Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 19, 2021

Button Gwinnett died on May 19, 1777 of a gunshot wound received in a duel with Lachlan McIntosh.

On May 19-20, 1791, George Washington spent his second and third days in Augusta, where he visited Richmond Academy. Washington left Georgia on May 21, 1791 to go to Columbia, South Carolina.

Georgia ratified the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which governs voting for President and Vice President on May 19, 1804.

The Battle of Spotsylvania ended on May 19, 1864. In Georgia, the Affair at Cassville occurred on May 19, 1864.

On May 19, 1933, the Atlanta City Council voted to allow beer sales in the city.

The Rubik’s Cube is 46 years old today.

On May 19, 1977, “Smokey and the Bandit” was released.

President Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at Morehouse College on May 19, 2013.

Seven years ago today, Georgia voters went to the polls in the earliest Primary elections in modern history. In the Republican Primary, 605,355 ballots were cast in the Senate contest, while the Democratic Primary for Senate saw 328,710 ballots.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Brian Kemp confirmed he’s running for reelection, according to 13WMAZ.

Tuesday morning, Kemp’s camp sent out a statement where he said with a “grassroots army spanning all 159 counties,” his family is “IN THE FIGHT for 2022 to continue building a brighter, more prosperous future for our state.”

The political scene will also look different as the current leader of the state’s capital city is not running again either. Earlier in the month, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms made the shocking announcement of her decision to not seek a second term.

As for Kemp, the Republican governor was in a tight race three years ago against Democrat front runner Stacey Abrams. The race was one of most-closely watched gubernatorial contests in the 2018 midterm elections.

From the AJC:

In an interview Tuesday, Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he’ll wage a 2022 campaign that emphasizes his record of aggressively reopening the economy during the pandemic, his approval of an anti-abortion law, his support for tax cuts and being a “true conservative that hasn’t wavered.”

“The Democrats are really good at nationalizing races over the last several cycles, but that table will be turned on them in this race,” said Kemp. “Especially if President Biden keeps getting pulled to the left.”

“One of the things that happened in ’18 was I got defined as someone I wasn’t, and the way I was defined turned out to be false,” he said. “That’s not going to happen this time because people know where I stand.”

The governor added: “Voters are smart. You can’t play them. They’re going to figure out who you are, what you believe in, what you stand for. And I’m going to remind them of my record, an agenda that’s been really good for a lot of people. I think that’s a message that can build the party in Georgia.”

“A lot of people think the governor can do a lot of things that the governor doesn’t necessarily have control over because of the Constitution,” he said. “And nobody really understands that better than I do.”

Governor Kemp issued Executive Order 05.19.21.01, appointing members of a commission to consider whether to recommend suspending Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill from office after his indictment.

Also running for reelection: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff. From the AJC:

Raffensperger was in friendly territory Tuesday when he spoke to the Rotary Club of Gwinnett County, where he confirmed again that he’s running for reelection in 2022.

He’s got an uphill battle ahead of him, with a primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Jody Hice, who has joined Trump in false claims about the 2020 elections, and state Rep. Bee Nguyen, a rising Democratic star, in the race, too. Two other Republicans – David Belle Isle and T.J. Hudson – are also running.

Raffensperger, a Republican engineer from Johns Creek, was introduced by Gwinnett-based journalist Elliott Brack as “the most famous secretary of state in the country, no, the world.”

During the Q&A that followed, the question came, “Do you enjoy your job and are you running again?”

The answer: “I still enjoy the job and, yes, I’m running again.”

Via email:

Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America Good news for Georgia and the Republican Party. Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan won’t be running again for office. He was the one who, along with Governor Brian Kemp, stopped the Georgia State Senate from doing the job they wanted to do on the 2020 Presidential Election Fraud. Duncan’s fight against Election Fraud made him unelectable. His former top aide, Chip Lake, said that the Lieutenant Governor would not win another term in office. Lake said, “I think he was an accident, and this is what happens when accidents happen in politics. They become one and done.” Now maybe the Georgia State Senate and House will build up the courage to expose the large-scale Presidential Election Fraud, which took place in their otherwise wonderful State. Let them just look at the State Senate in Arizona to find out what Leadership and Patriotism is all about!

Paid for by Save America and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. donaldjtrump.com

The Georgia Public Service Commission will consider how much of the cost of two new nuclear reactors under construction will be borne by ratepayers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Augusta Chronicle.

The state Public Service Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to schedule two days of hearings in mid-October to hear from representatives of the Atlanta-based utility, the PSC’s advocacy staff and business, environmental and consumer advocacy groups participating in the case. The commission will make a final decision Nov. 2.

