Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 13, 2022

On December 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court organized three regiments of militia to guard against attacks by the Pequot Indians. That day is recognized as the birth of the National Guard.

Echols County, Georgia was created by the Georgia General Assembly on December 13, 1858.

Former Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall died on December 13, 1992. Arnall served in the State House, as Speaker, Attorney General, and in 1942 at the age of 35, was elected Governor.

Arnall also led the fight to outlaw the poll tax and the white primary, and is noted for making Georgia the first state to allow 18-year-olds to vote. He is further remembered for his role in obtaining a new state constitution for Georgia in 1945.

Al Gore conceded the presidential election to George W. Bush on December 13, 2000.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Augusta Democrats note that yet another Special Election is being held on December 20, 2022 to fill a State House vacancy, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Richmond County Democratic Party Chairman and Augusta Commissioner Jordan Johnson on Monday acknowledged election fatigue while also calling on voters to cast their ballot in the last election of the year.

“I know that we’re sort of fatigued with the mayoral election earlier in the summer, the general in November and then this runoff,” Johnson said. “We cannot stop yet. There’s one more election, and this election is local and it is an important election.”

Former Georgia House District 129 Rep. Henry “Wayne” Howard died in October. Howard had served as state representative of Districts 121 and 124 since 2007, with 124 becoming 129 in a new redistricting map earlier this year.

The candidates on the ballot are all Democrats and include project manager Scott Cambers, student Davis Green, pastor Karlton Howard and private security contractor Brad Owens. Johnson said their local party does not endorse primary candidates.

Advance voting is going on now at the Augusta Municipal Building on Telfair Street and is open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday, Dec. 16. Election Day voting takes place 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Dec. 20.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that hate crimes increased in Georgia during 2021, according to WRDW in Augusta.

Marc Benjamin, supervisory special agent FBI Atlanta, states, “The FBI takes hate crimes very seriously. Hate crimes are the top priority in the civil rights division.”

Benjamin states that from Jan. 1. to Dec. 31, 2021, most hate crimes involved intimidation, simple assault, destruction of property and vandalism.

Within Georgia, the top tree focuses of hate crimes are race, sexual orientation and religion.

In 2020, Georgia reported 195 incidents of hate crime according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation crime data report.

In 2021, Georgia reported 238 incidents, increasing by 43 incidents over a year.w

The United States Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the Office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, according to the AJC.

The U.S. Department of Justice has subpoenaed the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office and at least one metro Atlanta county as it continues to investigate former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

A copy of the Dec. 9 subpoena obtained by The Washington Post shows DOJ has requested “any and all communications in any form to, from or involving” Trump, his campaign, employees or attorneys. The subpoena names 19 individuals — including attorneys John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Cleta Mitchell, L. Lin Wood and Sidney Powell.

Meanwhile, a Cobb County spokesperson confirmed the county election board also received an FBI subpoena Monday for records related to the 2020 election. Last week, DOJ issued subpoenas to local officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin — three other states where Trump sought to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

The DOJ has been investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in Georgia and other swing states. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee criminal investigations of Trump after the former president announced he will seek the Republican presidential nomination again in 2024.

From the Associated Press via AccessWDUN:

The special counsel is seeking “any and all communications in any form” between June 1, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, “to, from or involving” Trump, his campaign, lawyers and aides, including former campaign officials such as Bill Stepien and Justin Clark and lawyers John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, L. Lin Wood, Sidney Powell and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to the subpoena, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Separately Monday, the AP obtained through a public records request the copy of a Nov. 22 subpoena sent by Smith to local election officials in Clark County, Nevada, the state’s most populous county. The subpoena seeks similar information as the ones sent to other states.

Efforts by Trump and his associates to reverse his loss in Georgia are currently the subject of a separate investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Atlanta. A special grand jury seated to aid that investigation has heard from dozens of witnesses, including a number of high-profile Trump allies, over the past six months and is expected to wrap up its work soon.

Tybee Island City Council will continue discussing allowing bitches dogs on beaches. From WTOC:

Right now, the proposal would be to allow dogs on the beach once a week on Wednesdays, only from Nov. 1 to March 1.

Dogs would also only be allowed on the beaches from 18th street to Inlet Avenue.

“We need to be more specific about exactly where we want it to be, exactly when it will be, do we need signs for people to know where to go, one of the concerns for code enforcement is how do people know where the line in the sand is so we have to figure that out, so we need to get it specific and detailed,” [council member Brian] West said.

