Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for April 26, 2017

On August 26, 1864, having withdrawn from trenches and fortifications outside Atlanta the previous day, U.S. General Sherman sent most of his forces westward around Atlanta and toward the south of the city.

On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted. Ratification took place on August 18, 1920, as the Tennessee House of Representatives adopted it, but adoption became official on August 26, when United States Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified the Amendment. It reads:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

On August 26, 1939, the first televised major league baseball game aired, as the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds split a doubleheader in Ebbets Field.

On August 26, 1961, the 718th Engineer Light Equipment Company of Fort Valley and the 210th Signal Base Depot Company of Augusta were called up to take part in the American response to the crisis in Berlin.

President Lyndon B. Johnson was nominated for President by the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey on August 26, 1964.

On August 26, 1965, Sonny & Cher were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Got You Babe’, the duo’s only UK No.1. Sonny Bono was inspired to write the song to capitalize on the popularity of the term “babe,” as heard in Bob Dylan’s ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’. Bono would later be elected to Congress as a Republican in 1994 and served from 1995 until his death in 1998.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

President Donald Trump will headline a fundraiser on Friday, April 28th for Karen Handel’s congressional campaign.

The fundraiser is scheduled for an Atlanta site after Trump’s keynote speech at a National Rifle Association convention at the Georgia World Congress Center, and it’s likely to bring a tide of cash for Handel’s campaign. A ticket starts at $2,700 and a host sponsorship will cost $25,000.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also supporting Handel in the Special Runoff Election.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce confirmed Tuesday it will put its muscle behind Handel ahead of a June 20 runoff in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District that covers northern suburbs of Atlanta.

Chamber officials didn’t say how much they’ll spend on Handel’s behalf, but the organization’s endorsement usually precedes a heavy media blitz. The race is widely viewed as a potential preview of the 2018 midterm elections.

Governor Nathan Deal signed five bills yesterday.

HB 196 – Income tax; exemption for royalties paid to musical artists; provide, signed April 25, 2017
HB 199 – Income tax credit; interactive entertainment companies; change certain provisions, signed April 25, 2017
HB 208 – Game and fish; boat registration fees and additional methods for reporting the sale of boats; revise, signed April 25, 2017
HB 265 – Income tax; credit for establishing or relocating quality jobs; revise provisions, signed April 25, 2017
HB 342 – Enterprise zones; certain urban redevelopment zones; provide designation, signed April 25, 2017

The Atlanta Business Chronicle discusses two of the bills Gov. Deal signed.

House Bill 199 will provide a 20 percent tax credit for post-production companies with at least a $250,000 payroll in Georgia. The companies must also spend at least $500,000 per tax year to qualify.

While the state has offered generous tax credits to the film industry since 2008, the post-production portion of the business has been left out until now.

The new credit for post-production work will be capped at $5 million next year, $10 million in 2019 and $15 million from 2020 through 2022. No single company can get more than 20 percent of the total statewide credit available in a given year.

House Bill 265 exempts from state and local sales taxes building materials used for renovating or expanding performance arts venues run by a nonprofit organization containing an art museum, symphonic hall and theater. While the Woodruff Arts Center is not mentioned in the legislation by name, that definition matches the center.

Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue was sworn in yesterday as Secretary of Agriculture.

Perdue was sworn in by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who also is a native of Georgia.

“The only legacy that I seek is the only one that any grandparent or parent seeks – to be good stewards, and to hand off our nation, our home, our fields, our forests, and our farms to the next generation in better shape than we found it,” Perdue said.

“Making sure that Americans who make their livelihoods in the agriculture industry have the ability to thrive will be one of my top priorities. I am committed to serving the customers of USDA, and I will be an unapologetic advocate for American agriculture.”

As ag chief, Perdue will oversee the nation’s nutrition, farm and forestry programs and will play a major role in shaping the upcoming U.S. farm bill and in U.S. ag trade negotiations. He said he plans to be guided by four principles: maximizing the ability of farmers and agribusiness to produce, create jobs and sell their goods; prioritize customer service in the USDA; ensure a safe and secure U.S. food supply, and stewardship of the land.

