A group of 46 Georgia mayors have penned a plea to Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly for new gun safety measures in the state. The mayors represent a cross section of communities, from Democratic cities such as Atlanta and Savannah to towns in conservative rural areas of the state — Adel to Blakely and Hiawassee to Young Harris.
“We currently live with the reality that gun violence has become the No. 1 killer of children, and in which Georgia has become a top exporter of illegal weapons,” they wrote. “We come to you with this request because our residents rely upon us to be the front line of efforts to enhance their quality of life.”
Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz, a former teacher and school administrator, took the lead on the letter. He said the shootings at the Covenant School in Nashville activated him to do more to stop gun violence.
“Having had students who I worked with who were killed here, and, sadly students who pulled the trigger, whatever end of the weapon you’re on, it creates just this wave after wave of trauma and devastation and it has a systemic impact on communities,” he said.
The letter lays out a half dozen policy measures the mayors want, starting with continued funding for mental health services. Earlier this year, the General Assembly failed to pass a bill to expand on the 2022 mental health services law championed by late House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. The follow-up measure would have provided additional funding but stalled due to a standoff between the House and Senate on a separate issue.
The mayors also called for background checks for all firearms or transfers; requirements for safe storage of guns; a focus on high-capacity weapons; and a new process to identify people who should not have access to guns.
Under Kemp, the General Assembly has significantly loosened gun restrictions, including eliminating the requirement to have a license to carry a firearm in Georgia.
A group of 46 mayors from across Georgia are asking @GovKemp and the General Assembly for new mental health and gun safety measures. “You have in your authority the ability to diminish gun violence.” #gapol pic.twitter.com/K6eHxt4pai
— Patricia Murphy (@MurphyAJC) September 1, 2023
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
SURPRISE. Gov. Brian Kemp was the talk of the cable news shows Thursday after he surprisingly criticized fellow Republicans for seeking to punish Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The DA has been a GOP target since indicting former President Donald Trump and 18 others for election interference on Aug. 11.
The governor was lauded for his remarks by national Democrats and mainstream Republicans, chided by pro-Trump loyalists and analyzed by a string of talking heads.
Georgia Democrats, though, were quick to fire back with a line that Stacey Abrams often deployed during last year’s campaign: Kemp shouldn’t be lionized for following the law.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Or, as Democratic state Rep. Michelle Au of Johns Creek put it: “Maybe it should not be considered valorous or extraordinary when elected leaders commit to abide by the law.”
The head of the Public Rights Project offered a similar message. The group represents the coalition of Georgia prosecutors challenging a law that empowers the state to sanction prosecutors.
“Gov. Kemp’s statements discouraging Georgia officials from retaliating against DA Fani Willis are welcome, but too little and too late,” said Jill Habig, the group’s founder and president.
Meanwhile, some elements of the MAGA wing condemned Kemp. Bill White, head of the failed Buckhead cityhood initiative, called the governor a “disgrace.” And Rudy Giuliani suggested that Kemp should be prosecuted.
“I have no idea why Republicans re-elected him,” Giuliani told a far-right outlet. “It was one of the dumbest things they ever did ... He could be one of the biggest lawbreakers in Georgia history.”
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LISTEN UP. It’s been some week in Georgia politics, with a Trump-fueled feud over District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation, state Sen. Colton Moore’s calls for a special legislative session that got the attention of Gov. Brian Kemp, and a win in court for Fulton County election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman.
We’re talking about all of that, plus our listener mail bag and our take on who’s up and who’s down, in our Friday edition of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Listen at at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
BEACH TRIP. State Sen. Brandon Beach is one of Donald Trump’s key allies in the Georgia Senate. The Alpharetta Republican is also still promoting the former president’s election fraud narrative.
In an appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Beach said Trump didn’t violate Georgia law when he demanded Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “find” exactly enough votes to reverse his 2020 defeat.
“He didn’t say, ‘I will appoint you to something or give you a membership to one of my clubs.’ All he said was there was chaos,” said Beach, who added: “We better start fighting or we’re going to be in the minority.”
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Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times
Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times
READY TO SHUT IT DOWN. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene pledged to shut down the federal government if fellow House Republicans don’t meet her demands to impeach President Joe Biden, restrict funding to the Department of Justice and strike money for COVID-19 vaccines and the war in Ukraine.
