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.
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.
Fort Frederica National National Monument on St. Simons Island
May 26, 1949 was named Clay Day in Marietta, Georgia in honor of General Lucius Clay, who spoke at the courthouse square.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Governor Brian Kemp issued Executive Order #05.25.21.01, prohibiting Georgia state government , prohibiting Georgia state government from requiring a “vaccine passport.”
The “Prohibition of COVID-19 Vaccine Passports” executive order also states that no vaccine passport shall be required for entry into the State of Georgia. It also outlines that state employers shall not have different rules for employees based on vaccination status, unless such rules are implemented using an honor-code system and no proof of vaccination is required.
“Today’s executive order makes clear that vaccine passports will not be utilized in state government,” said Governor Kemp. “While I continue to urge all Georgians to get vaccinated so we continue our momentum in putting the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview, vaccination is a personal decision between each citizen and a medical professional – not state government. This order also clearly states that data held by the Georgia Department of Public Health and their immunization system will not be used by any public or private entity for a vaccine passport program.”
On Tuesday, Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr confirmed with the state that the order would not apply to any business renting or leasing state property. For example, a group holding an event at the Georgia World Congress Center could require attendees to be vaccinated and control entry.
Supporters say the passports could make re-openings faster and easier. Proof of vaccination or a negative test could be a way for businesses and schools to reassure customers, students and parents that steps are being taken to limit transmission of the virus.
Critics say they have privacy and security concerns over how people’s personal information will be stored and fairness.
The order doesn’t extend to private businesses or organizations, which could rely on digital passes to make it easier for people to show they’ve been inoculated in order to travel, attend events or take part in other activities.
But the rules do include k-12 public schools and Georgia’s higher education system, along with state correctional facilities, Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said. That means that no local school board or public university can require vaccinations for students or staffers.
While Emory University and other large private universities have mandated students get the coronavirus vaccine, students and employees at public institutions are only “strongly encouraged” to get inoculated.
The Biden administration has said it won’t require Americans to carry a credential, and that there won’t be a federal vaccination database or a federal mandate requiring citizens to obtain proof of vaccination.
Kemp’s order does provide a little wiggle room to allow state agencies to have different rules for employees based on vaccination status. But it requires them to take the employees’ word based on an honor-code system rather than show concrete proof of vaccination.
From the Associated Press via the Athens Banner Herald:
Kemp is running for reelection in 2022 and has been taking steps to shore up support among Republican voters still restive over claims that Kemp didn’t do enough to overturn Biden’s victory in Georgia. A number of Republican-led states have moved to ban vaccine passports, even though they are not in widespread use in the U.S. Opposition may be driven in part by reluctance among many Republican voters to get inoculated against COVID-19.
Tuesday’s order also says no vaccine passport can be required for entry into Georgia, a move that could block any airline or bus line from using them.
It’s unclear how far the rules go. Hall said he wasn’t sure if the move would ban prisons, mental hospitals or juvenile justice facilities from asking whether inmates or patients had been vaccinated. The state must provide medical care for residents of such facilities.
Unlike many of Kemp’s other orders related to COVID-19, it’s permanent and doesn’t expire when the health care state of emergency that provides sweeping powers to Kemp runs out.
From the Valdosta Daily Times:
Kemp’s actions are part of an effort to rebuild his conservative base that faltered after harsh criticism by former President Donald Trump. The first-term governor faces a tough reelection campaign, with far-right Republicans such as Vernon Jones attacking his handling of the 2020 election.
Governor Kemp also announced that proceeds of a real estate sale to Amazon will be reinvested in economic development, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced on Tuesday the purchase of a 2,284-acre economic development site in Bryan County, marking the largest strategic purchase in state history.
The sale, which was made in partnership with the State of Georgia and the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority (JDA), is expected to close on or before July 31.
The state generated over $62 million from the recent sale of the Chatham County Economic Development Site to Amazon for a fulfillment center. Proceeds from that sale will be used to purchase the Bryan County Megasite.
