Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 14, 2021

President George Washington died at Mount Vernon on December 14, 1799. Here’s an article about the nation’s mourning for our first President.

The Congress, in session at the capital of Philadelphia when Washington’s death was announced, immediately adjourned. The House of Representatives assembled the next day and resolved to shroud the Speaker’s chair in black and have members wear black during the remainder of the session. On December 23, John Marshall speaking for the joint committee of both houses, presented five points that became the foundation for the United States’ first “state” funeral. Resolutions structured mourning events around public commemorations that fostered unity and a sense of national identity among grieving Americans.

President William McKinley addressed the Georgia General Assembly on December 14, 1898.

On December 14, 1939, a parade was held through downtown Atlanta with stars from Gone With the Wind and the Junior League held a ball that night. The next day, December 15, 1939, Gone With the Wind held its world premiere at Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta.

On December 14, 2020, early voting began for the January 5, 2021 Runoff elections in which incumbent United States Senator David Perdue lost his seat and gave away the GOP Senate majority to Democrat Jon Ossoff.

Points of Personal Privilege

A mural of the Allman Brothers is being painted on the H&H Diner in Macon, according to 13WMAZ.

The Moonhanger Group commissioned artist Steven Teller to paint not only an iconic photo of the Allman Brothers Band eating at the restaurant, but to include images of the original owners Inez Hill ‘Mama Hill’ and Louise Hudson “Mama Louise.’

“The story in this mural is that, this is them eating at H&H and Mama Hill and Mama Louise are feeding them which is, in turn, feeding the music,” said Teller.

The mural also features Duane Allman playing his ’57 Les Paul Goldtop guitar surrounded by mushrooms and flowers.

You can catch up with Teller at H&H, where he is currently working on the mural. To see more of his work, you can check out his Facebook page or website.

A second elephant moved into an elephant sanctuary in Southwest Georgia, according to WTOC.

Bo the Elephant has a new friend at Elephant Refuge North America in Attapulgus, Georgia. The new elephant’s name is Tarra and she is 47 years old.

At her age, Tarra is more susceptible to progressive diseases like arthritis and osteomyelitis, which are common in captive-held elephants who spend winters confined in barn spaces on hard surfaces, Elephant Aid International says.

The refuge in Attapulgus has a mild climate, so the elephants can be outdoors nearly all year, exploring the varied landscape of pastures, woods and a lake.

Tarra and Bo have quickly developed a solid friendship and are never too far apart in the 100-acre habitat they currently occupy. They also have a furry friend, Mala, a stray dog who chose the refuge as her home earlier in 2021.

“Eventually, the trio will have access to the refuge’s full 850 acres,” the release says.

You can keep up with Bo, Tarra and Mala’s daily lives in the EleDiaries blog. You can also learn more about Tarra by following this link.

Large, pink, and elusive. What a gem given to the headline writers for this story.

Authorities in South Carolina are on the hunt for a pig they say has been “wreaking havoc” in people’s yards.

Sumter police posted on their Facebook page that the department had received calls over the weekend about a “large, pink and elusive” pig suspected of causing damage in some neighborhoods.

Officers warned people not to try to approach the hefty hog.

Police say they have asked officials with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources for help in finding the porcine renegade.

This headline made me think of songs by the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers: “Intruder jumps from window after homeowner fires at him, Georgia cops say.”

A burglar jumped out of a window after a Georgia homeowner started shooting at him, officials said.

A woman was at work when her son called to tell her someone was in their house early Saturday, Dec. 11, the The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said in an incident report.

When the woman got home, officials said she went upstairs and found someone in her room. She told deputies she “fired several rounds” at the intruder before he escaped through a window.

The person that the homeowner confronted was injured, according to WJBF, which didn’t share additional information about his condition. Deputies told news outlets a second burglar also left the scene.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The David Perdue campaign has released polling, according to the AJC.

An internal poll conducted by Perdue’s campaign showed the two Republican rivals deadlocked in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup before voters were told Perdue won Trump’s blessing.

