The Jolt: Anti-abortion leader faces backlash for jab at late House speaker

Among them was Nathaniel Darnell, the Georgia director for the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, who thanked God for the recent death of the late House Speaker David Ralston.

“Lord, may you please confront those legislators who might seek to be an obstacle to these efforts,” he said. “We thank you for how you have relieved us from one legislator, a speaker who made himself an obstacle, and we pray that father you would help other legislators to serve you in fear and to take warning.”

Darnell was immediately condemned by Republican legislators and conservative leaders, including Cole Muzio of Frontline Policy Action. He called Darnell’s remarks “absolutely disgraceful.”

One state House Republican called the insult “a spectacular way to kill a bill before it’s introduced.”

Separately, Ralston’s successor, House Speaker Jon Burns, said last week he doesn’t plan to push for new abortion limits while the Georgia Supreme Court weighs a legal challenge to the 2019 law that banned abortion at about six weeks.

Gov. Brian Kemp has also not called for any new limits, but individual lawmakers are expected to introduce new proposals to give embryos “personhood” rights, Prabhu reports. If the bills move forward, don’t expect Darnell to be among the advocates getting a warm welcome in the Capitol when lobbying for their cause.

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Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC

Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC

ATLANTA VIOLENCE. Georgia’s most prominent political leaders condemned the protest-turned-riot that roiled downtown Atlanta Saturday night. The group had gathered to demonstrate against last week’s fatal shooting death of an activist, who authorities say was killed after the 26-year-old opened fire on a state trooper near the city’s planned public safety training center.

But the sense of political unity could be tested as the backlash over the new training center sharpens attention on Atlanta’s struggles to contain violent crime. Gov. Brian Kemp and his GOP allies have promised new crackdowns in Atlanta and around the state.

Credit: Steve Schaefer / AJC/TNS

Credit: Steve Schaefer / AJC/TNS

At least six people were arrested Sunday and charged with domestic terrorism and other felony counts, the AJC’s Alexis Stevens reported. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said five of the six had traveled to Atlanta from out of state.

“Most of them traveled into our city to wreak havoc,” Dickens said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “And so, we love to support people when they’re doing right, peaceful protest is a part of our freedoms, but when you are violent, we will make sure that you get held accountable.”

Georgia’s Democratic senators, U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock also both spoke out against violence. In a late Sunday post, Warnock wrote: “As Dr. King said, violence never brings permanent peace.”

U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde was among those who, without offering evidence, blamed the property damage on members of the loosely organized anti-fascist movement.

“Last night, Antifa radicals rioted in Atlanta—spreading violence, unrest, and destruction throughout the city,” he said on Twitter. “We must declare Antifa a domestic terrorist organization and prosecute all individuals involved to the fullest extent of the law.”

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Credit: Nicole Buchanan/The New York Times

Credit: Nicole Buchanan/The New York Times

HAPPY CUSTOMERS. An independent post-election poll conducted by the University of Georgia sheds light on Georgians’ satisfaction with their voting experience in the 2022 elections. Among the findings:

The poll’s margin of error was 2.8 percentage points. You can see the crosstabs and full results here. And stay tuned: A separate AJC/UGA poll will be released later this week detailing Georgians’ views on key legislative and political issues.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

UNDER THE GOLD DOME (Legislative Day 5):

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

WASTEWATER WAR. Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, was on the receiving end of a sharp text last year from Forsyth County Commissioner Cindy Mills as she lobbied him to oppose new political boundaries that would have drawn her out of her commission district.

“You can forget my support on Hampton if this map stands,” Mills wrote Gooch in a text exchange first outlined in a blog post last week by the Forsyth Homeowners group and later confirmed by the Republican from Dahlonega.

Reached Friday, Gooch told us Mills was referring to his company’s contract operating a private wastewater plant at a north Forsyth County neighborhood. The owner of the plant wanted the county’s clearance to seek an environmental permit. Gooch said he had no part in the proposal.

“My role has nothing to do with any of that permitting. I am not responsible for it. We’re simply hired to treat the wastewater, just like a janitorial service is hired to clean the Capitol,” said Gooch, who wound up voting for the map that Mills opposed.

“She was lashing out at me because she was mad at the delegation. I was not a party to that Hampton transaction and there are no state or federal funds attached to it.”

Mills told us that she was “upset about the lack of transparency” about the new political boundaries and was “fighting for what I believed was best for my constituents.”

“I respect Senator Gooch and in no way threatened him or did anything to influence him or to affect his business,” she said.

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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

AP TEST. Georgia has no immediate plan to reject a new Advanced Placement high school course on African American studies like Florida did last week, our AJC colleague Ty Tagami reports.

The A.P. course is still in the pilot phase, and officials he spoke with told him they want to see the final details before deciding whether to exclude the course from the state’s catalog of optional advanced-level classes.

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Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Credit: Kenny Holston/The New York Times

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

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TAX SMACKED. Don’t count the Wall Street Journal editorial board among the fans U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter’s a proposal to replace corporate, income, and estate taxes with a 30% sales tax.

The board criticized the Georgia Republican and called renewed GOP focus on the proposal “masochistic.” The editorial pointed out that while it would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service, the agency would be replaced by two new ones — the “Sales Tax Bureau” and “Excise Tax Bureau.”

If the flat tax idea sounds familiar, it’s because the GOP Georgia delegation has been pitching it since the days of John Linder. It’s set to get a vote under Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership, which the Journal says would be a mistake.

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Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

DNC PUSH. The Paramount Consulting Group held a reception last week to boost Atlanta’s bid for the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Among the attendees were Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (who has been pushing for a Southern convention) and former Atlanta mayors Shirley Franklin and Keisha Lance Bottoms.

The city’s boosters are lobbying regional and national figures to endorse Atlanta’s DNC bid as a decision nears. Chicago is the city’s biggest rival, though New York also could be in the mix.

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WELCOME ABOARD. We’re excited to welcome Riley Bunch to the AJC’s politics team. Riley’s first day on the Atlanta City Hall beat will be in February, when she’ll join Wilborn P. Nobles, III. Riley is a familiar face to Georgia politicos, since she’s covered the state Capitol and Georgia politics for both GPB and CNHI News, a community newspaper service with multiple outlets in Georgia.

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PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT. WSB-TV’s Dave Huddleston is trading camera time for corporate life. The Emmy-winning anchor/ reporter has joined Lexicon Strategies, the Atlanta-based public affairs consulting firm.

Huddleston will be in familiar company as he gets to work, since WSB alumns Lori Geary and Bryan Leavoy are also now at Lexicon, too.

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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.