Bottoms calls on Georgia power players to help build new administration
Georgia Democrats will soon control nearly every lever of state government for the first time in decades. Now they must prepare to govern.
Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms unveiled a transition team Friday that includes some of Georgia’s most prominent business executives, political veterans and civic leaders.
The lineup offers the first glimpse of the people who will help Bottoms turn her historic election victory into a functioning administration after becoming the first Democrat to win Georgia’s top job since 1998.
The group includes Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, former Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer, entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, former nominee for governor Jason Carter, nonprofit leader Michelle Nunn, Delta executive Richard Cox and veteran executive Vicki Palmer.
It also draws on Democrats with ties to the party’s last era in power, including former state Rep. Calvin Smyre, who was the longest-serving member of the House when he retired, and Jane Kidd, a former chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia.
Bottoms said she wants the appointments to signal stability and experience after an electoral upheaval that transformed Georgia’s political landscape. Democrats swept every statewide race and flipped control of the state House.
“Now the work begins,” said Bottoms, who added Republican Gov. Brian Kemp pledged to ensure an orderly transfer of power.
“We are taking a very deliberate approach, and we will make sure that we get these decisions right,” Bottoms said. “We want to make sure there is a smooth transition, and Gov. Kemp has ensured there will be.”
From scratch
The challenge facing Bottoms is unlike anything Georgia Democrats have confronted in a generation.
Recent Republican governors could draw on a deep bench of experienced GOP officials who served in previous administrations.
But Democrats haven’t controlled the governor’s office since Roy Barnes was defeated in 2002, and few of those veterans are still involved in politics.
Bottoms must fill key posts almost from scratch, including senior advisers, agency leaders, and appointments on influential boards and commissions that shape state policy.
The clock is ticking. Bottoms must soon prepare her first state budget, make key personnel decisions and get up to speed on major projects and problems she will inherit from Kemp.
Eric Tanenblatt knows the challenge firsthand. He was chief of staff to Sonny Perdue when the Republican ousted Barnes in 2002.
He recalled discovering an unexpected budget shortfall after Perdue’s victory, along with economic development projects and other pressing decisions awaiting the incoming governor.
Keith Mason, a former Barnes aide, sees another parallel to that transition. He said Perdue lacked the backing of many of the state’s leaders, but they eventually rallied to help ensure a stable transition.
Mason argued in an opinion essay that Georgia’s business and civic leaders have a similar responsibility now.
“It is incumbent upon Georgia’s modern business and civic community to step up, pull together and help make this transition a success,” he wrote.