May 10, 2022
Correction: This web file has been updated to correct a listing error. School board president candidate Roger Moss did not receive a campaign donation from the Skidaway Island Republican Club. Two other school district candidates received $1,500 donations from the group.
Carter discussed Senate endorsement with Trump
Rep. Buddy Carter, who is seeking a fifth term as Coastal Georgia’s representative in Congress, tells The Current in an interview published Monday that before Herschel Walker announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat, he discussed the endorsement at a meeting with the former president at the Trump Tower in New York.
Recalled Carter: “We talked about what was going to happen. What he told me was let’s see what Herschel does and then we’ll talk again. We saw what Herschel did, so there was no need to talk again.”
Other highlights:
Regarding data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control’s that shows the U.S. approaching 1 million dead from the pandemic: “I have to question, as a health-care professional, how many of those deaths attributed to COVID actually suffered from other illnesses.”
Carter said he stood by his decision on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021, after calm was restored following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, to object to Georgia’s electoral votes. “The Constitution is clear: Article I, Section 2, says it is the exclusive responsibility of the legislative branch to make changes to the voting laws in the States. What happened in the state of Georgia was that the secretary of state, who is a member of the executive branch, made changes that were significant and substantial changes to the voting laws. That is the responsibility of the legislative branch.”
Asked if he was concerned that Donald Trump and claims about the stealing of 2020 presidential election might cost the GOP credibility of all but its most extreme members, Carter said, “I don’t think so. Because I think the party is bigger than any one person.”
Money, money, money
Campaign finance data shows Roger Moss with giant lead in fundraising in the race for school board president for the Savannah Chatham Country Public School System. Moss brought in $174,547.50 to Tye Whitely’s $16,265, according to data compiled by Transparent Savannah from the latest campaign funding records filed by candidates to the Georgia Campaign Finance Commission. Todd Rhodes, the third candidate in the race, isn’t listed.
Moss’s campaign expenditures total $72,627.79 and Whitely’s, $14,951.22, according to the data.
“What excites me most is that we have a variety of people giving varying amounts,” Moss said of the more than 300 people he said have donated to his campaign. “This is a county-wide race, and county-wide races require resources.”
Maximum allowable donations of $3,000 to Moss’s campaign came from Richard Kessler, Reed Dulany III, Don Waters, Dulany Industries Inc., and Meredith Dulany.
Moss acknowledged that Dulany and Waters, well-known downtown businessmen, are “longtime friends.” They also are “very concerned” about our school system and are people who give to a lot of causes . . . to make this city better.”
Asked if donations by Dulany and Waters, who champion charter schools, will mean more influence if he wins the race, Moss demurred: “Not at all. The person that gave me $25 is just as important as the one who gave me the max. This is more about a statement about the direction of our school system.”
‘We need to take it back’
Current and aspiring office-holders Jeanne Seaver, Anthony Burton, Ben Watson, Beverly Cheng, John Wilcher, and others gathered Friday at Savannah’s Forest City Gun Club for a 2nd Amendment rally and fundraiser sponsored by Savannah Area Republican Women.
The event’s featured speaker was Stephen Willeford of Southerland Springs, Texas. In 2017, a court-martialed Air Force veteran walked into the town’s Baptist church on a Sunday morning and began firing into the pews, killing 26 people and wounding 22 others, before fleeing in an SUV. Willeford exchanged fire with the shooter, then chased him in a pickup. The wounded shooter lost control of his vehicle, then went off the highway. He later shot himself. Willeford, a former NRA instructor, has become a popular speaker and 2nd Amendment champion. On Friday evening, he concluded his account of that day in 2017 with a call for to defend the 2nd Amendment.”
“My right to own an AR-15 — the same kind of gun that shooter was using that day — is paramount,” he said. Charlton Heston said it best — ‘you’ll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.’ He continued: “We better start electing officials that will defend our rights. This country is in a bad way right now. And we need to take it back. I don’t care if . . . you’re Republican or Democrat, whatever — it’s time for us to elect good constitutionalists in this country and get back to serving our God.”
Vote, vote, vote
As of Monday, 180,620 people have voted in the 2022 primary election, Georgia Votes said. At this point in the 2018 primary, that number was 53,701. Total turnout for the 2022 primary is 236% higher.
The breakdown: 75,832 (42.0%) people have voted with Democratic ballots in the 2022 primary, 103,275 (57.2%) people have voted with Republican ballots, and 1,513 (0.8%) people have voted with non-partisan ballots.
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