Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for October 1, 2021

On October 2, 1789, President George Washington signed a resolution transmitting the (then-twelve) amendments constituting the Bill of Rights to the states that had ratified the Constitution. Click here for the letter from Washington to Governor Charles Pinckney of South Carolina that accompanied the amendments.

On October 2, 1835, Texans and Mexicans met in the first military battle of the Texas Revolution, the Battle of Gonzales.

In 1831, Mexican authorities gave the settlers of Gonzales a small cannon to help protect them from frequent Comanche raids. Over the next four years, the political situation in Mexico deteriorated, and in 1835 several states revolted. As the unrest spread, Colonel Domingo de Ugartechea, the commander of all Mexican troops in Texas, felt it unwise to leave the residents of Gonzales a weapon and requested the return of the cannon.

When the initial request was refused, Ugartechea sent 100 dragoons to retrieve the cannon. The soldiers neared Gonzales on September 29, but the colonists used a variety of excuses to keep them from the town, while secretly sending messengers to request assistance from nearby communities. Within two days, up to 140 Texians gathered in Gonzales, all determined not to give up the cannon. On October 1, settlers voted to initiate a fight. Mexican soldiers opened fire as Texians approached their camp in the early hours of October 2. After several hours of desultory firing, the Mexican soldiers withdrew.

On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving to be observed on November 26, 1863 and on the fourth Thursday in November every succeeding year.

This announcement harkened back to when George Washington was in his first term as the first president in 1789 and the young American nation had only a few years earlier emerged from the American Revolution. At that time, George Washington called for an official celebratory “day of public thanksgiving and prayer.” While Congress overwhelmingly agreed to Washington’s suggestion, the holiday did not yet become an annual event.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president, felt that public demonstrations of piety to a higher power, like that celebrated at Thanksgiving, were inappropriate in a nation based in part on the separation of church and state. Subsequent presidents agreed with him. In fact, no official Thanksgiving proclamation was issued by any president between 1815 and the day Lincoln took the opportunity to thank the Union Army and God for a shift in the country’s fortunes on this day in 1863.

Original Communist (O.C.) Karl Marx published Das Kapital on October 1, 1867.

On October 2, 1879, Wallace Stevens was born. Stevens would become a renowned poet and insurance industry lawyer. My favorite poem of his is “Connoisseur of Chaos.”

A. A violent order is disorder; and
B. A great disorder is an order. These
Two things are one.

Voters in the state of Washington adopted the state constitution on October 1, 1889.

The first World Series of baseball opened on October 1, 1903.

On October 1, 1908, Ford introduced the Model T.

President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke at the White House on October 2, 1909.

On October 3, 1922, Rebecca Latimer Felton was appointed to the United States Senate from Georgia following the death of Senator Tom Watson. After initially being rebuffed by the Senate, Felton was sworn-in on late in November, becoming the first woman to serve in the United States Senate.

Happy 97th Birthday to former President Jimmy Carter, who was born on October 1, 1924 at Wise Sanitarium in Plains, Georgia, the first American President to be born in a hospital.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Warm Springs, Georgia for the 21st time beginning on October 1, 1931.

In a Special Election October 1, 1940, Florence Gibbs became the first woman elected to Congress from Georgia, completing her late husband’s term and serving through January 3, 1941, but no standing for a full term of her own.

Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the Communist People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Thurgood Marshall was sworn-in as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court on October 2, 1967.

Betty Talmadge, then wife of Senator Herman Talmadge, hosted a fundraiser with Rosalynn Carter and Joan Mondale on October 2, 1976.

Ground was broken for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta on October 2, 1984.

The Carter Center in Atlanta was dedicated on October 1, 1986.

Mikhail Gorbachev named himself Chairman of the USSR’s Supreme Soviet on October 1, 1988.

President George H.W. Bush condemned Iraq’s takeover of Kuwait in a speech to the United Nations on October 1, 1990.

