Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for August 1, 2018

August 1 was a big day for Benjamin Mays – he was born on August 1, 1895 and became President of Morehouse College on August 1, 1936.

PT-109, commanded by LTJG John F. Kennedy was sunk on August 1, 1943.

On August 1, 1982, Hank Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Gwinnett County Commissioners approved a contract with MARTA and will place a transit referendum on the March 2019 ballot, according to the AJC.

The referendum being called for March 19, 2019, not this November, was a surprise. It drew the ire of many transit supporters gathered for the meeting.

But both votes, held during a special called 8 a.m. meeting, were significant steps toward bringing heavy rail service to the county.  District 3 Commissioner Tommy Hunter cast the lone “no” vote for the contract but voted for the referendum.

“I feel as though we’re going to be paying our share,” Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash said of the contract. “But we’ve got a lot of protection for how Gwinnett dollars are used.”

Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning discussed the cyber threat to our nation’s electric grid, according to the AJC.

“We are under the biggest threat that has never been reported, ever,” began Tom Fanning, who heads up the South’s largest producer of energy — a company whose subsidiaries include Georgia Power. “They want to take you down. They want to interrupt our way of life — American commerce. And there are real threats to that.”

“They” are Russians, Chinese, Iranians and maybe North Koreans. There was no mention of a 400-pound hacker living in his mother’s basement.`

Fanning, who was part of that New York cyber summit on Tuesday, told his Atlanta audience that he would speak “elliptically” to avoid breaching confidences. “Unless you are deeply in the know, you can’t talk about it. And so, people say stuff. And you see them on the crazy talk shows, you see them testify in front of Congress,” Fanning said. “I’m telling you right now — you don’t know, and I can’t tell you the real story. I will tell you some of the story.”

“The crown jewels to the bad guys would be our energy management system,” Fanning said. “We have ours located in a non-disclosed place in Birmingham, Ala. We have another one in Georgia. And they operate within milliseconds of each other.

“So if Birmingham goes down, we have a way to back it up. Within milliseconds. You wouldn’t know if that happened,” he said.

The United States Senate confirmed Georgia’s Britt Grant to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, according to the AJC.

The U.S. Senate voted narrowly on Tuesday to confirm Britt Grant to Atlanta’s 11th U.S. Circuit, greenlighting the Georgia Supreme Court justice for a lifetime position on the powerful federal appeals court that frequently takes on hotly contested issues such as gun rights and the death penalty.

The vote largely fell along party lines, with three Democrats joining 49 Republicans to confirm the former Georgia solicitor general. The final tally was 52-46.

“Clearly, Justice Grant is immensely qualified to fill this Court of Appeals vacancy, and there is no doubt in my mind that she will do a fantastic job,” [Senator David] Perdue said Monday on the Senate floor. “In fact, our country needs more judges like Justice Grant.”

“I don’t remember ever having a judge come before this body, since I have been in Congress, from my home state of Georgia who had more people pulling for her, more people wanting her to win, more people who think she is the right person at the right time for the United States of America,” [Senator Johnny Isakson] said.

This should trigger a gubernatorial appointment to the Georgia Court of Appeals; if Gov. Deal follows his pattern of appointing a sitting member of a lower court, that will set another appointment for the Governor.

The Georgia Ports Authority, Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics have partnered to improve the flow of goods through Georgia, according to the Savannah Morning News.

GPA officials said the goal of the MOU is to “bring advanced research, evolving global logistics trends, and analysis from the world to Savannah.” The expertise at GPA and the innovation center and the analysis and research from Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute will help cargo owners and third-party logistics providers gain insight into everything from improved cargo routing to where and when to build infrastructure.

“Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain & Logistics Institute has established logistics improvement partnerships in global trade hubs, such as Rotterdam, Singapore, Shenzhen and Panama,” said Jimmy Allgood, GPA board chairman. “I am delighted to announce that for their first such agreement with a port authority in the Western Hemisphere, they have chosen an organization that is in their own state of Georgia.”

Matt Markham, director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics, said the collaborative effort further strengthens the state’s position as an economic development leader.

“Most companies that choose Georgia as their home depend on its world-class logistics for their success,” Markham said. “Our new relationship builds on our center’s goal of providing company-specific analyses and facilitating connections between logistics providers and potential clients.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has received one-quarter of the $6 million she’s raised so far in donations of $25 or less, according to the Macon Telegraph.

