Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for September 29, 2016

On September 29, 1526, 600 Spanish colonists led by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon landed on the Georgia Coast, the first European colonists in Georgia.

Ayllon established San Miguel de Gualdape on Sapelo Sound in present–day McIntosh County. He sailed north from Hispaniola during the summer and first landed in present–day South Carolina. Meeting no natives, he traveled south along the coast before settling in Georgia.

To help establish the colony, Ayllon brought with him the very first group of slaves.  But hunger, disease, and conflict with the natives all took their toll, and the settlement survived for only three months.

Other sources say that the September 29, 1526 landing was in South Carolina and Vasquez de Ayllon established San Miguel de Gualdape on October 8, 1526.

WSB-TV took to the airwaves for the first time on September 29, 1948.

Personal Issues

Annette Bowling, long-time Albany doyenne, advocate and policy expert on disability issues has died.

“With great sadness, we announce the passing of Annette Bowling,” [Albany Advocacy Resource Center] Executive Director Sonny Slate said Wednesday. “The State of Georgia has lost a tremendous advocate and leader who dedicated most of her life to serving people with disabilities. We are fortunate to inherit Annette’s legacy and are challenged to carry on her good work in her honor. We will announce memorial details as they become available.”

Bowling, who retired from ARC after 40 years of service in 2014, was an ardent supporter of the needs of disabled citizens. Throughout her career, she worked as a transformative figure, turning a fledgling resource center that had an operational budget of $56,000 into an organization spanning 34 counties with more than 450 employees (more than 150 of them with disabilities) and an operating budget of $11 million.

“When Ms. Bowling took over as executive director in 1973, there were only a handful of parents taking care of their kids,” said ARC Director of Marketing and Public Relations Eddie McCarty. “As far as Albany and Southwest Georgia, there were no programs. There were no services and there was no support, but she was a visionary all of her life and she envisioned what ARC could be. Then she set about doing it.”

n 1978, with the help of then-Gov. George Busbee and legislators Charles Hatcher, Al Holloway and others, Bowling was awarded the first-ever line item for a nonprofit in the State of Georgia, for Project ARC.Bowling was also an influential figure in getting House Bill 100 passed, a bill that changed the course of mental health services in Georgia by making regional Community Service Boards the responsible agents and removing state bureaucracy from the process. With the passage of HB 100, individuals and their families were able to have a direct voice and opinion in the services and support that people with disabilities would receive.

Annette Bowling also was a friend, confidant, and mentor to many women working in government and advocating for people with disabilities, including Mrs. GaPundit. She will be sorely missed.

I also want to weigh-in with my two cents on the departure of Brandon Philips from the Trump Campaign.

Brandon did more to move the Georgia Trump Campaign forward than anyone else I’m aware of, showing creativity, discipline, and a strong work ethic. His work for Mike Collins in 2014 was of the highest caliber. I’ve worked with him over the years and always found him to be professional and mature.

I don’t think he would have had trouble over something that happened 8 years ago and was resolved if he were working in the private sector. But the cardinal sin for political professionals is to take the spotlight off the candidate for even a moment. This was clearly inside baseball. I hope Brandon will continue to work in Georgia politics, and I look forward to the chance to work with him again.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

By the numbers: as of last night, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office had mailed out 90,197 absentee ballots.

For comparison, in the 2014 U.S. Senate General Election, 104,023 mail-in absentee ballots were cast and the Gubernatorial election garnered 106,807 early voters.

In 2012, mail-in ballots accounted for 212,695 votes for President, with nearly 58% of those cast for John McCain, about 4.5% stronger than the GOP nominee did overall.

The Georgia Hispanics for Trump Coalition will hold a press conference today at 6 PM at the Gwinnett County Republican Party headquarters in Gwinnett Place Mall.

The coalition is expected to announce its leadership team, answer media question and recognize Hispanic Heritage Month, according to the Trump-Pence campaign. The coalition is chaired by Loganville City councilman Rey Martinez.

“Hispanic voter support in Georgia for the Trump-Pence campaign is growing as a result Donald Trump’s message of unleashing our economy, bolstering our national defense and making good trade deals,” Martinez said in a statement. “Donald Trump’s vision for our country is resonating strongly with all Americans, including Hispanic voters.

“As Chairman of Georgia Hispanics for Trump, I’m looking forward to bringing his message across the state of Georgia between now and Election Day.”

Georgia consumers are able to purchase some Energy Star or Water Sense products without paying sales tax this weekend.

Georgia is holding a tax-free weekend on energy-saving products with WaterSense or ENERGY STAR labels from Friday through Sunday.

Products with those labels and a price of $1,500 or less, purchased for noncommercial home or personal use, will be exempt from state and local sales taxes.

“WaterSense-labeled toilets, showerheads, faucets, irrigation controllers and other products are 20 percent more water-efficient and perform as well as or better than standard models,” said Dallas Mayor Boyd Austin, chair of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District.

Residents living in homes built in 1993 or earlier who replace an existing high-flow toilet with a new WaterSense-labeled model may qualify for a rebate from their local water utility.

Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch wrote in support of higher pay for state law enforcement officers.

“Pay increases for our state law enforcement officers are long overdue,” Couch wrote in the letter. “For years, they have lagged behind national averages and as a result, have faced difficulty in attracting quality candidates and keeping their ranks filled, which in turn reduces the amount of support they can provide to local agencies.”

The initiative is a 20 percent raise for more than 3,300 state law officers.

Couch said other municipal and county leaders across the state have expressed concern that the pay increase will take away from their existing staffs. But the sheriff said he believes this has always been the case.

