Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for September 13, 2016

The Second Continental Congress opened in Philadelphia on September 13, 1775; Georgia was represented by Archibald Bulloch, Lyman Hall,  John Houstoun, and John Zubly.

On September 13, 1788, the Confederation Congress voted to implement the Constitution and authorized states to elect Senators and Representatives and called the first Presidential election, with selection of presidential electors in the states to be held on January 7, 1789, and February 4, 1789 as the day electors would cast their ballots.

The first two women to enter the Georgia General Assembly, Viola Ross Napier of Bibb County and Atlanta Constitution reporter Bessie Kempton of Fulton County, were elected on September 13, 1922.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich held a Town Hall meeting at Kennesaw State University to promote the Trump-Pence ticket. From the Marietta Daily Journal,

“I hope all of you will take a little time in your prayers to include Secretary Clinton. She’s our opponent, she’s not our enemy. We wish her well. I’ve known her for 24 years, and I was a little concerned for her yesterday, and I think that none of us wish her ill,” Gingrich said. “We want to defeat her fairly and honorably.”

One of Gingrich’s first points against Clinton was in regards to her characterization that half of Trump’s supporters belonged in “a basket of deplorables.”

“She said the ‘deplorables’ were racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic. The left has done such a terrible job at a practical level that they cannot have a discussion about the real world. Donald Trump goes to Detroit to a black church in a city where the schools are failing so badly that only 5 to 6 percent of the third-graders can read, literally condemning generations of young African-Americans to a hopeless future. How are you going to debate that?” Gingrich said. “So you have to yell ‘racism.’ You cannot defend the disaster that their policies create.”

“The whole thing about Hillary and the emails, I know all about cyber security. It’s a farce, a joke, and stuff that she talks about, it’s insulting to people in the technology area,” said Kathy Potts, who was among three women who had taken Clinton’s “deplorables” comment in stride. They were each wearing homemade T-shirts with the word “deplorables” on it.

“We are not ‘deplorables.’ We are smart, we volunteer at all the schools for our kids, and we like Trump,” said Becky Love, an east Cobb resident and preschool teacher at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church who joined Potts in wearing such a shirt, as did Darcy Ode Butkus, an animal-rights advocate who had spent 20 years as a pharmaceutical rep.

Here’s Leo Smith of the Georgia Republican Party with the three Deplorables.

Leo Smith wrote about the Kennesaw Town Hall in medium.com

One of the key skills of engagement with an audience across difference is having a willingness to accept their truth. Some call it empathetic listening. Newt Gingrich, in a Town Hall Meeting for 2016 Presidential Candidate Donald Trump did exactly that today in Georgia. The result was young black American students who felt engaged enough to connect with the message even if not the messenger.

At least one student, who’d held his fist up in protest of racial injustices while the American Pledge was recited, trusted the messenger in the room enough to ask thoughtful questions at the end of the former Republican Speaker of the House’s pro-Trump presentation.

Gingrich’s ability to connect was highlighted in a key moment when he agreed with the black male collegiate’s assertion that Donald Trump over-generalized about the state of black America.

Gingrich also discussed Georgia’s role in the upcoming election. From the AJC,

“Georgia is a key battleground in this fight,” Gingrich said. “We have an obligation to go out to all our fellow citizens and make sure they understand how big the gap is. You believe in the Second Amendment and the right to own guns, you have to be for Trump. Believe in economy based on hard work … you have to be for Trump.

“You go down the list. We have to make sure that every Georgian understands how really serious the choice is.”

In a press gaggle after the Town Hall, Gingrich was asked whether Georgia is turning purple and said,

“I went backed and looked at how Michelle Nunn was doing at about this stage [in 2014]. Georgia looks a little more purple in September than it turns out to vote in November.

You can watch a short video of the press gaggle here.

Yesterday the Trump-Pence campaign released a new ad called “Deplorables”.

The Trump campaign in Georgia also released a statement by Brigadier General Norman Ham, USAF (Ret.) of Fayetteville.

“This weekend, Hillary Clinton dropped her act momentarily and admitted to a group of wealthy Wall Street donors what she really thinks of tens of millions of ordinary hardworking Americans who support Donald Trump – that half of us are “deplorable” haters and racists, and the other half are just too stupid to make up their own minds about who should be our next President.”

“Well Hillary, we have one question for you — into which of those two halves do we and millions of our fellow veterans fall?  While serving in combat with the US Air Force, I lost brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and stood with Gold Star families to meet the bodies of the fallen heroes who gave their lives to protect our freedom and were coming home for the last time.”

“Anyone who would consider some of these brave American families to be either ‘deplorable’ or ‘stupid’ isn’t fit to be our Commander in Chief”.

Senator Tim Kaine will visit Atlanta to raise money for the Clinton-Kaine campaign, according to the AJC.

Kaine will be the honored guest at a pair of events Sept. 25 at the homes of Dr. Stephen and Arnika Dawkins and Teresa and Joseph Roseborough.

A hefty $33,400 ticket gets one a lunch, photo and reception with Kaine while $5,000 brings a photo and reception. See the invitation here.

Congressman Doug Collins appears to have notched a victory against the IRS, as the service announces it will add staff to a local office.

The Internal Revenue Service will be increasing its staff at its Gainesville office in the latest volley between the agency and Ninth Congressman Doug Collins (R-Gainesville).The office will be adding a second full-time employee to the Oak Street facility starting in October, according to a letter sent from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to Collins, and the office will be transitioning to an automated, online appointment system, moving away from the “golden ticket” system (as Collins put it) that had to be employed previously.

“We’re very pleased that they have come to see the need for returning assets to Gainesville,” said Collins in a phone interview.

Koskinen said in the letter that his agency is hopeful that more

Opportunity School District Amendment

Conservative AJC Columnist Kyle Wingfield writes that local control would be enhanced by passage of the Opportunity School District amendment.

Opponents of the OSD argue the local school board is where the authority properly lies. They have the advantage of tradition on their side: That’s the way it’s always been.

But the way it’s always been has never produced the results we’ve always needed. Local school-board elections — in communities where parents of current students are typically outnumbered by other voters — have not provided the accountability needed to end chronic failure in far too many places, both urban and rural.

The OSD would not shift the local board’s power to the state so much as allow the state to drill below the local board’s level and insert that power in the schoolhouse itself.

While the OSD’s superintendent would have four options for dealing with schools selected for takeover, I think most close observers agree the most common option would be converting them to state charter schools.

No school has more local control than a charter school. It has its own governing board, rather than the board for the whole district. And that board has real power: over finances, hiring and firing, curriculum, and so on. That’s much more power at a lower level than the vast majority of public schools have. At OSD schools that don’t become charters, there will still be advisory school councils.

The Dougherty County Board of Education will consider whether to support or oppose the OSD Amendment.

The board discussed the policy Monday night, but declined to make any official decision until its next meeting.

“More research to come up with a conclusion to decide whether or not it’s best for Dougherty County School Systems to sign a resolution to support or not support what the governor is putting out,” said Velvet Riggins with the school board.

A group opposed to the OSD is airing the following ad.

The Committee to Keep Georgia Schools Local says it rounded up more than $730,000 for an ad buy this week that’s mostly focused on the vote-rich Atlanta media market.