Tag: Georgia state government

In a 2020 flashback, Georgia’s GOP-aligned election board wants to reinvestigate election results

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ATLANTA (AP) — Four years after the 2020 election, a newly GOP-aligned election board in Georgia is pushing to reinvestigate the state’s largest county for its handling of the vote.

Georgia’s State Election Board voted 3-2 Wednesday to ask state Attorney General Chris Carr to investigate the Fulton County government, seeking to reopen an inquiry closed in May.

The action shows the degree to which Republican outrage over the 2020 election continues to animate party activists and comes on the heels of a Saturday rally in Atlanta where former President Donald Trump attempted to relitigate unproven claims that he won Georgia, which President Joe Biden won that year by a narrow margin. He praised the State Election Board at the same rally.

Spokesperson Kara Murray said Carr, a Republican who has been opposed by Trump, hadn’t yet received the request.

“We take election integrity very seriously, and we will apply the constitution, the law and the facts as we have always done,” Murray said.

However, Murray said the attorney general’s office doesn’t investigate or seek criminal charges in cases referred by the board.

The resolution says that if Carr doesn’t act, the board will try to hire an outside lawyer to conduct an inquiry.

It’s unclear what could happen if an inquiry occurs. In a hotly disputed 2021 law, the board was given the power to take over election administration in individual counties. That provision was always aimed at heavily Democratic Fulton County in the aftermath of an election that an independent monitor said was characterized by sloppy practices and poor management but with no evidence of intentional wrongdoing.

A trio of Republican partisans aligned with Trump has cemented control of the five-member regulatory board, which has no direct role in determining election results but writes rules to ensure elections run smoothly and hears complaints about violations.

Some activists who have long wanted action against Fulton County argue that officials should face criminal charges. Those activists have also long pushed for access to the paper ballots from the 2020 election, which could enable a citizen review similar to one that roiled Arizona in 2021.

As part of the May resolution of the earlier inquiry, the board found that Fulton County improperly double-counted some votes. But those who brought the complaint say other issues are unresolved, such as missing electronic ballot scans.

“It seems to me that somebody is moving heaven and earth to not allow anyone to get to the paper ballots,” said Dr. Janice Johnston, a retired obstetrician appointed to the board by the state Republican Party. “I don’t know why. I’m just interested in the data and interested in the numbers.”

Wednesday’s decision is likely to be met with litigation. Fulton County’s election board sent a letter to the state board flatly saying the May resolution is final and the board is legally prohibited from reopening the charges.

“We will not engage in any further discussions, investigations or other action related to this case,” Fulton County board Chair Sherri Allen said in a statement. “To do so would be a waste of taxpayer dollars and time that is best spent preparing for the upcoming general election.”

The state board’s nonpartisan chair, John Fervier, tried to block the action, citing a letter from Carr’s office that he said also warned the move would be illegal. The Associated Press wasn’t immediately able to obtain a copy of the letter.

“We are putting this board in legal jeopardy by approving that motion,” Fervier said.

Johnston, who led a successful effort to overturn Fervier’s ruling blocking consideration of the move, said a lawyer for the state GOP had advised her that the board could legally go ahead. Janelle King, whose appointment tipped the balance of power on the board, said she is not afraid of a potential lawsuit.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re not scared to make moves because of the fear of that, because in some cases it’s just the right thing to do,” said King, a conservative political commentator

It’s at least the second recent time that state Republican Party officials or employees directly advised the board on a course of action. Party Chairman Josh McKoon recently sent two proposed rules and talking points to another GOP-aligned member of the board, former state Sen. Rick Jeffares.

Part of the deal made in May was that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the State Election Board and Fulton County would agree on a monitoring team. On Wednesday, though, the board refused to vote on the team proposed by Raffensperger and Fulton County. That’s in part because it included the former chief lawyer for Raffensperger’s office and the man who monitored Fulton’s 2020 election.

Raffensperger’s office declined to comment on the board’s actions. He was removed as a voting member of the board in 2021 and from his nonvoting capacity by lawmakers this year, largely driven by GOP anger at his defense of Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia.

At the Saturday rally, Trump said the three GOP-aligned board members “are all pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory” while criticizing Fervier and the Democrat on the panel. He in particular singled out Johnston, who was in the second row and stood to acknowledge Trump’s praise.

“My courage was contagious?” Trump said. “Well, your courage is contagious, too.”

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August 8, 2024
Korean firm plans $2.5B in new solar panel plants in Georgia

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ATLANTA (AP) — A South Korean solar panel maker said Wednesday that it will invest more than $2.5 billion to build factories in Georgia in what it says is the largest solar investment in American history.

Qcells, a unit of Hanwha Solutions, projects it will supply about 30% of total U.S. solar panel demand by 2027, including making solar panel components usually manufactured outside the United States.

