Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for August 16, 2022

The State Highway Department was created on August 16, 1916 to comply with federal funding requirements, when Georgia Governor Nathaniel Harris signed legislation by the General Assembly.

Georgia Governor Hugh Dorsey signed legislation creating the State Department of Banking on August 16, 1919.

Georgia Governor Clifford Walker signed legislation changing the method of execution in Georgia from hanging to the electric chair on August 16, 1924.

On August 16, 1974, The Ramones played their first public show at CBGB in New York.

Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Brian Kemp announced the appointment of Mike Register as Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced his appointment of Michael “Mike” Register as Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), pending approval by the Board of Public Safety. Register will step in to fill the vacancy made by The Honorable Vic Reynolds’ swearing-in as a Cobb Judicial Circuit Superior Court judge. Until Register is sworn into his new role, GBI Assistant Director John Melvin will serve as Interim Director.

”Mike has a strong track record of strengthening public safety and protecting Georgia’s communities,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “I’m looking forward to his impact on this important agency that makes our entire state a safer and better place to live, work, and raise our families. I also want to thank Vic Reynolds for all of his contributions to the GBI during a critical time when the state faced and overcame the challenges presented by the summer of civil unrest and the pandemic. As he continues to serve his fellow Georgians in a new capacity, Marty and I wish him the very best and congratulate him on leaving an enduring mark on the agency.”

Michael “Mike” Register has extensive law enforcement and public safety management experience. Before being appointed to lead the GBI, he served as Assistant Chief of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office where he oversaw community engagement, uniform field operations, and internal affairs. Prior to this post, he was the director of public safety for Cobb County, the chief of police for Cobb County, and the chief of police for Clayton County.

Register was previously the chief operating officer for Quiet Professionals, LLC., in Tampa Florida, where he handled the daily operations for that company and its subsidiaries. The company’s core business competencies are to support critical missions for Special Operations Command and various intelligence agencies. He is a past member of the Georgia POST Council, the Judicial Qualification Commission, and served on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces’ Executive Board and various other law enforcement-related organizations.

Register is obtaining his doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Liberty University, has a Masters degree in Public Administration from Columbus State University, and is a graduate of the FBI’s National Executive Institute. He served his country faithfully and well for 23 years in the US Army Special Operations, including combat operations in Afghanistan.

From the AJC:

Cobb County’s former police chief has been tapped to head the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.

Michael Register has been appointed to head the GBI pending approval by the state’s Board of Public Safety, the governor’s office said in a news release.

GBI Assistant Director John Melvin will serve as the agency’s interim director until Register is sworn in.

In a statement, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office congratulated Register on his appointment.

“Assistant Chief Michael Register is a dynamic leader and law enforcement professional. He has been instrumental in helping Sheriff Owens transform the culture at the sheriff’s office,” the statement reads. “Sheriff Owens and the men and women of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office express our appreciation for his service to the people of Cobb County and we wish him all the best in his new role serving our great state.”

Governor Kemp also announced the state will spend $1.2 billion dollars to providing cash aid to Medicaid recipients, according to a Press Release.

Governor Brian P. Kemp announced that he has dedicated more than $1 billion to the Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide cash assistance of up to $350 for active enrollees, which can also include $350 for anyone in the active enrollees’ assistance unit, of Medicaid, SNAP, and/or TANF government benefit programs. This assistance will help some of Georgia’s most vulnerable citizens cope with the continued negative economic impact of the COVID-19 public health emergency and 40-year-high inflation caused by disastrous policies that were implemented by the Biden administration.

To be eligible, Georgians, including anyone in the active enrollees’ assistance unit, must have been enrolled in one of the aforementioned programs by July 31, 2022. Cash assistance will not be provided to those enrolled after the cutoff date. Georgians who are enrolled in more than one of the aforementioned programs will only receive one cash assistance payment. DHS will be communicating with eligible Georgians through the Georgia Gateway portal. All potentially eligible Georgians should log into their Georgia Gateway accounts and ensure their personal information and contact preferences are up-to-date. For more assistance, eligible Georgians can contact DHS.

Funds for this award derive from the State Fiscal Recovery Fund which was part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

From the Associated Press via Now Habersham:

The payments will start in September, said Katie Byrd, a spokesperson for the governor’s office.

