Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for October 26, 2021

Colonists in Georgia signed a letter allowing the beginning of the slave trade in Georgia on October 26, 1749.

Georgia Sons of Liberty protested against the British Stamp Act on October 26, 1765.

A state Constitutional Convention at Milledgeville, Georgia repealed the state’s Ordinance of Secession on October 26, 1865.

President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act on October 26, 2001.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Compare CNN’s treatment of the Braves winning the National League Championship “How Georgia’s governor turned a moment of celebration into one of division” to their treatment of MLB’s decision to pull the All-Star game from Georgia. “MLB moving All-Star Game from Georgia after state passes new restrictive voting laws.”

Early voting continues in Columbus with a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax on the ballot, according to WTVM.

Early voting for how Columbus’s SPLOST funds will be used wraps up this Friday. Citizens are given the option to vote to approve a 1% increase in sales tax that would benefit local projects.

Mayor Henderson tells us about 1500 people have voted early and about 500 absentee ballots have been requested. You can make your voice heard in the special election on November 2.

Houston Circuit Superior Court Judge Katherine Lumsden removed elected Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Mark Jones’s lawyer from representing him, according to WSAV.

Superior Court Judge Katherine Lumsden on Monday removed Christopher Breault from representing Columbus-area District Attorney Mark Jones. That’s because Breault could be a witness in the trial scheduled to start Nov. 8.

Breault contacted a potential witness in an electronic message that prosecutors cite as part of the misconduct allegations against Jones.

From WTVM:

Attorney Chris Breault released a statement on the proceedings saying:

“It is clear that Judge Lumsden is prejudiced against DA Mark Jones and determined to deprive him of a fair trial. She is very biased in favor of Law Enforcement—her husband is a long-time member of the Georgia State Patrol. This afternoon we filed a Motion to Disqualify Unfair and Biased Judge, and expect her to be removed from the case.”

Separate from this case, the charges against Jones in the destruction of property case where he was accused to damaging property at the Columbus Civic Center, have been dropped by the state.

From the Ledger-Enquirer:

Of Breault’s exchange with Loyd, Lumsden wrote: “The use of the defendant’s private lawyer/friend (not law enforcement or the DA’s investigator) to find and persuade a witness is unheard of and fraught with ethical problems…. However, trying to explain the ethical issues this conduct creates for a member of the bar and how Mr. Breault’s conduct is properly attributable to the defendant potentially takes us far beyond the defendant’s case being considered by this jury.”

Breault represented Jones in a September trial on felony charges Jones damaged the Columbus Civic Center parking lot while filming a 2020 campaign video. That ended in a mistrial, and the charges finally were dismissed in an order Superior Court Judge Jeffery Monroe signed Oct. 22. Records show that dismissal also was filed Monday morning, around the same time as Lumsden’s order, which was dated Oct. 23.

Jones was indicted Sept. 7 on nine felony charges alleging he tried to influence witnesses, to persuade a detective to commit perjury, and to bribe staff prosecutors by offering them $1,000 to win convictions in murder cases.

During Thursday’s hearing, Breault asked Lumsden what was wrong with Jones’ offering bonuses for murder convictions. Lumsden said it’s illegal.

“You cannot pay your employees by conviction,” she said. “The law is very clear…. It’s prohibited by state statute, Mr. Breault.”

Breault said Monday that Lumsden still has not cited the state law to which she referred, despite his request for a specific code section.

I’m honestly curious about that last part. Can an elected District Attorney not lawfully pay performance bonuses to staff attorneys? Shouldn’t that be legal? Why not?

Some Democratis voters are getting angry at their own party, according to the AJC.

LaTosha Brown, the Georgia-based co-founder of Black Voters Matter, wanted to let the Democrats in charge in Washington know that she is losing patience.

“The Democrats have a responsibility to use the fullness of the power which we’ve given them so that they actually protect the voting rights, they protect the democracy in this country,” she said. “I am glad that they’ve gotten on one page where there is the passage of the bill, but they also have another tool available to them, which is to end the filibuster for the sake of moving forward.”

