Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for September 26, 2016

On September 26, 1928, future President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke in Atlanta on behalf of Democrat Alfred Smith’s campaign for President.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle will soon add another title – published author – when his book, Education Unleashed, goes on sale October 3d.

From the blurb at Amazon.com

What is the purpose of public education? Writing from his experience as a father, small business owner, and policymaker, Georgia’s Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle presents a comprehensive vision to transform the way that public schools educate our students. Beginning with an idea which unites all Americans–that public education establishes the foundational promise of opportunity for all individuals by empowering us with the ability to learn, develop, and obtain anything we are willing to work for–Cagle makes the case for reforming our schools and rethinking the premise behind how we set and measure goals for student achievement. This is truly the challenge of a generation.

Public schools are important–not just because of the millions of students who will spend thirteen years of their lives learning and preparing for the future in their classrooms–but also for the hundreds of thousands of teachers and educators who spend countless hours each week going above and beyond their duties to make sure all students are able to succeed. Most importantly, the central role of public education includes fostering the strength of our families, communities, and upholding the guiding principles of our nation.

Seeking to remove the obstacles that impede student achievement, while eliminating any justification for complacency in our schools, Cagle explains a thoughtful vision for the future of public education, turning the status quo on its head in favor of leading individual systems, schools, teachers, students, and communities to educational excellence–today and for future generations.

Democratic VP candidate Tim Kaine was in Atlanta yesterday, for a private fundraiser and a public stop at Gwinnett Place Mall for the Fiesta Mexicana.

Kaine shook hands and spoke with dozens of people before he was enticed on stage by festival hosts from the La Raza radio station.

Kaine, who once worked in Honduras, spoke briefly to the crowd in Spanish. He first asked if anyone in the crowd was from Honduras. A few indicate they were.

“There are people from Mexico, right?” he said, according to a translation provided by the campaign. “But we are all Americans, right? I’m in Georgia because the Latino vote in Georgia is a powerful vote.”

In Gwinnett County, a majority-minority county, that may be true, but Latinos make up just 2 percent of the state’s registered voters and 4 percent of Georgia’s voting-age population. The number of Latinos registered to vote, however, has increased by 47 percent since 2010, according to data from the secretary of state.

“The population is growing really fast and the Latino vote can make the difference in almost every election here,” Kaine said. “I trust Hillary Clinton because we support the Latino community, we want to reform our immigration system, because we are a nation of immigrants not a nation of deportations.”

A Trump-Pence event in Macon featured well-known African-American supporters of the GOP nominee.

Diamond and Silk urged others to ditch the Democratic party for Trump. The sisters from North Carolina spoke their minds and threw political correctness out the window.

The sisters shared the same type of political commentary as on their YouTube channel, “The Viewers View.”

“I’m tired of being up under the bus, and you know I’m not trying to talk about Obama,” Diamond said.

Diamond continued, “Because there ain’t no sense crying over spilled milk. … We’re going to bring somebody in like Donald J. Trump that can clean up the milk.”

Jones County may have been the safest place in Georgia when more than 40 Georgia sheriffs were hosted.

More than a quarter of Georgia’s 159 elected sheriffs attended the fourth annual Salute to the Georgia Sheriffs in Jones County on Thursday.

“It’s just a pleasure to be in a crowd that makes you feel at home and lets you know you’re appreciated,” Terry Norris, Executive Director of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association said.

At a time when law enforcement feels push back, Norris wanted the state’s top cops to be thanked.

“Most people don’t realize the public truly supports law enforcement,” Norris said. “It’s no surprise that we had such a good turnout today as we have in past years.”

There were approximately 500 people that attended.

Henry County Sheriff Keith McBrayer was profiled by the Henry Herald.

Keith McBrayer is a lifelong Henry County resident and has worked with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office most of his adult life. Even so, he continues to look for innovative ways to keep the department moving forward as he seeks re-election to his third term as sheriff.

“I’ve been here a long time. I have watched Henry County grow and change, and I have grown and changed with it,” McBrayer said. “I come to work every day excited to serve the people in our county.”

Staying on the cutting edge of technology has been a priority for McBrayer. For example, he said, all the patrol cars have computers so that deputies can enter in the information when they serve papers. All deputies, including baliffs at the courthouse, are equipped with Tasers, giving them another option when confronting a combative individual. An iris scanner is now in place in the jail as part of the book-in and book-out process. The Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team is equipped and trained so that they can assist the Flint Circuit Drug Task Force with drug raids.

McBrayer also said that the Sheriff’s Office has a firearms simulator. This way, deputies receive ongoing firearms training not only at the firing range but with the simulator that places them in various situations where they have to decide when and if to shoot.

“We do a lot of training on judgmental firearms use,” he said. “In today’s time, you cannot train officers enough so they can stay on track mentally, keep up with the laws that are changing constantly or all the physical work we do.”

Gwinnett County voters can hear from candidates at a forum Tuesday night.

New Jerusalem Baptist Church’s Political Action Ministry, the United Ebony Society, the Gwinnett County Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and Raising Empowered Voices Uplifting People Inc. will host a Gwinnett County Candidates Forum at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The gathering will give voters a chance to hear from candidates in the races for county commission chairman, commissioner District 3 and state House of Representatives districts 81, 96, 101, 102, 105 and 108. Former Snellville Mayor Kelly Kautz will moderate the forum.

“The purpose of the candidate forum is to give Gwinnett voters an opportunity to hear candidates discuss the issues of importance to them in this election,” organizers said in an announcement. “This event is free and open to the public as well as the media.”

The church is located at 422 E. Crogan St., in Lawrenceville.

France awarded the Legion of Honor to Whitemarsh Island, Georgia resident James Livingston.

