Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for May 8, 2020

Savannah received news of the battle at Lexington on May 10, 1775, leading to a raid of British gunpowder for the colonial effort. On the same day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Second Continental Congress met.

Congress passed the second part of the Militia Act on May 8, 1792, requiring all able-bodied white male citizens to be enrolled in the militia.

A Constitutional Convention convened on May 8, 1798 in Louisville, Georgia to rewrite the state Constitution after the Yazoo Land Fraud.

The Southern Baptist Convention was formed in Augusta, Georgia on May 8, 1845.

On May 9, 1862, a Union general, David Hunter, ordered the freedom of all slaves held in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, but President Lincoln issued a counter-order.

On May 8, 1864, Union forces under Sherman continued to engage Confederates at the Battle of Rocky Face Ridge four miles west of Dalton, Georgia, seizing Blue Mountain.

Elsewhere on the same day, the Army of the Potomac under Grant reached Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia and found that Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had beaten them there from the Battle of the Wilderness.

Grant’s Army of the Potomac remained engaged against Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House through May 21, 1864.

In Georgia on May 9, 1864, Union troops under General Sherman took Snake Creek Gap. In Atlanta, a notice was published,

“ATTENTION MILITIA! All persons between the ages of 16 and 60, not in the service of the Confederate States, in the second ward, are hereby notified to be and appear at the City Hall today, at 2 o’clock P.M., for the purpose of being armed and equipped for local defense. Herein fail not under penalty.”

On May 10, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.

On May 10, 1869, a ceremonial “Golden Spike” was driven in Promontory, Utah, symbolizing completion of a transcontinental railroad line joining the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad.

The first observance of Mother’s Day was May 10, 1908 at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia.

On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first official “Mother’s Day.”

On May 9, 1974, the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary opened hearing on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

On May 9, 1977, the Grateful Dead played at Buffalo War Memorial Auditorium.

Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation designating the current state flag on May 8, 2003.

On May 9, 2005, Governor Sonny Perdue signed legislation recognizing the Green Tree Frog at the official state amphibian.

On May 10, 2006, Georgia State School Superintendent Linda Schrenko, a Republican, pled guilty to federal charges of fraud and money laundering, beginning a streak of Republican State School Supers to leave office under a cloud.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Brian Kemp is urging all Georgians to be tested for the coronavirus, according to the AJC.

Gov. Brian Kemp urged all Georgians to schedule an appointment for coronavirus screening regardless of whether they have symptoms, as the state continues to expand testing for the disease even as the rapid growth has exposed new strains.

With the state no longer facing crippling shortages of key supplies, Kemp said Thursday that the capacity for testing now outstrips the public’s demand in the weeks after he began to reopen parts of the economy. That has stressed area labs, however, struggling to keep up with record numbers of tests.

Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the head of Georgia’s Department of Public Health, emphasized that the widespread testing of Georgians without symptoms is “particularly important” as the state beefs up its contact tracing program to track the disease’s spread.

From WSB-TV:

“Right now, we have more than 60 testing sites with more supply than demand,” Kemp said.

He also talked about efforts to form a new task force among community leaders in Gainesville to slow the spread of the hot spot there.

Kemp also reiterated that if the numbers start going back up drastically, he’ll consider shutting the state down again.

“If we see the numbers turn in a different direction than we like to see, then we’ll take further action,” Kemp said.

Governor Kemp also spoke about the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, according to NBC News.

“Earlier this week, I watched the video depicting Mr. Arbery’s last moments of life. I can tell you it’s absolutely horrific and Georgians deserve answers,” Kemp said.

The governor said he’s been in contact with Vic Reynolds, director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who announced Wednesday that his agency had joined the investigation.

“I have full confidence in Vic Reynolds and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation,” Kemp said. “I know that they will be working around the clock to thoroughly and independently investigate Mr. Arbery’s death to find the truth.”

The governor said he called for a GBI probe “right after seeing that horrific video.”

“I’ve told Director Reynolds to follow the facts, follow the truth and to administer justice,” Kemp said. “I have no doubt in my mind that it will be fair and that Director Reynolds and this seasoned team that he has of investigators will work very quickly, but they will also be very thorough, and they will go wherever the truth takes them.”