A poll conducted in May on behalf of the AJC found that 46% of Georgians approve of the new law and 44% oppose it. But there was a sharp partisan divide: 81% of Republicans supported the state’s changes while 75% of Democrats did not.

Half of Georgians are now fully-vaccinated against COVID, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Athens Banner Herald.

“Having 50% of Georgians fully vaccinated is a positive step toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic in the state,” Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Kathleen Toomey said.

“However, COVID-19 continues to spread in Georgia, particularly in areas of low vaccination rates, causing severe illness and death — deaths that are preventable.”

Georgia state government has enough rainy day funds to stay open for more than a month, according to the Center Square via the Albany Herald.

Georgia had enough money in its rainy day fund to cover 39.3 days of expenses before finishing last fiscal year with a surplus, according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Pew report ranked Georgia 17th-highest in the U.S. for the number of days its rainy day fund could keep the government running based on estimates at the end of the previous fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Pew estimated Georgia had $2.7 billion in its rainy day fund at the end of June. The state ended the last fiscal year with a $3.7 billion surplus, however, and added more funding to its rainy day fund as a result, the State Accounting Office reported in September.

Georgia’s rainy day grew to nearly $4.3 billion because of the surplus. State law requires 15% of the state’s general revenue funds be placed in the reserve account.

“States use reserves and balances to manage budgetary uncertainty, including revenue forecasting errors, budget gaps during economic downturns, and other unforeseen emergencies, such as natural disasters,” Pew’s report said. “This financial cushion can soften the need for severe spending cuts or tax increases when states need to balance their budgets.”

President Joe Biden nominated Michèle Taylor as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to the AJC.

She’s the second Georgian to be nominated to serve in a key diplomatic post in weeks.

Taylor is a board member of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and has helped lead a range of other humanitarian groups. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, she also was a member of the Holocaust Memorial Museum Council.

She has deep ties to local Democratic politics. She was the vice chair of the Democratic Party’s finance committee and played leadership roles in former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s 2013 re-election campaign and Michelle Nunn’s unsuccessful 2014 U.S. Senate bid.

United States Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Extreme Northwest Georgia) will hold a Tele Town Hall on Wednesday, according to the Rome News Tribune.

13WMAZ spoke to the candidates for Mayor of Dublin.

Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Tiffany Porter (D) will send out revised property tax bills to Grayson residents. This will cost Gwinnett County taxpayers so that the Commissioner could try to pad her own income. From the AJC:

Gwinnett County Tax Commissioner Tiffany Porter will mail out revised bills to Grayson residents on Nov. 1, her office announced Monday. The bills will list both county and city taxes and be due by Jan. 1.

A Superior Court judge ruled in September that Porter must collect property taxes on behalf of Grayson, a city with less than 5,000 residents. The city filed a lawsuit against Porter after she declined to collect without personal compensation.

Porter planned to challenge the judge’s order, but that’s no longer the case. Former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who represented Porter in the lawsuit, told the AJC in a Monday email that they do not plan to appeal.

“Commissioner Porter determined that it was in everyone’s best interest at this time to settle with the City of Grayson as long as the city was willing to give her the additional time she needed to get the job done,” Sears said.

Grayson’s lawsuit came after Gov. Brian Kemp signed Senate Bill 201 into law earlier this year. The law stops tax commissioners in select counties from negotiating tax contracts with cities to increase their own pay and instead gives responsibility for negotiations to county commissions.

The state law currently affects only Fulton and Gwinnett because it only applies to counties with more than 50,000 tax parcels or 14 or more cities within them. Other tax commissioners in Georgia also raise their salaries by charging cities per-parcel fees for municipal tax collection.

The state Legislature hastily passed the bill after Porter, who took office this year, announced plans to charge eight Gwinnett cities a new $2-per-parcel fee for tax collection. The fees would have raised her $141,098 annual base salary by more than $110,000, making her the highest paid elected county official.

