Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for October 20, 2021

The United States Senate ratified a treaty with France on October 20, 1805, closing the deal on the Louisiana Purchase.

On October 20, 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt stopped in Roswell to visit his mother’s girlhood home at Bulloch Hall.

Lewis Grizzard was born on October 20, 1946 at Fort Benning, Georgia.

On October 20, 1977, a small twin-engine plane carrying members of Lynyrd Skynyrd from Greenville, South Carolina to Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed in a swamp in Gillsburg, Mississippi. Singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray died in the crash.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

The State of Georgia is now going after the lawyer representing elected Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Mark Jones, according to WSAV.

A week after embattled Muscogee County District Attorney Mark Jones retained Chris Breault as his defense lawyer, the State of Georgia is asking that Breault be removed from the case.

The state’s latest motion asks Houston County Superior Court Judge Katherine K. Lumsden to disqualify Breault, because he’s a potential witness in the case.

The trial is scheduled to start on November 8th.

In the motion, the state says that Breault must take the state in the case for two reasons.

“Mr. Breault is the only person who can overcome the hearsay objection to his statements in the Facebook messages. The testimony of the murder witness can not do that. Mr. Breault’s conversations with the defendant are important to establish how Mr. Breault came in contact with the witnesss.”

Breault issued the following statement: “The authorities know they can’t beat DA Mark Jones on a fake case if I am his lawyer. They are doing everything they can to get rid of me. Like him or hate him, Mr. Jones deserves a fair trial with the counsel of his choosing.”

Breault recently represented Jones in a criminal case alleging property damage to the Columbus Civic Center parking lot during the taping of a 2020 campaign rap video. That case, tried in September, ended in a mistrial when multiple witnesses were watching live-stream video of the trial.

From the Ledger-Enquirer:

The move was expected after Deputy Attorney General John Fowler filed earlier motions naming Breault in the prosecution’s evidence of Jones’ pattern of conduct in pursuing murder cases.

Breault said Tuesday that he believes Fowler named him in prosecution motions with the intent to get him disqualified.

Fowler has described the professional relationship between Jones and Breault as “complicated,” noting that:

•  Breault represented Jones in Jones’ September trial on charges he damaged the Columbus Civic Center parking lot while filming a 2020 campaign ad. That ended in a mistrial.

•  Jones appointed Breault a special prosecutor in a case of alleged police brutality that Jones wanted to pursue.

•  Breault took over some personal injury cases from Jones’ private practice after Jones became DA.

Alieka Anderson is the likely winner of the runoff election for Clayton County Commission District 1, according to the AJC.

With all precincts reporting, Anderson garnered around 52% of the vote in the Tuesday election against challenger Alaina Reaves. The seat became open in May after the sudden death of Sonna Singleton Gregory, who had battled cancer.

Anderson and Reaves received the most votes of 10 candidates in a special election for the seat in September. However, neither received the more than 50% necessary to win the office outright.

The Chatham County Board of Elections reports advance and absentee voting numbers, according to WTOC.

They have mailed out 1,121 absentee ballots and have received 93 of those ballots back already. They want to remind people to fill out all the information on the form and make sure you sign it before returning it. The deadline to request a mail in ballot is Friday, October 22.

The county has also seen a steady flow of in-person voters. In the first week, a total of 1,342 voters cast their ballot across their 5 locations.

Columbia County Commissioners approved a draft redistricting map to send to the General Assembly, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The Columbia County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a resolution to send the map to Georgia’s Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office. The new map bears redrawn borders that determine which commissioners and Board of Education members represent which residents.

The map, which could be changed by the office, will be returned to the county for the public to review in a series of public hearings.

After populations are recounted in the U.S. Census every 10 years, counties by law must adjust districts represented by local officials to assure that each district contains about the same number of people.

Jury selection for the trial of three men who killed Ahmaud Arbery could go even longer than planned, according to WTOC.

The process of selecting a jury for the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial was supposed to take two weeks, but it will now likely stretch into a third week.

