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A Sessions Justice Department is Cause for Alarm

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump’s decision to tap U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as Attorney General confirms that a Trump Administration will be just as divisive, intolerant, and extreme as the Trump campaign.

The Alabama Republican—deemed controversial enough in 1986 for the Republican-controlled Senate to sink Sessions’ nomination for a federal judgeship—has a disturbing record of discrimination and allegations of bigoted remarks and racially-motivated schemes.

Roll Call: Jonathan Allen: Jeff Sessions Is Unfit for the Cabinet

During his last set of confirmation hearings, before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions lost out on an appointment to the federal bench. Witnesses testified that the Alabama Republican had called major civil rights organizations “un-American,” used racially insensitive language with associates and even said pot-smoking was the only reason he no longer thought the KKK was OK. His nomination was withdrawn after two fellow Republicans crossed the partisan divide on the panel to disapprove of his confirmation.

Politico: Sessions’ hard lines could yield confirmation fight

The last time Jeff Sessions faced a Senate confirmation hearing, Judiciary Committee members in both parties blocked his nomination to be a federal judge after hearing accusations that he had called the NAACP “un-American” and addressed a black lawyer as “boy.” Thirty years later, Sessions is a senior member of the same panel and established himself as one of the chamber’s most conservative members, staking out hard-line opposition to illegal immigration, opposing trade deals and advocating deep spending cuts that at times have chafed fellow Republicans.

CNN: Sessions dogged by old allegations of racism

It was 30 years ago that Sessions was denied a federal judgeship. At the time, he was a 39-year-old US attorney in Alabama. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony during hearings in March and May 1986, that Sessions had made racist remarks and called the NAACP and ACLU “un-American.” Thomas Figures, a black assistant US attorney who worked for Sessions, testified that Sessions called him “boy” on multiple occasions and joked about the Ku Klux Klan, saying that he thought Klan members were “OK, until he learned that they smoked marijuana.”

Salon: Jeff Sessions’ long perversion of justice: Trump’s pick for Attorney General has waged a 30-year battle against voting rights

Sessions has long been obsessed with the terrible travesty that is black people participating in democracy through the act of voting. He seems to find it unfair that Southern states like his own have been singled out for oversight by the Voting Rights Act, which he has referred to as “intrusive” legislation, when, he claims, discrimination because of skin color is “much more likely” to happen in northern cities like Philadelphia or Chicago.

The Guardian:  Jeff Session’s chequered past

The tip of the problem was a 1984 case that came to be known as the “Marion 3” – Sessions’s prosecution of three civil rights workers over what he perceived as voting fraud. As Lani Guinier lays out in her book Lift Every Voice, before 1965 there were “virtually no blacks registered to vote in the 10 western Black Belt counties of Alabama”.

But by the 1980s that had started to change. Through the massive get-out-the-vote efforts of three leaders – including a former aid to Martin Luther King – black voter turnout began to creep toward 80%, and a handful of black legislators were elected. That’s where Sessions stepped in, charging three voting rights organisers with voter fraud. All three were quickly acquitted. Session’s choice to focus on their efforts looked a lot less like good governance and a lot more like voter intimidation.

NYT Editorial Board: Jeff Sessions as Attorney General: An Insult to Justice

For starters, forget about aggressive protection of civil rights, and of voting rights in particular. Mr. Sessions has called the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a “piece of intrusive legislation.” Under him, the department would most likely focus less on prosecutions of minority voter suppression and more on rooting out voter fraud, that hallowed conservative myth. As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Sessions brought voter-fraud charges against three civil rights workers trying to register black voters in rural Alabama. The prosecution turned up 14 allegedly doctored ballots out of 1.7 million cast, and the jury voted to acquit.

Forget, also, any federal criminal-justice reform, which was on the cusp of passage in Congress before Mr. Trump’s “law and order” campaign. Mr. Sessions strongly opposed bipartisan legislation to scale back the outrageously harsh sentences that filled federal prisons with low-level drug offenders. Instead, he called for more mandatory-minimum sentences and harsher punishments for drug crimes. The one bright spot was his working with Democrats to reduce the 100-to-1 disparity between punishments for crack and powder cocaine offenses.

 

Slate: Attorney General Jeff Sessions Would Spell Absolute Disaster for Civil Rights in America

Sessions’ views on other minority groups are equally grisly. He opposes hate crime protections, marriage equality, and open military service for gay and transgender people. He rejects essentially all immigration reform, supports mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and wants to build a wall along the Mexican border. He defends Trump’s Muslim ban. And he denies that grabbing women’s genitals without their consent constitutes sexual assault. (For the record: It does.)

Presuming Sessions is confirmed—and he almost certainly will be, given the Senate’s Republican dominance and the spinelessness of its “moderate” wing—these prejudiced beliefs will translate into an immediate rollback of civil rights. First, Sessions will immediately halt Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s groundbreaking efforts to protect transgender rights. Second, he will dramatically curtail the Justice Department’s use of the Voting Rights Act’s remaining provisions to protect minority suffrage. Third, Sessions will probably stop investigating possible instances of police brutality and discrimination. Fourth, he will likely reverse Lynch’s vigorous implementation of the Violence Against Women Act, allowing funds to dry up for grant programs that help states combat domestic violence. Fifth, he can use his vast law enforcement apparatus to target, surveil, and intimidate Muslim communities with no reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

Quartz: Trump’s choice for attorney general has done some really awful things to try to set back women’s rights

Sessions was one of the 22 Republican senators who opposed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013. The bill aimed to broaden the reach of domestic violence programs to include new protections for LGBT and Native American victims of domestic violence.

… Sessions has consistently voted against abortion rights, and has been heavily criticized by pro-choice activists. “The last person women and families need in this job is someone who has repeatedly given a pass to individuals who commit acts of violence against abortion clinics, doesn’t take sexual assault seriously, and was determined to be too racist by a GOP-led Senate to become a federal judge,” Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement. “But that’s who Jeff Sessions is. His record of misogyny and racism makes him unfit to be the country’s top lawyer. The American people deserve far better, but with Donald Trump at the helm, we know we won’t get it.”

Daily Beast: With Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump Begins Dismantling Barack Obama’s Justice Department

But Sessions—once deemed “the most racist man in the Senate”—has been among Donald Trump’s most fervent loyalists. A Confederate flag devotee, he was on the campaign, early and hard, when others flat out refused to be caught in the same room with the former real-estate developer. Where others had shame, Sessions beamed with pride.

… Sessions, who is staunchly anti-immigration, can be counted on to help Trump build that wall, institute a ban on Muslim immigration altogether or create the legal perimeters for a federal registry. We can expect Sessions to find legal justification for any and all of Trump’s bigoted schemes.

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Drain the Swamp? Not So Much.

Atlanta, GA – Just a week after Election Day, Donald Trump has already backed away from his campaign promise to “drain the swamp.” Over the course of a few days, Trump has:

  • Stacked his transition team with lobbyists. [NYT]
  • Has floated both former Goldman Sachs banker Steve Mnuchin and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon for Treasury Secretary. [Politico]
  • Tapped RNC Chair Reince Priebus to serve as White House chief of staff. [NYT]
  • Selected Jeffrey Eisenach—a former consultant for Verizon and its trade association—to run the FCC transition. Eisenach has been an outspoken critic of net neutrality, saying that the regulations designed to ensure fair and equal access to the internet “would not improve consumer welfare or protect the public interest.” [The Hill] [NYT]

In Sunday’s interview with 60 Minutes, Trump flailed while attempting to explain why his transition team was teeming with lobbyists given this campaign promises. [Video]

Legal and ethical experts have already begun to question Trump’s nepotism and conflicts of interest.

Instead of placing his business interests in a blind trust, he’s handed over the reins to his children—the very ones running his transition team. [CNN] [The Week] [MSNBC]

He’s also pushed for his children—again, the same people who will run the Trump Organization—to receive top security clearances. [CNN]

Not only are these moves by the incoming Trump Administration questionable and unprecedented—they’re an affront to the very people who purportedly elected him to “shake up” Washington.