On October 3, 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder.

The last Braves game at Turner Field was played on October 2, 2016, with the Detroit Tigers besting the Braves by 1-0.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

McDonald’s announced the return of the McRib on November 1 to celebrate election season and the Special Session of the Georgia General Assembly that convenes on November 2d. From CNN via the Albany Herald:

The limited-time offering is returning to menus nationwide on November 1, McDonald’s announced Thursday. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the McRib, which was a dud on its debut but has bounced back to become a fan-favorite menu item.

The sandwich is a boneless pork patty, shaped like a rack of ribs and smothered in barbecue sauce then placed on a homestyle bun. Price varies by location.

The McRib returns to menus annually. For the first time last year, it was sold nationally. Seasonal items are an important marketing tool for the food industry, according to Alexander Chernev, a professor of marketing at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

They’re McDelicious.

The suicide rate among active duty U.S. service members rose 20% between 2015 and 2020, according to CNN via the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The suicide rate among active duty service members in the US military increased by 41.4% in the five years from 2015 to 2020, according to data provided in the annual report from the Department of Defense on suicide in the military.

The suicide rate among active duty service members increased by 9.1% in 2020, according to data from the report, which was released Thursday. From 2018 to 2020, it rose 15.3%.

“We must redouble our efforts to provide all of our people with the care and the resources they need, to reduce stigmas and barriers to care, and to ensure that our community uses simple safety measures and precautions to reduce the risk of future tragedies,” [Secretary of Defense Lloyd ] Austin said.

Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth and Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James McConville, along with Austin, say they recognize that more needs to be done to combat the issue of suicide in the military.

“Suicide remains a significant challenge for our Army,” Wormuth and McConville said in a joint statement about the annual report. “While there is no clear understanding of what is causing the increase in suicides, we realize we have to do better in preventing suicide and ensure resources are available and readily accessible.”

To get help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). There is also a crisis text line. For crisis support in Spanish, call 1-888-628-9454.

That suicide prevention lifeline is for civilians as well as service members. Don’t hesitate to call if you need help.

Governor Brian Kemp urged Georgians to get vaccinated as we head into fall and winter. From 11Alive:

Kemp continued to encourage Georgians to speak with their doctors about the vaccine to get vaccinated. He also doubled down on the fact that he would not mandate them.

He also criticized the federal mandate from the Biden administration.

The booster shots were also a topic of discussion. Here’s what Toomey had to say about them.

“These boosters are just for people who have received Pfizer, and I know that is really of concern for people who received J&J or Moderna,”  Toomey said.

She said she expects that will be coming in the upcoming weeks following CDC updates.

Toomey said that pregnant women have become a targeted demographic in an effort to keep themselves and their babies safe.

Luckily, COVID patient numbers continue to fall each day. We’re back down to just above 3,400 which is a lot lower than our latest peak.

From WSB-TV:

“The single most important thing we can do as a state is get additional people vaccinated,” Toomey said.

“During our summer surges, many Georgians saw first-hand how the delta variant spread more quickly and still led to the deaths of our fellow citizens. Given that our increase in cases and hospitalizations in 2021 were similar in timing to surges seen in 2020, we can only assume that a winter surge is also possible,” Kemp said.

“I’m encouraging those who are unvaccinated to talk with their doctor or a trusted medical professional about getting vaccinated before whatever may come our way later this year or early 2022,” Kemp said.

From CBS-46:

“Cases have dropped 32% over the last 14 days,” Kemp said. “I’m encouraging those who are unvaccinated to talk with your doctor or a trusted medical professional about getting vaccinated before whatever may come our way later this year or in early 2022.”

The state has a total of 1,219,318 confirmed cases and 22,354 deaths with 3,367 new cases and 129 new deaths reported as of Sept. 29.

“The need for a booster right now isn’t an emergency. This isn’t that we all have to run out and hurry up and get our boosters. That urgency that we felt a year ago, so many of us felt is not what this is about. It’s about assuring that we have a strong immune response for those who have been vaccinated,” Toomey said.

