PG A.M.: Kemp tells top cop to ‘lock up’ unruly pro-Palestinian protesters

After pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted traffic and blocked bridges in Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and other big cities, Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday he won’t allow demonstrations to shut down Atlanta traffic, too.

The Republican said he called Col. Billy Hitchens, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, late Monday to reinforce his position.

“I know I don’t need to make this call,” he said, recounting his conversation, “but you know how I feel about people blocking bridges, airports, and other things like we’re seeing around the country. I said if they do that, lock their ass up.”

Credit: Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

Credit: Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

The governor’s remarks drew wild applause from the roughly 300 attendees of the annual gala for Greater Georgia, the conservative political organization started by former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler.

In coordinated demonstrations, protesters blocked rush-hour traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in California, squatted on roads leading to airports in Chicago and Seattle, and held protests in Miami, New York and Philadelphia.

At @KLoeffler’s Greater Georgia gala, @GovKemp says he talked to the head of the public safety department last night about pro-Palestinian protesters in other cities who blocked roads and bridges. His message: If they do that here, “lock their ass up.” #gapol pic.twitter.com/2Gwi4kwRXD
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) April 16, 2024

Overall, more than 250 people were arrested or detained by law enforcement during protests targeting U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Kemp made clear such demonstrations weren’t welcome in Georgia.

“We continue to send the message in this state that we’re going to keep you safe and not put up with this insanity,” he said.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

NO BAD BLOOD. Think there is any lingering animosity between Gov. Brian Kemp and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler? Think again.

The Greater Georgia gala benefiting Loeffler’s political organization doubled as a celebration of Kemp and his agenda. The governor got loud applause. He and first lady Marty Kemp joined Loeffler on stage to highlight the first lady’s crusade against human trafficking.

Kemp appointed Loeffler in 2019 to an open U.S. Senate seat, triggering a yearlong election battle that divided the GOP. During the campaign, Loeffler gravitated toward then-President Donald Trump’s MAGA brand — and drifted from Kemp — even though Trump originally opposed her appointment.

She launched Greater Georgia after her 2021 defeat to Democrat Raphael Warnock, but pointedly stayed out of the nasty 2022 primary race between Kemp and former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, her former colleague.

The message Tuesday to the hundreds of donors, lawmakers and party figures who packed the audience was that both camps have moved on. Among the attendees were House Speaker Jon Burns, Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy and Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch.

And Loeffler, now eyeing a comeback Senate bid or a campaign to succeed Kemp as governor, could be telegraphing how she could position herself in 2026 as a candidate who can unite the party’s mainstream with its MAGA base.

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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

PSC ELECTION PURGATORY. Public Service Commission elections remain canceled for now, but an appeals court ruling opens the possibility that they could still be scheduled this year after a nearly two-year delay.

Our AJC colleague Mark Niesse tells us that a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Tuesday that stays a lower court’s ruling that had prevented statewide PSC elections because a judge found they weakened the voting strength of Black voters. The panel’s order arrived nearly six months after it had overturned the judge’s ruling — a decision that was never made official.

But it remains unclear if elections for the PSC, whose five Republican members regulate power rates for much of Georgia, will be held this year.

Candidates already qualified for every other state office in March, but no PSC candidates were able to run because PSC elections were canceled. A spokesman said the Secretary of State’s office is reviewing the court’s order.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs in the PSC case have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs allege that statewide elections for the PSC — rather than electing candidates from geographic regions — infringe on the rights of Black voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The state’s white majority always outnumbers its Black minority, leading to just one Black candidate winning election in the commission’s 145-year history.

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Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC

CARR SHOW. Attorney General Chris Carr made a burst of news during his Tuesday appearance on the “Politically Georgia” podcast.

He confirmed that he had looked into allegations of Donald Trump’s wrongdoing surrounding the 2020 election but decided against seeking charges against the former president and his allies.

He also defended his lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration, saying the White House doesn’t have the authority to provide additional student loan debt relief without congressional approval.

And when pressed on why he is endorsing Trump’s comeback bid even after the former president recruited a Republican to challenge him in the 2022 election, Carr said he’s supporting the full GOP slate.

“I’m supporting the ticket. I’m supporting the issues that we stand for. I’m supporting the burden that Georgians are feeling because of high inflation, the burden that Georgians feel when we don’t enforce laws in this state,” Carr said.

He said it goes beyond Trump’s battle against Biden — or the many felony charges against the ex-president.

“The world has changed. It’s about the issues themselves. Do you believe in lowering inflation? Do you believe in public safety? Do you believe in strengthening and securing the border? Do you believe in rule-of-law judges? That’s what this is about,” he said.

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Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

HOUSE SPEAKER BATTLE. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie became the first lawmaker to publicly lend his support to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s efforts to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from office Tuesday.

Massie announced during a closed-door meeting with GOP lawmakers that he would cosponsor Greene’s resolution, and he called for Johnson to step down immediately.

Johnson declined and called the efforts to oust him via a motion to vacate “absurd” and counterproductive.

Fellow House Republicans shot down the idea. “We don’t need that, no way. No way,” U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio told reporters on his way out of the meeting.

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Georgia’s U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, said Johnson “as a man is in the toughest position of anyone in this country right now. … I personally think he’s doing a very good job.”