That’s not to mention the lawyers’ fees.

Athens-Clarke County is moving forward with rental assistance, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

Commissioners have tapped Athenian First Development Corporation (AFDC) to run the initiative, modeled after a similar effort in Gwinnett County. In a 7-1 vote on Oct. 19, the commission selected AFDC against staff recommendation.

Commissioner Allison Wright cast the dissenting vote. Commissioner Carol Myers was not present and Commissioner Russell Edwards did not vote.

The local government put out a request for proposals to run the program in August, receiving only one bid. Government staff had recommended re-opening the request process, citing concern over Athenian First Development’s lack of experience.

Commissioners, including Ovita Thornton, wanted to move forward so that the government could begin helping residents facing eviction. The program should be up and running in December, according to Commissioner Tim Denson.

“I’m thinking about families that are going to be on the street,” said Thornton.

Two Augusta neighborhoods complain they’re bring ignored in redistricting, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Members of an Augusta ad-hoc redistricting committee are getting an earful in response to a proposed redistricting plan, including some who say the Summerville and Forest Hills neighborhoods are being denied a voice in the process.

“District 3 has absolutely no representation,” homeowner Jane Bennett said at a Monday public hearing. “Yet it stands to be the most impacted.”

District 3 includes the two neighborhoods as well as Augusta’s only area of significant growth, around Fort Gordon, but the commission has refused to add District 3 Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight to the panel, despite her requests.

“I’m a little concerned that the members most affected are not on the committee,” said architect Robert Mauldin, a Summerville homeowner.

Dougherty County lost population since the last redistricting, according to WALB.

Dougherty County Attorney Spencer Lee said since 2010, up until 2020, the county lost more than 8,000 people.

“With the exception of District 1, each district has lost population,” said Lee.

“We’re talking about one person, one vote, each district as you know is supposed to represent approximately the same number of citizens based on the 2020 census,” explained Lee.

Now each district must be redrawn to have a little more than 14,000 people in each one.

The county’s Geographic Information System Department, a consultant or the Legislative Reapportionment Committee does this.

“Then we submit our map that we draw on our own or through our consultant to reapportionment office for technical review and this takes place before any action on our map is taken by us,” said Lee.

The map becomes official and can be implemented after the Georgia General Assembly approves it and the governor signs it.

Kudos to WALB, Molly Godley, and whoever else worked on that story. It’s an excellent description of a complicated and important process.

The Gwinnett County Board of Education has begun its redistricting process, according to the AJC.

Gwinnett County had more than 957,000 residents last year, according to the decennial census, a 19% increase over 2010. Updated population counts must be used to redraw single-member district boundaries so each has an equal number of constituents plus or minus 1%, according to the law.

All maps eventually go through the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office, which certifies them before the state legislature votes on them. The governor must sign to approve the new boundaries.

The school board could have decided to use Gwinnett County Public Schools staff or a third party, such as a law firm, for developing maps. The school district’s executive director of administration and policy, Jorge Gomez, suggested the reapportionment office because it has the expertise to make sure the process follows the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other legal standards.

The board will decide on the principles it would like to guide redistricting. For example, Gomez said, the board could propose to redraw the maps with the least amount of change to current voting districts, or to better align the districts with high school clusters, which would entail more change.

NBC will report on Chattooga County elections in 2022, according to the Rome News Tribune.

Chattooga was selected to be part of NBC News’ second iteration of the “County-to-County” initiative. In 2020, the network met with officials from five swing-state counties who helped explain the presidential race.

Now, seven counties from across the nation, representing different demographics, are expected to illustrate which way the vote will lean come the midterms next November.

“You can’t find one county that sums up America,” NBC News’ Chuck Todd said. “We want to see where the vote is shifting. That’s why we’re in Chattooga County.”

Dougherty County Commissioners heard a request for additional funding for 2022 elections, according to the Albany Herald.

Frederick Williams, chairman of the Dougherty County Board of Registration and Elections, cited crowding and residents forced to wait outside for long periods of time in seeking to move elections next year from the Flint River Resource Center.

