British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781, ending the American Revolution.
On October 19, 1790, Lyman Hall, one of three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia, died in Burke County, GA. Hall was elected Governor of Georgia in 1783, holding the position for one year, and was an early advocate for the chartering of the University of Georgia.
On October 19, 1983, the United States Senate voted 78-22 to create a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., to be celebrated on the third Monday of January. The House passed the King holiday bill, sponsored by Reps. Katie Hall (D.-IN) and Jack Kemp (R-NY), by a vote of 338-90 in August. President Ronald Reagan signed the legislation on November 3, 1983.
This weekend, I learned an interesting fact about Martin Luther King, Jr. He was actually born Michael King, Jr., and his name was changed to Martin Luther King, Jr. when his father changed his name in 1934 to Martin Luther King to honor the German theologian. I learned this after the Sons of Confederate Veterans referred to Dr. King as “Michael King” in their press release opposing the addition of a King monument at Stone Mountain.
Therefore, monuments to either Michael King or soldiers of any color who fought against the Confederacy would be a violation of the purpose for which the park was created and exists. The opinions of the park’s current neighbors and opponents are of no bearing in the discussion.
I had assumed it was a typo, as it didn’t have a link to more information about Dr. King’s birth name, nor any explanation. I apologize for my unwarranted assumption.
However, I did also look at the Georgia Code section that the SCV cites as authority that:
The act of the General Assembly which created the Stone Mountain Memorial Association specifically states the park, including both the mountain and all adjacent property, is to be maintained and operated as a Confederate memorial (OCGA 12-3-191).
They left out a couple of important words, as the statute calls for Stone Mountain to serve “as a Confederate memorial and public recreational area.” And that last part about a public recreation area arguably opens up Stone Mountain to anything that could reasonably be considered part of a “public recreational area.” I’d even argue that currently, most people think of Stone Mountain first as a recreational area, and second, as containing a Confederate memorial.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
The above video, which comes via Greg Bluestein of the AJC, is a video introduction by Georgia Senator David Perdue, apparently meant to be used to introduce Herman Cain at the Trump Rally in Atlanta. No idea why it wasn’t used, but I don’t recall seeing a large video screen at the Trump rally venue. Perhaps they couldn’t arrange one in time.
Last week, the SuperPAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign announced a $17 million TV buy that includes $2.6 million in Georgia. In the same story, the AJC Political Insider notes that Marco Rubio’s campaign has reserved $23,000 in TV time in Savannah and $17,000 in Augusta at the end of December and early January. The Rubio buy is probably more aimed at the South Carolina Primary on February 20, 2016.
The results are in for the Georgia Peanut Poll, now touted as the largest “straw” poll in the nation.
Republicans
| Ben Carson | 8,576 | 36.86% |
| Donald Trump | 8,099 | 34.81% |
| Undecided | 1,464 | 6.29% |
| Carly Fiorina | 1,203 | 5.17% |
| Marco Rubio | 1,064 | 4.57% |
| Ted Cruz | 778 | 3.34% |
| Jeb Bush | 629 | 2.70% |
| Mike Huckabee | 597 | 2.57% |
| Rand Paul | 234 | 1.01% |
| John Kasich | 132 | 0.57% |
| Chris Christie | 129 | 0.55% |
| Rick Santorum | 98 | 0.42% |
| Lindsey Graham | 80 | 0.34% |
| Bobby Jindal | 78 | 0.34% |
| George Pataki | 65 | 0.28% |
| Jim Gilmore | 42 | 0.18% |
| Total Votes | 23,268 |
It’s notable that both of the top two candidates, Dr. Ben Carson and Donald J. Trump, each received more votes than all of the rest of the choices, including Undecided. They also individually bested all the Democratic candidates combined.