The move comes atop Kemp’s proposals last week to spend $2 billion in state surplus, split between property tax rebates and a second round of income tax rebates, if voters choose him for a second term in November over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams. Those separate plans would require legislative approval next year.

Monday’s announcement will put money in the hands of less affluent Georgians in the months before the nationally watched election in a narrowly contested swing state. Those are voters to whom Abrams has been tailoring her economic platform. She also backs another round of income tax rebates, like those Kemp already pushed through, but has been arguing that Georgia also needs to do more to invest in long-term expansions of health, education and small business assistance to try to create a less unequal economy.

Kemp, though, appears to be betting that handing out cash now will outweigh the promise of future improvements. Under Georgia state law, he alone controls how billions in federal COVID-19 relief is spent, meaning he can hand out money even as he bashes Democratic President Joe Biden and Abrams for inflation and high spending.

The state Department of Human Services said on its website that beneficiaries will get the payment automatically, but urged people to update their contact information on a state website that manages health and welfare benefits. The state said that people who get food stamps and cash welfare benefits will not get the money on the same debit card they get those benefits, but didn’t immediately respond to questions about how the money will get sent out.

From the AJC:

Kemp is using federal aid that’s leftover from the American Rescue Plan to pay for checks of $350 per person enrolled in some of the state’s major benefits programs. According to the governor’s office those programs include: Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF.

The governor’s office estimates this move could benefit approximately 3 million Georgia residents. More than one person in each household could qualify for the payments.

Georgia will also extend SNAP benefits for some low-income families with children, according to 13WMAZ.

Georgia received federal approval last week to hand out food benefits to the youngest Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. These recipients are children under the age of 6 years old.

SNAP benefits are also known as food stamps. In order to qualify for these benefits, families must meet a specific income according to the size of the family’s household in most cases, according to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service.

Rudy Giuliani is considered a target of the Fulton County Grand Jury investigating the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential election, according to the AP via the Valdosta Daily Times.

The revelation that Giuliani, an outspoken Trump defender, could face criminal charges from the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis edges the probe closer to the former president. Willis has said she is considering calling Trump himself to testify before the special grand jury, and the former president has hired a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta.

Special prosecutor Nathan Wade alerted Giuliani’s team in Atlanta that he was an investigation target, Giuliani attorney Robert Costello said Monday. News of the disclosure was first reported by The New York Times.

Speaking on a New York radio show Monday, Giuliani said he had been serving as Trump’s attorney in Georgia.

“You do this to a lawyer, we don’t have America anymore,” he said.

In seeking Giuliani’s testimony, Willis identified him as both a personal attorney for Trump and a lead attorney for his campaign. She wrote that he and others appeared at a state Senate committee meeting and presented a video that Giuliani said showed election workers producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers.

From the AJC:

Attorney Bill Thomas, who is representing Giuliani in Atlanta, was called around midday on Monday by a special prosecutor in the Fulton DA’s office and told his client could be indicted, according to Robert J. Costello, Giuliani’s New York-based lawyer.

Giuliani’s lawyers said they have long asked about whether their client is a target, including at a hearing before a Fulton judge last week. Costello said they didn’t get an answer until today.

“We’ve asked that question numerous times,” he said. “They’ve consistently refused to answer it.”

Costello said his client plans to be in Atlanta on Wednesday and “will follow his ethical obligations with regard to privileges” such as citing attorney-client privilege when necessary. Costello would not say whether Giuliani plans to plead the 5th Amendment to avoid self-incrimination.

Targets (and potential targets) of the Fulton County grand jury are lawyering up, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

Trump has hired Drew Findling, one of Atlanta’s most prominent criminal defense attorneys who is perhaps best known for representing rap stars. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has brought on Trump’s former White House counsel Don McGahn, who was in federal court in Atlanta last week as part of a legal team fighting a subpoena for Graham.

But the attorney hires in Atlanta suggest Trump and his allies are paying especially close attention to the investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

“You’re not going to go and hire an expensive lawyer unless either you want to send a message that, ‘You guys better come correct or my fancy lawyer will blow you out of the water,’ or you actually are worried,” said Caren Morrison, a Georgia State University law professor and former federal prosecutor.