Back in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp spoke up Tuesday in Johnson’s favor, too, saying Greene’s threats to oust him were bad politics.

“Instead of bickering amongst themselves and handing Democrats control of the House, Republicans should do their damn job and vote on the important issues facing our nation,” the governor wrote on X. “Enough is enough. I support @SpeakerJohnson.”

Greene, R-Rome, told reporters she still has no timeline for when she could call for a vote to oust Johnson. She indicated she would want a replacement identified first and that she doesn’t yet have one in mind.

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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

FOR THE PROSECUTION. A bipartisan group of Georgia district attorneys has revived its legal challenge to a Republican-backed commission created to discipline and oust state prosecutors after Gov. Brian Kemp signed a new version of the law.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday takes aim at the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Qualifications Commission, which was renewed by Republican lawmakers after the Georgia Supreme Court nullified the law that created it last year.

Republicans say the panel was created to punish “rogue prosecutors” from both parties, but Democrats fear it will be used to sanction Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she brought an election interference indictment against former President Donald Trump.

After the General Assembly approved the first law last year, a group of senior Republican officials immediately filed a formal complaint against Willis, saying she “improperly cherry-picked cases” to further her own agenda.

Kemp, however, has urged Republicans not to use the commission to pursue sanctions against Willis. Instead, he’s brought up several prosecutors from both parties accused of ineptitude, neglect and legal wrongdoing.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, a Democrat who filed the complaint, called it a “shameless attempt by state Republicans to control how local communities address their public safety needs.”

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Credit: Courtesy photo

LISTEN UP. Former GOP Congressman Tom Graves will join the “Politically Georgia” radio show this morning to discuss how the Republican Party has evolved in recent years and the impact his successor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome, has had on the GOP.

Listen live at 10 a.m. on 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.

As already noted, Tuesday’s show featured Attorney General Chris Carr, who discussed his challenge to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Carr also said he won’t bring changes against former President Donald Trump or others for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Listen at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Credit: AJC

YOU’RE INVITED. Speaking of “Politically Georgia,” we’re taking the show on the road with stops planned across the state for live tapings with special guests in the months ahead.

We’re kicking it off in Athens tomorrow with a conversation with Gov. Brian Kemp, an Athens native and “Double Dawg.” The event is co-hosted by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, along with UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs.

RSVP to join us Thursday, and keep an eye out for future dates near you.

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Credit: Alex Brandon/AP

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

President Joe Biden meets with members of the United Steelworkers at their headquarters in Pittsburgh and delivers a speech from the union hall.
The Senate considers articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and could take a vote on dismissing the charges or referring them to committee.
The House has more votes lined up responding to Iran’s recent airstrikes in Israel.

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Credit: Screenshot

MAIL MAN. U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff blasted Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday about recent major mail disruptions in metro Atlanta after a consolidated processing center opened in Palmetto.

“You’ve got weeks, not months, to fix this,” Ossoff, an Atlanta Democrat, told DeJoy during the Senate hearing on Tuesday, as reported by the AJC’s Jillian Price and Rosana Hughes.

Michael Kubayanda, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission, also described for the Senate committee widespread performance issues plaguing Georgia, Texas and Virginia.

In the Atlanta area, he said the on-time delivery rate for first-class mail had fallen to 36% at points, while letters and cards “which should arrive in a generous two-day window met that standard only 16% of the time in March.”

At one point Ossoff asked DeJoy if he had received the senator’s letter asking for information about the postal problems, which DeJoy had not. We’re assuming that, too, was lost in the mail.

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RIGHT TO WORK. Gov. Brian Kemp signed onto a joint statement with governors in other Southern states that condemns unionization efforts, particularly from the United Automobile Workers, the AJC’s Michelle Baruchman reports.

“The UAW has come in making big promises to our constituents that they can’t deliver on. And we have serious reservations that the UAW leadership can represent our values,” reads the statement, supported by the governors in Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

The statement comes after Kemp sought to limit the expansion of unions in Georgia under a bill he championed in the state Legislature this session. Senate Bill 362, which would punish businesses for voluntarily recognizing unions through a card check rather than a secret-ballot election, was seen as an effort to thwart any attempt from workers at automotive plants in the state, such as those operated by Hyundai Motor Group, from organizing.

Rivian, the electric vehicle startup, announced in March that it was pausing plans to build a plant in the state.

Because federal law protects the right for workers to form a union and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions, labor experts expect the legislation, if signed into law, to be challenged in court.

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Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

JUSTICE THOMAS RETURNS. Justice Clarence Thomas was present for oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court on Tuesday after a noted absence on Monday.

The Associated Press reported that Chief Justice John Roberts announced that 75-year-old Thomas, a Georgia native, would be absent on Monday. Usually, when justices miss court they participate remotely. But Thomas did not take part at all.

No explanation for his absence was given.

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Credit: Courtesy photo

DOG OF THE DAY. Meet Carly and Rolie Rassel, two Airedale terriers who appreciate nothing more than a little fresh air.

Carly and Rolie call Politically Georgia subscriber Lisa Rassel of Flowery Branch their person. A reliable source tells us they’ve been enjoying the Georgia wilderness together for more than a decade on various hikes, camps, and adventures.

If we had these two as tent mates, we might even go camping someday, too.

Send us your dogs of any political persuasion, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC. Horizontal photos are especially welcome.