The survey, released Monday by GOP pollster Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, pegged Perdue at 47% and Kemp at 44% — within the margin of error of 3 percentage points.

When informed of Trump’s endorsement, Perdue takes a 56-34 lead over Kemp in a head-to-head matchup and has a 46-32 edge in a full ballot. Other candidates, including Vernon Jones and Kandiss Taylor, are in the single-digits. About 11% of GOP voters are undecided.

This one involved 800 likely GOP primary voters contacted between Dec. 7-9.

Not surprisingly, Kemp’s campaign had a rosier outlook. His aides on Monday released an internal poll from American Viewpoint that was conducted Dec. 1-6 – almost entirely before Perdue entered the race. It showed Kemp with a 54-22 lead over Perdue.

Kemp’s poll, for instance, noted that Kemp’s strongest approval ratings involved his handling of the economy, with 87% of likely GOP primary votes giving him favorable reviews. Overall, it found his favorability ratings largely mirrored Perdue’s standing.

[The Perdue survey] found that only 7% of Republican primary voters say they believe President Joe Biden won an election that was “fair with no fraud or irregularities.” Nearly two-thirds of respondents – 63% — said they agreed that the “election was stolen from Donald Trump through widespread election fraud.”

Governor Brian Kemp has a new ad out, according to the AJC.

The 30-second spot is Kemp’s first ad that targets Perdue, an ally-turned-nemesis who entered the race with Donald Trump’s support and an insistence that he is the only Republican who can defeat Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2022.

It revives the same criticism that Democrats leveled at Perdue during his last two election campaigns in 2014 and 2020 by assailing his corporate record of moving manufacturing jobs overseas while working as an executive for Pillowtex, Haggar, Reebok and Sara Lee.

“That’s not America First,” said the ad’s narrator, invoking the pro-Trump slogan. “That’s David Perdue putting China and himself first. Georgia and Georgia families last.”

The roughly $1 million ad buy was financed through the Georgians First Leadership Committee, a pro-Kemp group created under a controversial new law that gives incumbents and top party officials a formidable advantage.

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision allowing former State Senator Jesse Stone to remain on the Augusta Judicial Circuit bench, according to WRDW.

The state Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that Gov. Brian Kemp legally appointed a former state senator as a Superior Court judge.

The trial court rejected a lawsuit by an attorney who said there should have been an election and that Kemp waited too long. Senior Judge Michael Karpf ruled in May that Jesse Stone could remain a judge in the Augusta Judicial Circuit.

The opinion also notes that removing Stone would simply create another vacancy, further prolonging the amount of time that the office is without a judge.

“A remedy that aggravates the injury flowing from a constitutional violation is not a remedy that is tailored to the injury,” Presiding Justice Michael P. Boggs writes in the opinion. “Indeed, Floyd cites no authority, from Georgia or elsewhere, for the use of quo warranto to remove an officeholder under such circumstances.”

Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods (R) spoke to the the Golden Isles Republic Women in St Simons, according to The Brunswick News.

Woods said he anticipates legislation to come up this session regarding critical race theory in public schools, as well as a bill promoting increased transparency in schools.

“Critical race theory is probably the one thing that I hear about more often than not,” he said. “I’m glad to say this — I was the first elected official that came out against critical race theory … It does not appear in our standards. It does not appear in our professional learning for our teachers.”

Woods said he hopes to see legislation that allows parents and communities to be more informed about what is taught in schools and what materials are purchased.

“Those kids are not our kids. They’re your kids,” he said. “… It’s through your tax money that you fund public education, and we have to be mindful of that and respectful of that.”

Woods will face John Barge, former state school superintendent, in the Republican primary race next year. Woods is campaigning for a third four-year term.

Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller (R-Gainesville) has pre-filed legislation to eliminate absentee ballot drop boxes, according to AccessWDUN.

“This is the next step in our fight to restore Georgians’ faith in our election systems,” said Miller. “Drop boxes were introduced as an emergency measure during the pandemic, but many counties did not follow the security guidelines in place, such as the requirement for camera surveillance on every drop box. Moving forward, we can return to a pre-pandemic normal of voting in person.”

