Capitol Recap: Voucher group’s flyers ensure vouchers’ failure this year in Georgia

Move to turn up the heat on GOP legislators backfires

When pressure builds up enough, something blows.

The American Federation for Children blew it.

The Washington-based advocacy group flooded mailboxes in at least 16 legislative districts with flyers urging conservatives to pressure their Republican state lawmakers to vote for a school voucher program.

The flyers fell far short of subtlety, linking those GOP legislators to “radical left” figures.

The flyers also fell far short of their goal, when state House Speaker David Ralston — who has the ultimate decision on what bills get votes in the chamber and which bills die from neglect — said the voucher legislation will not pass during this session.

“These are people we have tried to help over the years,” Ralston said, “and they turned to attack us very viciously.”

The flyers featured images of Democrats Stacey Abrams, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris above a picture of the state lawmaker from the district where the flyer was mailed.

“The radical left want to cancel your right to choose your child’s school,” the flyer stated, asking recipients to tell their representative to “stand up to them.”

The other side featured a phone number for the Republican legislator.

The mailers were seeking passage of proposals that would give public school students a state subsidy of about $6,000 a year to help cover private school tuition.

Before the federation’s blunder, the proposals had a chance of passing.

“You had people on both sides of the issue in the Republican caucus. And the proponents had a better chance than they had in quite some time in moving it,” Ralston said.

“But they have no chance now,” he said. “People who were for it are now against it. People that are undecided are against it. And the people that are against it are even more against it.”

Until now, the American Federation for Children had followed the standard route for nurturing amity at the Capitol — it threw around a lot of money. The group has spent roughly $2.2 million in Georgia since 2010, according to an AJC analysis, mostly to finance campaigns for education-related constitutional amendments. It also gave tens of thousands of dollars to political organizations backed by Ralston and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.

That now appears to have been squandered.

Ralston has seen a lot in his 12 years as shop foreman in the state House. This, however, was new.

“I’ve never seen a group of people kill their own bill in this kind of fashion,” he said.

Kemp distributes more federal money for water, sewer projects

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp handed out more money this past week that Democrats in Congress sent to the state for COVID-19 relief.

This time, it was $422 million that will be granted to dozens of cities and counties for water and sewer projects.

The money is part of the $4.8 billion the state is expected to receive as part of a package Democrats approved a year ago without any Republican votes.

Kemp, who is running for reelection, headed a similar distribution of federal funds a few weeks ago when he announced that $408 million would go toward an expansion of high-speed internet service in the state, providing access to 132,000 homes and businesses, mostly in rural areas.

Most of the water and sewer grants will also go to areas outside metro Atlanta, although Kemp included awards for Douglas, Forsyth and Gwinnett counties and the city of Smyrna.

Some of the projects will help small cities with no back-up water supplies or contaminated wells, plus counties looking to extend drinking water to areas served by unpermitted wells.

State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, greeted the awards with praise, saying her constituents have “had to deal with an aging, aging, not-working-half-the-time infrastructure” with water systems that are “barely functioning.”

“The awards we are going to get will make our cities, make our areas, so much better functioning, not only for our present day, but for our future,” she said.

‘Parents Bill of Rights’ clears state Senate

The Georgia Senate this past week advanced legislation that Republicans call a “Parents Bill of Rights.”

Supporters of Senate Bill 449, including Gov. Brian Kemp, say parents have every right to see what their children are being taught in school.

Critics of the measure, which would give parents easier access to instructional materials used in public schools, say it creates an unnecessary demand on teachers’ time.

The bill would allow parents to opt their children out of sex education courses, as well as from audio recordings, photographs and videos. It also enforces parents’ authority to review all instructional materials and school records about their child.

Parents could already do many of these things under state and federal code. For instance, a 2016 state law requires school boards to make all locally approved instructional materials and other content available for review upon request.

The new bill would set a deadline of three to 30 days for schools to meet parents’ requests, and it would establish an appeals process when schools refuse.

Some say the legislation would add to the burdens on already-harried teachers.

“If you tell a teacher I want you to put up all of your material for the year, I think that ask is a lot more than they realize,” said Alfred “Shivy” Brooks, who teaches economics, personal finance and government at Charles R. Drew High School in Clayton County.

Brooks said SB 449 and similar measures also display a mistrust and disrespect of educators that “are going to further push teachers out of the classroom.”

State Sen. Matt Brass, R-Newnan, articulated the Republican position on the measure.

“We are simply returning control back to the parents,” he said. “Giving them the rights that have been lost in certain cases.”

Credit: TNS

State steps in to help Rivian plant move forward amid resistance

Plans to locate a $5 billion electric-vehicle plant about 40 miles east of Atlanta have run into some resistance at the local level, so the state is taking charge.

Local officials were set to vote next month on whether to rezone the 2,000 acres for industrial use, but they have been facing pressure from hundreds, maybe thousands, of area residents who oppose the proposed factory.

The state, which can more easily bypass local zoning laws, is now stepping in.

Details remain murky.

