Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for June 20, 2014

On June 20, 1732, the signing of the Georgia Charter was completed by the British government.

Georgia’s Trustees voted on June 22, 1737 to seek bids for building churches at Savannah and Frederica.

Georgia’s Royal Colony Seal was approved on June 21, 1754.

Georgia Whigs voted on June 22, 1775 to join a boycott against British goods. That same day, the Continental Congress approved the issuance of $2 million in debt-backed currency.

Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States on June 20, 1782.

On June 20, 1819, the SS Savannah entered the port at Liverpool, England, marking the first transatlantic crossing by a steam-powered ship, having sailed out of Savannah on May 20th.

General Robert E. Lee moved on Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant at Petersburg, Virginia on June 20, 1864.

On June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill.

A lynch mob including members of the KKK killed three young civil rights activists who were trying to register African-Americans to vote near Meridian, Mississippi on June 21, 1964.

When Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney, a young black man, were coming back from a trip to Philadelphia, Mississippi, deputy sheriff Cecil Price, who was also a Klan member, pulled them over for speeding. He then held them in custody while other KKK members prepared for their murder. Eventually released, the three activists were later chased down in their car and cornered in a secluded spot in the woods where they were shot and then buried in graves that had been prepared in advance.

When news of their disappearance got out, the FBI converged on Mississippi to investigate. With the help of an informant, agents learned about the Klan’s involvement and found the bodies. Since Mississippi refused to prosecute the assailants in state court, the federal government charged 18 men with conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney.

John W. Hinckley, Jr. was acquitted of attempted murder of President Ronald Reagan and others in the Presidential party by reason on insanity on June 21, 1982.

Voters in Sandy Springs approved the new city’s incorporation on June 21, 2005.

The most important political event of this weekend is clearly the 5th Annual Tomato Sandwich Fiesta in Jasper, Georgia.

From the announcement:

The two congressional (9th & 14th) district committees along with the GAGOP are sponsoring a political rally at the Pickens County Community Center. These two districts comprise the entire 31 counties of north Georgia, a bastion of conservative voters, represented by Congressmen Doug Collins and Tom Graves.

As a GOP contender for elected office, you are invited to participate among these highly active voters in this important area of Georgia. In Pickens County, for example, in the General Election of 2012 the voter-out was 74% with the Republicans garnering 80% of the vote. Hence, this will be your electorate in the 7/22 Run-off as well as the 11/4 General Election. We, the organizers, see this as an opportunity to showcase the “best that the GAGOP has to offer” in leaders.

Chairman Padgett will be a principal speaker, as well as be introducing our GOP candidates to speak. All candidates in attendance with opposition will have an opportunity to address the crowd. All candidates without opposition will be introduced.

Few things say “Summer in Georgia” like a good tomato sandwich.

The other food I associate with Summer in Georgia is barbecue, and the Fulton County GOP is holding a barbecue on Saturday, June 28, with Senate candidates Jack Kingston and David Perdue.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

This morning, someone at the AJC tweeted this photo of filiming for the movie Selma at the Georgia State Capitol.

And yesterday, I photographed this 1963 Ford Thunderbird in Brookhaven.

Yesterday, Georgia Congressman Tom Graves gave the introductory speech for now-Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

When House Republicans huddle Thursday to select their next majority leader, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) will be officially nominated by an unexpected figure: one of the chamber’s most conservative lawmakers, Rep. Tom Graves of Georgia, according to his spokesman.

With many conservatives backing Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho for the post of second-ranking House Republican, Mr. Graves’ three-minute speech marks an unusual endorsement for Mr. McCarthy from the party’s right flank and underscores the breadth of support for the widely-popular California Republican.

“As of late, there has been a lot of talk about holding our leadership accountable, as if four people are separate from the rest of us. But we are one conference,” Mr. Graves said in prepared remarks viewed by The Wall Street Journal. “With that understanding, and to build a foundation of unity from which we can better serve the People, I am nominating Kevin McCarthy for Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives.”

Mr. Graves, a 44-year-old former local businessman and state legislator, has not always been on such friendly terms with House GOP leadership. Shortly after he was elected to the House in a 2010 special election, Mr. Graves joined Mr. McCarthy’s whip team, but was kicked off in the fall of 2011 amid disagreements over spending bills. After a year off the team, he has been a part of the whip operations since being invited to rejoin the group in January 2013.

