ATLANTA – The Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has announced a new, $30 million investment in nine battleground states – including Georgia – for the 2022 general election.
Besides Georgia, the DSCC’s Defend the Majority program is targeting Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The organization said this is the largest investment in ground-field organizing it has ever made at this point in the election cycle.
“Early, sustained organizing is how we win elections, and through our Defend the Majority program, the DSCC is building the ground game Democrats need to succeed in Senate battlegrounds across the country,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Executive Director Christie Roberts.
“Our organizing programs are starting earlier than ever before. We’re taking nothing for granted, and by building meaningful relationships with voters now, we are laying the groundwork for Democrats’ victory in 2022.”
The DSCC said the money will be used to staff field offices and develop training programs; coordinate outreach programs to Latino, Black and younger voters; and hire communications staff who will be focused on defining Republican Senate candidates.
Georgia has several GOP candidates vying for an opportunity to challenge Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock. The list includes University of Georgia football legend Herschel Walker, state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, businessman Kelvin King, trial attorney Jared Craig, former Navy SEAL Latham Sadler, and author James Nestor.
Walker has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, while Black has picked up the endorsements of more than 50 state legislators, former Gov. Nathan Deal and former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Abortion-rights advocates in the General Assembly have opened up a new front.
Fifty-eight Georgia lawmakers signed onto a “friend of the court” – or amicus – brief filed on Monday in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving an abortion law in Mississippi. That was the most signatories from one state among the nearly 900 lawmakers who signed the brief.
The case, scheduled to be heard by the high court on Dec. 1, bans abortions after 15 weeks in Mississippi, nine weeks fewer than the 24-week precedent established by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The amicus brief was organized by the State Innovation Exchange’s Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council, which describes itself as a “network of state legislators working to advance reproductive health, rights and justice.”
The brief argues the Supreme Court’s failure to uphold the rule of law and precedent would result in disastrous consequences for women seeking abortions, as well as for their families.
“State legislators are the first line of defense against policies that deliberately roll back progress on abortion rights and reproductive health across the country, and the overwhelming majority of the public agrees we must protect Roe v. Wade,” said the organization’s Jennifer Driver. “With this amicus brief, nearly 900 legislators are sending the Supreme Court a clear message: We cannot go back. You must uphold 50 years of legal abortion in all 50 states.”
The amicus brief in the Mississippi case comes on the heels of passage of a stricter abortion law in Texas that bans the procedure after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically about six weeks.
“Texas is showing us what a world without Roe v. Wade looks like — one where wealthier people can travel to get reproductive care while poorer people are stripped of their rights,” said Georgia Rep. Kim Schofield, D-Atlanta. “We can’t let that happen.”
Last week, Georgia Democrats specifically expressed their concern that a Texas-style abortion bill could soon be introduced in the Peach State.
On Friday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is set for a hearing on Georgia’s abortion law, which has been tied up in court since it was passed by the Republican-led General Assembly two years ago.
Georgia’s abortion bill – House Bill 481 – known as the Living Infants Fairness Equality Act – also seeks to prevent abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, except in special situations. A U.S. District Court judge ruled it unconstitutional last year following lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A state authority with the ability to bring together local police agencies could help curb the growth of crimes involving motor vehicles, law enforcement officials and representatives of vehicle rental companies said Tuesday.
Georgia ranked fifth in the nation with 26,907 auto thefts in 2019, Terri Blackmer, director of the Georgia Office of Insurance’s Criminal Investigation Division, told members of a state House subcommittee.
While auto thefts fell slightly in Georgia last year, the total nationally jumped by 9.2%, a trend Blackmer attributed to job losses during the coronavirus pandemic and budget cuts by law enforcement agencies financially strapped by the pandemic’s economic impact.
Thefts of catalytic converters from motor vehicles quadrupled last year, costing American consumers an average of $3,000 to replace them, she said.
Catalytic converters, copper wiring and aluminum wheels are increasingly being targeted by thieves because the prices of such metals have risen substantially, said Derick Corbett, senior vice president of external affairs for Pull-A-Part, an Atlanta-based chain of auto parts recyclers.
“As the value for these commodities increases, so does the crime,” he said.
Recyclers like Pull-A-Part and car and truck rental companies have turned to security cameras, electric fencing and anti-theft devices inside vehicles to discourage break-ins.
But thieves are evolving their techniques to match what’s being done to stop them, said Harshida Davis, group risk manager in Atlanta for the car rental company Enterprise Holdings.
“Criminals now are able to identify the technology,” she said. “They work around it.”
Street gangs are responsible for a lot of the crimes involving motor vehicles in Georgia, said Jared Coleman, a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation assigned to the Gang Task Force.
He said gangs are active in 157 of the state’s 159 counties. A survey in 2019 found more than 1,500 gangs in Georgia with more than 7,000 members.
“The threat is growing,” Coleman said. “We’re seeing it every day in the headlines.”
Steve Levetan, Pull-A-Part’s executive vice president, said at least 13 states have created authorities with jurisdiction over crimes involving motor vehicles.
Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Michael O’Connell said an authority would improve communication between local police agencies investigating crimes that occur in multiple jurisdictions.
