Chatham DA on safety, policies

September 27, 2022

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DA: Traditional ‘tough on crime’ isn’t keeping you safe

Shalena Cook Jones on Sunday fervently defended her record as Chatham County’s district attorney, hitting back at suggestions that she and her office are soft on crime and criminals.

It was one of the Democratic DA’s first public accountings of her office’s drastically different approach to criminal justice since taking office in January 2021, The Current’s Craig Nelson and Jake Shore report.

Crime is increasing because of “policies that will have you believe that putting people behind bars for extended periods of time is keeping you safe …  it is not keeping you safe, it is not keeping the citizens of America safe, and it is not keeping the citizens of Chatham County safe,” said Jones, speaking at Savannah’s First African Baptist Church at a meeting sponsored by the local chapter of the NAACP.

Jones, a Democrat, is not on the ballot in November. But the increase in crime during her tenure has become a talking point for local Republicans calling out Democrats on crime, with one, Savannah-area state Rep. Ron Stephens, describing her as the “Democrats’ Soros-funded district attorney” who “will not prosecute violent crime.”

Public perceptions that crime is on the rise is borne out by some Savannah Police Department statistics. But statistics cited by Stephens and characterizations by other local Republican office-holders are sometimes inflated, Nelson and Shore note.

Besides determined prosecution, the answer to crime and criminal behavior is deterrence. With programs such as “Show Us Your Guns,” Jones said her agency has focused resources on prevention efforts before young people can become mired in the criminal justice system. The recently-established program helps youths facing gun possession charges with need-based responses, like housing support, education, conflict resolution or job training instead of jail or prison time, she said.

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Abortion and voting

Coastal Georgia’s Rep. Buddy Carter appears to be seeking to shore up the support of his Republican based on an issue that has roiled the state and national electorate, and led, by some accounts, to an increase in voter registration among women nationwide: abortion.

Calling Democrat Party leaders “abortion extremists,” Carter is co-sponsoring the “Protect Pregnancy Care Centers Act of 2022 and the “Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act,” and has introduced the “Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act.”

The legislation concerning “pain-capable unborn children,” which would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide, appears to be at odds with Carter’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June. He praised that decision as a victory for states’ rights.

Accompanying Carter’s tweet on Sept. 23 announcing the “Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act” is a photo of four-term congressman from Pooler with a caption, “Medical decisions should be made between doctors, pharmacists, and patients — not the federal government.”

Carter’s opponent in November, Democrat Wade Herring, calls the spate of legislation supported by the congressman part of his continued “war on women.” His reply to the caption, in a tweet: “Translation: My opponent is trying to unconstitutionally deny women their prescribed medicine. Corrupt politicians should NOT be injecting themselves in between people and their doctors.”

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Polls: Here, there, everywhere

We’re being inundated with polls — AJC/UGA Monmouth University, Marist, Quinnipiac, CBS/You Gov, NBC, to name just a handful. Eyes glaze over. The mind numbs.

What to make of them? After reciting an oft-used metaphor about polls — they’re “snapshots, not predictions” — Ariel Edwards-Levy, polling and election analytics editor at CNN, urges what we’d call poll literacy, in the latest installment of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “Battleground: Ballot Box.”

“As a minimum standard, you should not be willing to take at face value a poll where the pollster is not very willing to talk about, ‘How did we conduct this poll? Who is it done on behalf of? Who did we talk to? How did we find them? What exactly did we ask them?’ ” she said. 

Especially important, Edwards-Levy and other polling experts say, is how a poll captures a representative sample of the voting population. Also crucial is margin of error, which accounts for the variation that comes with only talking to­ a sample of voters.

So, with the deluge of recent polls, can we confidently say anything about the state of Georgia’s two marquee races? Well, yes: They’re close.

Furthermore, averages show neither Walker nor Warnock with 50% of the vote needed to avoid a Dec. 6 runoff, says Axios Atlanta. And they have shown Kemp only barely hitting that threshold.

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‘Day late, dollar short’?

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has stepped into the controversy over unauthorized access to election machines in Coffee County by allies of then-President Donald Trump’s in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Raffensperger announced Friday that his office is replacing the county’s election equipment to dispel any doubts about the accuracy of this year’s election outcomes.

“A day late and a dollar short,” said Marilyn Marks, executive director for the Coalition for Good Governance. “It is insufficient to secure Georgia’s elections after the grave statewide voting system security breach that was initiated in Coffee County.” 

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ICYMI

Whoa, Hurricane Ian! With the possibility that a hurricane advisory could lead to a shutdown, WJCL-TV and the League of Women Voters of Coastal Georgia have cancelled their candidate forum between the candidates for the District 2 seat in the Georgia State Senate, Republican Clinton Young and Democrat Derek Mallow. The forum was set for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Savannah’s Coastal Georgia Center. No word on whether it will be rescheduled.

Whoopee! Enthusiasm for upcoming midterms is at all-time high, NBC News reported Sept. 22, citing the results of its latest poll.

Georgia on everybody’s mind: Control of the U.S. Senate could come down to races in Georgia and Nevada, which is why outside groups have poured over $28.5 million into the Georgia race and more than $23.4 million into Nevada’s since June 30. Outside groups supporting Democratic candidates have outspent groups supporting Republicans in both races, according to the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets.

Vote scramble: Citizens for Greater Georgia, headed by former Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, says it has launched an effort to mobilize Hispanic voters across the state on behalf of Georgia’s Republican state senators, and down-ballot Republican candidates. 

Meanwhile, Faith Works says it will “provide funds and support to local churches, synagogues, mosques, and other faith institutions to create their own customized voter engagement campaigns to ensure every person within their local congregations has the information and ability to vote this fall.”

Jan. 6: After a two-month hiatus from public meetings, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol lawmakers holds an open hearing Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Homelessness: Expect vigorous debate at what is being billed as a homelessness summit on Oct. 5 at College of Coastal Georgia’s Southeast Georgia Conference Center in Brunswick. James McCormick, co-owner of a house next to The Well, a homeless shelter on Brunswick’s Gloucester Street, said the shelter has caused endless problems. “If we had (Florida Gov.) Ron DeSantis here, he’d bus them to the St. Simons Island Pier, and they’d be gone in a matter of two days.”

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