Georgia governor seeks legal advice on removing Trump-backed Board of Election members

[sheshe2]

Sarah K. Burris
August 26, 2024 11:59AM ET

Georgia's governor is seeking legal guidance on whether he can boot three members of the state's Board of Elections who were praised by Donald Trump just months ago.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) is requesting guidance from the state's attorney general on whether he "has the authority to remove members of the State Election Board."

"Voting rights groups, Democrats and even some Republicans have raised alarms about the rightwing majority’s recent votes," according to the report.
The three members, Janelle King, Rick Jeffares, and Dr. Janice Johnston, face ethics complaints filed earlier this month that follow their approval of changes that require election boards to search for voting discrepancies before certifying results.

Those changes have been criticized by many, including Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

More: https://www.rawstory.com/georgia-election-board-kemp/

[Turbineguy]

1. If he tosses these clowns, he'll save Georgia taxpayers lots of money.

[malaise]

2. This is great news

Rec

[hlthe2b]

3. Yeah... Kemp will turn around and do something typically RW-obnoxious, but on this, I have to give him praise.

[Cheezoholic]

12. You betcha. There's a power vacuum bubble waiting to burst on that side and he's positioning himself to fill it

along with other far right conservatives. He's one of those "law and order" far RW's meaning he'd be one willing to use whatever power he has to use whatever force at his disposal to make certain groups of society "comply". He's worse than The Felon, he's just a full on asshole.

[sheshe2]

5. Perhaps he has grown a spine?!

[malaise]

11. Or maybe he doesn't like the thought of prison

A clean up is coming- watch the proceedings

[SomedayKindaLove]

23. Probably wants to run for President in 2028

Is my guess so might as well try and root out Trump now.

Could be revenge for Trump’s insults to Kemp as his wife.

[ecstatic]

43. or just survival instinct

He knows trump still hates him - so why would he help trump become a dictator, especially when trump has already threatened his family?

[sheshe2]

45. Excellent point.

[speak easy]

60. TSF trashes Marty, Brian Kemp's wife, and

FAFO.

[anciano]

4. Interesting development 🤔....

but we shall see.

[brer cat]

6. I hope he cans them. I want my vote for Harris/Walz counted

and GA once again in the blue column.

[sheshe2]

8. I hope so too, brer.

Harris and Walz needs your vote to be counted!💙🇺🇸

Go Georgia.

[ShazzieB]

29. I hope so, too!

We all want every Dem vote to count and Georgia to land in the blue column again!

[spanone]

7. Keep shitting on Governor Kemp, mr trmp....Keep it up

[teran]

37. I guess Kemp didn't buy

the groveling apology. I wouldn't have either.

[AverageOldGuy]

9. Kemp has his head screwed on straight

Kemp is popular in Georgia, thus, he knows he is safe to run for the House or Senate if he no longer wants to be governor. He knows his stature in Georgia likely will help him win this fight.

Also - I think Kemp anticipates Trump will lose and the GOP will need a savior to flush out the Aegean Stable that is now the GOP. Kemp is looking to play a big part of leading the GOP out of the wilderness. .

[Cheezoholic]

13. Him, Youngkin, Cotton amongst others and they're all scary as hell n/t

[Iris]

20. He can't run for gov again. Clearly has eyes on a bigger prize

[oldsoftie]

24. He's term limited. His next option may be Ossify in '26

He COULD go for the House but I dont know where his residence would be.
The Trumpers here HATE him. They say the Democrats paid him off. Reffensberger too> And now even the AG, who trump endorsed, because HE came out against some trump-led bullshit.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

54. "Aegean Stable" is an apt description

for what the self-described “Stable Genius” has done to the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Cleaning up the mess he and his ilk have created will truly be a Herculean task.

[Think. Again.]

14. Here some legal advice...

Biden could have them kidnapped and dropped on a deserted island and would face no legal consequences.

Seriously, he could.

(The immunity ruling must be overturned)

[moonscape]

32. No he couldn't. The Supremes

make it up as they go. Would never fly for a Dem.

