State Rep. Mandisha Thomas (top) and Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson are challenging U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District
ATLANTA – Much of Sunday’s debate between the two Democrats challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District focused on McBath’s absence from the stage.
McBath, who declined to participate in the debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, was represented by an empty podium.
“It’s important that we have leadership that is present and willing to speak,” said Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson.
“It’s a sign of immature leadership,” added state Rep. Mandisha Thomas of South Fulton. “You have to show up for the people you represent.”
Richardson and Thomas are opposing McBath’s bid for a fourth two-year term. The winner of the May 21 Democratic primary will face Republican Jeff Criswell in the general election in November.
Besides criticizing McBath’s decision not to participate in the debate, both challengers also noted that the incumbent is running in a new district with many voters she doesn’t current represent. McBath chose to run in the 6th District after the General Assembly’s Republican majorities redrew her current 7th District north into heavily Republican counties.
The redrawn 6th District includes Democrat-friendly central and southern Fulton counties, south Cobb, eastern Douglas and northern Fayette counties,
Thomas said six of the 16 cities in the district also are inside the state House district she has represented during the last four years.
“I know what this district looks like,” she said.
Thomas and Richardson agreed on many of the issues raised during the debate, supporting college students’ right to protest against U.S. support for the war Israel launched on Palestinians in Gaza after the terrorist group Hamas massacred Jewish civilians without warning last October. The war has killed more than 34,000 civilians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
The two challengers also said they support the $95 billion spending package Congress passed last week that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel as well as legislation added to the bill forcing a Chinese company to sell its interest in TikTok or face a federal ban.
“There are absolutely some restrictions (on TikTok) that can be put in place,” Richardson said.
Both also called for the state and federal government to look for ways to regulate the use of artificial technology, Thomas pointing to legislation she introduced in the Georgia House this year to prohibit insurance companies from basing coverage decisions on data obtained through AI technology.
“There needs to be an overarching AI privacy act on the federal level,” Thomas said.
“There are some serious repercussions to how quickly it’s growing,” Richardson added. “With any technology, there comes a good side and a bad side.”
Sunday’s televised debate, which was recorded, will air live on Georgia Public Broadcasting on Monday at 7 p.m.
ATLANTA – Delays in processing mail at a new regional distribution center in Palmetto aren’t just affecting individual Georgians trying to obtain vital prescription drugs or pay their monthly rents or mortgages.
Chronic failures to deliver the mail in a timely manner are being seen in some quarters as a threat to the underpinnings of American democracy: elections and the ability to ensure an informed electorate.
Mail-in absentee ballots played a critical role in the 2020 elections, with voters wary of venturing outside during a global pandemic either for in-person advance voting or to cast their ballots on Election Day. Many voters liked the convenience of mail-in voting, and the practice continued in 2022.
But this year, officials in charge of monitoring the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) are worried that delays in delivering mail processed at the Palmetto distribution center will jeopardize mail-in voting in Georgia.
“Voters and election officials must know the amount of time needed to deliver ballots,” Michael Kubayanda, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, said April 16 during a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
The delays began in February when the USPS opened the Atlanta Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto, part of a plan to make the postal service financially self-sufficient and better able to compete with private shippers including Federal Express and the United Parcel Service.
To staff the new center, the postal service consolidated 10 local mail distribution offices in the Atlanta region into the one Palmetto location, a move that involved nearly 10,000 employees.
A recent survey found that since the regional center opened, only 36% of inbound mail is being delivered on time.
“You are failing abysmally to fulfill your core mission in my state,” Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., told Postmaster General Louis DeJoy during the hearing.
Ossoff said he’s heard from constituents who can’t get their prescription drugs or make rent or mortgage payments.
Meanwhile, newspaper publishers across the state are taking their complaints directly to members of Georgia’s congressional delegation.
Patrick Graham, president of the Georgia Press Association, which represents 90% of the state’s newspaper subscribers, wrote in a letter to the delegation April 8 that many in-town and nearly all out-of-town subscribers are not receiving their newspapers
“I’m losing subscriptions,” said Chuck Southerland, publisher of the Hawkinsville Dispatch & News, a weekly with a little more than 2,000 subscribers. “It’s not unusual to get a call once or twice a month (from a subscriber who didn’t get their paper in the mail). Now, we’re getting two a day.”
Graham wrote that the disruption in deliveries not only threatens newspapers’ bottom lines but leaves the public uninformed on important issues.
“Newspapers are not only economic engines for their communities, in many places they are the only reliable sources of information for readers,” Graham wrote. “Cities and counties throughout Georgia rely on newspapers to provide news about local governments, community events, crime and other issues that affect their daily lives.”
The Newnan Times-Herald, which serves a broad swath of west-central Georgia, plans to file a formal complaint against the Newnan Post Office over the delays.