The first of two new reactors under construction at the plant south of Augusta is due to be in service by the end of November, but Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald said last week that Unit 3 probably won’t be ready before next March or April.

The Plant Vogtle expansion has long been plagued by delays and cost overruns. Originally expected to cost $14 billion when the PSC approved the project 12 years ago, the price tag has nearly doubled, mostly because of the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric, the original prime contractor.

The costs the commission decides should be passed on to Georgia Power’s customers do not represent the full cost of building Unit 3. A portion of the costs will not be recovered until after the Unit 4 reactor goes into service and the PSC holds a “prudency” hearing on those costs, which won’t be until late 2022 at the earliest.

Cobb County has added early voting hours and Sunday voting in a June 15, 2021 Special Election for State House District 34, according to the AJC.

Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler said polls will stay open an extra hour in the evening when early voting begins Monday to fill the seat left vacant by state Rep. Bert Reeves, a Republican from Marietta who resigned to become Georgia Tech’s vice president for institute relations. Voting will also be available on a Saturday and Sunday, June 5 and June 6.

The revised early voting schedule calls for early voting from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the two weekend days.

Election officials have discretion over early voting hours, according to Georgia’s voting law.

The law sets the default early voting hours at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and county election officials can choose to keep polls open longer, starting as early as 7 a.m. and ending as late as 7 p.m. Previously, state law required early voting times “during normal business hours” without defining those hours.

Eveler said the change in voting hours was unrelated to Georgia’s voting law. Instead, she said early voting times reflected a lower number of expected voters in a special election than in a high-turnout general election.

The candidates are Republican David Blinkhorn, Democrat Sam Hensley Jr., Libertarian Chris Neill, Republican Devan Seabaugh and Democrat Priscilla Smith. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff will be held July 13.

Georgia state legislators may consider changing their retirement benefits, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Rome News Tribune.

Four retirement bills filed late in the 2021 legislative session call for increasing the formula for calculating lawmakers’ retirement benefits, tweaking the pension allowance for the Georgia House speaker and shifting business-court judges to a different payment tier.

Supporters who considered the bills Tuesday at a House Retirement Committee meeting said boosting retirement benefits would help lawmakers who devote large chunks of time to bill-wrangling while also holding down full-time jobs, as well as attract Georgians to run for office who might not otherwise be able to afford it.

“I think this is really just a starting point of maybe how we can adjust the retirement part of what we do to try to attract some more talent, some more people who are willing to take time out of their lives to serve,” said Rep. Dominic LaRiccia, R-Douglas.

One measure, sponsored by Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-Woodstock, would increase the formula from $36 to $60 per month, times years of service. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, indicating it has some level of support among Democrats in the Republican-controlled House.

Cantrell said the proposed $60-multiplier was a high figure that could be revised lower when lawmakers take up his bill next year. He added the larger benefit should not hit taxpayers’ wallets since the legislative retirement plan is already overfunded.

Some state judges in Hall County are offering offenders a deal on sentencing in exchange for getting a COVID vaccine shot, according to the Gainesville Times.

Superior Court judges have recently offered credit for community service hours to defendants who provide proof of receiving the COVID-19 vaccination.

“Each individual judge may include some of that sentencing to where an offender who goes and receives the vaccine can receive credit on some of their community service hours, and the number of hours of credit may vary even from judge to judge,” Stephenson said.

“This has kind of been in response to national leaders, the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and state health officials all agree that ending the pandemic will require a coordinated and shared commitment to taking every precaution we can, and those same leaders agree that the vaccine is the best and most effective precaution we can take,” Stephenson said.

Stephenson said the option is completely voluntary, as there is no consequence or sanction involved for those that choose not to get vaccinated.

“If you take half a day off of work twice to go receive it, then it may be appropriate for you to get some credit towards the obligation that your sentence says is owed to your community,” he said.

Articles of Impeachment aimed at President Joe Biden by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Extreme NW GA) are going nowhere fast, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

The official congressional website, congress.gov, shows the resolution was referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on March 5. That is the last action taken on the measure. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, did not respond to a telephone message asking if and when action might be taken on the resolution, which has no co-sponsors listed.

In a statement, Greene said “millions” have signed a “citizen cosponsorship” on her website to impeach Biden.

“I’m confident we’d have virtually every Republican if (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi would allow it to the floor,” she said.

“I hope voters realize that you can vote for a maverick if you like,” [Whitfield County Democratic Committee Chair Debby Peppers] said. “You can vote for someone who will make a statement, or you can vote for someone who can do their job. She’s there to make a statement, not do her job.”

