Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for January 6, 2019

On January 5, 1734, the Trustees of Georgia ordered the return of 42 Jewish settlers who had come in 1733, primarily from Portugal, without the knowledge or approval of the Trustees. The Brits who sponsored the Jewish settlers refused and Georgia is home to the oldest Jewish settlement in the United States.

On January 5, 1781, traitor Benedict Arnold and 1600 British troops captured Richmond, Virginia.

Samuel Elbert was elected Governor of Georgia for a one-year term on January 6, 1785. Elbert was an early participant in Patriot meetings at Tondee’s Tavern, a Lt. Colonel in the first group of troops raised in Georgia, and a prisoner of war, exchanged for a British General, and eventually promoted to Brigadier General reporting to Gen. George Washington. As Governor, Elbert oversaw the charter of the University of Georgia and afterward, he served briefly as Sheriff of Chatham County.

Utah was admitted as the 45th state on January 4, 1896.

On January 6, 1961, United States District Court Judge William Bootle ordered the University of Georgia to enroll Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, ending the segregation of UGA.

On January 4, 1965, shortly after the assassination of President Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson delivered the State of the Union and outlined his plan for a “Great Society.”

“He requested ‘doubling the war against poverty this year’ and called for new emphasis on area redevelopment, further efforts at retraining unskilled workers, an improvement in the unemployment compensation system and an extension of the minimum wage floor to two million workers now unprotected by it. … He called for new, improved or bigger programs in attacking physical and mental disease, urban blight, water and air pollution, and crime and delinquency.”

The Great Society legislation included “War on Poverty” programs, many created under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which established jobs and youth volunteer programs as well as Head Start, which provided pre-school education for poor children. Johnson’s social welfare legislation also consisted of the formation of Medicare and Medicaid, which offered health care services for citizens over 65 and low-income citizens, respectively. In addition, the Great Society included the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1968.

On January 4, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon refused to turn over tapes recorded in the Oval Office to the Senate Watergate Committee.

On January 5, 1978, the British band the Sex Pistols started their American tour at the Great Southeast Music Hall in Atlanta, GA. The AJC has a photo gallery from the show, including the young promoter, Alex Cooley, who would become legendary.

On January 6, 1988, the United States Postal Service released a stamp commemorating the bicentennial of Georgia’s ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich was elected Speaker of the House on January 4, 1995, the third Georgian to wield the gavel. This marked the first time in more than forty years that Republicans controlled the House of Representatives.

On January 4, 1999, in DeKalb County, State Court Judge Al Wong became the first Asian-American judge in Georgia and the Southeast.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Kelly Loeffler will be sworn in to the United States Senate today, according to the AJC.

Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as the Senate’s president, will administer the oath of office around 5 p.m. Loeffler will carry a family Bible that she will use to swear upon.

Because Senate rules prohibit photography inside the chambers, members always re-enact the ceremony in the Old Senate Chambers. So, any pictures you see of Loeffler taking the oath with her family by her side will be of that re-enactment.

Governor Brian Kemp discussed his priorities for the 2020 legislative session with the AJC.

The governor told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution his leading priorities include a call for tougher penalties for violent offenders, more resources to crack down on gangs and changes to make it easier for families to adopt foster care children.

And he plans to devote much of his focus to steering budget cuts of $200 million this fiscal year and $300 million next year, a refashioning of state finances that he hopes will force agencies to pare down excesses and embrace innovation but that critics warn would hobble essential services.

“My commitments are the same. My campaign promises are the same. Nothing has changed. But you have to have a certain amount of votes to be able to get something passed, and people’s agendas are different,” he said.

“We got a lot done last year, but it’s an election year this year,” he added. “People are going to get like Elvis and want to exit the building quickly. How much we can get done this year will remain to be seen.”

Kemp told the AJC he wanted to “put some more teeth” into state laws that increase penalties for those convicted of human trafficking and boost state funding for an anti-gang task force he launched last year. He also said he would beef up funding for a promised database to track gang members.