“It help would us centralize intelligence,” he said. “The intelligence around auto theft is only shared if investigators talk to each other.”
“We know there’s no magical silver bullet,” Levetan added. “But we have seen demonstrated cost-effective results from these authorities around the country. … They have reduced vehicle crimes.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit contesting state Rep. Shea Roberts’ election victory last November.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices upheld a lower court’s decision rejecting a challenge to election results showing Roberts, D-Atlanta, defeated incumbent Rep. Deborah Silcox, R-Sandy Springs, by 377 votes in Fulton County’s House District 52.
After the election results were certified, Sandy Springs resident Warren Schmitz filed a petition in Fulton County Superior Court claiming a variety of irregularities.
The trial court dismissed Schmitz’s challenge last April, determining that he failed to properly serve Richard Barron, Fulton County’s director of registration and elections, with notice of the lawsuit.
Schmitz appealed, arguing the trial court lacked authority to dismiss the case. But the high court disagreed.
“[W]e have long held that it is the responsibility of the person bringing an election contest to ensure that the proceedings move in an expeditious fashion, including by ensuring that all defendants and other interested individuals are given proper notice of the election contest,” Justice Charlie Bethel wrote in Tuesday’s opinion.
Bethel went on to explain that Roberts filed several motions last March stating she had never been properly served with notice of the lawsuit. One day later, the trial court ordered that she be served.
Then a few days later, during a virtual hearing, the trial court noted that it did not see any attempt to have Roberts served in the case.
“Schmitz did not exercise diligence in seeing that she was served despite receiving notice of defects in service at least as early as the date of Robert’s intervention in the case and the filing of … a motion to dismiss raising the issue of insufficient service,” Bethel wrote.
Roberts defeated Silcox 17,069 to 16,692, according to the certified results.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – As the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals prepares to hear the latest challenge to Georgia’s controversial abortion law, groups on both sides of the issue have their own hopes, expectations and aspirations before Friday’s hearing.”
A Georgia judge struck down Republicans’ HB 481 last year because the court saw it for what it was — an unconstitutional infringement on the right to choose — and we hope the 11th Circuit Court agrees,” said Rebecca Galanti, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Georgia. “Democrats will continue to fight at every turn to safeguard reproductive freedom and stop Republicans’ dangerous anti-choice agenda in Georgia.”
One of the men who helped draft the law – state Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller, R-Gainesville – takes the other side.
“I’ve never subscribed to the idea that it’s unconstitutional to save human lives,” said Miller, who is running for lieutenant governor in 2022. “With today’s technology, it’s no longer possible to deny the clear humanity of unborn children, even at early stages of pregnancy. Upholding Georgia’s law would send a clear message that we as a society will protect our most vulnerable and defenseless.”
Georgia’s abortion bill – HB 481, known as the Living Infants Fairness Equality Act – seeks to prevent abortions after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, typically six weeks, except in special situations. Lawsuits brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights eventually led the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to rule the law unconstitutional.
“Whether you look at things like the unborn child tax credit and child support for expectant mothers in the Heartbeat Bill, or at other laws like the Rape Survivor Custody Act and this year’s [temporary protection order that extends to pregnant women,] it is clear that Georgia has consistently treated preborn children as persons, as defined in the 14th Amendment,” said Joshua Edmonds, Georgia Life Alliance executive director. “We expect there will be a great deal of conversation about why the portion of the law prohibiting abortion on babies with beating hearts should be treated any differently.”
Last week, Georgia Democrats specifically expressed their concern that a Texas-style abortion bill could soon be introduced in the state.
“What happens in Texas won’t stay in Texas,” said state Rep. Beth Moore, D-Peachtree Corners. “Not every pregnancy is an immaculate conception or a Hollywood-produced drama. There is a limit to what government can impose, and the Republican Party wants to replace God with government.”
Like the Georgia bill, the Texas law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks. The Texas law leaves enforcement to private citizens through civil lawsuits instead of criminal prosecutors.
Last week, Miller told Capitol Beat “everything is on the table” regarding the abortion issue in Georgia. “My goal is to protect life, and we’re waiting to see what the courts say,” Miller said.
If the 11th Circuit agrees with the district judge, Georgia could then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which may then look at the law’s constitutionality and reexamine the precedent of Roe v. Wade.
“Georgia’s HB481 law is blatantly unconstitutional; that’s why it was blocked by the courts last year and why we expect it to stay that way following Friday’s hearing,” said Lauren Frazier, Planned Parenthood Southeast spokesperson. “When the data shows that nearly 80% of people in this country support access to safe, legal abortion, it’s clear that these sorts of attacks are purely political and completely against the will of the people. Planned Parenthood Southeast and our partners are prepared to fight any attempts to deny Georgians their right to make their own health care decisions.”
Gov. Brian Kemp also is expected to call a special legislative session, likely in November, to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative districts under newly released U.S. Census figures.
“It has been suggested that while we’re in session, we could consider other measures, such as a Texas-modeled abortion law,” Moore said.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, said special legislative sessions are called for a specific purpose – such as redistricting – but a two-thirds majority vote of the General Assembly could expand its originally called purpose.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
