Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 1, 2018

On May 1, 1707, the Act of Union with England, passed by the Scottish Parliament brought together England and Scotland and made the Union Jack the official flag of Great Britain.

The Second Confederate National Flag was adopted on May 1, 1863.

On May 1, 1886, Jefferson Davis visited the Benjamin Hill monument at Peachtree and West Peachtree Streets in Atlanta, having arrived the previous day.

On May 1, 1971, “Joy to the World,” by Three Dog Night was the #1 song in the nation.

Kennesaw, Georgia City Council adopted an ordinance on May 1, 1982 requiring each household to own a gun and ammunition.

(a) In order to provide for the emergency management of the city, and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore.

(b) Exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who suffer a physical or mental disability which would prohibit them from using such a firearm. Further exempt from the effect of this section are those heads of households who are paupers or who conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine, or persons convicted of a felony.

On May 1, 1991, Rickey Henderson broke the major league baseball stolen base record on the same day that Nolan Ryan, the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball, recorded his seventh no-hitter.

The official state tartan of Georgia was designated on May 1, 1997.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to roll back the federal role in education, according to the Washington Times.`

The order, dubbed the “Education Federalism Executive Order,” will launch a 300-day review of Obama-era regulations and guidance for school districts and directs Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to modify or repeal measures she deems an overreach by the federal government.

“For too long the government has imposed its will on state and local governments. The result has been education that spends more and achieves far, far, far less,” Mr. Trump said. “My administration has been working to reverse this federal power grab and give power back to families, cities [and] states — give power back to localities.”

He said that previous administrations had increasingly forced schools to comply with “whims and dictates” from Washington, but his administration would break the trend.

“We know local communities know it best and do it best,” said Mr. Trump, who was joined by several Republican governors for the signing. “The time has come to empower teachers and parents to make the decisions that help their students achieve success.”

The LA Times says it’s much ado about nothing.

The Trump administration already has begun rolling back some Obama initiatives, such as protections for transgender students. DeVos’ staff is creating a task force aimed at curtailing and repealing regulations they deem to be overstepping local control of schools.

It is unclear, however, whether an executive order would in any way expand the limits of DeVos’ authority.

[US Department of Education employee Rob] Goad said the executive order “empowers [DeVos] to modify anything that is inconsistent with federal law.” When pressed, he conceded that she already could do that.

Governor Nathan Deal is entering a period of intense bill-signing, and Greg Bluestein of the AJC looks at what’s on his desk.

Several major tech corporations have urged him to veto Senate Bill 315, which would create a new crime of “unauthorized computer access” by outlawing so-called “white hat” hacking by researchers who then report weaknesses to companies so they can shore up their security.

And Stockbridge officials have threatened litigation if he signs a measure that would carve out a section of the city to create a new municipality called Eagles Landing.

Among the other critics of the measure is Capital One’s public bonding arm, which owns the majority of $14 million in outstanding bonds owed by Stockbridge and warned Deal that the legislation could create “unprecedented risk” for firms that hold municipal debt in Georgia.

Deal also plans to sign a measure that would restrict drivers from handling their cellphones or other electronic devices while behind the wheel. The Legislature saw intense lobbying for the bill during the session from public safety advocates and the families of victims who died in distracted-driving accidents.

Over the next week, he’s also set to sign a legislative compromise that could lead to a dramatic expansion of mass transit in metro Atlanta by allowing 13 counties to impose a sales tax of up to 1 percent for mass transit.

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, on a bus tour for his gubernatorial campaign, spoke to the Statesboro Herald.

Arriving at the arranged time for an interview Friday, at the end of Cagle’s campaign bus stop at RJ’s Grill, the reporter caught the last of Cagle’s remarks to the breakfast crowd about job creation and education. Those were also the first topics in the interview. But Cagle was also asked about gun violence, school safety and his reaction earlier this year to Delta Air Lines breaking its ties with the NRA.

“Well, first of all, schools need to be the safest place, and we have challenged all of our school systems across Georgia to, one, have a readiness program put in place,” Cagle said. “Many of them have school resource officers that are there, and we believe that that is critically important, and the state has offered some additional resources, funding to help facilitate that as well.”

Asked if more gun regulation is needed, such as a ban on bump stocks, Cagle immediately said “No,” and after a brief pause, “No” again.

“No, I do not believe that taking guns away from law-abiding citizens is the answer at all,” he said. “I strongly believe in the 2nd Amendment and the right that we have to own and, obviously, to bear guns, plain and simple.”

“I mean, obviously the federal government has looked at bump stocks and other things, so you could say the same thing about an assault rifle,” Cagle said.

“But the reality is that we don’t want guns in the hands of criminals, for sure, or those that are mentally ill, and I think there’s a universal agreement within that,” he said. “That’s why we have background checks, you know, that’s why we do things of that nature. But no, I’m not in favor of any additional gun regulation at all.”

Democratic candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams is campaigning with Hollywood actors, according to WTOC.

At her side were actresses Rashida Jones, Uzo Aduba, Aisha Hinds, and Tracee Ellis Ross, star of the ABC hit comedy Blackish.

