Kickoff for the work of next year’s Georgia General Assembly may have to wait until after the kickoff of the College Football National Championship if the University of Georgia Bulldogs continue their ferocious winning streak.
Earlier this year, the Republican-led Georgia Legislature went on temporary hiatus as Bulldog-loving legislators bolted shortly after the opening gavel to travel to Indianapolis and to watch UGA’s national football championship win.
As the Bulldogs make another title run, the championship game once again falls on the first day of the planned legislative session: Jan. 9, 2023. That’s why state officials are quietly making plans to rearrange the schedule; that is, if UGA first defeats Ohio State in the Dec. 31 Peach Bowl.
If that’s the case, we’re told to expect another abbreviated Monday session (Jan. 9) and a light schedule on Tuesday to give legislators, state officials and perhaps a reporter or two time to return from Los Angeles.
And Gov. Brian Kemp — a diehard fan himself — has given himself a cushion in case he travels to the game, too. His inauguration is set for Thursday, Jan. 12 — three days after the possible championship.
Kemp is one of scores of UGA alums under the Gold Dome, including Burt Jones, the incoming lieutenant governor. Jones is replacing outgoing Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the state’s occasionally contrarian second-in-command in the Capitol, who attended Georgia Tech.
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Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
NEVER MIND. Outgoing Republican Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told us in an interview in May that he wouldn’t vote for Herschel Walker for Senate because his history of violence against women was disqualifying.
“Anybody who has put their hands on women like he has and has been unaccountable, has not taken responsibility for his actions — says he wrote a book, but then he won’t come clean on the rest of it — he hasn’t earned my vote,” he said then.
At the time, Black was about to get steamrolled by Walker in the GOP primary and he knew it. But the concerns he voiced would only get louder as swing voters and other Republicans withheld their support from Walker.
But in the end, Black changed his mind. He told us he voted in the runoff — and wasn’t among those “Geoff Duncan” voters who cast a blank ballot in a show of protest.
“I cast a vote to defeat Raphael Warnock on Tuesday,” was how Black framed his begrudging ballot for Walker.
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BIDEN’S VICTORY LAP. U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s runoff victory last week capped off a relatively successful midterm election season for Democrats.
While Republicans took back control in the House, they won far fewer seats than expected, and there was no “red wave” of GOP dominance. And Democrats not only defended every Senate seat, including Warnock’s, they even flipped one in Pennsylvania with John Fetterman’s win.
The White House said it was the first time a sitting president did not lose a U.S. Senate seat since 1934.
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Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times
Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times
NOT SO FAST. Democrats got a swift reminder Friday that their majority is a tenuous one when U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona Democrat, announced that she is leaving the party and to become a registered independent.
For now, Democrats seem mostly unfazed since Sinema said she has no plans to caucus with Republicans.*
Sinema told Politico last week that she was “delighted” that Warnock retained his Senate seat and that his victory Tuesday did not affect her decision.
“It’s really about me thinking how can I be most productive? How can I be true to my core values, the values of my state, and how do I continue being a really productive but independent voice for Arizona?”
The White House put out a statement Friday looking to put a positive spin on Sinema’s decision and Democrats’ 51-ish seat majority.
“We understand that her decision to register as an independent in Arizona does not change the new Democratic majority control of the Senate, and we have every reason to expect that we will continue to work successfully with her,” the statement from press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
*An earlier version of the Jolt said that Sienna said she will caucus with Democrats. Although she rarely attends party lunches, she will receive her committee assignments through Democrats.
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Credit: Pete Marovich/The New York Times
Credit: Pete Marovich/The New York Times
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House and Senate are each back in session today for votes.
- President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will participate in a Toys for Tots event.
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Credit: Rick McKay/Cox
Credit: Rick McKay/Cox
ATLANTA VA RENAMING. President Joe Biden on Friday signed the bills renaming the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Decatur for U.S. Sen. Max Cleland and the VA administrative offices on the same campus after U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson.
Cleland was an Army combat veteran and administrator of the VA from 1977-1980 under President Jimmy Carter. He lost both legs and his right arm after a grenade explosion in Vietnam and worked throughout his time in public office to improve veterans’ health care.
Isakson was the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Senate.
Both Isakson and Cleland died in late 2021.
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Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
CORONAVIRUS LESSONS LEARNED. The U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis has released its final report with 30 recommendations addressing the ongoing pandemic and recommendations for ways to better respond to future public health crises.
Some of the committee’s findings deal with the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former Trump administration officials’ “manipulation” of its work during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Once the coronavirus outbreak erupted into a full-blown crisis, the Trump Administration engaged in an unprecedented campaign to control and even manipulate the work of scientists leading the public health response,” the report says. “The Trump White House blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from conveying accurate information to the public, installed political operatives who sought to downplay the pandemic, and even attempted to alter and manipulate CDC guidance, scientific studies, and public health orders to serve political goals.”
The select committee will discuss the report during a final public hearing on Wednesday.
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Credit: City of Emerson
Credit: City of Emerson
TRAGEDY. Longtime Emerson mayor Al Pallone, Jr, and his wife, Millie, were killed in a four-vehicle crash Saturday afternoon, the AJC’s Rosana Hughes reports.
Pallone served as mayor for the Bartow County town for 15 years and was a city councilman for eight years before that.
City Manager Kevin McBurnett said that the Pallones had been a staple in the Emerson community for more than 40 years.
Gov. Brian Kemp released a statement Sunday that he and his family were “heartbroken” by the news of their deaths.
The Rome News Tribune reports that another driver involved in the crash, William Bryan Abernathy of Calhoun, has been arrested and charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence.
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
TRUCKING AHEAD. EV startup Rivian has paused negotiations with Mercedes on a possible van partnership to conserve cash for its operations in Illinois and Georgia, the Wall Street Journal reports today.
Putting the deal in neutral is one of several adjustments the company has had to make recently, including hiking the price of its initial EV offering to $93,000. It has also struggled to operate its existing Illinois factory at full speed for a working week. Georgia details come at the end of the WSJ piece.
“Rivian is also planning to sell a more affordable version of its vehicle, dubbed the R2, but the planned launch date was pushed back by a year to 2026,” the report said, adding that Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe “said the delay was to ensure the company had enough to build a new $5 billion factory in Georgia and get it ready for production.”
Separately, the AJC’s Zachary Hansen reported last week that opponents of Rivian’s planned Georgia factory have dropped a lawsuit against state and local officials after a judge allowed excavating work to begin.
But an attorney for the local opponents said they’ve just begun to fight. “We’re not abandoning the claims that we have,” John Christy said. “The dismissal does not bar those claims,”
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ONE MORE TIME. Jason Downey has been reelected chair of the State Board of Education. The board voted unanimously last week to return Downey to the position. His term will last until December of 2023. Dr. Stan DeJarnett of Madison, Georgia, will continue as vice-chair of the 14-member board.
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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.
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