Month: February 2024
Who’s Really an “80% Friend” Around Here?

Who’s Really an “80% Friend” Around Here?

Ronald Reagan is often quoted as saying, “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is an 80 percent friend and not a 20 percent enemy.” It’s not a bad guide. The problem is that so many alleged “Republicans” in the legislature do not adhere to Republican principles from our platform even 80% of the time!

You can test that by looking at their voting score in each legislative session. Last year, only three Republicans in the state legislature scored above 80 percent. Most scored less than 50 percent! That’s just dismal.

With Crossover Day looming Thursday, so-called “Republicans” in the legislature once again have the opportunity to “earn their stripes” or “pay their dues” (and all those other kinds of phrases they like to throw at the grassroots volunteers who campaign for them) by proving they really are Republicans. They need to do it by voting for Republican policies and against Democrat policies.

But so far overall during this year’s legislative session, the Republican majority in the state legislature is not giving us much reason to be impressed.

One of the absurd bills presented by a group of four “Republican” legislators and a Democrat was H.B. 1117, which would have empowered non-citizens to become law-enforcement officers! Thankfully, due to outcry from the grassroots, the sponsors of this bill withdrew it from consideration.

Sen. Colton Moore the Only Senator to Vote “No” to $5 Billion Spending Increase

As another example, however, last week the State Senate passed a $5 Billion SPENDING INCREASE, which will eventually fall back on Georgia taxpayers to foot the bill, even while we have a surplus of funds taken from taxpayers to increase the state’s reach in expanding government programs.

At least ONE State Senator said “NO!” Thank you to GRA-endorsed State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) for being a true principled Republican! Bold and brave is how we should be, so we can fight the overspending of our civil government!

Some legislators claimed they had no choice but to vote for the budget since it is an omnibus, blaming the Governor. But Republicans in the Senate could have compelled the Governor to the bargaining table by voting the proposed budget down.

Many will recall that Senator Moore was kicked out of the Senate Republican Caucus by caucus leaders who love to quote Reagan’s 80% rule when it benefits them, but refuse to apply it to themselves when dealing with a more conservative Republican. They have still not made any apologies to Senator Moore or readmitted him back into the caucus even though his serious concerns about corrupt Democrat D.A. Fani Willis continue to be validated.

Click to watch Senator Moore’s speech on the spending increase.

H.B. 986 with Its Anti-Free Speech Provisions Passes Thanks to Help from the Uniparty

Yet another nasty piece of legislation that passed the State House a few days ago over protests from the GA Freedom Caucus was H.B. 986. As Mallory Staples reported, this bill includes provisions to cancel citizens who exercise their free speech rights to critique candidates during an election.

We already have safeguards in the law against defamation, slander, and libel. But his statute could empower the state to silence critics of incumbents in a timely fashion as an election approaches. It sounds like it was written by the same statist liberals who have been leading the cancel culture for Facebook and Twitter the last few elections. Forget about Facebook jail. These folks want to send you to actual jail!

Thanks to State Reps. Charlice Byrd (R-Cherokee), Carter Barrett (R-Forsyth), Johnny Chastain (R-Blue Ridge), Brent Cox (R-Dawsonville), Emory Dunahoo (R-Gillsville), Chris Erwin (R-Homer), Matthew Gambill (R-Cartersville), Mitchell Horner (R-Ringgold), Rey Martinez (R-Loganville), Danny Mathis (R-Cochran), Martin Momtahan (R-Dallas), and Rick Townsend (R-Brunswick) for voting against this bad bill. That’s only 13 Republicans to vote “no” out of the 100 in the caucus. The bill passed due to support from Democrats and the other so-called “Republicans.”

Call your state senators and urge them to kill this bill when it reaches their chamber.

OTHER KEY LEGISLATION

While the RINO majority in control of the state legislature is using their power to railroad bad statist bills like these above through, many other good bills in sync with Republican principles are being stalled — not even being allowed a hearing or vote in committee in most cases! 

