Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for June 20, 2017

On June 20, 1732, the signing of the Georgia Charter was completed by the British government.

On June 20, 1782, Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States. Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, was responsible for the final design presented to Congress. The design approved by Congress was a written description without any sketches.

On June 20, 1819, the SS Savannah entered the port at Liverpool, England, marking the first transatlantic crossing by a steam-powered ship, having sailed out of Savannah on May 20th.

General Robert E. Lee moved on Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant at Petersburg, Virginia on June 20, 1864.

Jaws was released on June 20, 1975.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Thanks, Facebook! I almost forgot!

Today is also the day that voters in Clarkesville, Georgia will choose a new City Council member.

The office of Council Member of the City of Clarkesville, Georgia, being Post 3, will be elected at large for the remainder of a four (4) year term, being approximately two (2) year’s and six (6) months, beginning on or about June 21, 2017 through December 31, 2019, with said seat currently vacant and formerly held by Casey Ramsey.

Election Day voting will be held June 20, 2017 at the Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center, 120 Paul Franklin Road, Clarkesville, Georgia 30523, from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Gwinnett County Commissioners today will consider a recommendation by the county ethics board that Commissioner Tommy Hunter be censured for impolitic Facebook posting.

The ethics board assembled to investigate the complaint agreed with that assessment earlier this month, recommending the stiffest penalty available to county commissioners — that Hunter be publicly reprimanded.

That reprimand would involve posting a written rebuke on the county’s website, on the wall of its courthouse and in the local newspaper.

Commission Chair Charlotte Nash said she expects her board to vote on the matter during a public hearing scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. One hour has been set aside for public comment in support of the ethics board’s recommendation and one hour for those against.

Optim Medical Center – Jenkins has been spared, as a buyer has been found to keep the local hospital open.

Optim Medical Center-Jenkins, set to close this month, announced Monday that it has been sold to GA Medical Holdings Corp.

The 25-bed “critical access’’ facility in Millen in Jenkins County was due to merge operations with another hospital in the area. It would have been the seventh Georgia rural hospital to shut down since the beginning of 2013. Two of those that closed have been revived as medical facilities, but no longer function as full-fledged hospitals.

If a last-minute buyer had not been found, Optim-Jenkins would have merged with an Optim hospital in Sylvania in neighboring Screven County.

Like other rural hospitals, Optim Medical Center-Jenkins had cited declining reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid; decreased patient census; and needed upgrades to its infrastructure, as forcing the closure.

The Georgia Supreme Court held that the state cannot be sued to prevent enforcement of an abortion statute.

But, in a 71-page opinion, Justice Keith Blackwell left the door open for challenges to state officials individually.

“Simply put, the constitutional doctrine of sovereign immunity forbids our courts to entertain a lawsuit against the State without its consent,” Blackwell said.

“We hold today that the doctrine of sovereign immunity extends generally to suits against the State, its departments and agencies, and its officers in their official capacities for injunctive and declaratory relief from official acts that are alleged to be unconstitutional. In so holding, however, we recognize the availability of other means by which aggrieved citizens may obtain relief from unconstitutional acts, including prospective relief from the threatened enforcement of unconstitutional laws.”

The suit targets a 2012 state law banning nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, known as the “fetal pain statute,” because it is tied to the fetus’ feeling rather than its viability, the latter of which is the standard used in the U.S. Supreme Court’s watershed ruling in Roe v. Wade. The constitutional challenge targets a facet of the law allowing district attorneys access to abortion patients’ medical records. In oral arguments, the attorneys never mentioned abortion; instead, they focused on whether the state’s immunity outweighs its citizens’ right to privacy under the Georgia Constitution.

“This is an astounding proposition that would make Georgia the only state in the union in which the Bill of Rights is subordinate to the Legislature,” Samuel told the high court.

Today is “take out the trash day” in Georgia politics. If you must release unfavorable information and hope it doesn’t get noticed, today is the day to do it. Anything released or announce today by any government agency in Georgia should receive extra scrutiny. Maybe next week.