ATLANTA – Republican Gov. Brian Kemp defended his record on education, crime, the economy, abortion, health care and voting rights Monday night against accusations by Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams that he is not meeting the needs of most Georgians.
During an hourlong debate aired by Georgia Public Broadcasting, Kemp touted his efforts to target street gangs and human trafficking, reopen the state’s economy quickly following the onset of the pandemic and invest in public education.
“We are funding K-12 education in this state more than we ever have per pupil … coming off a recession in the middle of a global pandemic,” he said.
Abrams said Kemp’s championing of legislation allowing Georgians to carry concealed firearms without a permit has made the state more dangerous, while his refusal to expand Medicaid is depriving 500,000 working Georgians of health coverage and putting hospitals out of business.
“We have 19 hospitals at risk of closure, not including the six hospitals that have closed with this governor,” she said.
A central issue in the debate was what the state should be doing with a bulging budget surplus of $6.6 billion.
Kemp said he wants to use the money to fund another income tax rebate similar to the rebate the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed this year, plus a one-time property tax rebate.
“I want to invest it in our children and our families,” Abrams responded, including an $11,000 pay raise for teachers – compared to the $5,000 raises the legislature gave teachers at the governor’s request – and more pre-kindergarten slots to plug a backlog.
“We’ve got the money,” she said.
Kemp said the state is sitting on such a large pile of revenue because Georgia was the first state to reopen its economy early on during the pandemic at a time Abrams was calling for businesses and schools to remain locked down.
“We’re the ones who were fighting for you when Stacey Abrams was not,” Kemp said.
Since then, Georgia has seen more than $30 billion of investment in economic development projects, 74% of which went outside metro Atlanta along with 80,000 jobs, he said.
Abrams said Georgia’s surplus was built largely with federal pandemic relief dollars provided by the Biden administration and congressional Democrats.
“It’s disingenuous to state you did this on your own,” she told Kemp.
Abrams also criticized Kemp for his championing of the “heartbeat” bill in 2019, which banned abortion in Georgia after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically about six weeks into pregnancy. The law has taken effect since the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion a constitutional right.
“[Kemp] has weakened our privacy rights and women’s rights,” Abrams said. “He has denied women’s rights to reproductive care.”
Kemp took a more moderate position than some other Republican politicians when he said he does not plan to push for any additional restrictions on abortion beyond what’s in the 2019 law. The heartbeat law includes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.
Abrams also criticized Kemp for backing an education bill the legislature passed this year prohibiting the teaching of certain “divisive concepts” in Georgia schools. The law has prompted local school boards to develop policies for teaching about racism in a way that doesn’t assert the U.S. has been a systemically racist country.
“Teachers are not being able to teach whole history [to] our students,” Abrams said. “They’re not able to tell their children what they need to know.”
Kemp responded that the bill was motivated by complaints from parents tired of students being “indoctrinated in the classroom.”
Abrams also accused the governor of steering legislation restricting voting rights through the legislature, last year’s Senate Bill 202, which requires voters to show a photo ID to vote absentee and limits the number of absentee ballot drop boxes counties can put in their communities.
Kemp pointed to statistics showing record voter turnouts among Republicans and Democrats in last May’s party primaries.
“In Georgia, it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat,” he said.
Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel said the solution to good government in Georgia is less government. As one of a number of examples, he cited the zeal with which police go after otherwise law-abiding citizens for possession of marijuana.
“It’s a medicine,” Hazel said. “It’s something we can add as a business in Georgia.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Republican State School Superintendent Richard Woods defended his record on school safety, reversing pandemic learning loss and teaching about racism Monday against attacks from Republican challenger Alisha Thomas Searcy.
In a debate streamed by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), Thomas opposed allowing teachers and other school employees to carry guns on school campuses unless they’re members of law enforcement.
“I want teachers to focus on teaching … and let’s leave law enforcement and physical protection of our students and our educators to the professionals,” she said.