Governor Kemp spoke to Rose Scott on WABE about decisions he’s made during the pandemic.

“The local government shouldn’t be able to take your economic viability away when there’s no data that shows there are problems”, said Kemp.

“In these kinds of times, you need leaders that will make tough decisions,” explained Kemp, who says he was pressured several times to shut down the state again as COVID cases rose during the second wave of the coronavirus.

“Our cases are going down again, our hospitalizations have dropped dramatically, and so, I feel like we are over this hump again, but we have to keep our foot on the gas, continue talking with people about getting vaccinated and getting the pandemic behind us,” said Kemp.

From the Macon Telegraph:

Kemp also announced changes made to the allocation process of monoclonal antibody treatments, which can help prevent severe COVID symptoms in people who are at high risk. Instead of providers ordering directly from distributors, Georgia will be given a weekly allocation and must determine where the treatment doses go based on utilization, Kemp said.

He said the new process has limited the number of treatments allocated to the state. However, the state has more than enough doses to care for patients, said Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey.

The state will continue to distribute treatments and urge people who test positive and are vulnerable to severe effects of COVID-19 to utilize the resource, Kemp said, but add that monoclonal antibody treatments are secondary to getting vaccinated.

“Today I want to emphasize the importance of not waiting until the next wave of COVID cases to get vaccinated,” Kemp said. “During our summer surge many Georgians saw first-hand how the delta variant spread more quickly and still led to the deaths of our fellow citizens.”

[Commissioner Toomey] emphasized the booster shot is meant to ensure that there is still a strong immune response for those who have been vaccinated.

“All of us who are vaccinated still get good protection from severe illness and hospitalization with our current vaccinations,” Toomey said. “And we have plenty of vaccines now, which is a different situation than when we first rolled out the vaccination program a year ago.”

She said not having a booster shot does not mean a person isn’t fully vaccinated, as long as they have two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson, they are fully vaccinated.

A group in Long County is helping disabled people get vaccinated against COVID, according to WTOC.

Jimmy Middleton and his wife work hard to protect their 22-year-old son from catching COVID-19.

Because Down syndrome children, a lot of disability children, their immune system’s low.”

According to the CDC, having Down syndrome can make you more likely to get severely ill from the virus. And that’s why Middleton wants his son JC to get the shot, but him having a disability makes it tough.

“It’s important that when you think about your community, as a whole, people with disabilities are a part of the larger community. If they have a lack of access to things that should be a concern to the whole community,” said Angel Denardi, Life Inc. Associate Director.

Denardi says people with disabilities faced challenges even before the pandemic, but they’re more prevalent now. Many of the organization’s clients are calling for help to get the vaccine.

Denardi says in rural areas, like Long County, transportation is a huge issue.

“Some people are homebound. They can’t leave their home for any number of reasons. Sometimes it’s physical access, they don’t have a ramp.”

But she says organizations, such as Life Inc., are making sure they’re doing their part in helping get this high-risk group vaccinated, either by providing transportation, vaccine resources and much more.

Nashville Mayor Taylor Scarbrough quit after being convicted of theft-related crimes, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

Taylor Scarbrough, 57, was convicted Wednesday on charges of theft by conversion, theft by deception and criminal damage to property in the second degree, court records show. He was acquitted of theft of services.

He was sentenced to 10 years on the conversion charge, with the first six months to be served in the Berrien County jail, records show. He also received 10 years for the deception charge and five years on the criminal damage count, both to be served concurrently with the conversion sentence, according to the Alapaha District Attorney’s Office.

Before sentencing, Scarbrough resigned the mayor’s office, the court clerk’s office said. His term would have ended in December 2023; Mayor Pro-Tem John Clayton, who has been serving as acting mayor, said he will hold a special called meeting of Nashville City Council sometime next week to start work on a special mayoral election.

