To some, the impetus of the Republican-backed effort to rein in local prosecutors is Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her ongoing probe of Donald Trump’s attempt to meddle with the 2020 election.
But to the measure’s sponsors, the motivation for the legislation is a lesser-known prosecutor: Athens-Clarke County District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, who is accused by critics of being incompetent and ineffective.
Gonzalez held a tense ”listening session” late Wednesday before a crowd of roughly 100 people where she defended her stint as prosecutor — and faced a mix of cheers and jeers from the audience.
She’s an outspoken opponent of still-pending legislation that would create a state oversight board with powers to investigate, sanction and remove prosecutors for a range of violations, including “willful misconduct.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez for the AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez for the AJC
Two of its chief proponents are her constituents: Gov. Brian Kemp and state Rep. Houston Gaines, R-Athens. Both have cited her handling of high-profile cases when stressing the need to bring “accountability” to prosecutors.
And Gaines has taken it a step further, criticizing his erstwhile adversary (they have competed head-to-head twice for a House seat) for a mass departure of staff attorneys on her watch and her decision not to prosecute certain low-level drug offenses.
It has also galvanized the community. The session was packed with supporters who cheered the Democrat’s tenure and opponents who heckled her throughout, including one who yelled: “Judges have an oversight committee. Why not DAs?”
Gonzalez has argued that the measures are an “overstep” that circumvent the will of the people. And she criticized the Senate version, which would allow GOP leaders to tap the members of the oversight panel.
“There is no need to have another mechanism that is partisan in the way it has been comprised and the way it has been introduced,” she said.
Near the end of the event, one attendee asked bluntly whether Gonzalez will just call it quits. Many in the audience cheered.
“I will not resign because I’m doing the job that the people elected me to do,” to more applause from her supporters in the room. “And I think we’re going to end it on that note.”
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LISTEN UP. Check out the latest edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, with special guest host Maya T. Prabhu joining us to break down what happened on Crossover Day — and what’s next.
Listen and subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
UNDER THE GOLD DOME, Legislative Day 31:
- 10 a.m.: Senate convenes.
- 1:30 p.m.: House gavels in.
- GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry will address the House Transportation Committee.
- The House is expected to vote on its version of the fiscal 2024 budget, sending it to the Senate as lawmakers to finalize the spending plan before the session ends.
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Credit: Nicole Craine/The New York Times
Credit: Nicole Craine/The New York Times
POLICE CENTER. Many of Georgia’s top Democrats have lined up behind the proposed police and fire training complex that has drawn intense and sometimes violent protests.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms approved the project and her successor, Andre Dickens, is the public safety center’s chief advocate. Democrats on the Atlanta City Council and in the Legislature have endorsed it, too.
But now one of the more prominent left-leaning groups in Georgia is promoting the effort to stop construction of the center, known to critics as “cop city.”
The New Georgia Project, founded by Stacey Abrams as a voter registration and mobilization group, is urging supporters to join a #StopCopCity march tonight at the King Center.
“We invited people to participate in the March 9 rally as an exercise in democracy — to exert the right to protest and civil dissent,” said Kendra Cotton, the group’s chief executive.
“We’ve stepped into the fray because of the opinions of those in the neighborhoods that will be most intimately impacted.”
The opponents include environmentalists concerned that a patch of urban woodland would be transformed into a training complex and activists concerned it would accelerate the militarization of local police agencies.
Abrams stepped down from the organization before her 2018 run for governor, and she has no role in New Georgia Project’s leadership.
But supporters of the complex were quick to note Abrams was no enemy of the training center during last year’s rematch against Gov. Brian Kemp. She advocated for more training for police officers, along with pay hikes for law enforcement officials.
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Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC
POWER PLAY. The Democrat who raised more than $15 million in his losing campaign against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is part of a new national political action committee to support Democrats in tough congressional races.
Marcus Flowers is one of three leaders of Mission Democracy, which launched today. The others are former GOP operative Olivia Troye and Fred Wellman, who was the executive director of the Lincoln Project.
The group intends to raise $18 million to “ensure no Republican candidate runs unopposed for U.S. Congress,” it said in a release.
“We may not have won my race, but we put up a fight and forced her to work for it,” said Flowers, who lost to Greene by a roughly two-to-one margin but said he helped energize Democrats in the heavily-Republican district.
