Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for February 24, 2023

On February 24, 1803, the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall decided the case of Marbury v. Madison, enunciating the principle of judicial review under which the Court has authority to review Congressional action and hold them unconstitutional.

In writing the decision, John Marshall argued that acts of Congress in conflict with the Constitution are not law and therefore are non-binding to the courts, and that the judiciary’s first responsibility is always to uphold the Constitution. If two laws conflict, Marshall wrote, the court bears responsibility for deciding which law applies in any given case.

President elect Abraham Lincoln arrived in Washington, DC on February 23, 1861.

The United States Congress passed the Legal Tender Act on February 25, 1862, allowing the government to pay its bills with paper money it printed.

Union troops under General George Thomas attacked Confederates led by General Joseph Johnston near Dalton, Georgia on February 24, 1864.

Casualties were light. Thomas suffered fewer than 300 men killed, wounded, or captured, while Johnston lost around 140 troops. The Union generals did learn a valuable lesson, however; a direct attack against Rocky Face Ridge was foolish. Three months later, Sherman, in command after Grant was promoted to commander of all forces, sent part of his army further south to another gap that was undefended by the Confederates. The intelligence garnered from the Battle of Dalton helped pave the way for a Union victory that summer.

The first prisoners of war were moved to Andersonville on February 24, 1864.

On February 26, 1868, the Atlanta City Council offered use of the combined City Hall and Fulton County Courthouse as a temporary capitol if the Constitutional Convention meeting in the city would designate it the capital city.

On February 25, 1870, Hiram Rhoades Revels (R-Missippi) was sworn in as the first African-American Congressman in history.

In 1867, the first Reconstruction Act was passed by a Republican-dominated U.S. Congress, dividing the South into five military districts and granting suffrage to all male citizens, regardless of race. A politically mobilized African American community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the Republican party to power, which in turn brought about radical changes across the South. By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks in large part to the support of African American voters.

On January 20, 1870, Hiram R. Revels was elected by the Mississippi legislature to fill the Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy. On February 25, two days after Mississippi was granted representation in Congress for the first time since it seceded in 1861, Revels was sworn in.

On February 25, 1876, the first Georgia state law against abortion was passed.

On February 26, 1877, Governor Alfred Colquitt signed legislation calling a June 1877 election of delegates to a state Constitutional Convention to be held in July of that year.

The Atlanta Journal was first published on February 24, 1883.

Johnny Cash was born on February 26, 1932.

On February 23, 1945, United States Marines raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi, the highest point on the Pacific island Iwo Jima.

This first flag-raising was photographed by Marine photographer Sgt. Louis R. Lowery. On Lowery’s way down Mt. Suribachi, he ran into AP photographer Joe Rosenthal and two other Marine photographers, PFC Bob Campbell and PFC Bill Genaust, who was shooting movies, informing them that the flag-raising they were looking for had already occurred, but encouraging them to check out the view from the top of the hill. The three men continued up the volcano.

Once atop Mt. Suribachi, Rosenthal attempted but was unable to find the soldiers involved in the first flag-raising, deciding instead to photograph the second flag-raising, which featured a much bigger and more photogenic Stars and Stripes. Lowery’s film was sent back to military headquarters for processing via ordinary army post–and took a month to arrive. Rosenthal’s film was sent by seaplane to Guam, and sent from there via radio-photo to the United States. The photograph so impressed President Roosevelt that he ordered the men pictured in it to return home for a publicity tour. Rosenthal later won a Pulitzer Prize for the photo, but for years was forced to deny erroneous reports that he personally staged the second flag-raising and attempted to pass it off as the original.

Although the famous photograph has long led people to believe that the flag-raising was a turning point in the fight for Iwo Jima, vicious fighting to control the island actually continued for 31 more days.

Today, the first and second flags flown atop Mt. Suribachi are held at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia.

On February 23, 1954, the first children in the U.S. were inoculated against polio using a vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk.

On February 24, 1988, the United States Supreme Court held in the case of Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, that the First Amendment protects publishers against claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress where the plaintiff is a public figure being parodied by the publication.

