A modest residential street in Savannah is at the center of the latest blockbuster report about the relationship between U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Texas Republican megadonor Harlan Crow.
In a follow-up to ProPublica’s investigation on Thomas’ globetrotting travels with Crow, the outlet reported that the billionaire’s companies paid about $133,000 to Thomas, his mother and relatives of his late brother in 2014 for an aging single-story home and two nearby vacant lots.
The transaction is the first known instance of money flowing from Crow directly to the justice, ProPublica revealed. After the purchase, Crow also made improvements to the property with a carport, fence and repairs to the roof, he confirmed.
Thomas didn’t disclose the deal, which involved the home where the justice’s elderly mother was living, and there are questions about whether Crow’s company paid fair market value for the properties.
Thomas declined to comment on the transaction, but Crow said he wanted to preserve the property for future generations. Thomas spent part of his childhood there.
“My intention is to one day create a public museum at the Thomas home dedicated to telling the story of our nation’s second black Supreme Court Justice,” he said.
Slate podcast host and former AJC staffer Joel Anderson confirmed Thomas’ mother still lives at the home. He interviewed her there just two weeks ago. His “Becoming Justice Thomas” podcast premieres on Slate next month.
The controversy over Thomas’ connections to Crow raised the question from several readers: what ever happened to the effort to put a statue of the Supreme Court justice on Georgia state Capitol grounds?
The bill to approve the statue was reintroduced this year by state Sen. Ben Watson, a friend of the Thomases who represents portions of Savannah. The measure passed the Senate, but stalled in the House, and not before Democrats warned that it would be premature to officially memorialize Thomas since the final chapter on his tenure has not been written yet.
The bill noted that no public funds would be used for the statue. Instead, it would be paid for by private gifts.
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LISTEN UP: Could the Republican power play we saw in Tennessee happen in Georgia? And why are Democrats threatening a primary challenge to one of their own? We’re getting into those issues, answering questions from our listener mail bag, and naming the “who’s up” and “who’s down” for the week in today’s edition of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Listen and subscribe to our podcast for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.
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KEMP’S TENNESSEE POLITICS. Gov. Brian Kemp spent Thursday in Savannah with the Georgia School Superintendents Association, where he signed a group of school safety and literacy bills into law.
But the governor will be in Nashville tomorrow for a different kind of meeting — speaking to high-dollar donors at the RNC donor retreat.
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Politico noted earlier this week that the optics of Tennessee’s messy politics aren’t exactly what planners had in mind when they chose Nashville as a destination long ago. The city was the scene of a horrific elementary school shooting recently, along with the ouster from the GOP-led Legislature of two Black Democrats calling for gun reforms. The lawmakers were reinstated this week.
Several Kemp allies and 2024 hopefuls will also be in Nashville for the two-day conference, including former Vice President Mike Pence. But there’s a chance the governor could run into some not-so-friendly faces while he’s there, too. Former President Donald Trump is also scheduled to address the group.
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Credit: Courtesy photos
Credit: Courtesy photos
ELECTION DAY. If you’re tired of voting, we hope you don’t live in Mableton, where the runoff for the new city’s first mayor is happening Tuesday.
The AJC’s Cobb County specialist, Taylor Croft, has been covering the race from the beginning and wrote this week about the plans the two candidates say they have for their budding city.
Aaron Carman and Michael Owens both say they want to help the city get off to a strong, efficient start with its operations, services and branding. But here’s the twist: Carman voted against cityhood for Mableton, while Owens voted for it.
Carman, an information technology marketing executive, also supported the recent effort to de-annex portions of the new municipality back to unincorporated Cobb County. Owens, a Marine veteran endorsed by former Gov. Roy Barnes, opposed the de-annexation moves.
Four council races are also in the runoff election Tuesday. Early tasks for the new leaders will be hiring a new city manager and city attorney, as well as deciding which services the city will provide.
“With clear division across Mableton over cityhood and de-annexation, the mayor and council’s ability to come together will be critical — particularly because of the diversity of needs in different areas of the city,” Taylor writes.
Today is the final day of early voting for Mableton residents.
