Elected officials must comply when subpoenaed to testify

I have lost all patience for United States senators, governors, mayors (current or past), or lawyers who tie up various courts by challenging subpoenas to testify before a grand jury.

These individuals are not too busy, not above the law and need to testify under oath. I have done it once before and it’s really quite easy. You show up when you are scheduled, answer the questions honestly and leave.

If you have done nothing wrong, then you have no worries. If laws are broken, then you’re held accountable.

By the way, the people comprising the grand jury are individuals who have busy lives and matters to attend to. But they are there via a summons and doing their civic duty. But I bet they are losing their patience too.

So, I hope the judge overseeing the election interference grand jury determines Gov. Brian Kemp needs to “make time” to do his duty and testify soon.

BARBARA BRYANT, ATLANTA

Kemp would have been criticized for not spending relief money too

Re: “Kemp spends COVID-19 relief he once criticized” (News, Aug. 19) -- what a nice “hit piece” on Gov. Brian Kemp.

Of course, Kemp opposed President Joe Biden’s reckless spending policies and green energy programs, which caused inflation and higher fuel and food prices. This is what caused the need to spend this relief money anyway to help Georgians cope with these rising prices.

Should Kemp have given this money back? Of course not, and he would have been roundly criticized for not spending it. He didn’t create this crisis; Biden did.

It wouldn’t be tainted if Stacey Abrams were spending it.

Be careful what you wish for here. Kemp’s stewardship of the state helped small business owners manage successfully through COVID. He helped produce record growth as a pro-business state, with his fiscal policies producing record tax surpluses and eliminating the state gas tax. Georgia now has an unemployment rate below 3% for the first time in state history.

Not bad for a start.

HENRY ANDERSON, LILBURN

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Tamara Lamia puts her voting sticker after casting her ballot at the Israel Baptist Church in Kirkwood during the Georgia Public Service Commission’s special election at Ron Anderson Community Center in Cobb County on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

Credit: NYT