Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for March 30, 2020

On March 30, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted after sufficient number of the states ratified it.

With the adoption of the 15th Amendment in 1870, a politically mobilized African-American community joined with white allies in the Southern states to elect the Republican Party to power, which brought about radical changes across the South. By late 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union, and most were controlled by the Republican Party, thanks to the support of African-American voters.

In the same year, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, became the first African American ever to sit in Congress. Although African-American Republicans never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral majority, Revels and a dozen other African-American men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and many more held local offices. However, in the late 1870s, the Southern Republican Party vanished with the end of Reconstruction, and Southern state governments effectively nullified the 14th and 15th Amendments, stripping Southern African Americans of the right to vote. It would be nearly a century before the nation would again attempt to establish equal rights for African Americans in the South.

Robert E. Lee arrived in Augusta on March 30, 1870.

On March 30, 1937, Georgia Governor E.D. Rivers signed legislation authorizing non-profit Electric Membership Corporations to electrify rural Georgia.

On March 30, 1945, President F.D. Roosevelt arrived for his final visit to Warm Spring, Georgia.

The Savannah Morning News looks back to the 1918 Pandemic.

October was the cruelest month. During those 31 days, the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic stormed through Savannah, killing 114 people and leaving a swath of despair and a sense of desperation in its wake.

“Sick patients were being taken to the various hospitals by the wagon load,” the Savannah Morning News reported on Oct. 27. That came after 102 new cases were registered just the day before.

The vulnerability to infectious diseases. Not knowing what to do. The fear. Being a little bit out of control. It was “very similar to today,” said Sara Plaspohl, one of the authors of “The Effect of the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic on Mortality Rates in Savannah, Georgia,” a 2016 article in the Georgia Historical Quarterly.

The GHQ article concentrated on the 6,520 recorded deaths in Savannah-Chatham County during a three-year period, Jan. 1, 1917, to Dec. 31, 1919. The numbers are scary. Of the 2,433 deaths in 1918, 223 – 9% of the aggregate total – perished during the pandemic.

And the total, said Plaspohl, was likely higher. The handwriting on the certificates was often not legible, and, when it was, they still only counted certificates that specifically stated Spanish flu or influenza as the cause of death.

Warnings were also plentiful. The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Thacker pointed out, published out a circular during the 1918 pandemic that presaged the cautionary admonitions of 2020:

‒ If you are really sick, stay at home and remain there until the fever is over. A day in bed may save you from serious consequences …

‒ Don’t spray others with the secretions from your nose and throat in coughing, sneezing, laughing or talking.

‒ Boil your handkerchiefs and other contaminated articles.

‒ Wash your hands frequently.

‒ Keep away from others as much as possible while you have a cough.

“After the pandemic subsided, it left a significant scar on the surviving population,” the GHQ article stated. “Many children lost one or both of their parents, and widowed spouses suddenly became the only source of income and support for their families.”

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

President Donald Trump has extended social distancing recommendations through April 30, according to NBC News.

Trump’s announcement came on the heels of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, saying the coronavirus could kill 100,000 to 200,000 Americans while infecting “millions” of others.
Trump said his administration was extending the guidelines with the hope of avoiding a catastrophic death toll.

“So if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job,” Trump said during a coronavirus task force briefing Sunday.

President Trump also approved a disaster declaration for Georgia, according to the AJC.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp previously asked Trump for emergency federal aid, and rounded up signatures from GOP governors for a recent letter to Congress requesting federal block grants.

In a statement Sunday, the White House said federal funds are available to the state as well as “eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations for emergency protective measures.”

“Georgia is grateful for this designation, as it will enable the state to continue partnering with federal agencies in a coordinated fight against this pandemic,” Kemp said in a statement. “The presidential declaration is a critical step in providing additional assistance to our state and local governments as they continue to respond to COVID-19.”

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

Kemp declared a statewide public health emergency on March 14, and the General Assembly ratified the action two days later during a one-day special session. The governor’s declaration made available state resources to help deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

The federal disaster declaration will allow federal agencies to provide direct assistance to Georgia. The record $2 trillion economic stimulus package Congress passed on Friday includes $150 billion in direct aid to state and local governments, money that can be used to help offset the impact the loss of businesses and jobs will have on state budgets.

