AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – We wanted to address the big news making items in the great state of Georgia with the person at the top. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is our special guest today. We are glad he has come back to “The Means Report”. He’s been here since before he was elected to office. And yes, he’ll talk about those headlines, including George’s ongoing response to this latest surge of the pandemic, Georgia’s election law and the controversy that it is generating nationwide, including a lawsuit from the attorney general of the United States. And most recently, Governor Kemp and his team trying to crack down on crime, teaming with local law enforcement agencies to do just that.
Brad Means: Governor Kemp, thank you so much as always for taking the time to be with us here on “The Means Report”. We appreciate it so much.
Gov. Brian Kemp: It’s great to be back, thanks Brad.
Brad Means: My first question, Governor, has to do with the pandemic and this resurgence that we’ve seen of late. Do you think that it’s going to be here, the pandemic at this level for the foreseeable future? Or do you think this time around everything’s going to be a lot more manageable?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, I got a couple of thoughts on that, but like anything COVID related, you know, I just never know. This thing has been a moving target for 15 months now, and the Delta variant, there’s no question that’s spreading faster than anything we’ve seen so far. We know that our hospitals are filling up. We also know that the COVID patients that are in the hospital, 95% plus of them have not been vaccinated. So the vaccine is working to prevent folks from going to the hospital, which is why I want to urge people to continue to talk to their medical professionals and consider a vaccine. But I do, you know, what I hear from and read from folks like Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and other folks is that it’s spreading so fast, there’s a smaller population, obviously, of non-vaccinated people. So we feel like this is going to go up quickly, but then come back down quickly. So hopefully it’ll just be another two or three weeks of this, but we just don’t know that. So we’re grinding it every day here that we can, working with anybody and everybody to make sure that we pull through this again and continue to keep our economy open, which is so important right now,
Brad Means: Governor Kemp, I know that you have indicated on more than one occasion that there’s not going to be another shutdown in the state of Georgia like there was last time around. My question though, is, do you have any sort of plan in case the numbers get too high, anything tucked away that you might have to implement that would at least resemble a shutdown? Would we ever get back to that?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Yeah, I just don’t really see us doing that, Brad. I mean, I never say never, but you know, we’ve fought through a lot in our state. We have a lot less people that are vulnerable. Our priorities early on to vaccinate our seniors, the medically fragile, those that are more susceptible people, you know, healthcare professionals, those that are on the front lines like law enforcement, first responders, and certainly nursing home residents and our teachers has really helped us keep our case counts down with those folks. But also more importantly, hospitalizations. The hospital CEOs that I’ve been talking to around the state, we’re getting people in and out of the hospital quicker with COVID. Part of the problem is the emergency rooms are being overrun with other patients and people wanting to get tested at the hospital. I would urge them to contact their public health department. Don’t stress our hospitals, do your testing at the public health department. It’s free, they’re glad to do it. And that’ll help our hospitals out. But people know what to do now, they know how to fight COVID and we got to fight through this and you know, we’re going to keep working on that every single day.
Brad Means: You talk about hospitals being stressed out. University Hospital here in Augusta, just yesterday, and I know we record “The Means Report” here on a Thursday, but just yesterday, Wednesday, they said they were going to reach out to your office to try to see if you could help them get about 30 more nurses. Can your team send healthcare responders, providers to towns across Georgia if you have to?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, we’ve been doing that for well over a year now. The state has been spent close to half a billion dollars on augmenting staffing and medical facilities, hospitals and nursing homes, long-term care facilities over the state for a very long time. We have extended that contract and continued to do that. So we’ve got well over 1000 temporary healthcare folks that have been working for us, and they are supporting our hospitals. The problem, Brad, is that nationwide there’s like a 30%, 35% vacancy for medical professionals across the country, respiratory therapists, nurses, and other critical people. I mean, literally every state right now, especially the ones that are having any uptick with COVID, and they haven’t seen it yet, they’re fixing to, are doing the same thing we are. So there’s just not people out there that we can go and get. So we’re doing everything we can to continue to support them with the staffing that we do have, and certainly looking at other options. But they’re just not, they’re not very good ones, cause there’s just not many people out there.