Thursday is Crossover Day, and that is important because it is the last day a bill can clear its originating chamber and move to the other chamber for consideration. Meaning, if a bill fails to pass one chamber before the end of Crossover Day, it will not be passed this legislative session. Here are some key bills:

• S.B. 416 — Sponsored by Sen. Colton Moore, this bill would reform the RICO law in GA to make it hard for corrupt district attorneys like Fani Willis to use the law to harass people on frivolous charges. 

• S.B. 88 — This legislation would prevent school personnel from promoting ideas on gender identity and transition without parents’ informed consent. Learn more here.

• H.B. 897 — Known as the “Medical Freedom Act,” this bill would restore the freedom of Georgians to make their own health decisions. Unfortunately, this bill is stuck in Rep. Sharon Cooper‘s (R-Cobb) Public Health Committee, and if it does not get a hearing it will die.

• H.B. 496 & H.R. 413 — Sponsored by State Reps. Charlice Byrd and Emory Dunahoo, these pieces of legislation would protect all the preborn from murder from the moment of fertilization. But both the Prenatal Equal Protection Act and the state constitutional amendment equivalent have been ignored by Cobb County’s Sharon Cooper, who chairs the Public Health Committee. She will not even allow them a hearing.

• S.B. 67 — Known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act, this legislation would ban any public officer or employee of the state and its political subdivisions from enforcing any past, present, or future federal “acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and regulations” that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. It was reassigned to a new committee so it would have a hearing, but it continues to be ignored.

• H.B. 17 & H.B. 426 — Although there are a plethora of election reform bills that have been submitted (some of them good, and some of them dangerous), these are two bills that our friends at VoterGA have highlighted for support to better secure chain of custody for ballots and ensure ballots are not destroyed or tampered with when verification has not been completed. 

• H.B. 1105 — This legislation would institute criminal penalties for sanctuary cities of illegal aliens in Georgia. It has been reported that 182 illegals are currently in Georgia jails for murder — just like what happened to Laken Hope Riley.

Contact your elected officials in both the State House and the State Senate and urge them to pass these valuable pieces of legislation through their chamber before the conclusion of Crossover Day. If they do not support them, they deserve to be primaried.

Although some folks like to say that the main objective of the Republican Party is to ensure people with a “Republican” label on the ballot win elections, that is not true. Elections are only a means to an end. The actual main objective of the Republican Party is to enact Republican principles and policies into law. If we’re not accomplishing that — no matter how many elections we’ve won — then we are actually losing. In fact, we are doubly losing because we are voluntarily giving up our time, energy, money, and talent to help the enemy achieve their objectives! Let that sink in. 

Republicans have had majority control of the Georgia state legislature for roughly 20 years. We should have been advancing Republican principles by leaps and bounds during that time. But why does it seem its Democrats who are so often getting their way?

Therefore, as we approach candidate qualifying the first full week of March, and the kickoff to primary season, we encourage new candidates to challenge many of the RINO incumbents in our legislature. We also encourage our local Republican Assembly chapters to hold endorsement conventions and support candidates who can beat bad incumbents. Finally, we encourage local GOP organizations to refuse to allow incumbents with voting records blatantly contrary to Republican policies and principles to qualify to run again as Republicans. Just stop feeding the RINOs.

Don’t Miss the Start of Convention Season Saturday!

Don’t Miss the Start of Convention Season Saturday!

This coming Saturday will kick off the annual convention season for the Georgia Republican Party in most counties! If you live in a county with a population of over 80,000 people, be sure to participate in your Precinct Mass Caucus this weekend!

For smaller counties, their caucuses will be on March 23rd — the same date as most counties’ county conventions.

The Georgia Republican Assembly (GRA) has been conducting convention & parliamentary procedure trainings for our members in the weeks leading up to the Over 80K Precinct Caucuses. Let us know if your GRA chapter would like help with a training.

The outcome of this GOP Convention Cycle will determine whether or not we can “drain the swamp” of the National Republican Party. 

It’s simple… Do you want the Republican platform to reflect the values of grassroots red-blooded Americans like you or the DC insiders? 