“As demand for clean energy continues to grow nationally, we’re ready to put thousands of people to work creating fully American made and sustainable solar solutions, from raw material to finished panels,” Qcells CEO Justin Lee said in a statement.

President Joe Biden described the announcement as “a win for workers, consumers, and our climate,” with the Democrat saying in a statement that it would provide good jobs, reduce American reliance on other countries for solar components, lower the cost of solar panels and help lower carbon emissions.

A new $2.31 billion plant in Cartersville, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, will hire 2,000 workers and fulfill one of the aims of the climate change and health care law that Biden signed in August.

The law included provisions from Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Democrats, allowing companies to claim tax credits for making solar panel parts.

The Cartersville plant will make silicon ingots and wafers and solar cells — key ingredients in a solar panel. The company will use polysilicon made at an REC Silicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington. Hanwha last year bought 21% of REC, whose shares are listed in Norway. The company also signed a deal seeking silicon metal from a Ferroglobe refinery in Alloy, West Virginia.

Brian Deese, director of Biden’s National Economic Council, said such supply-chain integration will help break China’s stranglehold on solar panel components and untie knots in overseas supply chains.

Deese said the climate change and health care bill is an example of the industrial policy Biden wants to see, “to make sure that innovation is happening here, good job creation is happening here, and we are exporting products in the clean energy economy, not exporting jobs.”

Qcells now makes solar modules capable of generating 1.7 gigawatts of electricity each year at a plant in Dalton, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta. The company already announced a $171 million second phase there last year to add 470 workers. It said Wednesday it will build a $181 million third phase, hiring an additional 500 workers to push employment there above 1,700.

Following the expansions, the company will make 8.4 gigawatts worth of modules, or about 10,000 solar panels a year, in the United States. That will include a capacity of 5.1 gigawatts in Dalton and 3.3 gigawatts in Cartersville.

“My goal remains to make Georgia the world leader in advanced energy production,” Ossoff said in a statement.

Warnock, Ossoff and Biden administration officials say Biden’s strategy is working to enhance the nation’s manufacturing base as part of the transition to clean energy.

“I think it’s fair to say that this deal is President Biden’s vision come to life,” Biden clean energy adviser John Podesta told reporters.

The Biden administration says its policy has driven $300 billion in private investment by industries including semiconductors, clean energy, electric vehicles and batteries, with nearly $25 billion of that coming in Georgia. That includes two $5 billion-plus electric vehicle plants, and a $4 billion-plus battery plant announced for Cartersville in December. Hyundai Motor Group is building one of the vehicle plants and is partnering with fellow South Korean firm SK Group to build the Cartersville battery plant.

Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who relied on his economic management to win reelection last year, credited the state’s business climate. Georgia officials have particularly recruited electric vehicle and battery plants.

“Qcells has long been a pioneer in the solar industry, and it solidified Georgia’s place as a leader in renewable energy and sustainable technology when it cut the ribbon on the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere in 2019,” state Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said in a statement.

Biden’s national climate adviser, Ali Zaidi, said U.S. factories are on track to more than quadruple the output of solar panels by 2024, from 7 gigawatts when Biden took office to 33.5 gigawatts. “That’s enough to enable about 5 million homes to switch to clean solar energy each year,” Zaidi said.

The total incentive package from state and local governments wasn’t immediately clear. Qcells could qualify for more than $65 million in state income tax credits, at $5,250 per job over five years, as long as workers make at least $31,300 a year. Local officials have said Qcells workers in Dalton have starting wages of $17 an hour.

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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeffamy.

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January 13, 2023
Kemp done being underestimated, aims to steer GOP past Trump

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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is done being underestimated.

Having vanquished both a Donald Trump-backed Republican challenger and Democratic star Stacey Abrams to win reelection, Kemp is looking to expand his influence in his second term, free from the caricature of the gun-toting, pickup-driving, migrant-catching country boy that emerged during his first campaign for governor.

A new vision of Kemp steering his party toward a non-Trumpian conservatism made its debut in his November victory speech after it became clear that he had defeated Abrams by a much larger margin in their rematch than he had in their tight 2018 matchup.

“This election proves that when Republicans stay focused on real-world solutions that put hardworking people first we can win now, but also in the future, y’all,” Kemp said.

Kemp pledged that night to “stay in the fight” and followed with concrete steps: He kept his political operation running and lent it to the unsuccessful Senate runoff campaign of Herschel Walker, while forming a federal political action committee that lets the governor influence races for Congress and president. He hasn’t ruled out running for the U.S. Senate in 2026 or even seeking the White House.

Beyond his own advancement, Kemp’s victory could provide a blueprint for Republicans in competitive states after voters rejected many of the Trump-molded candidates in 2022. It’s a less showy approach, aimed at luring independents and moderates while still achieving conservative policy goals.