The budget is set to dominate the 40-day session, which starts in January and typically runs through late March. As some lawmakers fear his cost-cutting mandate will slice into essential services, Kemp cast them as a needed overhaul to “make government more efficient, to get rid of waste and streamline.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger continues to roll out the new voting machine system, according to the Savannah Morning News.

The machines will be paid for by the state, Georgia Elections Director Chris Harvey said, but individual counties will have to foot the bill for some of the additional costs — privacy screens and tables.

“There’s no cost for the equipment. Now, counties will certainly have to adjust certain things they do,” Harvey said. “For example, their storage needs are going to be a little bit different than the previous system.”

House Bill 316, signed into law in April, denotes that the state must allocate one voting machine for every 250 registered voters per precinct. Harvey said the state has more than enough.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the state has ordered 33,100 machines for the first year of the new system — that’s one machine for every 224 registered voters.

So far, the machines have been tested in pilot counties during municipal elections in November. They’ll also be used in late January in Decatur, Mitchell and Colquitt counties during an election to replace Rep. Jay Powell, who died after collapsing at a lawmaker retreat Nov. 26.

Bulloch County has received the first two of 188 new voting machines, according to the Statesboro Herald.

“It’s no longer one machine,” said Bulloch County Election Supervisor Patricia Lanier Jones. “It’s now a screen and a printer and a ballot box, or I should say the correct name is a polling place scanner.”

As of Friday, the Bulloch County Board of Elections and Registration office had just two examples each of the touchscreen and printer setup, called a BMD, for “ballot marking device” and the scanner and ballot box unit, called a PPS, for “polling place scanner.”

To supply all of its 16 Election Day precincts, Bulloch County is expected to receive a total of 188 BMD’s and 25 PPS’s.

Jones had received no word yet from the state or its equipment manufacturer on when the rest of the machines will be delivered. The old machines are supposed to be collected first, she said, and that hasn’t happened yet.

Of the two new machines, voters will spend much more time with the BMD, which includes the touchscreen, so the number of these needed corresponds roughly to the number of the old voting machines. One difference, Jones noted, is that the BMD screen will display the choices for only a single office or question at a time instead of multiple ballot items.

Each polling place will need at least one PPS, where the voter inserts the ballot, which is scanned and falls into a locked box. Bulloch’s largest precincts will get two of these units, Jones said. The PPS both records a photo-like image of the ballot and counts the encoded votes.

The Georgia Department of Public Safety reported the lowest holiday death toll in more than a decade, according to the Albany Herald.

With an abbreviated, midweek travel period, traffic fatalities on Georgia roadways plummeted to two people for the just-completed New Year’s holiday, the Georgia Department of Public Safety reported.

That is the lowest number of traffic deaths in the state for a New Year’s holiday period in more than a decade, according to archives on the DPS website. There were 18 deaths in the lengthier 2018-19 travel period.

That brings the death total for the year-end holidays travel periods — Christmas and New Year’s — to 16, compared to 44 for the combined year-end holidays of 2018-19.

Valdosta will swear in the Mayor and Council members on Thursday, according to Valdosta Today.

The City of Valdosta will swear in the Mayor and four City Councilmembers during the first City Council meeting of the New Year, on Thursday, Jan. 9, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Those taking office include Mayor-Elect Scott James Matheson, who begins his first term as the City of Valdosta Mayor; City Councilman Ben Norton, re-elected to serve At-Large; City Councilman Vivian Miller-Cody, District 1; City Councilman Joseph “Sonny” Vickers, District 3; and City Councilman Tim Carroll, District 5; who will each retain their seats representing their respective districts.

UGA professor Richard Winfield announced he will run for the U.S. Senate, according to The Red and Black.

The progressive Democrat said he’s looking forward to November as an election that could change the political leadership in the nation and in Georgia, and he hopes to be a part of the shift.

“The tide is now turning where Democrats can finally win,” Winfield told a group of people protesting a potential war in Iran on Jan. 4.

