Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023
Good morning (and “Boo!”) This week we look at a nasty turn in Savannah’s mayoral race, Monday’s candidate forum on affordable housing, and U.S. Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter’s mood change. Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email me at craig.thecurrent@gmail.com.
Mayor race: Gloves come off
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson and Alderwoman Kesha Gibson-Carter have never been very successful in hiding their dislike for each other, as their frequent wrangles during city council meetings attest.
But with the two squaring off in this year’s mayoral contest, their mutual antipathy seemed to hit a new low on Saturday, The Current’s Craig Nelson reports.
Johnson’s campaign reposted an independent TikTok video mocking Gibson-Carter that coincided with the visit by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams to campaign for him for next week’s election.
In the 50-second video, the figure representing Gibson-Carter collapses into caricature — mouthy, pouty, and stylishly dressed. The actress tells a woman playing the role of Johnson supporter that Abrams’ visit to Savannah must mean that Johnson is “scared” about his reelection prospects.
The riposte is withering.
The Johnson supporter asks why any candidate with influential friends wouldn’t welcome their campaign help, culminating with the dig: “Oh, I forgot — you don’t have any friends. The vitriol goes on from there, with the accusation of “clout chaser” playing a central role.
Gibson-Carter wasn’t to be outdone, though.
On the day of Abrams’ visit, her campaign posted a 30-second video on Instagram in which she seeks to tap support from the many Savannahians who “grew up here” but “can no longer afford to live here” — reminding voters that she, in contrast to the Brooklyn-born Johnson, is a native daughter of the Hostess City.
In the video, Gibson-Carter casts the mayoral contest as a David-and-Goliath affair, acknowledging Johnson’s far larger campaign coffers and referring obliquely to skullduggery by the mayor and his campaign.
“We are outraised, but we are not outnumbered,” she says, seeking to minimize the significance of the mayor’s support from Atlanta’s and Savannah’s Black Democratic luminaries, as well as labor, environmental and police and firefighter groups.
She concludes: “We have to be smarter than the tricks, bigger than the endorsements.”
City candidates gather to discuss housing
Under the soaring wooden beams of Savannah’s First Presbyterian Church with only a week to go until election day, more than a dozen city council candidates gathered Monday night to tell voters about one of the top issues facing the city: affordable housing and gentrification.
Although many of the candidates oppose one another’s bid for election, and perhaps don’t even like each other personally, each of those in attendance found common ground with the issue: Savannah, they believe, has tipped too far toward catering to tourists, to hotels and to wealthy home buyers from out of state and has not paid enough attention or devoted enough resources for the generations of Savannahians who work here, pay taxes here and want to raise their children here.
“Savannah has run amok,” as one of the candidates hoping to unseat District 3 Alderwoman Linda Wilder Bryant concisely phrased it.
The event sponsored by the JUST Coalition, a network of multi-faith, multi-ethnic Savannahians working to address poverty and inequality, drew a large crowd of residents from the Ardsley Park neighborhood where the forum was held, as well as voters from across the city. Only three of Savannah’s incumbents participated in the meeting — Kesha Gibson-Carter, the alderwoman serving Post 1, At-Large seat who is now running for mayor; Alicia Blakely, the alderwoman serving Post 2, At Large; and Bernetta Lanier, the councilwoman from District 1 who is running for re-election unopposed.
For the rest of the field, it was a time to hold forth, introduce themselves and share many personal experiences of Savannah childhoods. Like Todd Rhodes, who grew up in Savannah, married his high school sweetheart and as a small business owner felt the worry and pain of having his rent increase $1,000 per month last year as gentrification seeped across the city.
Or Tia Z. Brightwell, who grew up in the Frazier Homes subsidized housing community off Martin Luther King who is running for the District 2 seat now held by Detrick Legget. Current Mayor Van Johnson, she said “ is displacing families. We need a new mayor and new council. Savannah can’t wait another six years for a housing plan. We need to stop the displacement of residents and stop developing homes for people who don’t vote here or care what’s going on here.”
Many of the first-time candidates used the two minutes allotted to them to speak to announce their support for new SPLOST money that would be dedicated to building income-based housing. Chatham County collects 2% sales tax on most goods and products sold within the county, with 1% going for infrastructure, known as SPLOST; and another 1% going toward education-related purposes, known as ESPLOST. Savannah City Council, as well as Chatham County Commissioners, vote on specific projects for which to dedicate those funds.
Jason Combs, who is vying for the Post 1, At-Large position, came to the podium carrying a book that he described as a bible for urban planning that offers a blueprint to prevent gentrification. His mastery of technical issues related to income-based housing and zoning drew waves of applause from the crowd.
