A Georgia Supreme Court ruling earlier this year may have opened the door to a wave of new voter-backed initiatives to overturn decisions by local governments. State legislators could soon limit how far those citizen veto powers can go.
The court’s unanimous ruling upheld the results of a referendum in Camden County that grounded plans for a spaceport in coastal Georgia. Activists in Atlanta used that campaign as a template in their efforts to force a referendum to block the city’s proposed public safety training center.
When justices issued the ruling in February, two members warned in a concurring opinion it could pave the way for a “frightful season” for local governments if lawmakers don’t intervene.
The justices envisioned efforts to overturn even mundane government acts, such as zoning decisions and taxation rates, “as a means of either protest or in an attempt to thwart the will of a fatigued majority in a low turnout election.”
Credit: Maya T. Prabhu/AJC
Credit: Maya T. Prabhu/AJC
We’ve picked up word that Georgia General Assembly members are drafting measures to more sharply define what local decisions can be reversed. Legal experts question whether the Georgia Supreme Court ruling applies to only decisions by county governments and not also to city officials.
The Georgia Municipal Association, the influential lobby group that represents the state’s cities, is closely monitoring the effort.
In a statement, the organization said that Georgia law has held since at least 1998 that the referendum process can only be used to amend city charters.
“The recent Camden County decision has not changed the state of the law for cities,” said Latisha Gray, the group’s spokeswoman. “And Georgia’s cities would be interested in ensuring that the current law applicable to cities remains the law.”
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Credit: City of Atlanta
Credit: City of Atlanta
COP OUT? Georgia’s top politicians are drawing new political battle lines over the $90 million proposed public safety training center, as senior Democrats raise questions about how the city is handling petitions seeking a referendum.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, the project’s champion, is getting backup from Republicans eager to highlight their own law-and-order messaging — and drive a wedge between Democrats.
Gov. Brian Kemp issued a lengthy statement early Monday reinforcing his support for the project. The second-term Republican then followed up by issuing a challenge to Democratic leaders on WSB’s The Mark Arum Show.
“It’s time for people to let their voice be heard and answer the question: Do you support the training center or not?” he told Arum.
“I think people are hiding behind the referendum to keep from having to answer that question because of an extreme wing of the party on the left.”
The governor added: “They need to say whether they’re for it or not — and quit hiding behind a referendum.”
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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
LISTEN UP: We’ve got a special edition of the Politically Georgia podcast, with Bill Nigut and AJC investigative reporter Willoughby Mariano talking about the latest installment of the AJC’s “Dangerous Dwellings” investigation.
More than a year after Atlanta leaders promised to go into “war mode” to address some of the city’s most dangerous and dilapidated apartments, residents say they still feel like they’re on their own.
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SHUTDOWN CREEPS CLOSER. The U.S. House remains at an impasse as the Republican majority is split over both a spending bills package and a continuing resolution that would fund the federal government at current levels beyond a Sept. 30 deadline.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reiterated his pledge that congressional members would work through the weekend to reach a deal if necessary. Representatives, including McCarthy, devoted time Monday to sniping at each other over social media.
In the Senate, Democrats took steps Monday to circumvent a Republican senator’s objection to passing a package of appropriation bills, known as a minibus. Sen. Ron Johnson, D-Wis., blocked that effort last week, taking advantage of Senate rules and pushing for the spending measures to be considered individually.
The Senate can suspend its rules and move forward on the minibus. The chamber’s leadership has scheduled a procedural vote for Wednesday that would set up a rules suspension debate. The procedural vote needs the support of 60 members. A vote to suspend the rules would follow and requires a two-thirds majority — 67 votes — for passage.
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BRIDGING DIVIDES. Political polarization is as much an issue in Georgia as anywhere else in America. In Columbus last week, a group launched an initiative to temper the often ugly discourse.
