On January 18, 1776, James Wright, Royal Governor of Georgia, was arrested by John Habersham, a member of the Provincial Congress.
On January 20, 1788, the First African Baptist Church was established in Savannah, Georgia, one of the first black churches in the United States.
John Marshall was nominated as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by President John Adams on January 20, 1801.
On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson requested funding from Congress for the Lewis & Clark expedition.
Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807 at his family home, Stratford Hall, Virginia.
Lieutenant William T. Sherman was ordered to Georgia for the first time in his military career on January 21, 1844.
Delegates to the Secession Convention in Milledgeville voted 208-89 in favor of seceding from the United States on January 19, 1861.
On January 19, 1871, Savannah, Georgia became the first city to recognize Robert E. Lee’s Birthday as a public holiday.
L.Q.C. Lamar, born near Eatonton, Georgia, was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on January 18, 1888.
On January 20, 1920, DeForest Kelley was born in Atlanta and he grew up in Conyers. Kelley sang in the choir of his father’s church and appeared on WSB radio; he graduated from Decatur Boys High School and served in the United States Navy. Kelley became famous as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy in the original Star Trek series.
On January 20, 1928, Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited Warm Springs, Georgia for the tenth time, staying through February 11th. During the visit, he spoke to the Chamber of Commerce of Americus and Sumter County, telling them
“In Georgia the movement towards the cities is growing by leaps and bounds and this means the abandonment of the farms or those farms that are not suited to the uses of agriculture. It means that we will have vacant lands but these can and should be used in growing timber.”
January 20th became Inaugural Day in 1937; when the date falls on a Sunday, a private inauguration of the President is held, with a public ceremony the following day. The Twentieth Amendment moved inauguration day from March 4 to January 20. Imagine six additional weeks of a lame duck President.
Roosevelt was sworn-in to a fourth term as President on January 20, 1945 and died in Warm Springs on April 12, 1945.
On January 20, 1939, Paul D. Coverdell was born in Des Moines, Iowa. Coverdell was one of the key figures in the development of the Georgia Republican Party.
United States Senator and former Georgia House Speaker and Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr. died on January 21, 1971.
On January 20, 1977, former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States.
On January 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned draft resistors from the Vietnam War era and urged Americans to conserve energy.
On January 21, 1978, the Bee Gees Saturday Night Live album hit #1 on the sales charts, where it would stay for 24 weeks.
On January 20, 1981, Ronald Wilson Reagan was inaugurated 40th President of the United States.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Under the Gold Dome Next Week, per HR 779:
Monday, January 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 6
Tuesday, January 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 7
Wednesday, January 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 8
Thursday, January 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 9
Friday, January 26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 10
Georgia’s Secretary of State ran out the clock said insufficient time remains before voting in the March 12, 2024 Presidential Preference Primary to remove QR codes from ballots, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.
“I would support moving to human-readable text,” Raffensperger said during the second day of legislative hearings on Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget recommendations. “The challenge is getting it done for the 2024 election.”
The General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 providing for a paper backup to electronic ballots, a move aimed at giving Georgians more confidence their votes are being recorded accurately. But some voters have complained that the QR codes that accompany paper ballots are confusing and impose a barrier on transparency.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said last week House Republicans will push to eliminate the QR codes. On the Senate side, Republicans have been calling for eliminating the QR codes since last fall.
“We’ve been talking about getting rid of the QR codes for a long time,” Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Raffensperger Wednesday. “Citizens do not trust the QR code.”
“We’re already into the election of 2024,” he said. “We’re continuing with the system we have now.”
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, R-Vidalia, said getting rid of the QR codes would not require new legislation.
“The No.-1 issue is the removal of the QR codes,” he said.
But Raffensperger said passing a new law isn’t the issue.
“It’s really the technology and having that available from the vendors,” he said.
From Atlanta News First via WRDW:
“What we have right now in Georgia, 159 counties. We have over 2,500 different voting systems. You also have all the different voting machines, so you’re talking about a major change and just the time frame,” he said. “We’re already in the election cycle of 2024 and that’s the challenge we have. Because as soon as you roll out of the presidential primary on March 12, we will virtually be beginning the ballot-building process for the June primary.”
