Governor is off to early start in striking down legislation
It took Gov. Brian Kemp just six days after the legislative session ended to veto his first piece of legislation, a measure the General Assembly approved to give itself some control over tuition increases in the University System of Georgia.
Lawmakers seemed happy with their handiwork when they inserted the measure — which would have made the General Assembly’s approval necessary before state universities could raise tuition or fees by more than 3% — into an otherwise low-profile bill.
The House voted 160-1 to approve the amended legislation, House Bill 319, just before it adjourned for the year. The Senate liked it even more, passing the bill on a unanimous vote.
State Rep. Chuck Martin, R-Alpharetta, described the measure as a way to “allow the General Assembly to work with the Board of Regents to try to keep our tuition low.”
The Board of Regents, long a landing spot for high-dollar donors to a governor, may not have been interested in collaborating with the Legislature.
Kemp certainly wasn’t.
“The Georgia Constitution makes plain the authority to govern, control, and manage the University System and all system institutions is vested in the Board of Regents,” Kemp said in a veto statement.
Raising tuition has not been a priority of the regents in recent years. Last spring, the board voted to bump up tuition at just one of the 26 schools it oversees, marking the fourth time in five years that most students in the University System did not see an increase in tuition and fees.
The University System, however, has found itself in battle with the General Assembly. Legislators passed a budget that cut $66 million in state funding for higher education for fiscal 2024, which begins July 1. That followed backlash over a $105 million expenditure in the midyear budget for a new electronic records system for the Medical College of Georgia that could benefit the Wellstar Health System.
Wellstar was mired in its own dispute with the state Senate, led by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, over another piece of legislation that would have made it easier to build hospitals in rural counties. That fight centered on a private hospital proposed for Butts County that would have competed with two Wellstar facilities and could have benefited Jones’ family. The bill did not pass this year.
Wellstar had some leverage on its side. The Kemp administration was working on a deal for the Cobb County-based health system to take over the management and funding of the financially hurting Augusta University Health System, including the Medical College of Georgia. The Board of Regents approved the deal two days after the legislative session ended.
The spats may not be over.
The governor still hasn’t signed into law the fiscal 2024 budget, and he’s already told lawmakers that there are “significant holes” in the spending plan, given an uncertain economy.
Kemp has exercised the veto with vigor in the past when he’s found a bill disagreeable. He has until May 8 to decide just how much those holes bother him.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Democrats threaten to primary legislator who sided against them on big votes
As the minority party in the General Assembly, Democrats’ expectations had to be low going into the legislative session, but they were probably hoping to at least stand together in unity.
It didn’t work out that way on some key votes.
State Rep. Mesha Mainor of Atlanta broke from the party’s ranks when she spoke in favor of a bill to form a state commission that would be able to investigate, punish and even oust locally elected prosecutors.
She also was the one Democrat who voted for a school voucher measure that failed because 16 Republicans went against the wishes of Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and House Speaker Jon Burns.
Opponents said the $6,500 vouchers — to be used by students in the state’s lowest-performing schools to pay for private school tuition or cover home-school expenses, with the students’ former public schools losing revenue — would undercut public education, foster discriminatory policies and benefit wealthy families who were already paying for private school education.
Now, Mainor is facing opposition from other Democratic lawmakers who are calling for somebody to run against her in the party’s 2024 primary.
A “Democrat who votes to defund public education should be primaried,” said state Sen. Josh McLaurin of Sandy Springs.
He’s ready to back it up, offering to write a $1,000 check to support a Democrat who takes on Mainor.
“All I need is a name,” he wrote in a social media post that House Minority Whip Sam Park liked.
Mainor, who has faced primary challenges before, defended her positions in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Democrat lawmakers (not constituents) will cry about abortion rights, wail for transgender rights, demand AAPI protections, and create legislation for antisemitism. Yet, if a Black independent female Democrat legislator who grew up in poverty wants to give the bottom 25% of children attending failing schools a second chance at education infuriates some of my fellow Democrats to the point they are soliciting my opposition — that’s exactly the problem.”
The problem, state Rep. Michelle Au said, was that Mainor’s actions went beyond voting.
“To be clear: this isn’t just about voting differently than the party, or about having different opinions. That happens often. It’s fine,” Au wrote on Twitter. “... This is about floridly whipping votes in favor of a harmful bill we took a CAUCUS POSITION AGAINST. And losing.”
Republicans were willing to add fuel to the Democratic dispute.
State Rep. Scott Hilton, R-Peachtree Corners, offered words of encouragement to Mainor and took a shot at the Democrats’ leadership.
“The reality is GA Democrats are divided on this issue. Many of them know #SchoolChoice is good policy that will break the chain of poverty for thousands,” he wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately, under threat from leadership, Dems chose politics over policy. Kudos to @MeshaMainor for your courage.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Abrams to fill endowed chair at Howard University
Stacey Abrams is set to join academia.