Anna Chafin of the Bryan County Development Authority says they hope to attract an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), such as an automaker, to the site. This could generate tens of thousands of quality jobs as well as draw in suppliers and additional growth in the commercial and retail sectors.
The megasite is located less than 30 miles away from the Port of Savannah, the largest and fastest-growing container terminal in the U.S.
“With more than 2,000 acres, rail that runs along the property line and immediate access to interstates 16 and 95 and the Port of Savannah, this site is the premier megasite in the state of Georgia and the Southeast,” said Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority Chairman Carter Infinger in the press release.
A bunch of Washington politicians deplore U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s recent comments that compared mask mandates with the holocaust. From the Associated Press via the Valdosta Daily Times:
Republican leaders forcefully condemned GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday, calling her comments comparing COVID-19 safety measures like mask-wearing to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany “appalling.”
“Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement, which stopped short of calling for Greene to face disciplinary measures. “The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.”
Their rebuke Tuesday came after Greene made an appearance on a conservative podcast, “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” released last Thursday. In her interview, Greene excoriated safety protocols adopted by House Democrats, including a requirement that masks be worn on the House floor. She also called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “mentally ill” and suggested that the rules were comparable to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust.
“You know, we can look back in a time and history where people were told to wear a gold star. And they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” Greene said on the podcast. “This is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about.”
On Tuesday, she tweeted out a news story about a grocery store chain that plans to allow vaccinated employees to go maskless. Those who do would have a logo on their name tags indicating they had been vaccinated.
“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” Greene tweeted.
From the New York Daily News via the Macon Telegraph:
Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, slammed Greene as “an embarrassment to yourself and the GOP.”
“(It’s) absolutely wrong and inappropriate … to compare proof of vaccination with the 6 million Jews who were exterminated by the Nazis,” Brooks wrote in a retweet of Greene’s post.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, is the sponsor of the censure resolution, which was filed but has not received a vote. In a reply to McCarthy, Williams encouraged him to do more than criticize Greene and back the resolution.
“Unless of course his statement is just a bunch of empty words and he doesn’t really mean it,” Williams wrote on Twitter.
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the GOP whip, and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the newly installed conference chair, also released statements distancing themselves from Greene.
Greene has previously said she did not plan to be vaccinated against COVID-19 because she believes her immune system is strong enough to fight the disease. Last week, she repeatedly participated in votes on the House floor without wearing a mask.
Here’s my 5-cent analysis:
My political analysis is that attacks by out-of-state Congressional leaders, and even Georgia congressmen, probably helps Greene win her Primary Runoff Election. All she needs now to assure her victory in August is an endorsement of her opponent by the very groups mentioned in the Washington Post editorial.
And on July 20, 2020, I wrote in the newsletter version about attacks against Greene by GOP insiders Steve Scalise, Kevin McCarthy, and 90 elected officials who endorsed her opponent:
My two-cent analysis is that I’m not sure any of that hurts Marjorie Greene or helps Dr. Cowan.
Nothing has changed between then and today except that with COVID-19 inflation and the rising cost of fine aged bourbon, I now charge five cents for my political analysis.
Actually, that’s not true: what has changed is that MTG is now a national cause célèbre among hardcore conservatives, and she is now a fundraising juggernaut largely because of the things she says and the reactions from GOP “leaders.”
Personally, I deplore what Rep. Greene said. The difference is that I don’t think anyone in her district cares what I think.
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan declining to run for reelection means an open seat election for a coveted legislative post, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Savannahian Jeanne Seaver announced she’d be running back in March. And a number of other members of the state legislature have expressed interest, but haven’t officially announced yet.
The race will be set alongside plenty of other high-interest positions in the November 2022 election, including the Governor’s race, and it’ll be a chance for Republican voters to choose the direction of the party going forward.
“I think it’s the Trump party now,” Seaver said in a March interview. “And that the typical GOP party will never be the same.”
