Democrat Jason Carter opened a new front in his campaign for governor, contending that Gov. Nathan Deal has "politicized" Georgia's National Guard and imperiled its ability to stave off base closures in the next round of Pentagon cuts.
"We have a governor who put politics first instead of placing people in positions where they should be," said Carter. "Economically it's a serious issue for us and in terms of respect for the National Guard it's a serious issue. And when we have to go and fight for our military families ... we need to be sure we're sending the best possible people forward."
Carter was referring to Deal's 2011 appointment of then-Republican state Sen. Jim Butterworth, a former captain in the Air Guard, as leader of the state unit. The promotion raised plenty of eyebrows in military quarters, and several former Guard members criticized the move.
Deal's aides pointed to a 2013 award by the Pentagon that named the Guard the overall winner of the Army Communities of Excellence competition.
"This is another example of how Jason Carter prefers rhetoric over records," said Deal spokesman Brian Robinson. "Our National Guard was named best in the nation by the Pentagon. Judge Gov. Deal's appointments by their performance."
Carter's attack stuck to a broader theme of accusing Deal of turning state agencies into a political arm of his office. He earlier pledged to "professionalize" Georgia's economic development office and lead a nationwide search for its next leader.
Carter was flanked by former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland and David Poythress, a former adjutant general of Georgia's Guard who was also a two-time Democratic candidate for governor. Poythress called Deal's military appointments a "laughingstock" and said they prove he doesn't take the military seriously.
"These people, the governor's appointees, are not federally recognized generals. When they go to the Pentagon, they have to wear a coat and tie," Poythress said, adding: "They don't belong there and everyone knows they don't belong there."
The event, held at the Marietta Museum of History's Air Wing, was aimed at appealing to veterans and their families in the final push before the November election. Carter is not a military veteran, but he and his surrogates noted that his father Jack and both his grandparents served.
Deal's aides scoffed at the attack and pointed to the governor's military record. Deal rose to the ranks of captain in the U.S. Army before leaving the military to start his law practice.
"We have a governor who has served his nation in uniform in a time of war," said Robinson. "He's not going to take a lecture from someone with absolutely zero military experience. Jason Carter should be ashamed of himself."
But Carter and his surrogates said his family's military experience, as well as his time serving the Peace Corps in South Africa, would serve him well as head of Georgia's National Guard.
"It doesn't matter that he doesn't have military experience," said Cleland. "I consider the fact that he grew up at his father's knee and his grandfather's knee enough to know that he grew up in a family that relishes military experience."
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