The World Trade Center in New York City was bombed on February 26, 1993, killing six and causing half-a-billion dollars in damage.

On February 25, 1999, Johnny Isakson was sworn into Congress from the Sixth District, a seat vacated by the resignation of then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Early voting opens Monday in Special Elections for Richmond County Board of Education, Mayor of Blythe, and a Blythe City Council seat, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The school board is looking for a new representative from District 6, which covers a large portion of south Augusta, including schools like Cross Creek High, Gracewood Elementary and Windsor Spring Elementary. The candidates include Learning Tree Christian Academy owner Laura Green and community activist Ed Lowery. School board member A.K. Hasan currently holds this seat, but only as an interim following the unexpected death of Tyrique Robinson, who would have taken over from Hasan this year.

Blythe’s new mayor will be either City Councilman Ed LaJoie or Tom Cobb, who served as mayor from 2000-2010 and was elected again in 2017, but declined to take the office due to health issues. This came after the sudden resignation of former mayor Curt St. Germiane in January.

Filling the empty seat on Blythe’s city council could be U.S. Army Veteran Michael Rineer, technician Phillip Stewart, or former candidate Rebecca Bartlett Newsome.

Election Day is Tuesday, March 21, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers had a spicy take on the Fulton County “Special” Grand Jury investigation, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

Trump attorneys Drew Findling and Jennifer Little said that despite having concerns about the panel’s proceedings from the start, they kept quiet out of respect for the grand jury process. But they said revelations offered by Kohrs this week compelled them to speak up.

“The end product is the reliability of anything that has taken place in there is completely tainted and called into question,” Findling said in an interview with the AP on Wednesday evening. He said he held “no chagrin for a 30-year-old foreperson” who was part of “a failed system.”

“She’s a product of a circus that cloaked itself as a special purpose grand jury,” he said.

From the AJC:

The Georgia-based legal team representing former President Donald Trump accused Fulton County prosecutors of running a “clown-like” investigation into interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections, seizing on information disclosed by the forewoman of the special grand jury seated to aid in the probe.

Defense attorneys Drew Findling and Jennifer Little said media interviews earlier this week by Emily Kohrs undermined the credibility of the probe. They indicated they were keeping their legal options open, including potentially filing court motions in response.

“This type of carnival, clown-like atmosphere that was portrayed over the course of the last 36 hours takes away from the complete sanctity and the integrity and, for that matter, the reliability” of the investigation, Findling told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late Wednesday.

“Not only did her comments go way too far, but they also touched upon the very thing that under Georgia law you are not allowed to talk about and that is deliberations.” Little said. As an example, Little noted that Kohrs explained why the special grand jury did not subpoena Trump to testify.

For her part, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) had some spicy words about legislation to create an oversight board for prosecutors, according to the AJC.

Willis said the timing of the measure, Senate Bill 92, was curious.

“In 2020, we went from having five district attorneys that were minorities to 14 that were minorities, which is historic for any state in the United States,” Willis told the delegation. “Let’s be even more clear than that. Those district attorneys now represent the majority of the constituents in the state of Georgia.”

The statement echoed comments she made earlier to the Fulton County legislative delegation, our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu reports.

“I’m tired and I’m just going to call it how I see it,” she said. “I, quite frankly, think the legislation is racist. I don’t know what other thing to call it.”

In the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert of Athens took issue with Willis, saying the bill is being pushed in response to recent victories by prosecutors of color.

“For you to come in here and try to make this about racism, that this bill is directed at any district attorney or solicitor because of racism is absurd and it’s offensive, and it’s a racist statement on its own,” he said.

The bill she spoke about Thursday is seen as largely directed at Athens DA Deborah Gonzales, the progressive prosecutor who shares territory with state Rep. Houston Gaines. The Athens Republican is the House sponsor of the legislation who defeated Gonzales to win his House seat in 2018.

Disruptors 1: Gov. Kemp suggested that modern campaigns have moved past relying on traditional party structures, according to the AJC.