“I have a real easy task today, and that is to ask for some money for the ‘22 year,” he said, drawing chuckles from commissioners. “Last year we utilized the Civic Center for voting, and it was a tremendously good idea. We had great results. We had very few problems with restrictions and keeping order.”

The cost to hold 13 days of early voting at the Civic Center totaled $35,000, he said, and the request for the 2022 election is for 17 days. Williams said he plans to ask the city of Albany to split costs with the county.

During early voting last year, the state system used by counties crashed in the early days of polling, resulting in people waiting for hours outside in some cases.

Prior to that, Commissioner Russell Gray said, there had not been issues at the resource center. The county’s population also has declined while the cost for elections has continued to climb.

“I look at the general trend of elections going up and up and up,” Gray said. “I guess from a fiscal responsibility, if you look at the cost per vote or cost per turnout, there’s a pretty big financial burden on the county. I just have a hard time funding more and more to pay for the cost for an election. We’re not really getting any more people in to vote.”

Georgia State Sen. Donzella James (D-Atlanta) says the state needs more time to apply for federal COVID-relief funds, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Albany Herald.

The chairman of the state Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee said she hopes there will be another opportunity for Georgia to apply for aid under the American Rescue Plan Act.

“I would hope to see a second window for applications, because many people may be unable to meet the Oct. 31 deadline,” state Sen. Donzella James, D-Atlanta, said. “My hope is that everyone will be able to get the assistance they need and deserve.”

Georgians initially had 30 days to apply for aid. Gov. Brian Kemp’s budget office extended the deadline from Aug. 31 to the end of this month. Now, James said she is hoping for another extension.

“ARPA’s purpose is to deliver $350 billion for eligible state governments to respond to the COVID pandemic and bring back jobs,” James said.

Muscogee County public schools changed their quarantine policy, according to WTVM.

Students in Muscogee County will no longer have to quarantine from in-person classes after coming into close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19.

This new change was announced tonight at the school board meeting and will go into effect this Wednesday.

The Muscogee County School Board says this rule will only apply as long as the close contact happened while everyone was wearing a mask that covered their nose and mouth. This guidance is intended only for student close contacts that happen in classrooms or classroom like settings.

Bibb County public schools are beginning a national search for a new Superintendent, according to 13WMAZ.

The school board will pay up to $12,000 to the Georgia School Board Association to look for candidates, according to a contract it unanimously approved at a regular meeting last Thursday.

[Incumbent Superintendent Curtis] Jones, of Griffin, is set to retire next June. He was named Georgia Superintendent of the Year and National Superintendent of the Year in 2019. Under his leadership, graduation rates increased from 71.2% in 2015 to 80.67% in 2020. Jones’ salary was $418,612 in 2020, according to open.ga.gov.

When Jones was hired, the district was still reeling from the criminal saga surrounding disgraced former schools superintendent Romain Dallemand. Dallemand was hired in 2010 at the recommendation of a private consulting firm, ProAct Search, with which the school board contracted. That company has since been embroiled in controversy of its own.

Brunswick is considering a short-term rental ordinance, according to The Brunswick News.

Brunswick short-term rentals may soon be required to register with the city and pay a bed tax like those in the county.

The city finance committee was told at Monday’s meeting that the city ordinance would mirror one approved by Glynn County officials earlier this year.

The county hired an independent company to monitor ads to rent homes in the county, and those property owners are required to pay a tax and ensure certain requirements are met such as fire extinguishers and the guest know the limits on the number of occupants, noise and vehicles. Those who didn’t register with the county have been send letters notifying them they have 30 days before they are cited.

City attorney Brian Corry said the city cannot restrict the location or the number of vacation rentals in Brunswick. But he pointed out there are few rental units in city limits and the ordinance gives the city the ability to collect accommodation taxes. After the county’s ordinance went into effect, in July, it generated an additional $300,000 a month in tax revenue.