{"id":1314665,"date":"2022-02-19T16:52:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-19T21:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1314665"},"modified":"2022-02-19T16:52:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T21:52:48","slug":"exclusive-gov-brian-kemp-urges-buckhead-city-debate-atlanta-mayor-needs-to-feel-pressure-on-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-gov-brian-kemp-urges-buckhead-city-debate-atlanta-mayor-needs-to-feel-pressure-on-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive \u2014 Gov. Brian Kemp Urges Buckhead City Debate: Atlanta Mayor \u2018Needs to Feel Pressure\u2019 on Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-gov-brian-kemp-urges-buckhead-city-debate-atlanta-mayor-needs-to-feel-pressure-on-crime%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1314665&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) approves of the debate happening over the Buckhead City proposal that is dominating local conversations in his state, he said during an interview on <em>Breitbart News Saturday<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Kemp, who is facing a tough primary battle as he seeks a second term in office this year, has chosen not to take sides on the city proposal, which is currently tabled in the state Senate.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ll be glad to know, we passed a bill last year that doesn\u2019t allow rogue local governments to defund the police, and that\u2019s one of the reasons it\u2019s good this debate\u2019s going on and why I haven\u2019t interfered one way or another, is the mayor needs to feel the pressure on this issue,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cYou know, I\u2019ve spoken to him directly and told him people are fed up. You\u2019ve got to do some police work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listen:<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Buckhead City proposal was introduced in the legislature this session as a response to surging crime in Atlanta coupled with Democrats\u2019 defund-the-police sentiments. If passed, the proposal would allow residents of the affluent neighborhood to vote on if they want Buckhead to deannex from Atlanta and become its own city with its own police force.<\/p>\n<p>Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D), who took office in January and succeeded former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), is opposed to the Buckhead separation movement. The grassroots effort, which has been on and off for years, took on new life in 2020 and 2021 amid gripes with Bottoms\u2019 inability to manage skyrocketing violent crime in her city.<\/p>\n<p>Dickens, in an attempt to find alternative answers for supporters of Buckhead City deannexation \u2014 which would ultimately cripple Atlanta\u2019s economy \u2014 has shown signs of becoming more receptive to Atlanta\u2019s policing needs. Dickens\u2019 stance represents a noticeable shift after the Georgia Democrat, a former councilman,&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/news\/local-govt--politics\/atlanta-city-council-votes-down-withholding-police-funding\/dkVvkxqu62JTekBIYqzPON\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">voted<\/a>&nbsp;in favor of quite literally defunding the Atlanta Police Department in the aftermath of George Floyd\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n<p>Kemp said, \u201cYou need to change the policies that the last mayor had that weren\u2019t working,\u201d adding that as governor he has responded to crime by budgeting state funds for the Georgia Board of Investigations (GBI) and attorney general to target gangs that he believes are at the root of much of the violent crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you look at the Buckhead area and look at the crime figures, they\u2019re actually as good as anywhere in the city right now because the State Patrol, under my leadership, and the crime suppression unit, has been doing this work,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got money in the budget this year for the GBI and the Attorney General\u2019s Office to have further resources to go after street gangs. They\u2019re involved in a lot of this. And so, you know, while everybody else is talking in debate and saying they\u2019ll do this that and the other, what you have in myself, as the governor \u2014 and the people of Buckhead know this \u2014 is actually doing something about crime.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Kemp, who is facing former Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) in the May 24 primary race for governor, is&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/17\/georgia-poll-brian-kemp-leads-david-perdue-in-tight-governors-primary-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">polling<\/a>&nbsp;about ten points ahead of Perdue, according to a recent Trafalgar Group poll. Kemp\u2019s current strong position could move, however, depending on the direction the Buckhead bill takes. A stunning majority of respondents in that same poll \u2014 75.1 percent \u2014 said they would support a ballot measure for the people of Buckhead to vote on cityhood.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_17734202\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Buckhead.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17734202\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Buckhead.jpg\" alt=\"Bill White \/ Buckhead City. Screenshot via @BuckheadCityGA \/ Twitter.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bill White, who is leading the Buckhead City movement, along with state lawmakers in August 2021. (courtesy Bill White)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The governor explained that while he has been leading his own state efforts to combat crime, including by&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.11alive.com\/article\/news\/local\/georgia-governor-provides-funding-to-alleviate-atlanta-crime\/85-f50b75fe-9abc-44b2-badc-877c6cae7d68\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">allocating<\/a>&nbsp;new state emergency funds to fight crime and creating the crime suppression unit last May, local leaders have so far not delivered on the issue. \u201cLet\u2019s talk about the reason that poll, the numbers are like that in that poll and what the underlying issue is, and that is violent crime,\u201d Kemp said.<\/p>\n<p>The governor continued, \u201cPeople are fed up with getting carjacked when their kids or their wife is pumping gas, home invasions, people getting shot when they\u2019re walking down the sidewalk, people getting harassed when they\u2019re going to the mall up in Buckhead, and, look, this isn\u2019t happening just in Buckhead. It\u2019s happening all over the city of Atlanta, and if you go all the way back to the summer when you had civil unrest and Antifa, a lot of other crazy people, coming to Georgia trying to burn our city down. You know, the local politicians wouldn\u2019t stand up and turn the police loose on them, and so the state had to do that. I turned the state police department of community supervision, GBI, and other things, National Guard, to keep our city from getting burned down, and ever since then, we\u2019ve been going after violent crime. I created a crime suppression unit. \u2026 [The Buckhead City ballot referendum] is something obviously the policy makers would have to approve. But in the meantime, we\u2019ve been actually doing real police work, boots on the ground for nine months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Write to Ashley Oliver at <a href=\"mailto:aoliver@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aoliver@breitbart.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/asholiver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@asholiver<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) approves of the debate happening over the Buckhead City proposal that is dominating local conversations in his state, he said during an interview on Breitbart &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1314665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}