Nick Palumbo, the District 4 council member who represents most of Ardsley Park was one of the incumbents who did not participate in the event. The JUST Coalition said as the event ended that he, Mayor Johnon and Kurtis Purtee, who represents District 6, had all sent statements for members to hear their positions on affordable housing, but that they would surpass the two-minute limit set for all speakers if they read them out loud in the sanctuary. To learn more, see the website for the JUST Coalition, which stands for Justice Unites Savannah Together: https://justsav.org/home
‘Good guy’
After acknowledging days earlier that he was “embarrassed” by the inability of the Republican-led House of Representatives to choose a new speaker, Coastal Georgia Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter was buoyed when Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson was elected to the post following three weeks of intra-party turmoil.
Carter’s preference for speaker changed numerous times in the past month, and concerns were raised about Johnson’s positions on a number of issues — particularly the new speaker’s stance on abortion and his role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, efforts in which Carter himself played a role.
But speaking to Bloomberg News on Friday, Carter was giddy about Johnson. He described him as a “strong Christian” and a “constitutional expert.” Most of all, Johnson is “a good guy,” Carter said.
At play in the ascension of Johnson to the speaker’s chair were more than exhaustion, anger from the GOP base, public pressure, embarrassment, Donald Trump, and fears about reelection, the five-term representative from Pooler said.
“I really do feel like God has put him in this place. I’m a strong believer and I believe that . . . God controls what happens, and I really do believe that he’s put Mike Johnson in this position.” Whether that was also the case with Carter’s own bids for elected office — let alone those of Joe Biden and other Democrats — the congressman didn’t say.
ICYMI
- The Georgia Senate’s Ethics Committee will hold a hearing on the status of Georgia’s electronic voting systems tomorrow from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. in Room 307 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, 18 Capitol Square SW, in Atlanta. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is scheduled to testify.
- “Coffee and Conversation with Mayor Van Johnson,” today at 9 a.m. at the Mailbox Café, 1305 Barnard Street in Savannah, and tomorrow at 9 a.m. at the Sentient Bean, 13 E. Park Ave., in Savannah.
- “Federal judge sanctions Chatham DA over efforts to evade deposition” (The Current, October 27, 2023) “ ‘Cook Jones’ pattern of compounding and willful failures demand significant sanctions. She shirked her discovery obligations, failed to honor her word that she would appear for her deposition, mocked this Court’s Orders, and made material misrepresentations to the Court,’ Judge Baker wrote in the ruling made public Friday.”
- Judge orders new maps after finding Georgia redistricting ‘dilutes Black voting power’ (GPB News, October 26, 2023) “‘The court commends Georgia for the great strides that it has made to increase the political opportunities of Black voters in the 58 years since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,’ Jones wrote. ‘Despite these great gains, the court determines that in certain areas of the state, the political process is not equally open to Black voters.’”
- “The state of women and children’s health care in Georgia” (WSAV, October 26, 2023) “Georgia faces significant challenges in its health care system, ranking 35th overall in the country by a United Health Foundation report. . . . Georgia ranks 49th when it comes to women who avoid care due to cost. This could be due to health insurance in the state averaging around $5,424, as 1.4 million Georgians do not have health insurance.”
- “One government program’s 30-year metamorphosis from well-intentioned economic development initiative to bloated tax giveaway” (Trouble in God’s Country, September 21, 2023) “The [Job Tax Credit] program’s original goal of incentivizing job creation in the state’s least developed counties seems to have been all but abandoned.”
Savannah’s mayoral campaign gets nasty
Candidates make final push with targeted barbs over outside support, finances, civility.
Walthourville to hold millage rate, budget hearings after election
Move to hold hearings after election places decisions for a new property tax in hands of outgoing or new city leadership.
Federal judge sanctions Chatham DA over efforts to evade deposition
Sanctions against the Savannah-area district attorney could fuel Georgia Republicans’ efforts to remove so-called progressive prosecutors.
Jones, Senate Republicans propose arming teachers to bolster school safety
The new bill would give school districts the option of participating in firearms training that would lead to certification of teachers and include a stipend for completing the course. School districts would retain the right to determine for themselves whether to let teachers carry firearms on their campuses.
Judge orders new maps after finding Georgia redistricting ‘dilutes Black voting power’
Georgia’s population grew by more than one million over the last decade, driven mainly by nonwhite residents flocking to the metro Atlanta area. The state’s demographics also saw a decline in white voter share, but the Republican-led General Assembly crafted political maps that did not reflect that reality.
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