Political Notes: Ups, Downs and In-betweens
Carter to TCSG: State Rep. Amy Carter (R-Valdosta) has resigned her seat to take a position with the Technical College System of Georgia as executive director of advancement.
Carter, a classroom teacher for more than 20 years, was elected to the Georgia House in 2006, the first female to represent District 175. At the time of her resignation she was chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government.
“Impacting the lives of students on the classroom level has been an incredible experience,” Carter said in a press release. “While leaving the classroom and my legislative position was an extremely difficult decision to make, I will now have the opportunity to extend that impact to more than 130,000 TCSG students across the state.”
House Speaker David Ralston said of her: “Rep. Carter has been an invaluable asset to the House of Representatives, and we will certainly miss her insight and leadership.”
New Democratic Legislators: Jen Jordan defeated Jaha Howard in the runoff election last month and is the new state senator for District 6, which covers an area from Smyrna to Sandy Springs. Nikema Williams won the runoff race for Atlanta’s Senate District 39, defeating Linda Pritchett.
In runoffs for the state House, Kim Schofield won her race against De’Andre S. Pickett for District 60, which covers southwest Atlanta, College Park, East Point and Forest Park. Bee Nguyen defeated Sachin Varghese for the right to represent Atlanta’s District 89.
Corbin to the Lottery: Gov. Nathan Deal selected veteran state government administrator Gretchen Corbin to serve as president and CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corp., succeeding Debbie Alford.
Corbin most recently headed the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) and was commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic Development.
Deputy TCSG Commissioner Matt Arthur is Deal’s choice to succeed Corbin. He previously worked in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget as director of education reform and was superintendent of the Rabun County School District.
Hull to Chair BOR: Regent James M. Hull of Augusta is the 2018 chair of the University of Georgia Board of Regents. Don L. Waters is the new vice chair.
New Board Members: Gov. Nathan Deal has appointed Brian Robinson, his former deputy chief of staff for communications and the current owner of Robinson Republic, a communications consulting firm, to the Board of Governors of the Georgia World Congress Center.
June Wood, chair of the Henry County Board of Commissioners, was appointed by Deal to the Georgia Board of Corrections. She is a retired Georgia Power executive and former chair of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce.
Ember Bishop Bentley, executive director of the Georgia Forestry Foundation, has been named by Deal to the Georgia Forestry Commission. She is a former deputy commissioner for international relations for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Name-change Recommendations: An 11-member committee appointed by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the City Council has recommended name changes for several roadways. The committee was asked to address the issue of statues and monuments honoring Confederate leaders as well as street names.
Streets slated for renaming are Confederate Avenue and East Confederate Avenue in Southeast Atlanta and any named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, John B. Gordon, Robert E. Lee, Stephen Dill Lee or Howell Cobb.
In its report, the committee noted those individuals “were significant Confederate military leaders and actively involved in white supremacist activities after the war, making them undeserving of the honor of a street name in Atlanta.”
DFCS Leader’s Farewell: Bobby Cagle, the man credited with turning around Georgia’s troubled Division of Family and Children Services, has left Georgia to take a position in Los Angeles.
In a farewell letter to the division staff, Cagle said, “Where ‘DFCS’ was once a four-letter word, the Division now actively seeks to become a regular part of community conversations – even the difficult ones – because families are less likely to fall between the cracks when communities are actively engaged in their success. I’m proud to have been a part of this story of redemption for DFCS.”
He credited his staff, “those of you who interact with families every day,” for much of the success.
