Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 24, 2023

The Library of Congress was founded on April 24, 1800 and is the largest library in the world today.

Jack Kingston was born on April 24, 1955. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1984 and served four terms and in 1992 was elected to the United States Congress.

“Georgia On My Mind” became the official state song on April 24, 1979, when Governor George Busbee signed legislation designating it.

On April 24, 1980, an attempt to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran failed.

With the Iran Hostage Crisis stretching into its sixth month and all diplomatic appeals to the Iranian government ending in failure, President Jimmy Carter ordered the military mission as a last ditch attempt to save the hostages. During the operation, three of eight helicopters failed, crippling the crucial airborne plans. The mission was then canceled at the staging area in Iran, but during the withdrawal one of the retreating helicopters collided with one of six C-130 transport planes, killing eight service members and injuring five. The next day, a somber Jimmy Carter gave a press conference in which he took full responsibility for the tragedy. The hostages were not released for another 270 days.

IBM introduced the Personal Computer Model 5150 on April 24, 1981, though some authorities date the introduction to April 12. It sported an Intel 8088 processor at 4.77 Mhz, a whopping 16k of RAM, which was expandable to 256k, and a clicky keyboard. The initial price tag was $1565, equivalent to more than $4000 today.

On April 24, 1982, Jane Fonda released her first workout video.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Brian Kemp will sign legislation in Augusta today, according to WRDW.

He’ll join state and local leaders at a bill-signing ceremony for legislation his staff says will support Georgia’s economy and workforce.

The governor will sign House Bill 128, which will streamline certifications for minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses and increase access to state procurement opportunities.

He’ll also sign Senate Bill 213, which involves zoning procedures for some homes, and House Bill 230, which involves special-purpose, local-option sales taxes for consolidated governments.

Kemp will be joined by first lady Marty Kemp, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson and members of the General Assembly, among others.

The ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. in the Linda Beazley Room of the Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building, 535 Telfair St.

From the Augusta Chronicle:

Gov. Brian Kemp will be at Augusta’s downtown municipal building Monday afternoon to sign off on House Bill 230, according to a press release from Kemp’s office.

This legislation would potentially create a new special sales tax that would fund the new arena and its new connector to Bell Auditorium.

However, Augustans would first have to vote for this tax similar to what they did with the failed property tax proposal in 2021.

If approved, the bill will create a sales tax of up to 0.5% for up to five years and would only fund up to the amount needed to finance the project. The bill does not allow the tax to be renewed under any circumstances and limits the principal amount of general obligation bonds issued to up to $250 million.

Governor Kemp last week signed local legislation that give the Mayor of Augusta a vote on City Council issues, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

At the moment the mayor can only vote to break a tie between Augusta commissioners.

The bill was introduced by Sens. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, and Lee Anderson, R-Grovetown. It passed the Senate by a vote of 32-22 and the House by a vote of 99-70.

“If approved by the voters, the bill would update the charter to allow the Augusta-Richmond commission to be a functioning governing body,” Burns said prior to the Senate vote.

But the bill was not without controversy, and Sen. Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, spoke against it.

“There’s just a split in the community, in the commission on whether we should have a vote, shouldn’t have a vote,” he said. “It’s not even an ideological split, it’s not even a racial split … it basically puts myself and (Burns) in a bad position.”

Gov. Kemp also signed a measure designed to preserve Georgia farmland, according to the Georgia Recorder via the Albany Herald.

The measure creates a fund and a process for providing a financial incentive to farmers who volunteer to permanently place their agricultural land in a conservation easement. Doing so would restrict the landowner’s right to develop the property in the future.

“In less than a generation, we’ve lost 20% of our farmland in the state of Georgia. This bill seeks to address that,” the bill’s sponsor, Cogdell Republican Sen. Russ Goodman, who is a blueberry farmer in south Georgia and chair of the Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, said.

“You see this beautiful farmland out there, and it’s just gotten prohibitive for a lot of small farmers to not be tempted to develop – sell their land for apartment complexes, commercial – and this just really keeps a great balance,” Rep. Robert Dickey, a Musella Republican and peach farmer who chairs the House Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, said. “It’s a great volunteer program.”

Kemp traveled to Bainbridge in southwest Georgia this week to sign this bill and another creating the Agricultural Commodity Commission for Citrus Fruits, which represents a burgeoning crop in Georgia. Both measures sailed through the Legislature this year with bipartisan support.

“We are also investing in our rural communities by creating a fund that will provide matching grants to protect the land of farming families from development and preserve our state’s No.1 industry,” Kemp said of the conservation program.

The bill directs the department to prioritize proposals that “protect agricultural lands susceptible to development, subdivision, and fragmentation.”