While his budget was roughly $30 million beyond what the governor had slated for Raffensperger’s office, a spokesperson told Atlanta News First that Raffensperger was including all of the things that lawmakers had asked for, including the elimination of the QR codes.
“We are agreeing with the governor’s proposal, yet the House and Senate have made additional requests,” Robert Sinners, secretary of state spokesperson, said. “We’ve provided those quotes in response to their requests.”
While Raffensperger applauded the judge’s commitment to the law changes, he also reiterated he would have no issue with state lawmakers eliminating runoffs, citing their cost and logistical burden on local election clerks.
“I’m just reporting back the feedback we’re getting that 159 county election directors if you poll them, the vast majority would say let’s avoid and let’s eliminate runoffs,” he said. “Most voters would like to see them eliminate runoffs. Now how that would happen, that’s for the General Assembly.”
Some LaGrange residents want Troup County to go back in time move to hand-marked paper ballots in 2024 elections, according to The LaGrange Daily News.
On Tuesday night, a group of citizens addressed the Troup County Board of Commissioners asking that the county stop using Dominion Voting Systems and switch to paper balloting.
“We champion secure and transparent elections that are the rights of all citizens, transcending barriers and barriers of race, creed, political party and background,” [LaGrange resident Keenan] Knight said. “This is a nonpartisan issue. We’ve heard the distrust of electronic voting systems with proprietary code that cannot be audited. We’ve seen the sloppy chain of custody protocols with unlimited mailing ballots. We will get proof of the accuracy of hand-counting paper ballots.”
Knight argued that the county needs paper ballots that are hand-counted in person on Election Day. He said this decentralizes the process and allows for greater transparency.
Knight attacked the Dominion Voting System demanding that the county stop using it, noting it is not trusted and is illegal because the paper printouts are not verifiable by the voter.
“It is illegal, unverifiable to the voter, inaccurate, unsecure and it is an unnecessary financial burden. The system is illegal and unverifiable to voters because it accumulates votes within a QR code and that cannot be read by the voter,” Knight said.
County Commission Chairman Patrick Crews thanked the citizens for sharing their concerns and suggested that they bring them to the board of elections. “We understand your desire to make sure there are fair and honest elections. We’ve wrestled with that over the years that I’ve served, at least the time that I can speak of. We appointed an election board several years ago to make sure they oversaw the elections, and our primary purpose was to make sure we have fair and honest elections,” Crews said.
“This really should be worked through the election board, to present to them these ideas that you have and things that we need to look up and research because we’ve already asked our county attorney to kind of look into the legalities of this,” Crews said. Crews also noted that the process for any change in elections is very complicated and they have primaries coming up soon. “In 60 days, to change our election process would be most difficult,” he said.
Election Board Chairman Bill Stump said they can’t just switch to paper balloting just because county residents or the commissioners want to do so. The method of voting is prescribed by Georgia Law. Georgia Code does allow for paper ballots, but only when the use of voting machines is not possible or practicable.
“If you read the Georgia State Code, that’s all we’re supposed to work with. It’s very clear that how we handle our elections on a county, state national level is directed by secretary of state and that’s what Georgia Law says,” Stump said.
“Swatting” came to Dodge County, according to 13WMAZ.
In Georgia, many lawmakers were the targets of so-called ‘swatting’ during the holidays. Now Dodge County Sheriff Brian Robinson says the trend made its way to Eastman this week.
Robinson has about 30 deputies in his department, so he says when they need to respond for something big, they all feel the pressure; but swatting attempts leave many of them feeling frustration, too.
“It does make us angry. It makes us very angry because I don’t want to lose one of my officers,” Robinson said.
Robinson got a call this week that was downright chilling.
“Stated that he had committed a murder. Took two lives,” he recalled. “Possibly had hostages, and any law enforcement officer that showed up, he would use deadly force.”
Robinson plans to meet with lawmakers about possible legislation to combat swatting. He’s hoping for some extra resources. Some Georgia lawmakers are considering legislation that would stiffen penalties for swatting. Right now, the first offense for making a call to a home is a misdemeanor. Their proposal would make it a felony. The bill has yet to be introduced.
