Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 22, 2019

On May 22, 1856, Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner with his cane. Brooks used the cane as the result of injury sustained in a previous duel, and found Sumner at his desk in the Senate Chamber. In the course of a two-day Senate speech on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which would have nullified the Missouri Compromise on the expansion of slavery, Sumner had criticized three legislators, including a cousin of Rep. Brooks, Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina.

On May 22, 1819, the steamship Savannah left the port of Savannah for Liverpool, England. After 29 days, it became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. On May 22, 1944, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating the voyage of the Savannah.

On May 22, 1932, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the commencement address for Oglethorpe University at the Fox Theater in Atlanta.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will tour a local film studio, according to the AJC.

On the day he initially planned a trip to Hollywood to court film executives, Gov. Brian Kemp will instead privately tour Georgia studios and try to calm nervous industry officials wary of a growing backlash over the anti-abortion “heartbeat” law he signed.

The Republican plans a closed-door visit to a studio in metro Atlanta Wednesday to speak with executives and students in the film industry, rather than a roundtable discussion or other public event.

Georgia film boosters worry the pushback could threaten the state’s perch as one of the leading locations for movie and TV productions, thanks to a tax break that allows film companies to earn tax credits for up to 30 percent of what they spend here.

The industry has become so influential in state politics that even the fiercest fiscal conservatives see the tax credits as untouchable. That includes Kemp, who said during the campaign he would review every tax incentive – but leave the film breaks alone.

Former DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton has been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

According to the indictment, Barnes Sutton demanded monthly payments of $500 in 2014 from a contractor whose company had received a sizeable contract from the DeKalb County Commission in connection with construction of a wastewater treatment plant. She was serving at the time as chairman of the DeKalb board’s subcommittee on Finance, Audit and Budget and a member of the subcommittee on Public Works and Infrastructure.

The demand later was increased to $1,000 a month. The contractor made two $500 payments before the FBI stepped in and disrupted the scheme, the indictment alleges.

Barnes Sutton lost a bid for re-election in a runoff in 2016.

A federal lawsuit over Georgia voting will move forward, according to the Gainesville Times.

A lawsuit challenging Georgia’s outdated voting machines and seeking statewide use of hand-marked paper ballots can move forward, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

State lawyers had asked U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg to dismiss the lawsuit.

Totenberg wrote in her order rejecting that request that the state’s arguments “completely ignore the reality faced by election officials across the country underscored by Plaintiffs’ allegations that electronic voting systems are under unceasing attack.”

Among other arguments, lawyers for the state said the lawsuit was no longer valid because a new law provides specifications for a new voting system that state officials say will be implemented in time for the 2020 election cycle.

But Totenberg had said during a hearing last month that she didn’t think the claims were irrelevant given that the current machines are still in use for numerous special and municipal elections scheduled this year.

Macon-Bibb County Commissioners adopted a new ordinance on marijuana possession, according to the Macon Telegraph.

An ordinance that eliminates jail time for misdemeanor marijuana possession and sets the fine at $75 was adopted by Macon-Bibb County Commissioners late Tuesday.

The ordinance, which applies to amounts less than one ounce, passed with a 5-4 vote after weeks of public opinion and discussion.

Commissioners Al Tillman, Virgil Watkins, Elaine Lucas, Bert Bivins and Larry Schlesinger voted for the ordinance while Scotty Shepherd, Joe Allen, Valerie Wynn and Mallory Jones opposed it.

“In doing the research and talking to so many people, this is probably the first municipality that you had the sheriff’s office, the district attorney’s office, the solicitor general’s office, to not come out and fight us tooth and nail on this,” Tillman said.

The maximum penalty under state law for a misdemeanor marijuana possession is still one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The new ordinance allows deputies to hand out lesser penalties with no jail time.

The AJC reports that four Metro Atlanta district attorneys will not prosecute women who receive abortions under the hearbeat law.

