Kemp
and Collins: a Personal Back Story
Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 3/8/20
Governor
Brian Kemp probably doesn’t remember or really know me. But I know him. Although serving simultaneously in the
General Assembly, we never met until 2010 when he was
running for Secretary of State and I was running for state School
Superintendent. Our path crossings were
quite frequent but our conversations were always brief.
After
giving campaign talks at a DeKalb County GOP candidate forum, we both fared very
poorly in the straw vote taken at the end of the forum. Like whipped puppies, we walked together to
our cars, mumbled encouraging words to each other, and threw a few yard signs
back into the trunks of our cars. There
would be other forums and straw votes. There
would be another chance. Despite this
particularly discouraging evening, Kemp went on to achieve his political
goal. I did not achieve mine.
I
admired then state Senator Kemp. I
admire Governor Kemp now. He’s
authentic, not at all a showman, and seems not to have an ounce of
self-importance. His degree in
agriculture (Georgia’s chief industry), his state senate experience, and his
two terms as secretary of state have undoubtedly informed and conditioned him
for the governorship of the state.
U.S.
Representative Doug Collins probably doesn’t remember or really know me either. But I know him. Quite well, in fact. Having had no more than half a dozen quick
conversations with him, I’ve watched him literally and intentionally for 15 or
so minutes at a time. Steady-footed like
Kemp, though more affable, Collins also exudes no self-importance. If only more
politicians were like these two men.
When
Collins came to the GA House I was no longer in office but was working for the
Speaker as the House Messenger. My chief
responsibility was to stand elbow to elbow with the Speaker when the House was
in session and assist him with the hurry and scurry that seems to be characteristic of all lawmaking bodies
(ordering bills, sticking to the agenda, corralling House members, pacifying
House members, etc.).
From
the Speaker’s podium one can look down and see every movement that every member
makes. Having observed Collins from that
standpoint, I can testify that he moved and talked as fast then as he does now. A fellow Republican once “accused” him of
being “from Connecticut or someplace like that.” Collins spent as much time chatting it up
with Democrats as he did Republicans. A
minister and former pastor with a seminary degree, a lawyer, and a chaplain and
lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve, Collins is if anything, versatile.
The
potential serious rift between these two good men, Kemp and Collins, is
unfortunate. A governor’s appointees are
no business of the nation’s president.
Governor Kemp had every right to appoint Kelly Loeffler to the seat
vacated by Johnny Isakson, but it’s fitting to point out that if President
Trump had not so strongly endorsed Kemp late in his gubernatorial campaign,
Kemp might not now be governor.
Sadly,
the Loeffler team is attacking Collins viciously. Loeffler’s anti-Collins ads are outrageous. Her campaign didn’t become negative and
dirty. It started out negative and
dirty. The shame of it all is that the Loeffler
campaign is apparently hoping many Georgia voters are either uninformed or
gullible enough to swallow the vicious treatment the Club for Growth has given
Collins. Doubtless, they’re trying to
make Georgia Republicans forget about Collins’ incredibly effective defense of
President Trump during the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment proceedings.
Establishment
Republicans can’t blame Collins if a split ticket leads to a Democratic
victory. After all, Kemp has done what
Democrats seldom if ever do and what Republicans always do: fall victim to
paralysis of analysis after losing or nearly losing an election and then change
course and go moderate. Fearful of the suburban and female vote and recalling
that conservative Cobb County voted for Hillary, Kemp picked a wealthy, totally
inexperienced female. Was it moo-la over
orthodoxy?
Loeffler’s
mail-out ads are almost as big as a TV screen.
I received one through the mail that was 12 X 15 inches. In a smaller ad she is pictured beside
President Trump with text that implies he has endorsed her. He has not.
Pictures of her teen years, clad in jeans and doing farm work, look a
little fakey.
Loeffler
is talking the talk for sure, but how should Kemp’s base view her recent
hobnobbing with progressives, even Stacy Abrams, and her past support of
them? Despite his good qualities, by
choosing Loeffler for the Senate seat Kemp was not dancing with who brung’im.
When
will Republicans learn?
Roger Hines
3/4/20
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