Clayton County attorneys are seeking an end to the suspension of Sheriff Victor Hill (D), according to the AJC.

Four months after Kemp suspended Hill because of a federal indictment, attorneys Alan Parker and Matthew Tucker say a state law requires that an elected official stand trial on the indicted charges in the nearest court term after being removed from office.

If that doesn’t happen, the officeholder must be reinstated, according to a letter sent to Kemp earlier this week. The letter was signed by Parker, the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office attorney, and Tucker, a private lawyer who said he was hired by a group supporting Hill.

ut other legal experts said that because the indictment is federal, state laws on suspension don’t apply.

The federal government does not have the same court terms as the state and thereby can’t be held to the same standard, said Lester Tate, a trial attorney and former president of the state Bar of Georgia.

“Clearly that provision’s applicable in state court where there are statutory terms,” Tate said. “But I don’t know of any way you would apply it in a federal indictment where there aren’t any terms.”

A U.S. House Committee has subpoenaed two Georgians in connection with January 6th, according to the AJC.

“The investigation has revealed credible evidence of your involvement in events within the scope of the Select Committee’s inquiry,” the letter to Amy Kremer stated, noting that the permit application for the rally was made the same day as former President Donald Trump’s tweet urging people to attend.

A letter signed by Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Kremer is believed to have “communicated with President Trump, White House officials including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and others about the rally and other events planned to coincide with the certification of the 2020 Electoral College results.”

Amy Kremer retweeted a post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, referencing the investigation. On Wednesday Greene posted an apparent screenshot of an email from an investigator with the House committee seeking documents and testimony in the investigation.

The first-term congresswoman wrote that such notices were “being sent to some of President Trump’s strongest supporters” and called the investigation a “witch-hunt” that was “going after innocent people that had nothing to do with a random 3 hour riot.”

Augusta is considering re-imposing a mask mandate, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

“In looking at the outcomes relative to COVID-19 and the impact on our operations, while it is outside of my authority, I am bringing forth to the commission that I believe in our public buildings, we should mandate mask wearing,” [Augusta Administrator Odie] Donald said.

Mayor Hardie Davis, who previously issued an order requiring masks, could do so again but was not present Wednesday.

Donald’s recommendation comes as others such as Columbia County Board of Education end mask requirements. It’s also despite public participation in the city’s ongoing vaccine incentive program.

Richmond County School Superintendent Kenneth Bradshaw sent parents a warning about social media, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

“Please allow us to bring to your attention current national social media trends that challenge students across the country to engage in different activities each month to obtain ‘likes’ and attention,” Bradshaw wrote. “Unfortunately, plans to carry out these trends and others have reached our community.”

While Bradshaw did not name any specifics, the recent TikTok ‘devious licks’ trend has encouraged students across the nation to engage in various forms of inappropriate behavior. Many videos were posted in the past month of children destroying school property as part of the “mess up a toilet/vandalize restroom challenge” and the next month’s challenge encouraged students to “smack a staff member on the backside.”

“Any student caught participating in these activities will receive consequences based on the Richmond County Board of Education Code of Student Conduct and Discipline,” he wrote. “They will be required to pay for all related damages to property and may be charged using applicable state law. Participating students also risk being removed from athletics and extra-curricular activities.”

Aflac CEO Dan Amos and his wife, Kathelen, pledged $5 million dollars toward targeted medical school scholarships at Emory University School of Medicine, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

The donation is expected to boost the school’s ability to attract top medical school students, motivate them to practice in Georgia and work in primary care instead of more lucrative specialties.

Emory-trained physicians accepted into the loan forgiveness program must work 2-5 years as a primary care doctor in Georgia, depending on how much financial assistance they have received for their medical degree. The primary care specialties are pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine and geriatrics[.]