Gov. Brian Kemp took his most significant step yet to break from the Georgia GOP and bolster his own growing political network, telling high-dollar donors that the 2022 midterm was a sign “we can no longer rely on the traditional party infrastructure to win in the future.”

His remarks came Wednesday at an Atlanta luncheon for the Georgians First Leadership Committee, a fundraising vehicle created by a Kemp-backed law that can tap unlimited contributions. Through his committee and campaign, he raised $71 million for his reelection bid.

“While we raised a record amount of money, for some context: Abrams raised over $100 million and (U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock) raised over $130 million,” he said. “And that number is only going to increase in 2024 and 2026.”

Kemp’s leadership committee has rapidly filled the void of the Georgia Republican Party, a once-powerful organization that helped marshal a flood of spending in competitive races.

The state GOP’s clout has waned considerably under embattled Chair David Shafer, who infuriated key leaders and activists by openly siding with Donald Trump-backed challengers to Republican incumbents last year.

Every one of Trump’s candidates in those races was humiliated in the primary, and Shafer recently announced he wouldn’t seek another term amid a brewing revolt from influential party activists.

“It is our goal to replicate the sophisticated data and ground operation we created in 2022 to help down-ballot races and our presidential nominee to win next year,” Kemp said. “And also help win back a Senate seat and keep our state constitutional offices in 2026.”

“And we are absolutely going to beat some of these far-left Democrat district attorneys at the ballot box,” he added.

The governor, meanwhile, signaled he’s ready to leave the party behind. He called his leadership committee the “tip of the spear” for his priorities.

“Times are changing and we must adapt,” Kemp said. “I am committed to this work because I know how successful this team has been.”

Gov. Kemp is headed to Texas , according to the AJC.

Kemp is headed to Texas at the end of the week to participate at a private GOP retreat organized by party heavyweight Karl Rove.

Kemp got the invitation directly from Rove after the two developed a friendship over recent years that now includes frequent texts.

The Austin confab will bring together high-dollar donors and several top Republicans with announced or suspected designs on the White House, including former Vice President Mike Pence, newly announced presidential candidate Nikki Haley, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

We caught up with Deal at the state Capitol and asked him what he made of Kemp’s different approach.

“I think it’s good for our state. It calls attention to the importance of our state. We’re bumping at 11 million people, but we’re still about the eighth largest state,” Deal said. “Since we can’t beat Iowa and New Hampshire in terms of our elections process, maybe this is one way we can draw attention to what’s happening in a good way.”

He added with a grin: “I’m glad to see him being involved in that. Maybe I should whisper in his ear and say, ‘Be careful what you get involved in when you get to the federal level.’ Because it’s very different … It’s a different world over there, and I think it’s gotten more different since I left.”

The State Senate passed their version of the FY 2023 Supplemental Budget, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Rome News Tribune.

The Georgia Senate passed its version of the spending plan Thursday by an overwhelming 54-1 margin.

The mid-year budget, which covers state spending through June 30, is highlighted by $1 billion in property tax relief Kemp promised on the campaign trail last year. It also includes $1.1 billion to backfill the revenue the state lost last year and at the beginning of this year from the governor’s temporary suspension of Georgia’s sales tax on gasoline and other motor fuels.

The mid-year budget increases spending about 6.8% over the fiscal 2023 budget the General Assembly adopted last spring, about even with the rate of inflation since then.

“This is very much in line with where we’ve seen spending on a national level go,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, told his Senate colleges before Thursday’s vote.

House and Senate leaders now must work out their differences in the mid-year budget to get a final version to Kemp’s desk for his signature.`

The State House passed two tax breaks, of sorts, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Statesboro Herald.

The Georgia House of Representatives Thursday approved Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposal to provide Georgia taxpayers with state income tax refunds this year.

Single taxpayers or married taxpayers filing individually are set to receive $250.  A head of household would receive a $375 refund, and married couples filing jointly would get $500. The $1 billion to cover the cost of the refund would come from Georgia’s record budget surplus.

