On Monday, as President Donald Trump issued his call for tonight's prime TV time to make an address on illegal immigration and the federal shutdown, the Carter Center did its part to rebut Trump's claim that "some" of his predecessors had told him they regretted not building a border wall.
Said Trump last week: “This should have been done by all of the presidents that preceded me, and they all know it. Some of them have told me that we should have done it.”
Representatives of former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton have said that ain’t so. On Monday, Jimmy Carter joined the quartet.
"I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump, and do not support him on the issue," former President Jimmy Carter said in a statement tweeted out by his namesake Atlanta institution.
This morning, on NBC's "Today," Vice President Mike Pence hemmed and hawed his way through a question on the four-president denial: "I know the president has said that that was his impression from previous administrations, previous presidents. I know I've seen clips of previous presidents talking about the importance of border security, the importance of addressing the issue of illegal immigration."
As of this morning, the shutdown is now the second-longest funding lapse in U.S. history. The record fell under the tenures of then-Georgia congressman and House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton back in 1995. It stretched for three weeks.
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Who's losing out on this partial shutdown of the federal government? Georgia more so, New York less so.
This morning, the Rockefeller Institute of Government released an interactive, state-by-state breakdown of payments made to the federal government and payments received.
Georgia ranked 14th on the plus side, netting $23,501,000,000 more than it sends to Washington (think about those military bases), or about $2,253 per capita.
New York was the highest donor state of total payments to Washington, but Connecticut took the prize on a per-capita level, each resident paying $4,000 more than he or she receives in services.
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Gov.-elect Brian Kemp and House Speaker David Ralston have already declared for President Trump in the shutdown fight. This morning, so did Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren. In an open letter written on office stationery, Warren blamed lawmakers. "I am, like most Americans, fed up with Congress's refusal to do their jobs and fund the border wall," he wrote.
Two things worth noting here:
First, Warren is an outspoken immigration hard-liner whose office participates in a joint immigration enforcement program with federal agencies known as 287(g).
Secondly, the Republican sheriff is up for re-election in 2020, should he seek another term. And Cobb is quickly turning blue.
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The 2019 calendar has brought some major departures and arrivals:
-- After four years as executive director of the Republican Governors Association, Paul Bennecke is resuming his partnership with ConnectSouth Public Affairs here in Georgia. Bennecke was political director for Sonny Perdue’s successful campaign for governor in 2002. He later served as executive director of the Georgia Republican party.
-- Effective Feb. 15, Rebecca DeHart will be leaving her post as executive director of the state Democratic party, a position she's held for the last five years. The party will elect a new chairman on Jan. 26.
-- Steve Stancil, the state property officer in charge of the state Capitol and its environs, is retiring. The ceremony is Thursday. Stancil is a former state representative who mounted an unsuccessful GOP campaign for lieutenant governor in 2002.
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It was a poignant scene: Our AJC colleague Scott Trubey reports that Gov. Nathan Deal was feted Monday by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the City Council and the Fulton County Commission at Atlanta City Hall.
Deal struck a tight relationship with both Bottoms and former Mayor Kasim Reed over eight years in office. And he earned praise from the most liberal members of the council for his criminal justice overhaul.
“You have reached out across the aisle and hit the Atlanta community in a way the community will see a tremendous benefit from what you have done,” said City Councilman Michael Julian Bond.
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A federal appeals court has ruled that public officials can't block critical comments or users on their official social media accounts, a ruling that could have implications for politicos in Georgia and beyond.
According to the Washington Post, the recent unanimous ruling from the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that such actions violate the First Amendment rights of their constituents.
Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was famously known for his penchant for blocking Twitter critics. Gov.-elect Brian Kemp, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and U.S. Reps. John Lewis, Drew Ferguson and Barry Loudermilk have all caught flak for doing so by groups such as the Georgia ACLU.
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A pair of educational doings worth noting:
-- The Gainesville Times reports that Mark Pettitt issued an apology for a December DUI as he was sworn in Monday as the newest member of the Hall County Board of Education.
-- The Marietta Daily Journal says David Morgan, a Democrat, will make his bid this morning to become the first African-American to chair the Cobb County school board.
