by Ty Tagami | Apr 28, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Tax cuts coexisted with higher spending on education and health care when Democrats running for governor laid out their positions this week.
At a debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club and aired by Georgia Public Broadcasting on Monday, as early voters headed to the polls, several candidates said they would address affordability by changing Georgia taxes. Nearly all said they would update the formula that funds public schools. And nearly all said they would expand Medicaid, a move rejected by Republicans as too expensive.
The leading candidates also faced attacks by their competitors.
Jason Esteves, a former state senator and Atlanta school board chairman, attacked Keisha Lance Bottoms over public safety when she was mayor of Atlanta. He blamed her for the shooting death of Secoriea Turner, 8, in 2020 amid protests.
State Rep. Derrick Jackson, D-Tyrone, assailed Esteves over his vote for pro-charter school legislation last year when he was in the Senate.
Olu Brown, a pastor, fired at Geoff Duncan, who switched from Republican to Democrat after serving as lieutenant governor, excoriating him for backing legislation against transgender people. Duncan also took withering attacks over his former position against abortion. He said he had pivoted on both issues as he transitioned away from the GOP.
Mike Thurmond, former state lawmaker and labor commissioner who also ran the DeKalb County school system and then the county government, railed against the state sales tax. He said he would cut it in half, calling it the most painful form of taxation for people with low incomes.
Bottoms defended her leadership of Atlanta by saying she had raised police and firefighter pay while balancing the budget and building affordable housing.
Duncan said he could win the general election in November by rallying independent voters and “disgusted” Republicans. He pledged to have the most diverse cabinet of any governor in state history.
Esteves said he favored a property tax cut and would make commercial property owners pay what they owe.
Jackson said he would work to raise the minimum wage.
And Amanda Duffy, a self-described low-income Georgian, said she would change the state income tax from a flat 5.19% rate to an income-based bracket system like the federal government uses. She said she wanted the wealthy to pay a larger proportion of their income. She also said she would not accept full governor’s pay if elected.
by Ty Tagami | Apr 27, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — The only major debate between Republican candidates for Georgia governor brimmed with personal attacks and appeals to President Donald Trump’s followers and offered less to guide voters on policy directions.
The debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club and aired by Georgia Public Broadcasting took place Monday as Georgians started heading to the polls for early voting ahead of the May 19 primary.
The two leading candidates, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and businessman Rick Jackson, pummeled each other over their campaign fundraising and personal ethics. Other candidates piled on.
Jones and Jackson praised Trump, as did Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
That left Attorney General Chris Carr to cut a trail toward the moderate voters that he said were a growing factor in elections. He pledged to promote literacy and affordable housing and spoke of mental health as a “root cause” of poverty, saying he would address it with a regional approach.
Jackson styled himself a self-made wealthy entrepreneur raised in a broken home, who went on to create a company worth billions that employs thousands. Jones introduced himself as a sixth generation Georgian and the only candidate on the sound set endorsed by Trump.
Raffensperger defended himself as several candidates raised concerns about the state’s voting system, which he oversees. He responded by blaming the Legislature and with disciplined pivots to attacks against Keisha Lance Bottoms, as if he had already won the primary and were debating her.
Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, is a leading gubernatorial contender on the Democratic side.
Four other lesser-known candidates struggled for airtime.
Clark Dean introduced himself as a Harvard-trained biomedical engineer and the only Eagle Scout on the set. He said he would use artificial intelligence to streamline Georgia government.
Gregg Kirkpatrick said he invented two dozen medical devices that generated jobs and profits while reducing the cost of health care. He said his business leadership had prepared him to govern.
Tom Williams said he worked 35 years at Robbins Air Force Base supporting the military with electronics and software.
And Ken Yasger said he enlisted in the Army Rangers, was deployed to Afghanistan, and was the only Republican gubernatorial candidate who had been shot at by the Taliban. Now a bartender on Tybee Island, he positioned himself as a man of the people, saying he chose to run for office after watching an elderly man with a walker come up short while trying to buy bread and a half dozen eggs.
Jones and Jackson have burned through millions of dollars lobbing attack advertisements at each other. Yasger asked Jones how he could possibly relate to normal people after spending that kind of money like that.
