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Rigged Maps on the Better Georgia Podcast
2017 Legislative Session

An accused sexual predator is trying to silence African American voters

Disgraced former judge and current lawmaker Johnnie Caldwell is pushing a bill that would silence thousands of African American voters. Better Georgia and a coalition of progressive groups fighting against Caldwell’s map rigging bill believe the legislation is likely illegal.  As egregious as it is for a lawmaker to try to stand in the way of Georgians’ voting rights, we’re not surprised, considering that the source is Johnnie Caldwell. Amongst other things, Caldwell is an accused sexual predator who

Ethics

Tom Price’s insider trading

Allegations about Sec. Tom Price’s insider trading continue to grow more serious, with the U.S. Attorney who was investigating this unethical (and perhaps illegal) behavior abruptly being fired last week. Price, Georgia’s own U.S. Representative turned Health and Human Services Secretary, has been embroiled in this scandal since his nomination over concerns that he benefited from stock trades he made during his time in Congress. This all began unfolding when The Wall Street Journal reported last

Brian Kemp

Kemp to Georgia: Why limit yourself to only two horrible governors in a row?

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who put voters in the wrong district, perpetuated the disenfranchisement of minorities and probably lost track of your social security number, will be running for governor. We’ve been imagining what headlines will look like once Kemp officially announces: BREAKING: Official who released social security numbers of all Ga. voters plans to ask Ga. voters to vote for him Elected official who failed Georgia voters hoping to

Ethics

Tommy Hunter needs to go

On Feb. 22, embattled Gwinnett County Commissioner walked out of a board meeting when about two dozen protesters began to line up during the public comment period to speak out against him. They continued to speak out for over an hour even after he had scampered away. A wave of local protests have erupted since Hunter called John Lewis “a racist pig” in a Facebook post on Jan. 14. Hunter faced immediate backlash. Dozens of protesters showed

Hold big energy accountable — replace Georgia’s Public Service Commissioners

There are Georgia Public Service Commissioners, and all five of them are Republican — Chuck Eaton, Tim Echols, Stan Wise, Doug Everett and Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Jr. As we discussed a few weeks ago, these commissioners approved $2 billion in cost overruns for Georgia Power to expand Plant Vogtle, a nuclear power plant, and agreed to let Georgia Power pass along those expenses to consumers. Georgia Power is nearly four years behind schedule and they’re billing us

2017 Legislative Session

Judicial ethics legislation on the move

Last year, voters approved an amendment to the Constitution of the great state of Georgia to gut the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the body that oversees ethics complaints against judges. The legislature is trying to figure out just what that new commission will look like, while problems have plagued the process of reconstituting the JQC. It came out last year that one of the key backers of the measure to destroy judicial accountability, Rep. Johnny Caldwell,