Harper: Atlanta, Georgia’s brand, is hurting Charlie Harper
This is a column by Charlie Harper, publisher of GeorgiaPol.com and executive director of PolicyBEST.
Earlier this month, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced she will not run for re-election. Note that elections within the City of Atlanta are held this year. In six months, new city leaders will be selected at the ballot box.
It’s important to note that the hyper-partisanship that will again draw national attention and dollars to Georgia’s 2022 statewide November elections are not the same factor in the race Mayor Bottoms has side-stepped. Despite the contest being officially non-partisan, it is a virtual certainty that whomever is elected to replace her will be a highly progressive Democrat.
In a surprise announcement, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Thursday she will not seek reelection following her first term in office.
Bottoms said the last three years were not what she would have scripted for Atlanta, reported WABE’s Lisa Hagen. She said it was time to pass the baton.
“I don’t know what’s next for me personally and for our family,” said Bottoms on Friday. “But what I do know is that this is a decision made from a position of strength and not weakness.”
Bottoms was once considered a possible candidate for Joe Biden’s vice president. Money from a March fundraiser headlined by the president will be returned to donors immediately, according to Bottoms.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she will not run for re-election
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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced late Thursday that she will not run for re-election later this year. File Photo by UPI | License Photo
May 7 (UPI) Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced late Thursday that she will not run for re-election later this year.
Keisha made the surprise announcement in a letter and video published online.
Advertisement As Derek and I have given thoughtful prayer and consideration to the season now before us, it is with deep emotions that I hold my head high and choose not to seek another term as mayor, she said, referring to her husband, Derek W. Bottoms.
While reflecting on the current state of police and community relationships nationwide, officer-involved shootings and the ongoing efforts of communities seeking justice, an Atlanta-based community leader says the issues blocking immediate change are long-term and systemic.
“People are expecting, hey it’s a new day you can’t shoot us anymore and that’s not how it works,” says DeMicha Luster, an NPU-V community leader.
Luster was a guest on Thursday’s edition of “Closer Look” where she spoke candidly with show host Rose Scott about policing in Black communities.
The conversation fell on the heels of the Atlanta Civil Service Board’s ruling to reinstate Garrett Rolfe, the former Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks last summer in the parking lot of a southwest Atlanta Wendy’s parking lot.
An oversight board has ruled to reverse the termination of a former Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks in a southwest Atlanta Wendy’s parking lot in June.
In a five-page document, the Atlanta Civil Service Board outlined that Garrett Rolfe wasn’t afforded his right to due process.
On Wednesday’s edition of “Closer Look,” criminal defense attorney and WABE legal analyst Page Pate said the board’s decision was based on the process not the merits of the case.
“It’s critical for everyone to understand that the board is not saying that Officer Rolfe acted appropriately,” said Pate. “They are not overturning the finding that he used excessive force. In fact, they really didn’t address that at all. The only thing the board is doing is saying that the city did not follow its own policy and procedures when they terminated him so quickly after Brooks was shot.”