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D.C. CRIME CODE. The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to overturn recent revisions to the District of Columbia’s criminal code, as a bipartisan group blocked an overhaul of the city’s sentencing laws.
President Joe Biden said he will sign the legislation into law, bringing to a close an issue that divided Democrats and galvanized congressional Republicans by giving them a victory on the law-and-order horizon.
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Athens, watched the Senate vote from inside the chamber. As sponsor of the legislation, this is both his first bill to pass on the House floor and first to be signed by the president.
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
As the vote drew to a close Wednesday evening, Clyde said his goal was to make the streets of D.C. safer, especially after a Democratic member of the House was assaulted.
“Crime is out of control in Washington, D.C.,” he told one of your insiders. “And this bill — if we had allowed it to go into law — would make it even worse.”
Fourteen Senate Democrats voted against Clyde’s resolution, arguing that critics of the D.C. legislation had misconstrued its intent and effects. They also said Congress should not get involved in a local matter, especially since the city’s leaders abandoned the criminal code revision. The bill passed 81-14.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Sen. Raphael Warnock was among those who said he was uncomfortable with Congress meddling in D.C. affairs. For that reason, he cast the lone “present” vote of the night, which was his first time ever doing so.
“I don’t respect what’s being done,” the Atlanta Democrat said prior to the vote. “That’s the message that I’m saying that it is not for me to vote either to say ‘yes’ or to say ‘no’ … I reject the premise of the vote itself.”
His counterpart, fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff, sided with the majority in supporting the legislation to overturn the changes. He said he backed the D.C. Council’s decision to return to the drawing board on its criminal code.
“I encourage the Council to advance a better measure that can become law,” Ossoff said in a statement after the vote. “I strongly support statehood for the District of Columbia; however until that is attained, Federal law obliges Congress to assess and approve the District’s policies according to our best judgment.”
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NORFOLK SOUTHERN. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw plans to apologize for his company’s toxic derailment disaster in testimony for a U.S. Senate committee today.
He will also lay out steps the railroad is taking to remedy the situation in East Palestine, Ohio, according to his prepared remarks.
“I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities, and I am determined to make it right,” Shaw says in a written version of his testimony reviewed by the AJC’s Kelly Yamanounchi.
Neither of Georgia’s senators are on the Environment and Public Works Committee that will hear from Shaw this morning. But Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock both said the Atlanta-based railroad company has their attention.
“Senator Reverend Warnock is in regular contact with Norfolk Southern’s leadership, and has spoken to its CEO about the train derailment in East Palestine,” Warnock’s office said in a statement earlier this week.
Both Democrats also expressed support for safety legislation currently pending in Congress.
“The laws and regulations governing rail safety warrant constant scrutiny and review in the interests of public safety and public health, and there are several bipartisan proposals worthy of consideration,” Ossoff said.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will travel to Philadelphia to deliver a speech on his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year, which will focus on strengthening Medicare and Social Security while reducing the deficit through tax hikes on the wealthy.
- The U.S. Senate has confirmation votes scheduled.
- The House has a vote scheduled on legislation that would limit social media companies’ ability to censor users.
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PERSONNEL MOVES. Veteran GOP consultant Billy Kirkland is joining National Public Affairs as a vice president of political strategy. Kirkland was U.S. Sen. David Perdue’s campaign manager in 2014 and was also an aide for former Gov. Sonny Perdue and former Vice President Mike Pence. In 2020, he also served as former President Donald Trump’s Georgia campaign head.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
RIP. Our condolences to the loved ones of state Rep. Tish Naghise, who died on Wednesday after a brief illness. The Democrat worked for a string of campaigns and left-leaning organizations until her successful run for a Fayetteville-based House seat in 2022. “Georgia will miss Tish,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. We’re counting down the days until the end of this year’s legislative session. And so is this little guy, Dash Griffin.
Dash is a miniature dachshund and the favorite furry friend of Mike Griffin, Capitol regular, Jolt subscriber and the public affairs representative for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
Griffin has had plenty of successes at the Capitol this session, but can any compare to Jolt Dog of the Day? Congratulations, Dash!
Send us your pups of any political persuasion — and cats on a cat-by-case basis — to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
