Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for August 26, 2020

On August 26, 1864, having withdrawn from trenches and fortifications outside Atlanta the previous day, U.S. General Sherman sent most of his forces westward around Atlanta and toward the south of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. Sherman’s forces tore up 12 miles of railroad between Red Oak and Fairburn on August 29, 1864.

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.’

On August 26, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a Welfare Reform bill, called the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Protests in Downtown Atlanta went wild last night, according to Fox5Atlanta.

Atlanta police said an officer was injured, eight people were arrested and an Atlanta precinct was damaged.

The crowd started to gather around 8 p.m. at Woodruff Park shouting for justice for Jacob Blake, a Black man shot multiple times by police in Wisconsin.

Fireworks were set off as the crowd wound its way through the Downtown area.

“This was not a peaceful protest as fireworks were discharged, frozen water bottles and rocks were thrown at police officers,” Atlanta police wrote in a statement to FOX 5.

Members of the crowd were seen busting out at least one of the windows at the Atlanta Police Department Zone 5 Precinct and scrawling graffiti over on the building.

“The Zone Five Precinct sustained property damage to include broken windows and graffiti sprayed on the building,” police stated.

“One officer was injured from being sprayed with Mace,” police wrote.

MARTA suspended Streetcar service and closed the Five Points and Dome Station ahead of the protests as well as rerouted buses to avoid the area.

From the AJC:

Tensions quickly boiled over outside the precinct when a window was shattered and a wall was spray-painted. Officers moved to arrest the person who was spray-painting, which led to a scuffle between the crowd and cops.

Several people threw garbage cans, water bottles and fireworks at the officers, who responded by shooting rubber bullets into the crowd. Officers in riot gear flooded the scene, dispersing the group. A handful of people were detained, but it’s unclear if anyone has been charged.

Governor Brian Kemp is asking Georgians to two four things for fall, according to WRDW.

“In July, I asked Georgians to do four things for four weeks to stop the spread of COVID-19. As expected, hardworking Georgians — from every part of our great state — rose to the challenge, and the data proves it,” Kemp in a statement. “As we look to the fall, it is absolutely critical that Georgians continue these four actions. With your help, we will beat COVID-19 and secure a safe, healthy, and prosperous future for our state.”

From 11Alive:

“Today, I’m renewing the call for Georgians to do ‘Four Things for Fall.’’

•    Wear a mask
•    Practice social distancing
•    Wash your hands regularly
•    Follow the guidance of public health officials detailed in the Executive Orders.

“So do it for your family and friends, do it for your faith community, or do it for college football,” Kemp said. “No matter your reason, hunker down, stay focused and do four things for fall.”

“Together, we will protect lives and livelihoods with your help, we will beat COVID-19 and secure a safe, healthy and prosperous future for our state,” he added.

Today, Gov. Kemp will make four stops in Southeast Georgia, according to WTOC.

According to the governor’s office, Gov. Kemp is expected to discuss school re-openings during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s college and career academies and the state’s current labor and economic outlook.

The first stop will be at Coastal Pines Technical College in Baxley, Ga. Gov. Kemp is scheduled to hold a news conference at 9:45 a.m. WTOC will provide live coverage online.

Kemp will continue his regional tour Wednesday by making stops at Vidalia High School in Vidalia, the Claxton Rotary in Claxton and USA Concrete Pump Engineering in Metter.

Gov. Kemp may delay the Special Session until after the November general elections, according to the AJC.

Kemp said earlier this month that he’d call lawmakers into a special session — which would cost between $40,000 and $50,000 a day — to fix legislation meant to give a tax break to South Georgians devastated by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

During an interview Tuesday on WGAU radio in Athens, Kemp made it sound like any special session — if it happens — would occur after the November elections. In other words, weeks before the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 11 for the regular 2021 session.

“It’s going to be really hard to do that before the election,” Kemp said. “I don’t think anyone wants to see that happen.”

Under state law, governors decide what issues lawmakers can consider in a special session, so other things could be addressed.

U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Buckhead) campaigned in Valdosta, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

To distinguish herself, the senator tapped by Gov. Brian Kemp to fill Johnny Isakson’s seat last December has doubled down on her message of being the most conservative option for voters come Election Day.

“I am the only true conservative in this race,” she told people attending a campaign stop Tuesday in Valdosta.

“My message from day one has been a strong conservative message. Protect the constitutional freedoms, the rights that we have,” she said. “That message has never wavered, but now I have a strong record, seven and a half months in the Senate to demonstrate those values for Georgians.”

For now, her message has apparently been well received by Georgians. According to the most recent poll of her Senate race, Loeffler leads the pack with 26% of the vote. The poll, performed by SurveyUSA and published Aug. 11, showed Loeffler leading both her GOP counterpart Congressman Doug Collins and the top Democratic candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock by nine points each.

Before Loeffler spoke, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter introduced the senator to attendees talking about her connection to South Georgia.

Republican Don Cole visited Bainbridge in his campaign for Congress, according to the Post-Searchlight.

Cole believes Georgia can’t have economic development without agriculture, and the biggest investment for both agriculture and economic development is rural broadband Internet.

“It’s going to take a state effort and a national effort, but in the 1920’s we ran electricity to remote farmhouses… if we can do that in the 1920’s, we can do this with a focused effort,” he said.

Cole knows every farmer is using technology in some way and wants this service to be accessible to them for business and trade purposes.

Placing his efforts into agriculture, rural broadband, the economy and protecting traditional values, Cole hopes to take the seat for the 2nd District.