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BIRTHERS IN THE HOUSE: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Release:  Monday, October 31, 2016                                                                        

Atlanta, GA – Today, it was reported that a Republican candidate for Georgia’s State House has a well-documented history of peddling “birther” propaganda on social media. Republican Meagan Hanson—vying for the seat in House District 80—has frequently tweeted about President Barack Obama’s race and religion.

The Georgia GOP has an extensive, sordid history with the “birther” movement. Several vulnerable Republicans in the legislature signed on to 2011’s HB 401, also known as the “Presidential Eligibility Assurance Act.” The legislation would have required presidential candidates to provide their long-form birth certificate in order to appear on Georgia’s ballot. As voters head to the polls to reject the chief agitator of the birther movement, Donald Trump, they must also consider the electoral fate of his foot soldiers:

Valerie Clark (HD 101)

Gerald Greene (HD 151)

Mike Cheokas (HD 138)

Rich Golick (HD 40)

Ed Setzler (HD 35)

Rick Jasperse (HD 11)

Greg Morris (HD 156)

Tom Taylor (HD 79)

Darlene Taylor (HD 173)

This afternoon, Georgia Democrats condemned Republican candidates for their allegiance to the racist “birther” movement popularized by Donald Trump and demand they be held accountable for their rhetoric and record.

“Republicans have been twisting themselves in to knots trying to justify their support for one of the most racist presidential candidates in recent history. Donald Trump has refused to apologize for fanning the flames of the birther movement, but Georgia Republicans are no better in their unwillingness to apologize for slandering the nation’s first African-American president. Anything less than fully disavowing their legislative allegiance to birtherism and renouncing Donald Trump’s candidacy renders them unfit for office, and voters should and will hold them accountable at the polls.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director

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Seemingly Oblivious to His Own Record, GA Secretary of State Brian Kemp Pulls a Trump

Release:  Wednesday, October 26, 2016                                                                

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump isn’t the only Republican unraveling on social media. Following Trump’s bizarre Twitter meltdown over what he calls a “rigged election” and his dangerous refusal to say he will accept the election results, Georgia’s Chief apparently felt the need to get in on the fear-mongering action by issuing his own baseless tweets railing against individuals who are trying to expand voting access. And yesterday, he took to Facebook to double down on his contempt for those who have shed a light on his appalling record.

“In the past month alone, Georgia voters have had to deal with Kemp’s dysfunctional website that harmed their ability to register to vote, and his stubborn refusal to extend registration deadlines after a massive natural disaster. Sadly this is par for the course. Georgians need a Secretary of State who is able to fulfill the basic functions of his job – not someone who defensively takes to social media to point his finger at others every time he fails to protect the integrity of our voting system. But most of all, Georgia needs a full reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act so that all citizens, regardless of the competence of our chief elections officer, have the ability to exercise their most basic constitutional right by casting a vote.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director.

Under Brian Kemp’s watch, barrier after barrier has been erected to make it harder for Georgians to register and cast their vote. His record speaks for itself:

Brian Kemp has been Georgia’s Secretary of State since January 2010. Among the office’s wide-ranging responsibilities, the Secretary of State is charged with conducting efficient and secure elections, the registration of corporations, and the regulation of securities and professional license holders. The office also oversees the Georgia Archives. [Georgia Secretary of State’s Website, 2/15/2013]

ILLEGAL VOTER PURGES AND “STRICT MATCHING” 

Brian Kemp Sued For Blocking Thousands Of Minority Voters From Rolls
In September of 2016, The Georgia NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda and the legal nonprofit Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta filed a federal lawsuit against Brian Kemp for disenfranchising thousands of minorities ahead of the presidential election, alleging that the state’s “strict matching” requirement for information on registration forms blocked them from voter rolls. According to the suit, the state denied 34,874 registration applications from 2013 to 2016 due to mismatched information. Of those, black applicants were eight times more likely to fail the state’s verification process than white applicants, and Latinos and Asian-Americans were six times more likely to fail, according to the suit. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution 9/14/2016]

Brian Kemp’s Spokeswoman Accuses Civil Rights Plaintiffs of Trying to Disrupt Voter Registration 
Brian Kemp’s spokeswoman stated that the September 2016 lawsuit challenging the practice of “strict matching” was “an effort by liberal groups to disrupt voter registration just weeks before an important election.” The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of civil and voting rights groups. [The Daily Report, 9/26/16]

After Being Sued, Brian Kemp Agrees to Restore Tens of Thousands of Blocked Voters To Rolls
Tens of thousands of voters whose registrations were canceled will be restored to the voter rolls before the November election after Brian Kemp agreed to suspend a longtime practice of canceling registrations that the state NAACP, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, and others had filed suit to stop on September 14th. Kemp concession came the same day that a judge in Ohio ruled the practice of purging voters from the rolls who had not voted in four years was a violation of federal voting laws. Kemp faces a similar pending lawsuit in Georgia. [The Daily Report, 9/26/16]

Brian Kemp’s Office Sued By NAACP and Common Cause For Illegal Purge of Thousands from Georgia’s Voters Rolls.
The National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) specifically prohibits states from initiating voter registration purges against individuals for failure to vote; however, Georgia initiates such purging programs precisely after identifying individuals who have failed to vote for the previous three years. Due to the state’s practice, as of June 2015, over 800,000 Georgians have been placed on an inactive list – due to voting inactivity – and await being removed permanently unless they either respond to a notice or appear to vote within the following two election cycles. [Common Cause, 11/24/2015]

United States Department of Justice Filed “Statement of Interest” Regarding Brian Kemp’s Voter Purge.
On May 4 2016, The United State Department of Justice filed a “Statement of Interest” with the Federal Court in a pending lawsuit probing Kemp’s purges of voters from Georgia’s voter rolls. The Department of Justice argued that Kemp’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit should be denied and pointed to specific violations of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. The NVRA governs voter registration and the maintenance of voter lists used in federal elections. HAVA establishes minimum standards to be used in federal elections. [Statement of Interest of the United States, 5/4/2016]

Brian Kemp’s Election Director Resigned After Kemp’s Office Illegally Purged Nearly 8,000 Voters From Rolls.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s election director resigned after illegally purging nearly 8,000 voters in the run-up to 2014’s May 20 primaries. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/3/2015]

INTIMIDATING ORGANIZERS REGISTERING AND MOBILIZING VOTERS OF COLOR WITH PROSECUTION 

Brian Kemp’s Office Launched Investigation into Twelve Organizers in Quitman County.
After an investigation by the Secretary of State’s office, state agents arrested a dozen African American voting organizers, three of whom had been elected to the county school board. With the charges pending, Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, issued an executive order temporarily removing the three newly elected school members from their posts, and reinstating the county’s white-majority school board. Four years after the election in question, the state dropped all charges against the group. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Lula Smart Faced 32 Felony Counts For Mailing Absentee Ballots.
A Quitman resident named Lula Smart faced 32 felony counts that could have carried more than a hundred years in prison, largely for charges of carrying envelopes containing completed absentee ballots to the mailbox for voters. Four years later, after three trials, a jury in Quitman cleared Lula Smart on every count against her. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Debra Dennard Faced Two Felony Voter Fraud Charges For Assisting Blind Father With Absentee Ballot.
Quitman resident, Debra Dennard, faced two felony charges of voter fraud for helping her father fill out his absentee ballot. Her father, David Dennard, is missing both legs and is partially blind. Mr. Dennard says that with his daughter’s assistance he voted for just who he wanted to without any coercion or meddling. “All she did was help me—just as she helps me with almost everything… I knew who I wanted to vote for, and I signed the ballot myself.” [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Bessie Hamilton Intimidated In to Signing Statement Against Lula Smart.
Bessie Hamilton testified that one of Kemp’s investigators came to the doctor’s office where she worked, took her into an unused break room, and intimidated her into signing a statement against [Lula] Smart. “I was scared,” she said on the stand. “This man came to my job with a gun, and on top of that, he told me I could have went to jail.” [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Quitman Resident Sandra Cody Removed From Her Job Due To Fraud Charges.
Quitman resident Sandra Cody was removed from her longtime Head Start teaching jobs because of the pending voting charges. “They said were not supposed to be around children,” Cody said, “because we have this on our record.” Although the charges were dropped weeks after their removal, bureaucratic red tape delayed their return to those jobs until February. Cody fell behind on her rent and utility bills because of the loss of work. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Office Targets the New Georgia Project.
In September of 2014 Brian Kemp announced an investigation against the New Georgia Project, an organization with the goal of registering 120,000 voters of color prior to the 2014 election. The Secretary of State confirmed only 50 potential “forgeries” among the tens of thousands the registration forms that the group had submitted, amounting to roughly 0.001 percent of the New Georgia Project’s submissions. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