Jones responded that he would prefer not to have had to spend that money, saying he did not start the fight.
Late last year, a mysterious group paid for attack ads against Jones, before Jackson started firing off his own attacks.
When the moderator asked Jackson point blank if he had been behind the anonymous group, Jackson said “absolutely not.”
Jones and Jackson would spend much of the debate firing volleys at each other over the source of their money. At one point, Jackson enlisted Carr, who said he would have launched an investigation into Jones’ activities if he himself were not a candidate.
Jones attacked Jackson on immigration, trying to put distance between Jackson and Trump.
“You claim to be tough on illegal deportation, but you’ve got illegals working in your backyard as we speak right now,” Jones said.
Jackson responded that he would deport “criminal illegals” as governor.
Jones pressed him: “You don’t have any illegals working for you right now? Or in the past?”
Jackson’s answer: “I don’t know.” He said he had hired thousands of people and had obeyed the law.
Jones closed by reminding viewers that Trump had endorsed him, saying it was because the president knew him and trusted him.
Earlier, Raffensperger had praised the president’s strategy for “reshoring” jobs, saying that as governor he would help retrain the next generation for jobs in advanced manufacturing. He also took another jab at Bottoms, saying she had allowed crime to go unchecked in Atlanta.
Jackson said that he was too wealthy to be bought by special interests, that he was a philanthropist and that he wanted to be governor so he could help people, like another wealthy man who won office.
“President Trump’s business focus inspired me to run,” Jackson said. “Georgia needs business leadership, focus on results, not politics. I’ll be just like him, with a Southern tone.”
Carr appealed to moderate voters by saying that Democrats are not the enemy. They are merely an opponent to be defeated in November.
“And let me tell you who’s not going to win. It’s not going to be the candidate that raises his or her hand and says, ‘I got the most money or I got one endorsement’,” he said, adding that the winner will be the Republican who appeals “to the ever-growing independent voter in this state.”
by Ty Tagami | Apr 24, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Therapists who help children with disabilities learn how to hold a crayon, walk and talk say their services to low-income families could be sharply reduced by proposed Medicaid rate cuts.
The government is not directly reducing payments. But two of the three contractors who manage Medicaid for Georgia sent letters to therapists recently to alert them to pending 20% reductions.
Providers say they can either absorb the cuts or leave the Medicaid managed care organization networks of those two companies.
The cuts would reduce rates to what therapists were being paid a decade ago, said Ben Braxley, president of the Georgia chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association.
“I don’t know any business who could roll the clock back that far and feel that they will be in a sustainable situation,” he said.
CareSource, one of the managed care companies, sent letters in late March that said it was cutting reimbursements to 80% of the Medicaid fee schedule effective May 11.
The cut is “part of our broader effort to support sustainable program operations that ensure continued access to medically necessary services” by Medicaid recipients, said one letter reviewed by Capitol Beat.
A second company, Peach State Health Plan, sent letters in April with the same rate cut effective May 15.
Both companies said in responses to queries from Capitol Beat that their moves were intended to contain rising costs.
“These updates align with actions being taken by Medicaid programs nationwide to responsibly manage public resources as demand for these services grows,” a statement from CareSource said.
Peach State said it was responsible for ensuring recipients get care “in an affordable way” and that the company was negotiating with providers.
“These conversations are ongoing and we are committed to ensuring uninterrupted access to care for our members,” the company said.
The cuts follow news about inflated billing in other states.
The Wall Street Journal published several recent articles about excessive billing for autism therapy. In 2023, a provider in Indiana was charging $1,600 an hour and getting paid $640, according to the Journal. Federal investigators documented cases where therapy purportedly was performed while patients were napping or watching videos, such as the 2013 film “The Smurfs 2,” the publication reported.
Reported rates of autism in young children have risen rapidly over the past two decades, increasing pressure on Medicaid.
But the cutbacks contemplated by CareSource and Peach State would affect thousands of children who do not have autism but still require therapy to move, manage pain and perform daily tasks, such as getting dressed. The cuts would also affect children who need help learning to speak.
Only those with severe chronic conditions, such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and spina bifida are unaffected. The state manages their care directly. Two years ago, state lawmakers increased reimbursement rates for providers who treat those children.