The third group of twenty jurors was sent home Tuesday after it became clear the court wouldn’t get to them today. So, that’s creating a domino effect, where the next dozen or so jury groups are being pushed back a day.

That means it’s going to take three weeks to do them all.

In that first group of 20 Monday, jurors were asked if they have a negative feeling toward Travis McMichael, and at least seven jurors raised their hand. And at least nine jurors raised a hand when asked the same about Greg McMichael, almost half of the potential jurors in the room at the time.

The jury pool this week is made up of 600 potential jurors. Ultimately, just 12 jurors and 4 alternates will be chosen to decide the outcome of the trial.

Lee County Marshal and Code Enforcement Officer Jim Wright was recognized by the Georgia Water Coalition’s annual Clean 13 list, according to the Albany Herald.

The Georgia Water Coalition publishes the list annually not only to recognize positive efforts on behalf of Georgia’s water but also as a call to action for our state’s leaders and citizens to review these success stories, borrow from them and emulate them. The report highlights individuals, businesses, industries, nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies whose extraordinary efforts have led to cleaner rivers, stronger communities and a more sustainable future for Georgians.

The work highlighted in the report includes:

Jim Wright (Lee County): In southwest Georgia’s Lee County, code enforcement officer Jim Wright has become known for his work to clean the Kinchafoonee and Muckalee creeks and make them accessible for residents and visitors for boating and fishing. Leading community cleanups, Boy Scout projects and development of public access points along the creeks, the Lee County employee and his community have transformed these waterways.

Another pair of southwest Georgia entities, Mitchell County 4-H in Camilla and White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, also were named to the Clean 13 by the Georgia Water Coalition.

Rep. Andy Welch and Sen. Chuck Hufstetler (Henry County and Floyd County): Rep. Andy Welch, R-Locust Grove, and Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, took up the cause championed by the late Rep. Jay Powell of Camilla and during the 2020 General Assembly session successfully secured legislation that restores funding for the state’s environmental trust funds. The legislation initiated a constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot that was overwhelmingly supported by voters. During the 2021 legislation session, measures were adopted that will ensure that fees collected for environmental cleanups will be used for that purpose.

The Georgia Water Coalition is a consortium of more than 285 conservation and environmental organizations, hunting and fishing groups, businesses, and faith-based organizations that have been working to protect Georgia’s water since 2002. Collectively, these organizations represent thousands of Georgians.

13WMAZ hosted a forum for the Warner Robins Mayoral and City Council candidates.

Voters in Gray will decide whether to allow liquor sales in the city, according to 13WMAZ.

On July 19, the mayor and council of the City of Gray passed a referendum to issue licenses for package sale of distilled spirits.

With Election Day just around the corner, [13WMAZ] went to Jones County and spoke with the mayor to see what he has to say.

Mayor Ed Barbee says some people bring hard liquor into the city from Milledgeville and Macon.

He says alcohol isn’t anything new to Gray, but citizens kept asking him, “When are we going to get a local packaging store?”

Right now, you can buy beer and wine in the City of Gray, even as a dry city, but you can’t buy the hard stuff. That’s why in July, the council voted unanimously to put the question of packaged distilled alcohol sales in the city on the ballot. That’s according to Mayor Ed Barbee.

“The voters, you know, the majority ones I spoke to, are for it. I support it. I think it would be beneficial, too. Like I said, it’s a possibility of additional revenue coming in, yes, but not enough to change anything in our budget. Let’s put it like that,” Barbee said.

The majority of the people we spoke to say they plan on voting for liquor stores in Gray. However, Mayor Barbee also showed a flyer that was getting passed out earlier this week encouraging folks to vote no.

If you happen to see a bottle of that Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel Bourbon seen in the video accompanying that story, please pick one up for me (if it’s a reasonable price) and I’ll happily reimburse you:-)

Nick “Big Nick” Harden will not appear on ballots for Valdosta Board of Education after he was disqualified, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

“Yesterday, I was told that I no longer qualify to run and, somehow, never did. The Elections office has, since, placed a sign on its office door discouraging voters from voting for me.”