Robinson says they’re still investigating who made the call this week.
House Bill 71 by State Rep. Darlene Taylor (R-Thomasville) to protect the Okefenokee Swamp has the support of 90 legislators, according to the Albany Herald.
“This legislative session is a critical one for the Okefenokee, the wildlife that calls the refuge home and the communities that rely on a healthy swamp,” Mike Worley, the Georgia Wildlife Federation’s executive director. “We need to move HB 71 and protect this incredible part of our state.”
HB 71 was originally introduced in 2023 by Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, and co-sponsored by Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, Jesse Petrea, R-Savannah, Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, Bill Hitchens, R-Rincon, and Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville. As year two of the term begins, the bill has strong bipartisan support with more than half of Georgia’s House of Representatives now co-sponsoring the bill.
Polling conducted in 2022 by Mason-Dixon Polling of Jacksonville, Fla., found that 68% of Georgia voters supported permanently protecting the Okefenokee from risky mining operations. This viewpoint is being fortified through more than 50 clergy signatures on the “Faith Leaders Support of the Okefenokee” letter and city and county resolutions from St. Mary’s, Homeland, Valdosta, Kingsland, and Waycross, and Ware, Echols, Clinch, and Dekalb counties.
The support letters and resolutions urge the governor and General Assembly to protect the integrity of the Okefenokee, as it is seen as one of our state’s natural wonders. Nearly 20 clergy took additional action last month by gathering at the refuge for a prayer vigil to urge the passage of HB 71 in the upcoming legislative session.
Conservative Georgia legislators could face a tough vote on Medicaid expansion, according to the Associated Press via WRDW.
But political experts, advocates and policy analysts say GOP lawmakers face significant headwinds to approving a plan they have long derided as wasteful, and that could ultimately doom the effort.
“There’s reason to be a little more optimistic than one year or two years ago, but there’s not a groundswell of support and willingness to change the status quo on the part of the Republican members of the legislature,” said Harry Heiman, a health policy professor at Georgia State University.
[Georgia Public Policy Foundation President Kyle Wingfield] also warned that Republican lawmakers could face backlash for any Medicaid deal from Republican primary voters.
Expanding Medicaid to low-income adults who make up to 138% of the federal poverty level, with the federal government picking up 90% of the cost, was a key part of the Affordable Care Act. Georgia is among 10 states that have not done it.
Wingfield said he thinks Republicans in Washington, and to a lesser extent in Georgia, have accepted that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, but that acceptance may not be shared by rank-and-file GOP primary voters.
“When it comes to the voters in a Republican primary, I don’t think I’d want to be the one finding that out,” he said.
At least for now, Democrats in the General Assembly don’t appear concerned about losing their ability to hammer the GOP on Medicaid. The Democratic caucus organized a lengthy hearing Wednesday focused on the economic and health benefits of expansion that featured health care providers, advocates and policy experts.
In opening remarks, Democratic state Rep. Michelle Au, a doctor, noted Georgia had one of the highest rates of uninsured residents in the country and some of its worst health outcomes.
“As we start this 2024 legislative session, it is my hope that all options are on the table,” she said.
United States District Court Judge J.P. Boulee (ND-GA) found plaintiffs seeking an end to shorter runoff elections failed to prove the new timelines discriminate against Black voters, according to the Associated Press via WTOC.
A federal judge in Georgia has declined to block part of a sweeping election law that shortened the state’s runoff election period to four weeks from nine weeks while legal challenges play out.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee ruled Friday that plaintiffs hadn’t proved that the shorter period disproportionately harmed Black voters, or that Republican lawmakers intended to discriminate against Black voters when lawmakers enacted the measure in 2021. He denied a request for a preliminary injunction, but the claims can still be litigated at trial.
The lawsuits assert that parts of the law deny Black voters equal access to voting and violate the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act. But Boulee said there wasn’t enough evidence that losing the ability to register before a runoff or the ability to vote on some weekend days were discriminatory.
