Sitting in the dark with strangers once again

House lawmakers toss paper into the air on April 4, the last day of the 2022 legislative session, a tradition when the chamber adjourns Sine Die. (Riley Bunch / GPB News)
 

GPB’s Riley Bunch wrote a fine story recapping the hits and misses of the 2022 legislative session.

So let’s focus here on how the session gave Gov. Brian Kemp a strong launchpad for his reelection campaign. He backed successful efforts for:

• legislation to allow Georgians to carry concealed guns without a permit

• the measure that would essentially ban the teaching of “critical race theory” in Georgia classrooms

• the bill giving parents stronger rights to review curriculum in the schools.

• legislation barring government agencies and schools from establishing mask mandates.

• a state budget that gives teachers and state employees thousands of dollars in raises.

Kemp can now take as much as 40 days to sign legislation sitting on his desk … 40 days that lead directly into the primary election. You can count on him staging ceremonies for bills he thinks will be especially popular among GOP voters.

The larger question for Kemp: How will general election voters respond to the conservative issues he embraced (if he wins the GOP primary against David Perdue)?

President Donald Trump greets then-Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., as he arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base for a campaign event Sept. 25, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Last week, former President Donald Trump suggested in a One America News interview that maybe his handpicked gubernatorial candidate, David Perdue, would find it difficult to beat incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein found more:

• Greg Bluestein on Twitter:  "Trump continues to hedge on Perdue. From this AM: "It’s always hard to beat a sitting governor. It’s hard. It’s very hard to beat, because they have a lot of money behind them. You know, everybody is giving them money. But we will see what happens.” #gapol

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during a rally, Saturday, March 5, 2022, in Rome, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

When three Republican U.S. senators announced they planned to vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, 14th District U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia lashed out on her official congressional Twitter site (remember, Twitter banned her personal account for life after her repeated lies about the 2020 election): 

Greene’s attack was inspired by the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who falsely accused Jackson of giving unusually light sentences in child pornography cases. Their attack fits into the bizarre theory of the far right that Democrats are engaged in child sex trafficking and other crimes against children. 

We’ll see if anyone in U.S. House GOP leadership criticizes Greene for what may be her most extreme attack on her own party to date.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks while Gov. Brian Kemp (left) looks on. (File)

Keisha Lance Bottoms made it clear she’s not finished feuding with Gov. Brian Kemp even though she’s been out of office for three months now. 

During her tenure as mayor of Atlanta, Bottoms and Kemp had a quarrelsome relationship. She was outspoken about his refusal to take strong steps she believed were necessary to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. He repeatedly blamed her for escalating gun violence in Atlanta. 

Bottoms tweeted at Kemp last week after the legislature passed a controversial bill allowing Georgians to carry concealed guns without a permit:



Kemp’s campaign spokesman Cody Hall had a swift, biting reply:


 

The Kemp campaign must have cheered Hall’s arsonist line: Campaigns are always looking for just the right amount of snark to use in attacking the opposition.
 

(File)

By law, the Georgia legislature must confine its annual session to 40 days or fewer. (There is nothing that says the session can’t end sooner than 40 days, by the way.) 

For many decades, lawmakers believed they were required to finish their business no later than midnight on the 40th day of the session. But years ago, legislative leaders decided they could, in fact, go past midnight before having to adjourn. (This week, they went to almost 12:30 a.m.)

• If only state Rep. Denmark Groover, a legendary member of the House for some five decades, had understood the flexible deadline, he might have saved himself a lot of trouble in 1964.  

That year, it was Day 40 and the House was trying to vote on congressional district lines. Lawmakers could see the clock that hung from the center balcony was getting close to midnight.

• Determined to keep the session going, Groover sprinted up the stairs to the balcony, flung his body over the railing and, dangling some 20 feet or more above the floor of the house, attempted to STOP THE HANDS on the clock from hitting midnight. 

(Twitter)

During this year’s legislative session, a number of lawmakers introduced bills that amplified and exploited the differences between us. But Atlanta-based Broadway director Kenny Leon, as always, is doing work to bring us together.

His new play King James, written by Rajiv Joseph, which premiered at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre, is about two Cleveland men — one Black, the other white — whose friendship evolves as they watch the career of NBA star LeBron James unfold over more than a decade. The play is staged in four quarters, like an NBA game, and over time the two men become best of friends until a fierce fight about race seems to end their relationship. 

But Leon wouldn’t take on a project that left us feeling hopeless about our differences. He’s said the play makes clear how much we need more friendships that last into the 4th quarter.

Here’s a scene.