By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
FEB. 18, 2022 | Georgians got a triple dose of politics this week. It didn’t taste good.
First came the announcement that Chief Justice David Nahmias that he would resign after 12 years on the Georgia Supreme Court. That wasn’t so unusual. But note the timing of his announcement. It comes in the last months of his final year of office. He is also not completing his full term, planning to resign as of July 17. Instead of having an open contest and allowing the people of Georgia to elect his successor, this would allow the governor of Georgia to name his successor to serve the remainder of Nahmias’ term. That person therefore would have a leg up (as a sitting Supreme Court judge) when running for election for a full term on the bench.
Judge Nahimas has served with distinction on the Supreme Court bench. But his timing smells of pure politics and taints his service.
Nahmias
Three days after Nahmias’ announcement, came the surprising announcement that Gov. Brian Kemp would appoint Andrew Pinson, a judge of the Court of Appeals, to the Supreme Court. Kemp had named Pinson, 35, to the Court of Appeals less than a year ago.
Typically when a judge resigns before the end of a term, those interested in the seat send their names to a Judicial Qualifications Commission (JNC). Then the governor interviews typically five candidates selected by the JNC and announces a selection. (The governor picks the members for that Commission, so it is essentially a commission of the governor’s choosing.)
Governors can bypass the JNC, though usually this doesn’t happen. Most of the time the selection process garners some goodwill with the candidates and their supporters.
But this time Governor Kemp bypassed this commission, and simply named Judge Pinson to the Supreme Court. There’s nothing illegal with this, but it does circumvent the normal process.
While Mr. Pinson may become a superb member of the Supreme Court bench, that method of his appointment creates another particular odor of politics that erodes credibility in government. Thank you, Mr. Kemp. It’s also somewhat amazing that Governor Kemp would take this direction in a year when he is up for re-election.
Perdue
Then on Tuesday came another move that we must lay at the feet of Governor Kemp, though he was one step away from its action. We refer to the selection of Sonny Perdue as the sole nominee to be the chancellor of the University System of Georgia.
This selection, many will point out, came independently from the 19 members of the Board of Regents of Georgia. Sure it did. It’s only happenstance that the majority of these Regents were appointed by none other than Brian Kemp.
The chancellor’s appointment, rumored for weeks, was particularly unusual since Sonny Perdue has no experience in higher education. It reminded people of the attempt back in 1941 of former Gov. Gene Talmadge’s firing of professors, administrators, and members of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, which led to the withdrawal of accreditation from all of Georgia’s state-supported colleges for whites.
Then mid-week the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges said that it will not contact the state’s Board of Regents about its chancellor search process. The Association had been lobbied by university professors to investigate the search process.
So this week we’ve had three political developments, all smacking of questionable activities. And we wonder why many people are losing their trust in their governments? Here’re three incidents why.
The scoreboard: The politicians three, the people zero!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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