United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos toured Forsyth County High School, according to AccessWDUN.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos complimented Forsyth County Schools officials for beginning the new school year with face-to-face instruction.

“I wanted to come and visit another school that was reopening for classes in person and Forsyth has done a really great job of thinking through all of the needs of the students district-wide,” said DeVos.

Georgia State Superintendent of Schools Richard Woods also joined the event, as well as U.S. Representative Rob Woodall.

“President Trump and I are really committed to the fact that kids need to be back to learning at full-time, but don’t mistake learning full time for suggesting that every single student needs to be 100 percent in-person in school,” said DeVos. “We need to give families choices and students choices.”

While the majority of her visit was focused on what the Forsyth County School system has done to get ready for the school year, DeVos also addressed state-wide preparations.

“The key here is really having that dialogue and addressing what are the real fears and what are the real concerns on a very personal level…and then providing options and opportunities,” she said.

USA Today covers religion football in Georgia.

And in states where Republicans are appointing the bosses, it is impossible to separate the desire to play football this from the other politically-driven issues that drove southern states toward more aggressive re-openings during the pandemic.

“The states strongly considering or planning to play football are the states that primarily voted for Trump,” said Stephen Butler, a political consultant at the Atlanta-based Connect Public Relations firm. “The voters who elected Trump were not predominantly concerned with taxes. They were more concerned with ‘Making America Great Again,’ which is a cultural phenomenon that has dovetailed into a political base. Most Board of Regents members in those states making these decisions are political appointees and typically share the political and cultural views of those who appointed them.”

Which means, regardless of whether college presidents in the SEC, ACC and Big 12 think it’s a good idea to play football this fall, there is at least some incentive to try that didn’t necessarily exist in states where a tweet from the White House isn’t going to move the needle with politicians.

A Pro-Trump boating event will be held on Thurmond Lake this weekend, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Posted flyers and at least one Facebook page are asking participants to bring their boats to Columbia County’s Wildwood Park at noon Saturday . From a starting point under the power lines near the park, boaters are invited to sail around that area of the lake until 3 p.m.

“All you need is a boat and a flag,” one flyer read.

Visit the “Trump Boat Parade Clarks Hill Lake” event page on Facebook for more information.

The Gainesville Times spoke to former State Senator Chip Pearson, a Georgia delegate to the Republican National Convention.

President Donald Trump has “accomplished such a tremendous amount in three and a half years now,” Pearson said.

“There are some big issues out there, and it’s going to take some new thinking and new ideas, and being a businessman and an outsider, I think he’s shown himself to be uniquely qualified to come up with new ideas to old problems and help solve them,” he said.

Pearson is representing Georgia’s 9th Congressional District at the convention. He said state and district conventions were not held this year, but he interviewed with the district nominating committee for the position.

Pearson watched the first night of the RNC from his home rather than the convention floor, but he said “it only gets bigger as the week goes on.”

Ashley Bell, a former Hall County commissioner who now works for the U.S. Small Business Administration, is a state delegate but was unavailable for comment.

The Cherokee County Elections and Voter Registration Office has moved its office, according to the Tribune-Ledger News.

The offices were moved to a facility at 2782 Marietta Highway, Suite 100 in Canton. This move was necessary in order to effectively accommodate the 780 new voting machines the county received earlier this year.

The location also has a 24-hour ballot drop box located near the office entrance.

Macon-Bibb County adopted two mask mandates, according to the Macon Telegraph.

One of the ordinances requires masks to be worn inside government buildings while the other requires masks to be worn in public.

“I think different municipalities across the state and the country just want to send a message to its citizens that we strongly support wearing a mask and that it helps save lives,” said Al Tillman, mayor pro tem, during the Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday morning.

Johns Creek City Council is considering decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, according to the AJC.

Johns Creek officials disagreed on decriminalization of marijuana during a Monday meeting. City Council members opposed to a reduced penalty for simple possession said they were concerned that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs.

Council members Chris Coughlin, Erin Elwood and Stephanie Endres proposed that a person in possession of less than one ounce of cannabis face no jail time and a fine of not more than $75.

The current fine for simple possession is up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Other municipalities have begun to change their laws concerning small amounts of marijuana. Clarkston was the first Georgia city to pass a similar ordinance in 2016. Doraville passed a new ordinance earlier in August. Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta-Richmond County and Macon-Bibb County are among the large local governments that have passed local decriminalization ordinances.

Meanwhile, Johns Creek will pay $325k to the former police chief, according to the AJC.

The city’s leaders approved a $325,000 settlement with [Former chief Chris] Byers when it voted to accept his resignation earlier this month following an investigation sparked by a controversial Facebook post he made in June about the Black Lives Matter movement and local pastors. News reports indicate the payout is nearly $200,000 more than Byers’ annual salary.

Dunwoody City Council voted to place a referendum on the November ballot to extend Sunday sales of package alcohol, according to the AJC.

The City Council on Monday passed a resolution calling for a referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot asking voters if alcohol sales should be allowed at grocery and package stores “by the drink” and “by the package” starting at 11 a.m. every Sunday rather than 12:30 p.m.

After the state legislature passed the “brunch bill” in 2018, voters in Dunwoody and more than 100 other Georgia cities approved Sunday alcohol sales at restaurants beginning at 11 a.m. instead of 12:30.

But that only applied to restaurants and bars. This year, the state passed a bill allowing for earlier alcohol sales at grocery stores or liquor stores, if voters approve.

Decatur County Commissioners added a referendum on package sales of alcohol to the November ballot, according to the Post Searchlight.