COVID-19 now has spread to 113 counties. Fulton County has the most with 407 confirmed cases, followed by DeKalb County with 272 cases, Dougherty County with 239, Cobb County with 222, Gwinnett County with 143 cases and Bartow County with 119 cases.

From the Gainesville Times:

State House Speaker David Ralston and the top budget writers in the House and Senate say efforts to cut income taxes or increase pay for teachers or other state employees are probably dead for this year. They all assume state revenues for the upcoming budget year beginning July 1 are likely to dive from previous projections, and say even the patched-up budget for the rest of this year may overflow again in red ink.

“I think the initiatives we talked about in the version we passed are not going to go forward,” Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, told The Associated Press on Friday. “That includes the teacher pay raise and the 2% merit raise (for other state employees) and the tax cut.”

From the Statesboro Herald:

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s order keeps K-12 public schools across the state closed through April 24 and closes public colleges and universities for the rest of the semester. Many school districts had already decided to extended closures on their own, after an earlier order signed by Kemp that banned gatherings of 10 or more people.

Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed an executive order allowing the Georgia Department of Labor to pay 26 weeks of benefits while Georgia’s state of emergency continues. That reverses a cut to as low as 14 weeks that lawmakers made in 2012.

Another emergency rule issued by Labor Commissioner Mark Butler allows someone to make up to $300 a week in wages and still receive a full unemployment payment, worth up to $330 a week.

The state earlier waived requirements that people look for work to receive benefits and said it would provide benefits for some people who had to stay home because of the virus threat.

The virus also continued to spread inside Georgia’s jails and prisons. Fulton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said Thursday that four more inmates had tested positive. The four men, ranging in age from 33 to 65, are being treated in quarantine together at the jail. The sheriff’s office announced Monday that an inmate in his 30s had tested positive and was hospitalized.

Georgia Speaker David Ralston reiterated his call to further delay primary elections, according to the AJC.

House Speaker David Ralston wrote in a letter Sunday that a further delay of Georgia’s upcoming primary election is justified because there will still be a state of emergency from the coronavirus on election day May 19.

The letter emailed to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reiterates Ralston’s argument that the election should be moved to June.

Raffensperger said Friday that he and county officials plan to stick with the May 19 election date.

Under state law, the secretary of estate can postpone an election for 45 days during an emergency, as he did March 14. In-person early voting will resume 44 days later, on April 27.

But Ralston’s letter said the 45 days postponement can be extended “if an emergency is ongoing.” He suggested holding the election June 16.

I still think that the election was wrongly moved more than 45 days from its scheduled date.

Columbus is working to get some alleged offenders out of the jails, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

As Georgia’s disease outbreak worsens, authorities here are scrambling to release those who can afford lowered bonds, and those accused of more minor offenses.

But the options are limited.

Two emergency measures aimed at preventing the virus’ spread have left kinks in the criminal justice system that impede the flow of inmates through the jail.

One is that the Georgia Department of Corrections quit accepting new prisoners, so those convicted can’t be transferred to state prisons. The other is that the courts stopped holding trials and grand jury sessions, so no one in jail can be tried or indicted.

The only court hearings held now are those that may secure an inmate’s release, including bond hearings like Johnson’s.

“We can’t do anything but bond orders,” Senior District Attorney Don Kelly said afterward.

So prosecutors are working with defense attorneys to agree on what bonds they can, or to resolve pending cases to clear jail space.

Because the jail’s capacity is 1,069, clearing cells and dormitories not only reduces the number who could be infected, were the virus to gain entry, but allows space to spread the rest of the inmates out, to quarantine newcomers, and to isolate anyone showing symptoms.

“We’re social distancing in the dorms as much as we can,” said Sheriff Donna Tompkins, whose office is responsible for running the jail. Corrections officers are restricting the number of inmates allowed into “common areas” where they can mingle, she said.

The GBI crime lab in Macon is diverting autopsies due to the coronavirus, according to the Macon Telegraph.

“Autopsy cases are being diverted from the Central Medical Examiner’s Office to the Coastal Medical Examiner’s Office because we are awaiting test results from an employee who was exposed to someone with a fever,” Nelly Miles, the GBI’s public affairs director, stated in an email. “Until we receive those results, the Central Medical Examiner’s Office staff is working from home.”