“People move around and go to agency to agency,” he said. “I think it benefits us all in the long run, and we get better qualified candidates that way.”

The Upper Oconee Science and Policy Summit at the University of Georgia on Friday will bring together scientists, policymakers, and community members to discuss issues in the Oconee watershed.

University of Georgia employees might be cash-strapped during the holidays due to changes in how paychecks are distributed.

Cobb County Commissioner JoAnn Birrell proposes moving forward with park land purchases.

Two-thirds of Cobb voters approved a $40 million parks bond in November 2008, but the bonds approved by voters were never issued by then-county Chairman Sam Olens due to a tanking economy and a tax increase he said would come as a result of the bonds’ issuance.

Commissioners have yet to take action regarding the approved parks bonds, but Commissioner JoAnn Birrell prior to the budget vote told those in attendance that she planned to propose next month a resolution to increase the county’s debt service millage by 0.13 mills to fund the $24.7 million in park bonds the county would legally be able to issue out of the approved 2008 bonds.

Birrell on Wednesday said the 0.13-mill increase would equate to a $10.40 annual property tax increase on a $200,000 home.

“Through the budget talk, I’ve been working with staff and legal to find out what we can do to get the balance, the $24.7 million, moved forward,” she said. “Because of the way the bond is structured, it depletes annually even though it was never issued … we have to do a resolution and vote on it to issue the bond.”

Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods spoke to the Ledger-Enquirer about education issues.

Q: The proposed Opportunity School District, which would allow the state to take over chronically failing schools, is a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 Georgia ballot. If you were explaining to a voter what is at stake and what the OSD would do if it were implemented, what would you say?

A: It would allow the state multiple options as far as what they would consider: takeover or having an influence in what is classified as a failing school. To the extreme, it could mean a direct takeover by a newly appointed superintendent over what is listed as Opportunity Schools. It could involve the acquisition of state, federal and local funds. That is something that is a possibility. But that being said, it’s up to the voters.

Q: The proposed amendment’s wording on the ballot is just one sentence: (“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”) Some say that doesn’t accurately describe what people are voting on. (A class action lawsuit making that contention was filed Tuesday.) Do you agree with that?

A: That’s why it’s important to read the legislation. If this does pass, what does the bill actually say will take place? … It would be just like having my name on the ballot. Well, there’s more than just my name.

Q: What’s your personal opinion? Would this proposed amendment be good for Georgia?

A: We don’t want any school to be listed as failing. That’s my job and will continue to be my job. However it falls, we’re ready to do our job. We’re going to be focusing on making sure each and every school is succeeding and each student has a wonderful, first-class education.

(Woods declined to express his personal opinion about the proposed amendment. Three days after this interview, the Georgia Board of Education, appointed by the governor with consent of the state senate, endorsed the OSD.)

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/education/article104628856.html#storylink=cpy

Dougherty County Board of Education members voted unanimously to oppose the Opportunity School District Amendment #1.

The Valdosta Board of Education also voted to oppose the Opportunity School District Amendment #1.

Opportunity School District opponents spoke at an event in Augusta last night.

Chatham County candidates appeared in a forum at Saint James AME Church.

Georgia Power will demolish the smokstack from Plant Harlee Branch on Lake Sinclair.

Paper pushers gonna push paper. In Augusta, storage of government documents has become a problem.

The city’s aging, landlocked Records Retention building on Fifth Street is currently “at capacity,” its 8,700 square feet packed from floor to ceiling with approximately 26,000 boxes of records, Central Services Director Takiyah Douse told Augusta Commission members.

As a result, many departments have resorted to storing records – an estimated 9,600 boxes – in their own offices, in paid private storage or at the former Joint Law Enforcement Center, said Douse, promoted earlier this year to oversee records retention, buildings and real estate.

Storing an estimated 3,000 boxes at the law enforcement center isn’t ideal because it isn’t climate controlled, she said, and demolition of the facility is a special purpose local option sales tax 7 project. The Planning and Development department also has “thousands” more archived building plans at a former office building on Marvin Griffin Road, Douse said.

But discarding or digitizing the records, which grow in number every day, isn’t a simple fix because many are required by state law to be retained for a certain amount of time. For example, arrest warrants must be saved for 15 years, while warrants resulting in murder convictions must be kept for 50, Douse said.

Demorest City Council has a conflict with Habersham County after receiving a $24,000 bill for animal control services.

Habersham County has been providing animal control services to the city under an intergovernmental agreement for several years, but the county didn’t keep up its end of the agreement, Demorest officials say.

“Animal control has come up in multiple meetings,” said Mayor Rick Austin. “One of the things that we have found out … is that the previous agreement that was with the county had a stipulation in that if the county changed the animal control ordinance and the city did not adopt said changes that the agreement between the city and the county would be negated.”

In the interim, Austin and council members agreed that the city will not request Habersham County Animal Control to respond inside the city. Instead, Police Chief Robin Krockum was asked to have his officers respond to emergency cases while City Manager Steve Lindsey and City Attorney Joey Homans study the requirements and training needed for a more permanent city-based solution to problem animals.

“One of the things that we talked about is that in a small city like this being neighborly,” Austin said. “Oftentimes, problems with animals can be easily addressed by just talking neighbor to neighbor and figuring out how to best deal with potential animal problems.”

Austin said the city is going to continue looking at providing an in-house solution to problem dogs and cats, but pointed out that at some point the city is going to have to address the increasing population of groundhogs, foxes and deer that are becoming a nuisance.