Several district attorneys in metro Atlanta are taking strong stances on Georgia’s new “heartbeat” abortion law, saying Friday that they would not prosecute women for getting an abortion.

“As District Attorney with charging discretion, I will not prosecute individuals pursuant to HB 481 given its ambiguity and constitutional concerns,” DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said in a statement. “As a woman and mother, I am concerned about the passage and attempted passage of laws such as this one in Georgia, Alabama, and other states.”

In Cobb County, Acting DA John Melvin took a similar approach. He interpreted the law to suggest that a woman would not be committing murder if she received an abortion. He said women could “absolutely not” be prosecuted under the unlawful abortion statute.

Fulton County DA Paul Howard “has no intention of ever prosecuting a woman under this new law,” a spokesman said, adding that he would not prosecute abortion providers either.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, one of the four cited by the AJC, also spoke to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

In a statement, Porter said his decision is not based in political belief; rather, he doesn’t believe the law allows for women to be prosecuted.

“I believe that under the current law, it is not possible to prosecute a woman who has an abortion, even if it is self-induced, for either murder or unlawful abortion,” Porter said. “Therefore, as a matter of law as opposed to politics, this office will not be prosecuting any women under the new law as long as I’m District Attorney.”

“Here, unlawful abortion more specifically describes the conduct and therefore must be applied instead of murder,” Porter said. “(But) Georgia case law makes it clear that no woman can be prosecuted for unlawful abortion, therefore no prosecution (for either) can legally be brought.”

“I started here in 1981 and we have never had such a case in Gwinnett County,” Porter said. “The undecided question in the law is whether the unborn child can be a victim of a crime independent or in conjunction with the mother. Until the courts rule otherwise, I believe that there are possible scenarios where the unborn child could be the victim of a theft or an assault independent of the mother.”

Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway extended the county’s participation in the federal 287(g) program for a year, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

On Tuesday, the sheriff announced the renewal, which came as a surprise to some. While Conway had previously said he was going to renew his cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when the program’s current, three-year term expired in June, the Tuesday announcement was not anticipated.

“The 287(g) program is an effective tool that helps reduce crime and save money,” Conway said Tuesday. “I see the continued benefits of having this program in our county and will continue to support it as long as I’m in office.”

The program, which the longtime sheriff first brought to the county in November 2009, is a partnership between state or local law enforcement and ICE that allows local jurisdictions to receive delegated authority for immigration enforcement.

Chatham County has reaped increased revenue from weapons carry permits, according to the Savannah Morning News.

 The third quarter county financial report shows revenues from the permits are $35,000 over budget from Jan. 1 to March 31 of this year. Revenues are up $87,382 over the same time period from last year.

Chief Clerk of Probate Court Wendy Williamson said the increases are from the court becoming a “one-stop” shop for those filing for the permits.

“The public (in 2017) had to travel to a designated offsite location to pay for fingerprints,” Williamson said.

In July of 2018 the court added staff and installed a fingerprint scanner which allows the entire permitting process to be done onsite. The court processed 4,325 applications in 2018.

A federal district judge ruled that Savannah’s license requirements for tour guides violate the First Amendment, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Georgia’s oldest city violated the free-speech rights of tour guides by requiring them to pass a written history test and get a license, a federal judge said in a ruling that’s largely symbolic since the licensing law was scrapped years ago.

The ruling Monday by U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. came more than four years after tour guides in Savannah sued City Hall over the 1978 licensing ordinance. The tour guides argued city officials were violating their First Amendment rights by deciding who was qualified to tell visitors about Savannah’s history and architecture.

Savannah officials at first defended the ordinance as necessary to protect the city’s nearly $3 billion tourism economy. But the city council ended up repealing the licensing requirement in October 2015 while the lawsuit was still pending.

Gainesville City Council voted to raise hotel-motel taxes and impact fees, according to the Gainesville Times.

Gainesville City Council also approved a resolution allowing the city and the Hall County Development Authority to use eminent domain to develop a business park, according to AccessWDUN.