“We have not detected from anything that [the group’s leaders] have said or done that it is a goal of the New Georgia Project to go out and commit voter registration fraud,” Kemp’s lead investigator said on September 17th, according to an opinion blog of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Office Fails To Add 40,000 Voters Of Color To Rolls in 2014.
In October of 2014, The New Georgia Project engaged in a legal battle with the Secretary of State to ascertain the whereabouts of 40,000 voter registration applications that were submitted prior to the registration deadline, but had yet to appear on the voter rolls. [NPR, 10/22/2014]

Brian Kemp’s Office Claimed 40,000 Missing Voter Registrations Did Not Exist.
After accusations that 40,000 voter registrations submitted by the New Georgia Project and other nonprofit organizations, did not appear on the rolls, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office claimed that the voter registrations did not exist. “The claim that there are over 40,000 unprocessed voter registration applications is absolutely false,” he said. “The counties have processed all the voter registration applications that they have received for the general election.” [NPR, 10/22/2014]

Brian Kemp’s Office Delays Adding Thousands Of Voters To The Rolls Until After Election Day.
Despite Claiming that no such voter registration forms existed, 18,000 of the voter registration forms submitted by The New Georgia Project by the registration deadline were added to the rolls three to nine months after Election Day 2014. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/11/2016]

While Kemp said that “the counties have processed all of the voter registration applications that they received for the general election,” new voters were not found on the voter rolls. Diamond Walton registered to vote with the New Georgia Project in August of 2014. She finally received a registration card in October. On Election Day, when she arrived at her polling place she was not on the rolls and was told to fill out a provisional ballot. Instead, Ms. Walton called a lawyer from the New Georgia Project who, after numerous calls to officials, found her name on a supplemental list. [The New York Times, 11/4/2016]

Newly Naturalized Citizen Voters Turned Away From Polls In 2012.
In the weeks prior to the 2012 General Election, Helen Ho, Executive Director of Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, discovered that newly naturalized citizens her organization had worked to register were not on the voter rolls. Early voting had begun and polling places were challenging and turning away new citizens seeking to vote for the first time. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Asian American Legal Advocacy Center Denounces Brian Kemp’s Office For Failure To Add Newly Naturalized Citizen Voters To Rolls.
After the Secretary of State’s office failed to provide adequate answers regarding their failure to add new citizen voters to the rolls, AALAC issued an open letter on October 31 demanding that Georgia take immediate action to ensure the new citizens could vote. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Office Launches Criminal Investigation Against Asian American Legal Advocacy Center.
Two days after the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center issued an open letter denouncing Brian Kemp’s office for their failure to add newly naturalized citizen voters to the rolls in a timely manner, Brian Kemp’s office launched an investigation into their voter registration efforts. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Kemp’s office asked that AALAC turn over certain records of its registration efforts, citing “potential legal concerns surrounding AALAC’s photocopying and public disclosure of voter registration applications.” The investigation targeted her group not for any voter fraud, per se, but for more technical issues, such as whether canvassers had people’s explicit, written consent to photocopy their registration forms before mailing the originals to the elections office. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

Brian Kemp’s Investigation In To AALAC Lasts Two And A Half Years, Finds No Violations.
Brian Kemp’s investigation of Asian American Legal Advocacy Center lasted two and a half years and ended with no finding of violations. [The New Republic, 5/5/2015]

PARTISAN ACTION AGAINST DEMOCRATS AND REPEATED MISHALNDING OF VOTER FILE DATA IMPACTS ELECTION RESULTS 

Data From Kemp’s Office Leads Residency Challenge Against African American Democratic Candidate for Georgia House District 151.
In March of 2016, James Williams qualified to run for office in House District 151, where he had been living and voting for several years. After the qualifying period had closed, elections officials re-categorized Williams’ street of residence as belonging to House District 154, resulting in a residency challenge. The Secretary of State has declined to re-open the qualifying period to allow another Democratic candidate to run, and has declined to let Williams run in 151. House District 151 is the only majority-minority House district in Georgia currently represented by a Republican. [The New Republic, 4/5/2016]

Republicans and Democrats Treated Differently During The Qualifying Process.
In House District 3, three of the four candidates running for the May 24 Primary were initially disqualified because the Georgia Republican Party failed to provide the elections office with the proper paperwork on time. However, Catoosa County Republican Party Chair Denise Burns said that candidates seeking the House District 3 seat can fill out paperwork to qualify again. An official from the state party informed her that the GOP Executive Committee voted to re-open the qualifying process. Two disqualified Republican candidates were allowed to appear on the May Primary Election ballot. [Times Free Press 4/14/2016] [SOS Website 9/15/16]

Data from Brian Kemp’s Office Leads To Incorrect Ballot Distribution in House Primary
During the 2016 Primary Election, data from Brian Kemp’s office led to at least 30 and potentially 60 voters in House Districts 59 and 60 to cast ballots in the wrong district. The top two vote getting candidates in HD 59 were forty votes apart. [Creative Loafing, 9/9/2016]

Brian Kemp Warns Republican Allies That Democrats Are Registering Minority Voters.
At a July 12th, 2014 event with Republicans in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Brian Kemp advocated that Republicans register voters, and also stated, “…Democrats are working hard, and all these stories about them, you know, registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.” [Think Progress 9/11/2014]

Brian Kemp’s Office Released the Personal Information, Including Social Security Number, of Registered Georgia Voters – 6 million Individuals.
The October 2015 voter file distributed to news organizations and other entities that purchase the information included private data such as voters’ social security numbers and driver license numbers. Third parties can legally buy the voter lists from the state, but the lists should only include a voter’s name, residential or mailing address, race, gender, registration date and date of last vote cast. Georgia’s data release was one of the larger disseminations of private data for a U.S. state. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/18/2015]

REDUCING ACCESS TO VOTING FOR COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

The Macon-Bibb Board of Registration and Elections Moved a Precinct from Memorial Gym to the Sheriff’s Office. In early 2016 The Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections decided to move the Memorial Gym polling place to a sheriff’s building near Second Street and Houston Avenue because of ongoing construction at the gym. That plan drew fire from various civil rights groups, including the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, which alleged that the proposed location could alienate some minorities. [The Macon Telegraph, 4/21/2016]

Upson County Polling Closures Leads to Heavy Traffic on Election Day.
In March of 2016, polling places in Upson County experienced heavy traffic during Georgia’s presidential primary vote. “I’d never seen anything like it,” said Kay King, a member of the local board of elections who worked the polls that day. “It was just unreal.” Although King doesn’t believe the precinct consolidation was designed to discriminate against minority voters, she said she voted against the plan because it eliminated the sole polling site in her district, which she said has a high population of minority residents. “Some of those people don’t have transportation so they have a hard time getting back and forth to other precincts,” King said. “We lost that precinct, so now those people will have to travel a little further.” [VICE, 4/16/2016]

Georgia Is One of Only Three States to Check Citizenship on the Front End of Voter Registration.
Georgia is only one of three states to check citizenship on the front end of voter registration. In late January 2016, the Election Assistance Commission’s Executive Director Brian Newby, granted the requests of three states — Kansas, Georgia and Alabama — to include the proof-of-citizenship requirement for state elections as a state-specific add-on to the federal form, against prior policy. Before joining the commission, Mr. Newby was a county elections official in Kansas, where he was a close ally of Kris Kobach, one of the nation’s most ardent supporters of restrictive voting laws.  [New York Times, 4/10/2016]