She’s raised more than $6 million so far, and about one-fourth has come from donations under $100, an unusually high percentage.

She’s being helped by Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate who’s urging supporters to give $10 to the Abrams effort.

“Stacey Abrams is funded by out-of-state, radical activists who want to turn Georgia into a lawless, losing state like California,” Kemp campaign spokesman Ryan Mahoney said. “Brian Kemp is Georgia-grown and backed financially by voters in the Peach State.”

Abrams countered she’s running a “locally-grounded campaign that has national support.” Her Democratic supporters call Kemp’s out-of-state criticism an old tactic that won’t work.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Abrams’ Republican rival, has raised more than $130,000 in small donations. Three percent of the more than $5 million he’s raised has come from beyond Georgia.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Ducks Unlimited reached an agreement for wetland restoration on the Altamaha Wildlife Management Area, according to The Brunswick News.

“Working with wetland restoration experts from DU, we will restore and enhance all of the managed wetland units on Altamaha WMA,” said John Bowers, DNR chief of game management, in a statement. “Altamaha is a very important area for waterfowl, shorebirds and wading birds and a preeminent public waterfowl hunting area.

“This effort builds on the already strong partnership we have with DU and ensures Georgia hunters, bird watchers and wetland-dependent wildlife have enhanced public lands into the future.”

Bibb County Commissioners heard from constituents on a proposed 25-percent property tax hike, according to the Macon Telegraph.

Backlash, suggestions, pleas and frustrations were expressed five minutes at a time by the more than 150 people who signed up to speak at one or both of two Tuesday hearings. The other hearing was held in the morning.

The fiscal year 2019 budget was initially prepared and adopted without any millage rate increase, resulting in cuts to city services such as the Macon Transit Authority, the Recreation Department and public libraries. Although funding has been restored in the interim, an additional 4.1 mills in property taxes will be needed to cover the cost.

The county’s reserve coffers have taken a major hit since consolidation, going from $33 million in 2014 to about $4 million by the end of June.

In Richmond County, four raccoons tested positive for rabies, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The Augusta Commission is considering a small decrease in property tax rates coupled with a new fee for streetlights, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Augusta taxpayers will see a slight decrease in their property tax bills under a rate set Tuesday by the Augusta Commission. But that could be offset by an increase in streetlight fees if the commission approves new rates next week.

Georgia law requires bodies such as the commission to look at the previous year’s rate and do a “rollback” on that rate based on any increase in property tax evaluations, according to information provided by the city’s Finance Department. The gross tax digest increased about 1 percent overall, or about $50 million, even after losing about $30 million from changes in motor vehicle taxes, said Finance Director Donna Williams.

The slight drop in rates for 2018 would mean a decrease of $2.07 on a $100,000 home in the suburban district, about $1.54 on the same house in the urban district, and $2.07 for that same house in Blythe. Augusta Mayor Hardie Davis termed that “good news.”

But those gains for taxpayers could be wiped out by what staff termed as much needed changes to the city’s streetlight fee program, which Williams characterized as “this horrible billing patchwork fiasco.” Some homeowners have paid much more based on their amount of road frontage, with some paying more than $500 a year, while about 17,000 in the suburban district pay nothing.

Georgia’s nascent oyster industry needs a better regulatory environment to thrive, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

the University of Georgia Oyster Hatchery on Skidaway Island, part of the UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, has been laying the groundwork for a thriving oyster aquaculture industry in the Peach State.

This would allow harvesters to farm the more desirable three-inch single oysters that can be marketed to upscale restaurants.

Funded by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program, the hatchery is a collaborative effort between UGA Marine Extension specialists, resource managers with the Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Shellfish Growers Association.

However, Georgia’s oyster farming industry is, by any measure, still in its infancy. Without the proper support from legislators and from the private sector, it will never reach its full potential as an economic engine in coastal Georgia despite the fact that our waterways naturally support the growth of some of the nation’s best-tasting oysters.

The biggest hurdle, it seems, is that Georgia is light years behind other states — like Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina — when it comes to implementing an aquaculture regulatory system. State laws are needed to ensure that Georgia’s farmed oysters are safe to eat and that the local ecosystem is protected throughout the farming process.

In order for Georgia’s oyster farming industry to take off, state legislators must pass regulations regarding aquaculture equipment and how waterways can be used for commercial farming under state law.