[Think. Again.]

33. It would take years AFTER they've been disappeared...

...for a supreme court ruling against it.

[TheKentuckian]

64. They can be disappeared too.

[Marcuse]

59. Who needs a Seal Team 6 extraction? His SS detail could simply send him the way of Indira Gandhi and Anwar Sadat.

[bluestarone]

15. Thank god that Kemp is even thinking straight! ( I hope)

My concern is, IF he does would this be something that would go all the way to the Supreme court? (maybe this is one of their (TFG's) plans?) THIS court better stay away from this election.

[Think. Again.]

34. I doubt THIS court will be staying away from this election.

[bluestarone]

52. Oh, i HEAR you!

I really fear a deal has been made with THIS court!

[Trueblue1968]

16. Get some backbone Kemp ..... Just Do It !!!! Remove the sobs !!!!

[surfered]

17. Hoping his effort is successful

[BattleRow]

49. You can't substitute a

wishbone for a backbone.

[Silent Type]

18. He's probably already been told he can't do anything. Carr the AG is a trumpster, so don't expect much from his opinion.

Hopefully, I'm wrong.

[oldsoftie]

25. These idiots have already turned on Carr too.

Simply because of ONE decision he made that they didnt like

[bucolic_frolic]

19. I think they're Republicans who don't like NY Carpetbaggers

But whatever the reason, kudos to any incumbent Republican who tries to run a fair election here, there, or anywhere

[ananda]

21. PLeeeze, make it so!

Boot them out!

[AlexSFCA]

22. I think trump's win would not be good for Kemp

He is serving a 2nd term. What’s after that - senatorial campaign or even higher office? Trump would not endorse him which may sink his chances in national GOP. He reminds me of Pence. What is he doing now? Looks like absolutely nothing.

[oldsoftie]

26. Pence is 65 & retained his dignity speaking the truth about trump & sticking with it.

One of the few who didnt go back on every word he said & then endorse. He even went so far as to say trump didnt deserve to be president.
The NERVE!!!

[AlexSFCA]

39. yep, the bar for GOP is so low that a bare minimum is a standout performance

Pence saves his dignity and it doesn’t seem like he has political future if trump wins. Same with Kemp. Both will benefit significantly if Harris wins. Pence, in particular, should endorse Harris. Then, we can say that he did more than bare minimum.

[oldsoftie]

57. Boy, would THAT be something! The former VP endorsing the VP of the opposition !!

heads would explode.

[GoodRaisin]

27. Clearly, board members posturing GA to participate in a Fascist coup

should be removed from the positions they are openly abusing. Kemp is making sure he doesn’t get dragged along with the fascists when the shit starts flying.

[MadameButterfly]

46. I do think, ambitions or not, the Trumpers have crossed a line

even Kemp can't tolerate. Ironic since he purged voter roles and didn't recuse himself of being referee for the election that elected him Governor. It should be Stacy Abrams in his place.

Corruption was fine for him then. Even for Raffensburger. But now they are saying, wait a minute, we didn't mean things to go THIS far. We just do the small time stuff, tip an election in our favor. Not the big permanently-ending-democracy stuff.

[GoodRaisin]

48. He would be setting up his state to have to defend lawsuits from other states across the

country for disenfranchasing their vote in a federal election. Unlike his own in-state corruption I believe he sees this as a losing proposition for himself if he goes along.

[MadameButterfly]

50. Can other states really sue over this?

I hope you are right. And yes, this is much bigger and involves the whole country.

The problem is the Supreme Court. How to keep them out of this.

[GoodRaisin]

53. The other states who certified their votes would have standing.

Past that I have no idea how it would all unwind through the courts.

[MadameButterfly]

62. I didn't think they'd have standing for another state's electors

Though of course every state affects all of us. What matters is legal definition of standing, which I infer you know something about.