Woods said arming school employees is but one option some local school boards have considered.
“When you look at school safety, it has to be comprehensive,” he said. “One of the things [where] we have been very proactive is working with Governor Kemp to provide funding for either our schools individually or district-wide.”
Woods said he and Kemp may propose legislation requiring funding for a school resource officer in every school.
Searcy also criticized Woods for not giving local school districts guidance on how to spend their federal pandemic relief funds.
Woods responded that COVID affected school districts across the state in different ways, so schools needed flexibility to make their own spending decisions.
Searcy also took aim at legislation the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed this year prohibiting the teaching of a series of “divisive concepts” in Georgia schools, including restrictions on how racism is taught.
“Education as a whole has been politicized,” she said. “Teachers in our state are frustrated. They feel unheard and unseen. And the last thing they needed was a policy passed by the state superintendent and now a law passed in the legislature that further demonizes [and] disrespects teachers and ties their hand from teaching the very things that they’ve been trained to do.”
Woods said Georgia schools do not shy away from controversial topics.
“If you look at our standards, we do talk about the Middle Passage [transporting slaves from Africa to America], slavery at various times and in U.S. history and around the world, thinking about the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow segregation,” he said. “It’s very important that we do teach the authentic history of our nation and the world.”
GPB also streamed debates Monday between the candidates for Georgia agriculture commissioner and state insurance commissioner.
The Freedom to Farm Act Republican lawmakers pushed through the General Assembly this year dominated the agriculture commissioner debate.
The law makes it harder for neighbors bothered by bad smells, dust or noise emanating from a farm to file nuisance lawsuits by setting a two-year statute of limitation.
“It ensures that we protect the family farm,” said state Sen. Tyler Harper, the Republican candidate for the agriculture post the GOP’s Gary Black is leaving following an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
But Democratic candidate Nakita Hemingway said a previous law the legislature passed during the 1980s actually protected farmers better than the new law.
“[The Freedom to Farm Act] allows chicken processing plants to spread industrial waste across farmland,” she said.
Harper and Hemingway also tussled over who is better qualified for agriculture commissioner.
Harper – who grows peanuts, cotton, and timber, and raises beef cattle on his farm in Ocilla – said his experience as a seventh-generation farmer sets him apart in the race.
“Agriculture is who I am, what I am, what I’m about,” he said.
Hemingway, a cut-flower farmer from Dacula, said as a licensed Realtor, she understands the land-use issues critical to protecting farmers’ property rights.
Libertarian candidate David Raudabaugh of Marietta, who has founded multiple cannabis-focused technology startups, said he’s the candidate in the best position to help Georgia take advantage of the economic and health-care opportunities the industry offers.
Republican Insurance Commissioner John King, who is seeking a first full term, said he inherited an office in disarray when Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to the post in 2019 after his predecessor, Jim Beck, was indicted for fraud and money laundering.
King said he made improvements that not only sped up arson investigations but led to the recovery of more than $40 million in penalties from insurance companies, including a record $5 million fine his office levied against Anthem/Blue Cross Blue Shield for several violations of state law.
“We’re getting this office back on track,” he said.
Democratic challenger Janice Laws Robinson said King comes from a background in law enforcement and the military and has no experience in the insurance industry. In contrast, she said she is licensed in all lines of insurance.
“We deserve an insurance commissioner who is licensed, experienced, and knows how to navigate the insurance system,” she said.
Both candidates pledged to work to increase the number of health insurance providers in Georgia to bring down rates and ensure compliance with a new state law requiring insurance companies to treat mental health coverage the same as physical health coverage.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Republican Gov. Brian Kemp pledged Monday to turn up the heat on criminal gangs and reform the system for granting no-cash bail if he wins a second term next month.
Kemp released a public safety platform that calls for increasing penalties for gang recruitment of minors, implementing a database for gang research and prevention, and requiring judges to consider criminal history when issuing “own recognizance” bonds.