Brad Means: Governor Kemp, I know you’re not a huge fan of mask mandates. The CDC’s message has changed during this pandemic, as you mentioned, that it is a fluid situation. There are so many unknowns, but right now they’re saying good idea for everybody indoors, especially at schools, to wear masks. What do you think about that? And what do you think about forcing people to put on a mask when they go inside a building?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, you also had the guy at the National Institute of Health that’s telling parents to mask when they’re around their unvaccinated children, and I just don’t think that’s realistic. I think that’s one reason people don’t trust the advice they’re getting from the federal government and people in Washington, DC. We haven’t had mask mandates the whole time from a state perspective, we’re not going to have them now. If people want to wear a mask, I would urge them to do that. We’re leaving local control to our school systems. I just had a great call with a bunch of superintendents from all over the state, representing all kinds of different districts. And they’re all dealing with different situations in their schools and they are closest to that. Some of them are masking, some are not, they got local school boards that govern them. And that is really a decision, I think, that needs to be made locally for our schools by the school board, in conjunction with listening to what their parents want for their children and, you know, what the superintendents are saying. And we’ve been through a lot over the last year, keeping kids in school here in Georgia. We were one of the first states to open schools back up and fought a lot. So these folks know how to deal with it. I will tell you there, despite the challenges they have right now, they were very optimistic on the call that they’re going to be able to get through this and keep kids in the classroom. And Dr. Toomey was on that call as well and reiterated to them, it’s so important that our kids are actually in school for learning versus being in a virtual environment. So we’re going to work with them to continue to make sure that happens, if at all possible.
Brad Means: We hear about incentives being offered, other states have done it, you have talked about it. Any chance on giving people an incentive to get the vaccine, paying them maybe?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, we looked at that at the state level. I don’t know it’s been that successful around the country. When you look at what folks did, I know some local governments are talking about doing that. They’ve certainly getting as much COVID relief CARES money and ARP funds and their local communities, just like the state’s getting. And so if they feel like that’s a good exercise for them to do at the local level, I personally think that’s a better way to do it. They’re on the ground there. They can help push that versus having a, you know, the state trying to do that is a very cumbersome exercise. We’re focusing our money right now in augmenting staffing and also having public health, having a lot of resources to get the vaccines out. And then we’re looking at other innovative ways to push that. But we certainly appreciate any help the locals can give us. And you know, I’ve charged the local business community in Columbus this week at the Georgia Chamber Congressional Lunch to do everything that they could to promote the vaccine, to promote educating on the vaccine in their local communities. And I’m sure the folks in the CSRA are doing that as well.
Brad Means: We are continuing our with Georgia governor Brian Kemp on “The Means Report”. When we come back, to other big issues of the day or of late, if you will. Fighting crime in the state of Georgia, something that’s near and dear to Governor Kemp and the First Lady Marty Kemp’s hearts. And we’ll also talk about George’s new voting law and the heat that it continues to face nationwide when we come back.
Part 2
Brad Means: Welcome back to “The Means Report” everybody. We are continuing to talk with Georgia governor Brian Kemp about the big issues of the day. Governor Kemp, let’s talk about George’s voting law. We’ve discussed it in the past, but since we last talked, the nation’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia against this new voting law, says part of it is racially discriminatory. What do you think about that lawsuit and the chances of Georgia’s new law holding up?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, look, I’m not shocked. Unfortunately it’s very disappointing, I think, for me as a Georgian and an American to know that the top law enforcement agency in the land is weighing in on voting issues at the state level where they should be addressed by general assemblies all across the country, and that’s certainly what we did here. And really it’s pretty sad to see this agency being turned into a political organization. But Brad, the fact is this bill, the Elections Integrity Act, Senate Bill 202, makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat. And then we’re going to have secure, accessible, and fair elections in Georgia. And for them to call it racial or Jim Crow 2.0, quite honestly, it’s just a lie. We’re adding access for weekend voting days. We’re simply requiring a voter ID for absentee ballots just like we have for in-person voting. A vast majority of Americans and Georgians support that requirement. Securing drop boxes and making sure that the locals counting the votes have continuous counting so you don’t start and stop during the middle of the night, so people can watch that process. And Representative Barry Fleming and a lot of members of the local delegation over there know this is a good bill. And we’re going to continue to fight back against this really, you know, cancel culture around the country, including the Justice Department and President Biden and Vice President Harris that continue to not tell the truth about this bill.
