This morning, Denis O'Hayer of WABE (90.1FM) aired a three-minute portion of an interview with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, in which the leading Republican candidate for governor explained why he led the fight to deep-six a sales tax break on jet fuel for Delta Air Lines during the recent legislative session.
You’ll recall that, after the February massacre of high school students in Parkland, Fla., the National Rifle Association criticized the students’ resulting protests in Tallahassee, Fla., and Washington D.C. Whereupon Delta announced that it would end a rarely used fare discount program that allowed NRA members cheaper tickets when headed to organization meetings.
We'll link to the sound as soon as O'Hayer sends the URL over, but below is a quick transcript of a fascinating back-and-forth, which began with O'Hayer asking Cagle why he considered Delta's move discriminatory:
Cagle: "Delta said you no longer can do it because we disapprove of you as an organization or i.e., we disapprove of law-abiding gun owners. I don't think that that's right. And so – "
O'Hayer: "Does ending a discount program mean that they disapprove of law-abiding gun owners?"
Cagle: "I don't know how you take it any other way, Denis."
O'Hayer: "It sounded like it was about the organization and some of the positions it has taken, rather than about its members."
Cagle: "Yeah, well, I don't know how you can view that in the context by which you just stated. But had Delta said, 'We are no longer doing discounts to any organization, and we're going to treat everyone fairly,' that would have been fine. I, personally, as a business owner for 32 years – I subscribe to the Warren Buffet theory that says, 'I'm there in a fiduciary role for my shareholders. Not to get into becoming the conscience of America.'"
When corporations do that, this is where you become very divisive. And it was unfortunate.
O'Hayer: "But we've seen corporations like Coca-Cola, for instance, here in Atlanta go out and sponsor things that are very, very important for community development and all sorts of things. The role of the corporation in the public sphere is hardly a new one."
Cagle: "There's no question that that is correct. But again, you're dealing with a Constitution – the Second Amendment that gives people the right to bear arms."
O'Hayer: "How does ending a discount program threaten the Second Amendment?"
Cagle: "Because the action that was taken clearly was an action that was viewed as if you are against the NRA."
O'Hayer: "But the NRA is not the Second Amendment."
Cagle: "The NRA – everyone knows what the NRA stands for. The NRA is there, and they fight for the Second Amendment. They fight for law-abiding individuals."
O'Hayer: "Certainly, they support the Second Amendment. But they are not one and the same thing."
Cagle: "Well, you and I can just have disagreements, Denis."
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The Newnan Times-Herald tells us that a white supremacist group calling itself the Nationalist Socialist Movement will hold a rally in that city on Saturday, April 21 – and that "Antifa" groups are already promising to confront them. U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-LaGrange, has already weighed in:
"…[T]he racist views of neo-Nazis are completely abhorrent. I commend Mayor Brady for his work to ensure a peaceful event and urge the entire Newnan community to stand together to show that there is no place for hate or intolerance in Georgia's Third District."
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Republicans are challenging the residency of Democratic attorney Josh McLaurin in the race for House District 51, a Sandy Springs-based seat on the list of targeted Democratic pick-ups.
The seat is currently held by state Rep. Wendell Willard, a Republican who is retiring.
Should be challenge be successful, Republican Alex Kaufman would be the only other candidate on the ballot.
A letter to Secretary of State Brian Kemp questioning McLaurin’s candidacy was filed late last month by Gabe Sterling, a former member of the Sandy Springs City Council and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the chairmanship of the Fulton County Commission.
Candidates for the state House are required to have two years of residency within the state of Georgia and a year of residency in the district they wish to serve.
“It does not appear that McLaurin even meets these minimum requirements,” said Sterling’s attorney, Vincent Russo, in a text sent to us by his firm.
Sterling alleges a) that McLaurin was a resident of New York “until sometime in 2017,” and that b) multiple addresses he listed in 2017 still were not in House District 51.