If you want to help clean house at the RNC level, and defeat (or at least dillute) the influence of spineless, unprincipled consultants and lobbyists from the nation-wide political industry, we need to elect principled delegates to the national convention.

At the RNC Convention, our GOP delegates from Georgia will vote on the platform of the party, rules, and resolutions. One of the exciting rule changes being proposed would require a recorded vote for the election of RNC Chair. No more secret, hidden votes! This would be a huge step toward accountability! 

Ultimately, this convention cycle will determine whether the RNC is run by wine-and-cheesers 🍷 or people of integrity and your involvement will make the difference! 

Alabama Supreme Court Makes Pivotal Prolife Ruling

Alabama Supreme Court Makes Pivotal Prolife Ruling

GRA President Nathaniel Darnell & NFRA Director Abigail Darnell (right) pleased to stand with Chief Justice Tom Parker of Alabama (left).

Today the Alabama State Supreme Court in a 7-to-2 decision upheld the lives of the preborn conceived through in-vitro fertilization(IVF)! 👏 We wish to commend Chief Justice Tom Parker of Alabama (who has been an Alabama Republican Assembly member) & the other six Justices who concurred with him in this honest and courageous holding. 

Babies—no matter how they are conceived—are human beings and have all of the DNA of a unique individual person.

The court held that such children are protected by Alabama’s wrongful death act and the Alabama Constitution.

Chief Justice Tom Parker, who agreed with the majority opinion, wrote a separate opinion to expand on how the Alabama “Sanctity of Life Amendment” introduced a strong legal public policy to protect unborn life in Alabama, including IVF embryos. (Read Chief Justice Parker’s special concurrence here.) Chief Justice Parker wrote, “A good judge follows the Constitution instead of policy, except when the Constitution itself commands the judge to follow a certain policy. In these cases, that means upholding the sanctity of unborn life, including unborn life that exists outside the womb.”

That life is sacred because every human being is made in the image of God, noted Chief Justice Parker, and the People chose to make that a clear matter of constitutional law. 

Our Cobb County Republican Assembly chapter had the pleasure of hosting Chief Justice Parker’s Chief of Staff Ben DuPré for a special report on the state of jurisprudence in 2022, which you can see here:

Click to watch the video from Ben DuPré, chief of staff for Chief Justice Tom Parker
After training, Chattooga County Opens a New RA Chapter!

After training, Chattooga County Opens a New RA Chapter!

Here we grow again! … Last weekend we opened a new Chattooga Republican Assembly chapter, and they joined with our Etowah Republican Assembly chapter, & some folks from the Northwest Georgia Republican Assembly chapter for another great Convention Training & Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure! 🎓 Great to see the excitement!

Eddie Caldwell

This parliamentary procedure training in northwest Georgia was led by Northwest RA chapter President Eddie Caldwell (also the Whitfield County GOP Chairman).

The new local chapter elected as their chapter Chairwoman Jennifer Tudor (also the Chattooga County GOP Chairwoman) and as their local chapter President Charles Stoker.

Our Republican Assembly leaders in Chattooga have already been instrumental in advancing several beneficial projects in their community, and we look forward to seeing what they will accomplish in the days ahead.

Do Something Now: End Trump’s Prosecution & Create Accountability

Do Something Now: End Trump’s Prosecution & Create Accountability

Don’t believe the lies and excuses from alleged “elected leaders,” the political prosecutions by Fani Willis of President Trump, former GAGOP Chairman David Shafer, and many others can be ended immediately. Not in years, not in months, but this week. But only with immediate action: take two minutes to make these crucial calls to ensure “Republican” officials fulfill their promises to voters and to the Republican Party.

Living in a “Republican” state, voters should be able to presume that those in elected office are going to act like Republicans. Sadly, the only way this is going to happen is by (1) you sharing this message with others and (2) taking a few simple actions to push your elected representatives to actually act like Republicans.

The first way to do this is by making sure this bill, S.B. 416which we’re calling the “Stop Political Prosecutions Act,”gets passed. It is a simple bill that would change the RICO law in Georgia to immediately end the current Fani Willis prosecution of Trump and other Republicans here in Georgia.

