Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 26, 2015

John Hancock was elected President of the Second Continental Congress on May 24, 1775.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 convened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on May 25, 1787.

With George Washington presiding, the Constitutional Convention formally convenes on this day in 1787. The convention faced a daunting task: the peaceful overthrow of the new American government as it had been defined by the Article of Confederation.

The process began with the proposal of James Madison’s Virginia Plan. Madison had dedicated the winter of 1787 to the study of confederacies throughout history and arrived in Philadelphia with a wealth of knowledge and an idea for a new American government. It featured a bicameral legislature, with representation in both houses apportioned to states based upon population; this was seen immediately as giving more power to large states, like Virginia. The two houses would in turn elect the executive and the judiciary and would possess veto power over the state legislatures.

William Patterson soon countered with a plan more attractive to the new nation’s smaller states. It too bore the imprint of America’s British experience. Under the New Jersey Plan, as it became known, each state would have a single vote in Congress as it had been under the Articles of Confederation, to even out power between large and small states.

Alexander Hamilton then put forward to the delegates a third plan, a perfect copy of the British Constitution including an upper house and legislature that would serve on good behavior.

Confronted by three counter-revolutionary options, the representatives of Connecticut finally came up with a workable compromise: a government with an upper house made up of equal numbers of delegates from each state and a lower house with proportional representation based upon population. This idea formed the basis of the new U.S. Constitution, which became the law of the land in 1789.

Georgia Militia under General John Floyd began rounding up Cherokee Indians on May 26, 1838.

General Robert E. Lee wrote a letter dated May 26, 1861 to Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown asking the state to send any weapons available for Georgia volunteers who arrived in Virginia unarmed.

The Battle of New Hope Church was fought near Dallas, Georgia May 25-26, 1864 between Confederates under General Joseph E. Johnston and Federal troops under General William T. Sherman.

On May 25, 1907, an equine statue of John B. Gordon was unveiled on the grounds of the Georgia State Capitol.

President Calvin Coolidge signed the “Comprehensive Immigration Act” on May 26, 1924.

Many Americans saw the enormous influx of largely unskilled, uneducated immigrants during the early 1900s as causing unfair competition for jobs and land. Under the new law, immigration remained open to those with a college education and/or special skills, but entry was denied to Mexicans, and disproportionately to Eastern and Southern Europeans and Japanese. At the same time, the legislation allowed for more immigration from Northern European nations such as Britain, Ireland and Scandinavian countries. A quota was set that limited immigration to two percent of any given nation’s residents already in the U.S. as of 1890, a provision designed to maintain America’s largely Northern European racial composition. In 1927, the “two percent rule” was eliminated and a cap of 150,000 total immigrants annually was established.

The law particularly angered Japan, which in 1907 had forged with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt a “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” which included more liberal immigration quotas for Japan. By 1924, strong U.S. agricultural and labor interests–particularly from California, which had already passed its own exclusionary laws against Japanese immigrants–favored the more restrictive legislation signed by Coolidge. The Japanese government viewed the American law as an insult, and protested by declaring May 26 a national day of humiliation in Japan.

Fort Frederica National Monument was established on St Simons Island, Georgia on May 26, 1936.

May 26, 1949 was named Clay Day in Marietta, Georgia in honor of General Lucius Clay, who spoke at the courthouse square.

On May 23, 1954, the NAACP petitioned the Fulton County Board of Education to desegregate after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia held on May 25, 1962 that the Georgia General Assembly was malapportioned and ordered the reapportionment of the State House and Senate.

Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter won the Virginia Caucus on May 23, 1976, gaining 24 delegates. On May 25, 1976, Carter won the Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky Primary Elections for President.

Star Wars opened on May 25, 1977.

Then-Lt. Governor Marvin Griffin announced his candidacy for Governor on May 24, 1954.

John Smoltz tied the record for most strikeouts by a Braves pitcher, throwing 15 Ks against Montreal Expos on May 24, 1992.

Georgia Politics

Georgia State Senator Hunter Hill (R), who chairs the Senate Veterans, Military, and Homeland Security Committee, spoke at the Walk of Heroes/Veterans War Memorial at Black Shoals Park in Rockdale County yesterday.

State Rep. Bruce Williamson, recently elected Secretary/Treasurer of the State House Republican Caucus, spoke to the Memorial Day ceremony held by American Legion Post 64.

Dacula’s Memorial Day commemoration included a flyover by a C-130 out of Dobbins.

Marvin Atherton expected the first-ever military flyover for the annual Dacula Memorial Day Parade would be big, but even he was left a little speechless.