Richmond County Board of Education unveiled its FY 2020 budget at the first of two public meetings, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The total budget amounts to $273,528,895 and is funded by a combination of taxes and grants from the state. Top expenditures for the district include salaries, at 61 percent of total spending, and benefits at 26 percent.

Included in the proposed budget are salary adjustments that include improving clerical pay, a 4 percent increase in school nutrition salaries, a $3,000 increase for certified staff, an increase in nurses pay and a 2 percent increase for all other staff.

Bus drivers will receive a 2 percent pay increase from the state, and there will be an increase in fine arts supplements.

The proposed budget also includes possible future considerations, such as improving the financial efficiency STAR Rating, which is currently at 2.5 out of five. The rating is determined by the College and Career Ready Performance Index and the district’s expenditures divided by enrollment.

Dougherty County Republican Party Chairman Tracy Taylor will run for Mayor of Albany, according to the Albany Herald.

“I was at the state (Republican) convention in Savannah over the weekend, and so many people from across the state wanted to talk to me about crime in Albany,” Taylor, a Waycross firefighter, said. “There was a lot of conversation about how we can address crime in our community, and many of the folks at the convention said this may be the year that the voters decide they need a conservative who’s tough on crime.”

Taylor ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Dougherty County Commission in 2013 before leaving the Democratic Party for the GOP. He was defeated in 2018 by Democrat CaMia Hopson in the general election in his quest to gain the House District 153 seat previously held by Darrell Ealum but has since been named the chairman of the county Republican Party.

“With all this recent criminal activity, we have to do something,” he said. “That’s priority No. 1. Next on my list is bringing industry to our area. We have jobs here, but we need careers. We need to bring careers back to this community.”

Mayor Dorothy Hubbard told The Albany Herald a few weeks back that she plans to seek a third term in the mayor’s office. Announced challengers for the seat include Omar Salaam, Henry Mathis, Quincy Smith and now Taylor.

Two Glynn County Superior Court Judges made their case for more room for the Juvenile Court, according to The Brunswick News.

Superior Court judges Stephen Scarlett and Stephen Kelley laid out their issues with the courthouse and recommended a course of action to address them at the Glynn County Commission’s Tuesday work session.

“I want to lay some background here. The (county commission) is considering (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) 2020. We have not made a firm decision whether we go forward with SPLOST 2020 and a list of projects,” said commission chairman Mike Browning. “All we’re talking about today is a potential project for that list, which would be a new courthouse addition. The reason we’re talking it is because it would come at significant cost. We do not know what that cost is.”

“I will make it clear, we are not in a crisis but we are stressed,” Scarlett said. “… Any court or court office or clerk’s office at the courthouse will tell you they’re in great need of space.”

In 2013, the county commission conducted a study to determine how much space the courts would need in the coming years. The study noted the existing courthouse was around 75,000 square feet, but the courts needed 108,000 at least, he said.

Security is also an issue at the courthouse that could put both judges and courthouse workers in harm’s way, he said.

“(Glynn County) Sheriff (Neal) Jump and his staff do a tremendous job, but the courthouse was designed and engineered to 1980 standards. … There are inherent design issues,” Scarlett said.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources staff reviewed regulatory changes from new legislation for the department’s Board, according to The Brunswick News.

Under the current law, people on live-aboard boats can only stay in Georgia estuarine waters for only 90 days in any one calendar year, unless they apply for and get an extension from the DNR commissioner. H.B. 201 eliminates that provision from the law.

Andrews said the goal of the legislation and the resulting regulations are to encourage people on live-aboard vessels to stop and stay in Georgia instead of passing through on their way to destinations in South Carolina or Florida.

“We do want to encourage live-aboards that we know are here and want to come here to take advantage of these appointments,” Andrews said.

H.B. 201 moves oversight of live-aboard vessels from the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act and puts it under Official Code of Georgia Title 52, which governs waters of the state, ports and watercraft. Operators of live-aboard vessels are prohibited from dumping stored human waste into the state’s estuaries, but instead will have to pump out at designated facilities, and keep records indicating when and where those pumpouts took place.