“The strategic conservation of our precious farmlands must remain a priority for our ever-growing state,” Katherine Moore, president of the Georgia Conservancy, said.

About 11 million people now live in Georgia. That growth has pushed people out into once rural areas of the state and created a tension that drove lawmakers to pass a controversial “freedom to farm” law last year, meant to shield agricultural producers from nuisance lawsuits.

The legislation in question was Senate Bill 220 by Sen. Russell Goodman (R-Cogdell).

More on efforts to drive sane people out of the First District Georgia Republican Party, from the Savannah Morning News.

In the hours prior to the meeting, CCRP member Sara Lain-Moneymaker vowed to introduce a resolution that would bar LGBTQ people from holding membership in the CCRP, based on religious grounds.  She said she’d make the motion from the floor.

Chatham County’s Statehouse Legislative Delegation Chairman Ron Stephens, who has served as the representative for House District 164 since 1997, said this is a critical moment for Republicans.

With a presidential election next year, he says the GOP should be vying to win over voters from the middle of the aisle, those who may not agree with 100% of the platform, and the focus on hot-button social issues isn’t the way to draw in that crowd.

“We want to be a big tent, but right now, it’s about as big as an umbrella on a Pina Colada. It’s pretty tiny,” Stephens said. “And that’s part of our problem. These fringe folks come in here and want to exclude folks who think like us. If you’re pro-tax reduction, if you’re pro-less government, great. But all of these other social issues, we need to stay away from.”

Lain-Moneymaker believes the presidential election in 2020 was stolen, and as of 2022, she was a member of the newly established Southeast Georgia Republican Assembly, a local group founded on that belief.

Governor Kemp will join me in opting-out of the Georgia Republican Party Convention this year, according to the AJC.

Gov. Brian Kemp won’t address the Georgia GOP convention this summer, highlighting a deepening rift between the state’s top elected official and a party apparatus that has shifted further to the right after Donald Trump’s defeat.

Kemp turned down the chance to speak to party delegates at the June meeting in Columbus, his aides said, and will instead continue to build his own organization to energize conservative voters and elect GOP officials.

“The governor is going to remain focused on making sure we replicate our successes last November and win at the ballot box in 2024 and 2026,” said Cody Hall, a senior Kemp adviser.

Kemp’s decision was no surprise, given his ongoing efforts to distance himself from a state party that many of his allies see as moribund and ineffective.

But it still marks a turnabout for a governor who was closely tied to the state party and was greeted with cheers at the 2019 convention as he delivered a fiery defense of the state’s new anti-abortion law.

Kemp, meanwhile, is the undisputed leader of state Republicans, with approval ratings that have reached new highs and a platform urging party leaders to put Trump in the rearview mirror.

But Kemp has a tool none of his predecessors had at their disposal. He signed a law creating a “leadership committee,” a fundraising vehicle that can tap unlimited contributions. Through his committee and campaign, he raised $71 million for his reelection bid.

Kemp is expanding the committee’s mission by hiring veteran staffers to lead the organization, setting up a parallel fundraising and voter turnout structure to compete with the Georgia GOP.

More from the AJC on the Clown Conventions:

A far-right Republican who waged a failed campaign for governor with the slogan “Jesus, Guns and Babies” and a promise to “stand up to the Luciferian Cabal” was elected this weekend to chair a key GOP district.

As more mainstream Republicans abandon the state GOP apparatus or are sidelined by its leaders, once-fringe activists are taking control of the party’s key functions. And the results of this weekend’s district-level GOP meetings put that trend on display.

In the 2nd District, which spans parts of southwest Georgia, a group of “independent conservatives who want honest Republicans elected” engineered a takeover, said Jeff Jolly, the Grady County GOP chair. He made clear the district’s focus in an interview.

“We don’t trust the voting system. We’re trying to go back to paper ballots,” said Jolly. “That’s going to be our top priority.”

Activists in the 11th District also considered a resolution that condemned Georgia’s election process as an “illegal, unverifiable voting system” and demanded a switch to hand-marked paper ballots.

The organization is no longer a dominant force in Republican politics. Kemp and other officials have steadfastly avoided the state party, and a law he signed creating “leadership committees” that can raise unlimited funds enables him to circumvent the Georgia GOP and create his own infrastructure. Many rank-and-file elected officials and conservative advocates ignore the party altogether.

Jason Shepherd is a former Cobb GOP chair who has been involved in the state party for three decades. But he’s now washed his hands of the organization.

“I don’t recognize the GOP anymore,” he said, “and I’ve decided it’s time to devote my energies to better purposes, like actually helping elect Republican candidates.”

I began skipping GAGOP Convntions in 2019, after my idiot County GOP Chair took my money and failed to fill out the paperwork for most of the County’s Delegates and Alternates, disenfranchising myself. So, I kept my hotel reservation in Savannah and had a much better time than if I’d attended the circus convention.

