CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Democratic nominee Abrams shops platform to veterans

Augusta Chronicle - 9/3/2018

Sept. 03--Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams promised "more than slogans" to protect the state's military and veteran community at a Sunday meeting in Augusta that was trolled by a handful of GOP activists who waved signs and shouted through a megaphone at attendees.

Abrams, the former state House Democratic leader for seven years, said as a deputy Atlanta city attorney she'd witnessed firsthand the losses of Fort Gillem and Fort McPherson during an earlier round of Base Realignment and Closure and was determined to ensure the state kept up in the metrics needed to support a thriving military community, such as quality education and economic opportunity.

"The question is, are we ready to continue being ninth highest in the U.S. for veterans and active duty military? My answer is a resounding yes," said Abrams, who released a six-point approach to girding the state's military and veteran community earlier this year.

The plan includes ensuring former military make smooth transitions from service to career or school by having dedicated staff members at every institution, creating a military affairs council and ending the "embarrassment in Georgia" of veteran poverty and homelessness, Abrams said.

As a board member of Atlanta'sGateway Center for the homeless for a decade, Abrams said homeless veterans need not just a bed for the night but treatment for mental health and substance abuse issues.

To reach that goal, however, requires Abrams to complete a central tenet of her campaign, the expansion of Medicaid, which would increase eligibility for low-income adults and release additional federal funding for health care. Georgia is one of 14 states that has not adopted the expansion.

"My first responsibility as the next governor of Georgia will be the expansion of Medicaid and the acceptance of $3 billion to which the state is entitled every single year," said Abrams.

Abrams said it's also the state's responsibility to ensure spouses of veterans have ready access to jobs and state professional licenses to ensure their financial wellbeing, as well as freedom from predatory lenders that gouge borrowers with high interest and fees.

"As the next governor of Georgia, I intend to banish predatory lenders from our state, especially from our military," she said.

Taking a first question from the gathering of mostly veterans and dependents Sunday, Abrams was interrupted by one from the outside group who demanded an explanation regarding Stone Mountain, which bears huge likenesses of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.

"What is your reason to call for the destruction of the Confederate monument in Stone Mountain," said the man, who refused to give his name. "It's a work of art that was created for the enjoyment by the state of Georgia."

Resisting efforts by audience members to silence the man, Abrams said she'd made earlier comments regarding Stone Mountain shortly after the Charlottesville, Va., riots a year ago.

"If you remember in August 2017, two grotesque things occurred," Abrams said. "Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists mowed down Heather Heyer with a car because she was a civil rights activist who said the state shouldn't have monuments to domestic terrorism."

"They're veteran monuments, ma'am," the man interjected. "You're calling for the destruction of veteran monuments." He cited a section of federal law that provided headstones for Confederate veterans but does not bestow the status of a U.S. Veteran on Confederate veterans.

Abrams told the crowd as former Democratic leader in the House, "I do not require any defense" and continued her response.

"She was murdered. At the time this happened, the person who is sitting in the oval office said she was no different than the people who killed her. That kind of moral equivocation is an embarrassment to our nation. And when the question was raised to me what would I do about the single largest monument to domestic terrorism, I said I would remove it," Abrams said. "I cannot countenance that type of celebration paid for by state dollars."

Abrams said she'd never called to "sandblast" the three-acre sculpture but that "removal can work a lot of different ways."

Stone Mountain wasn't a postwar memorial, "it was created by the people who restarted the KKK specifically for the purpose of terrorizing African-Americans and Jews who they thought were getting out of their place," Abrams said.

Around that time Francys Johnson, the Democratic nominee for the 12th Congressional District, joined the program and spoke to a question about bureaucratic delays veterans experience in obtaining medical care.

Johnson said his GOP opponent's plan is to privatize the care but, in the meantime, create frustration "to exacerbate the problem where people will throw their hands up and say to hell with this."

"Georgia is better than this and Georgia has a history of coming together around complicated issues and finding solutions," Abrams said.

Asked if she supports eliminating the state income tax on military retirement which her Republican opponent Brian Kemp announced last week is part of his platform, Abrams said the proposal's $60 million price tag raises questions for her.

"Georgia already has on the books a fairly generous tax exemption for retirement pay" that's specific to age, not military service, Abrams said.

Instead, "priority issues" include expanding Medicaid and maintaining adequate funding for public schools, she said.

While the three male and one female protestors standing outside would not identify themselves, one was Daniel Martin, the former Blythe council candidate facing a felony charge of vote buying in the Blythe mayor's race. Martin held a "Save Stone Mountain" sign and refused to comment.

___

(c)2018 The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.)

Visit The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.) at chronicle.augusta.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.