Much of the federal COVID relief aid headed to Georgia will be distributed through local governments, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

Last week, the White House announced states, cities and counties can begin to access their share of the $350 billion in federal funds allocated in the most recent COVID-19 relief bill. Unlike the first round of relief that targeted states and large local governments, smaller cities and counties will see direct relief in their pocketbooks, too.

Throughout the pandemic local governments have shouldered the weight of response within their communities — coordinating testing and vaccination efforts — while suffering a steep decline in tax revenue due to the shuttered economy.

With new direct relief to cities and governments, local leaders will have their share of federal dollars to put toward boosting public health, investing in infrastructure, helping businesses recover and supporting essential workers that remained on the job throughout the pandemic.

Local officials have broad discretion of distributing funds as guidelines have been left vague by lawmakers at the federal level. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who championed the additional dollars to localities, said last week that flexibility was intentional.

“We’ve worked very hard to make sure that there’s a lot of flexibility for local governments and for local education officials, because local officials, parents, PTA know best what each community needs,” Ossoff said. “… More than $4 billion for public schools across the state — local education officials will have a lot of discretion about how best to use those resources.”

The Albany Police Department has a personnel shortage, according to the Albany Herald.

The report from BerryDunn presented on Tuesday to the Albany City Commission addressed some of the ways to recruit and retain more officers for the agency. The Portland, Maine, consulting firm was hired in September to conduct the study of the department in September at a cost of $68,000.

The city currently has about 52 patrol officers on duty, while the firm’s research indicates that number should be around 135.

Retention is a big part of the issue, according to the report. Of the 172 officers hired between 2016 and 2020, only 72 are still employed with the APD, and that comes at a cost.

FanDuel will bring 900 jobs to Atlanta, according to the Albany Herald.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday that FanDuel Group, a leading sports-tech entertainment company, will invest more than $15 million in opening a technology campus in Atlanta, creating more than 900 jobs over the next five years. This new state-of-the-art facility will primarily focus on supporting the company’s product development, tech, and IT operations.

“I’m proud to welcome FanDuel to the Peach State, and I look forward to seeing the countless opportunities this project creates for the hard-working Georgians across metro Atlanta,” Kemp said in a news release. “FanDuel’s decision to open a tech hub in Georgia is a testament to our world-class universities and tech training programs, as well as the diverse ecosystem of professional sports leagues and teams we’ve cultivated here.”

“We are overjoyed to add FanDuel to the strong list of corporate citizens that call Fulton County home,” Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said. “These quality jobs will help to grow our existing talent base, and we look forward to welcoming them to our best-in-class community.”

Georgia Department of Economic Development Senior Project Manager Taylor Kielty represented the Global Commerce division on this competitive project in partnership with the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Select Fulton, the University System of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia Quick Start, Invest Atlanta and Georgia Power.

“Georgia has emerged as one of the most pre-eminent and diverse tech hubs in the nation, with a college and university system that works closely with the business community to ensure mutual success,” GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson said. “I’m confident FanDuel will be very pleased with their decision to open their new tech campus in Atlanta. I extend my thanks to FanDuel for their significant commitment to creating high-paying jobs in Georgia.”

I suspect this will increase sentiment in favor of legalizing gambling at least for online sports betting.

From the AJC:

Kemp is among the Republicans who staunchly opposes legalized gambling but has also indicated he wouldn’t stand in the way of a constitutional amendment to allow casinos and betting if a majority of voters backed the idea.

“We want to bring the excitement of our product to Georgia residents when and if the Legislature decides to take that up. And we’ll support that if they do. But we feel Atlanta is best for our long-term growth,” said Chris Jones, a FanDuel vice president. “We didn’t approach this with the mindset that moving here begets legislation.”

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said some members of the public will likely have a chance to meet finalists for the City Manager position, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Speaking during his weekly media press conference on Tuesday morning, Mayor Van Johnson said he expects the top finalists to visit Savannah for a process that includes in-person interviews with community members.

“We received rave reviews about that process. Although very challenging for the candidates it did create a community-wide opportunity for people to meet the candidates, see the candidates and we want them to be able to do that,” Johnson said.

“We want them to see our city, we want them to visit our city. And I think that we’re still on time and on target.”

The application process for the position closed last month. A select number of candidates are currently undergoing an assessment center process to gauge a variety of abilities, such as analytical abilities, public speaking and written communication.