Miller told the Associated Press that he expects Trump’s support, saying “I have no reason to expect him not to endorse me if he is going to endorse.”
Senate Majority Whip Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican, has said he’s considering it. Sen. Burt Jones, a Jackson Republican, also has been looking at the race. Jones unsuccessfully challenged Miller for president pro tem in December.
Jones posted a picture of Trump, himself and Jones’ father on social media on May 3 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida raising speculation that Jones was seeking Trump’s endorsement for office.
It’s a crowded field, but has the potential to be a very close primary. In 2018, Duncan only beat Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer by around 1,800 votes.
A powerful Republican state senator announced Tuesday he will run for Lieutenant Governor. Butch Miller has held the senate seat from Gainesville since 2010 and is now the Senate’s highest-ranking member.
“We are in a pivotal moment in Georgia,” Miller said, referring to the GOP’s loss of two US senate seats and the presidential race in November 2020.
“I am very enthusiastic and very supportive of President Trump’s policies,” Miller said, citing tax cuts, cuts in business regulation, and criminal justice reform.
Miller says Republican constituents sometimes ask him if the election was stolen, and he answers by saying “Joe Biden is our president. Was there fraud and malfeasance in the election? There certainly was. The degree of which is being corrected by Senate Bill 202,” the election reform bill.
Sen. Miller stops short of describing any election fraud as widespread.Miller says he’s aware many Republican voters are clinging to conspiracy theories about the election, and warns “if Republicans do not unite, they cannot win. That’s the bottom line right there.”
From the Associated Press via AccessWDUN:
“I’m running for lieutenant governor to defend our conservative accomplishments, to enrich Georgians with jobs-friendly policies, to defend our constitutional rights, and to protect and promote the sanctity of life and opportunity,” Miller said in a news release. “I’m running because I believe I’m the candidate who can beat whatever the Democrats throw at us and because I’ll never surrender in the battle to keep Georgia prosperous and free.”
“I first ran for office because I was appalled at the direction President Obama was taking our nation, and I knew people had to stand up and fight back,” Miller said. “Today, the Democratic Party has radicalized in ways that are terrifying; their policies in Washington will cripple our country.”
“I was proud to preside over the Senate on the day we passed the election integrity bill, SB 202,” he said. “I stand firmly against the extremists who want to defund the police and I’ll always fight to make sure our children are taught the truth: America is the greatest country on earth.”
From the AP via the Athens Banner Herald:
Miller said that “last time I checked, Mar-a-Lago was not in my jurisdiction,” but when it comes to Trump’s support, “I have no reason to expect him not to endorse me if he is going to endorse.”
“What you will get with Butch Miller is a man who has the ability to get Republicans to work together,” Miller said. “We will get the entire conservative caucus on board together.”
Miller said he doesn’t anticipate stepping down from the pro tem post while running.
“I have not had one single person in the caucus ask me about that,” Miller said. “I think I have the confidence of the caucus.”
“I want to protect the conservative policies and conservative values that are clearly working for Georgia,” he told The Times in a phone interview.
“Ships are comfortable in the harbor, but that’s not what they’re built for,” said Miller, speaking of his decision to run. “I’m not looking for comfort. I’m looking to make a difference.”
He said a top issue for him in the lieutenant governor’s race is criminal justice reform “in terms of keeping violent offenders in prison but training (others) in prison to go out and have meaningful jobs.”
When asked about issues within the GOP, Miller said, “The Republican Party has to be united to win. That is first and foremost.”
He went on to say of the party, “We’re at a crossroads, geographically, culturally and politically. We’ve got to move forward. We’ve got to be looking at 2022, 2024, and not looking in the rear-view mirror at 2020.”
Miller said he believes that whether a person has “Trump affinity” or not, the main concern should be “America first.”
“I’m not going to apologize for America being great,” he said.
Georgia will issue more than a billion dollars in bonds, according to the AJC.
The state plans to sell $1.1 billion in construction bonds in a few weeks — much of it for schools and college buildings — and a key service said Georgia has again retained its AAA bond rating that allows it to save millions of dollars a year in interest payments.