“Plaintiffs did not present any evidence, however, which would show why Black voters would disproportionately struggle to vote during the new early voting period,” the judge wrote.
Boulee said evidence showed “at most” that Republican lawmakers were trying to curtail new Democratic voters with the registration restrictions, but said the law doesn’t protect people from partisan discrimination in the same way it does racial discrimination.
The law shortens the number of early in-person voting days before a runoff and makes very tight the time for mail ballots to be received and returned. Those changes could disadvantage Democrats, who tend to push early voting and vote-by-mail more than Republicans.
Back in August, Boulee did put on hold criminal penalties for providing food and water to voters waiting in line. He has also blocked counties from rejecting ballots from voters who didn’t include their date of birth on absentee ballot envelopes.
But in October he declined to block the overall prohibition against distributing food and drink to people waiting in line within 150 feet of polling places. He also declined to block other provisions limiting the use of absentee ballot drop boxes and cutting off absentee ballot requests 11 days prior to an election.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set a February 15, 2024 hearing on a motion that includes allegations against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.
Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide Michael Roman, made the allegations in a motion filed last week. She alleged that Willis was involved in a romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade that created a conflict of interest and led to Willis profiting personally from the prosecution. The motion seeks to have the indictment thrown out and to have Willis and Wade removed from the case.
Willis defended her hiring of Wade and his qualifications during an address at a church in Atlanta on Sunday but has not commented publicly on the allegation of a romantic relationship. Among other things, she cited Wade’s 10 years of experience as a municipal court judge and 20 years in private practice.
Willis’ office has said they will respond to Merchant’s motion in a court filing but have not provided a timeline for that.
Merchant has not provided any solid proof to support the alleged inappropriate relationship. She mentioned “information obtained outside of court filings” and “sources close” to Willis and Wade.
District Attorney Willis lashed out at Wade’s wife, accusing her of “interfering” with the Trump prosecution, according to the AJC.
Fulton County’s district attorney on Thursday fired back at allegations she has engaged in an “improper” relationship with her top deputy, accusing his estranged wife of trying to obstruct her prosecution of Donald Trump and his allies.
Fani Willis has been subpoenaed to give a pretrial deposition in the divorce case of Nathan and Joycelyn Wade on January 23, but in a blistering court filing on Thursday the DA’s attorney said that subpoena should be quashed.
Joycelyn Wade “has conspired with interested parties in the criminal election interference case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass and oppress District Attorney Willis,” argued Cinque Axam on Willis’ behalf.
Willis noted that on January 8, the same day Roman’s filing was made public, she was served a subpoena and Merchant moved to unseal the Wades’ divorce case, which has been conducted in private since February 2022.
“Defendant Joycelyn Wade has not objected to Michael Roman’s motion to unseal the proceedings despite having previously sought it and having benefited from its protection for more than two years,” Axam argued.
Willis did not address the nature of her relationship with Wade in the court filing.
Instead, she said Joycelyn Wade did not provide a relevant reason for deposing her “in an uncontested no-fault divorce where the parties have been separated for over two years.”
Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Kristina Cook Graham announced she will not run for reelection this year, according to the Rome News Tribune.
Judge Graham, the daughter of famed attorney Bobby Lee Cook, was appointed by Gov. Zell Miller in 1992 as the fourth Superior Court judge in the circuit, which encompasses Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade and Walker counties. She’s sought reelection successfully eight times since her appointment 32 years ago. She’s held the post of circuit chief judge since 2016.
“After much reflection, I have made the decision not to seek reelection this year,” Graham wrote. “I have truly loved my time on the bench and my opportunity to serve our citizens. I feel I leave our judicial circuit in a very healthy and professional state.”
In her tenure, Graham has established three accountability courts and obtained state funding for those courts.
“Our circuit now operates a drug court, a mental health court and a parental accountability court,” Graham wrote. “These courts are open to all citizens of all four counties and have been highly successful. Our drug court boasts over 80 graduates. These programs are designed to reduce incarceration, promote good citizenship and improve the quality of life of the participants. They are an important resource and opportunity for the public.”