“If Republicans looking forward are focused on winning, I think a lot of folks will be calling Gov. Kemp and wanting his advice, but also trying to replicate the things he did here,” said Cody Hall, Kemp’s political adviser.

Kemp, now 59, was a real estate developer and state senator before Gov. Sonny Perdue appointed him secretary of state in 2010. Eight years later, Kemp was on his way to defeating an establishment candidate for the GOP nomination for governor when Trump’s endorsement supercharged his campaign, which focused on gun rights and opposition to illegal immigration.

After Kemp defeated Abrams in the 2018 general election by just 1.4 percentage points, she accused him of using the secretary of state’s office to improperly purge likely Democratic voters. A federal court later rejected legal claims questioning Kemp’s actions.

In his first term, Kemp logged some big conservative achievements, including signing stringent abortion limits in 2019. He also made a diverse slate of appointments and kept his promise of $5,000 raises for public school teachers, moves aimed at solidifying his appeal to the middle in an anticipated Abrams rematch.

Kemp’s relationship with Trump began to deteriorate after the governor appointed Kelly Loeffler to the Senate instead of Trump’s preferred pick. Trump later took shots at Kemp over his decision to reopen businesses early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the president’s rage boiled over when Kemp refused to help Trump and his allies overturn Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia in the 2020 election — efforts that are now the subject of investigations by state and federal prosecutors.

Trump vowed revenge against Kemp, but the governor pressed forward. In 2021, Kemp signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections inspired by Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. He also pushed through a bill loosening gun laws.

Trump endorsed former Sen. David Perdue as a primary challenger to the governor. Kemp, who never publicly challenged Trump or even responded directly to his tirades, ended up crushing Perdue in the primary. In the meantime, his distance from Trump provided Kemp with credibility among independents and even some Democrats.

“It’s just given him a gravitas you can’t buy,” said Brian Robinson, a Republican political consultant.

Even some Democrats acknowledge Kemp’s increasing political strength after his nearly 8 percentage-point victory over Abrams. State Rep. Al Williams, long close to Abrams, said Kemp is “at the height of his powers” going into a second term. His inauguration is Thursday.

Williams and other backers say that Kemp’s incumbency, plus the billions in federal COVID-19 aid that he alone decided how to spend under Georgia law, were factors in his win. “He spent it very effectively and spread the net wide,” Williams said.

As the Senate race turned to overtime, Kemp was called on to help Walker in his runoff against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. Kemp, who had secured GOP donors and built his own political organization independent from a state party run by Trump acolytes, turned over his voter data operation to allow the Walker campaign to tailor messages to different factions of Republican voters.

Still, Kemp largely maintained his distance from Walker, whose campaign was beset by accusations that he had paid for abortions, behaved violently toward women and lied about his education, work history and personal background. Shortly before the runoff, Kemp agreed to appear in a television ad endorsing Walker but made sure that it was his own political team that wrote the script.

Steven Law, who leads the political action committee aligned with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, said Kemp did what savvy political heavyweights do: He helped his party while establishing and protecting his own brand.

“We’ve had a party where Trump has had a decisive gravitational pull, and here’s a person in Brian Kemp who just stayed apart from that orbit, made his own calls, decided things his way — not in opposition to Trump, but at the same time not in obedience to him,” Law said, calling Kemp’s balancing act “remarkable.”

Kemp’s future political path remains unclear, but he has options.

In Georgia, he’s never been identified as having open national ambitions, either for the presidency or Senate, and Robinson noted that Kemp “has never spoken of Washington fondly.”

Law demurred when asked whether McConnell or his team has broached the possibility of Kemp running for the Senate in 2026, when Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff would face voters again.

There’s also the possibility of a vice presidential bid or a future Cabinet post. Perhaps most likely is a larger role in the Republican Governors Association: He’s now on the RGA’s executive committee and could become chair in 2025 or 2026.

Hall said Kemp wants to help other states elect conservatives who advocate “freedom and liberty and personal responsibility” while promoting education, a strong economy and good jobs. “Whatever he can do to help more folks like that get elected, I’m sure he will,” Hall said.

At home, Kemp is the paramount party leader and unchallenged boss of state government in a way that’s new for him. With a new House speaker and lieutenant governor leading the General Assembly, Kemp is unlikely to meet resistance from GOP majorities.

So far, though, he’s offered a minimalist second-term agenda: income tax and property tax rebates, some criminal justice measures and minor education changes. His biggest promise is continuity, adding four more years to 20 years of Republican rule in Georgia.

The governor could also take firmer control of GOP machinery if he backs an effort to push out Georgia Republican Chair David Shafer, a Trump ally.

“He is carrying around bags of political capital like the Monopoly man,” Robinson said, marveling at what he calls Kemp’s “clear and very empowering” mandates from the primary and general election. “Go ahead and put a monocle and top hat on him.”

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January 9, 2023