Fitch Ratings on Monday affirmed the rating for the latest borrowing, saying it “reflects the state’s proven willingness and ability to maintain fiscal balance and a broad-based, growth-oriented economy that supports revenue growth over time.”
Georgia has maintained its AAA rating from the major bond rating services for decades.
In its report, the rating outfit noted that state tax revenue is up more than 13% for the first 10 months of the fiscal year, which ends June 30, and the state is expecting a hefty surplus. The state is also just beginning to figure out how to spend about $4.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds it started to receive last week.
The bonds being sold next month are for projects the General Assembly approved in March.
The Gwinnett County Board of Education will limit citizen comments, according to the AJC.
The Gwinnett County Board of Education recently set a 90-minute limit to the public comment period of its monthly meetings, but members plan to schedule additional meetings to hear from constituents.
The board voted 3-2 in favor of Tarece Johnson’s motion to approve the policy revisions containing the new limit, “with the intention to schedule area-wide board meetings within two months.”
Board Chair Everton Blair and Vice Chair Karen Watkins voted in favor of Johnson’s motion. Steven Knudsen and Mary Kay Murphy opposed it.
“This board is trying to censor our rights, as parents and taxpayers, to participate in speaking at these meetings by limiting our time,” said one speaker, Lisa Johnson, at the most recent meeting.
The new public comment limit takes effect at the board’s June 17 meeting.
The revised policy also sets a 30-person limit on the number of speakers at each meeting. Slots will be filled first-come first-serve by those who sign up on the school district’s website.
The revised policy gives the board discretion to limit the number of times a speaker can address them and the number of people speaking for or against a specific issue.
Columbus City Council may consider setting a minimum fine for littering, according to WTVM.
Columbus City Council heard the first reading of an ordinance Tuesday night that would add in a minimum littering penalty of $1,000.
Council also added in an amendment brought up by Mayor Pro-Tem Gary Allen that could make violators subject to a reimbursement the city for a reasonable cost of the city removing their litter.
“Give the Recorder’s Court a little extra strength and enforcement and hopefully get attention of those that are doing some things that just do not make our city look as good as it could,” said Allen.
Also at Tuesday night’s council meeting, the City of Columbus is looking to recognize the Peach State’s new law allowing sealed to-go cocktails.
Columbus City Attorney Clifton Fay says council will vote on the alcoholic beverage ordinance at their next meeting in two weeks.
Augusta Commissioners voted to hire Antonio Burden as the new Fire Chief, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
Columbia County Commissioners are considering implementing a $15/hour minimum wage for new county employees, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
New Columbia County employees would make a minimum $15 an hour under proposed changes to the county’s Fiscal 2022 budget.
The Columbia County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday reviewed suggested changes to the county’s salary matrix that, if approved next month, would raise wages to better attract and retain workers.
“We have over 1,300 employees that are spread out from the lowest pay grade to the highest pay grade, and we had to find a way that we could be fair and competitive, and at the same time be good stewards of taxpayers’ money because that’s what it boils down to,” County Manager Scott Johnson said.
“Historically our salaries have been lower than our benchmark counties. We’ve been very conservative with our salaries,” Johnson said. “People come to work here because it’s a good place to work and a good atmosphere, but it’s not always the best pay. But who would’ve known that people could sit home these days and make $16 an hour, whatever that number is? We never would’ve known that a couple of years ago.”
Also, as large retailers promise higher salaries amid a national debate over a “living wage,” some county workers might find it difficult to stay as new employers enter the local market.
“I know we’ve talked a lot about Amazon. We don’t base everything we do on Amazon, but they’re about to have a huge hiring event in Columbia County,” Johnson said. “We’re afraid we’re going to lose some employees, some of our lower-paid employees, to places like that.”
If a basic raise doesn’t elevate an employee to or above the $15 mark, an employee could get a “longevity raise” as originally proposed by Whittle for his department.
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