The group of women made a trip to Columbus Monday as the first day of early voting in the state of Georgia begins.

Abrams spoke to local voters at Emmanuel Christian Community Church, encouraging everyone to exercise their right to vote.

“This election is a choice. Starting today through May 18 we get to choose the direction of our state. And I want Georgia to know that they have the choice to move forward as they elect me as the next governor of the great state of Georgia,” says Abrams.

The group will also visit Albany, Macon, and Fort Valley before heading back up to Atlanta.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp hit the airwaves with a new TV ad, and it’s generating backlash from the left, according to HuffPo.

Randy Evans, nominated by President Trump as Ambassador to Luxembourg, is preparing to exit the Dentons law firm, according to the AJC.

Macon elected officials are fighting over a road project, according to the Macon Telegraph.

County Commissioner Elaine Lucas, state Sen. David Lucas and state Rep. James Beverly are accusing Mayor Robert Reichert and his administration of stalling the widening of Jeffersonville Road, a project that’s been 24 years in the making.

But the mayor’s spokesman and the county engineer say it’s untrue that Reichert and his staff haven’t been pushing for the project to get rolling as soon as possible..

The latest roadblock involves finding another $1.9 million needed for the $17 million project. Lucas said she has support from her fellow commissioners in finding the extra money for the project, but until it gets started, she doesn’t want to spend money on other items.

“It really should have started at the end of last year, but people were being patient and understanding and operating in good faith,” Lucas said. “The mayor has not operated in good faith, and he has stalled on this project. He has tried to pressure different (commissioners) like me … into seeing his way on other projects.”

Columbus Mayoral candidate Winfred Shipman tells the Ledger-Enquirer that God’s on his side.

Winfred Shipman says he works for God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost

That’s who he’ll listen to if he becomes mayor, he explained Monday in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer.

“I take them wherever I go,” he said, wearing a gold chain with a cross around his neck. “I never leave home without them.”

Eleven candidates in Columbia County appeared in a public forum, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The candidates for county commission chair, two district commission seats and a board of education post took questions on topics ranging from government transparency and managing growth to opioids during the two-hour event, held by the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia County News-Times and WRDW-TV.

In the election for the commission’s District 1 post, both candidates, Connie Melear and Hafeez Chaudhry, said growth is happening in Columbia County.

Three candidates for District 3 on the Columbia County Board of Education touted their backgrounds in education and the military.

The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce President Frank Knapp says that old military explosives dumped offshore could create a hazard for seismic exploration off the SC and GA coast, according to the Savannah Morning News.

[O]ff the Georgia coast, he points out, there’s the additional question of the never-located “Tybee bomb,” a nuclear weapon lost during a training exercise 60 years ago.

“Government documents and first-hand accounts of munitions and radioactive waste being dumped off the Atlantic Coast from Massachusetts to Florida came to our attention only recently,” Knapp, president and CEO of the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce, wrote in recent comments to federal regulators. “Nine of the official dump sites are off the South Carolina coast. There is a serious threat of seismic airgun blasting disturbing these materials, many in unofficial and unknown locations and all in deteriorated containers, and releasing them into the water. Commercial fishing, the public, local economies and even seismic ships and crews are in jeopardy.”

The Department of Defense disposed of excess, obsolete, serviceable, and captured enemy munitions in the waters off the shores of the United States until 1970, initially in waters as shallow as 300 feet. At the time, sea disposal was considered one of the safest alternatives available to dispose of munitions. A 2009 Department of Defense report indicated the DoD disposed of approximately 32,000 tons of chemical agents in waters off the U.S. coasts. The agents disposed of included lewisite, mustard and arsenic trichloride. More than half the total was dumped off the Atlantic coast.

Maps included in that report show dumps off South Carolina and some farther offshore of the South Carolina/Georgia border. They don’t include the Tybee bomb, which was not a planned disposal. Instead, an accident during a training mission in February 1958 forced a Navy pilot to jettison into Wassaw Sound the nuclear weapon his B-47 was carrying. That pilot, retired Air Force Col. Howard Richardson, told the Savannah Morning News in 2008 that the bomb was not armed with its removable plutonium trigger. The Pentagon concurred. But the 7,600-pound weapon did contain 400 pounds of conventional explosives and highly enriched uranium. Despite a nine-week search at the time and another effort in the early 2000′s the bomb was never recovered.

A new fire fee in Savannah will hit nonprofit organizations normally exempt from property taxes, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Normally tax exempt, the Savannah College of Art and Design can expect a $289,203 bill for city fire services this fall, according to city officials.

Nonprofit institutions such as SCAD, as well as churches, social service organizations and government entities are all being charged the new fee along with property owners used to being taxed for the service each year.

Meanwhile, the city is accepting applications until June 1 from property owners seeking up to a 20-percent discount on the fire fee, which can be reduced by installing safety equipment, developing emergency plans and participating in fire training programs.

Bulloch County Commission District 2 candidate Jeff Klare has withdrawn from the election, according to the Statesboro Herald.