The Week: California shift in primary could be bogus for Georgia

The SEC presidential primary is in danger of losing its grip on an early, and often influential, stage in the next race for the White House.

Running at the SEC’s side in the race could be California.

If so, that could be bogus and heinous for Georgia and its Southern neighbors who — seeking to increase their clout — joined together in 2016 to hold their primaries on the first Tuesday in March.

Some lawmakers in California — for fun, let’s call them Bill and Ted — think that idea was most excellent. So much so, they want to make it their own. They are pushing to move up their state’s presidential primary in 2020 from June 3 — at the very back of the line — to that first contest in March.

That "would move a significant chunk of delegates from late in the calendar to the earliest spot on the calendar after the four carve-out states (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada)," political scientist Josh Putnam wrote on the FrontloadingHQ blog.

If that happens, Georgia and its Southern cousins could find themselves in a gnarly position, with candidates shunning them for a shot at California’s delegate gold.

Brian Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state and a big force behind the SEC primary, has been watching closely.

David Dove, Kemp’s chief of staff, said one option is to shift the SEC primary to a later date. Depending on the timing, that could make it the knockout blow, handing a candidate his or her party’s nomination.

Or it could be too late and thus irrelevant.

Most nontriumphant, dude.

“While the full impact of the storm has not been fully realized, the magnitude of flood and wind damage as well as continued power and sewer outages merits immediate relief for the victims of this storm,” the group wrote in a letter to Koskinen.

“As I follow local politics now, I am amazed by the complete and utter dismissal of the contributions of others that I have seen recently in the press and other public announcements from the city’s communications office,” Franklin wrote on her Blogging While Blue website.

“It is as if no one — not Hartsfield, not Allen, not Massell, not Jackson, not Young, not Campbell or I ever contributed to the significant growth of the city, ever made a smart and visionary public policy decision or ever solved a tough problem on behalf of Atlanta’s residents, businesses, or visitors.”

Fort, now running to succeed Reed, offers these harsh words about the city's management in a new radio ad:

“Atlanta, I’m sick of the corruption that’s holding us back. … As mayor, I’ll set up an independent inspector general to root out the corruption and get City Hall working for you.”

Fort’s words may appear to be aimed at Reed, but keep in mind many of the others running to replace Hizzoner have spent many years negotiating the city’s corridors of power. Ceasar Mitchell, Mary Norwood and Kwanza Hall are all members of the City Council. Peter Aman is a former chief operating officer.

Atlanta seemed to be a strong contender for this HQ in an analysis The New York Times conducted this week. That is, until it hit traffic.

Here's what The Times surmised:

An Amazon priority is mass transit, and it has asked applicants to provide their traffic congestion rankings during peak commuting hours. … Gone are those with both weak transit and bad congestion rankings according to the company INRIX: Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Austin.

By the way, The Times left this package on Denver’s doorstep. Amazon remains mum.

But she also used the book, "What Happened," to say she saw potential in Georgia Democrat Michelle Nunn, who made a failed bid in 2014 for the U.S. Senate.

She called Nunn and then-North Carolina U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan “two smart, talented, independent-minded candidates who should have had a good chance to win.”

“Both races were tight up until the end,” Clinton wrote. “But days before the election, a savvy Georgia political observer confided to me that he’d seen private polling that showed Nunn and other Democrats cratering. Republicans were using fears about ISIS and Ebola to scare people and raise questions about whether a Democrat, especially a woman, could really be tough enough on national security.”

Williams was one of the most prominent voices seeking the dismissal of the Cherokee County high school teacher, Lyn Orletsky.

The school district quickly apologized for Orletsky’s actions and said she is no longer teaching the math class. The district would not disclose any other disciplinary action she may be facing.

Williams had said Orletsky “blatantly violated” the student’s free-speech rights.

Findlay spent two years as U.S. Rep. Jody Hice’s chief legal counsel and district director. He also is a co-founder of the political consulting firm War Room Strategies.

The lucrative opportunities for giving speeches and writing books afford ex-presidents of this era lusher lives than those of their predecessors, the Monroe Republican reasons in proposing the President Allowance Modernization Act.

“With Americans looking down the barrel of a $20 trillion debt, we must find ways to reduce wasteful spending,” he said, “and our former presidents will lead by example in cutting costs under this bill.”

No word on congressional pensions.

— Georgia Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing LGBT conservatives, has made its endorsements — sometimes two for one office — in Atlanta's mayoral and City Council races. For mayor, Norwood and Mitchell both got a nod. Two also won backing in the race for City Council president, Felicia Moore and Alex Wan. The group is also backing Amir Farokhi in City Council District 2, David Orland Brown in City Council District 5, Kirk Rich in City Council District 6 and Cory Ruth for the council's At-large Post 2.

The week in Georgia politics

Here’s a look at some of the political and government stories that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s staff broke online during the past week. To see more of them, go to http://www.myAJC.com.