“We’ve had a surplus in Georgia,” said Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, the bill’s sponsor and the governor’s floor leader in the House. “It’s our responsibility to give the money back to the taxpayers that’s theirs.”

The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

The state House Thursday also approved a resolution retroactively approving Kemp’s executive orders from last year that temporarily suspended the state’s gasoline tax.

“The governor’s actions delivered much-needed temporary relief to Georgians at the pump, which saved taxpayers approximately $1.7 million,” said Rep. Matthew Gambill, R-Cartersville, the resolution’s main sponsor.

From the AJC:

Thursday was tax rebate day at the state Capitol, compliments of last year’s massive revenue surplus.

The Georgia House voted 170-2 to approve a $1 billion income tax rebate, similar to the one the state sent out last year.

And on a 54-1 vote, the Georgia Senate backed the mid-year state budget, which includes a $1 billion property tax rebate.

Under House Bill 162 – the income tax rebate legislation – single-filing Georgians would get $250 rebates and couples filing jointly $500.

Rep. Lauren McDonald, R-Cumming, one of Kemp’s House floor leaders, said, “I feel like it’s our responsibility to give the money back to the taxpayers of the state.”

The bill is expected to quickly pass the Senate in coming weeks.

Elsewhere in the AJC:

A key part of the Senate’s $32.5 billion plan is Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposal for a one-time property tax cut of about $1 billion, sending individual homeowners hundreds of dollars.

That comes on top of another $1 billion proposal by Kemp, a tax rebate like the one the General Assembly approved last year that provided $500 to married couples who file their taxes jointly and $250 for single filers. The House approved the measure this past week.

One-time bonuses of about $500 would also be paid to 54,000 state government pensioners, who last year received their first cost-of-living increase in more than a decade.

Senate Bill 63 by Sen. Randy Robertson (R-Cataula) would require cash bail for some offenses, swinging the pendulum the other way, according to the Associated Press via the Statesboro Herald.

“These are not mistakes. These are not unintentional acts. These are people choosing to violate the law,” Sen. Randy Robertson, a Cataula Republican said of people he is targeting with Senate Bill 63, which passed on a 31-21 vote Thursday mostly along party lines. It will now advance to the House for more debate.

Currently, someone accused of a crime in Georgia is required to post cash or property to get out of jail for only seven severe crimes, such as murder or rape. The measure adds 53 additional crimes to the list, including passing a worthless check, or misdemeanors such as reckless driving or fighting in a public place. It undoes parts of a 2018 law championed by former Gov. Nathan Deal that sought to eliminate cash bail for most misdemeanor crimes.

“The problem is cash bail uses the most blunt weapon that we have to try to attack crime. And that’s jail. Just jail,” said Sen. Josh McLaurin, a Sandy Springs Democrat.

“It mystifies me that so many folks are concerned about prisoners and criminals and not citizens and victims,” Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican, said Thursday.

“We have seen that being tough on crime helps,” said Robertson, one of the leading proponents of cracking down on crime. “It’s working. Don’t be confused by those championing just for the criminals.”

Senate Bill 233, the “The Georgia Promise Scholarship Act” by Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Forsyth County) would allow parents to setup state-funded accounts Education Savings Accounts, according to the Center Square via the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Under Senate Bill 233, taxpayers would fund $6,000 per student per school year. Students could use that money to defray “qualified” education costs, including private school tuition.

“This legislation is about ensuring the American Dream remains possible for all of Georgia’s children,” state Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, said in a statement. “No child should be stuck in a subpar school or subject to the whims of school boards based on where they live or their family’s ability to pay. Every family should have options and every child should have opportunity.”

During last year’s session, the state Senate scuttled a similar measure, Senate Bill 601, the Georgia Educational Freedom Act. It would have similarly created state-funded Promise Scholarships of up to $6,000 a year, which Georgia families could have used for education expenses, such as private school tuition, tutoring and homeschool curriculum.

