Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for September 1, 2023

The Stars and Stripes first flew in battle on September 3, 1776 at Cooch’s Bridge, Delaware.

On September 4, 1682, Edmund Halley first sighted the comet that bears his name.

A fleet of 22 French ships arrived off the coast of Savannah on September 3, 1779 to help wrest control of the city from the British.

Congress created the United States Treasury Department on September 2, 1789.

With the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, the American government established a permanent Treasury Department in hopes of controlling the nation’s debt. President George Washington named his former aide-de-camp, Alexander Hamilton, to head the new office. The former New York lawyer and staunch Federalist stepped in as Secretary of the Treasury on September 11. Hamilton soon outlined a practical plan for reviving the nation’s ailing economy: the government would pay back its $75 million war debt and thus repair its badly damaged public credit.

Former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason on September 1, 1804.

Scheduled steamship service first began on September 4, 1807, when Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat began plying the trade on the Hudson River.

On September 3, 1862, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended in Atlanta and within five miles of its border by the Confederate government. Two years later, September 3, 1864, General William T. Sherman would occupy Atlanta.

Atlanta Mayor James Calhoun surrendered the city to federal forces on September 2, 1864.

Calhoun’s two-sentence letter, directed to Brig.-Gen. William Ward stated: “Sir: The fortune of war has placed Atlanta in your hands. As mayor of the city I ask protection of non-combatants and private property.”

General William T. Sherman ordered all civilians out of Atlanta on September 4, 1864.

On September 1, 1865, Confederate Lieutenant General John Bell Hood withdrew his troops from Atlanta, destroying supply depots and setting ablaze 81 railcars loaded with ammunition.

The Georgia General Assembly expelled 25 of 29 African-American members from the State House on September 3, 1868, arguing that Georgia’s constitution did not allow them to hold office.

The cornerstone of the Georgia State Capitol was laid on September 2, 1885.

The last hanging in Atlanta took place on September 1, 1922 outside the Fulton County jail.

Approximately 5,000 people gathered outside the Fulton County jail to witness the hanging.

Vince Dooley was born on September 4, 1932. Happy birthday, coach!

Anne Frank, age 15, and seven other Jews who were hiding together in Amsterdam were the last Dutch prisoners transported to Auschwitz on September 3, 1944.

Japan surrendered to the United States on the deck of USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.

On Sunday, September 2, more than 250 Allied warships lay at anchor in Tokyo Bay. The flags of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China fluttered above the deck of the Missouri. Just after 9 a.m. Tokyo time, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on behalf of the Japanese government. General Yoshijiro Umezu then signed for the Japanese armed forces, and his aides wept as he made his signature.

Supreme Commander MacArthur next signed, declaring, “It is my earnest hope and indeed the hope of all mankind that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past.” Nine more signatures were made, by the United States, China, Britain, the USSR, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz signed for the United States. As the 20-minute ceremony ended, the sun burst through low-hanging clouds. The most devastating war in human history was over.

Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out National Guard troops to prevent the desegregation under court order of Little Rock’s Central High School on September 4, 1957.

Author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien died on September 2, 1973.

Having received the Democratic nomination for President, Jimmy Carter began the General Election with an address from his front porch in Plains, Georgia on September 3, 1976.

On September 1, 2004, United States Senator Zell Miller, a Democrat, spoke at the Republican National Convention.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Governor Brian Kemp will survey parts of South Georgia to assess hurricane damage, according to WALB.

Governor Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp will make their way to Valdosta to meet with state and local officials from EMA agriculture and other departments.

He will also hold a news conference to give updates on overall recovery efforts Friday afternoon.

Governor Kemp will not entertain calls to target Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to the Savannah Morning News.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is rejecting calls to discipline or remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her position following the fourth indictment of former President Donald Trump.

“As long as I’m governor, we are going to follow the law and the Constitution regardless of who it helps politically,” Kemp said during a press conference Thursday.

The governor said calling a special session of the Georgia legislature to remove Willis from her position, which some Trump-aligned legislators have demanded, is not feasible and “may ultimately prove to be unconstitutional.”

“Up to this point, I have not seen any evidence that DA Willis’ actions or lack thereof warrant action by the prosecuting attorney oversight commission,” he said. “But that will ultimately be a decision the commission will make.”

From the AJC:

“The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia as long as I’m governor, we’re going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps and harms politically,” Kemp said. “Over the last few years, some inside and outside of this building may have forgotten that. But I can assure you that I have not.”

Kemp added: “In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment. We will do what is right. We will uphold our oath to public service. And it is my belief that our state will be better off for it.”

The governor is pushing back against an effort by Republican state Sen. Colton Moore to impeach Willis in the General Assembly. Beyond the significant legal issues that raises, the push is politically impossible because it requires Democratic support.

Republicans, the governor said, should be talking to Georgians about their economic policies and public safety platforms and “not focused on the past, or some grifter scam that somebody’s doing to help them raise a few dollars into their campaign account.”

The governor joined a chorus of Republicans seeking to lower the temperature of the escalating rhetoric. House Speaker Jon Burns wrote a lengthy letter to Republicans warning that the initiative flouts “the idea of separation of powers, if not outright violates it.”

“These rules and laws work both ways for all parties — Republican, Democrat or otherwise,” the governor said. “And you have to be very careful when you’re in power in government not to abuse that power, because if you do, you set the precedent for the other side using what you did in the future against them.”