[GoodRaisin]

63. What I meant by standing is that a party can in a court of law demonstrate

that it has connection to and incurred harm from the unlawful actions of another party. Standing gives the aggrieved party(s) the right to bring a lawsuit.

In this case the connection is a federal election (which binds together the electoral votes of all the states) and the harm is the disenfranchisement of voters in states that have certified their vote when one state decides to break the rules. In that sense I believe other states could prove standing to bring a lawsuit against Georgia if Georgia refused to certify it’s vote, resulting in not achieving the 270 electoral votes needed to declare a winner.

[MadameButterfly]

65. THanks. That is clear and true

Thanks for explaining. Are you a lawyer or just well-informed?

[GoodRaisin]

66. Not a lawyer, just offering a theory to the question you raised as to

reasons why Kemp might not want to cross this line.

[BComplex]

28. I hope when Kamala gets elected, these lawbreakers find out there's a new Sheriff in town!

We need to make this shit a felony with definite jail time.

[Think. Again.]

35. Another benefit to hiring a former prosecutor as President!

[ShazzieB]

30. Good for Kemp!

I see a lot of speculation in these replies about Kemp's possible motivations, but I don't honestly care. I think this is a good thing regardless of what he may be hoping to gain personally.

[Think. Again.]

36. You're willing to trust a republican????

Good luck with that.

[ShazzieB]

38. I didn't say I "trust" him. 😉

I just think he's got the right idea about this particular thing.

If I recall correctly, he resisted TSF's attempts to mess with Georgia's election results in 2020, so I'm not surprised that he's looking for ways to do that in 2024.

I'll leave it to others to speculate about his motives if they wish to do so.

[Silent Type]

31. Since Kemp formally endorsed trump next week, I'm doubtful how serious he is. But we can hope.

[returnee]

40. Do I remember correctly?

Didn’t he run against Stacy Abrams for governor, while he was attorney general, and didn’t he use his power over elections to his advantage?

[ecstatic]

42. yep. definitely a hypocrite, but trump

has crossed him and his wife so he probably is all about following the law now.

[returnee]

44. Right until it no longer serves his interest.

Thanks for confirming my unreliable memory.

[MadameButterfly]

47. I think he was Secretaty of State which means he was in charge

of the election he was running in, and using the power of his office to purge likely Dem voters.

I don't think he's a hypocrite so much as having a line he won't cross. Remember Liz Cheney, who has been a hero standing up to Trump and her party, nevertheless voted against the Votings Rights bills proposed in Congress. Seemingly not getting the connection to how these bills would have protected us from the dictatorial takover she is so trying to prevent.

The Republicans who come over to our side must be credited for their consciences however inadequate and late. You don't spend your life in this Republicans party without some damage to principles. And you pay dearly for expressing any at all.

[AlexSFCA]

61. Correct. He was running election in GA (SoS) while running against Stacey Abrams

He strategically purged thousands of voters from registration rolls leasing up the election. The lines at specific precincts were extreme. GOP is essentially violating constitution by denying the constitutional right to vote via voter registration system.

[ecstatic]

41. whoa - looks like the "unity" meeting didn't go the way trump thought

He probably made so many admissions of illegal activity and plans in the meeting.

[VMA131Marine]

51. Trump is going to go back to hating on Kemp almost

as quickly as he started singing his praises again. Maybe Trump had an inkling Kemp was looking at this and wanted to try to intimidate him into reconsidering. If Kemp does do this he is going to take serious heat from the MAGA faithful.

[mdbl]

55. If those morons hold up the election results

won't that keep Biden in office longer?

[BrianTheEVGuy]

56. Those board members should get themselves sized for prison uniforms

That will come in handy for them for their long federal prison sentences.

[mdbl]

58. Kemp is busy promoting his version of republican fascism.

I wonder who he's asking for advice? Sidney Powell? He already passed anti-union laws and anti-voter laws. He obviously doesn't care what's good for his state, just his party. The only thing he did was thwart Dump's attempt at a coup. The question is,, what would he do next time? His behavior in office doesn't give me any comfort.