In other new regulations, the enabling legislation for the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Act allows that to go into effect as of July 1. DNR Grants Unit Supervisor Taylor Brown explained that for each yearly grant cycle, there will be two application periods in order to winnow the field.

At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, board Chairman Bodine Sinyard thanked state Rep. Don Hogan, R-St. Simons Island, for the work he did during the past session regarding bills favored by DNR.

“I don’t know if you understand how much work Don gets done for the state of Georgia, particularly relative to our agency, DNR,” Sinyard said. “He has single-handedly worked all throughout the session and helped carry our Shore Protection Act (reform bill) — he was the leader behind the scenes, in front of the scenes. Our live-aboard act, he was all over that. And as you know, we have been working very hard — particularly our coastal folks — on our oyster farming bill.”

Sinyard said Hogan was also a key ally in the push to get H.B. 501, the oyster mariculture bill, through the legislature. He also welcomed and thanked Woody Woodside for his decades of service to the state and to the coast.

Floyd County was rejected for a federal grant to lengthen the runways Richard B. Russell Regional Airport, according to the Rome News Tribune.

The 2013 special purpose, local option sales tax package contains $5.7 million for the project but the low bid last fall was nearly $3 million higher. Officials had been hoping to get a piece of the $779.5 million just awarded nationwide for airport improvements.

Fallback plans are to break the project down into smaller jobs and call for bids again. Burkhalter said he, County Manager Jamie McCord and Airport Manager John Carroll would be meeting with engineers next week to start drawing up the documents.

“We’ll bid it out in pieces. It will probably be the earthwork, grading and drainage in one; the paving and striping in another; and the electrical, lighting and things like that in a third,” Burkhalter said.

Nearly ten percent of Norcross residents live in extended stay hotels, according to a study cited by the Gwinnett Daily Post.

LiveNorcross spent recent months looking into the city’s extended stay motel population to study the challenges that exist to affordable housing in Norcross. LiveNorcross was established a year and a half ago through a partnership with the state to address issues facing the city’s homeless population.

Those results were unveiled at the Norcross Cultural Arts Center on Tuesday night.

A big takeaway from the extended stay motel survey is that nine of the 14 motels in the city are primarily being used by customers as long-term housing. The survey estimated that between 8% and 12% of Norcross’ residents live in extended stay motels.

That estimate is based on the survey determining 1,294 extended stay motel rooms in the city being used for long-term housing and counting it against the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate that more than 16,000 people live in the city.

Hope you didn’t miss this if you were in Savannah this weekend: People magazine named Zunzi’s Conquistador the best sandwich in Georgia.

This week readers of People magazine are discovering what a lot of Savannahians already know, if you want the best sandwich in the state, head to Zunzi’s at 108 E. York St.

Recently the magazine teamed up with The Infatuation, an online restaurant guide to choose the best sandwich in each state and Washington D.C, and Zunzi’s Conquistador, made with baked chicken, their signature Sh*t Yeah Sauce and Zunzi’s dressing, took top honors for Georgia.

The People magazine honor does indeed add to a big list for Smith and his team who are gearing up to celebrate the one year anniversary of their Atlanta location, the 15-year anniversary of the Savannah location and exploring franchise opportunities.

Smith said he refined the original location in preparation for expansions, including the new Atlanta location at 1971 Howell Mill Rd.

The restaurant and the Conquistador are no stranger to ‘best of’ accolades having racked up numerous mentions from Buzzfeed, The Travel Channel, Country Living magazine and many others. This week as a thank you to their fans, bringing in a copy of People magazine and posting a picture of the sandwich on social media will score you a free Conquistador.

“We’re honored to be named best sandwich in Georgia. Winning any best sandwich award is extremely subjective and if someone has to win, we’re happy it’s us,” Smith said.