Brad Means: All right, so just what would you say then, Governor Kemp, to the person out there watching who says, look, I don’t have transportation, I don’t have a cell phone, I don’t have the internet, all the things my neighbor has. It is, this person might say, next to impossible for me to get an ID much less make it to a polling place or afford a stamp or make it to a mailbox. I mean, if someone’s situation is that dire, what do you say?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well those, quite honestly, some of those really scenarios are quite comical in some ways, certainly your family member can take your absentee ballot to your mailbox at the end of the driveway. You know, people have had to deal with absentee voting before this law. The only thing that’s changed is on the mechanical side at the elections office level. Has really not much to do with changing in the voter before you would sign your signature. But you gotta be a citizen to register to vote in the state. And we’ve been given away free voter IDs. If people don’t have them, they can contact their county registrar and we’ll be glad to help you get one. If they have problems with that, they can contact my office and we’ll help you do that. 90% of our people in the state have voted in person with a photo ID in the past. And I think people are making a mountain out of a molehill about this ID requirement. There’s other ways that they do not have that that they can still vote using other documentation that’s spelled out in the law. The problem is the activists, and a lot of these folks like in the Justice Department, they just obviously haven’t read the bill to understand that. I would encourage them to do so.
Brad Means: Governor Kemp, I know that you’re making another push to fight crime throughout the state of Georgia. You were in Augusta not too long ago to talk about a big gang bust. What kind of response are you getting from local law enforcement across the state? I would imagine it’s a bipartisan positive response.
Gov. Brian Kemp: Oh, I mean, it was incredible. I mean, I just appreciate the work of the prosecutors, you know, in the past administration, this current one for the work that they did, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Director Reynolds and his team, the sheriff was a big part of that. So truly a bipartisan effort. And look, you know, going after street gangs is not a Republican issue and it’s not a Democratic issue. It’s a public safety, keep your community safe issue. And that is what we’ve been doing. We’re working with any jurisdiction anywhere in the state that wants to go after violent, dangerous street gangs. And that was a huge, you know, really largest gang prosecution or indictments we’ve seen in the state. A lot of these groups are tied to human trafficking, which you’ve mentioned our First Lady Marty Kemp has been leading the nation in ending human trafficking and getting support to the victims. And it was just a great day when we were able to be there for that indictment announcement.
Brad Means: I know you and First Lady Marty Kemp have been pushing the efforts of the Grace Commission and any effort to stop human trafficking. Unfortunately, Augusta has been a hotbed for that. Are you pleased with the anti human trafficking efforts to this point?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, incredibly pleased, but our work never ends there. It’s a tragic situation as something that, you know, as the First Lady says, it’s not easy to talk about, but we we’ve got to. We’ve passed seven pieces of legislation by the general assembly. She reminds me often, they’re the only pieces of legislation that I’ve had 100% unanimous bipartisan support on. So this is an issue that does resonate in every community across our state and across political lines. And we’re going to continue to be in that fight every day, Brad, just like we’re in the COVID fight right now, because it’s happening in your community. If you don’t believe it, you just need to take the training that’s available. It’s 30 minutes. Learn what to look for, notify somebody if you see something and let’s put it into this and help these victims.
Brad Means: Well, you’re right, Governor Kemp, it is everywhere. One quick question before I let you go today. And that just has to do with the strike team and your efforts to bring broadband internet access and other amenities to rural areas. Is that moving right along to the point where one day everybody can jump on the worldwide web?
Gov. Brian Kemp: Well, we’re working on it. We’ve had some incredible announcements on the economic development front. We had a record year with the number of jobs and investments that we announced through the Department of Economic Development, but we’ve also, Tricia Pridemore, the chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission reminded me today, we’ve done 19 announcements for rural broadband. I know many are in and around the CSRA. Hopefully we’re going to be able to do more of that in the future. We’ve put state money into that effort. We passed Senate Bill 2 back in 2019. And it is incredible. We got 300000 Georgians in rural Georgia that are getting service from EMCs and other local utilities that will have access to high speed fiber in the next two or three years because of these efforts. But we want to do more. You know, we’ve still got holes in that network in places like McDuffie county and others that we’ve got to address. So we look forward to working with those local communities, but we really need the local communities and local partnerships to develop and then come to the state. And we can help with grants at the state level, but also leverage that to get federal money to make that public private partnership work.
Brad Means: Well Governor Kemp, all the best to you. So much is going on, and that makes us even more appreciative of you taking the time with us today. And to you and your family certainly, I hope you stay healthy over there.
Gov. Brian Kemp: You do the same. Thanks so much.
Brad Means: Thank you. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on “The Means Report”.