Trump has hired Findling and former prosecutor Jennifer Little, with attorney Dwight Thomas serving as a consultant on matters related to special grand jury proceedings.

Former President Jimmy Carter appeared publicly ahead of his 98th birthday, according to 13WMAZ.

Former President and First Lady Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter made a rare public appearance in Plains, Georgia, this past weekend.

They chatted with folks for over an hour as the Friends of the Carter’s group dedicated a giant butterfly statue to honor former First Lady Rosalynn’s birthday this week.

Jimmy Carter has a birthday coming up in October. He will hit 98 years old.

Tim Buchanon, with the Friends of the Carters organization, says President Carter is in good health.

“He reads his Bible every day, is engaged in family meetings and chimes in on decisions related to the Carter Center in Atlanta,” Buchanan said.

Jimmy and Rosalynn recently celebrated their 76th wedding anniversary. Jimmy Carter has had some health scares in his 90s; he most recently fell and broke his left hip in 2019. He is also a brain cancer survivor.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney declined to enjoin the “Heartbeat Bill,” saying his authority to do so is limited by state law, according to the AP via AccessWDUN.

A state judge refused Monday to immediately stop enforcement of Georgia’s restrictive abortion law, which took effect last month and bans most abortions once fetal cardiac activity is present.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled he did not have the authority to issue a preliminary injunction and block the law at this stage of the lawsuit.

“The question of whether it is constitutional for the State to force a woman to carry to term a six-week-old embryo against her wishes, even in the face of serious medical risk, remains to be answered,” he wrote.

The lawsuit McBurney is considering was filed July 26 and argues the state’s abortion law violates the “fundamental rights to liberty and privacy” under the Georgia Constitution.

From the AJC:

In his order, McBurney dismissed the request for a temporary restraining order, saying state law only allows him to block a law from being enforced if he has already ruled that the statute is unconstitutional. McBurney has been asked to determine the constitutionality of the law. He has not yet ruled on the issue.

A hearing has not yet been set for McBurney to consider the law’s constitutionality.

The Muscogee County School District announced that a 16-year old student has been arrested in a gun incident, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

The Muscogee County School District announced the arrest Monday, six days after the incident at Jordan [Vocational High School], where a tip from a fellow student started the investigation.

The student turned himself in Saturday and was arrested. The news release doesn’t specify which law enforcement agency made the arrest, whether it be MCSD’s Police Department, which investigated the initial incident, or the Columbus Police Department.

The day after the gun was confiscated, Jordan announced a book bag ban on campus.

The new policy posted on Jordan’s Facebook page says exceptions to the ban are made for students with “documented medical issues” approved by the principal. Student athletes may still bring equipment bags and leave them in designated areas in the gym before classes. Book bags brought to school will be kept in the front office, where the student’s parent or guardian must retrieve it.

Bulloch County property owners may pay more property taxes for schools, according to WTOC.

At a public hearing Monday, school leaders broke down the millage rate and what property owners could be paying.

Assistant superintendent Troy Brown outlined why the district is proposing a partial tax rollback. He explained how new assessments across the county had raised many property values.

Superintendent Charles Wilson explained that a full rollback this year would have dropped the district below a level of local taxes required by the state and cost them more than they would have saved taxpayers.

“So you can see that we would have been giving up $5 million in funding, then have to turn around and levy more taxes to make that up,” Superintendent Charles Wilson said.

The partial rollback would leave the owner of a reassessed $175,000 home paying an additional $29.50 in taxes. This marked the third and final public hearing on the millage rate. One person, Bob Emly spoke up and asked district leaders to consider the hardship a tax increase will have on seniors living on a fixed income.

Dougherty County Commissioners held a public meeting to take public comments on a proposed partial rollback of the property tax millage rate, according to WALB.

The county is proposing a 19.069 millage rate. This will be an increase of 3.5 mills. Meaning that if you own a home worth $100,000, you will see a property tax increase of about $134.

Earlier this month, the city proposed rolling back its millage rate from 9.631 mills to 9.597. Meaning homeowners will see a property tax decrease of about $1.36.

If both are approved, residents will see an overall property tax increase of about $133.50 per $100,000 home.

“What we’re currently evaluating and what our independent analyst literally came in and told us is that we’re going to have to do this in order to continue to balance your budget, and in order to be able to keep your employees,” Chris Cohilas, Dougherty County Commission chairman, said.