Miller, who is also running for lieutenant governor, said stopping the use of drop boxes will restore some of the trust that has been lost in Georgia’s voting system.

“Many see them as the weak link when it comes to securing our elections against fraud. For the small number of Georgians who need to vote absentee, that will remain as easy and accessible as it was before 2020,” Miller said.

To see the full text of Senate Bill 325, follow this link.

From the Valdosta Daily Times:

Miller, R–Gainesville, filed Senate Bill 325 Friday; it would ban absentee ballot drop boxes in Georgia, a service that was implemented and widely used during the pandemic in 2020.

“Drop boxes were introduced as an emergency measure during the pandemic but many counties did not follow the security guidelines in place, such as the requirement for camera surveillance on every drop box,” said Miller, a candidate for Georgia’s lieutenant governor seat. “Moving forward, we can return to a pre-pandemic normal of voting in person. Removing drop boxes will help rebuild the trust that has been lost. Many see them as the weak link when it comes to securing our elections against fraud. For the small number of Georgians who need to vote absentee, that will remain as easy and accessible as it was before 2020.”

Nearly 130 of Georgia’s 159 counties used ballot drop boxes during the 2020 elections. Only 10 states — including Mississippi and Tennessee — did not have options for absentee ballot boxes for voters.

From the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald:

Democrats, who opposed the election bill as a bid by majority Republicans to make it harder for Georgians to vote, criticized the drop box legislation as a politically motivated move by Miller to offset former President Trump’s endorsement of state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, in next May’s Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

“[Miller is] trying to silence the voters of color who elected Democrats last cycle by banning one of the most popular ways they chose to cast their ballots,” Scott Hogan, executive director of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said. “No one who wants to suppress Georgia voters deserves to make our laws or help lead our state, and Georgia Democrats will not stop fighting to protect our elections from Republicans who clearly don’t believe in democracy.”

Besides Miller and Jones, GOP activist Jeanne Seaver of Savannah also is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

Georgia’s economic recovery from COVID is stronger due to relatively lenient measures put in place by the Kemp administration, according to the Center Square.

Each state had to temporarily close businesses and implement COVID-19 restrictions, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of people being unable to work. The GCO noted Georgia had been less severe in shutting down its economy when compared with other states.

“Georgia is doing relatively well in its job recovering compared to the rest of the nation,” said Erik Randolph, director of research for [the Georgia Center for Opportunity (GCO)] and author of the report.

Despite the pandemic, job numbers increased during fiscal year 2020, which ended June 30, 2020. As of October, Georgia recovered 90% of the jobs lost because of the pandemic, ranking eighth nationwide for job recovery by the GCO. Georgia’s unemployment rate in October was the lowest in state history, officials said.

Georgia was one of the first states to lift gathering bans, shelter-in-place requirements and social distancing mandates. Gov. Brian Kemp has attributed the state’s economic resiliency through the crisis to his decision to ease COVID-19 restrictions early.

The GCO said nationwide results “suggest that state and local governments must craft their economic response to the pandemic with greater care, seeking to impact employment less severely.”

United States Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Athens-ish) spoke in Gainesville, according to the Gainesville Times.

Speaking to the Rotary Club of Gainesville, Clyde, R-Athens, said he had never paid more for propane in his life than he did this past month.

“(Inflation) is number one because that touches everyone squarely in the pocketbook,” Clyde said. “Inflation is taxation on every solitary American.”

The federal government last week reported a 6.8% increase in consumer prices over the past year, the highest rate in 39 years. Shoppers have seen increases in the cost of clothing, food, gas, cars and utilities.

Clyde said Biden’s latest Build Back Better plan would “dangerously alter the course of our nation.”

“Injecting trillions more dollars of borrowed federal dollars into the economy does not make things better; it makes things worse,” he said.

“I am deeply disturbed by the administration’s failure to secure our southern border and to enforce existing immigration laws,” Clyde said. “He puts every American at risk… by creating a humanitarian and a national security as well as a public health crisis.”

