Probe involves $6.7 million in funds

Hundreds received unemployment insurance benefits in error during the COVID-19 pandemic while working in state government, Georgia’s inspector general said in a report to Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.

Inspector General Scott McAfee said his office’s investigation, using state and federal records, tentatively shows at least 280 full-time employees received $6.7 million in unemployment payments in 2020 and 2021. That comes out to about $23,700 per worker.

McAfee called his estimate “conservative.”

Federal aid to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 shutdown of businesses, he noted, resulted in billions of dollars worth of fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.

McAfee’s letter to Kemp’s office detailed numerous cases, including:

A Department of Labor unemployment claims examiner who received about $31,200. Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said the employee actually received the money while working for another agency. Butler said the employee was fired from the Labor Department job once his agency found out about it.
A Department of Revenue tax examiner who received about $19,010 while employed with the office of special investigations.
Two Department of Human Services supervisors received about $49,730 and $36,575.

“These examples provide a glimpse into the scope and scale of this issue, and each has been referred to the Office of the Attorney General’s prosecution division,” McAfee wrote.

McAfee recommended the General Assembly pass legislation extending the time for prosecutors to pursue cases of pandemic-related fraud. The statute of limitations is currently two years from when potential fraud is discovered in misdemeanor cases and four years if a felony is suspected.

“Otherwise,” he said, “the lack of adequate prosecution and subsequent deterrence will deny restitution to Georgia taxpayers and undermine public confidence in these programs for years.”

McAfee is also asking legislators to grant his office independent authority to subpoena financial and government records. The Georgia House approved legislation granting that power last year, but the measure never made it out of the Senate.

Clyde helps block McCarthy’s rise to speaker

Republican U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Athens was among a group of 20 members of the House who shot down GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker in vote after vote.

Clyde’s votes set him apart from the rest of Georgia’s GOP delegation to the House, although one of its newest members, Mike Collins from the 10th Congressional District, had campaigned on a promise to stand up against McCarthy.

After extended negotiations, during which McCarthy made numerous concessions to the GOP holdouts, Clyde backed the Californian in the 12th round of voting.

It was the first time since 1923 that a House speaker contest required multiple voting cycles, and it raised questions about the Republican Party’s ability to govern for the next two years.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, during an appearance on Fox News, called the intraparty fight over McCarthy “insulting.”

“How can you hold the entire party hostage?” the former Georgia congressman said. “How can you hold the House hostage?”

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Rome and a McCarthy supporter, said on the first day of the congressional session that the scuffle irritated her. She had been set to vote that day on a measure to block the addition of 87,000 employees to the Internal Revenue Service.

”We didn’t get to do that today,” Greene said after three rounds of votes had taken place. “And that’s a failure of our conference because we didn’t elect a speaker.”

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Credit: Alyssa Pointer

Kemp, Jones target crime for action during General Assembly’s session

Crime appears headed for a high spot on the agenda for the General Assembly when its 2023 session begins Monday.

Gov. Brian Kemp spoke little about his plans for a second term during his reelection campaign, but he indicated in a recent tweet that crime will be among his priorities.

“Far-left local prosecutors are failing their constituents and making our communities less safe,” Kemp wrote. He added that he plans to “address it this session” with the help of state legislators and Attorney General Chris Carr.

The governor wrote the tweet in response to an Athens Banner-Herald story about how a county judge recently dismissed a sexual assault indictment after prosecutors failed to meet his speedy trial demand. The prosecutor’s office said a “time mistake” was partly to blame for the delays.

Lt. Gov.-elect Burt Jones also went to social media to pledge action against crime following the death of an off-duty Fulton County sheriff’s deputy.

“Enough is enough,” Jones said in the tweet. “As Lieutenant Governor, we’re going to tackle this issue head on and work to restore law and order to our streets starting very soon.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told The New York Times that the Legislature should do more to help prosecutors.

She cited the case of Rico Marley, who was arrested at a Midtown grocery story in March while wearing body armor and carrying six loaded weapons.

Willis said her office investigated the case but had not found “provable felonies under Georgia law” against Marley, whose attorney noted that he hadn’t made any threats, fired any shots or obtained the weapons illegally.

“Georgia’s General Assembly must examine our statutes governing this type of behavior,” Willis said. “Respecting the right to bear arms should not require that we tolerate people entering public places with assault rifles and body armor.”

What Kemp plans to do isn’t clear, although during his time on the campaign trail he backed new crackdowns on human trafficking and gang violence. He also supported proposals to limit no-cash bail and boost the number of law enforcement officers and medical examiners.

Whatever happens represents a shift in policy away from Kemp’s predecessor, Nathan Deal, who spent eight years overhauling the state’s criminal justice system to steer more nonviolent offenders away from prison cells and to treatment centers.

At the time, many other Republicans did the same thing across the nation, but the party appears headed once again to a tough-on-crime stance.

State representative-elect, facing drug charges, withdraws from Georgia House

The legislative career of Danny Rampey ended before it got started.

This case of lawmaker interrupted occurred when Rampey, a Republican from Winder who had just won election to the state House in November, withdrew from office after he was charged with stealing prescription narcotics from a retirement complex where he works.

Rampey faced pressure from party leaders to step down rather than face a possible suspension proceeding if he tried to take office when lawmakers convene in the coming week.

“His withdrawal will ensure his constituents have a voice in this session of the General Assembly after the special election is held,” House Speaker Jan Jones and incoming House Speaker Jon Burns said in a joint statement.