“Sen. Dolezal’s legislation would provide an opportunity that’s nothing short of life-changing for Georgia’s children, allowing tax dollars to follow the child so parents can find the right educational fit,” Christy Riggins, director of the American Federation for Children’s Georgia chapter, said in a statement. “Engaged parents know better than governments what’s best for their children, and if this long-awaited reform becomes law Georgia will join a growing list of states to acknowledge this fact with meaningful action.”

Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson wants to vote on all matters before the Commission, according to WRDW.

He released a letter requesting that the Richmond County legislative delegation support a bill to hold a referendum on the matter. In addition to Johnson, the letter was signed by commission members Alvin Mason, Brandon Garrett, Catherine Smith McKnight, Sean Frantom, and Wayne Guilfoyle.

That request was read for the first time Thursday in the General Assembly, assigned to a committee, and labeled Senate Bill 231.

The resolution would not create a “strong mayor” form of government or take power away from the commission, but rather give the mayor a vote equal to that of the 10 district commissioners, said a statement from the mayor’s office.

Savannah City Council voted to levy an impact fee on new development, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Savannah City Council on Thursday voted to pass an ordinance that would charge developers an additional fee when building new subdivisions, commercial buildings and projects in city limits. The move, approved by an 8-1 vote, is meant to help fund infrastructure costs for those new developments, a cost typically covered by all Savannah taxpayers.

Most council members touted the impact fee as an opportunity to pass the tax burden of infrastructure on to new residents, with the alternative being finding the revenue elsewhere, likely through raising taxes on all Savannahians.

District 4 Alderman Nick Palumbo cast the lone dissenting vote. He recommended holding off to see what happens with Georgia House Bill 514, which, if passed by the Georgia General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp would exempt workforce housing and affordable housing from impact fees.

Statesboro City Council approved the placement of a monument to lynching victims, according to the Statesboro Herald.

Muscogee County Board of Education member Cathy Williams will resign, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

Cathy Williams confirmed to the Ledger-Enquirer on Wednesday she will resign as the board’s District 7 representative to accept a five-year term on the 14-member Georgia Department of Transportation Board.

Williams will replace Johnny Floyd of Cordele as the 2nd Congressional District representative on the GDOT board. She received the most votes Tuesday among the 24 state legislators whose districts are in or contiguous to the 2nd Congressional District. The target date for her resignation from the school board and swearing-in ceremony to join the transportation board is April 1.

That means the next available date for a special election is June 20, but that won’t be set until the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Resignation receives official notice that the vacancy occurred, elections board director Nancy Boren said.

Emily Dunn was reelected to the Georgia Department of Transportation Board from the 9th Congressional District, according to AccessWDUN.

According to a press release, Dunn, of Blue Ridge, has served on the Board for more than a decade. She was originally elected to the Board in 2011 and was the first woman to serve as its chair in 2015.

“I feel privileged to have earned the confidence of the legislators who have elected me for another term on this Board,” Dunn said. “I get to witness every day the dedication and commitment that go into our transportation system in the state of Georgia. It is rewarding to be a resource for local governments and communities in the 9th Congressional District and to help meet the very important transportation needs that ultimately improve the lives of all our citizens.”

The State Transportation Board has 14 members and determines policy and governs the Georgia Department of Transportation. Each member is elected by a caucus of Georgia General Assembly members from their specific congressional district. Board members serve staggered, five-year terms.

Congressional District 9 includes the counties of Banks, Fannin, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Lumpkin, Rabun Stephens, Towns, Union, White and part of Gwinnett.

Former State Rep. Micah Gravley was elected to represent the 14th Congressional District on the GDOT Board, according to the Rome News Tribune.

Micah Gravley, from Douglasville, was elected to represent Congressional District 14 which covers Floyd and 13 other counties in the northwest corner of the state.

Caucuses of Georgia state representatives and senators held elections Tuesday and Wednesday for board members from Congressional Districts 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13 and 14. Gravley, Cathy Williams and Curt Thompson were newly elected. Stacey Key, Emily Dunn, Jamie Boswell and Dana Lemon were reelected to new 5-year terms.

Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Ovita Thornton was charged with DUI after a wreck, according to the Athens Banner Herald.