“Since day one of my administration, I have worked hard to deliver on my campaign promises by cracking down on criminal street gangs, standing with our men and women in law enforcement and leading the fight against violent criminals across the state,” Kemp said.
“Although we’ve made significant progress putting dangerous criminals behind bars and making our communities safer, we still have work left to do.”
During his first term, Kemp pushed through $5,000 pay raises for state law enforcement officers and created an Anti-Gang Unit within the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams’ platform calls for raising base salaries for state troopers, correctional officers, and community supervision officers to $50,000 a year and providing state grants to local agencies to support pay raises for local police officers.
If Kemp is reelected, he said he will ask the General Assembly to pass legislation increasing the penalty for recruiting minors into street gangs from a minimum of five years in prison to at least 10 years behind bars.
Kemp’s second-term platform also calls for prohibiting no-cash bail for criminal suspects with a proven history of bail jumping or failing to appear in court.
Abrams has pledged to eliminate cash bail for poor defendants charged with low-level offenses.
Kemp also said he would support aiding Georgians who want to become law enforcement officers. Specifically, he would propose legislation providing reimbursable loans to pay direct and indirect costs of higher education for those who enter the law enforcement workforce.
The governor also would create a new loan reimbursement program for Georgians interested in becoming medical examiners, a profession currently suffering a workforce shortage.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – State Sen. Burt Jones was among 16 Republicans who participated as alternate electors in a bid to help then-President Donald Trump overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
While Jones’ role in those efforts took place almost two years ago, the episode is front and center in this year’s race for lieutenant governor between Jones and Democrat Charlie Bailey.
“You can’t have a more un-American act than to come in and say the people of Georgia don’t get to decide who represents them,” said Bailey, who made the ill-fated attempt to change the outcome of the election a theme of a campaign ad.
Jones dismisses the assembling of a slate of alternate electors in December 2020 as a “procedural” move, essentially a place saver prompted by a series of ultimately unsuccessful lawsuits challenging the election results in Georgia
“The substitute electors were only going to have any weight to them if the court cases moved forward,” he said. “As I go around the state, rank and file Georgians aren’t asking about it.”
Trump’s attempt to enlist supporters in his attempt to overturn the election in Georgia is responsible for who’s on the ballot for lieutenant governor. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who became the most outspoken Republican critic of Trump’s Georgia strategy, subsequently opted not to seek a second term.
That paved the way for a spirited GOP primary for the open seat, with Jones defeating Georgia Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller and two other opponents last May to win the Republican nomination.
Bailey, originally intending to reprise his 2018 run for attorney general, signed up instead to run for lieutenant governor. With a crowded Democratic field in the primary contest, he had to survive a June runoff to capture his party’s nomination over former Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall.
While Jones’ role in the aftermath of the presidential election is a unique element in the race for lieutenant governor, the two candidates are taking the typical stances of their respective parties on issues including taxing and spending, abortion, guns, voting rights, and Medicaid expansion.
Jones goes further than some Republican leaders in his call for eliminating the state income tax. Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and others expressed concern that getting rid of the tax entirely would blow a hole in the state budget.
Jones noted the General Assembly already is well on its way toward phasing out the tax. This year, lawmakers passed a bill backed by Gov. Brian Kemp that will gradually reduce the state income tax rate from 5.49% to 4.99% over six years, starting with the 2024 tax year.
“I never said you could do it in one year,” Jones said. “We need to work toward it.”
Bailey said 20 years of Republican leadership in Georgia have led to a reduction in core government services. Examples include a starting salary for teachers that’s less than their peers make in Mississippi and a growing backlog in forensics testing that hampers criminal investigations, he said.
“I don’t think the people of Georgia are getting out of their tax dollars what they’re putting in,” Bailey said.