“On behalf of France and the French people, I am here to thank you, James L. Livingston, for the role that you played in liberating France and defending the values of freedom and democracy that we have in common,” [Honorary French Consul Denis] Blackburne said during the ceremony.

Safe Harbor Amendment

Senator Renee Unterman spoke to Maggie Lee of the Macon Telegraph about Constitutional Amendment 2, the Safe Harbor Amendment.

Every year, hundreds of Georgia children, some as young as 9, are lured to run away, or they’re brainwashed. They’re pimped, sold for sex.

“People in the rural areas they say, ‘It doesn’t happen here.’ (But) it happens any place you got the internet. You got chat rooms and kids run away from home. Or they make an acquaintance in the chat rooms, and they get picked up,” she said.

And it happens wherever you have a lot of potential buyers passing through, she said. Like say, on the big highways through Macon.

If Georgia voters approve, people convicted of things like pimping would pay a new $2,500 fine, above whatever a court may fine them. And strip clubs would pay a fee of either $5,000 or 1 percent of their annual revenue, whichever is greater.

Those collections would be worth about $2 million for services for children who have been extracted from the sex trade.

As for the question of the fund for victims, early voting begins Oct. 17. The final day to vote is Election Day, Nov. 8.

In the Savannah Morning News, Kris Rice writes in favor of voting Yes on the Safe Harbor Amendment.

Amendment 2 would allow the development of a fund to provide services to sexually exploited children and teens — without the need to levy any new taxes.

Services desperately needed for these young victims include shelter, therapy, educational resources and medical care, but particularly lacking in our part of the state is housing. Currently, only two such facilities are available for juvenile trafficking victims, both in the Atlanta area.

Unfortunately, however, of eight girls placed in one of those two group homes earlier this summer, six were from the Savannah area.

Developing appropriate options for safe and secure therapeutic shelter is crucial — away from the city centers 
the girls’ pimps frequent, and the streets they know so well — and in areas away from urban cores. But without adequate funding to support the development of such residential treatment facilities in southeast Georgia, these girls will continue to be forced to ply their trade in seedy motels in Savannah and surrounding areas.

We have an opportunity to change that.

Let’s do so. For the future of our exploited kids, please vote “yes” on Amendment 2 on Nov. 8.

Kris Rice is the former director of the Coastal Children’s Advocacy Center in Savannah.

Opportunity School District Amendment

State Rep. Brooks Coleman, Chairman of the House Education Committee and a retired career educator from Gwinnett County writes in favor of passing the Opportunity School District Amendment.

Voting “yes” would allow for the creation of the Opportunity School District. If approved by voters this November, the OSD would authorize the state to temporarily intervene in chronically failing public schools and rescue the children languishing within them. These are schools receiving an “F” on standardized tests for three consecutive years.

Unfortunately, we have almost 68,000 students in Georgia trapped in these failing schools. The graduation rate for students attending failing schools is an abysmal 55.7 percent. As a former teacher, principal and assistant superintendent for the Gwinnett County School System and current chairman of the State House of Representatives Education Committee, this statistic is not acceptable. That is why I support the sorely needed state intervention and passage of the Opportunity School District amendment.

Supporters of the status quo continue to use scare tactics to intimidate voters and parents; however, what’s really scary is the fact that there are 68,000 children trapped in these failing schools statewide. These groups have yet to come forward with any viable solutions to fix that. How much longer can our students wait for their districts to turn these failing schools around?

The OSD will give our neighborhoods a needed voice for change, and hold those accountable that refuse to roll up their sleeves and commit to improving Georgia’s schools. The OSD has been uniquely designed to heavily involve local parents and teachers, improve failing schools and meet the needs of our local communities.

It would be a mistake to continue to devote precious taxpayer funds to schools where failure is the norm and accountability for those in charge is altogether absent. Children are suffering – in some instances for the entire duration of their K-12 careers – because of it.

We have a real chance on Nov. 8 to provide students, families and communities a lifeline. Voting “yes” on Question 1, the Opportunity School District amendment, is a vote to ensure that future generations of Georgians will have the best opportunities available. It is an opportunity to declare that in Georgia, the zip code you were born into will not determine your path in life.

Robert A. Clay, also a retired educator, writes against the OSD Amendment.

The OSD superintendent would determine if the school taken over would be, (1) operated by the OSD, (2) converted to a state charter school, which currently are experiencing a 25 percent failure rate, (3) operated by the local board of education under strict supervision and veto power by the OSD, (4) closed completely with students re-assigned to other schools.

The OSD superintendent would also determine if services would be purchased from for-profit educational service providers. The superintendent or charter governing board would make all decisions, including those regarding finances, personnel and curriculum.

Funding for opportunity schools would be with regular local, state and federal entitlements, plus any special appropriations made by the Legislature or received from private solicitations.

I urge you to vote no on Amendment No. 1 in November. Then urge Georgia’s political leaders to redirect the $50-plus million in tax credits given annually for scholarships to private schools. These schools are not subject to the state grading system and never risk being labeled failing. Use these redirected funds in schools labeled as failing to provide tutoring for students, additional training for teachers, school and district level leaders and parents and rigorous supervision by the Georgia Department of Education.

And from Carrollton’s Times-Georgian,

“I don’t speak for our entire board, but I believe we have a consensus that the Opportunity School District is something that we oppose,” said Mike Rothschild, a Carrollton Board of Education at-large member. “I have to applaud Gov. Deal for coming up with a plan to help failing schools, but this would eliminate the system of checks and balances we have between our state and local government.”

Carroll County Superintendent Scott Cowart urged voters to oppose the amendment during the November elections.

“Some of the concerns we have with that is that the state has changed the way they have rated the CCRPI each of the last three years,” said Cowart. “There is no consistency in how they grade the CCRPI from year to year because it has changed each year.”