Some Democratic state legislators from Gwinnett County may back a plan to expand the number of county commissioners to six, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Expansion has become a hot topic surrounding the redistricting for the Gwinnett County commission in light of a surprise bill introduced by state Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, last month to expand the number of commission districts from four to nine.

That effort stalled during the General Assembly’s special session, but the delegation’s chairman, state Rep. Sam Park, D-Lawrenceville, said some of the 19 Democrats in the delegation do support a smaller expansion of the commission due to anticipated population growth in Gwinnett over the next decade.

“I probably won’t make public comment as to private conversations, at least not yet, but of course we’ve seen certain Democratic members introduce legislation (in the past) to increase the number of seats and that should likely serve as a starting point,” said Park after a meeting between the delegation and county commissioners at the Gas South Convention Center on Monday.

The fact that there is some support for expanding the commission could put the legislators on a collision course with the county commission, which opposes adding commission districts. It appears if the legislators do decide to expand the commission, it would become a seven-member board with six district commissioners and a chairperson.

A State Senate Study Committee will meet in Gwinnett this week to hear about nonpartisan elections for school board, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The state Senate study committee that is looking into nonpartisan school board elections will hold its second public hearing from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at Gwinnett Technical College, which is located at 5150 Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville. The committee’s chairman, state Sen. Clint Dixon, R-Buford, said the meeting will take place in main auditorium at Gwinnett Tech’s 700 Building.

The hearing brings the question of whether school board members should be elected in non-partisan elections back to where it began this fall.

Atlanta’s incoming-Mayor Andre Dickens spoke about Buckhead crime issues, according to the AJC.

Speaking at the Atlanta REALTORS Center in Sandy Springs, Dickens said the city’s surging violent crime was “the major elephant in the room” and “needs to be stopped across the entire city.”

“This weekend I got quite a few signal 50(s),” said Dickens in reference to the police code used when someone is shot. “We’ve got a crime wave going on and we’ve known this since May 2020 when it picked up and we are still fighting it, trying to get it down. And it’s the number one issue.”

Dickens said the city’s police force is “400 to 450 officers short” but he thinks the promise of a new police and fire training center will attract recruits. He also said the city next month is opening a housing facility in Vine City for 30 new officers.

Additionally, Dickens said the city will hire officers from other jurisdictions. He said the recruiting efforts are improving to the point where he expects Atlanta to have 250 more officers next year.

Dickens said 60% of crime are committed by people between the ages of 13 and 25, so the city will enhance its focus on young people and the “gang crime” fueling Atlanta’s carjacking issue.

Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts announced he will run for reelection next year, according to the AJC.

Pitts was elected chair in 2017 following 12 years as a commissioner. Before that, he served on Atlanta City Council for two decades.

He noted the challenges Fulton faces: “From an elections takeover to recovering from COVID-19 to working with the new municipal officials elected across the county — we need an experienced and steady hand at the helm.”

If elected, he said he would focus on protecting Fulton elections from a state takeover, and promoting a “green climate-friendly agenda” in addition to curbing the pandemic.

He wrote that his agenda will be “zeroed in on an agenda targeted” toward southern Fulton.

“He has goals to build a multipurpose center in South Fulton County, which will include a senior citizens center and tag renewal facility, a new medical facility in South Fulton County, complete the new animal shelter, modernize the Fulton County’s Charlie Brown Airport, and make much needed transportation improvements along South Fulton Parkway and Roosevelt Highway,” according to the announcement.

Statesboro City Council approved a plan to merge police and fire dispatching, according to the Statesboro Herald.

With authorization from City Council, the Statesboro Fire Department and Statesboro Police Department are moving forward with a plan to merge the dispatching of fire calls – after the initial callout by 911 – into the existing SPD dispatching center at police headquarters.

In the process, the SPD dispatching center will be expanded with additional equipment and software and will hire eight additional dispatchers, doubling the number currently employed by the Police Department. Right now, all of the Statesboro Fire Department’s dispatching, including follow-up calls for continuing emergencies such as structure fires and rescues of entrapped drivers, is handled by the Bulloch County 911 Center, which also serves Candler and Evans counties under contract.