Arrests followed, and GBI Director Vic Reynolds said more could come, according to the AJC.

Thirteen hours after a Glynn County father and son were arrested for the murder of a young black jogger, GBI Director Vic Reynolds told reporters another arrest could be forthcoming.

Reynolds confirmed the harrowing video capturing Ahmaud Arbery’s death on Feb. 23 was made by William Bryan, who had helped Greg and Travis McMichael corner the 25-year-old as he ran through the Satilla Shores community just south of Brunswick.

“We’re investigating everyone involved in the case, including the individual who shot the video,” Reynolds said.

Travis McMichael, 34, and his father Greg McMichael, 64, below, were arrested early Thursday night at their homes just outside of Brunswick. They were booked into the Glynn County Jail on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault, a stunning turn of events in a case that had been investigated for more than two months.

State Rep. Chuck Efstration (R-Dacula) called for passage of House Bill 426 as part of a response. From the AJC:

State Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, chairman of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, is the author of House Bill 426. He has called on Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and the state Senate to pass the measure “as soon as possible.”

Governor Kemp said he’s open to hate crimes legislation, according to the AJC.

Gov. Brian Kemp signaled he’s open to legislation that imposes additional penalties on hate crimes as advocates demand its passage amid outrage over the shooting death of an unarmed African-American jogger near Brunswick.

The governor said in a statement that “conversations about legislation are already underway, and we will work through the process when the General Assembly reconvenes” in June, though he stopped short of endorsing the proposal.

The measure passed the Georgia House last year by a 96-64 vote with the support several influential suburban Republicans. But it stalled in the state Senate, held up by conservative critics who say they’re skeptical about the need for additional penalties for crimes that already carry hefty sentences.

Gov. Kemp also got a tattoo featuring a bulldog that says “Keep Choppin’” haircut at Tommy’s on W. Paces Ferry, according to the Patch.

The first Albany COVID patients have been moved into the state-provided mobile hospital facilities, according to the Albany Herald.

“The hospital unit was built on our property, but this was completely a state project,” Phoebe Health System CEO/President Scott Steiner said Wednesday morning. “The idea was to have such a facility available in the event of any type of pandemic. Of course, when the idea surfaced to build the facility four to six weeks ago, our reaction was, ‘Yes, we’ll take any help we can get.’ We wanted to expand bed capacity. At that time, we didn’t know if this pandemic was going to go on indefinitely.

“Obviously — thankfully — there is not as great a need now, but moving COVID patients to this facility allows us to open the capacity at the main hospital. I hope we don’t have to use this facility very long, but it’s comforting to have it in place in the event there is any kind of super surge with the virus.”

Construction workers, aided by Georgia National Guard personnel, hurriedly worked through a punch list of last-minute details Wednesday morning, and around noon health care staff started arriving.

“I was allowed to pick a team that will work with the patients here on this excellent project, and I was allowed to select the best of the best,” Med Surge Supervisor Tamilia Lowery of Tallahassee, Fla., said as RNs Taylor Bishop of Savannah and Kari Brown and Mariela Escalera of Gainesville arrived.

Georgia’s unemployment growth outpaces that of most other states, according to the AJC.

Georgia’s Department of Labor has processed jobless claims for nearly one in three workers since mid-March, a far-higher rate than the U.S. average, as the coronavirus hammers the state’s economy.

The state agency said Thursday it processed 228,352 claims for benefits last week, bringing the total to 1.6 million over the past seven weeks, or 31% of Georgia’s workforce.

By comparison, 33.5 million Americans filed claims over the same time, representing just 21% of the nation’s workforce.

The state has greater-than-average numbers of workers in food and accommodation, retail and wholesale trade and in the corporate sector, said economist Roger Tutterow of Kennesaw State University. “It’s got to be the industry mix. But having said, that, I’m not convinced that accounts for all of it.”

Economist Tom Smith of Emory University’s Goizueta Business School said that three-quarters of Georgians work for companies of 10 employees or fewer. “They are at the forward edge of this and they are very susceptible to the disruption.”

I wonder if the ability to file for partial unemployment accounts for part of the disparity.

Medicaid eligibility is also growing due to unemployment and economic losses, according to Georgia Health News.

Georgia data indicate that the economic crisis caused by the pandemic has begun to have an effect on enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

As COVID-19 ravaged the state over the past two months, new Medicaid and PeachCare enrollment in Georgia has increased 38 percent, versus the same period of time in 2019.

There were also smaller increases in January and February. But over March and April, the state programs saw 88,000 new enrollees, as compared with 64,000 in those months last year.

Talk about being caught between the hammer and anvil.

Thursday’s virtual Appropriations Committee meeting was also a horror show of an economic catastrophe. From the Dalton Daily Citizen News:

Budget writers have been anticipating a large hit to the economy after the new coronavirus (COVID-19) shuttered much of the state and April tax revenue numbers released Wednesday showed just that — with economists predicting worse to come.

Jeffery Dorfman, state fiscal economist, said he can’t answer the question of when the economy is going to go back to “normal,” but one thing is clear: the rebound of the state’s economy is dependent on consumers.

“For our economy to get back to normal it’s going to require consumers to be confident again,” he told lawmakers during their virtual meeting Thursday.

Polls still show widespread fear of using public transit, going to malls and taking vacations, he said. According to state numbers, tax collection for the hospitality sector has decreased by 56%, restaurants and food service by 27% and general retail purchases by 50%.

But April tax collections really only give a picture of what has happened since mid-March.

“May should be worse,” Dorfman said. “Because it’s really April collections when we were shut down for pretty much the whole month.”

From the Capitol Beat News Service:

Dorfman, the state economist, told lawmakers Thursday the full impacts of the crisis are tough to predict since the only comparable historical event was the Spanish Flu of 1918, for which he said there is not much useful data.

Instead, lawmakers should plan to see a continuing downward trend in revenues through at least this month in sales taxes and for much longer when it comes to corporate tax collections, with businesses poised for months of diminished profits, Dorfman said.

“We don’t really have a good idea based on history of how this is going to go,” Dorfman said. “Hopefully, in the weeks and months to come, we’ll get a better idea as we experience this together.”

The worst economic data is expected to come after Memorial Day (May 25) when officials will learn how bad tax collections were during Georgia’s mandatory shelter-in-place period last month, said Kelly Farr, director of the state Office of Planning and Budget.

Appropriations chiefs urged calm and courage as lawmakers hash out the budget. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Blake Tillery, who assumed the role following the death of former budget guru Sen. Jack Hill last month, said Georgia’s budget experts have already set to figuring out solutions.

“We’re in a time that’s going to require a lot of us to pull together and work together,” said Tillery, R-Vidalia.

Restaurant and school closings are troubling Georgia farmers, according to WABE.

About 50% of the crop in the state typically goes to food service, according to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and it’s not easy for growers and wholesalers to quickly pivot to get crops meant for restaurants into grocery stores instead.

“There’s plenty of supply. Plenty of supply,” said Gary Black, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. “It’s just, is it packaged correctly, or is there going to be enough demand particularly when upward of half of that market is food service?”

He said he could see this problem coming because Florida is a few weeks ahead of Georgia with its harvest season, and it happened there first.

“It was almost as if we, you know, we had the tidal wave sound the alarms,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think they kind of got hit in the middle of it.”

Black said there are some potential solutions, like rural hospitals talking about coming together to buy Georgia produce, and a marketing campaign launched by his agency encouraging people to buy Georgia produce.

Pass-fail options for University System of Georgia students is a hot topic, according to the Savannah Morning News.

[L]egislative Democrats stepped up the heat on the University System of Georgia Wednesday to let students forced off campus by coronavirus to opt in to a pass-fail grading system for the spring semester.

A group of Democratic state representatives held an online discussion of the issue featuring several students who have led the charge for pass-fail. With the deadline for professors to turn in grades looming next week, time is of the essence.

“We don’t think it’s too late if the [university system Board of] Regents would lift the handcuffs from the universities,” said Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, who hosted Wednesday’s discussion on Facebook. “It’s never too late to do the right thing.”

More than 10,000 students have signed a petition during the past several weeks asking the Regents to allow a pass-fail grading option. Student governments at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University have passed resolutions supporting the proposal.

Cell phone data shows Georgia’s much-touted reopening drew customers from neighboring states, according to the AJC.

A week after the Peach State allowed hair salons, barbershops and other businesses to turn on their welcome signs, a staggering 62,440 additional visitors flocked there daily in hopes of patronizing businesses still shuttered in their home states due to the coronavirus.

The data, reported by University of Maryland researchers, reveals that the bulk of out-of-towners came from surrounding states including Florida, Alabama and South Carolina.

“It’s exactly the kind of effect we’ve been worried about,” Meagan Fitzpatrick, an assistant professor with UMD’s School of Medicine, told The Washington Post after reviewing the findings. “This isn’t an unpredictable outcome with businesses opening in one location and people going to seek services there.”

Local governments are facing new issues as employees return to work and offices are reopened, according to the AJC.

Across Georgia, local governments are trying to decide if the time is right to go back to the office — and if so, how to do it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have recommended guidelines, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution, leaders say.

“There has been a lot of discussion around how do we bring people back and get working but without exposing anyone to the virus or increasing liability because of that exposure,” said Felicia Franklin Warner, a commissioner in Clayton County, which tentatively plans to open its offices Monday.

The Georgia Municipal Association has created guidelines for cities that are ready to reopen city halls. The group recommends cities encourage social distancing, such as moving desks so people have more space between them; stagger lunch breaks and working hours; and rotate weeks that employees are in the office or working remotely. They also suggest governments prohibit handshakes, use video or teleconferencing instead of meeting in person and have a plan for what to do if an employee is exposed to, or diagnosed with, COVID-19.

Henry County reopened its offices May 4, one of the first to do so in metro Atlanta. To facilitate social distancing, half the county’s employees are coming in on odd-numbered days and half on even-numbered days. Staffers have their temperatures taken before being allowed in the building — those with fevers are sent home or to testing sites if suspected of having the coronavirus — and masks are required at all times.

And instead of holding in-person meetings, employees will continue to use Zoom or other meetings software to reduce contact, spokeswoman Melissa Robinson said.

It’s an interesting story worth reading in its entirety if you’re totally bored interested in local government.

Savannah-Chatham County public schools are going month-to-month on budgeting, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Normally, the budget is proposed in the spring and presented to the board with enough time for board review, hearings, public comment, and passage before July 1. However, “the COVID-19 pandemic has created a pause of the [2020-21 fiscal year] legislative session and the state of Georgia’s budget cycle,” according to a spending resolution announcement that was read into the record by Kurt Hetager, district chief public affairs and administrative services officer.

“Subsequently, anticipated revenues for local school districts are unknown at this time,” he said.

Because of this unique situation, the board voted to authorize the superintendent to spend funds from the budget beginning July 1 on a monthly basis to continue operations. The action is within the purview of the superintendent’s duties as written in the board’s bylaws, available at sccpss.com, stating that the superintendent is also treasurer of the board.

Lanier County Superior Court ordered the name of Kenton F. Moore Jr. be restored to the ballot, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

The court ordered Kenton F. Moore Jr. be put back on the ballot in upcoming elections, overturning a March 30 decision by the Lanier County Board of Elections and Registration to take him off the ballot.

Moore qualified to run March 5, but incumbent Sheriff Nick Norton challenged his qualifications. A hearing before the elections board was held March 13, but the meeting was adjourned until later on the grounds that “proper notice” had not been given to the candidates, court papers show.

The board met again March 30 “after timely notice” and heard evidence. The challenge involved a check for $51.51 Moore wrote in 2003 to an auto parts store which was returned for insufficient funds, court records show.

“As it should be, the decision is now left to the voters of Lanier County and we are thankful that the court understood that the decision is best left to the voters,” said Sam Dennis, an attorney who represented Moore.

Doug Flanagan, Augusta Judicial Circuit Juvenile Court Judge, has died, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The Glynn County Board of Education voted to hire Scott Spence as the new county superintendent, according to The Brunswick News.

Augusta Commissioner Bill Fennoy bought a house outside the district he serves and applied for a homestead exemption, according to the Augusta Chronicle.