Columbus NAACP President Wane Hailes and former Muscogee County Republican Party Chairman Alton Russell engaged in a political conversation to kickoff One Small Step, a program put on by the national media nonprofit StoryCorps. The two had never spoken prior to the dialogue and said afterwards the discussion brought a “whole new understanding.”
StoryCorps is hosting One Small Step events around the country in order to combat the political divide, which the group’s founder, Dave Isay, calls a threat to democracy.
WRBL-TV in Columbus reported that Isay has gathered statistics that reveal four out of five voters currently view members of the opposite party as “hateful and brainwashed.”
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Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- President Joe Biden is in New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly. He will also meet with U.N. officials and several heads of state.
- The U.S. House will restart debate on appropriations legislation with votes anticipated as early as Wednesday.
- The Senate is working on confirmations.
- Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, and other House Democrats will meet with the news media as they reintroduce the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
- U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, will hold a news conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court to mark the reintroduction of his bill that would establish term limits for justices.
- Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund will testify during a January 6 reinvestigation subcommittee meeting chaired by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville.
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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
CHARGER SCUFFLE. Ever fight with family members over the cellphone charger? An Augusta-area family recently had a spat over an electric vehicle charger with U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
A road trip meant to promote EVs and other green energy initiatives championed by the Biden administration was marred by an incident at a Grovetown fueling station. A member of the energy secretary’s staff attempted to reserve a spot for Granholm’s car by parking a gas-powered vehicle in front of the charger. That denied access to another EV, one owned by a family with a baby on board. The driver of that car called the sheriff.
Granholm’s staff moved quickly to resolve the situation to allow room for both the family’s car and Granholm’s. But it was too late to avoid mention in a story from National Public Radio’s Camila Domonoske, who was shadowing Granholm for a story on the road trip. Her piece published under the headline, “Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the Secretary of Energy”.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC
CANCER ADVOCACY. More than 600 cancer survivors and advocates from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, including many from Atlanta, visited Capitol Hill on Monday to lobby members of Congress for increased cancer research funding.
Two-time breast cancer survivor Sarah Grant said she and other Georgians met with staff for the state’s Democratic senators, Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock, the AJC’s Ernie Suggs tells us. Grant also had a meeting with her local representative, Congresswoman Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta.
“It does take a strong passionate person to do what we do,” Grant said. “One thing about us, we keep on until we get what we are looking for.”
The Cancer Society wants lawmakers to boost the National Institutes of Health cancer research funding to $51 billion, including $9.98 billion for the National Cancer Institute and $472.4 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cancer programs. The group also advocates for increased access to prostate cancer screening for high-risk individuals, such as Black men. That demographic has the highest death rate for prostate cancer of any racial or ethnic group in the country.
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Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
Credit: Alyssa Pointer/AJC
FINNISH STRONG. If your phone call to state Sen. Sonya Halpern goes to voicemail this week, that may be because the Atlanta Democrat is traveling in Finland and Estonia as a part of the Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows program.
The nonpartisan Hunt Institute is affiliated with Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Its goal is “to build visionary leadership and drive strategic action for better educational outcomes.” In a statement, Halpern said she hopes the visits to study innovative educational systems abroad will prove “valuable in crafting new legislation or policies to help young people in Georgia.”
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DOG OF THE DAY. We know our Jolt readership includes plenty of state workers, and now so does the Dog of the Day.
Meet Gunner, one of nine members of the arson K-9 unit under Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King. Gunner and his office mates across the state are trained in arson investigations. With noses several thousand times more sensitive than humans, they are able to speed investigations by quickly sniffing out potential accelerants.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
When he’s not working, Gunner is like a lot of other state employees, since he likes to swim and play softball. Unlike other state employees, he also likes to fetch and lives with his person and official handler, Investigator Tyler Westlake, and his family.
Thank you for your service, Officer Gunner! You’re our Dog of the Day.
Send us your dogs of any political persuasion and location, and cats on a cat-by-cat basis, to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, or DM us at @MurphyAJC.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