Erick Erickson was not amused.

A judas goat is a trained goat used by a slaughterhouse to lead other animals to slaughter with its own life being spared. Congressman Tom Graves of Georgia, long a conservative darling in the House of Representatives, has embraced the role of judas goat for the House Republican Leadership.

Graves has had some crummy votes since he has been in Congress, but going so far as to nominate McCarthy goes a bit too far. The conservative love affair with Graves was already waning. It is time to just end it. Let’s see what he gets for himself by trading the veneer of conservatism.

 

I was more interested in the tie Graves wore in this Associated Press photo, which ran in the Wall Street Journal article referenced above.

That appears to be an Adam Smith tie, long an icon of conservatives in Washington and elsewhere, and made popular by the Leadership Institute and for sale online here.

It’s also surprisingly similar to the cravat that Bob Barr sported at the weekend’s debate for 11th Congressional District in Kennesaw.

 

Speaking of the 11th District runoff, Barry Loudermilk has been accused by a Vietnam veteran of having embellished his service record when Loudermilk spoke to the Cobb County Republican Party.

Although I’m a retired military member who served two tours in Vietnam as an Army aviator, I have never been one to think less of a man who did not serve in combat … or even in the military service.
What puzzles me is why some who have not served in combat, or have served in less “glamorous” positions in the military, tend to embellish their service.
I recently heard 11th District congressional candidate Barry Loudermilk speak to the Cobb Republican Party breakfast. After carefully listening to his speech, I left thinking he spent eight years in the Air Force as a pilot and intelligence officer from 1984 until 1992. There was also a mention of “Desert Storm,” but the context was unclear.
I went to his website for further clarification and to see what aircraft he flew. His bio had a photo of him in an Air Force flight suit, sitting in the cockpit of a small aircraft, and another in the uniform of an Air Force enlisted man. I read his bio, which stated he served as a communications operations specialist in Texas, Hawaii and Alaska.
I found it difficult to believe that I would misinterpret his presentation of his military service, or that he would intentionally misrepresent it, that much … as he mentioned being a pilot several times. (I’ve since discovered he obtained a civilian private pilot’s license in 2008).
If I had any doubts of Mr. Loudermilk’s intent to mislead his audience, his performance in Saturday evening’s congressional debate at Kennesaw State University put the doubts out of my mind!
The following were some of his remarks:
“And one of the most important issues is going to be Dobbins (Air Reserve Base), and I’ll commit to you as someone who knows the importance of national defense, I’ve lived in that arena, I worked in that arena, and as an aviator, as a pilot, I know the value and the importance that our aerospace and our airpower has. We must do everything in our ability to keep Dobbins operating and open.” …
“When I was in the Air Force, I was in a course that we were discussing aerospace engineering and flight physics and I remember the professor was talking about the bumblebee and at the time, aerospace engineers couldn’t figure out how a bumblebee could fly.” (Why does an enlisted, communications operations specialist study aerospace engineering and flight physics? And Herman Cain tells this same story about himself but it’s set in a physics class often and was even told on his radio show the week before the debate.) …
“I bring the experience and the knowledge of not just a state legislator but I know intently from being in the Department of the Defense and working in aerospace as well as working in the United States Air Force how important it is, and I will bring that knowledge to the table.” …
“Folks, Putin has taken out of mothballs the Bear H bombers that we intercepted when I was in the Air Force in Alaska.” …
“I can’t answer that question right now, because unlike when I was in the military, I was in intelligence and we had that information.”
In my opinion, anyone witnessing that debate would assume, from his carefully misleading statements, that he was an Air Force pilot with the skills needed to address issues of operations of Dobbins, and the intelligence experience needed to address the present foreign policy issues in Washington.

I wasn’t at the debate, so you shouldn’t trust me to ascertain whether that account of what Loudermilk allegedly said is accurate; even if I had been there, I’ve worked for Barr, so you should probably discount my assessment. But Joe Kirby is Editorial Page Editor of the MDJ and apparently chose to run that Letter to the Editor – moreso, Kirby was one of the questioners at the debate, so he literally had a front row seat, and I don’t believe he would have run an LTE accusing Barry Loudermilk of lying about his service unless the account in the Letter matched his own recollection.

However, if true, and if no satisfactory response is given, Barry Loudermilk’s campaign has suffered a fatal and self-inflicted wound.