Gov. Brian Kemp scheduled a special election to fill the seat for Jan. 31.

Rampey, a former chairman of the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce, won the GOP primary in House District 119 with more than 82% of the vote. He then ran unopposed in November’s general election.

Authorities said a weekslong investigation about “suspicious activity involving missing medications” at the Magnolia Estates assisted living center in Winder led them to Rampey.

He was charged Dec. 16 with burglary, exploiting an elderly person, obtaining a controlled substance by theft and possessing a controlled substance.

“We had a couple of instances of him on video taking the items and today we had one as well,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told The Athens Banner-Herald. “We actually filmed him going into the residence and taking the items.”

Rampey was released from custody shortly after his arrest on an $111,000 bond.

Credit: Ben Gray

Runoff needed to fill Ralston’s North Georgia seat in House

Another round of voting will be required to fill the state House seat Speaker David Ralston held until his death in November.

Ralston’s widow, Sheree Ralston, was the leading vote-getter in a special election this past week in House District 7, but she fell short of a majority with 45% of the vote.

Ralston, the executive director of the Fannin County Development Authority, will face a member of the authority’s board, banker Johnny Chastain, in a Jan. 31 runoff.

Chastain got 39% of the vote in a race that featured three other candidates: airport manager Justin Heitman, conservative talk show host Brian K. Pritchard and filmmaker Richie Stone.

Jan. 31 is becoming a busy day on Georgia’s political calendar. In addition to the House District 7 runoff and the special election to replace Danny Rampey in House District 119, two other special elections are scheduled that day. One is to fill the seat Republican state Sen. Dean Burke of Bainbridge gave up to take a job with the state Department of Community Health. The other is to replace Republican state Rep. Sam Watson of Moultrie, who is running for Burke’s Senate seat.

Kemp deals setback to plan to move Georgia up in primary schedule

He doesn’t really have a part in the decision, but Gov. Brian Kemp could have helped turn into reality President Joe Biden’s plan to move Georgia to an earlier spot on the 2024 primary calendar.

He didn’t.

Biden proposed an overhaul of the primary calendar that would replace Iowa in the leadoff spot with South Carolina, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada. Next would come Georgia and Michigan.

State Democrats got behind the plan in a big way, framing Georgia as a battleground state with a diverse population that better reflects the nation’s electorate than far whiter states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire.

But the decision is up to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Raffensperger hasn’t said no, but his office put together a list of requirements. Both parties’ primaries need to be held on the same day to avoid overtaxing election workers. And he wants assurances that neither party would lose delegates from an unsanctioned move.

The secretary also has one other stipulation: Moving Georgia up the schedule would need “buy-in from both sides of the aisle.”

It’s hard to see how that happens without support from Kemp, the state’s top Republican.

Political expedience

Confirmation process starts again for Smyre, Abudu: Former state Rep. Calvin Smyre has been nominated once more by President Joe Biden to become the U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas. Smyre needed to be nominated again when the new congressional session began, pushing the restart button on the confirmation process. Smyre, a Columbus Democrat who spent 48 years in the Georgia House before his nomination, was part of a group whose nominations were renewed by Biden. That included Nancy G. Abudu, the president’s pick for a seat on the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals. A Senate committee deadlocked on Abudu’s nomination during the previous session, and Democrats did not take the procedural steps necessary to move her to the floor for a vote.
Insulin cap begins: The new year means a new $35 monthly cap on out-of-pocket costs for insulin takes effect for people on Medicare. Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath of Marietta were among the supporters who helped make the cap law. “If you need insulin, you really need insulin — it is not a choice,” Warnock said. “I’m thrilled to see my provision to cap insulin costs for Medicare recipients finally take effect because, simply put, this measure will save lives.”
Georgians take key jobs on congressional staffs: A pair of staffers with Georgia ties will play important roles on the staffs of members of Congress from outside the state. Zoe Oreck, a 2011 graduate from the University of Georgia, is the policy director in the leadership office of New York U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the newly anointed House minority leader. Tre Easton, a native of Barnesville, is the legislative director for Pennsylvania’s newest senator, Democrat John Fetterman.
Wellstar to expand: Wellstar Health System made news in 2022 by closing the Atlanta Medical Center and the Atlanta Medical Center in East Point — two hospitals that served a disproportionately lower-income and Black population. Now, the nine-hospital system is aiming to grow, with a plan to partner with the Augusta University Health System. Gov. Brian Kemp praised the plan, which still requires some negotiation on details, as “good news for the Augusta region” and health care in the state. “It means more doctors and medical service providers, more options for health care and greater innovation in this field are coming to Georgia communities,” Kemp said.
GOP chair faces a challenge: Rebecca Yardley, the chair of the 9th District GOP, has set her sights on taking charge of the state Republican Party by challenging Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer. Shafer has fallen into disfavor with some of the state’s most powerful Republicans after backing former President Donald Trump’s losing candidates in party primaries. Gov. Brian Kemp, for example, has used his own leadership committee to allow outside groups to circumvent the state GOP under Shafer to distribute campaign donations to Republican candidates. Shafer has other problems: He has been identified as a target for investigation by a Fulton County special grand jury investigating Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Shafer served as a “fake” elector for Trump.

Politics

Capitol Recap: IG says hundreds of state workers got COVID-19 jobless benefits