State Democrats are out with a new ad that accuses Brian Kemp, the Republican nominee for governor, of having a track record of acting “reckless,” “unaccountable” and “irresponsible.”
The Democratic Party of Georgia is paying for the ad, which began airing on television in metro Atlanta on Thursday and was approved by Kemp's Democratic rival, former state House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams.
The plot
The ad opens with the narrator reeling off a series of claims about Kemp.
“Pointing a shotgun at a teenager. Renewing a sexual abuser’s massage license. Then refusing to take responsibility. Defaulting on a half million dollar loan. A government and AJC investigation resulting in charges that actions may be a felony under Georgia law,” the narrator says.
He labels Kemp unaccountable, reckless and irresponsible.
“These are not the traits of a leader. Not by a long shot,” the narrator says. “Brian Kemp cannot be trusted.”
The context
In the GOP primary for governor, Kemp appeared in ads with a shotgun and a young man identified as his daughter’s boyfriend. The gun was in keeping with the image Kemp was projecting of a politically incorrect conservative who would be out on weekends as governor rounding up unauthorized immigrant workers in his pickup truck. Since winning the primary runoff against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Kemp’s worked to present a more moderate image.
Democrats have repeatedly hammered Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state, saying he has failed to revoke the state license of a massage therapist for sexually abusing a customer. Kemp’s office has administrative oversight of the state’s licensing boards, including one licensing massage therapists. He has repeatedly said, however, that only the board has the power to revoke a license.
The other two ad claims deal with a $500,000 loan he personally guaranteed for an agricultural business in which he invested. He's a defendant in a lawsuit over that loan. A report earlier this month in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that Hart AgStrong, a grain processor partly owned by Kemp, put up as loan collateral thousands of bushels of canola and sunflower seeds it didn't own. In April, the paper reported, an attorney in the state Department of Agriculture wrote that the company's actions "may be a felony under Georgia law." The letter also threatened to revoke AgStrong's license to do business with Georgia farmers.
Nothing in the records reviewed by the AJC suggests Kemp was directly involved in AgStrong’s questionable business dealings. However, some of those activities occurred while Kemp served on the company’s board of directors.
Watch the ad
Look at other ads from the governor's race.
