Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for January 31, 2022

On January 31, 1865, Robert E. Lee began service as Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate armies.

On January 31, 1865, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery.

General William Tecumseh Sherman visited Kimball Opera House in Atlanta on January 31, 1879, which was then serving as State Capitol, fifteen years after burning the city.

On January 31, 1893, the trademark for “Coca-Cola” was filed.

Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was suspended on January 31, 2000 for remarks made to ESPN.

Jekyll Island is preparing for its 75th Anniversary, according to The Brunswick News.

More than 200 attended the Jekyll Island 75th Soiree, hosted Friday evening at the Jekyll Island Club Resort.

The state of Georgia purchased Jekyll Island in 1947 for use as a state park, and numerous celebratory events this year will mark the anniversary milestone and highlight a part of the island’s history that rarely finds itself in the spotlight.

“It was still somewhat restricted because it was only accessible by steamboat, by the ferry that crossed over to Brunswick, so it was still just the first several hundred people that made it to the island,” said Andrea Marroquin, museum curator for the Jekyll Island Authority.

The final season of the exclusive Jekyll Island Club, of which the members included business tycoons and well known American millionaires, took place in 1942. World War II intervened before the state purchased the island in 1947.

Former Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson served as event emcee. State dignitaries in attendance included U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-1, and state Sen. Blake Tillery, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“We’re so proud of the forethought of those in 1947 and their wise investment that, when coupled with investments of other citizens, has created a park that I think all of our citizens can be proud of,” Tillery said.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The Alzheimer’s Association is asking the Georgia General Assembly to appropriate $1.25 million dollars to support caregivers, according to WALB.

The Alzheimer’s Association of Georgia is asking state lawmakers to spend $1.25 million to hire 12 dementia care specialists.

Linda Davidson is the executive director of the Alzheimer’s Association Georgia Chapter.

“It’s patterned after a very successful dementia care specialist program in Wisconsin,” Davidson said.

“We know that the impact is, as you would say, draining the system and the staff that are in place, so we’re trying to provide that help right here in Georgia,” Davidson said.

The association wants lawmakers to fund a “dementia care specialist” position at each of the state’s 12 Area Agencies on Aging (AAA).

Davidson said the response from lawmakers has been positive so far, but there are still obstacles because a lot of causes in the state need money.

“There are legislators out there that understand our needs, and I think it comes down to the budget and finding the money to make it happen,” Davidson said.

This proposal is not included in the current copy of the governor’s budget proposal, but Davidson said they are hopeful lawmakers will add it during the current session.

Under SR 382, the current Adjournment Resolution, the Georgia General Assembly convenes this week as follows:

Tuesday, February 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 9
Wednesday, February 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 10
Thursday, February 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . convene for legislative day 11

Governor Brian Kemp visited Baxley, according to WTOC.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and the First Lady made a campaign stop in Baxley.

The Governor stopped by several towns throughout South Georgia over the past two days including Screven.

At his stop, he spoke about rural broadband being one of the projects in the works. The Governor also mentioned the development of the Bryan County Mega Site.

“We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the pipeline so we’re just continuing to push those issues every single day. We got great companies like Gulfstream expanding, we got the hospitality and tourism industry coming back in Savannah and up and down the coast,” Gov. Kemp said.

Ocilla as well, according to WALB.

Kemp says over 250,000 Georgia families will have access to high-speed internet within the next two years. He says they’ve put over $10 million a year towards the broadband grant for South Georgia residents.

We are still waiting to hear back from the Stacey Abrams Campaign.

In addition to being in Ocilla, Kemp also made his rounds in Douglas. He has plans to continue throughout Southwest Georgia, visiting Screven and Baxley on Friday, Jan. 28.

The Georgia State House of Representatives passed a GOP-drawn redistricting map for Athens-Clarke County, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

On Day 8 of the Georgia legislative session, House Bill 890 was passed by the State House and will be sent to the State Senate. This bill is Athens’ delegation’s proposed district outlines for the Athens local commission.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines and Rep. Marcus Wiedower, was withdrawn and recommitted, a move that had sent it back to committee, on Jan. 24.

Despite this, the bill was passed by the House on Thursday.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) is asking for FBI assistance, according to CNN via the Albany Herald.

The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney is asking for the FBI’s help in providing security for buildings and staff one day after former President Donald Trump called prosecutors investigating him “racists” and said his supporters should hold “the biggest protests we have ever had” in cities like Atlanta if the prosecutors “do anything wrong or illegal.”

DA Fani Willis and her office are investigating Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. A special grand jury will be seated as part of that investigation on May 2.

“These prosecutors are vicious, horrible people. They’re racists and they’re very sick — they’re mentally sick,” he said. “They’re going after me without any protection of my rights from the Supreme Court or most other courts. In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you.”

In a letter to J.C. Hacker, FBI special agent in charge of the Atlanta field office, Willis asked for a risk assessment of buildings surrounding her office and the courthouse where the grand jury will sit. She also asked for FBI agents to provide security, saying “security concerns were escalated this weekend” by Trump’s rhetoric. Willis said her office had already received communications from people unhappy with the investigation before Trump’s rally.

