy Ward yesterday told the Joint Budget Hearing that turnover has been 49% among Correctional Officers, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

The department has a 49% turnover rate among correctional officers, who are tasked with supervising inmates.

“We have a challenging work environment, we have aging infrastructure, we have more violent offenders with longer sentences and a lack of telework for our staff,” Ward said Wednesday.

Salary presents a challenge within DOC, Ward said, who later added that Georgia is currently among the lowest paid correctional officers compared to neighboring states.

In the state’s FY 2021 budget, a 10% salary increase was approved to enhance retention. Another $5,000 salary increase is recommended in Gov. Brian Kemp’s FY 2023 budget for all state employees.

If the $5,000 increase is approved, that would boost the minimum salary for a correctional officer at a minimum security prison to $36,044, and after a year to $39,640. For a close security facility, the boost would make the starting salary $39,144, and after a year to more than $43,000.

“Our judicial system has focused on providing rehabilitative support in the community where appropriate for low-level, nonviolent offenders to avoid recidivism, our state prison population has become filled with increasingly violent offenders,” Kemp said in his budget report. “Our aging prison facility infrastructure was not intended to house the level of offender who resides there today, and it requires higher levels of staffing and facility maintenance to manage these dangerous environments.”

“These investments will allow us to close four of our older and most dangerous facilities, saving the state operational costs in the future while providing safer environments for our correctional officers,” Kemp concluded.

Gwinnett Board of Education members elected Democrat Tarece Johnson as the new Chair, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Johnson is the first African-American woman to lead the county’s Board of Education and her selection along with [Steve] Knudsen picked to be vice-chairman means the board will have a bipartisan leadership team this year. Johnson is one of three Democrats on the board while Knudsen is one of the body’s two Republican members.

“As board chair, I will work with our governance team to focus on the policies that benefit our children, our teachers and our staff,” Johnson said at the meeting. “Some of our duties include ensuring a balanced budget, maintaining governance standards, partnering with our superintendent, Dr. Watts, in creating policies.”

Johnson was chosen to be chairwoman in a 3-2 vote with Knudsen and board member Mary Kay Murphy voting against the appointment. Knudsen was appointed as vice-chairman by a 3-1 vote with Johnson voting against it and board member Karen Watkins abstaining.

Johnson joined the board in January 2021 while Knudsen joined the board in January 2019.

U.S. Senate Candidate Herschel Walker (R) continues speaking at paid gigs, according to the AJC.

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of his personal financial disclosure showed the former football star collected $415,000 for paid speeches between July 2020 and December 2021, including about $172,000 from six appearances since he announced his campaign in August.

The Republican, who entered the race as the GOP front-runner with former President Donald Trump’s blessing, has continued his paid speeches even as he’s steered his media appearances toward friendly conservative outlets.

Walker’s disclosure, which pegs his net worth between $29 million and $65 million, showed he earned about $4 million in income from late 2020 to late 2021. That includes payouts from his poultry production company, sports marketing companies and a mental health care provider.

His paid speeches offered a window into his political strategy. He was paid $20,000 in October and $27,000 in November to speak to two clinics that seek to deter abortions. And he collected $52,000 from a pair of speeches to the Boys & Girls Club charity in 2021.

Walker also netted $22,500 in August 2020 to speak at a meeting of the Republican Attorneys General Association on Sea Island.

Athens-Clarke County Commissioners voted to support a redistricticing map drawn by Democratic State Rep. Spencer Frye over one drawn by GOP legislators representing the county, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

The final decision on the new map is up to the Georgia General Assembly — a decision that will be made before the end of the 40-day 2022 legislative session which began Jan. 10.

One map was approved in December by commissioners in a 7-2 vote and sent to the state level. Commissioners Mike Hamby and Allison Wright voted against that map, while Ovita Thornton abstained.

Four Republican members of the state delegation then created an entirely new map after commissioners failed to reach a unanimous vote.

In response to the Republican-drawn map, Frye created what commissioners referred to as a “compromise map.” Frye voiced concern that the delegation’s map was created and made public without his input.

The resolution to support the map passed but was still not unanimous. Commissioners voted 8-2 for Frye’s map, with Wright and Hamby voting against the resolution.

Two Augusta area judges face opponents in May 2022, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Augusta attorney Charles Lyons said he is running for the judgeship held by Jesse Stone, whom Gov. Brian Kemp appointed to the bench last year. The appointment was challenged but the Supreme Court of Georgia eventually ruled in favor of the governor.

“Instead of being appointed, it’s time to run and let the voters decide who will have that judgeship,” he said.

Stone welcomed Lyons to the race. “I plan to continue working to reduce the case backlog that grew from the pandemic prior to my appointment,” he said.

Last year’s split with Columbia County left the Augusta Judicial Circuit, which includes Richmond and Burke counties, with five judgeships. Of the nonpartisan seats, the three held by Stone, Ashley Wright and Amanda Heath are up for election in May. Kemp appointed Heath to the post in September, after the resignation of former Chief Judge Carl C. Brown.