That was a nod to rising costs, said Kimberly Oviedo, who provides therapy services in Acworth.
Her staff of 25 at Beyond Limits Pediatric Therapy Center serves about 500 children a week, she said. More than half are on Medicaid, so if she opts out of those companies’ networks, many might have to find another provider.
“My heart doesn’t want these kids to not have services, but I also have a business to run,” Oviedo said.
If she accepts the rate cuts, she said, it could bankrupt her clinic, affecting her patients who are not on Medicaid.
The vast majority of Shalli Lewis’ patients are on Medicaid. Her Word of Mouth Therapy clinic in Statesboro sees about 900 children enrolled with one of Georgia’s three managed care organizations. She has 16 therapists, and their advanced degrees cost money to obtain. She faces a tough decision: if she leaves the networks, it could crush her business. But if she stays, the rate cuts would probably drive her younger therapists to employers that do not rely on Medicaid. They still have student loans to pay.
“We can’t continue to take a cut on what was already bottom of the barrel rates when inflation is higher than what it’s ever been,” Lewis said.
She said her clinic is one of two within 50 miles. Their patients effectively have nowhere else to go.
If these therapists leave the networks, the Medicaid managed care contractors are still obliged to serve the children on their rosters. Their contracts with the state require it. Further, Medicaid requires that patients have access to providers within a certain time and distance.
If too many providers leave the networks, the companies could wind up paying even more for out-of-network rates.
“I think it’s a poor gamble,” Braxley said, “but I do think it’s a gamble that they think that providers and businesses will accept.”
Roland Behm, a health policy advocate, said the Medicaid management companies won’t necessarily be in a tough spot even if many of their partnering practitioners head for the exits.
It basically falls on patients to enforce their rights to service, he said, and that can be difficult for someone who is unfamiliar with the system. There are rights to appeal, but people must know how to do it, and they must adhere to strict deadlines, said Behm, co-founder of the Georgia Mental Health Policy Partnership.
Behm said the state agency that contracts with the Medicaid management companies does not aggressively enforce so-called “network adequacy.” He illustrated that with a description of the directories given to patients who need to find an in-network provider.
“If you would just start going through that and calling them, you would find that many of them, sometimes over half, are not in network,” he said. “They’re not taking new patients. They’re not taking that insurance. They’ve retired. They’ve died.”
A spokesperson for the responsible state agency, the Department of Community Health, said by email that the state was not involved with the decision by CareSource and Peach State to negotiate down rates with their providers.
“That being said, DCH is responsible for oversight of our managed care contracts and ensuring the adequacy of the provider networks each CMO develops,” the statement said.
The agency will increase the frequency of monitoring provider networks “to ensure the plans meet network adequacy and each network supports Medicaid members’ access to services,” the statement said. “Should any CMO fail to meet network adequacy standards established in its contract, appropriate actions will be taken.”
Beyond that, it’s unclear what, if anything, the state might do.
“I don’t think this is the last we’ve heard of this, and I know that a lot of legislators are getting calls about it,” state Rep. Matthew Gambill, R-Cartersville, said last week.
Oviedo is one of his constituents, and she had called him for help.
Gambill said CareSource told him they were reacting to an increase in demand for pediatric therapy.
“I think it’s just kind of overwhelmed the system,” he said. “So they’re looking at ways to try to manage that and unfortunately it’s manifested in the way that it has.”
by Ty Tagami | Apr 23, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — Federal prosecutors charged the founder of a Georgia investment vehicle with wire fraud Thursday in connection with an alleged Ponzi scheme.
Edwin Brant Frost IV, owner and president of the defunct First Liberty Building and Loan, allegedly scammed those in his orbit in what the FBI and prosecutors described as a “classic” Ponzi scheme, using new investor funds to pay earlier investors while concealing significant financial losses.
“Frost abused the trust of his clients, family, and friends by allegedly soliciting investors with promises of sizable returns, while knowing the money raised would instead be used for his personal expenses and to pay early investors to maintain the illusion of profits,” U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement Thursday after Frost IV was arraigned in federal court in Atlanta.
Frost IV, 68, of Newnan, was released on bail after entering a plea of not guilty.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger investigated.
Frost IV is accused of steering over $570,000 to political contributions. Last year, Raffensperger’s office called on recipients to return the money.