“I am asking that you immediately conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center, and that you provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents,” Willis said in the letter, obtained by CNN. “It is imperative that these resources are in place well in advance of the convening of the Special Purpose Grand Jury.”

From the Associated Press via WTOC:

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Sunday wrote a letter to the FBI office in Atlanta asking for a risk assessment of the county courthouse and government center. She also asked the FBI to provide protective resources, “to include intelligence and federal agents.”

“My staff and I will not be influenced or intimidated by anyone as this investigation moves forward,” Willis wrote.

She added that her office has already taken steps to address security concerns “considering the communications we have received from persons unhappy with our commitment to fulfill our duties.” She said she’s also working with county officials on the need for extra security measures as the investigation progresses.

The rhetoric is especially alarming, Willis wrote, in light of statements Trump made at the same event saying that if he returns to the White House, he could give pardons to people who stormed the U.S. Capitol last year in an effort to block the certification of Biden’s win.

The Feds are looking into alternative slates of electors, according to the AJC.

The Georgians who joined a false slate of GOP electors to aid Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election could face criminal charges, legal experts say, as federal officials launch a new inquiry into efforts to undermine the vote and local prosecutors ramp up their investigation.

As Georgia’s 16 presidential electors formally voted for Democrat Joe Biden in December 2020, a group of Republican officials and activists claiming to be the state’s electors cast their votes for Trump in a sham ceremony at the state Capitol.

The “alternative” electors in Georgia and six other states that Biden won have come under renewed scrutiny as details have emerged about their role in Trump’s failed plan to overturn his defeat. They submitted to state and federal authorities documents that claimed they were the “duly elected” electors from their states, which they said Trump won.

Scrutiny of the alternative electors comes as Congress investigates the events leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol that temporarily disrupted Congress’ tally of Electoral College votes.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R-ish) spoke about election procedures, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Taking questions from the media afterward, he said one local voting story that garnered national attention – Lincoln County’s one polling place – does not disprove that [the state is handling elections well].

“It’s a county decision, counties make those decisions, based on population, based on their budget,” he said. “And so we’ll let the county make that decision. I know there are counties that are much larger than Lincoln County that also have a centralized polling location.”

“I like to talk to Rotary groups, I like to talk to them in a non-partisan way … about Senate Bill 202, the election integrity act of 2021, and then I also answer their questions about the election of 2020,” he said.

But he is also supportive of Senate Bill 202, which Republicans say will increase voting security and included provisions such as requiring a photo ID for absentee voting and preventing non-poll workers from handing out food or water within 150 feet of a polling place. The bill also mandated one ballot drop box per county or per 100,000 residents, the first time drop boxes have been mandated in Georgia.

United States Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Atlanta) spoke in Albany, according to WALB.

Ossoff spoke to a crowd of 25 or more that included city leaders throughout Albany.

He was specifically in the Good Life City to talk about the Oglethorpe Bridge.

“It’s been decades and decades that we’ve been kicking the can down the road on major investments in America’s infrastructure and this bipartisan infrastructure bill is now law as the most significant investment in infrastructure in generations and it’s going to pay real dividends in here in Albany,” said Ossoff.

“He’s led the effort to assist local governments and improving our infrastructure in this recent bill that was passed as we said today, will allow us to apply for funding, which will somewhat defray the costs of the replacement of our Oglethorpe bridge,” said Dorough.

“What we’ve done in Congress is to deliver the resources necessary for this community to upgrade its infrastructure. And I’ve heard consistently from folks in Albany that roads and bridge repairs, sewer, and water, broadband internet access, public schools are all top priority and again, the really significant announcement I want to make today that major investment is coming for those bridge and road improvements in the community,” said Ossoff.

Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Christopher S. Brasher is resigning effective December 1, 2022, according to the AJC.

Brasher said he has had enough of the criminal cases during his 31-year legal career and found recently found an interest in family law.

He said he hopes to stay on as a senior judge to help out when needed, but Brasher hopes to be fully employed by the time his resignation becomes effective Dec. 1.

Brasher was due for re-election this cycle and made sure to announce his resignation with still weeks before the qualifying period ends.

“I leave feeling like I’ve done service to the job and also to the people,” Brasher said.

I’m not sure there will be an election for Judge Brasher’s seat. I think that the case of retired Supreme Court Justice Keith Blackwell will allow Gov. Kemp to name a successor to take office when Brasher’s resignation is effective and that no election will be held.

Georgia Supreme Court Justice Keith Blackwell’s seat was expected to be up for nonpartisan election on June 9, 2020. Blackwell announced in February that he is retiring on November 18. At that time, the state supreme court announced that Governor Brian Kemp (R) would appoint Blackwell’s replacement. The appointment was challenged in court, and the state supreme court ruled in a 6-2 opinion on May 14 that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) could not be compelled to hold the election.