No longer would the GAGOP be paying out tons of money in legal fees. This would put an end to politically motivated prosecutions in our state. It would be over. Immediately. Ending the stress and torture of past GAGOP Chairman David Shafer, President Trump, and all of the others. 

This is so important that any elected official not signing on to this needs to get a primary challenger who can run a really simple campaign: “I would vote to end the prosecution of Republicans, and the incumbent failed to do so.”

Currently, the only two people currently showing themselves in the State Senate to be Republicans are GRA-endorsed Sen. Colton Moore (for initiating this bill), and Sen. Brandon Beach for co-sponsoring it. Call them and thank them: they deserve praise for doing the right thing. All of the others? Not so much. But there’s still time for them to change their mind, which will only happen with your help.

First, please call the Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch (cell: 706-300-6568) (as well as your own local representatives) and tell him that you want him to get S.B. 416, the “Stop Political Prosecutions Act,” passed immediately. Be respectful. But be firm. He works for you. The legislature has the authority to do this, as they are the legislative branch of government, and they write the laws that govern the judicial system. And the bill would undoubtedly be effective to end the prosecutions. As the Majority Leader, Steve Gooch has the direct authority to expedite the passage of this bill: all of the committee chairs and others that typically give excuses follow his lead.

And as we’ve discussed before, the “Prosecutorial Commission” they are trying to use as cover to mislead the voters into thinking they are doing something about the prosecutions is, sadly, being talked about solely to intentionally mislead voters. The commission already stated that they weren’t going to consider past conduct, and it would actually likely be unconstitutional if they tried to. The *only* way being considered that Republicans can immediately stop these prosecutions is by passing S.B. 416, and the only reason they’ll do so is if you make it clear to them that you will field primary challengers against anyone who doesn’t support the bill. If they aren’t going to use their office to fix the problem, why even have them there?

Second, you can make sure that Sen. John Kennedy (R-Macon) knows that while he continues to keep Republican Sen. Colton Moore out of the Republican caucus, and tells people to “respect the judiciary” allowing the prosecution of President Trump to continue, that you expect him to stop playing those political games and for him to do his job by starting to act like an actual Republican by getting S.B. 416 passed, as well as by letting Sen. Moore back into the Republican caucus. (You can see how they kicked him out in past messages.)

Third and finally, engage in this year’s GAGOP convention cycle to ensure our principles are upheld. It’s essential to participate, and we encourage newcomers by offering training in convention procedures and Robert’s Rules of Order

We need to be involved in order to effectively have the GAGOP put pressure on (and potentially not qualify for office) candidates that fail to live up to Republican principles. While it can be intimidating for newcomers, that’s why it’s important to invite as many Republicans as possible to come, and also make sure to invite them to convention/Roberts Rules of Order training so that they can have an impact. GRA officers have regularly helped host these trainings around the state last year, and will be working to do so again this year.

Personally, I will be involved at trainings at two county GOPs in the coming weeks to help get people ready, and you (and other Republicans) are invited. The first was tonight, starting at 7 PM, in DeKalb County. The second will be in Cobb County this Wednesday, February 7th, at 6 PM. Details are here.

If you would like to have any such trainings for your group or local GOP, please let us know.

We must work together. And we must defeat the Establishment. If we fail now, and people get discouraged and are not involved in their county parties or next year’s convention cycle, the opportunity will not come again.

GRA Resolution Honors Sen. Colton Moore for Leadership on Accountability of D.A. Fani Willis

GRA Resolution Honors Sen. Colton Moore for Leadership on Accountability of D.A. Fani Willis

The GRA Executive Committee voted unanimously to pass a resolution commending and honoring State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) for his leading the charge to hold Democrat D.A. Fani Willis accountable in her harassment of political opponents such as the 2020 presidential alternate electors. The resolution also calls for the State Senate Republican Caucus to re-admit Moore to the caucus, and to support legislative reforms that prevents this kind of law-fare.

Read the entire resolution by clicking on this image link: