Day 107

The State of Georgia has a long history of electing Republican governors who, once in office, turn out to have some common sense and not govern as badly as we thought.

Say what you want about Sonny Purdue (2003-2011), but even though he ran on a platform that included restoring the confederate emblem to the state flag, once in office, he didn't, much to the dismay of racists that voted for him and the relief of the state's business interests.

Many of us thought that Nathan Deal (2011-2019) was going to turn the state over to his business cronies and spend his entire term(s) mired in corruption and controversy, but to everyone's surprise, he didn't, and he even changed the laws to allow Sunday liquor and beer sales.

Hell, even old Lester Maddox (1967-1971), a segregationist Democrat, appointed more African Americans to government positions than all of his predecessors combined.  

But then comes Brian Kemp.  He ran a racist anti-immigrant campaign, and cheated his way into office through voter  suppression.  Over the objections of his party and even the president himself, he appointed Kelly Loeffler to take Johnny Isakson's vacant Senate seat so she can grift and enrich herself further through insider trading   And now, as the covid-19 pandemic is reaching epic proportions in the state, he is mimicking the worst of the White House's empty rhetoric and refusing to lead in protecting the people in the state.

More specifically, he has refused to pass a state-wide requirement to wear face masks, even though it's been a proven deterrent to spread of the virus, calling any such requirement "a bridge too far" politically.  Okay, bad enough, but when Athens, Savannah and Atlanta all passed local ordinances that mandate the wearing of face masks, Kemp singles Atlanta out and sues that city to overturn the requirement, but not the others.

He doesn't sue Athens or Savannah, he just picks Atlanta, because dividing the state against its largest city is the oldest demagogue trick in the political playbook.  There's no political benefit of playing the state against Athens, because "Go Dogs!," and there's no benefit of turning the state against Savannah because "Run, Forrest, run!"  

He doesn't care about hygiene or policy.  He's just playing politics with his constituents, just when they need sound governance and common-sense  policy the most.

Now on top of all that, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms reveals that "In addition to being sued over a mask mandate and voluntary advisory guidelines on COVID-19, Gov. Kemp has asked for an emergency injunction to 'restrain' me from issuing press statements and speaking to the press."

Kemp is trying to put a restraining order on Atlanta's elected mayor to keep her from even talking about the shenanigans he's pulling to prevent her from doing her job!

A friend of mine, a constitutional lawyer, says that on First Amendment grounds alone, there's no way any judge is going to rule in favor of the gag order.  So that's a relief.  But it shows how authoritarian and desperate Kemp is to prevent the people of Atlanta from choosing the policies they want to protect themselves during this coronavirus crisis. 

Despite some well-publicized incidents of people protesting otherwise, polling has shown the vast majority of people support a face mask requirement, and the people of Atlanta elected Mayor Bottoms for exactly the kind of leadership and common sense she's showing right now.

But Brian Kemp doesn't care about democracy.  Brain Kemp doesn't care about the health of those living inside of the perimeter.  Brain Kemp cares about his own political career.

To put it another way, Bottoms was elected without having to cheat, without having to suppress the vote, and without having to play on racist fears.  And that's probably what Brian Kemp is most threatened by - the will of the people.