Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Good morning! In the news today: Buddy Carter holds a telephone town hall; the fate of legislation to protect Coastal Georgia’s shrimp industry is uncertain; a U.S. senator from Georgia gears up for his reelection bid; and five things for your radar. Questions, comments, or story ideas? You can reach me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com
NEWS: POLITICS
Fielding questions
Amid widespread outcry about the Trump administration’s cutbacks to federal programs and agencies, Republican leaders last month urged members of the House of Representatives not to hold town halls in their home districts.
On Monday, Coastal Georgia’s congressman, Buddy Carter, spurned that advice. Kind of, The Current’s Craig Nelson and Jabari Gibbs write.
The five-term lawmaker from St. Simons held a telephone town hall from Washington instead, fielding 11 questions in about 50 minutes on a wide range of subjects.
No questioner had a sore word or biting criticism, a fact for which Carter was no doubt grateful, given his general avoidance of audiences he doesn’t consider friendly.
Still, it is unlikely that Monday’s slickly produced event will quiet the growing clamor among Carter’s constituents for face-to-face answers to questions about the effects of cost-cutting and tariffs on government programs they’ve come to rely upon.
NEWS: BUSINESS
Uncertain waters
With little more than a week remaining in this year’s meeting of the Georgia General Assembly, a bill to help protect the livelihoods of Coastal Georgia shrimpers from the deluge of foreign shrimp into the U.S. market is running into uncertain waters.
The measure, introduced in January by Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) and co-sponsored by Al Williams (D-Midway), Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick), Buddy DeLoach (R-Townsend), and Lehman Franklin (R-Statesboro), would require restaurants and other food service establishments to inform customers of the origin of their shrimp and other seafood.
The state House passed HB 117 in mid-February by a whopping 165-7 vote after a minor tweak. Then it got to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
Coastal Georgia shrimp advocate John Wallace, says the restaurant industry is trying to scuttle the measure, while Petrea says he’s still “hopeful” his original, “shrimp-only” measure will be passed in the Senate and be signed into law.
NEWS: POLITICS
‘Power grab’
Jon Ossoff didn’t formally announce his bid for another six-year term in the U.S. Senate at his livestreamed “Rally for the Republic” get-together in Atlanta on Saturday.
Still, all the hallmarks of a campaign kickoff were there, first and foremost the “Join the Fight at electjon.com” banner at the bottom of the screen.
Setting the combative tone for what is expected to be the nation’s marquee U.S. Senate race next year, Ossoff made it clear that no matter what Republican challenged him, it would be a referendum on Donald Trump.
“This President has launched a power grab unprecedented in our history, abusing his power and trying to poison our democracy with fear and intimidation,” the 38-year-old Democrat from Atlanta declared.
Introducing Ossoff was Georgia’s other U.S. senator, Raphael Warnock of Savannah whose presence on stage signals that whichever Republican runs against Ossoff next year will also be running against the junior senator from Savannah.
And like Ossoff, Warnock spelled who would be the Democrats’ opponent in next year’s Senate race, describing Trump as “a man who promised to be a dictator on day one” and was now “living up to that promise.”
The timing of Ossoff’s announcement-in-all-but-name-only is likely to put pressure on Gov. Brian Kemp to decide soon whether he’s going to face off against the one-term senator.
Waiting anxiously in the wings for that decision are U.S. Representatives Buddy Carter and three of his colleagues and three of Carter’s colleagues in the House — Mike Collins of Jackson, Rich McCormick of Suwanee, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Rome — along with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Insurance Commissioner John King. All have either openly expressed an interest in running for Ossoff’s seat or are rumored to be interested in it.
5 things for your radar
- Heavyweight battle: The owner of Southern Belle Vacation Rentals, Walter Freeman, was in Superior Court in Savannah yesterday for a hearing on a lawsuit brought against him by some of the city’s most prominent residents for destroying a historic garden to build a swimming pool for his short-term-vacation-rental tenants.
- Report Card: The League of Conservation Voters and Defenders of Wildlife have issued their report card on the environmental voting records of Buddy Carter, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The Current’s environment reporter, Mary Landers, looks them over.
- How government works: Wondering how lawmakers can change your county? What your elected officials in Atlanta are up to as the state legislature winds up its session? Check out the primers and digests reported and written by The Current’s Maggie Lee.
- Scouring the books: Georgia election officials plan to cancel about 455,000 inactive voter registrations this summer, one of the largest registration removals in U.S. history, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
- Veterans in the lead: From layoffs at the Department of Veterans Affairs to a Pentagon purge of archives that documented diversity in the military, veterans have been acutely affected by Trump’s actions, The Associated Press reports.
We want to meet your friends! If you like this newsletter be sure to share it.
Amid growing unease in his backyard, U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter holds telephone town hall
Republican congressman Buddy Carter held a telephone town hall from Washington instead of in-person town halls in Coastal Georgia, despite pressure from House leaders to not hold them, and fielded questions on topics such as unfavorable judges and the fate of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.
Shrimp bill hits rough waves in Georgia Senate
A bill to protect Coastal Georgia shrimpers from foreign imports has been stalled in the Georgia General Assembly due to amendments requiring restaurants to disclose the origin of their seafood, a move that has been criticized by the restaurant industry.
Legislature 101: How a handful of legislators can change a county
Relatively minor bills can make new local agencies, amend taxes and other local changes with or without local consent.
Legislature 101: What your representatives are writing
Georgia’s state representatives and senators can all file bills for the consideration of their colleagues. This is a list of what Coastal Georgia’s legislators are offering this session.
Georgia Senate approves tax relief measures, reducing income tax rate to 5.19%
Georgia taxpayers will receive one-time rebates and the state income tax rate will be reduced to 5.19% following the approval of two tax relief measures by the state Senate.
Down to the wire, Georgia GOP lawmakers prepare to pass trio of culture war bills
Georgia legislative committees are considering several controversial bills, including one that would remove protections for librarians from the law against distributing explicit materials to minors and another that would ban transgender girls from school sports.
Support independent, solutions-based investigative journalism without bias, fear or favor on issues affecting Savannah and Coastal Georgia.
You must be logged in to post a comment.