The former Democratic candidate for governor will serve as Howard University’s inaugural Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics.
Walters was a longtime Howard professor who played a role in one of the nation’s first lunch-counter protests in 1958 and later served as an adviser to the Rev. Jesse Jackson when he ran for president.
“Through this post, I hope to emulate Dr. Walter’s diasporic lens on our world and be a part of how Howard University continues to contribute to the broader political discourse,” Abrams said.
Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick said in a statement that Abrams’ appointment will help carry on Walters’ legacy and expand it to benefit the latest generation of Howard students.
“Stacey Abrams has proven herself an essential voice and eager participant in protecting American democracy — not just for certain populations, but for everyone with the fundamental right to make their voices heard,” Frederick said.
Abrams’ next step has been a big question since her loss in November to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in a rematch of their tight race in 2018. Abrams didn’t do as well the second time around, as Kemp expanded his margin of victory.
She has not ruled out another run for office.
Abrams will remain a resident of Georgia and commute to Washington to conduct research, hold talks and perform other functions for Howard.
The faculty position is an addition to an already crowded resume.
Abrams announced last month that she had joined Rewiring America as senior counsel. The nonprofit advocacy organization has made it a mission to move consumers from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.
She is also co-founder of the Southern Economic Advancement Project, an environmentally focused think tank.
Next month comes the publication of her new political thriller, “Rogue Justice.”
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Leader in failed Buckhead secession effort is making his own exit from Atlanta
Bill White, who became the face of an effort to break Buckhead off from the rest of Atlanta, said the movement “never, ever will go away.”
White and his husband, insurance executive Bryan Eure, are planning to move to Lake Burton in North Georgia.
“There’s no point in being here” White said, noting that Gov. Brian Kemp, who this year helped defeat legislation to establish a pathway for Buckhead’s secession, will be in office until the end of 2026. “We have to leave for our own well-being and fiscal sanity.”
It was about a month ago that 10 Republican state senators joined Democrats in rejecting a proposal that would have allowed Buckhead residents to vote on whether the wealthy section of north Atlanta should secede from the rest of the city.
The vote came after Kemp’s executive counsel, David Dove, issued a two-page memo that raised nearly a dozen questions about the constitutionality of de-annexing portions of an existing city.
Three days after the vote, White sent an email to supporters bidding farewell “for now.” He blamed the Kemp administration, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ office and the civic group the Buckhead Coalition for the bill’s demise.
“Unfortunately, now that Governor Kemp has displayed that he does not support our right to vote, there is no path forward for a cityhood referendum while he remains governor until the end of his term in 2026,” White wrote.
White didn’t start the secession effort. But once he joined the Buckhead Exploratory Committee in late 2020, the longtime fundraiser for political, LGBTQ and veterans causes helped transform what had been a small, grassroots campaign into a high-profile cause.
Under his watch, the committee raised $2.5 million from 4,000 donors, he said, and it attracted support from former President Donald Trump and frequent attention from Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
The committee’s 2021 tax documents, the most recent available, showed that it raised more than $1.1 million that year. Because the organization is registered as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, it does not have to disclose its donors.
Its board voted unanimously to shut down the entity no later than Sept. 1, White said, and to transfer intellectual property rights and control of the group’s social media and website to board members for future use.
Banker Jamie Ensley took over as the organization’s president and treasurer late last year and is overseeing the shutdown. His remaining tasks include using the roughly $30,000 remaining in the committee’s coffers to pay taxes, attorney fees and other remaining bills.
Anyone looking to pursue secession in the future would need to start a new entity with new board members and fundraising, White said.
In the meantime, he said, cityhood supporters are regrouping and considering new strategies.
White bumped heads with many throughout the secession push, including Atlanta’s political and business establishment and powerful Buckhead civic groups that accused him of capitalizing on local fears about crime and racist tropes to boost his own political profile.
He also alienated several of the state’s top Republicans, including the late House Speaker David Ralston and former Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan, especially after he circulated a vague, unfounded allegation last year about a former head of MARTA following his death by suicide.
But the New York transplant said he tried his hardest to make Buckhead a better place.
“Please be kind to me,” he said in a text to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I did my best and my intentions were truly to help.”
Political expedience
- Getting the lead out: Nearly $120 million in federal funding is headed Georgia’s way to replace dangerous lead pipes and address the needs of communities where toxic pollutants, such as “forever chemicals,” have contaminated their drinking water. Children face the greatest risk of exposure to lead, and studies say it impedes nervous system development, triggers learning disabilities, impairs hearing and reduces the function of blood cells. Forever chemicals, also known as PFAS, have been used for years in products such as nonstick pans, clothing, carpets and food wrappers. They have been tied to a number of serious health conditions, including cancers, immune system suppression, elevated cholesterol, and decreased infant and fetal growth. The money is linked to the infrastructure law that Congress approved in 2021 with bipartisan support.
- Graduation speaker: U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock will hand out advice next month to new graduates at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, as its commencement speaker.
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