Frost’s son, Brant Frost V, was chairman of the Coweta County Republican Party.
Hertzberg said Frost IV “represented” to investors that they would be compensated by borrowers who paid fees on “bridge” loans.
Instead, prosecutors said, First Liberty used investor money to pay off early investors and to fund more than $5 million of “personal and sometimes extravagant expenditures.”
Frost IV spent over $230,000 to rent a vacation home in Maine, over $140,000 to buy jewelry, $20,800 for a Patek Philippe watch and over $2 million on credit card bills, prosecutors claimed.
They said Frost IV did not disclose that borrowers had defaulted and that he continued to finance at least one of the defaulted companies.
Herztberg’s office said Frost IV raised at least $140 million from at least 300 investors.
by Ty Tagami | Apr 23, 2026 | Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA — After Georgia lawmakers failed to act on their self-imposed deadline to overhaul the state’s election machinery, a panel of appointees to the board that regulates elections narrowly voted Wednesday to consider a rule that would require hand-marked paper ballots.
Two years ago, the Legislature passed a law that makes the current voting system illegal starting July 1. The law bans the use of computer-generated codes to tabulate votes. The current system relies on a tailored Quick Response, or QR, code that kiosks print after each voter completes their ballot.
In the two years since they banned QR codes, lawmakers did not authorize an alternative system. Instead, they blamed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for not finding an affordable option. The Republican pointed back at them, saying it was their job to designate and pay for a new system.
The State Election Board met in a hastily convened online session Wednesday. After debating whether they had the authority to step in, they voted 3-2 to hold a working meeting next week with the Coalition for Good Governance.
That is the group that petitioned for the new rule. The Coalition wants to use the state’s emergency backup balloting system for the general election in November, despite concerns from local election officials that they lack time to implement it at scale.
That system, intended for power outages and computer failures, uses preprinted ballots that voters mark by hand. Scanners then tally their votes using the marks.
The Coalition’s executive director, Marilyn Marks, said at the hearing that such an overhaul would not be “a piece of cake” but would be possible.
She urged the board to ignore the July 1 deadline on QR codes, arguing that the system already violates other federal and state laws for secret and secure balloting.
If the state fails to implement a different system soon, she argued, it will undermine confidence in election integrity and invite lawsuits, making the outcome of elections contested and uncertain.
“With all the attention and with an entire state operating a system that is not in legal compliance, Georgia’s begging for problems,” Marks said.
The election board members were divided on what to do next, with some afraid of overstepping their legal authority.
The chairman, John Fervier, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp, said there was “a more than reasonable chance” that Kemp would call lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special legislative session to solve the problem.
“I think this has been a legislative issue all along. They created this problem,” Fervier said. “They haven’t resolved this problem, and they deserve a right to resolve the problem before we do.”
He voted against the proposal to collaborate with Marks’ group.
But two other Republican appointees, Salleigh Grubbs and vice chair Janice Johnston, were more concerned about the approaching deadline.
Johnston said she supported switching to paper ballots as soon as possible.
Grubbs made a motion to collaborate with Marks’ group next week. The goal would be to refine the language that the board would adopt as a rule that applied to all Georgia election directors. No Republican would second it, and Fervier was about to move on, when Sara Tindall Ghazal, the panel’s sole Democratic appointee, seconded it.
The subsequent voting was by voice, with all members off screen except Grubbs, who could be seen voting yes. Johnston confirmed to Fervier that she had also voted yes, and Fervier said he was voting no.
It was unclear whether the third supporting vote was voiced by Ghazal or by Janelle King, an appointee of the Republican-led state House.
With that vote recorded, up to two members of the board can now help Marks’ group craft a proposed rule.
They are up against a hard deadline. The board would have to hold another special meeting next week for a formal vote to initiate rulemaking to publish a new rule by July 1.
The process takes so long because the board must open any proposed rule for a 30-day public comment period before taking final action. The last scheduled opportunity to approve a new rule before July is the board’s scheduled meeting in June.
To meet that deadline while adhering to the public-review requirement, the board must transmit a petition for rulemaking to the Legislature by May 4.
“It felt like a good, productive step today,” Marks said after the hearing. She said she hoped for a “robust” public discussion on the petition.