The Augusta Professional Firefighters Association Local 3357 spoke out about the process of choosing a new fire chief, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

An Augusta Fire Department captain, Steele addressed the Augusta Commission on Tuesday about the search that led to the city’s selecting a single finalist, DeKalb Deputy Chief Antonio Burden, over several others. The city refused to release information about three other finalists until local media outlets filed an open records lawsuit.

“For such a high-profile job,” Steele said, “transparency is of the most importance.”

Since the city announced Burden was its top pick, documents and correspondence obtained by the media and others revealed Burden scored low on the city’s own criteria and had been “dismissed by the company hired to scout candidates for not meeting the criteria,” Steele said.

“We believe that the best candidate has not been selected,” he said.

The Jekyll Island Authority Board voted to prohibit e-scooters on the island, according to The Brunswick News.

The ordinance prohibits issuance of licenses for e-bike rentals as well as e-bike tours. It also requires a license for bicycle tours.

The ordinance addresses safety concerns and traffic management on the island’s multi-use paths.

“Some of the comments were directed more towards banning,” [Jekyll Island Authority Counsel Melissa Cruthirds] said. “They thought we were banning e-bikes altogether on our multi-use paths. That is not accurate. We are banning the rental of e-bikes.”

E-bike owners are still able to ride their bikes on the island, Cruthirds clarified.

Columbus City Council will vote on a $1.77 million dollar waste collection contract to pick up after an inmate shortage affected local operations, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

“There’s just not enough resources to keep up,” he said. “We’re dealing with a huge inmate shortage. This is (directly) related to COVID. …We’re a couple of hundred inmates short. We normally get 353 inmates. But we’re getting about 138 or 140.”

“This is absolutely critical. If we don’t get this, then we’ll be behind now until October,” he added.

Council first discussed the measure and voted to approve it during their May 11 meeting. City Manager Isaiah Hugley told councilors the measure would be brought back formally at the May 25 meeting.

District 8 representative Walker Garrett is one of the councilors who supports the private contract.

“We’ve got to,” he said. “My own yard waste was out for a month. Public works is doing everything in their power.”

A United States Department of Agriculture program will spend $25 million dollars on Gulf and South Atlantic shrimp, according to The Brunswick News.

The large scale purchase of land and sea harvests will help make up for losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA officials say.

“The impacts of COVID-19 reverberated from our farms to our oceans,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “U.S. fisheries and the American seafood industry were dealt a heavy blow.”

David Veal, director of the American Shrimp Processors Association, said the industry has suffered during the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 outbreak had a significant impact on the U.S. wild-caught shrimp industry,” he said. “Widespread restaurant closures stalled the entire supply chain because with 80 percent of domestic shrimp sold to restaurants, it put a freeze on shrimp vessels, landings, and dockside sales.”

“Some processors pivoted to retail sales, some tried direct-to-consumer sales and some just held on,” Veal said. “Without restaurants serving shrimp, processors’ inventories remained full and they couldn’t buy shrimp from shrimp harvesters, causing vessels to stay dry and docks to wait idly by. Last year’s USDA purchases took the pressure off the industry and stabilized prices that were in freefall.”

“This is fantastic news for our state’s shrimp industry and the hundreds of Georgians working on shrimp vessels and as shrimp processors who were affected by COVID-19 shutdowns,” [U.S. Senator Raphael] Warnock said. “This is also a win for hardworking Georgia families in need of assistance who will receive this nutritious product through food assistance programs.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hard on Georgia’s seafood industry which depends on the restaurant industry that lost a significant amount of business,” [Congressman Buddy] Carter said. “I’m glad to see the federal government provide this support to these hardworking Georgians as they continue to recover from the pandemic.”

Peter Steckel withdrew from the June 15th special election for Mayor of Watkinsville after buying a home outside the city limits, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

“I had not expected to get one outside the city, but in this day and age when everything is going crazy with prices that was the best option for my family,” Steckel said.

The decision will mean Brian Brodrick, current acting mayor, will fill the post as he is now running unopposed.

“I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to campaign and hear from citizens,” Brodrick said. “I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of folks and understand what they love about Watkinsville.”

Gainesville held the first public meeting on the proposed FY2022 budget and millage rate and received no public comments, according to AccessWDUN.

The one required public hearing for the City of Gainesville’s fiscal year 2022 budget saw no one come forward at Tuesday evening’s city council meeting to comment on the $122.2-million spending plan; it now moves on for final ratification on June 15th.

As reported last week, the city’s FY2022 budget features a 1-mil tax credit for the next two years, funded by monies from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.  Gainesville is scheduled to receive $12-miilion from the federal relief package designed to help local governments deal with the financial impact of COVID-19.

The season’s first turtle nest on Tybee Island has been identified, according to WTOC.