ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate declined in January for the first time in more than a year, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The jobless rate of 3.1% was down from 3.2%, a rate that held steady throughout 2023.
“With low unemployment and a competitive job market, Georgia’s workers and employers are thriving together,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson said Thursday.
“Fostering innovation, investing in skills, diversifying our economy and supporting businesses, especially sectors experiencing hiring and labor challenges, ensures Georgia will remain a hub of opportunity and prosperity for all.”
The state’s labor force grew by 914 in January to more than 5.3 million, while the total number of jobs rose by 1,500 to more than 4.9 million. However, the labor force participation rate declined slightly from 61.5% in December to 61.4%.
The number of employed Georgians hit an all-time high of nearly 5.2 million, up by 4,814 from the December total.
However, initial unemployment claims increased by 51% in January to 37,331. The January over-the-month increase is typical coming out of the holiday season.
ATLANTA – There will be no Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) elections this year because a lawsuit challenging the system the state uses to elect commissioners is still pending, the secretary of state’s office announced Wednesday.
The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled last November that the five-member PSC may continue holding elections statewide rather than by district.
A lawsuit filed by four Black Fulton County residents had argued that electing the commissioners statewide diluted Black voting strength in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, making it more difficult for Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice.
Specifically, the suit targeted a map of the PSC districts the General Assembly’s Republican majorities adopted two years ago.
The terms of two commissioners – Republicans Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson – expired at the end of 2022, but they were allowed to continue in their seats until the lawsuit was settled.
Because the plaintiffs have appealed the appellate court decision and the case remains pending, this year’s PSC elections have been postponed again.
ATLANTA – A defense lawyer in the Fulton County election interference case against former President Donald Trump Wednesday outlined her reasons for seeking to disqualify Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis.
Ashleigh Merchant, who represents co-defendant Michael Roman in the racketeering case against Trump, told a state Senate committee Willis never would have been allowed to hire Nathan Wade to lead the prosecution if she had disclosed she was involved in a romantic relationship with him.
Merchant also claimed Willis failed to get the Fulton County Commission to approve a contract with Wade that has paid him $700,000 thus far and is guilty of a conflict of interest in that she benefited financially from both the contract and the relationship.
“They were sleeping together and going on trips he was paying for and not disclosing it to the taxpayers,” Merchant testified during a three-hour hearing before the Senate Special Committee on Investigations, a panel the Republican-controlled Senate formed in January to look into the conflict accusations lodged against Willis.
“We’ve heard a lot of the allegations,” said committee Chairman Bill Cowsert, R-Athens. “We’re tasked with investigating and finding the true facts.”
Merchant filed a motion in Fulton County Superior Court in January seeking to have Willis disqualified from prosecuting the case because of her romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor. Willis and Wade subsequently acknowledged the relationship but argued it doesn’t constitute grounds for disqualification.
On Wednesday, Merchant testified that Willis asked the county commission for more money in September 2021, indicating she needed it to address a backlog mostly of homicide cases. The commission allocated $780,000 for that purpose to cover expenses through the end of year and authorized up to $5 million for the following year, Merchant said.
Merchant said Willis never disclosed she was going to use those funds to hire a special prosecutor for the election interference case. According to Merchant, Willis maintained that she didn’t have to get the commission’s approval for how she planned to spend the money because she is an elected constitutional officer.
“There’s really no oversight,” Merchant said. “I know she’s an elected official, but it’s still public money.”
Merchant also criticized Wade’s billing procedures for the work he was doing as sloppy, which made it difficult to track. She showed examples of the bills he submitted to the county to the committee.
“This isn’t anything we could submit to a client,” she said. “You have to be detailed in billing.”
Merchant went on to reiterate allegations she and other lawyers representing Trump and other defendants made during two recent hearings before Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on the disqualification motion, including that her romantic relationship with Wade began before she hired him and that Wade was not qualified to handle such a case because he had never prosecuted a felony.