“As secretary, I will champion the concerns of farmers, ranchers, foresters and producers, and will work tirelessly to solve the issues facing our farm families,” Perdue said. “I am proud to have been given this opportunity and look forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work as we continue to move the USDA and our nation forward.”

Perdue launched his official Twitter handle Tuesday: @SecretarySonny.

Democrat Jon Ossoff is not only ineligible to vote for himself because he doesn’t live in the Sixth District, he also has never voted in a runoff election.

Voting records reveal that the 30-year-old Ossoff, who has been an eligible Georgia voter for over a decade, has never voted in one of the state’s many runoff elections, according to information obtained through the Georgia secretary of state.

Ossoff’s campaign did not return a request for comment on his decision to ignore runoff elections in the past.

Dick Williams with the Dunwoody Crier, write about Ossoff’s family wealth.

At 30, courtesy of an inheritance and a wealthy family, he shows a net worth of $1.7 million. That includes a town house on Capitol Hill in Washington purchased by his family. He is a good investor, favoring Apple and Warren Buffett.

His family has a yacht and a Cessna, the latter purchased through a limited liability company using a relative’s address in New Hampshire, one of a handful of states that don’t charge sales taxes on airplane purchases. In Georgia it would have been a taxable event.

Ossoff researchers point to a family that uses multiple LLCs in many states to avoid taxes and shield personal assets.

DeKalb County is considering opening multiple early voting locations ahead of the runoff. Jon Ossoff won’t be able to vote at any of them.

The Georgia NAACP filed suit against the state, claiming a 2015 redistricting violates the Voting Rights Act.

The Washington, D.C.-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law filed the federal lawsuit against the state of Georgia on behalf of the state chapter of the NAACP and five residents of the affected districts. Secretary of State Brian Kemp, the state’s top elections official, also is named in the suit.

“Lawmakers firmly placed their thumb on the scale by redrawing district boundaries in ways that would preserve their incumbency and freeze the status quo in place,” said Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee. “They seek to disregard the demographic changes occurring across Georgia by putting pen to paper mid-decade.”

The changes in 2015 affected more than a dozen of the House of Representatives’ 180 districts, but the lawsuit focuses on the 105th District represented by Republican Joyce Chandler in Gwinnett County and the 111th in Henry County represented by Republican Brian Strickland.

The lawsuit says the changes increased the percentage of white voters in Chandler’s district to about 53 percent in 2016 elections, compared to 48 percent. Black voters went from 32 percent to 30 percent. The suit says the changes increased the percentage of white voters in Strickland’s district to 58 percent in 2016 elections, compared to 56 percent. Black voters went from 33 percent to 31 percent.

Both Republicans were re-elected to their seats last year over black Democrats.

From CourthouseNews.com:

This is the second federal lawsuit related to voting rights violations filed in Georgia in the past week.

On April 20, five civil rights organizations filed a complaint alleging that a Georgia law requiring voters to register three months prior to participating in federal elections violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

If left in place, the statute determines who can vote in the upcoming, high-profile runoff election for Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District seat.

Augusta Commissioners are set to vote on a ban of sagging pants.

Augusta commissioners remain divided on whether to ban saggy pants and a committee referred a vote to draft an ordinance to the full commission Tuesday.

“Your belt ought to be around your waist, not around your legs,” said Commissioner Marion Williams, who has pushed to outlaw wearing pants so low they expose the skin or underwear. “The belt is around their knees in most cases, and in their hand.”

General Counsel Andrew MacKenzie said he’d explored ways of expanding Augusta’s indecent exposure law to include the practice, with “progressive discipline” for violators to start with community service, then a fine.

But Commissioner Bill Fennoy said he wished others such as the school system and businesses would deliver the message instead.

Critics have said a ban will increase encounters between law enforcement and young black men.