The Joint Development Authority of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton counties may have to take a vote. It’s also uncertain whether the state must purchase the Rivian site, or if the JDA can simply give it to the state.

The area around the site, which will be located between the small communities of Social Circle and Rutledge, is divided.

Hundreds of residents have attended local government meetings to voice concerns that the plant will harm the local water supply and otherwise upend their daily lives. A local legal fund has raised more than $150,000 in recent weeks to oppose the plan, and two local Facebook groups have formed.

But others support the plant. A recent meeting of the Newton Chamber of Commerce drew about 330 people to learn more about the operation.

The strongest supporter, possibly, is Gov. Brian Kemp, who has hailed the plant as the largest economic development project in state history. At the beginning of this year’s legislative session, the governor asked the state to spend $125 million on land and training costs for the plant.

The state’s involvement is not unprecedented.

It made similar moves about 15 years ago when it took ownership of a 2,200-acre site in West Point where Kia Motors wanted to build a plant. The state started pre-development work on the property while the South Korean automaker built the factory.

Walker slams Kemp and Perdue in call for GOP unity

U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker is trying to get the GOP band back together.

But he sees two Yoko Onos: Gov. Brian Kemp and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.

Asked during an appearance this past week at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega whether he would support Kemp or Perdue in the GOP primary for governor, Walker vented at both of them, according to a recording obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I don’t support either one of them. I’m mad at both of them,” Walker said. “I speak the truth, and let me tell you why. I’ve known Gov. Kemp since I was 16 years old. I’ve known Sen. Perdue since I was 19. This is what I want to say to everyone here: I want to bring this party together. We’ve got to bring this party together.

“What has happened now is some people get sour grapes and they don’t get out and vote. And I want to say whoever loses that race — whether it’s Gov. Kemp or Sen. Perdue — he needs to tell his people to go out and vote for the other. It’s time for you to stop having sour grapes and think about this party.”

Walker, who has limited his public appearances since entering the Senate race, was busy in Dahlonega.

He was critical of President Joe Biden’s speech last month in Atlanta that equated opponents of a federal voting rights proposal to segregationists such as Bull Connor and Georgia Wallace.

The former football star then offered this theory involving race and the healing nature of baseball:

“If you don’t like what somebody is saying to you, you want to call them a racist. Even our president is calling you a racist. Think about this: Atlanta just won the World Series. How are you calling them a racist? Did you see the MVPs of the game? The two guys they interviewed spoke a different language than the interviewers from America.”

Walker was apparently referring to Eddie Rosario, a U.S. citizen from Puerto Rico who was the most valuable player of the National League Championship Series, and World Series MVP Jorge Soler of Cuba.

Bill seeks end to dispute over medical marijuana licenses

Georgia lawmakers are trying to bring an end to a prolonged dispute among companies competing to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program.

A solution would finally make it possible for patients — who were granted the ability to use a cannabis oil to treat a range of severe illnesses and conditions — to legally obtain the drug.

House Bill 1400 would increase the number of state licenses necessary to manufacture and sell the drug from six to 22.

That would include six companies that received tentative approval from the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission in July, along with 16 companies that protested against what they said were inconsistencies in the competitive bidding process that they maintain cost them selection for the licenses.

The dispute has been one more obstacle to more than 20,000 people registered with the state to use the cannabis oil to treat seizures, terminal cancers, Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses and conditions. The oil can contain no more than 5% THC, the compound that gives marijuana users a high

“We’ve been fighting this battle, and honestly you should be ashamed for crushing the spirits of all the families that have come up here,” said Dale Jackson, who struggles to find cannabis oil for his 14-year-old autistic son. “You all have to do something. Please.”

The protests that companies filed after being denied licenses are now mired in a slow administrative appeal process.

HB 1400′s sponsor, state Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, said those appeals and potential lawsuits could lead to three more years of delays.

“This is a real issue that needs to be addressed,” he said.

Candidates, endorsements, etc.:

— Gov. Brian Kemp said he will participate in four debates ahead of his showdown with former U.S. Sen. David Perdue in the May 24 GOP primary. The debates will be hosted by WSB-TV, the Atlanta Press Club, Nexstar Media Group and Gray Television.

— The Citizens United Political Victory Fund and its president, David Bossie, have endorsed Jake Evans in the 6th Congressional District’s GOP primary.

— Rich McCormick, who is running in the 6th Congressional District’s GOP primary, picked up endorsements from Utah U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens and Texas U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician to then-President Donald Trump.

— U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath has endorsed Everton Blair, the former chairman of the Gwinnett County school board in his race for state superintendent of schools. Blair earlier endorsed McBath in the 7th Congressional District Democratic primary.

— Matt Richards has dropped out of the GOP primary in the 10th Congressional District and thrown his support in the race behind Mike Collins.

— Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, is backing state Rep. Timothy Barr in the 10th Congressional District GOP primary.

— Republican state Rep. Ed Setzler announced he’ll run for state Sen. Lindsey Tippins’ Cobb County-based district now that Tippins is retiring.