State Board of Elections Encouraged Precinct Closures.
Sandi Fallin, Tift County Elections supervisor, spoke to Tift County commissioners during a workshop, telling them that the state’s Board of Elections has encouraged the local office to consolidate its precincts. [Tifton Gazette, 9/11/2015]

Tift County Plans to Consolidate Precincts from 12 to 1.
In September of 2015 the five-member, majority-conservative Tift County Board of Elections led by its supervisor– Republican Sandi Fallin — planned on consolidating all twelve current voting locations and directing approximately 20,000 registered voters to cast a ballot at Tifton’s UGA Conference Center. [The Examiner, 9/10/2015]

Macon- Bibb County Attempts To Eliminate 14 Polling Precincts.
In January 2015, the Macon-Bibb Board of Elections proposed a plan to reduce or consolidate the County’s 40 precincts down to 26, allegedly as a cost saving device.  Most of the proposed precinct reductions and consolidations in the original plan targeted majority Black precincts. Under that plan, some of the majority Black precincts had over 5000 and 6000 voters. By contrast, no majority white precincts had more than 5,000 voters and, in most cases, had thousands fewer voters than the proposed consolidated precincts in the majority Black communities. In response to organized opposition by community organizations, the BOE reduced the number of precinct closures, but the majority of these closures disproportionately impact Black precincts. The County has failed to explain how it will staff and equip the larger consolidated Black precincts and we will be monitoring the impact of these closures on voters when they attempt to cast ballots in the 2016 elections. [The Lawyers Committee, 5/7/2016] [Macon Telegraph, 5/28/2015]

Upson County Reduces Number of Polling Precincts from 9 to 4 As Cost Cutting Measure.
In July 2015, Upson County’s Board of Elections voted to reduce the number of precincts from nine to four as a cost cutting measure. [The Thomaston Times, 10/19/2015]

Hancock County Precinct Consolidations Create Travel Burdens for Black Rural Voters.
Hancock’s Board of Elections (BOE) planned to close all but one precinct located in downtown Sparta, despite the relatively high voter turnout in the County in 2008 and 2012. While cost-savings was given as a rationale, the BOE did not release data justifying this harsh plan. Precincts proposed for closure were 10.9-16.9 miles from the one remaining precinct, presenting a travel burden for voters living in the majority Black precincts in the mostly poor and rural areas of the County who don’t have access to regularly scheduled transportation. After organized opposition led by the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the Lawyers’ Committee, the BOE decided to close only one of the ten precincts in the district. [The Lawyers Committee, 5/7/2016]

Hancock County Voter Purges Targets Black Voters.
On November 3, 2015, the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda and five black Hancock County voters represented by the Lawyers’ Committee, along with local pro bono co-counsel, filed a voting rights lawsuit against the Hancock County election officials that challenges the purging of black voters from the Hancock County voter registration lists in advance of the November 2015 City of Sparta municipal election. Plaintiffs contend that the actions were intended to suppress the African American vote. According to the suit, almost 17 percent of eligible Sparta voters were challenged and nearly all of the 53 voters purged were Black voters.  Since the lawsuit was filed, following a U.S. District Court order, Hancock officials have reinstated 15 of the 53 voters. [The Lawyers Committee, 5/7/2016]

Police Commanded Black Voters in Hancock County To Prove Validity of Their Registration
As a “courtesy,” court papers state, county sheriff’s deputies served summonses on African American voters targeted for removal from the rolls, commanding them to defend themselves at election board meetings. Some did, and were restored to the rolls.

“A lot of voters are actually calling to say they no longer wish to be on the list, so now we have people coming off the list who no longer want to vote,” Tiffany Medlock, the elections supervisor for the Hancock County elections board, told a Macon television reporter in late September. “It’ll probably affect the City of Sparta’s election in a major way.” [The New York Times 7/31/2016]

SUPER TUESDAY 2016 PRECINCT IRREGULARITIES

Fulton County Precinct Changes Occurred Without Proper Voter Notification.
In March of 2016, voter complaints flooded into Fulton County and the state when residents found out they hadn’t been notified that their voting locations had changed. The county blamed the postal service for not delivering mailers before the March 1 election. Now, the postal service and the secretary of state’s office are investigating. It’s not the first time there have been problems related to voting in Fulton County. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/16/2016] and [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 4/11/2016] 

Faulty Voting Machines in Fulton County Delay and Deter Voters on Super Tuesday.
Roughly 100 voters in northeast Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood learned that the electronic voting machines were not working the morning of Super Tuesday. According to the precinct manager, the machines were programmed for the wrong precinct. Voters were given the choice of voting on paper or coming back later. Voters learned they would have to wait 30 minutes to cast their ballot on paper. About an hour-and-a-half into the voting, an IT professional from the Fulton County Elections office came and re-programmed the machines. The precinct manager said only 46 of the early morning voters chose to cast paper ballots. Every else chose to try to return before the polls close at 7 p.m. [WMTV, 3/1/16]

2016 GENERAL ELECTION ISSUES 

Glitch in Online System Prevents Georgians From Registering To Vote Online
Less than two weeks prior to the voter registration deadline, a failure of the online registration system resulted in error messages, prompting the Secretary of State to urge voters who tried to register online over a period of approximately five days to check their status. [WTVC, 10/5/2016]

After Lawsuit, Judge Orders Brian Kemp to Extend Voter Registration Deadline After a failed request to extend the voter registration deadline in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, The Georgia Coalition for People’s Agenda, Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and the nonprofit Third Sector corporation successfully sued the Secretary of State’s office to extend the voter registration deadline in Chatham County. Over 40 percent of Chatham County residents are black or Latino.
[CBS 46, 10/12/2016] [Lawyers’ Committee Press Release 10/13/2016]

Brian Kemp Approves of Donald Trump’s Call For Poll Watchers
2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump warned supporters that the election may be “rigged” in favor of his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, and urged supporters to monitor the polls, stating “I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the eighth [but] go around and look and watch other polling places and make sure that it’s 100 percent fine.” Brian Kemp said a surge of Trump-inspired poll watchers would be welcome, so long as they undergo training after the state receives their names. [The Washington Post 8/13/16]

Brian Kemp’s Office Rejects Federal Assistance To Protect Against Hackers
Less than a year after Brain Kemp’s office released the personal data of an unprecedented 6 million Georgia voters, Kemp rejected an offer from the federal government to protect Georgia election systems from the threat of hacking. [The Atlanta Journal Constitution 8/29/16] [The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/18/2015].

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DPG Statement on Final Presidential Debate

Release:  Wednesday, October 19, 2016                          

Atlanta, GA – Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Rebecca DeHart issued the following statement on tonight’s third and final presidential debate.

“Tonight Hillary Clinton was stronger than ever. She showed us the qualities we should expect from a President— sound judgement, even temperament, thoughtful in response, caring for others and true leadership. The contrast between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is staggering. But the choice presented to each of us is so much more than party affiliation. This election is about our values, and who we are as people.

“That’s a wrap, now we act. It’s time to vote and then help others vote. We need to prioritize the making of a plan to vote, and then stick to that plan. It has never been more critical for every single Georgian to make their voice heard and use their vote.

“I’m proud to stand with Hillary Clinton and Georgia Democrats are ready to make history in November.” – Rebecca DeHart, Executive Director

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New York Times: “Republican polling has found that Mr. Trump is at dire risk of losing Georgia”

Release:  Wednesday, October 12, 2016                                                                 

“Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has concluded that at least two traditionally Republican states, Georgia and Arizona, are realistic targets for her campaign to win over. And Republican polling has found that Mr. Trump is at dire risk of losing Georgia, according to people briefed on the polls, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

Split Over Donald Trump Threatens to Tilt Republican States

NEW YORK TIMES // ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN

Donald J. Trump’s intensifying battle with his own party is tearing open the nation’s political map, pulling Republicans across the country into a self-destructive feud that could imperil dozens of lawmakers in Congress and potentially throw conservative-leaning states into Hillary Clinton’s column.