“Many of our customers have complained that their newspapers are not delivered the same day,” co-publishers Beth Neely and Clayton Neely wrote April 22 in an open letter. “In some cases, they are two or more days late, others as late as weeks.”
DeJoy attributed the delays in mail deliveries in Georgia and at a second regional USPS distribution center in Richmond, Va., to growing pains in an overhaul of the postal service that’s necessary to stem the flow of red ink from the agency.
“This is an organization that has not engaged in change for over 15 years,” DeJoy told the Senate committee. “We are taking longstanding broken practices and trying to transition from losing $137 billion over the last 15 years.”
In light of the delays at the Palmetto and Richmond centers, DeJoy said the postal service will hold off on implementing the planned overhaul in other parts of the country until the consolidations in Georgia and Virginia take hold.
“I expect Atlanta and Richmond to be stabilized coming into the summer,” he said. “We’re going to fix it. … We’ll get to where we need to be in 60 days.”
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp brought his bill-signing tour to Brunswick Thursday, signing a package of measures related to coastal issues.
House Bill 1341 declares the white shrimp Georgia’s official crustacean. White shrimp account for 70% of the state’s annual shrimp harvest, Kemp told coastal Georgia political and business leaders during a ceremony at the state Department of Natural Resources Coastal Regional Headquarters.
House Speaker Jon Burns said having an official state crustacean will help promote Georgia white shrimp to consumers at restaurants and grocery stores.
“It’s a family business. It’s gone on in our state for generations,” said Burns, R-Newington. “We want to ensure the opportunity continues to exist in the future.”
Kemp also signed House Bill 1041, which will increase the bonding capacity for the Savannah Convention Center to $400 million; House Bill 244 updating state hunting and fishing regulations; and House Bill 206, which will create a statewide program letting local development authorities help property owners finance improvements.
The governor has been traveling the state during the last two weeks signing bills the General Assembly passed during the recent legislative session. Last week, he signed a series of tax cuts in Augusta and a package of health-care bills in Athens.
This week, Kemp stayed home in Atlanta to sign education-related bills and legislation aimed at human trafficking at the state Capitol before heading to Brunswick for Thursday’s signing ceremony.
Kemp has until May 7 to sign or veto this year’s crop of bills. Anything he doesn’t sign or veto by that deadline would become law automatically.
ATLANTA – No incumbents have agreed to participate in this weekend’s Atlanta Press Club candidate debates ahead of next month’s primaries, which has the organization concerned.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Lucy McBath of Marietta and David Scott of Atlanta, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and Georgia Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson have either declined to participate or have not confirmed their participation.
The press club is asking all of the invited candidates to confirm their participation by Friday.
“The Atlanta Press Club believes it is the responsibility of people running for public office to answer questions from their local media that will help inform voters before they cast their ballots,” the organization wrote in a statement released Thursday.
“If a candidate is running for public office, the candidate should be willing to participate in the democratic process, which includes attending debates and fielding questions from journalists and opponents.”
It’s the press club’s policy to represent any candidate who declines to participate in a debate by an empty podium.
McBath is being challenged in the 6th Congressional District Democratic primary by Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. Mandisha Thomas. A crowded field of six Democrats is opposing Scott in the 13th District.
Christian Wise Smith, a former Fulton County prosecutor who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for state attorney general two years ago, is running against Willis.
Pinson is being opposed in a nonpartisan state Supreme Court primary race by former U.S. Rep. John Barrow, a Democrat who represented Georgia’s 12th Congressional District from 2005 until 2015.
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Wednesday aimed at illegal squatting.
House Bill 1017, which the Georgia House and Senate passed unanimously during this year’s legislative session, creates the offense of unlawful squatting when someone enters upon the land or premises of the owner without the owner or rightful occupant’s knowledge or consent.
The bill comes amid an increase nationwide in highly publicized reports of trespassers committing violence against homeowners, landlords, or real estate agents, as well as vandalizing properties.
“For property owners in Georgia, squatters are occupying their property, which presents a very difficult and expensive legal problem,” said state Rep. Devan Seabaugh, R-Marietta, chief sponsor of House Bill 1017.
“We have homeowners tied up in court for eight months to two years in some cases trying to get these squatters removed from their property. House Bill 1017 sends a message to squatters that they are criminals, and they will be treated like criminals.”
Under the measure, violators will receive a citation advising them to present documentation within three business days authorizing their presence on the land or premises. Failure to do so will subject the violator to being charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass.
If the person does present documentation, a hearing would be set within seven days to determine its validity.
If the documentation is found to be improperly executed or fraudulent, the person would be subject to arrest and a fine based on the fair market monthly rental value of the property. A law enforcement official would have to show the person an affidavit regarding his or her claim to the property at least three days before executing an eviction.
The bill had five cosponsors in the House, all Republicans.