Democrats
| Hillary Clinton | 2,513 | 48.10% |
| Undecided | 1,170 | 22.39% |
| Bernie Sanders | 929 | 17.78% |
| Joe Biden | 396 | 7.58% |
| Jim Webb | 110 | 2.11% |
| Lincoln Chafee | 56 | 1.07% |
| Martin O’Malley | 51 | 0.98% |
| Total Votes | 5,225 |
Democratic State Rep. Scott Holcomb has signed onto the effort to eliminate the CEO form of government in DeKalb County, also according to Greg Bluestein of the AJC. This is a step that Republicans in DeKalb County have supported for a number of years.
I’d also like to see different election districts in DeKalb, because the sheer size of the current Commission Districts, each of which is home to approximately 140,000 souls, and the Super Districts, which are twice as large, makes it difficult for challengers against incumbent Commissioners. The last challenger to beat an incumbent DeKalb County Commissioner was Elaine Boyer, who beat incumbent Republican Jean Williams in a 1992 runoff. Before that, I believe the last challenger to best a DeKalb Commission incumbent was in the 1970s.
Spoiler Alert: he probably won’t get chosen. While it’s not quite as cool as that time former President George W. Bush showed up for jury duty, our Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens reports via Twitter this morning that he himself was summoned for jury duty.
I wonder if he’s swamped by people who want selfies with him.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is gearing up to go to war over Religious Liberty in the next session of the Georgia General Assembly.
Katie Kirkpatrick, the chief policy officer for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, said Indiana lecturers made three points.
“The economic consequences are real. Social media is a game-changer. And that this issue negatively affects talent recruitment and retention,” Kirkpatrick said.
In the seven days following passage of the Indiana religious liberty bill, capped by Pence’s TV appearance, Indianapolis Chamber officials counted 800 million “negative Twitter impressions,” Kirkpatrick said. More than half used the rallying hashtag “#boycottindiana.”
Chris Clark, the president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber, spoke of the price tag. “In Indiana, they quantified $1.5 billion of negative economic impact since the bill was signed,” Clark said. “They think it might be another year or two before they get a full picture because of other lost opportunities that they didn’t even know they were in the running for — primarily in the convention business.”
But Clark dropped a hint that business types might be more vocal next year. The Georgia Chamber leader said his Indiana advisers emphasized the need for early involvement.
“They said they were not ready. They weren’t prepared. They said they should have learned from what happened in Arizona (in 2014),” Clark said. “But they didn’t. They didn’t focus or pay attention to it.”
“We support religious freedom, but we oppose anything that is discriminatory, that promotes discrimination or has the appearance of promoting discrimination,” Clark said. “With the history in our state, and the potential for intolerance, we are going to oppose anything that’s discriminatory.”
Bibb County Superintendent Curtis Jones tell the Macon Telegraph that he’s cautiously optimistic about the passage of the E-SPLOST on the November ballot.
The E-SPLOST, if extended, is projected to provide about $180 million for a wish list of projects that includes a consolidation of Appling Middle and Northeast High schools to a shared campus, construction of an auditorium for each high school, a new elementary school, renovations to existing facilities, new school buses, safety and security improvements throughout the district, a campus police facility and capital projects for charter schools.
“There’s a lot of good things in this SPLOST, buildingwise, but the largest one is the consolidation of the Northeast and Appling campus,” said Jason Daniel, Bibb’s executive director of capital programs.
Jones said he understands why some voters might be wary of trusting the district.
“But my response has always been, ‘This is a new board. I am a new superintendent. We’re going to fund these things that we’re talking about and we’re going to be aboveboard with it.’ I didn’t come here to ruin my reputation by not doing that.”
Daniel points to Jones’ track record during his stint as superintendent of the Griffin-Spalding County school system, noting that “they did the same thing there (with technology upgrades)” thanks to the extra penny of sales tax on the dollar and had some “good results” with it.
District officials say they went to great lengths to legitimize the E-SPLOST process by holding community forums and conducting surveys.
What’s more, the school system worked with the Georgia Department of Education to create a long-term facilities study on potential projects, which was validated by local facility directors.
Augusta Commissioners have racked up more than $4300 in charges on gas cards this year, according to the Augusta Chronicle.
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