Democrats are moving swiftly to exploit Mr. Trump’s crumbling position in the presidential race, aiming to run up a big margin of victory for Mrs. Clinton and extend their political advantage into the congressional elections next month.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign has concluded that at least two traditionally Republican states, Georgia and Arizona, are realistic targets for her campaign to win over. And Republican polling has found that Mr. Trump is at dire risk of losing Georgia, according to people briefed on the polls, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Mrs. Clinton now holds such a strong upper hand that Priorities USA, a “super PAC” backing her campaign, may direct some of its war chest into Senate races, two people said, and may begin broadcasting ads for those contests as soon as next week. Congressional Democrats also hope to persuade Mrs. Clinton to continue pouring money and campaign resources into states like Virginia and Colorado, where they believe her victory is assured, in order to lift other Democratic candidates.

In a signal of Democrats’ growing focus on the House and Senate, Mrs. Clinton used a visit on Tuesday to Miami to attack both Mr. Trump and Senator Marco Rubio, whom Mrs. Clinton blasted for what she described as his indifference to climate change.

“We need to elect people up and down the ballot, at every level of government, who take it seriously,” Mrs. Clinton said, adding, “It is an unacceptable response for Marco Rubio, when asked about climate change, to say, ‘I’m not a scientist.’”

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta, told reporters that she would continue to call out down-ballot Republicans. Mr. Rubio is among the Republicans whom Priorities USA may seek to defeat, if the group decides to intervene in Senate races, one strategist said.

Increasingly anxious Republicans have not come up with a unified strategy for containing the damage from Mr. Trump’s embattled candidacy, and several strategists and party officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they were awaiting a new round of polling before settling on a course. But, in a sign that Republicans now view the presidential race as a lost cause, several Senate candidates are preparing ads asking voters to elect them as a check on Mrs. Clinton in the White House.

Yet Mr. Trump himself, having been rejected in recent days by dozens of Republican elected officials, has indicated that he will make any separation an exceptionally messy and painful ordeal for the party.

Mr. Trump lashed out publicly on Tuesday morning at two of his best-known critics: Senator John McCain of Arizona, who withdrew his endorsement of Mr. Trump over the weekend, and Paul D. Ryan, the speaker of the House, who informed congressional Republicans on Monday that he would no longer defend Mr. Trump.

Seething on Twitter, Mr. Trump attacked Mr. Ryan as “weak and ineffective” and described Mr. McCain as “very foul mouthed.” And in a Fox News interview, Mr. Trump mocked both men as disloyal, reserving special venom for Mr. Ryan.

“Paul Ryan opened borders and amnesty and bad budgets,” Mr. Trump said.

He declared himself a liberated man, writing on Twitter:. “It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to.”

Should Mr. Trump continue deriding the leaders of the institutional Republican Party, it could have profound consequences down the ballot, potentially depressing turnout by demoralizing the party or leading Mr. Trump’s ardent supporters to deny their votes to Republicans who abandoned him. But there is little Republicans can do to control Mr. Trump’s behavior: The party’s donors have no leverage over him, he is relying largely on small donors and, at 70, he is not mindful of any future campaign.

The emerging dynamic may be especially toxic for Republicans in swing states that are also home to competitive races for the House and Senate, where the party’s candidates must choose between two unpalatable options: alienating much of their party’s base, or standing behind a nominee who is unacceptable to most mainstream voters. The voting bloc that especially concerns Republican officials are the right-of-center, college-educated voters who usually favor Republican candidates but cannot abide Mr. Trump. These voters can make up anywhere between a quarter to a third of the party’s electoral coalition.

“That voter is clearly not going to vote for Donald Trump,” said Josh Holmes, a Republican strategist who is working on several Senate races. “But if they don’t vote at all, it’s catastrophic for us.”

The nightmare possibility for the party is that swing voters punish the party because of Mr. Trump, the anti-Trump Republicans stay at home and Mr. Trump’s base casts a ballot for him and then leaves the polls. Under those conditions, Senate races in places like Pennsylvania and North Carolina could fall to Democrats, while Senate and House races in places like Missouri, Arizona and Kansas could move to the center of the battlefield.

Already, Republicans view Mr. Trump’s sharp downturn in the presidential race as having jeopardized their majorities in Congress. A poll published on Tuesday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal found Mr. Trump trailing Mrs. Clinton by nine percentage points nationally and drawing just 37 percent of the vote. No major-party nominee since World War II has received a smaller share of the vote. But in an illustration of the bind Republicans are in, the poll found that three-fourths of Republicans believed their candidates should stay loyal to Mr. Trump.

In Nevada, the Republican candidate for Senate, Representative Joe Heck, withdrew his support from Mr. Trump over the weekend, and is facing a furious backlash.

Sandie Kirwin, a Las Vegas retail manager supportive of Mr. Trump, said she might now vote for a Democrat over Mr. Heck in a critical Senate race.

“I think of Joe Heck the same I do of any Republican not supporting Donald Trump,” said Ms. Kirwin, 52. “I will never support any of them, and I will do what I can to get them out of office.”

But other Republican-leaning voters say they may punish those who fail to denounce Mr. Trump. Several Republicans in difficult Senate races have criticized Mr. Trump in strong terms without coming out in opposition to his candidacy, including Senators Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina and Mr. Rubio.

In Pennsylvania, Jaye Steuterman, a registered Republican and a real estate agent in Doylestown, said she was still undecided on which presidential candidate to vote for. She said she was deeply unsettled by Mr. Trump’s past comments about forcing himself on women, but that might not be enough to stop her voting for him.

“I don’t know what’s more important to me — that, or the fact that Hillary is a liar,” Ms. Steuterman said.

In the Senate race, she is inclined to vote for Mr. Toomey because he is a Republican, but her decision could depend on whether he supports Mr. Trump.

Even the drastic step of denouncing Mr. Trump may not be enough to shield Republicans from his unpopularity. In a conference call on Tuesday with the Democratic caucus, Representative Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that party polling found voters drawing scant distinction between Republicans who endorsed Mr. Trump and those who abandoned him out of political expediency, according to people who participated in the call, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it was supposed to be private.

On the same call, Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking House Democrat, expressed concern that Mrs. Clinton might abandon states that she is all but sure to win, but where Democrats are still locked in competitive races. Mr. Clyburn asked Representative Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader, to contact Mrs. Clinton’s campaign to ensure it would not withdraw resources from Virginia and Colorado.

“Most people think the House now could be in play,” said Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky. “There’s a little bit of scrambling going on to identify races that could flip if the presidential race somehow gets to a 10-point margin.”

Like their Republican counterparts, Democrats do not plan to make final strategy decisions until they receive new polling. But they have already begun aggressively attacking Republicans, even as those officials retreat from Mr. Trump.

Three Democratic congressional candidates have started running ads this week that showcase footage of Mr. Trump describing sexual assault in graphic terms, from a 2005 recording. Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is challenging Senator Kelly Ayotte, used the footage in a campaign video on Tuesday, saying Ms. Ayotte recently denounced Mr. Trump only to “protect herself.”

And outside groups supporting congressional Democrats have begun to reallocate their spending to take advantage of the shifting environment. The House Majority PAC, the principal outside group supporting House Democrats, this week made a $1.2 million reservation to contest the suburban Philadelphia seat held by Representative Michael G. Fitzpatrick, who is retiring.

In affluent, suburban areas, which were already trending strongly toward Democrats after the first presidential debate, Republican survival may depend on the willingness of voters to separate their feelings about the presidential race from their voting behavior in all other elections.

Outside a ski shop on Tuesday in Aurora, Colo., Sharon and Les Sparks said they were disappointed by Republicans pulling away from Mr. Trump, whom Mr. Sparks described as “spoiled little entitled brats.” Among those lawmakers is Representative Mike Coffman, a Denver-area congressman who has been critical of Mr. Trump for months and recently called on him to end his campaign.

