Republicans in the Georgia State Senate who deny that Trump lost the election are being stripped of their chairmanships. Even the GOP in Georgia is not putting up with any more of this shiat.
Election deniers in state Senate stripped of chairmanships
https://www.ajc.com/politics/politi...-of-chairmanships/KAWCPO4DDBAKLHIMQS3PJ2JKXM/
It’s payback time. The Republican rift in the state Senate came to a head Tuesday when Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan demoted three Republican senators who have backed attempts to overturn the presidential vote in Georgia over baseless allegations of irregularities.
When the bloodletting was over, state Sens. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta, Matt Brass of Newnan and Burt Jones of Jackson were sapped of their political influence on the second day of the winter session.
As our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu reports, Duncan stripped Beach of his chairmanship of the Transportation Committee, while Jones will no longer lead the Insurance and Labor Committee. Neither will serve as even a rank-and-file member on the two panels they once led.
And though state Sen. Matt Brass of Newnan will still be a committee chairman this term, he was shelved to a lesser posting. Instead of serving as chairman of the committee that is set to redraw the political map later this year, he’ll oversee a banking committee.
None of this was much of a surprise. The three aggressively promoted President Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud, and pushed efforts to overturn the outcome that ran afoul of Duncan, who has called out the phony narrative.
Beach in particular had signed onto a vast federal lawsuit alleging election misdoings in Georgia and several other states. Gov. Brian Kemp, House Speaker David Ralston, and Senate President pro tem Butch Miller were among the many named defendants.
Not all of the members of the pro-Trump Senate caucus were punished. Several others who signed a letter urging Vice President Mike Pence to illegally block Joe Biden’s win were awarded coveted committee chairmanships.
And state Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming will oversee the Science and Technology Committee -- the same lower-profile panel that Renee Unterman was shunted to in 2019.
Some insiders call it a “smack down,” others say they got the “McKoon treatment” in honor of former state Sen. Josh McKoon, who lost his Judiciary Committee post after peeving the powers-that-be.
But there’s also a benefit for the outcasts. They are no longer tethered to party leadership and are freer to buck Duncan and other top GOP figures.
Some point to Tom Graves, who became a hero to some conservatives after he was sacked in the state Legislature -- and later parlayed his popularity to a seat in the U.S. House.
Election deniers in state Senate stripped of chairmanships
https://www.ajc.com/politics/politi...-of-chairmanships/KAWCPO4DDBAKLHIMQS3PJ2JKXM/
It’s payback time. The Republican rift in the state Senate came to a head Tuesday when Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan demoted three Republican senators who have backed attempts to overturn the presidential vote in Georgia over baseless allegations of irregularities.
When the bloodletting was over, state Sens. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta, Matt Brass of Newnan and Burt Jones of Jackson were sapped of their political influence on the second day of the winter session.
As our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu reports, Duncan stripped Beach of his chairmanship of the Transportation Committee, while Jones will no longer lead the Insurance and Labor Committee. Neither will serve as even a rank-and-file member on the two panels they once led.
And though state Sen. Matt Brass of Newnan will still be a committee chairman this term, he was shelved to a lesser posting. Instead of serving as chairman of the committee that is set to redraw the political map later this year, he’ll oversee a banking committee.
None of this was much of a surprise. The three aggressively promoted President Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud, and pushed efforts to overturn the outcome that ran afoul of Duncan, who has called out the phony narrative.
Beach in particular had signed onto a vast federal lawsuit alleging election misdoings in Georgia and several other states. Gov. Brian Kemp, House Speaker David Ralston, and Senate President pro tem Butch Miller were among the many named defendants.
Not all of the members of the pro-Trump Senate caucus were punished. Several others who signed a letter urging Vice President Mike Pence to illegally block Joe Biden’s win were awarded coveted committee chairmanships.
And state Sen. Greg Dolezal of Cumming will oversee the Science and Technology Committee -- the same lower-profile panel that Renee Unterman was shunted to in 2019.
Some insiders call it a “smack down,” others say they got the “McKoon treatment” in honor of former state Sen. Josh McKoon, who lost his Judiciary Committee post after peeving the powers-that-be.
But there’s also a benefit for the outcasts. They are no longer tethered to party leadership and are freer to buck Duncan and other top GOP figures.
Some point to Tom Graves, who became a hero to some conservatives after he was sacked in the state Legislature -- and later parlayed his popularity to a seat in the U.S. House.