He says last year a survey went out to about 450 Tybee Island residents and found about half would approve of dogs on the beach and the other half did not want to make that change.

If you want to share your thoughts, city council will be discussing this again at their council meeting on Jan. 26.

From the Savannah Morning News:

People have routinely implored the city to go easier on their zero-tolerance policy on dogs for years, according to West. The proposal stresses that dog owners must bring their own bags to pick up after their pets and that pets must be leashed at all times.

“We don’t want the pets to go in the water either, so there’s no exploding diarrhea. We want to make sure this is a safe event for all people,” said West.

Tybee Island’s enforcement on the issue isn’t unique, said City Manager Shawn Gillen. Beaches up and down the coastline implement different rules to protect wildlife and prevent the inevitable issue of dog feces.

On Tybee, the Loggerhead sea turtle and certain migratory birds such as the Piping Plover, which visits Tybee during the winter, must be safeguarded.

Residents like Kate Burns asked the city to trust them once again. Burns referenced a survey of 450 residents conducted three years ago, in which 52% of respondents supported dogs on the beach.

“I think one day a week is something we can live with,” said Burns, who noted she has a service dog she’d like to walk on the beach.

In the fourth hour of the meeting, council member Barry Brown posed a question: “Who’s going to be responsible for these little foo-foo dogs that everybody has when a man from Toombs County comes out with his pitbull that eats your dog up while you’re standing there?”

“It’ll be a lawsuit,” said council member Spec Hosti.

“With the city or between the two dogs?” asked Brown.

Hosti later clarified that it’ll most likely be a civil suit between the two dog owners if the situation were to escalate to legal action.

Macon-Bibb County elected officials continue to be concerned about violence, according to 13WMAZ.

Last week was a violent one in Macon-Bibb County, with five homicides.

[Craig] Paige’s death marks Macon-Bibb’s 68th homicide on the year, shattering last year’s record of 55.

“It’s scary to have this many violent incidents ending in death,” said Commissioner Virgil Watkins. “Continuing to look for some solutions, and trying to find folks some relief.”

For over a year now, Bibb leaders have poured millions into a countywide anti-violence program, called ‘MVP.’

“One shooting leads to the next shooting, which leads to the next shooting,” said Mayor Lester Miller. “So that’s the mentality we have to stop.”

Many Maconites have been skeptical of the program’s impact, citing a record homicide rate. Mayor Miller says there’s more to the program than that.

“There’s a lot of housing initiatives that we have going on because we do believe that having adequate housing is going to help us with crime. We’re gonna continue our fight against blight,” [Miller] said.

Warner Robins elected officials are concerned about homelessness, according to 13WMAZ.

Warner Robins community leaders met for a second time Monday to brainstorm ways to help the homeless in the area.

Mayor LaRhonda Patrick’s office provided a statement:

“I have a heart for all the citizens of Warner Robins, including the homeless. We have a tremendous support network throughout Middle Georgia and collaborating with those organizations to better understand how we can all work together is only the first step in the process. I look forward to sharing more as we gather that information and develop a plan to put it into practice,” Mayor LaRhonda Patrick said.

Dougherty County is considering higher standards for street numbering of houses, according to the Albany Herald.

[O]ne county commissioner has made enforcing requirements a priority for next year.

Dougherty County first responders who attended a Monday commission meeting also supported Commissioner Anthony Jones on the issue.

“It is frustrating, especially at night,” Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services Director Sam Allen said. “You have lettering that has faded, bushes in front of mailboxes.”

The county’s ordinance requires reflective numerals on both sides of a mailbox and letters of four inches or larger posted on the house or mobile home, Allen said.

“I think this is something we need to take time on,” Jones said. “When someone has a heart attack, Sam and his people need to be able to go to the address immediately.

Dougherty County Administrator Michael McCoy was reappointed, according to the Albany Herald.

“I want to thank this board for its confidence in appointing me to another term,” he said. “It seems to me that some commissioners have some issues with me. They want me to run the county the way they want it to run. I answer to the board, not one commissioner.”

McCoy said that during his 24 years working for the county, his predecessor was traditionally retained without a formal vote and that the number of votes during his four years in his current position exceed those taken during Richard Crowdis’ 20 years as county manager.