Under the new plan, the 911 center will still receive Statesboro city and fire district calls and send the first alert to the Statesboro Fire Department. But after that, the Police Department dispatching center will handle most of the radio traffic related to the call, such as dispatching specific apparatus to a fire and directing personnel on the scene.

Dublin Mayor Joshua Kight has taken office, according to 13WMAZ.

“The day after the election, I was out on the streets, walking neighborhoods, talking to residents. I’m continuing to learn and to listen. I want to know what people need on each street and every neighborhood in this town,” said Kight.

“I heard the same things over and over again,  which is that, ‘We want a safe and beautiful place to live. We want small town activities. We want good jobs. We want a healthy environment.’ These are the things that I think all of us share, and then, of course, we just got to find the policies that are going to make those things happen,” said Kight.

“Having the police get out on the street and walk the neighborhoods, to increase use of security cameras, to really activating and supporting the neighborhoods watch programs,” said Kight.

“The first thing is always getting your team in place, making sure that we’ve got the atmosphere of transparency, accountability, good communication,” said Kight.

In January, Dublin is getting ready to bring on three new council members. Right now, Kight says he has not put any new polices into place, but he plans on having some policies come February.

Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Virgil Watkins wants a homeless census as part of deciding how to spend COVID-relief funds, according to 13WMAZ.

Commissioner Virgil Watkins says he believes the homeless population in Macon could be more than what the county and state estimates, but Watkins says they need a more in-depth study to find out for sure.

“Most people only think of the 5, 6 people you see downtown. We’re living in a city where really a third of our population according to the census is living below the poverty line,” Watkins said.

Watkins says each year the state does a simple count on how many beds are filled in shelters across the county, but he says they need a more accurate count.

So Watkins is proposing using $250,000 in American Rescue Plan money to send out social workers to do a survey.

“Whether or not people are veterans, whether they have mental illnesses, where do they stay if they’re not in the bed,” Watkins said.

“But actually, the spending time, the good clean data, collected on the issue. In a way we haven’t done in the past. I think that would just be helpful to the county on their decision making and policy making at large who is trying to provide assistance to hopefully eradicate homelessness,” Watkins said.

Watkins says he also wants to see a better breakdown on demographics–including how much of the homeless population is made up of families, children, or single men and women.

Columbus Council will vote on whether to approve a deal involving $14.5 million in Tax Allocation District (TAD) funding for an economic development project, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

In February 2018, Council approved a TAD for the project that would provide an estimated $7 million for development. On Tuesday, it will vote on whether to approve around $7 million more.

TADs are economic development tools used to attract development. In a TAD, the amount of property taxes that go to the local government is frozen on all real estate in its boundaries. Bonds are issued to redevelop the area. As property values rise, so does the property tax revenue. Any revenue collected over the frozen amount goes toward retiring the bond debt and possible infrastructure improvements.

The payout of $14,514,243, if approved, will begin with an initial payment of $60,737.60, with “gradual payment increases over the next 20 years,” according to the agenda item.

Dougherty County Commissioners are considering whether the expand the lodgning tax, according to the Albany Herald.

House Bill 317, passed by the Georgia General Assembly in July, expanded the list of taxable lodging establishments to camp sites, RV parks and hunting lodges, which currently are untaxed.

During an appearance on Monday before the Dougherty County Commission, Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Rashelle Minix outlined the new law and how the county could benefit. The legislation changed the definition of innkeeper to include short-term vacation rentals.

One benefit of the tax is it would not add to the burden for local taxpayers as it would be paid by out-of-town visitors, Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said.

“To be honest, we’re not talking about (taxing) Dougherty County citizens,” he said.

Under state law, up to 37.5 percent of revenue raised through the tax can be earmarked for a local government’s general fund. At least 43.75 percent must be earmarked for a destination marketing organization such as a CVB, and up to 18.75 percent may be spent for tourism development.

Rome City Council held the first of two required public hearings on the proposed 2022 budget, according to the Rome News Tribune.