United States Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock (D-Atlanta) visited Wilkinson County for an auspicious occasion, according to 13WMAZ.

They’ll join community leaders for the groundbreaking of the first public sewer system in Wilkinson County.

Ossoff and Warnock say they secured $6.3 million dollars in last year’s government funding package to help the city of McIntyre and Wilkinson County build the system.

The senators say Wilkinson County has worked to finance a sewer system for more than three decades.

Ossoff and Warnock are expected to speak more on the government resources coming to Wilkinson County Monday at 11:30 a.m. at the McIntyre City Hall on Railroad Street.

Athens reopened the Murmur trestle that appeared on the cover of REM’s first studio album, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

Freaknik on the Beach Orange Crush has become too big for Tybee Island, according to WSAV.

In a press release, Tybee Island’s mayor estimates as many as 40,000 to 50,000 people visited the island over the weekend.

“This year’s event was admittedly too large and chaotic,” Mayor Shirley Sessions said. “But at the end of the day, Tybee Island is fortunate that no lives were lost and no property destroyed.”

At least 10 people were treated for overdoses on Saturday alone. Chatham County Police tells WSAV’s Investigative Unit it rushed two and a half cases of Narcan to the island on Saturday. Law enforcement sources tell Lead Investigative Reporter Brett Buffington two of those overdoses were during a large beach gathering near the pier.

As of Sunday morning, Chatham EMS said it had responded to two shooting calls and 11 car crashes. A day before traffic crashes made traveling to Tybee Island almost impossible, prompting an order from Georgia’s governor to add additional troopers to patrol along Highway 80.

Video from the beach party Sunday captured cars burning out in the Hotel Tybee parking lot, first responders searching through crowds and people “twerking” atop tables at the Tybee Island pier.

Even with the estimate of as many as 50,000 people, Tybee Island, in a press release, says the event was staffed by only 53 first responders, including 40 police officers and 13 fire-rescue personnel.

From the Savannah Morning News:

Orange Crush Festival, the popular event billed as a beach bash for HBCU students across the South, returned to Tybee Island in full force after its relocation to Jacksonville Beach, Florida, two years ago. In its absence, the tradition of the festival that started in 1988 and tales about previous Orange Crushes grew, drawing unprecedented numbers to the barrier island.

For many who decided to attend Orange Crush, it was their first time attending what flyers hailed “the biggest HBCU beach bash to hit the East Coast.”

However, the large gathering has drawn somewhat of an unfavorable reputation, in part to it being Tybee’s largest unpermitted event. The event has operated without a permit since 1991 when Savannah State University severed ties with the festival after witnessing a dozen arrests, a stabbing and a drowning.

The high volume of people caused traffic accidents, road rage, crowding, and complaints around drug and alcohol abuse, noise, illegal parking and litter, according to a press release from the City of Tybee.

Before Sunday morning service, Rev. Jerry Ragan, pastor at Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, discovered that the prayer angel in the church’s memorial garden, located just steps off the Butler sidewalk had been destroyed, the foot of the monument the only thing still intact.

During the event, the City of Tybee Island was covered by 40 sworn law enforcement officers, eight code enforcement officers, 23 public works employees, 13 fire-rescue personnel and seven parking enforcement employees.

In a Facebook post Saturday night, State Rep. Jesse Petrea said that Gov. Brian Kemp also personally ordered additional Georgia State Patrol troopers to Highway 80 to ensure traffic laws were obeyed. According to Petrea, GSP was not asked to assist Tybee in the event.

Darien held its annual blessing of the shrimping fleet, according to The Brunswick News.

Every boat in Darien’s annual Blessing of the Fleet Sunday got a blessing from a clergyman Sunday, but they also got a huge welcome from the crowd on the U.S. 17 bridge, the waterfront and the pleasure boats in the Darien River.

Each boat received a sprinkling of holy water under the clear sky and likely the most pleasant temperature in years.

Before the first prayer for good fortune and safety on the seas, Father Matthew representing the Catholic church pronounced a benediction.

“Bless you going out and coming in. God be with you at home and on the water,’’ he prayed.

Savannah has seen an increase in anti-Semitism, according to WSAV.

Anti-semitism incidents have been on the rise. In fact, we’ve seen the highest level of incidents since the 1970s—that’s according to Anti-Defamation League.

Anti-semitic incidents rose nearly 40% in 2022. That rise in violence against the Jewish community is what started the Savannah Jewish Federation to create its first-ever Jewish community security program.

Zeph Baker, who ran three times for Mayor of Columbus, was arrested on warrants from Cobb County, according to WTVM.