[Commissioner] Edwards was joined in voting in opposition to McCoy by Commissioners Gloria Gaines and Clinton Johnson. [Outgoing Commission Chair Chris] Cohilas, along with Commissioners Russell Gray, Anthony Jones and Ed Newsome, voted to renew the county manager’s contract.

Houston County is getting in the surveillance business, installing plate readers to fight crime, according to the Macon Telegraph.

Houston County is moving forward with a plan to install license plate-reading cameras across the county to assist law enforcement investigations.

The effort is a collaboration between the Houston County Board of Commissioners, the Houston County District Attorney and Houston County Sheriff’s Office as well as the city governments of Warner Robins, Perry and Centerville and their respective police departments.

At a Tuesday meeting, Houston County commissioners voted to move forward on a four-year agreement with Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based tech company that provides the cameras and service.

Houston County District Attorney William Kendall said the photos will only be used for active law enforcement investigations and humanitarian purposes such as locating missing persons.

“It essentially provides a search query for law enforcement, if they have a partial plate or a plate they’re looking for that was involved in a missing person, abduction or criminal activity, they can go in and search the Flock cameras on our network and the ones that we have been allowed access to from other agencies in different locations, to try to identify either where that vehicle has recently been or if it’s passed by a certain camera where crime has occurred, things like that,” Kendall told the Telegraph.

“They don’t even have a capability to capture speed, let alone are they calibrated or even set in the right direction to monitor whether or not somebody ran the stop sign or stoplight,” Kendall said. “They don’t have that functionality and they can’t be expanded to be able to do that in the future.”

Kendall estimates that between 75-100 cameras will be installed in the county starting next spring. “They’re operated on solar power and they work with a cell phone signal so they don’t require tying into a power source or an internet connection or anything like that,” Kendall said. “So they’re very self-sufficient and cost-effective cameras.” The cameras will operate 24/7 and are capable of capturing 72,000 license plate reads per day.

Floyd County Commissioners will consider an ordinance to implement the results of a voter-approved alcohol sales referendum, according to the Rome News Tribune.

Currently, alcohol sales in the unincorporated area cannot start until 12:30 p.m. on Sundays. However, voters approved a referendum in November to allow alcohol sales starting at 11 a.m., bringing the county into synch with the city of Rome.

Muscogee County has higher STD rates than the rest of the state, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

A report recently released by Piedmont Columbus Regional outlined a number of health concerns in Muscogee County, including a higher than average rate of sexually transmitted diseases locally than across the state.

The numbers are stark: Muscogee County has 255 more cases of Chlamydia per 100,000 people than the Georgia average, along with elevated rates of Gonorrhea and HIV/AIDS.

Why? That’s a difficult question to answer, although a variety of data and studies give researchers a grasp of potential factors.

I mean, that whole story is both a horror show and a cautionary tale.

Habersham County Commission Chair Bruce Palmer will host a Town Hall to discuss his favorite Nick Offerman sitcom Parks and Recreation, according to AccessWDUN.

Oakwood will hold elections for three City Council seats in November 2023, according to the Gainesville Times.

Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell will not run for a fifth term, according to AccessWDUN.

“There comes a point in time in everyone’s life when they just have to make changes and after a lot of prayer and consideration and talking with my wife and family, I think that time has come for me,” Terrell said. “I’m not going to run for re-election in 2024.”

Terrell said he made the announcement to his staff and their families first.

Though he is not sure what he will do when he leaves office at the end of 2024, Terrell said he will be ready for a change as the law enforcement landscape continues to change.

“That’ll be 16 years as sheriff for me and that’s long enough,” Terrell said. “Time to let somebody else step up and lead our county. I’ve always said I believe in term limits and sometimes you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is. I just feel that it’s the right thing to do and I just have a great peace about it.”

St. Marys City Council member-elect Danny Riggins died before being sworn in, according to The Brunswick News.

St. Marys City Manager Robert Horton expressed his condolences to Riggins’ family. Horton said Riggins was a lifelong city resident and local business owner.

“He had a lot to offer the city,” Horton said. “Our thoughts and prayers are for Mr. Riggins’ family, friends and coworkers during this time as they mourn their loss.”

Horton said a special election will be held in the spring to replace Riggins.

Shannon Nettles, Camden County’s elections supervisor, said she was unsure if city officials planned to appoint someone to fill the vacancy until a special election is held next spring. City officials said they have no plans to appoint someone to fill the void left by Riggins’ unexpected death.