On abortion, Jones said he supports the “heartbeat” bill the legislature passed in 2019 banning the procedure after a fetal heartbeat has been detected, typically about six weeks into pregnancy.
“It has exceptions to it: rape, incest, and the health of a woman,” Jones said.
Bailey said if elected he would push to repeal the heartbeat law, pointing to public opposition to banning abortion that has surfaced in recent polls.
“That’s not what the people of Georgia believe,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”
Likewise, Bailey opposes legislation the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed this year allowing Georgians to carry concealed firearms without a permit.
“There’s dangerous folks who have guns now who wouldn’t but for this law,” he said. “It makes our communities less safe.”
Jones, who voted for the bill, said criminals are going to carry firearms regardless of what the law says.
“[The law] makes it easier for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves,” he said.
The two candidates also disagree on election reform legislation the General Assembly passed last year.
Jones bristled at the bill being characterized as putting additional “restrictions” on voting by absentee ballot. He said “verification” was the purpose of the law.
The legislation requires a photo ID to cast an absentee ballot and limits the number of ballot boxes counties may place to collect absentee ballots.
“We wanted to verify that people asking for absentee ballots were these people,” Jones said.
Bailey described the new law as “a solution in search of a problem” that doesn’t exist.
“We don’t have voting issues in Georgia,” he said. “[Republicans] have put government in the way of the people and their right to exercise the franchise.”
Bailey said it’s past time for Georgia to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act a Democratic Congress passed in 2010. Not to do so simply means Georgians through their federal taxes are helping fund expanded health-care coverage in other states while getting nothing in return.
“Not only do we have 600,000 Georgians without health insurance …. we’ve had eight rural hospitals close in the last 12 years,” Bailey said.
Jones said Kemp has sought to expand Medicaid coverage with a Georgia-centric plan but was turned down by the Biden administration. The governor has rejected the Obamacare version of Medicaid expansion as too expensive.
“Just throwing money at something without a plan isn’t helpful,” Jones said. “That’s what the Democrats want to do.”
The two candidates broadly agree on the need to boost funding for education by updating the decades-old per-pupil student funding formula and the need to raise salaries for law enforcement officers.
Specifically, Jones called for an end to no-cost bail. Bailey said Georgia needs more prosecutors, judges, and public defenders.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The long-delayed, over-budget nuclear expansion at Plant Vogtle is heading toward commercial operation during the first quarter of next year.
Georgia Power officials announced Friday that fuel loading has begun at the first of two new reactors being built at the plant south of Augusta. The milestone marks the first new nuclear unit to be built in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
“The Vogtle 3 & 4 nuclear units represent a critical, long-term investment in our state’s energy future, and the milestone of loading fuel for Unit 3 demonstrates the steady and evident progress at the nuclear expansion site,” said Chris Womack, the Atlanta-based utility’s chairman, president, and CEO.
“These units are important to building the future of energy and will serve as clean, emission-free sources of energy for Georgians for the next 60 to 80 years.”
Whether the project would ever come to fruition was in doubt as costs and scheduling delays piled up. A project with a projected price tag of $14 billion when the Georgia Public Service Commission approved the nuclear expansion in 2009 has more than doubled.
Once expected to go into service in 2016 and 2017, Vogtle’s Unit 3 is now due to come online early next year followed by Unit 4 during the fourth quarter of 2023.
The project was delayed by a number of factors, including the bankruptcy of the original prime contractor and disruption to the construction workforce during the pandemic.
The delays and cost overruns have drawn criticism from environmental and consumer advocacy groups who argued putting more emphasis on developing renewable power and energy efficiency would save customers millions of dollars.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the green light for the start of fuel loading at Unit 3 in August.
Startup testing will begin next, designed to demonstrate the integrated operation of the primary coolant system and stream supply system at design temperature and pressure with fuel inside the reactor.
Operators will bring the plant from cold shutdown to initial criticality, synchronize the reactor to the electric grid, and systematically raise power to 100%.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