Wright, the former Augusta district attorney, has a challenge this year from Laverne Lewis Gaskins. Gaskins has served as senior legal counsel for Augusta University and ran for chief civil and magistrate judge in 2019.

In Richmond County State Court, Augusta attorney Ashanti Lilley Pounds recently announced she is seeking the state court judgeship held by Chief Judge David Watkins, after Watkins announced his plan to retire.

Last month, The Chronicle reported that another sitting Augusta judge — Chief Civil and Magistrate Court Judge Carletta Sims Brown — has an opponent in her first election from local attorney Katrell Nash.

In the Columbia Judicial Circuit, two judgeships — those held by Chief Superior Court Judge James Blanchard Jr. and Judge J. Wade Padgett — are up for reelection in May. The district attorney post, held by Kemp-appointee District Attorney Bobby Christine, appears on the November ballot.

Activist Traci George, the Richmond County coordinator for the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, is challenging Rep. Brian Prince, D-Augusta, on the May Democratic primary ballot.

Domestic violence shelters are challenged by COVID, according to the AJC.

COVID protocols have forced shelters to reduce capacity. Reports of domestic violence have also risen amid the pandemic, leaving many shelters weathering unprecedented need. And many people end up staying in shelters longer, officials say, because of the lack of affordable housing in metro Atlanta and elsewhere in the state. Even the shelters are paying more in rent, along with other expenses.

The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which distributes funding to Georgia shelters, is awaiting a decision from the governor’s budget office on a request for $5 million to help close funding gaps the facilities face. The governor’s proposed budget doesn’t include increases for domestic violence shelters, though last year’s saw a increase of 9%.

On Wednesday, staff at the council contacted eight metro shelters to check the available space. Those shelters have a total of 229 beds. Four were at full capacity. The other four had 16 open beds among them.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, domestic violence has surged all over the world. In 2020, cases increased by 25-33% globally, according to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Researchers at Emory University found that Georgia saw increases in domestic violence during stay-at-home orders and during the summer 2020 surge of COVID cases.

Twenty percent of Savannah-Chatham public schools students are subject to quarantine due to COVID, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Since schools resumed in-person classes two weeks ago, the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) has 20.36% of its student population in quarantine due to increasing COVID-19 cases.

For the week of Jan. 14, the district reported 3% of students and 7% of personnel had tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, 20.4% of students and 8% of staff were in quarantine.

During that same week, 6.7% of students were not in class because of staffing availability issues. The previous week, 2% of students and 6% of personnel tested positive for COVID-19 while 7.9% of students 4.2% of personnel were in quarantine.

Over the last two weeks, five schools in the district moved to virtual learning because of confirmed positive COVID cases among staff and students that have impacted staffing availability. Last week, SCCPSS said rolling closures are expected in the future because of increasing cases and the impact it could have on school staffing and students.

Brunswick Judicial Circuit Judge Stephen Scarlett ruled against a request to enjoin Camden County Commissioners from purchasing land for a Spaceport, according to The Brunswick News.

“Had they filed at their first opportunity, or even if they had filed a year ago, or six months ago for that matter, they would not be in the critical situation they find themselves in now, and in that scenario, the court perhaps would be looking at this case differently. However, under the circumstances as they currently are, the court finds the plaintiffs’ constitutional right of referendum ends up frustrated by the county’s contractual right to purchase real estate, it unfortunately will be the result of the plaintiffs’ own doing,” Scarlett wrote in his ruling.

By waiting until the “11th hour,” Scarlett said the plaintiffs had to resort to the legal challenge. The judge also pointed out the public had opportunities to address their concerns at county commission meetings.

“The bottom line, the (board of commissioners) plans to purchase the Union Carbide property was not a secret as plaintiffs ask the court to believe,” he said.

Opponents had asked Scarlett to delay the sale until voters have a chance to vote in a referendum. They argue the county has already spent $10.3 million with no guarantee the money spent, with more to come, will ever be recouped.

Savannah and Georgia should be optimistic for their economic recovery, according to WTOC.

That’s not to say there aren’t potential pit-falls, according to Dr. Benjamin Ayers, the Dean of UGA’s Terry College of Business.

“The good news is that the State of Georgia will remain on it’s above-average growth trajectory in 2022, and, that we’re going to have growth across all of our major economic sectors. And that truly is good news that we can all celebrate,” Dr. Ayers said.

Following that presentation, Michael Toma, a Professor of Economics at Georgia Southern’s Savannah’s campus gave the 2022 economic outlook for the Savannah area.

“Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector is now back at 99-percent of where it was,” Toma said.

Toma says in 2022, he’s expecting a broad basis of growth throughout the regional economy in sectors that really propel it forward, like manufacturing, tourism, health care, the military and the port and logistics.

Brunswick City Commissioners deferred a vote on the proposed short term rental ordinance, according to The Brunswick News.

City Attorney Brian Corry said it was “probably prudent” to wait until next month before a vote. He recommended the city start from scratch and hold two public hearings before voting on the proposed ordinance.

LaGrange District 2 City Council member LeGree McCamey died yesterday, according to WTVM.