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Loeffler, Perdue Blasted on AJC Front Page for “Reckless” and Unfounded Claims to Discredit Georgia’s Election System

AJC Editorial Board Slams Loeffler and Perdue on Front Page: “Reckless Barely Begins To Touch On What Perdue and Loeffler Have Done”

Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue folded under pressure from their party leadership in Washington this week and “leveled unfounded claims” to discredit the election results in Georgia. President Trump and his team “pressured” Loeffler and Perdue to call for the Georgia Secretary of State’s resignation, and the “Republican senators played ball” because they feared political retaliation. The “brazen effort to appease Trump” showed both vulnerable incumbents once again failing a basic test of leadership by refusing to be independent voices for their state.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editorial Board agreed this morning, rebuking the two vulnerable incumbents in a front page editorial for their “dangerous behavior” and writing that “Monday’s attack by Georgia’s U.S. senators marked a new low” and “reckless barely begins to touch on what Perdue and Loeffler have done.” Despite there being “no evidence of any systemic wrongdoing” – a fact verified by Republican officials in Georgia – Loeffler and Perdue were quick to do the president’s bidding. Loeffler and Perdue’s actions prove they’re nothing but rubber stamps who can’t be trusted to put Georgians first.

“Senator Loeffler and Senator Perdue are baselessly trying to undermine the will of Georgia voters because they have caved to their party leadership in Washington,” said DSCC spokesperson Helen Kalla. “These senators are only ever looking out for themselves, and this pathetic act of self-serving cowardice confirms they will always put their own personal and political interests ahead of what’s right for Georgia.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Jolt: The ‘orchestrated’ push to discredit Georgia’s election sparks more GOP infighting
By Jim Galloway, Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein, and Tia Mitchell
November 10, 2020

Key Points:

  • This was supposed to be the week that Republicans united behind U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue for a pair of Jan. 5 runoffs that could decide control of the Senate.
  • Instead, the two senators leveled unfounded claims of a disastrous “embarrassment” of an election at fellow Republicans who oversaw last week’s vote – and called for the resignation of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
  • It was a brazen effort to appease Trump, who has falsely claimed electoral fraud despite no evidence of any wrongdoing as he and his supporters try to discredit Biden.
  • We’re told the president and his top allies pressured the two Republican senators to take this step, lest he tweet a negative word about them and risk divorcing them from his base ahead of the consequential runoff.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Opinion: Ga. doesn’t need baseless accusations
By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editorial Board
November 11, 2020

Key Points:

  • Even in an election year where standards of fair play seem to plummet with each passing day, Monday’s attack by Georgia’s U.S. senators marked a new low.
  • Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue called on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to resign, alleging that he had “failed the people of Georgia” and “failed to deliver honest and transparent elections.”
  • Those are shocking charges for this pair to level at the person – and the office – responsible for overseeing elections here. They’re even more stunning, given that Perdue and Loeffler fired their broadside against a fellow Republican – not that party affiliation should count when the integrity of a core democratic institution is under attack.
  • Perdue and Loeffler offered no specifics, at least not for the record. And that is what should make their campaign-speak attack message so unacceptable to fair-minded Georgians.
  • Reckless barely begins to touch on what Perdue and Loeffler have done. Without presenting reasons, they have assaulted Georgia’s election system. That is dangerous behavior in this tense moment, both for this state and for the nation that is watching this risky sideshow.
  • Today’s incessant partisan fighting has weakened our democracy’s systems and fed a now-rampant and corrosive distrust of government – and of each other. The latest low blows further erode the constitutional foundations of self-governance.
  • Politics is about nothing if not vigorous competition. Done ethically, a robust pursuit of votes can help citizens make choices. The latest inappropriate lobbing of thin accusations at election officials is nowhere near that.
  • Perdue, Loeffler and others should know that. We believe fair-minded Georgians already do.

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