Brunswick City Commissioners will hold public meetings to discuss the proposed partial rollback of the property tax millage rate, which will yield higher revenue than the previous year and is defined by state law as a tax increase, according to The Brunswick News.

The Atlanta Board of Education will adopt a partial rollback of the property tax millage rate, according to the AJC.

The Atlanta Board of Education agreed to partially roll back the property tax rate, a move that amounts to a 5% increase because of rising property values.

The board voted Monday to set the millage rate at 20.5 mills, a decrease from the last fiscal year’s rate of 20.74 mills. But the new rate legally is considered a tax increase because the board did not drop it all the way to 19.522 mills, the level required to offset tax increases because of higher property valuations.

“A full roll-back would mean that we would need to cut our revenue projections by about $31 million,” the district states in a budget presentation.

The Atlanta BOE also approved a contract to provide telehealth services in some schools, according to the AJC.

The school board recently approved a one-year contract, estimated to cost $523,500, with Hazel Health. The California-based company specializes in school-based telehealth services.

Students at each of the district’s 64 traditional, non-charter schools will be able to connect with doctors and therapists either at school or at home by logging onto the Hazel Health platform. Students can see a doctor or nurse practitioner virtually from the school nurse’s office. Each campus also will designate a space where students can go to join online therapy sessions led by a Georgia-licensed mental health provider.

Whitfield County Commissioners will host an open house in their renovated space in the Courthouse, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office announced it will no longer respond to unverified alarms, according to WJBF.

This means law enforcement will only respond to an activated alarm, home or business, if there is a video or an eyewitness to a break in.

Richmond County Deputies responded to more than 82,000 alarm calls in last 4 years and more than 98 percent of those were false alarms.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said Verified Response will allow them to refocus resources where they are needed.

“And what we’re doing here, is we’re prioritizing people over property,” said Chief Patrick Clayton with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

Athens and Atlanta will receive federal infrastructure funding, according to the Albany Herald.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced that the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded $49.9 million to support two projects in Georgia from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program to help move forward on projects that modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and intermodal transportation and make transportation systems safer, more accessible, more affordable, and more sustainable.

MARTA and two other Georgia transit agencies will receive $31 million dollars in federal funds to purchase electric buses, according to the AJC.

MARTA would get $19.3 million to buy battery electric buses and charging equipment to replace older compressed natural gas buses. The FTA says the money will improve air quality in the Atlanta area and support a two-year apprenticeship program with local technical colleges.

Augusta-Richmond County would get $6.3 million for electric buses and equipment to replace aging diesel buses. The Chatham Area Transit Authority would get $5.5 million for electric buses and equipment.

Rome continues to seek a higher percentage of Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenues, according to the Rome News Tribune.

During the ongoing negotiations, Rome officials have stated they are the main economic driver of the county, and deserve more than their currently allocated share — 41.7% of the sales tax revenue split. Rome has proposed to increase their share of revenue to 49%, which would reduce the county’s funding to 49.1% from its current level of 56.5%.

County officials suggested a potential solution might be to adjust some of the 32 service delivery agreements between the city and county, for things like public works, parks and recreation as well as policing.

Garden City Mayor Don Bethune announced his resignation effective at the end of the month for personal reasons, according to WTOC.

He said Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Campbell won’t miss a beat stepping in as interim mayor.

Campbell said he’s not happy to see him go, but with more than 8 years serving Garden City, he said he’s prepared.

“I’m ready for the task.”

The mayor pro tem will also be the first Black mayor in the city’s history.

Jonesboro Mayor Joy Day is leaving office today, according to the AJC.

Day announced last week during a City Council meeting that she would step down as mayor on Aug. 16 after more than a decade in the role. Day said she was making the move to be closer to her family.

“The City of Jonesboro has been a positive force in my life,” Day said in a statement. “Thank you for the work, the opportunity, the chance to be creative and to feel a sense of accomplishment, not to mention the tears and the laughter along the way.

“Goodnight, City of Jonesboro, from your biggest fan!” she said.

Two candidates qualified for the Special Election to an open seat on the Rome Board of Education, while qualifying remains open through Friday, according to the Rome News Tribune.