We got the same ol’ same ol’ despite Kemp’s opening up senator selection process

When Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced a few months back that he was opening up a web-based application process to help him pick a replacement for US Sen. Johnny Isakson (who is stepping down due to health concerns), I was skeptical that it might be just a publicity stunt. My guess was that instead of giving the hundreds of Georgians who applied for the job online a fair assessment Kemp would simply pick a one of his fellow one-percenters who could be counted on to dutifully carry water for himself and President Donald Trump.

Turns out I guessed right, as Kemp ending up choosing wealthy and influential Atlanta businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to replace Isakson. Loeffler submitted her application (which was full of Republican platitudes that could have been crafted by someone in Kemp’s PR department) right before the deadline after reportedly having some discrete meetings with Kemp and his people.

So hats off to all the “just plain folks” who gamely took the time to submit applications believing they had a chance at bringing back the concept of a citizen legislator to the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately we were reminded that politics are generally subject to the worldly version of the Golden Rule – those who have the gold make the rules.

Kemp’s choice may not seem very unconventional or daring to us, the great unwashed, but it did rile up certain Republican Party officials at the state and national levels. In fact, President Trump took a personal interest in the selection process and leaned on Kemp to choose his loyal backer U.S. Rep. Doug Collins for the position. But Kemp held firm and stuck with Loeffler in the face of pressure from Trump and his lackeys in Congress and in our state.

Pundits think he had a couple of reasons for sticking with his choice. The first one is obvious – the lady is loaded and came right out and promised to spend $20 million of her own cash to buy the next election, I mean to help finance her campaign to retain the seat in the next election.

Kemp’s other speculated reason for choosing Loeffler is more subtle and represents something of a gamble on his part. Republicans still rule the state, but demographics are working against them and Democrats are becoming more competitive with each election. The contest between Kemp and Stacy Abrams in 2018 was much closer than Kemp would have liked, and the loss of college educated women in the suburbs was cited as a major reason the Democrats came so close to flipping the state blue.

So it’s likely that Kemp is trying to demonstrate that the Republican Party is not just run by a bunch of rich white guys. They now allow rich white women to have a seat at the table as well. Diversity!

I’m not sure that plan is going to work out for him. I don’t think the reason that suburban women in our state are voting for Democrats more often has anything to do with the gender of the candidates the GOP is running. I think it has more to do with their aversion to Kemp.

Apparently, Loeffler has donated money to Democratic candidates in the past and she only recently made her first campaign donation to President Trump, so her fealty to Trump and the party were suspect at the outset. She was forced to bend the knee and pledge herself to Trump and all that entails (pro-wall, anti-impeachment, etc.), and I don’t think that’s going to endear her to those Georgians who have become disenchanted with the GOP over the last three years.

Loeffler may not have held elective office before, but she’s already demonstrating that she is willing to modify her positions and behavior as necessary to “go along to get along” with the party whose standard she’ll be bearing. She should get along just fine up there in the swamp.

Bill Ferguson is a resident of Warner Robins. Readers can write him at fergcolumn@hotmail.com.