One Man’s Opinion: Our Governor, And We’d Like to Keep Him

By Bill Crane

I first met Brian Kemp as a young state senator from Athens, Georgia. He was also an agri-businessman, developer, and homebuilder. After four years in the state senate, Kemp ran for agriculture commissioner in 2006, finishing second in the GOP Primary to Gary Black, who won the general election that fall. In 2010, when Secretary of State Karen Handel resigned to run for governor, Governor Sonny Perdue appointed Kemp to the position. Kemp served there ably, and was re-elected to two full terms in 2010 and again in 2014. During 2017/2018, he began an underdog GOP campaign for governor, with the odd’s-on favorite at the time being popular GOP Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle.

But later, the Cagle campaign was stumbling, atop flat debate performances aided by a troubling recording in circulation of a conversation that Cagle thought was private. Former Governor Sonny Perdue was now in the Trump Administration Cabinet as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Toward the end of a Cabinet meeting and before that runoff, Secretary Perdue reportedly told President Donald Trump that he should look at the Georgia governor’s race and perhaps get involved. U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), a Trump ally and the former governor’s first cousin, seconded that advice. Without ever meeting or speaking to Kemp personally, Trump tweeted his endorsement of the secretary of state, giving a well-timed boost to Kemp’s campaign heading into the runoff. Kemp would handily carry (69-31%) all but two counties of Georgia’s 159, including Cagle’s home county of Hall. It was a harsh beatdown for the lieutenant governor.

Kemp headed into the fall campaign against a well-funded and increasingly national political figure, former State House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams. Abrams would be exceedingly critical of Kemp not resigning as secretary of state during the campaign. While Karen Handel had resigned during the 2010 campaign, two other Democrats, Secretary of State Cathy Cox and Secretary of State Lewis Massey, had each campaigned for governor while holding the office, losing out in the

Community Member Spotlight: Meet Sharmele West-Smith

By Tana Poncsak

Sharmele West-Smith, also fondly known as Smiley, has been a licensed hair stylist since she was seventeen years old. With her first salon in Providence, Rhode Island, Sharmele has also owned salons in Florida and Georgia. Her latest venture is a hair clinic located in Tucker. And while the clinic is all about helping people improve their appearance, the journey to open the clinic was all heart.

Sharmele lost her mother, Juanita West, in June 2013 to colon cancer, but not before Juanita helped her daughter find a way to help others. And now Sharmele, along with her siblings and her grandchildren, are honoring Juanita for the kind and loving person she was.

Growing up in her parents’ house, Sharmele remembers it as a place where everyone was welcome.

“We never had an empty house,” Sharmele recalls. “We always had

Democratic primary or runoff. Though Georgia elections are administered by county election superintendents and boards of election, the secretary of state oversees the election process, whose office also reviews/ investigates allegations of irregularities or voter fraud. The secretary of state in Georgia also does not TABULATE votes, only reporting out the unofficial tallies and later certifying the results received from each county.

The 2018 gubernatorial contest was close; roughly 58,000 votes separated Abrams and Kemp. Kemp was sworn in, but Abrams never conceded and continued to allege voter suppression and related irregularities which cost her a contest that she actually “won.” This may sound familiar when I speak later of Donald Trump and the 2020 contest in Georgia.

During 2020, Kemp campaigned for Trump’s re-election, though the incumbent president was critical of Kemp re-opening Georgia “too soon,” and other disagreements over the appointment of a successor to retiring U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA). Trump favored Congressman Doug Collins (R-District 14), but Kemp instead appointed political newcomer and entrepreneur Kelly Loeffler as the interim senator. Trump’s re-election would top the GOP ticket that November 2020, along with two GOP senators, David Perdue and interim Senator Loeffler. Of those three, Senator Perdue would receive the highest ballot count, as Trump, Perdue, and Loeffler each eventually lost their respective races.

Kemp did something few in his party seem capable of doing. Without directly criticizing Trump, and while acknowledging support for his campaign in 2020, Kemp stood by the Georgia law and election results and would not engage or respond to whatever the former president threw his way. This independence resounded particularly well with independent and non-party-aligned Georgia voters in 2022. This would also place Kemp, along with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and a few other GOP officials in other states, atop the Trump enemies list.

The 2022 rematch with Abrams seemed anti-climactic. Abrams would be out-polled by two of her own fellow nominees down-ticket on the Democratic ballot. She admitted late in the campaign to having a particular challenge locking down black male voters. Her margin of loss was 8 percent, and this time she did concede on election night.

Georgia may remain one of the few original thirteen colonies with only one U.S. President, Jimmy Carter. And while his track record as former president has been unparalleled, Carter also found Washington more than a bit unwelcoming. Brian Kemp is our governor, and he is delivering for Georgia. The choice of course, is his to make, but I think we would like to keep him here.

Bill Crane owns the full-service communications firm CSI Crane. More information at www.CSICrane.com people staying with us.”

Her father, James West, was a prominent Bostonian, and Juanita was a nurse.

After all the kids were grown and on their own, Juanita visited the Atlanta area and decided she liked the vibe. So in 1998, Juanita, along with one of her five sisters, loaded a truck and left Boston headed south to Atlanta, where Juanita continued to work as a nurse helping cancer patients.

Sharmele wasn’t far behind. In 2006, Sharmele moved from her home in Florida to join her mother in the Atlanta area and opened her first hair salon in Georgia. This was also around the time when Sharmele first noticed that hair loss was becoming an issue for many.

“I was getting more and more black women coming in, looking for black stylists to help them figure it out,” she said.

In fact, Juanita started to have her own hair loss issues around this time. Sharmele noticed that Juanita was losing not only her hair, but also her self-esteem and her confidence.

With the encouragement from her mother, Sharmele researched hair loss and started to learn more about what she could do to help. After the research, classes, and shopping the competition, Sharmele realized she