Atherton, the parade’s organizer, had been trying off and on for two decades to get a flyover for the parade. His wish was finally granted when a C-130 from Dobbins Air Reserve Base flew at 1,000 feet over part of the parade route on Dacula Road as Katie Wolf finished singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

It proved to be a hit with the crowds lining the street. They cheered and waved small American flags in a show of patriotism as the massive cargo plane flew overhead with a load and powerful roar.

“Awesome. Awe-some. Can we see it again?,” Atherton joked to Air Force Reserve officials from Dobbins who were in the crowd.

As the plane flew off into the distance, it did something unexpected. It turned around and flew back along the parade route on Dacula Road for a second, unplanned flyover. It was heading in the other direction this time. The response from the crowd was even more delirious than the first time.

Ohio Governor John Kasich will appear at a luncheon from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM with the Fulton County Republican Party at the Heritage Room, Heritage Sandy Springs, 6110 Blue Stone Road, Sandy Springs, GA 30328. This evening, he will appear at the greatest Republican event of the year in Georgia, the Walton County GOP Barbecue at 54 Nunnally Farm Rd. Monroe, Ga. 30655.

The Washington Post wrote about the SEC Primary, acknowledging its proper title, as the “Waffle House Primary,” and discussing how it might affect the nomination process.

[Georgia Secretary of State Brian] Kemp spearheads an effort to have a half-dozen or more Southern states hold their primaries on March 1 — right on the heels of the first-in-the-nation contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Kemp calls it the “SEC primary,” a nod to the collegiate Southeastern Conference.

Such a primary could be an opportunity for a conservative candidate to rack up delegates early, especially with such a crowded GOP field and an infusion of super PAC money that could keep campaigns alive longer. It also could have a profound effect on the eventual nominee, increasing the odds that candidates take harder-line stands to appeal to conservative Southern voters.

Georgia is on track for a March 1 primary, as Kemp has the unusual power of being able to set the date himself. Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Virginia are also likely to join. (Yes, Kemp knows that two of those states are not members of the SEC, but just roll with it. Another suggested name: the Waffle House Primary.)

Strategists say a Southern primary has the potential to buoy a more conservative candidate and be a challenge for candidates considered too moderate or too affiliated with the establishment — such as Jeb Bush, who will not denounce the loathed Common Core education standards and has taken a more moderate stance on immigration.

Several Southern states have high rates of poverty and could benefit from an infusion of jobs, although Republicans in the region also like to rail against social welfare programs, and Obamacare is still wildly unpopular. There are worries about terrorism and a desire for an aggressive commander in chief. Evangelical voters are also a major force and are looking for a candidate who will not back down in opposing gay marriage and abortion.

To many Southerners, such views are not to the right of the party — they think those stances should be at the heart of the party.

The biggest SEC primary cheerleader among the candidates thus far is Huckabee, who plans to campaign aggressively in the South.

“I think that idea is a gift from God. I think it was inspired out of heaven,” Huckabee said in an interview with GaPundit.com in January as he promoted his book, “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.” “It is the Southern states and the Midwestern states that really form the bulk of the presidential genesis in November. . . . If a Republican doesn’t carry the heartland, he’s not going to win.”

But if the South builds an SEC primary, will candidates show up? Or will the attention still go to the biggest states or purplest states?

But Kemp remains hopeful: “The South is the new heartland of America. The road to the White House should run through the South.”

You can add Alabama the the states joining the SEC Primary, as the legislature there moved the 2016 Presidential Primary to March 1, 2016.

The Alabama Legislature passed a bill that will allow the state to enter the “SEC presidential primary” set for March 1, 2016.

Moving the primary up a week is expected to make Alabama a bigger player in election process; it allows Alabama to join circuit of southern states to attract more visits from presidential candidates.

Bill sponsor Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, has said the legislation is “an economic stimulus bill because it will cause the state to generate more tourist revenue.

The legislation is awaiting Gov. Robert Bentley’s signature.

In Washington, a Senate subcommittee voted for a measure that would allow the Veterans Administration to recommend medical cannabis for veterans suffering from a variety of conditions.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who introduced the legislation, argued that forbidding VA doctors from talking about the option of medical marijuana is unconstitutional. He said that First Amendment rights include the right of patients to discuss whatever they want with their doctors.

“They can’t discuss all the options available to them that they could discuss if they literally walked next door to a non-VA facility,” he said. “I don’t believe we should discriminate against veterans just because they are in the care of the VA.”

While medical marijuana is legal in the District and 23 states, the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I drug, like heroin and LSD. That means it has no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

VA physicians and chronic-pain specialists say they often want to suggest the drug but haven’t been able to.

Several studies have shown that states that allow medical marijuana for health purposes also found a decrease in the number of painkiller-related overdoses.