ATLANTA, Ga. — Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms stood inside the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Friday, Nov. 6, and named the team that will help her take over state government in January, a group stacked with people who worked for her when she ran Atlanta City Hall.
Bottoms is calling the effort Georgia’s Promise. At a Friday press conference, she said the choices made in the coming weeks about who will run state agencies will shape what her administration can deliver over four years, and that the goal is to be ready on the first day. She said the focus stays on cost of living and affordability, access to health care and spending on public schools and teachers.
Jon Keen, who was chief operating officer for the city of Atlanta under Bottoms, will serve as the transition’s chief operating officer. Other former City Hall hands include Carmen Chubb, her chief of staff from 2019 to 2022; Rashad Taylor, her senior adviser and chief policy officer, who also managed her campaign for governor; and Philip Gilman, her deputy chief of staff in those same years. Richard Cox, a Delta Air Lines senior vice president who was Atlanta’s chief operating officer before Keen, is also on the team.
The business side includes Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, filmmaker Tyler Perry, CARE USA president and CEO Michelle Nunn, former Coca-Cola Enterprises executive Vicki Palmer and corporate executive Rosalind Brewer. Lawmakers on the team include House Minority Leader Carolyn Hugley and Lt. Gov.-elect Josh McLaurin.
Bottoms said she has spoken with outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp, who offered help with a smooth handoff; Kemp’s office confirmed the two talked. She will inherit state reserves that a recent report shows fell from $14.6 billion in January to $8.7 billion. Democrats in the state House, who won a majority in Tuesday’s election, plan to pick their nominee for speaker in a caucus vote next Thursday.
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Filed under: Atlanta GA Politics News