The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant Saturday morning, April 22, at 12:45 a.m. for Zephaniah Dwayne Baker. Baker had active warrants issued by Cobb County Sheriff’s Office for the following:

Felony – Kidnapping
Felony – Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime
Felony – Aggravated Assault Disfigure
Misdemeanor – Battery (Family Violence Act)
Misdemeanor – Cruelty to Children, Third Degree

Baker was transported to the Muscogee County Jail without incident where he is waiting to be transported back to Cobb County.

Baker has run for political offices in Columbus at least six times dating to 2008 that include:

2008 – Ran for State Representative against then Rep. Calvin Smyre, Dist. 132
2010 – Mayor – lost to Teresa Tomlinson
2014 – Rematch between Baker & Tomlinson | Baker drops out of mayoral race
2014 – Launches City Council bid against Pop Barnes
2018 – Mayor – lost to Skip Henderson
2022 – State Rep. lost to Teddy Reese, Dist. 140 | Lost to Reese

I kind of like this bulleted-text format, since this is from a television station story, not something originally for print.

From the Ledger-Enquirer:

The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office announced on its Facebook page Saturday that its Drug, Gang and Fugitive Unit, along with U.S. Marshals, executed a search warrant for Zephaniah Dwayne Baker that day at 12:45 a.m.

Macon-Bibb County continues its attempted crackdown on blighted properties, according to 13WMAZ.

“Some of these properties that I’ll take you to, there might be 50, or 100, or 150 or more tires,” Ricketson said.

That was the case in an east Macon yard which had hundreds of tires piled up. Ricketson said our cameras were allowed on the property because the house is abandoned.

“When you start hoarding junk or debris on the exterior of your house, out in your yard, it affects property values. It affects crime. It affects blight in your area,” he said.

“We have a form, we put all the laws that are involved in hoarder type properties to abate it. That way, when we take our cases to court, we are fully prepared,” Ricketson said.

He says if you do get a code violation, you don’t necessarily need to address the whole issue in the 30 day period. They just ask that you’re making some progress and can demonstrate that to your code enforcement officer.

Colquitt County will hold a scrap tire amnesty event, according to WALB.

From June 16-17 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., citizens within Colquitt County and its municipalities will be able to bring scrap tires to the Recycling Facility on 245 23rd Street N.E.

Only passenger, tractor-trailer or front and rear tractor scrap tires will be accepted.

Heavy equipment tires and skidder tires will not be accepted. Scrap tires from retail tire dealers or commercial scrap tire generators will be not accepted.

Bulloch County and the City of Statesboro are slowing their decision on relocating a polling place, according to the Statesboro Herald.

After hearing from Lawton Sack, who is the newest member of the Bulloch County Board of Elections and Registration and also chair of the county Republican Party, Statesboro City Council by a 3-2 vote Tuesday evening postponed its decision on a proposal to relocate the Statesboro One city voting place to Luetta Moore Park.

This follows a Bulloch County Schools staff notification to county election officials after last November’s election that the William James Educational Complex — home to the Board of Education central offices as well as the Transitions Learning Center alternative school and other classroom programs — would no longer be available for use as a voting site because of concerns for student safety.

After publishing notices in the Statesboro Herald on March 30 and April 6 of a proposal to move the Statesboro One city polling place to the community building at Luetta Moore Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, city officials held a public hearing as part of the Tuesday evening, April 18, City Council meeting.

He said he was there to “ask for the City Council to do the same,” by tabling a decision for one month.

The city’s decision would have more immediate effect, since 2023, being odd-numbered, is a municipal election year, with three council seats up for election Nov. 7. But no regular county, state or federal elections are scheduled until 2024.

Still, Sack said the county board wants to work with the city to find “a joint location” for the voting place.

“We have no desire for the city to vote in one location and the county to vote in another,” he said.

The idea is to avoid confusing voters by keeping one voting place for both the city precinct and the county precinct previously served by the old school gym, he said.

Georgia Lottery CEO Gretchen Corbin will speak at the Berry College Commencement on May 6, 2023, according to the Rome News Tribune.

As CEO and president of the lottery, Corbin’s business goal is to fulfill the corporation’s mission to maximize revenues for HOPE and Pre-K, ensuring that Georgia’s students continue to have access to these important educational programs.

Currently the Georgia Lottery provides $1.47 billion to the state of Georgia each year for Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. Since inception in 1993, the Georgia Lottery has returned more than $26.5 billion to the state of Georgia for education.

Prior to her role at the Georgia Lottery, Corbin served as Commissioner of the Technical College System of Georgia, the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, and as Deputy Commissioner of Global Commerce and other roles at the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Corbin has been named the last nine years as one of Georgia Trend magazine’s 100 Most Influential Georgians, she was named one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 20 Women Who Mean Business, and she is one of James magazine’s Most Influential Georgians for the last three years.