Kemp’s Radical Right Problem in Georgia RICO Case
Despite Kemp’s Denials, Georgia Lawmakers Poised to Attack DA Fani Willis With New “Oversight Commission.”
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September 25, 2023
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp took to the press August 31st to push back on a firestorm of criticism as congressional officials in DC and Georgia — including two “good ‘ol boys” on the far right — Trump supporter Clint Dixon and Colton Moore — openly called for attacks on Fani Willis’ prosecution of the defendants in the Georgia false-elector RICO case, either by a special legislative session, or by using a newly-created Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PAQC) in Georgia.
But the rhetoric has only turned the spotlight brighter on a bill quietly signed into law last May by Governor Kemp and by as-yet unindicted co-conspirator Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, so-called Bill 92, a bill designed to strip independence away from Georgia prosecutors like Willis.
In a Facebook post, Georgia Senator Clint Dixon acknowledged the “reality” of the Trump indictment in Georgia, and admitted that Trump “is one of the reasons we passed a law,” tacitly admitting they changed the law, at least in part, to defeat prosecutions against Trump and his co-defendants. Organizations opposed say the law is unconstitutional for Georgia and the United States Constitution.
Dixon led the rhetorical charge, posting on X that “Once the Prosecutorial Oversight Committee is appointed in October, we can have them investigate and take action against Fani Willis and her efforts that weaponize the justice system against political opponents.” He accused Willis of having an “unabashed goal to become some sort of leftist celebrity.”
Georgia already has historical, robust and long-standing laws and traditional institutions to oversee prosecutors and their offices. This law, like others spreading in highly-gerrymandered, white-dominated red districts across the US, seems designed to concentrate judicial power to legislatures. In Georgia’s case, it seems designed specifically to protect lawbreakers involved in the Trump RICO case. Kemp would have preferred the Yee-Haw boys to keep Bill 92 quiet. But now that pony has left the stable.