Still, Mr. and Ms. Sparks said they would vote for Mr. Coffman, despite their frustration. “They need to unite,” said Ms. Sparks, 49, a project manager in the health industry. “If you’re going to be in the Republican Party, you need to start standing behind the party.”

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Democratic Party of Georgia Statement on Donald Trump’s Vile Comments About Women

Release:  Saturday, October 8, 2016      

Atlanta, GA – Democratic Party of Georgia Executive Director Rebecca DeHart issued the following statement on the latest revelations of Donald Trump’s treatment of women.

“Throughout the course of his campaign, we—as a nation—keep asking ourselves what Donald Trump could possibly do to sink lower. Anyone who denigrates and objectifies women, and brags about sexual assault, is completely and wholly unfit for elected office. How could any parent cast their vote for this vile, dangerous man and then come home and look their child in the eyes.

“Make no mistake. Young girls are paying attention to how we as a society respond to a man who boasts of forcibly groping a woman. Young boys are paying attention to our response to a man who calls women ‘pigs’ and ‘slobs.’

“Equally as shocking is the Georgia GOP’s silence and complacency. Where’s the leadership? Why haven’t Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue and the rest of their Party condemned their candidate and immediately withdrawn their support?

“In a year in which Democrats are finally shattering that glass ceiling, Georgians are left with a stark choice this November. But there is also a stark choice facing the Republican Party. As their nominee he is their standard bearer—representative of their party. And they have the choice to reject him. I hope, for the sake of women and girls everywhere, they send him packing.”

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First Presidential Debate: Trump Crumbled Under Pressure

Release:  Thursday, September 29, 2016                                                                

Atlanta, GA – The reviews for Monday’s debate are in. Hillary Clinton delivered.

Donald Trump lied, came unglued, and crumbled under pressure.

AJC: UGA debate guru: Donald Trump faltered, Hillary Clinton didn’t

Performance of Hillary Clinton

She effectively spoke to younger voters and African-Americans in the debate when addressing climate change, student loans, the birther issue and stop-and-frisk policy. Substantively, she delivered better answers than Donald Trump on a full range of issues in the last hour of the debate. For example, when pressed, she was far stronger than Trump in explaining the value of the Iranian nuclear agreement.

Performance of Donald Trump

Viewers who watched the full debate were left with the impression of a debater who was not able to sustain a set of coherent and full messages on issues ranging from gender to nuclear policy to race relations.

The New Yorker: The Problem with Trump Isn’t His Debating Skills

Talking, again, about President Obama’s birth certificate, he displayed not only the usual pathological inability to admit to an error—any error, ever—but an underlying racism so pervasive that it can’t help express itself even when trying to pass as something else. 

…Again, this wasn’t a problem of how he chose to present his beliefs; the problem is with the beliefs. This wasn’t a question of preparation. It was that the things he actually believes are themselves repellent even when coherently presented. This was not a bad performance. This is a bad man.

LA Times: Hillary Clinton was the matador to Donald Trump’s bull in first presidential debate

Claiming that Clinton “doesn’t have the stamina” to lead the nation reeks of sexism and is plain ridiculous. “To be president of this country,” he said, “you need tremendous stamina.”

But Clinton has been campaigning across the country for more than a year, often enduring 16-hour days barnstorming and speechmaking before strangers.

And despite being diagnosed with pneumonia, she had enough stamina — mentally and physically — to do her homework for the debate. Something Trump didn’t. And it showed.

Washington Post: What does it mean that Donald Trump lost the debate?

We also already knew that Trump is the most dishonest and least transparent presidential nominee in recent memory, refusing to release his tax returns even though every presidential nominee for 40 years has done so and betting that a visit to Dr. Oz relieved him of responsibility for releasing more information on his health. We already knew that he was an uncommon liar. The Post has only been the latest outlet to attempt to record the full panoply of deceptions Trump tells on a daily basis, such as his recent claims that Clinton has “been silent about Islamic terrorism for many years,” and that he “never” proposed targeting Muslims.

New York Magazine: Ranting Bully Donald Trump Came Unglued in First Presidential Debate

The final exchange of the debate was the most devastating. Clinton lacerated Trump for his dehumanization of women — the kind of sexualization that offends social conservatives and social liberals alike. She brought up his abuse of one of his beauty-pageant contestants — noting, as an aside, his fondness for hanging around them — and that he called one contestant “Miss Piggy” and, because she is Latina, “Miss Housekeeper.” When Trump fell for the trap by demanding her name, Clinton supplied it: Alicia Machado, driving home the justifiable impression that Clinton sees her as a human being, unlike her opponent, who sees her as a piece of meat. His response consisted of whining that her campaign was spending money to attack him in advertisements.

NYT: The Lies Trump Told

He lied about the loan his father once gave him.

He lied about his company’s bankruptcies.

He lied about his federal financial-disclosure forms.

He lied about his endorsements.

He lied about “stop and frisk.”

He lied about “birtherism.”

He lied about New York.

He lied about Michigan and Ohio.

He lied about Palm Beach, Fla.

He lied about Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve.

He lied about the trade deficit.

He lied about Hillary Clinton’s tax plan.

He lied about her child-care plan.

He lied about China devaluing its currency.

He lied about Mexico having the world’s largest factories.

He lied about the United States’s nuclear arsenal.

He lied about NATO’s budget.

He lied about NATO’s terrorism policy.

DPG Chair DuBose Porter: There was only one Commander-in-Chief on that debate stage

Tonight was a tale of two visions for our country. The Republican candidate offered to take us down a path paved with fear and division and hate to a truly dark and dangerous destination. A place where lies and insults are used to divide communities and tear people down.

Hillary Clinton challenged the American people to take a higher road tonight. A road that we travel together, leaving no one behind. Her vision for our great country is based on the simple yet powerful belief that we are stronger together when we lift each other up.

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DPG Statement on First Presidential Debate

Release:  Monday, September 26, 2016                                                                  

Atlanta, GA – Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter issued the following statement on tonight’s presidential debate.

“Tonight was a tale of two visions for our country. The Republican candidate offered to take us down a path paved with fear and division and hate to a truly dark and dangerous destination. A place where lies and insults are used to divide communities and tear people down.

“Hillary Clinton challenged the American people to take a higher road tonight. A road that we travel together, leaving no one behind. Her vision for our great country is based on the simple yet powerful belief that we are stronger together when we lift each other up.

“There was only one Commander-in-Chief on that debate stage, and Georgia will join the rest of the nation in sending her to the White House.”

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Filed Under “Things that are hard for Donald Trump” – Telling the Truth

Release:  Monday, September 26, 2016                         

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump has a well-documented history of pushing lies and conspiracy theories—especially when there’s a microphone in front of his face. Tonight, he’s taking his biggest stage yet. So the question is: Will Donald Trump finally start telling the truth? Or will he continue his campaign of deceit and misinformation?

Based on history, expect the latter.

According to Politifact, 70% of Trumps claims are untrue.

Politico recently conducted a five-day analysis of Trump’s statements, and the results were staggering:

According to POLITICO’s five-day analysis Trump averaged about one falsehood every three minutes and 15 seconds over nearly five hours of remarks.

In raw numbers, that’s 87 erroneous statements in five days.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported that “Never in modern presidential politics has a major candidate made false statements as routinely as Trump has. Over and over, independent researchers have examined what the Republican nominee says and concluded it was not the truth — but “pants on fire” (PolitiFact) or “four Pinocchios” (Washington Post Fact Checker).”

“Facts matter—and facts have never been Trump’s forte. Donald Trump is a serial liar who hurls falsehoods and insults to hide that fact that he’s in over his head and completely unqualified to be Commander-in-Chief. His cavalier disregard of the truth shows his lack of respect for the office he seeks and for the people he speaks to— us.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director

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Georgia GOP’s Silence Becomes Seal of Approval for Trump’s Lies and Insults

Release:  Thursday, September 8, 2016    

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump not only failed last night’s Commander-in-Chief test—he doubled down on his reckless foreign policy ideas and offensive rhetoric. Among the lowlights of the evening…

On his plan to defeat Isis:  “If we’re going to get out, take the oil.”