Harden stated he will challenge the decision made by the elections office and encourages residents to continue to write him in for District 9 at-large.

Harden wrote, “As citizens and taxpayers of this community, we entrust the elections office to qualify candidates in an accurate and competent manner. A situation of this magnitude should, in no way, be overlooked or go unaddressed.”

According to the Lowndes County Board of Elections, Harden submitted his paperwork after the deadline.

Deb Cox, election supervisor, said, “Georgia law states a qualifier has seven days after the qualifying date. The qualifying date was Aug. 20 and the last day to qualify would have been Aug. 27. Harden did not submit his qualifying paperwork until Sept. 14.”

Washington City Council member Nathaniel Cullars was arrested after a scuffle with the Mayor, according to WSAV.

Nathaniel Cullars is being charged with two counts of simple battery following an incident with the city’s mayor.

Cullars’ arrest stems from an incident that happened at City Hall earlier this month. Cullars is being accused of assaulting Mayor Bill deGolian during a heated discussion.

“He got both his hands and pushed me in the chest with his fingers. It wasn’t violent, nothing like that, but it was physical touching with is a battery,” said Mayor DeGolian.

DeGolian has filed an ethics complaint against Cullars. This is the second one in the last six months.

“They’ll probably ask him to resign again, and he’ll probably say no again. But that all in terms of the Washington ordinances, they don’t have a lot of teeth, that’s all you can do. We’ll see where the criminal justice system goes with this,” said DeGolian.

Cullars said, “If you’re not a man who stands up to another man and talk the issues out then something is wrong with you.”

Cullars says he has no intention to resign from his city council seat. Elections in Washington are in just a few weeks. Cullars is up for reelection.

Georgia State Rep. Bee Nguyen (D-Atlanta) was arrested in Washington, DC, protesting her own party. From the AJC:

Several Georgians, including pastors and a Democratic state representative running for secretary of state in 2022, were arrested outside the White House on Tuesday as part of a demonstration on voting rights.

The activists at Tuesday’s demonstration expressed disappointment in President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who they believe should be doing more to change the filibuster rules that require 60 votes to proceed, which have allowed Republicans to block the elections proposals.

State Rep. Bee Nguyen, an Atlanta Democrat who is running to be Georgia’s next elections chief, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she was “here to urge the president and Congress to prioritize federal voting rights protection.” She said that if the latest bill fails to pass the procedural vote, Georgia U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock and their Democratic colleagues should change the filibuster rules.

“We need Congress and the president to do their jobs,” she told the crowd before being detained alongside 24 others. “We cannot outorganize a subversion of democracy.”

U.S. Park Police officers said they would begin making arrests after demonstrators did not respond to verbal warnings that they were breaking the law by blocking the sidewalk in front of the White House. Nguyen, who locked arms with other activists during the rally, said she was charged with a misdemeanor and paid a fine.

Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch addressed supply chain issues at the ports, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Griff Lynch: “Santa Claus is going to come to this town, and we’re going to get it done. There’s going to be some challenges for sure, but we have polled some of our largest customers, the retail customers, and they are cautiously optimistic that they’ll be able to get most of their goods in before Christmas.”

Q: President Joe Biden recently ordered ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach to move to around-the-clock operations to try and alleviate the bottleneck. What is the situation here?

GL: “Georgia Ports Authority employees (and longshoremen) work 24-7 here. Our bar pilots are constantly moving ships with the tide. Everybody’s doing what they can do. We still have a lot of containers on terminal, but just in the last few weeks, we’ve seen a 70% reduction in the long-term imports. That means those are containers that have been sitting here for three to four weeks, we’ve got that down by 70%. That’s thanks to the trucking community, the warehouse community and our major retail customers. This terminal is very fluid. We are not at a standstill. These containers are not stuck here because they can’t be pulled out.”