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Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
JEFFRIES VISIT. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries visited Atlanta on Thursday, his first trip to the city since he was elected the leader of the chamber’s Democrats.
He met with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to discuss affordable housing, public safety, infrastructure and Georgia’s strategic role in the 2024 elections.
He also participated in a student town hall event at Clark Atlanta University with U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia. And he swung by Ohio River South, the influential downtown lobbying firm headed up by Howard Franklin, to talk about the party’s priorities.
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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
HOUSE OFFICE BREAK-IN. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins’ district office in Monroe was burglarized sometime between 5 p.m. Wednesday night and 9 a.m. Thursday morning.
Collins’ spokesman said that both office equipment and unspecified personal property are missing. The Monroe Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police are both investigating.
The congressman tweeted a cryptic warning to the unknown burglars yesterday afternoon.
“I’m thankful this did not happen during hours — both for staff and perpetrator(s). #2Aoffice.”
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DOMINION TRIAL. As Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News heads to trial, the AJC’s Mark Niesse writes there could be ramifications in Georgia.
Jury selection began Thursday in Dominion’s $1.6 billion suit. The company supplies the voting equipment used in Georgia elections, included in 2020 when then-President Donald Trump and his allies falsely claimed that the results were invalid and he actually had won.
Niesse writes that there could be testimony about claims of election tampering and voter fraud in Georgia that could be of interest to Fulton County prosecutors considering whether to charge Trump or his allies with criminal violations related to election interference.
Both the Dominion suit and the Fulton County investigation have involved Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, two of the attorneys who aided the Trump campaign’s efforts to reverse the results of the presidential election in Georgia, where he narrowly lost to Biden.
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Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
LAWYERING UP. Speaking of that Fulton County investigation of Donald Trump, the AJC’s Bill Rankin has a must-read profile on Atlanta’s Drew Findley, the “#billiondollarlawyer” who once called Trump “pathetic,” but is now serving as his lead counsel in the Fulton County case.
From Bill:
Findling seems an odd choice to be the former president's attorney. He has criticized Trump publicly, harshly and repeatedly for years.
In 2017, when Trump fired the U.S. attorney in New York, Findling tweeted the termination was “a sign of fear that he would aggressively investigate the stench hovering over POTUS." When Trump condemned the Central Park Five — Black teens wrongly convicted of raping a jogger — Findling called the remarks “racist, cruel, sick, unforgivable and un-American." And in 2018 when Trump questioned NBA star LeBron James' intelligence, Findling tweeted, “POTUS pathetic once again!"
But when Atlanta lawyer Jennifer Little needed someone to help her represent Trump in the Fulton County investigation she turned to Findling and his law partner Marissa Goldberg. Little was well aware of Findling's liberal bona fides. She cared more about his courtroom skills.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden will tour sites in Ireland where his ancestors lived. He’ll return to the U.S. this evening.
- The U.S. House and Senate are on an Easter and Passover recess until April 17.
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Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
Credit: Christina Matacotta for the AJC
TIME 100. Monica Simpson, executive director of Georgia-based reproductive justice organization SisterSong, has been named to Time magazine’s list of the “100 Most Influential People of 2023.”
Stacey Abrams wrote the magazine blurb recognizing Simpson’s work, which she said pairs arts and expression with advocacy.
“As state after state hurries to destroy a woman’s right to choose, Monica is proof of a woman’s right to lead,” Abrams writes. “We daughters of the South and those of good conscience are grateful for her sophistication, proud of her irreverence for tradition, and indebted to her righteousness. And we are a better nation for her work.”
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
DOG OF THE DAY. We can’t let the week wrap up without wishing Charlie Frady, today’s Dog of the Day, a happy birthday.
Charlie lives with his person, AJC subscriber and loyal Jolt reader Patrice Frady, in Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood.
Along with going for walks on Georgia Avenue with Patrice, the goldendoodle includes chewing shoes at the top of his list of hobbies. Since he just turned one earlier this week, it’s possible the shoe-chewing could change. But you’ll always be our Dog of the Day, Charlie.
Send us your pups of any political persuasion — and cats on a cat-by-cat basis to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us on Twitter @MurphyAJC.
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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.