On Vladimir Putin: “If he says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him. I’ve already said, he is really very much of a leader. I mean, you can say, oh, isn’t that a terrible thing — the man has very strong control over a country. Now, it’s a very different system, and I don’t happen to like the system. But certainly, in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader.”

On American generals: “I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. They have been reduced to a point where it’s embarrassing for our country.”

On his offensive tweet about rape in the military: “It’s a correct tweet.”

At a press conference this morning, Hillary Clinton called on all Republicans to respond to Donald Trump’s offensive remarks.

Today, Democratic Party of Georgia Chair DuBose Porter echoed Clinton’s challenge, calling on Georgia Republicans—including Senator Johnny Isakson—to either support or disavow Trump’s lies and insults.

“The Georgia GOP can’t keep straddling the fence. Their silence has become a seal of approval. If the top of your ticket praises foreign dictators yet insults our own military, push politics aside and do the right thing. They should denounce Donald Trump now.” – DuBose Porter, Chair

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Veteran Rep. Scott Holcomb Response to Trump at Commander in Chief Forum

Veteran Rep. Scott Holcomb Response to Trump at Commander in Chief Forum

 

In response to NBC’s Commander in Chief Forum, Georgia Representative Scott Holcomb, an Army veteran who served six years on active duty and deployed overseas three times for the conflicts in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, said:

 

“The most damning evidence that Donald Trump is unfit to be Command-in-Chief are his own words. He mocks the sacrifices of parents who lost a child to war but can’t identify any sacrifices he’s ever made for our nation. He laments that he always wanted a Purple Heart but lied about giving to veterans charities that support those who’ve sacrificed. He lacks the most basic understanding of foreign policy and thinks that he’s smarter than our professional soldiers because he went to a military high school decades ago.

 

“Mr. Trump won’t stand behind our troops and have their backs, Hillary will. She’s ready, and I’m proud to join veterans across our state and nation who are supporting her.”

 

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Trump’s Immigration Plan: Tearing Apart Families and Dividing our Country

Trump’s Immigration Plan: Tearing Apart Families and Dividing our Country

 

Atlanta, GA – Democratic Party of Georgia Latino Caucus Chair Antonio Molina issued the following statement on Donald Trump’s immigration speech.

 

“Donald Trump isn’t fooling anyone. He began his campaign by labeling immigrants as ‘rapists’ and criminals. Trump wants to deport 16 million people from this country—including Americans whose parents are undocumented. He wants to end birthright citizenship. These plans aren’t just dangerous—they’re a betrayal of American values. Democrats will continue to champion policies that keep Latino families together and guarantee a fair path to citizenship.” – Antonio Molina, Latino Caucus Chair

 

Information on Hillary Clinton’s plan for comprehensive immigration reform can be found here.

 

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Trump Still Refuses to Release Tax Returns, yet Touts Tax Breaks for Billionaires at Expense of Georgia Families

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump has yet to release his tax returns, breaking decades’ worth of tradition among presidential candidates. While Georgia is left to wonder what exactly Trump is hiding from the public, his plan for repealing the estate tax has paints a pretty clear picture of the billionaire’s priorities.

If Donald is worth $10 billion as he says he is, this tax break would personally benefit Trump $4 billion. Nationwide, this loophole would result in trillions of dollars in tax breaks.

Imagine if Donald Trump’s $4 billion tax windfall was used to invest in the state of Georgia. $4 billion would:

  • Enroll every Georgia 4-year old in publicly funded Pre-K who currently lacks access for the next 21 years. As president, Clinton has made a commitment to ensure that all 4-year olds who lack access to publicly-funded Pre-K have access to high-quality preschool; or,
  • Provide free community college for all Georgia community college students for the next 10 years. As president, Hillary will make tuition-free community college available to all; or,

 

  • Provide a four-year college degree for 47,000 Georgia veterans. As president, Hillary will strengthen and broaden initiatives that provide educational benefits, job training and support for veteran entrepreneurs; or,

 

  • Close the average gender pay gap in the state for 490,000 women in Georgia. As president, Hillary Clinton will fight to close the wage gap; or,

 

  • Allow every Georgia caregiver to claim up to $1,200 tax relief for over two years. As president, Hillary will provide tax relief to Americans that provide some level of care to elderly or disabled family members. She will offer a 20 percent tax credit to help family members offset up to $6,000 in caregiving costs.

“Donald Trump’s economic plan would destroy millions of jobs, putting Georgians’ very livelihoods at risk. Unlike Trump, who’s always been in it for himself, Hillary Clinton has laid out a detailed economic plan that would work for everyone. She’s spent her entire career fighting for the working families and our state needs that kind of proven record to keep our economy moving forward.” – DuBose Porter, Chair

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ICYMI – Warnock to Isakson: Assassination incident makes Trump unworthy

Rev. Raphael Warnock – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dear Senator Isakson,

You are Georgia’s senior senator, hailed as one of its most beloved politicians. And, while I most often disagree with you politically, through our personal interactions, I have come to regard you as a kind and decent man.

For years, I have been impressed that you have attended the Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Ecumenical Service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, staying for the entirety of a long service, as speeches are delivered about Dr. King’s philosophy and work.

Having heard hundreds of such speeches over the years, I wonder what you think Dr. King, who put forth a vision of “the beloved community,” might say about your endorsement of Donald Trump? Or, your silence when asked about his hateful words?

Dr. King said, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” He understood that some things are more important than politics and sometimes the very soul of a nation hangs in the balance.

For years now Donald Trump — chief proponent of the birther movement — has high-jacked the continuing conversation about what it means to be an American. In Trump’s America, it’s us against them. The truth is he’s playing us against us.

A skilled con-man, Trump is trying to sell the American public a tired, old simple story: That our pain is the fault of “those other people.” We must therefore build a wall to lock out the Mexicans, ban the Muslims and answer bi-partisan calls for criminal justice reform with a brutal expression of “law and order.” His dark and dangerous vision would create a more isolated, xenophobic and mean-spirited nation.

While Trump hawks a murky and magical elixir that promises to “make America great again,” he has proven to be much more adept at making America hate again. His rallies erupt as carnivals of bigotry and bloodlust egged on by the showman’s penchant for playing with fire. “I’d like to punch him in the face,” utters the man who aspires to lead the free world.

But this week, he took it too far, playing with assassination itself, as he suggested that “Second Amendment people” might stop a President Hillary Clinton. These not so subtle hints of violent reprisals against those who threaten “real America” have no place in a nation that embodies the peaceful transfer of democratic power — an example for the world.

As pastor of the church of our martyred leader — whose mother was also gunned down while playing our church organ one June morning by an unstable man, I submit that this is no joke. It is dangerous rhetoric so far beyond the pale of conventional politics that the normal rules of party loyalty do not apply. Senator, you and others must choose nation over party, principle over politics. Like Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, you should dump Trump. Given your stature, perhaps others will follow suit.

You cannot embrace Dr. King’s inclusive vision of “the beloved community” while endorsing Trump’s hateful nation. You cannot remember Dr. King in January and dismember his legacy of love, justice and nonviolence in November. “There comes a time,” King said, “When silence is betrayal.” Senator, that time is now.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock

Senior Pastor

Ebenezer Baptist Church

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Warnock to Isakson: Assassination incident makes Trump unworthy

Deafening Silence from Isakson & Perdue on Trump’s Latest Veterans Attacks

Atlanta, GA – Donald Trump has disrespected our veterans once again, and Georgia Republican Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue have yet to condemn the offensive attacks.

From the AJC:

Donald Trump’s extraordinary refusal to endorse two of his own party’s leaders and his belittling of the Muslim family of a slain U.S. soldier has led some influential Republican officials to break with him. But in Georgia, his controversial remarks have been met with a wall of silence from most of his highest-profile supporters.

…Consider the statement from U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who is seeking a third term in November, on whether he stands by Trump’s criticism of Khizr Khan, the father of the U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq in 2004. Isakson extolled the younger Khan’s “ultimate sacrifice” — but made no mention of Trump.