Bibb County Corner Leon Jones said he received word Thursday that all bodies needing autopsies should be shipped to the GBI’s Coastal Regional Crime Lab in Pooler near Savannah.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources officers will break up large gatherings in state parks, according to the AJC.

Rangers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources will patrol lakes and campgrounds, monitoring coves and other areas where people tend to gather, according to a statement from Gov. Brian Kemp and DNR Commissioner Mark Williams.

Due to growing concerns over the coronavirus, the governor issued an executive order last week banning gatherings of more than 10 people unless there is at least six feet between each person.

“If necessary,” officials said Sunday, rangers will use bullhorns to tell people to comply with the order.

“Officials will approach people in violation of the order and demand compliance for the well-being of our citizens and state,” the statement said.

From the Forsyth County News:

The governor’s statement said that while many Georgians are heeding the directive, some are not. The governor said DNR would enforce social distancing at parks and lakes.

“The Department of Natural Resources will enforce the executive order limiting large gatherings with officials patrolling bodies of water and campgrounds. They are monitoring coves where people tend to congregate and, if necessary, using bullhorns to tell people to comply with the order. Officials will approach people in violation of the order and demand compliance for the well-being of our citizens and state. Local officials are also working hard to ensure compliance with local directives, which vary by city and county across our state,” the statement reads.

Hemp farming in Georgia can begin this summer, according to the AJC.

Farmers will soon be able to grow hemp, which will then be processed into CBD oil, a popular product used for anxiety and sleeplessness. CBD oil is already sold in stores across Georgia, but it’s imported from other states.

The prospects for the Georgia hemp industry to start this year were in doubt until the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the state’s hemp plan this month.

“With everything online and all systems go, our phones are ringing daily with farmers,” said Thomas Farmer, a co-founder of Second Century Ag, which plans to distribute hemp starter plants to farmers and then process grown hemp at a facility in Ocilla. “It’s a relief that it happened, without a doubt. We were looking forward to moving forward.”

Hemp farmers and processors rushed to obtain licenses when state government began accepting applications last Monday. The Georgia Department of Agriculture received 57 applications for hemp farming licenses and five applications for hemp processing licenses in the first four days of the program.

Hemp and marijuana both come from the cannabis plant, but hemp varieties contain little or no THC, the compound that gives marijuana users a high. State inspectors will test hemp to ensure it contains less than 0.3% THC.

It will take at least 20 days for hemp licenses to be approved, and then farming can start.

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration removed two Democratic candidates for Sheriff from the ballot, according to the AJC.

The five-member board on Thursday voted unanimously to disqualify Craig Owens and Gregory Gilstrap from the race. Both men have 10 days to appeal the decision in Cobb County Superior Court.

Their candidacies were challenged by fellow Democratic contender Jimmy Herndon, who also challenged [Sheriff Neil] Warren’s qualification on the basis that the longtime sheriff didn’t notarize his original qualifying documents.

Eveler said Gilstrap’s candidacy was disqualified because the person he named as his chief deputy did not meet the qualifications for sheriff. Candidates for sheriff are required to name a chief deputy who also meets the requirements to become sheriff, as well as proving that person is a registered voter.

Owens’ candidacy was disqualified because he did not provide an affidavit with the elections superintendent by the end of the third day after the qualifying period to prove that he graduated from high school.

Dalton State College continues caring for rare turtles, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

The Chinese golden-headed box turtles, Cuora flavomarginata, are starting to emerge after burying themselves in mud for the winter. They are one of the endangered turtle species housed at Dalton State College in the Turtle Assurance Colony.

Between the colony and the Saving Animals from Extinction (SAFE) programs there are more than 150 turtles and 15 species. Both programs are designed to ensure the species survive by encouraging breeding.

Even with the regulations to move to remote learning this semester due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), the endangered turtles still need care. In order to help prevent the spread of the virus, faculty members and student volunteers go to campus one at a time to care for the animals, and sterilize work spaces each time.

“The turtles must be taken care of daily,” [Professor Chris Manis] said. “My focus right now is on keeping them fed, making sure they’re healthy and that their habitats are clean. I’m also watching the Cuora flavomarginata to make sure they all come up out of hibernation. Because they’re all in one enclosure, breeding may still happen, but it’s not where my focus is right now.”