What a mess. Many Atlantans are still under a boil advisory after a series of major water main breaks that were first discovered Friday and set off a crisis in some parts of the city.
Restaurants and businesses were shut down. Residents were forced to find innovative ways to get water. Events were canceled. And many laid the blame on one figure: Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
Even Megan Thee Stallion got in on the act after her Friday and Saturday shows were scrapped. “Call the mayor,” the rap star told her frustrated fans.
Dickens, who is up for reelection next year, is under intense criticism for the slow and bungled response to the leak. City officials sent an initial notice of the water break around noon Friday, but then gave only sporadic updates about the crisis on Saturday.
There was one roughly 12-hour stretch from Friday to Saturday without additional information. The city eventually shared an update about a repair in northwest Atlanta — and then deleted the post.
Dickens, meanwhile, didn’t address the public until Saturday afternoon, apologizing for communication lapses. He said he was in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday when the water crisis started and didn’t return until Saturday.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Several city officials told us he was holding a fundraiser, and the Atlanta Community Press Collective got hold of an invite that showed the get-in price to the event was $250 and tickets topped out at $1,800.
Dickens, meanwhile, tried to make up for lost time. His social media feeds quickly filled up with updates on the water issues, and he visited senior centers Sunday to talk to residents about their water concerns.
The mayor has reason to watch his back. After his narrow 2021 victory, much of his first term has been dominated by liberal backlash over his support for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Now his critics can also savage him over his handling of the city’s emergencies.
The crisis isn’t over. Atlanta Public Schools canceled summer school and summer programs on Monday due to the ongoing water system problems.
Read: AJC’s complete coverage on Atlanta water outage.
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Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
Credit: Adam Van Brimmer/AJC
PREPPING FOR A PUSH. President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign opened its first Georgia field office on Friday just down the street from where another high-profile Democrat — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock — grew up.
The office on the edge of Savannah’s historic district will focus on Black voter outreach. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, an Electoral College delegate for Biden in 2020, marked the opening with an appeal to Black Savannahians.
“For Biden to win again, we have to come together, we can’t stay home,” Van Johnson said, a nod to the apathy expressed by Black voters in many recent presidential polls. “Don’t get caught up in the hype that President Biden hasn’t delivered for Black Americans and Black Georgians. He has.”
Insider Adam Van Brimmer explores the challenges both presidential candidates face in engaging with Black voters in Savannah and Chatham County in the latest installment of the AJC’s “Voter Voices” project.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
GEORGIA 2024. You’ve probably heard about the surge of small-dollar donations to former President Donald Trump’s campaign after he was convicted of 34 felonies in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election.
But the Republican’s first well-wishers after the verdict on Thursday included former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her husband Jeff Sprecher, who were among a group of high-rollers who joined Trump at a private event in New York.
The New York Post reported they were among about two dozen deep-pocketed donors who attended the shindig — and that the group pledged an estimated $30 million to support Trump’s comeback.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
‘MULES’ NO MORE. The publisher of the “2000 Mules” film that alleges an unfounded 2020 election fraud conspiracy will stop distributing the documentary and has apologized to one of the Atlanta-area voters it accused of ballot harvesting.
The AJC’s David Wickert reports the move appears to be part of a settlement between the Salem Media Group and Mark Andrews. “2000 Mules” showed Andrews putting multiple absentee ballots into a drop box. An investigation by the secretary of state’s office found the ballots, which included Andrews’ ballot and those of other family members, were not fraudulent.
Andrews filed a defamation lawsuit against Salem and the film’s producers, Dinesh D’Souza and the group True the Vote, in 2022.
The producers told a court earlier this year they had no documentary evidence supporting their ballot harvesting claims and didn’t even know the identity of their anonymous source who outlined the purported scheme.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL. U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, will be busy again this week in Congress fighting to bring back a Confederate Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington.
This week, Clyde is trying to get the House to vote on his Confederate Memorial plan — which he wants to rename the “Reconciliation Memorial” or “Reconciliation Monument” — possibly attaching that to a bill funding military construction projects in Georgia and other states.
The memorial, installed at Arlington Cemetery in 1914, isn’t all about reconciliation. It features a Black “Mammy” holding the young child of a white Southern soldier, a slave following his master into battle, and extols the “Lost Cause” narrative that the formation of the Confederacy was not centered on slavery.
As our colleague Jamie Dupree wrote over the weekend, Clyde couldn’t get any Republicans to help him last month in committee — we’ll see if it’s different this week.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
FAUCI TESTIFIES. Look for some fireworks today in Congress as a special House panel on the coronavirus hears from Dr. Anthony Fauci, once the government’s top infectious disease expert.
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, has been calling for this public hearing for a long time. Republicans are expected to strongly criticize Fauci’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak during the Trump Administration.
Greene and U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, are the only Georgia lawmakers on the panel. Fauci has already been in for two days of closed-door questions.
He said public hearings like this one have only resulted in a wave of personal threats against him and his family. Fauci still has security, almost 18 months after leaving his government post.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
THE DEAN. President Joe Biden appointed Calvin Smyre, the former Democratic legislator who was dean of the Georgia House, to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
It’s the latest federal post for Smyre, a Democrat who retired from the Legislature in 2022 after nearly a half-century representing a Columbus-based seat.
Biden tapped Smyre to serve as ambassador to the Dominican Republic and then ambassador to the Bahamas, but each time Smyre never won Senate confirmation.
While that was pending, he served as one of the United States’ five delegates to the United Nations General Assembly. The role required frequent trips to U.N. headquarters in New York City.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
NOT-SO-WARM WELCOME. A stunning result from the May primary was the Georgia House race victory of Gabriel Sanchez. If he wins the general election in November, he will be the first Democratic Socialist to serve in the General Assembly.
In a column published over the weekend, Insider Patricia Murphy asks if the Legislature is ready for such a far-left voice. Sanchez was an organizer of the controversial “Stop Cop City” movement aimed at halting construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. His potential future Democratic colleagues at the Capitol are voicing concerns about having a legislator with extremist views in their caucus.
From Murphy’s column:
Winning the (general election) race will be the first test for Sanchez. Winning over Democrats while they try to expand their majority could be a test for Sanchez and the Democratic Party alike.
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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
LISTEN UP. Today’s “Politically Georgia” episode features Oglethorpe University Professor Kendra King Momon, Emory University Professor Emeritus Alan Abramowitz, and Democratic ad maker Rick Dent discussing the leadership challenge in front of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.
Listen live at 10 a.m. on WABE 90.1 or follow “Politically Georgia” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
In case you missed it, Friday’s show led with reaction to the conviction of former President Donald Trump from Georgia’s top political voices. First, Georgia GOP chairman Josh McKoon weighed in on the Trump verdict. Then U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, the Atlantan who chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia, gave the Democrats’ perspective.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden attends a campaign reception in Greenwich, Connecticut.
- The House and Senate are back in session today following a recess for Memorial Day.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
INTO AFRICA. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St. Simons Island, recently participated in a weeklong congressional delegation visit to Africa. The trip included stops in Rwanda, where Carter went on a gorilla trek, and Tanzania, where he witnessed the great migration at the Serengeti National Park.
Carter was one of 10 House members who met with staffers of the U.S. embassy as well as with government officials from the countries visited. In Rwanda, Carter and his colleagues met with President Paul Kagame.
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AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.