“I’ve already decided I will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on Joe Biden,” the Rome Republican told constituents during a town hall in Floyd County on Thursday night. “I will not fund the government because I will not fund the weaponized part of the government.”
Greene’s “red line in the sand” creates another headache for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. His members return to work from the August recess on Sept. 12, and he will have fewer than three weeks to pass a stopgap funding resolution that can also get the votes needed for passage in the Democrat-controlled Senate ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.
Tonight, I made an announcement directly to my constituents at my Floyd County Town Hall.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 31, 2023
I will not vote to fund the government if Congress doesn’t do this:
- Impeachment Inquiry vote on Joe Biden
- Defund Biden’s weaponization of government
- Eliminate all COVID vaccine and… pic.twitter.com/2WXd4CrV7R
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THOMAS DISCLOSURES. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has filed paperwork acknowledging his real estate deal with billionaire Harlan Crow involving Thomas’ mother’s home in Savannah.
ProPublica reported in April that Crow had purchased Thomas’ mother’s home and two vacant lots nearby for $133,363 from Thomas and other members of his family in 2014. Crow later funded improvements on the house where Leola Williams continued to live.
Credit: Allison V. Smith/The New York Times
Credit: Allison V. Smith/The New York Times
Also in his recent financial disclosures, Thomas listed three private jet trips he took last year on Crow’s dime. The documents were made public on Thursday.
The justice said he didn’t realize he needed to disclose the 2014 real estate transaction and that other omissions were inadvertent and not an attempt to skirt ethics regulations.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will deliver remarks from the White House regarding the August jobs and unemployment numbers.
- The U.S. Senate resumes legislative work on Tuesday.
- Members of the House return from the August recess on Sept. 12.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
HOLY LAND. Two congresswomen from Georgia, Nikema Williams and Lucy McBath, are among 10 Democrats leaving today on an official trip to Israel and Rwanda.
Williams, D-Atlanta, is one of the co-chairs of the newly relaunched Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations. Her office says the trip will help members increase their understanding of Israel and Rwanda and of “the two countries’ effort to build common ground while developing and growing socially, culturally, and economically out of tragedy.”
These foreign trips for members are called congressional delegations, or “codels” for short. This jaunt is sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, a charitable organization associated with the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.
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Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for the AJC
HURRICANE HYUNDAI. This summer has seen a whirlwind of construction at the Hyundai Metaplant near Savannah, with new building superstructures rising weekly.
The project withstood a real hurricane this week with the passing of Idalia. The storm dumped five inches of rain on the site in a span of hours but caused no damage, Hyundai officials said Thursday. Work has already resumed.
Hyundai leaders visited the site in Ellabell prior to a news conference to announce that the largest economic development project in Georgia history is getting bigger. Hyundai and partner LG Electric Solution unveiled plans to expand the onsite electric vehicle battery plant, the AJC’s Adam Van Brimmer reports.
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Credit: Courtesy image
Credit: Courtesy image
HEAVY METAL. Lost amid the flurry of economic development announcements that preceded Gov. Brian Kemp’s 2022 reelection bid was a first-of-its-kind-in-America metal recycling facility in Augusta.
Aurubis, based in Germany, committed to a 125-employee plant in November 2021. The deal seemed like scrap metal at the time — Rivian, Hyundai and Qcells would announce projects in the months that followed and give the Kemp campaign plenty of pre-election fodder.
With the election now a memory, landing Aurubis appears a much bigger deal. The company finalized plans earlier this week to double its investment and expand its facility, reports the Augusta Chronicle.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. Some rescue dogs have lived a lot of life before they ever meet their people, and that is certainly the case for Maggie Pearse.
Maggie is a 2017 graduate of Canine Cellmates, a program of the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department which partnered shelter dogs with inmates at the Fulton County Jail before the program relocated to a different facility. The goal of Canine Cellmates is both to reduce recidivism for those incarcerated and to prepare the dogs for adoption. Maggie was trained by her cellmate, Michael.
Maggie now calls AJC subscriber Jo Pearse her person and she’s living out the second chance that Canine Cellmates was designed to give her.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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PROGRAMMING NOTE. The Jolt team will not labor on Labor Day, other than yard work, laundry and boat anchoring. The newsletter will return Tuesday. Enjoy the long weekend and the short break from all things politics.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