“For decades, Donald Trump has disrespected veterans and our families either through shocking comments or predatory schemes. Georgia’s top Republicans should stand up and disavow this latest disgraceful attack on the Khan family. The GOP’s silence on this issue is an insult to those who have fought for our country. Georgia deserves a leader who will keep our country safe and give veterans and our families the respect they deserve—not a rabble-rouser who uses inflammatory remarks to divide us.” –Jon Keen, Chair of the DPG Veterans and Military Families Caucus

Jon Keen grew up in an Army family. He served on active duty as an Army infantry officer, leading paratroopers in combat during two tours in Afghanistan. Keen serves as chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia’s Veterans and Military Families Caucus and a member of the Truman National Security Project.

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While Republicans in Other States Flee Trump and Party, Deal and Perdue Set to Host Fundraiser for Donald Trump

Release:  Tuesday, June 7, 2016                                                                                          

While Republicans in Other States Flee Trump and Party, Deal and Perdue Set to Host Fundraiser for Donald Trump

 

 

Atlanta, GA – Days after Donald Trump made shocking, racist remarks that Hispanic-American judges and Muslim-American judges were incapable of ruling without bias, Republican leaders in other states are fleeing both the candidate and the GOP.

But not here in Georgia.

Gov. Nathan Deal and Senator David Perdue are set to host a private fundraiser for Trump next week in Atlanta.

Worse yet, Senator Perdue and Senator Johnny Isakson both refuse to denounce Trump’s comments. From the AJC:

“I think the sooner we get this behind us and we can talk about the issues where he does have the high ground the better off we’d be,” Perdue said. “And I think you may see that coming out in the next day or two.”

Meanwhile, Johnny Isakson, Georgia’s senior U.S. senator, said he didn’t make much of Trump’s comments.

“I just think talking about a pending case in court if you’re a defendant or a plaintiff, the conversations ought to be in the courtroom and not outside,” he said.

 

“How much more will it take for Governor Deal and Senators Isakson and Perdue to place decency and civility above politics. This is pretty cut and dry. Even Republicans in other states have called out these comments for what they are—racist and divisive. Georgia GOP leaders should condemn these remarks and hold their new standard bearer accountable.” – Michael Smith, Communications Director.

 

Iowa GOP lawmaker dumps party to protest Trump

Des Moines Register

State Sen. David Johnson, one of the senior members of the Iowa Senate, says he has suspended his Republican Party membership to protest “the racist remarks and judicial jihad” by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

… “I will not stand silent if the party of Lincoln and the end of slavery buckles under the racial bias of a bigot,” Johnson said, referring to Trump. His criticism was prompted by Trump’s comments that federal Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, who is presiding over a lawsuit involving the now-closed Trump University, was biased because of his Mexican heritage.

Graham calls on Republicans to un-endorse Trump

Politico

If ever there were a moment for Republicans to jump off the Trump train, now would be as good of a time, according to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham wants fellow Republicans who have endorsed Donald Trump to take it all back in the wake of his repeated claims that Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s heritage make him unfit to preside over lawsuits against him.

“This is the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy,” Graham told The New York Times. “If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it,” he added.
Sen. Mark Kirk withdraws support for Trump

Chicago Sun-Times

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., facing a big challenge from Rep. Tammy Duckworth D-Ill., said Tuesday he will not support presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump after earlier saying he will back him.

“I cannot and will not support my party’s nominee for President regardless of the political impact on my candidacy or the Republican Party,” Kirk said in a statement, where he also said Trump did not have the temperament to command the U.S. military or take control of nuclear weapons.

“After much consideration, I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world,” said Kirk…

 

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Excerpts from Press Call of Georgia Democrats Responding to Donald Trump’s Disrespect Toward Veterans

For Immediate Release
June 3, 2016

 

Excerpts from Press Call of Georgia Democrats Responding to Donald Trump’s Disrespect Toward Veterans

 

Today, Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, Georgia Senator Ed Harbison, and Army Veteran Mike Rasbury hosted a press call to hold Donald Trump responsible for his disrespect toward veterans and his dangerous worldviews.

 

Trump has been touting his support for veterans since launching his campaign, but the truth is that he’s mainly looking out for himself. And over the past few days we’ve heard reports that his bogus Trump University scammed veterans, and he fired an Iraq War veteran from Trump U because of her military commitments.

 

A link of the audio recording can be found here and the recording is available for download here. Please find excerpts below from the call as prepared for delivery.

 

 

Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams

 

Georgia is home to 10 active military bases, more than 750,000 veterans and well over 70,000 active duty military personnel. The Georgia House Democratic Caucus launched A Promise Kept initiative aimed at fulfilling our obligation to Georgia’s military families and veterans.

 

…

 

We can never forget that the brave sons and daughters of Georgia are among those fighting on the front lines. And we are taking the necessary steps to ensure that those who have fought for our freedom are entitled to. Our veterans should expect commitment from the next person who occupies the White House.

 

As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, I am deeply alarmed by the reckless rantings I have heard from Donald Trump. Trump’s weak understanding foreign policy will only put our troops in harm’s way. He has threatened to undo generations of progress in global affairs by ending important military alliances like NATO, withhold aid from our allies like Israel, and wants to push countries that don’t currently have nuclear weapons to get them.

 

America needs allies around the world — but Donald Trump has picked fights with our close allies and concerned world leaders with his reckless, incoherent vision for America’s role in the world. We cannot put our troops in harm’s way or destroy decades-old alliances. Quite frankly, Donald Trump is dangerous and untested. He lacks the judgment or temperament to lead our great nation.

 

Georgia Senator Ed Harbison

 

Trump has often spoken about his commitment to veterans on the campaign trail; however, it’s time for him to walk the walk. Trump promised to donate $6 million to veterans groups, only to lie about how much he actually raised and attack the media for holding him accountable. He also slammed Vietnam veteran Senator John McCain by saying the former GOP presidential candidate was “not a war hero,” and he was only considered one “because he was captured.”

 

…

 

Donald Trump has no real understanding of the many issues that veterans face. For example, his partisan plan to privatize the VA would undermine our veterans’ ability to get the medical care they were promised and deserve.

 

Veterans have unique health care concerns and challenges, and the VA needs to be able to meet those needs.  Creating a private system would force veterans into a private health insurance market that can’t handle their specialized needs. Moreover, polls show that 64 percent of veterans oppose efforts to privatize the VA system – with 54 percent in strong opposition. The American Legion and VFW are also staunchly opposed to privatization.

 

I proudly served our country in uniform, and can attest to the tremendous sacrifices servicemen and women have made on behalf of our nation. Our veterans deserve so much more than platitudes and praise.  We need a president who will honor our service by ensuring access to high-quality health care, access to affordable education, and opportunities to transition from combat to careers.

 

Army Veteran Mike Rasbury

 

Donald Trump is touting his support for veterans this week but here is the truth: Donald Trump is a fraud whose only concern is what’s in it for him.

 

…

 

While I don’t agree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, I honor his sacrifices to our nation. These types of attacks seem to be an integral part of the GOP playbook. Trump cannot claim to respect veterans, and then attack a decorated POW. Again, this seems straight of the Republican playbook. He GOP has attacked Max Cleland, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, and Secretary John Kerry for their heroic service.

 

Trump promised to donate $6 million to veterans groups, only to lie about how much he actually raised and then tried to weasel out of donating any money at all until he was caught trying to cheat his way out of paying up. And then he attacked the media for trying to hold him accountable!

 

I am equally outraged that Trump University scammed veterans. CNN reported that a retired Navy vet who spent 40 years in the service forked over $26,000 for classes only to get nothing in return.  An Iraq war veteran also claims she was fired by Trump University after asking for time off to serve in the Army Reserve. She also alleges that one of her supervisors called her a “weekend warrior,” a highly derogatory term for reservists.

 

We need to ask ourselves whether we can truly trust a man like Trump to faithfully serve in our nation’s highest office. And the answer is that we cannot.

 

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