Bluestein gets five bonus points for correctly using the word “flouts” instead of “flaunts.”

Former Governor Nathan Deal spoke at Brenau University on Tuesday, according to AccessWDUN.

Deal’s lecture titled “The Keeping of Our Republic” discussed the challenges of the past 250 years to our form of government at the state and federal levels.

“It’s an honor to be invited, I get a lot of invitations to things. But I think it’s always important for us to be an educated population,” Deal said. “I think that’s the great thing about the BULLI program is that even those who are perhaps beyond the normal timeframe of being educated in a college or whatever, that they can continue to learn, and they can continue to explore topics, that perhaps some of them like me, have always wanted to do, but never had the time while they were living and working and raising family.”

“The Keeping of Our Republic” will be expanded into an in-person six-week BULLI course taught by the former Governor.

“It comes from the statement that Benjamin Franklin made when he was asked the question at the end of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, ‘What have you given us, Dr. Franklin?’” Deal said. “And his answer was, ‘A republic, if you can keep it.’ So we’ve been keeping it for these 236 years. It’s always good for us to review where we came from, and see how we got to where we are now, and then try to forecast where we may be going in the future.”

“It’s important for us to remember that our founding fathers when they were drawing up our Constitution, they always deferred to two things. One was the states, the importance of the states,” Deal said. “And secondly, and more important than the first was the people. It was always the idea that it was the people who were the very backbone of our country. We forget that sometimes. We get so caught up on other things that we forget that we have responsibilities to make sure we keep the Republic.”

In his lecture, Deal talked about the importance of the judicial branch and how it is the backbone of looking at the country through history.

“The judicial branch is the best one to look at, in terms of where we are, in terms of how we’ve progressed to deal with issues that are very different and impossible for our founding fathers to actually contemplate,” Deal said.

“I have always believed that one of the most, if not the most, important function of anybody who is an elected official is to serve the people, the people who elected you,” Deal said. “People have problems. They have problems with understanding what their government and the government programs that affect their lives actually do. And they need help. So I always felt like the greatest service that, especially as a member of Congress, that I could provide, was to help them with their problems.”

The Georgia Department of Transportation will not close lanes this weekend, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

To allow for the anticipated increase in Labor Day weekend traffic congestion, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has announced the suspension of lane closures on Georgia interstates and state routes beginning Friday, Sept. 1, at noon until 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5.

While construction-related lane closures will be suspended, the department reminds travelers to exercise caution as crews may still work near highways, and safety concerns associated with Hurricane Idalia may require some long-term lane closures to remain in place. In addition, incident management, emergency or maintenance-related lane closures could become necessary at any time on any route.

GDOT’s seven-day travel forecast for metro Atlanta interstates this holiday weekend indicates the heaviest traffic volumes will occur on Friday, Sept. 1. Motorists can expect to add approximately 30-45 minutes to their travel times.

An Augusta Commission Committee will consider a “right-sizing” proposal, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

The Augusta Commission Administrative Services committee this week approved the administrator’s rightsizing plan as a working document.

The proposal from Takiyah Douse, interim administrator for the Augusta consolidated government, totaled more than $10 million either in savings or new revenue, although some proposals are still tentative pending a compensation study. The proposal was prepared in response to the end of federal funds provided due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be running out.

The committee had previously heard a presentation on the proposal and taken no action in July. On Tuesday, several commissioners expressed disappointment that so much of the plan was based on projections of revenue growth and not hard cuts to departments.

“It’s different from what I would have thought would have been given,” Commissioner Wayne Guilfoyle said. “I would have separated the hard costs from the soft costs, and find hard dollars.”

Turtle nerds are checking out the nesting situation in coastal Georgia and South Carolina after Idalia, according to WTOC.

About a third of the sea turtle nests on Hilton Head Island are yet to hatch so far this summer, and the concern heading into Idalia was that they would flood. That the water, and the storm surge would come up so high that it would rise to levels above where these nests have been laid and the nests would be inundated with water, killing all the eggs. For the most part, they don’t think that happened.

WTOC did a ride along with the sea turtle patrol Thursday morning as they started to go out and take inventory of this storm’s impacts. They said, at this point in the season, it’s too late to relocate nests, so heading into Idalia all they could do was hope for the best and cross their fingers the storm surge didn’t get too high.

“I believe it’s better than it was, than we thought it was going to be. Susan and I were personally out on the beach Tuesday evening, and it seems that the tide is about the same as it was Tuesday evening maybe a little bit worse, but I think we are better off than we thought we would be,” Carrell Cranswick, with Sea Turtle Patrol, said.

Sea Turtle Patrol said that two nests were lost to storm surge and 12 nests were significantly overwashed but could make it. There were a total of 348 nests on Hilton Head Island this year.

Floyd County Board of Elections will vote on moving some voting locations, according to the Rome News Tribune.

The Floyd County Elections Board is set to meet on Tuesday, and one of the orders of business is to move the location of three voting sites. Up for changes are the Town Rome, East Rome and Fosters Mills locations.

The called meeting will take the place of the regular elections board September meeting. Lee said in order to move the voting locations the board needs to take action 60 days prior to the election, to provide enough notice to the voters.

The city precincts will have the Ward 1 and Ward 3 Rome City Commission races on the ballot, and all precincts will see the countywide SPLOST referendum. Early voting will begin on Oct. 16 and election day is Nov. 7