Winfield is running in the special election for former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat. Isakson resigned at the end of 2019 due to health issues. Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Republican businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to fill the seat until a November special election. The winner of that election will complete the two years remaining in Isakson’s term.

“I want to show the public how we can’t really have the Green New Deal we need unless we ensure that everyone whose livelihood may be jeopardized by shutting down fossil fuel production and consumption will have a guaranteed job with fair wages waiting for them,” Winfield said.

The Ledger-Enquirer looks at 2020 elections at the state and local levels.

The presidential preference primary and special election will be held on March 24.

The Muscogee County School District is also scheduled to hold an Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum on the same day. It’s expected to raise $189 million over five years to fund capital projects for the school system.

The general primary election and nonpartisan general election will be held May 19, with a runoff set for July 21.

The general election will be Nov. 3, with a runoff date of Dec. 1.

Also on the general election ballot, Columbus Council is expecting to hold a special purpose local option sales tax referendum, which could raise $350 million over a 10-year-period for capital projects including a new Government Center.

If both this tax and the ESPLOST are approved, taxpayers would see a 9% sales tax starting in April 2021, the highest ever for Columbus and one of the highest rates in the state.

The Gainesville Times writes about projects remaining from the last Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

The $2.35 million [Hog Mountain / Cash Road] improvement is one of Hall County’s remaining special purpose local option sales tax projects before SPLOST VIII, approved by voters in November, kicks in July 1.

The county still has about $33.5 million in unfinished projects from SPLOST VII, ranging from road work to fire stations and park renovations. The projects are either underway or in various planning stages.

SPLOST, which became a taxing method for governments through a state law passed in 1985, is a 1% sales tax, or a penny on the dollar, with proceeds divided between the county and its cities. The money can only be used for capital projects, not for funding operations.

SPLOST VII was approved by voters in March 2015, and collections started that summer. It was projected to generate $158 million. As of Nov. 30, $141.6 million had been collected; collections continue until June 30.

Former Chatham County Commission Chair Billy Hair will run for a chance to return to the commission, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Hair called the commission chairmanship the job he held for eight years, before being term-limited out, and said his experience is needed to run a government with 1,600 employees and a budget of $230 million.

“If there was ever a time for experienced leadership, it’s now,” Hair said. “Why now? My experience matches up with the job perfectly.”

And he said he sold his last business in April and has the time it will take to be chairman, which he called a full time job.

“I don’t think we need to raise the millage (rate),” he said. “We all have to stay within our budgets so why shouldn’t the government stay within its budget?

Shalena Cook Jones announced she will run for Chatham County District Attorney, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Jones began her professional career in the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office as a third-year law student in 2001-04. In the 17 years since ,she has practiced with two prominent insurance defense firms in Atlanta, as a private practitioner, as an assistant U.S. attorney and has successfully prosecuted Special Victims Unit cases in the Chatham County District Attorney’s office where she started in 2010. She left in 2014 to open her own firm.

District Attorney Meg Heap said she intends to seek re-election and plans a formal announcement by mid-January. Attorney Zena McClain has filed paperwork with the state and plans to formally announce for the position within the coming weeks.

The Gwinnett Daily Post profiles Wesley Person and Patsy Austin-Gatson, both Democrats running for District Attorney.

Three candidates have announced so far for the Cobb County Board of Education seat currently held by Republican David Banks, according to the AJC.

Shelley O’Malley, Rob Madayag and Matt Harper have all launched bids to challenge incumbent David Banks for the Post 5 seat, which is in east Cobb and includes some of the schools that feed into the Pope and Lassiter high school boundaries. Banks, who has been in office since January 2009, has not formally announced if he’s running for re-election.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will run for reelection in 2021, according to the AJC.

Floyd County Superior Court candidate Bryan Johnson heads into 2020 with $50k on-hand, according to the Rome News Tribune.