State Rep. Scott Holcomb, D-Atlanta, who is serving as McLaurin’s attorney in the matter, said McLaurin stayed briefly in New York City after graduating from Yale University law school. He returned in October 2016 and has lived in the district since September 2017.
“This challenge is a nothing-burger. Josh is a Georgian and has satisfied all of the legal requirements to be on the ballot. We expect the challenge to be dismissed and Josh’s candidacy to move forward,” Holcomb said in a text last night.
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The latest fundraising numbers are still trickling in, but an analysis of TV ad time shows the depth of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's financial advantage over his rivals in the race for governor.
Cagle has reserved about $4.5 million worth of airtime on cable and broadcast stations through the May 22 vote. His opponents combined have reserved about half that amount.
The biggest buy came from Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who spent roughly $1 million in escalating ads until the vote. Former state Sen. Hunter Hill spent more than $750,000 so far on airtime. And businessman Clay Tippins has yet to make another significant ad buy after his initial $250,000 introductory Super Bowl spot.
The fifth leading GOP contender, state Sen. Michael Williams, has not aired any TV ads yet. Democrat Stacey Evans launched her first spot earlier this morning, while her rival Stacey Abrams has yet to go on air.
The analysis shows the only significant outside group to plunge into the GOP side of the contest is Citizens for Georgia’s Future, the pro-Cagle booster that spent roughly $1 million through the end of March, tapering off just as Cagle’s ad buys ramped up.
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A pro-Stacey Abrams super PAC will file a report with the state ethics commission today showing it has $1.2 million on hand to spend on getting the former Georgia House minority leader elected governor. The new third-party organization is called PowerPAC Georgia and is bankrolled by San Francisco philanthropist Susan Sandler.
Marvin Randolph, the group’s manager, said the group has yet to decide how exactly it will spend its money but that it will go towards boosting Abrams’ face and name ID; helping differentiate her from her Democratic primary opponent, Stacey Evans; and turning out black voters through TV and digital ads. The group spent $150,000 in television ads last month. PowerPAC previously committed to spend $2.5 million on the campaign.
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The group that organized the March for Our Lives protest in Atlanta last month is planning to host a town hall this weekend that touches on many of the same issues. The Town Hall for Our Lives will be held on Saturday night at the Rialto Center for the Arts and is designed for concerned citizens to meet with elected officials about "gun reform and will serve as a forum for community dialogue to discuss ways to reduce gun violence."
Several affiliated events are also scheduled to occur around town on Saturday. U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, is confirmed to attend a Q&A on gun violence in Conyers during the afternoon and an event in Gainesville’s downtown square is also on the books. The group is also encouraging constituents to attend an event being held by conservative U.S. Rep. Jody Hice at the Milledgeville Chamber of Commerce to ask him about gun violence.
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Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates appeared to leave the door open ever so slightly for a future run for office. The longtime Georgia attorney maintained in an event this week at Georgetown University that she currently has no plans for a run but said her husband has urged her not to rule it out completely, according to the Washington Examiner:
"You know, I did the full-stop, close-the-door a couple times before when I was asked this, and my husband said, 'Please just don't say never. Please just in this,' because he wants me to," Yates replied.
Yates went on to say that for her husband's sake, "I'm not saying absolutely never, but it's pretty darn close to that."
Yates said at the same event that she had "absolutely no reason to believe" that the warrant the Justice Department sought to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page when she was there was inappropriate. Some congressional Republicans, including several from Georgia, argue that the feds improperly obtained the warrant using tainted information as it investigated Russian meddling in the election.
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This may not be the best way to get attention: Georgia Gun Owners, which bills itself as a more aggressive offshoot of the National Rifle Association, sent a plea to its members about three candidates for governor who have yet to respond to the latest survey. The group then included the cell numbers of aides to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, former state Sen. Hunter Hill and Secretary of State Brian Kemp. We're guessing they're not exactly rushing to fill out the form now.
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