“You see the lack of access to services, either because of geography or availability,” [Mrs. Amos] said. “… I know now there are a number of counties with no hospitals and no pediatricians. … We have spent the majority of our lives in Columbus, but our family roots go back to the small towns of Alabama and Florida, and I just have a heart for those parts of our state.”

Dan has noticed the primary healthcare deficit among Aflac employees who live outside Columbus.

“They’re in small, rural areas that just do not have the healthcare they need,” he said.

And being in the insurance business, Dan added, “I see firsthand how quality care can make a big difference. So we want to make sure these rural places in Georgia, as much possible, can get the care to the people that they need to get it to, and we think this might help in some way.”

Child care businesses are struggling to hire enough workers, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

Many of them attribute the scarcity to enhanced unemployment benefits during the pandemic but the problem appears to be more complicated.

“We have tons that apply online, but once you call them back to come in for an interview or to fill out a (paper) application, they’ll set up a time and not show up,” said Jennifer McGuire, director Tender Years Learning Center in Valdosta, Georgia, where the pay is $8-10 for a child care worker. “There’s additional students on waiting lists that if we had the staff we could take those children in.”

Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care in Dalton, Georgia, receives federal and state funding, in addition to funding from United Way. Director Julia Clayton said funding is what has kept her facility operational.

“That’s kinda the key right now,” she said. “If you’re going to be in child care, you better have multiple sources of funding or you’re not going to make it.”

Because of federal funds, and more, the center can pay its workers well above the national average, between $15-$16 an hour.

“Our salaries as a whole is a good bit more than what you would find in the private sectors and I think because of that, we’re OK right now,” Clayton said, noting the longevity of its employees. “The stability of staff is so critical to program quality. We’re glad we’re holding on to them.”

The Georgia Department of Public Safety has seen a 60% drop in applications for prospective state troopers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Rome News Tribune.

During a state Senate study committee meeting Thursday, DPS chief of staff Josh Lamb told senators the 745 troopers on the state agency’s current payroll and 223 motor-carrier officers are the lowest in his 24 years of service.

“In 2020, the department lost 87 troopers either due to retirement, resignation or termination,” Lamb said. “And now, retention has become as big an issue as recruitment. We’re having a tough time getting them into the front door and an equally tough time keeping them from leaving through the back door.”

Lamb was asked by state Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, how the department’s pay scale compares to other jurisdictions.

“We’ve raised the starting trooper’s salary from $36,832 to $47,350, and that’s still not enough,” Lamb said. “Sandy Springs just revamped their pay scale to a starting salary of $52,641, and for the Atlanta Police Department, for prior-sworn officers, that pay scale begins at $54,440.”

Law enforcement agencies are warning against Fentanyl-laced pills, according to the Rome News Tribune.

Floyd County police and the Drug Enforcement Agency are urging people to be cautious of counterfeit drugs containing deadly amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

The DEA released a public notice this week citing an “unprecedented” increase in deaths across the country from fake prescription drugs that contain fentanyl and methamphetamine.

According to the DEA press release, the pills are packaged to appear as legitimate prescription drugs — often labeled as Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, Xanax and Adderall — and were responsible for 93,000 overdoses in the U.S. in 2019.

“We’ve been seeing those for a pretty long while,” FCPD Sgt. Chris Fincher said. “We refer to (the manufacturers) as ‘pill mills.’ These are people who are able to take a mixture of different things, put them together, crush them up and then put it into pills and make them look legitimate. We have people who have addictions that seek and find dealers with actual medication mixed in with the counterfeit pills. People are dying.”

The Rome Floyd Metro Task Force has confiscated 924 pills so far in 2021. Last year, police only recovered 698 pills. On top of that, police have confiscated more than 900 counterfeit pills in Floyd County in 2021, an increase of 630 fake pills compared to 2020.

The Georgia State Ethics Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission raised the contribution limits for state candidates, according to the Associated Press via AccessWDUN.

