Big news out of Georgia today:
Stacey Abrams is paving the road to another victory in Georgia’s gubernatorial race this November. The Georgia governor Democratic primary winner now has the support of a former U.S. vice president after winning over the hearts of thousands of Black women.
According to an announcement made Wednesday (June 20), Joe Biden endorsed Abrams, 44, who could become the nation’s first Black women governor.
“Stacey Abrams is a bold leader who knows what it will take to get results for Georgians,” Biden said. “She understands hard work and is committed to finding solutions for the families who come home after a long day of work struggling to get by. As House Democratic Leader, she led the fight to stop a tax hike on the middle class, championed Georgia’s public schools, and advocated for Medicaid expansion.”
Biden continued: “Her experience, track record of building consensus across party lines, and commitment to listening to every community in the state will make her an excellent Governor for the people of Georgia.”
Meanwhile, here’s what’s going on in the GOP runoff. One’s a super corrupt slimebag. Exhibit A:
The leading Republican candidate in Georgia’s high-profile governor’s race, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, bought a condominium in downtown Atlanta 10 years ago from a State Capitol lobbyist, seemingly at a discount, a New York Times investigation has found.
Real estate records show that Mr. Cagle, who faces a runoff for the Republican nomination on July 24, purchased the one-bedroom apartment at 24 percent less than its appraised value — below comparable sales prices — and sold it last year at a 29 percent profit. He was preparing for his first run for governor when, without an agent, he negotiated the deal with Terry E. Hobbs, a longtime lobbyist who represents the natural gas marketer Scana.
As lieutenant governor, Mr. Cagle presides over the Senate and controls the flow of legislation there. The direct financial transaction between him and a lobbyist with business before the government raises ethical questions comparable to those afflicting Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator. News reports in April revealed that Mr. Pruitt last year rented a Washington condo at a bargain rate from the wife of a lobbyist with clients seeking audiences with E.P.A. officials. The arrangement is being investigated by the agency’s inspector general.
Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a government watchdog group, said that such cozy relationships raised suspicions of pay-to-play.
Exhibit B:
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle told a former rival in a secretly recorded conversation that he engineered the passage of a bill he described as bad “a thousand different ways” because it would deprive another opponent in the race for governor of millions of dollars in support.
Cagle told Clay Tippins in the recording that he circumvented the state Senate’s top education leader and swallowed his own misgivings over the bill, which raised the cap on tax credits for private school scholarships to $100 million, purely to prevent Hunter Hill from receiving financial help from a super PAC.
“They wanted that $100 million SSO,” Cagle told Tippins in the recording, referring to the abbreviation for the tax credit program, Student Scholarship Organizations. “And, you know, I was the only guy standing in the way. Is it bad public policy? Between you and me, it is. I can tell you how it is a thousand different ways.”
Tippins, who came in fourth place in the Republican primary for governor, recorded his conversation at Cagle’s DeKalb County headquarters two days after the May 22 vote. He provided the audio, recorded by an iPhone in his coat, exclusively to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News.
The GOPer is a deadbeat:
A north Georgia investment company has filed a lawsuit against GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp and an agricultural business he invested in after company officials say he failed to repay a $500,000 loan.
The suit was filed by RLP Investments and its owner, Rick Phillips. Originally, the suit was filed in Stephens County, but it is now before a Gwinnett County Superior Court judge.
According to Phillips, Kemp sat in his Toccoa, Georgia, office and asked for a $500,000 loan so his company, Hart AgStrong LLC, could purchase raw canola seeds.
Phillips said since Kemp and Hart AgStrong paid back an earlier $600,000 loan, he thought the new loan was safe. He produced documents showing a personal guarantee agreement between him and Kemp.
But both of them are huge assholes:
The two Republican contenders for governor slammed Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ decision to block the city jail from housing more federal detainees facing deportation.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle tagged the mayor in a tweet late Wednesday declaring he has “led to outlaw and defund sanctuary cities and WE WILL uphold our laws.” And Secretary of State Brian Kemp said the city should honor its “longstanding agreement” to house the detainees.
“Public safety – not partisan politics – must always come first,” Kemp said.
Bottoms, a Democrat who took office in January, cited her objections to President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy that separated immigrant families who cross the U.S. border illegally when she signed the order.
It came just minutes after Trump reversed his stance in favor of a new approach to keep families together during immigration proceedings.
Both Republicans, who square off in a July 24 runoff, have defended Trump’s policy and pledged tougher state crackdowns. Cagle has long scrapped with Decatur over immigration policy and Kemp aired ads vowing to “round up criminal illegals” himself.
We’ll know who the GOP nominee is on July 24th. Until then, let’s help keep up the momentum for Abrams. Click here to donate and get involved with Abrams’ campaign.