Bryan Johnson, who’s seeking the seat being vacated by Chief Judge Bryant Durham, filed his report with the State Ethics Commission Jan. 2. It lists contributions and expenditures through Dec. 31.

Johnson reported a total of $51,032 in donations and $899 in expenses, giving him a balance of $50,133.

Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach’s seat will be on the nonpartisan ballot with Durham’s in May. Niedrach reported $46.43 in his campaign account as of June 30, 2019 — typical for local judges who rarely face a challenger. Durham, who is retiring at the end of the year, reported no money in his account as of June 30.

District Attorney Leigh Patterson’s four-year term is also ending this year. The longtime prosecutor reported $522 in her campaign chest as of June 30.

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is hiring senior staff in Georgia for her Presidential campaign, according to the AJC.

The Massachusetts Democrat’s new hires will initially focus on metro Atlanta and Columbus, the campaign said, though it plans to open offices or place staffers in Savannah, Augusta and Athens ahead of Georgia’s March 24 primary.

The team will be led by Anthony Davis Jr., who worked for U.S. Sen. Doug Jones’ 2017 campaign in Alabama and Bobby Kaple’s 6th District run in 2018.

The campaign tapped Edima Ufot, a veteran of the New Georgia Project voter registration initiative, as its community organizing director.

And it hired two veterans of Stacey Abrams’ run for governor for key roles: Jasmine Talley will oversee Warren’s outreach efforts in north Georgia, and Bev Jackson will coordinate Warren’s push to reach churches.

Floyd County Public Schools expects to take a $2.5 million dollar annual budget hit from a power plant closing, according to the Rome News Tribune.

School systems are funded by property taxes, and Plant Hammond, according to Floyd County Tax Commissioner Kevin Payne, was the county’s largest taxpayer prior to closing.

With the plant no longer operating, the property value will go down significantly, affecting school budgets.

“There’s no way to replace that (tax revenue),” Payne said previously. “They are our largest taxpayer and there’s nobody close.”

It’s also likely that Rome City Schools will lose some money due to the closure of the power plant. It may not be as substantial as what the county is facing since most public utilities are used by the county and not the city.

The Albany Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast is scheduled for February 6, according to the Albany Herald.

Dave Williams of Capitol Beat News Service looks at legislative attempts to corral e-scooters.

A state Senate study committee has released a report recently on how to approach the issue that is expected to become the starting point for a bill lawmakers will consider during the 2020 session that kicks off Jan. 13.

The panel’s recommendations seek to balance concerns for public safety driven by an explosion of e-scooters in Atlanta and its suburbs with a desire to encourage an industry with potential to help alleviate the metro region’s chronic traffic woes.

“I’m not against some common-sense regulations,” said Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, the study committee’s chairman. “But we need to create innovation. … There’s an opportunity here for Georgia to offer a private-sector solution to a problem that’s been around for years.”

Georgia cities’ reactions to the sudden proliferation of e-scooters reflects the uncertainty surrounding the technology. While Atlanta, Brookhaven and Decatur allow scooters, 12 cities have either banned them outright or imposed a temporary moratorium on scooters while elected officials consider how to regulate them.

State Rep. Katie Dempsey (R-Rome) warned local elected officials that a statewide preemption bill addressing building codes may be resurrected this session, according to the Rome News Tribune.

The [Rome] city commission passed a resolution last February that helped stall House Bill 302. But Rep. Katie Dempsey, R-Rome, told them they might want to think about submitting another resolution this year to join other cities combating a strong lobbying effort for the bill.

The legislation — said to champion affordable housing — would apply to both single-family homes and duplexes outside historic districts. It would bar local governments from enacting standards on building color, cladding material such as vinyl siding, architectural ornamentation, the location of doors, windows, garages and other design elements.

“HB 302 would severely erode the ability of all 538 Georgia cities and 159 counties to address unique and community-specific quality of life issues,” last year’s resolution stated.

State Rep. Jason Ridley (R-Chatsworth) writes about issues that might arise during the 2020 legislative session, in the Dalton Daily Citizen News.