After a Thursday vote by the state ethics commission, people, corporations, political committees and political party can give each candidate up to $7,600 for each primary and general election and $4,500 for each runoff. That’s up from $7,000 for primary and general elections and $4,100 for runoffs.

Donors can give each candidate for the state House and Senate and local offices up to $3,000 for each general and primary election, an increase from $2,800. Those candidates can take up to $1,600 for each runoff, above the current $1,500 ceiling.

The changes take effect immediately.

From the AJC:

David Emadi, executive secretary of the commission, said the increased limits are based on rising inflation, and it made sense to boost the limits in a non-election year. The last time the limits were reset was 2019.

“It is more prudent to do it now before the campaign season gets kicking,” Emadi said.

Those limits won’t affect the average political donor. But thousands of lobbyists, industry associations, businesses, individuals and political action committees donate as much money as they can each election cycle to leading candidates.

The 2018 governor’s race cost about $100 million, and that likely will be easily surpassed in 2022, when Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to face a rematch with Democrat Stacey Abrams, a prolific fundraiser who collects money from throughout the United States.

Effingham County has joined SkyNet deployed new traffic cameras, according to WTOC.

New speed cameras are now up and if you don’t slowdown, it may cost you.

“We’ve had an issue with this. We’ve been working on it for about two and a half years,” said Effingham County Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie regarding speeding in school zones.

In fact, in a recent traffic study in Effingham County, “7,730 vehicles were driving through these six school zones at 10 mph and above the speed limit in a five-day period,” said Blue Line Solutions CEO Mark Hutchinson.

“We knew there was a lot, we had no idea it was to that magnitude. I don’t have the manpower or the ability to put that many people in the school zones all the time.”

“This is about safety. What we’ve done is we’ve looked at the data closely and have been able to observe that when automated speed enforcement is in a school zone, drivers comply,” said the former director for the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Solutions, Bob Dallas.

According to data from Blue Line, on average, there’s an 83% reduction in speeding where their cameras are present.

Once in effect, starting October 1, the cameras will clock drivers who are traveling at 10 mph or more over the speed limit, but as Sheriff McDuffie reminds if you go over the speed limit at all, you’re breaking the law.

“You never know if that Deputy is going to be sitting down there when that school zone is going on and it’s one mile over the speed limit and he can write you a citation.”

There is a warning period for the first 30 days starting October 1, but after that, speeders will be cited.

Columbia County public schools will raise the pay for substitute teachers, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

At Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, superintendent Dr. Steven Flynt recommended that the rate for substitutes serving in certified roles for less than 10 consecutive days receive $110 per day versus the current $85. Non-certified positions will receive $105 per day, an increase from $80. Those serving as long-term substitutes will jump from $130 per day to $150. The board approved all recommendations.

The school district has been short on substitutes throughout the school year. At the Aug. 24 board meeting Flynt reported that it had 60% of the number of substitutes needed. The board approved a stipend at that meeting. The following meeting on Sept. 14, Flynt reported the number of needed substitutes had dropped to 55%, prompting members of the board to ask about a potential wage or benefit increase for substitutes.

Gainesville’s old city hall is undergoing renovation, according to the Gainesville Times.

The old city hall, located at 117 Jesse Jewell Parkway, will get a similar investment as the Gainesville Civic Center received for its renovations earlier this year, which cost $1.2 million. The money to cover design and construction costs on old city hall will come from SPLOST money, a one penny sales tax used for capital projects, City Manager Bryan Lackey said during Gainesville City Council’s work session Thursday, Sept. 30.

The city hopes to complete the renovations by the end of 2022, and the money for the project is in this fiscal year’s budget plan, Lackey said.

Life-long Democrat Vernon Jones will speak to the Bulloch County Republican Party, according to the Statesboro Herald.

A Confederate statue outside the Coweta County Courthouse was vandalized, according to the AJC.

Deputies are investigating after three men recently damaged a Confederate statue located outside the historic Coweta County Courthouse in downtown Newnan — and one commissioner is now calling for its removal.