In her retirement announcement Judge Graham encouraged voters in the district to study candidates carefully and thoughtfully and to select an individual with the community’s best interest at heart.
Candidates will qualify the week of March 4-8. The election for the nonpartisan position will take place at the same time as the May 21 primary.
The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit serves Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, and Walker Counties.
United States Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Atlanta) released a statement on federal protections governing overdraft fees, according to WALB.
The [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s] proposal was to close a loophole that allows financial institutions to make hundreds of billions of dollars in profits from overdraft fees, per the release.
“I’m glad the Biden Administration has acted on an issue that I’ve highlighted for years in the Senate. Wealthy bankers are using exorbitant overdraft fees to take hard-earned money out of Americans’ pockets and line their own. This announcement is good news for Georgia’s small businesses and working families. Big banks shouldn’t be padding their profits on the backs of struggling Georgia families, and this announcement is an important step in the right direction.” says Senator Reverend Warnock.
Senator Reverend Warnock is chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection. In Nov. at a Democratic Policy and Communications Committee lunch, the Senator pushed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra to do more to address junk fees and overdraft fees.
Georgian Janae Wartel joined the Biden presidential campaign, according to the AJC.
Wartel, a Marietta native who will serve as the campaign’s senior adviser for Georgia, was a key aide to U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s 2020 and 2022 races and served as the party’s runoff director in 2021, when victories by Warnock and Jon Ossoff flipped control of the chamber.
She was tapped at a critical time, as Biden looks to rebuild the coalition that propelled his narrow victory over Donald Trump in Georgia four years ago.
Wartel joins a core of Georgia operatives with senior roles in Biden’s reelection effort.
Wartel has been involved in state Democratic politics for more than a decade. She was an aide to Stacey Abrams’ bid for governor in 2018 and worked for the Democratic National Committee, along with presidential campaigns in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Gwinnett County Board of Education members elected Steve Knudsen as Chair for 2024 and Karen Watkins as Vice Chair, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The chairman leads the school board meetings, among other duties, while the vice chairwoman fills that roles in the chair’s absence.
Chatham County saw rising numbers for gun crimes in 2023, according to WTOC.
According to CCPD data, gun-related assaults have increased in their jurisdiction over the past six years, and in 2023 – there were 101 instances.
There were 36 instances where a gun was shot at a person and in 15 of those cases, victims were hit.
Five of those 15 people died.
In 2022, there were 73 aggravated assaults involving guns.
Chatham County hosted a discussion of proposed fire fees, according to WTOC.
Commissioner Patrick Farrell led the meeting. Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley and several leaders also spoke at the meeting.
County leaders also gave insight about the fire fee and why it went up last year.
The assistant county manager said the population boom in the area from the last census was a big reason the fire fee needed to go up.
“30 or 40 years ago – that volunteer fire department, that private fire department model worked really well but what we have to do now is really provide some support through the county for the firefighters and all of the different dangers they go into,” said Linda B. Cramer, the assistant county manager.
The fee is based on 14 cents per square foot of a burnable building or structure.
Tift County public schools appointed Natalie Gore as superintendent, according to WALB.
Dorian Usherwood announced he is running for Forsyth County Board of Education District 3, according to AccessWDUN.
Usherwood describes himself as a Republican education advocate.
“As the child of missionaries, I have traveled the world and experienced education systems from our Nation’s Capital to Belgium,” Usherwood said. “But the best schools in the world are right here in Forsyth – and I am running for School Board to help keep it that way.”
Usherwood said his campaign had raised close to $15,000 in contributions, which emphasizes the grassroots support for his campaign.
Melanie Miller announced she is running for the State House District 124 seat currently held by Republican Trey Rhodes, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Melanie Miller, 54, of White Plains, who formed the nonprofit Suddenly Single Parents in 2003, will seek the seat which includes residents in the five counties of Greene, Putnam, Oglethorpe, Taliaferro and Clarke.
Miller previously ran as a Democratic candidate for a seat on the Greene County Board of Commissioners in 2022.
“I have been a public servant for over 20 years and I will remain passionate about helping people create and maintain a better way of life in this district,” Miller said in an email.
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