Wade and Willis testified during the first of those hearings that their relationship did not start until after he was hired.
During the second hearing, an assistant prosecutor representing Willis’ office dismissed cellphone records that show almost 2,000 phone calls and 9,800 text messages between Wade and Willis during the first 11 months of 2021. Adam Abbate questioned the ability of the technology to pinpoint Wade’s specific location.
Merchant also argued that Willis had a financial interest in extending the prosecution of the case as long as possible because she was benefiting financially through the trips she took with Wade, who paid nearly all of the expenses with his credit card.
“My client has a right to a fair and impartial prosecutor,” Merchant said. “We don’t think that’s happening in this case.”
Willis testified last month that she and Wade split the costs of the trips, with her reimbursing him in cash.
On Wednesday, Senate Minority Whip Harold Jones, D-Augusta, a member of the committee, pointed out that Wade offered a plea bargain to Roman, hardly the act of a prosecutor seeking to drag out a case.
“You say, ‘They wanted to extend the prosecution of my client,’ ” Jones told Merchant. “They were willing to cut it off.”
Jones also questioned Merchant’s characterization of Wade as unqualified to prosecute the election interference case, saying the fact that Wade won multiple indictments from a grand jury as well as several guilty pleas shows he has been effective.
McAfee is expected to issue a ruling on the disqualification motion by the end of next week.
ATLANTA – The four members of Georgia’s congressional delegation who didn’t sign up to run for reelection at the start of Qualifying Week on Monday traveled to the state Capitol Tuesday to qualify for another term.
Republican U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter of Savannah, Andrew Clyde of Athens, Mike Collins of Jackson, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome signed qualifying papers on Tuesday.
With 13 of Georgia’s 14 congressional incumbents seeking reelection, only retiring Rep. Drew Ferguson’s seat in west-central Georgia is vacant. Not surprisingly, it has attracted a crowded field of candidates, with the GOP’s Jim Bennett of Carroll County and Michael Corbin of Peachtree Corners joining five other hopefuls in the 3rd Congressional District race.
Other challengers who qualified on the second day of Qualifying Week include Democratic state Rep. Mandisha Thomas of South Fulton, who will oppose incumbent Rep. Lucy McBath in the party’s May 21 primary, and Democrats Vince Watkins and Darrius Maurice Butler, who will vie for the right to oppose incumbent Rep. Austin Scott in the 8th Congressional District.
Republican Mike Pons will challenge incumbent GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk in the 11th District, and two Democrats – Shawn Harris and Joseph Leigh – signed up Tuesday to run for their party’s nomination to challenge Greene.
ATLANTA – Georgia House budget writers approved a $36.1 billion fiscal 2025 state budget Tuesday that includes pay raises for teachers, state and university system employees and judges.
The House Appropriations Committee signed off on most of the spending recommendations Gov. Brian Kemp presented to the General Assembly in January, including $249.6 million to account for public school enrollment growth, a $204 million increase in student transportation costs, and $104 million in grants to improve safety on public school campuses.
The committee also added many but not all of the funding requests individual House members submitted. Lawmakers were particularly active on that front this year because the state has built up a $16 billion surplus.
“There were a lot of requests,” committee Chairman Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, told committee members Tuesday. “We’ve been able to address many of them, but you may wish we had gone further on some.”
Even though the $37.5 billion midyear budget Kemp signed last week contains well more than $1 billion in capital projects, the fiscal 2025 spending plan also includes $786.5 million for building projects.
The list includes $52 million for the Department of Juvenile Justice to build a 48-bed expansion of a detention facility in Milledgeville, $40.1 million to build a medical examiner annex in DeKalb County, and $22.2 million to build a goat, sheep, and swine barn at the Georgia Agricultural Exposition Authority complex in Perry.
The budget is expected to reach the full House for a vote later this week. The fiscal 2025 budget will take effect July 1.