Former Congressman John Barrow (D) and former state Representative Beth Beskin (R), who had both planned on running for Blackwell’s seat, filed separate lawsuits in Fulton County Superior Court in March. They asked the court to order Secretary of State Raffensperger to put the election back on the calendar. On March 16, Judge Emily Richardson denied Barrow’s and Beskin’s petitions, holding the secretary of state was not “under a statutory legal duty to hold qualifications for Justice Blackwell’s seat.”

On May 14, the court ruled in a 6-2 opinion that the governor may appoint a successor and that the secretary of state could not be compelled to hold an election. Presiding Justice Nahmias wrote for the majority, “Even if Justice Blackwell’s office is not vacant yet, if his accepted resignation will undoubtedly create a vacancy in his office on November 18, his term of office will go with him, and the next six-year term of his office that would begin on January 1, 2021, will never exist.”

From the Associated story published on May 16, 2020:

[Judge Emily K.] Richardson ruled Monday that according to the Georgia Constitution and state law, Blackwell’s seat became vacant Feb. 26, when Kemp signed a letter accepting the justice’s resignation. Once Kemp notified Raffensperger of his decision to fill the seat by appointment, the secretary of state was no longer required to hold an election for the position, she wrote.

Even though the effective date of Blackwell’s resignation is after the May election, it is still within his current term, which ends Dec. 31, meaning Kemp has the authority under the state Constitution to fill the vacancy by appointment, Richardson wrote.

Northeastern Judicial Circuit (Dawson and Hall Counties) Chief Juvenile Judge Lindsay Burton will run for Superior Court, according to AccessWDUN.

Judge Lindsay Burton on Friday announced plans to qualify as a candidate with the Secretary of State in March, with eyes on replacing Judge C. Andrew Fuller, who has stated his intentions on retiring at the end of the year.

“Judge Fuller’s announcement comes with mixed emotions. I’m sad to see him go,” Judge Burton said in a statement sent to AccessWDUN. “I had the pleasure of appearing before him for the 13 years I worked in the District Attorney’s Office. However, I’m excited for this new opportunity. My entire career has been spent serving the communities of Hall County and Dawson County. I hope voters will give me the opportunity to continue my path of service.”

Burton was first appointed to the juvenile court bench in October 2013, and was named the Chief Juvenile Court Judge just over a year later. That status has since been reaffirmed twice, with reappointments in 2017 and 2021.

After being appointed Chief Assistant District Attorney in December 2009, she would go on to try more than 100 jury trials before being appointed to the juvenile court bench.

Fulton County Judge Rachelle Carnesale extended a temporary injunction to prevent Anthem from discontinuing coverage for patients at Northside Hospital, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

Fulton County Judge Rachelle Carnesale on Friday extended a temporary restraining order keeping Northside in Anthem’s network, news outlets reported. The order now goes until April 15. It also includes a provision for a settlement conference between Anthem and Northside by Feb. 25.

Anthem members were facing the possibility that their in-network coverage for Northside hospitals and doctors would end Monday. The two sides have been fighting over payments for treatment for months. The dispute could affect hundreds of thousands of patients.

Brunswick City Commissioners tabled a proposed short term rental ordinance, according to The Brunswick News.

The delay means city officials will hold two more public hearings before voting on the ordinance.

The proposed ordinance is similar to one enacted by Glynn County last year, using a third-party vendor to identify rental homes in the city and collect excise taxes.

The proposed ordinance would require owners to get an Accommodation Excise Tax Certificate from the city. It will be a violation to use, rent, offer or advertise a short-term rental within city limits without a valid certificate.

Short-term rentals will be required to have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in every bedroom and on all habitable floors. Rental homes will also be required to have a properly maintained fire extinguisher and solid waste collection service at least once a week.

There are limits on the number of vehicles, restrictions on the number of people on the property between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., and a ban on using short-term rentals for commercial events. A local point of contact must be available 24 hours a day.

The proposed fee is $150 a year, with an annual renewal fee of $100 for each short-term rental.

Bulloch County Board of Education Chairman Mike Sparks will retire after his current term ends and will not run for reelection next year, according to the Statesboro Herald.

“I’ve enjoyed every minute of my 12 years on the Board,” Sparks said. “I’ve served almost 50 years in education, and after much prayer, I believe it is time for me to step aside and allow others to serve. I believe in asking God for direction, and it has been confirmed to me that it’s time.”

“I cannot adequately express the appreciation I have for Coach Sparks and all that he has done for the boys and girls of this school system,” said Charles Wilson, superintendent of Schools. “He has a true heart for the community’s children, and we will miss him. But I know he will remain involved.”

Sparks’ District 2 seat is one of four on the eight-member Board of Education that is up for election in 2022.

According to Shontay Jones, election supervisor for the Bulloch County Elections and Voter Registration Department, qualifying for non-partisan seats on the Board of Education will begin March 7 at 9 a.m. and end at noon on March 11.

The election dates for 2022 are May 24, for the general primary, nonpartisan general election and special election, and June 21, for the general primary, nonpartisan general election and special election runoff.

Pearl Hall announced she will run for Mayor of Athens-Clarke County against incumbent Mayor Kelly Girtz, according to the Athens Banner Herald.