It may seem a bit jarring to hear former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss give a talk about political civility. After all, in the wake of 9/11, Chambliss ran one of the most infamous attack ads in history, comparing his opponent, the Democratic incumbent and Vietnam War veteran Max Cleland, to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
But as a close friend of the late Sen. Johnny Isakson, Chambliss was invited to speak at UGA’s second annual Johnny Isakson Symposium on Political Civility last month, along with former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat.
Heitkamp and Chambliss both said that, during their tenures in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats had broad big-picture agreements on issues like agriculture and the armed forces, even if they disagreed on the details. “At the end of the day, we both cared about what’s in America’s best interests,” Chambliss said.
But partisan primaries have pushed both parties to their extremes, according to Heitkamp. Because only 10%–20% of the most active voters choose nominees, the middle is left out. “By the time the general election rolls around, you got two choices, and America typically says, ‘I don’t like either one of these guys,’” she said. And once in office, social media rewards attention-seekers who “say mean things at a hearing” over people with character. Heitkampf even wondered if Isakson, with his reputation as a compromiser, could make it through a GOP primary today.
Both ex-senators agreed that building relationships and trust is the key to bipartisan cooperation. “The secret sauce of Johnny Isakson was, you could take his word to the bank. He never broke his word. He would never undermine you for his own personal benefit,” said Heitkamp, who served from 2013–2019. “If we had a whole Senate and a Congress full of those people, think about what we could get done with a good idea, with compromise.”
Those types of politicians are falling by the wayside, Heitkamp said, pointing to Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat who lost his re-election bid last month in an increasingly red Montana. Republicans, she said, had a special relationship with Tester. “They knew there were no surprises in committee. They knew if they needed to move a bill, [he would say] ‘I may not agree with you, but I’m not going to get in your way.’”
Chambliss and Isakson became friends at UGA in the 1960s, then reconnected when Isakson ran for governor in 1990, Chambliss said. While many Georgia politicians like Chambliss switched parties in the 1990s and early 2000s as the South was realigning post-civil rights, Isakson was always a Republican. Chambliss recalled that Isakson flipped Chambliss’ native Coffee County at a time when rural Georgia remained staunchly Democratic, and a Republican winning a statewide race was almost unimaginable. “It was his magnetic personality, his charisma, his straight talking that impressed everyone early on, and he never wavered,” Chambliss said.
Twelve years later, Chambliss defeated Cleland, and two years after that, Isakson won a Senate seat vacated by Zell Miller. After that, the two were “inseparable,” Chambliss said. They worked on bipartisan immigration bills in 2007 and 2012 with colleagues ranging from iconoclastic Republican John McCain to liberal Democrat Ted Kennedy, Chambliss recalled. “We got close. We got very close,” he said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get quite over the line, because it would’ve solved a lot of the problems we have today.
“Nobody in Congress today is in favor of illegals, I promise you, in spite of the news reports from time to time,” he continued.
Chambliss served two terms before retiring, while Isakson resigned during his third term after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and died in 2021.
Heitkamp predicted that hardening partisanship in Congress would lead to “continuing creep of executive orders, continuing creep of bypassing Congress.” But she held out hope for the future. “There’s a lot of opportunity for true statesmen to step up,” she said.
New Leaders at ACC Planning Department, Boys & Girls Club
A 25-year veteran of the Athens-Clarke County Planning Department, Bruce Lonnee, has been appointed to lead the department during the crucial process of crafting a new future land use plan.
Lonnee has been the interim director since Brad Griffin retired in June, and last week Acting Manager Niki Jones removed the interim tag. “Bruce not only has a wealth of experience in the planning field, but he knows a great deal specifically about the Athens-Clarke County community as well,” Jones said in a news release. “He has worked with this community through comprehensive planning, historic designation and rezoning processes for more than two decades. I have no doubt he’ll continue to do the same excellent work moving forward in this new role.”
Lonnee was around when ACC created its current land use plan more than 20 years ago. Now, the county is in the midst of updating the plan, which will guide future growth and development for another two decades—a period when Athens is expected to add about 30,000 people.
A Wisconsin native, Lonnee holds a bachelor’s degree from McMaster University in Ontario, a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a master’s in historic preservation from UGA’s College of Environment and Design. He has also served as a guest lecturer and part-time instructor at UGA.
Meanwhile, the Boys & Girls Club of Athens has hired Shawonna Coleman as CEO, board chair Jimmy Newland announced last week.
Coleman has 14 years of experience in education, nonprofits and youth advocacy, according to a news release. She previously served as director of educational foundations at the Boys & Girls Club of America and executive director of the Georgia Reading Corps & Math Corps. She holds a bachelor of science in mass communications from Jackson State University, a master of arts from Belhaven University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Clark Atlanta University.
“I am incredibly excited to join the Boys & Girls Clubs of Athens,” Coleman said in a news release. “This organization has a profound impact on the community, and I am honored to be part of a team dedicated to empowering youth and fostering their growth. Together, we will create opportunities, address challenges and ensure that every child has the resources and support they need to thrive. I look forward to working with our dedicated staff, board members and community partners to build a brighter future for our youth.”
The previous Boys & Girls Club CEO, Robert Finch, resigned in March after being arrested on charges of unlawful surveillance, electronic transmission of videos depicting sexually explicit conduct and harassing communications. According to police, Finch secretly videotaped an ex-girlfriend in the nude. Finch pleaded not guilty to the charges in October.
Since Finch’s resignation, Vice President of Workforce Initiatives Sterling Gardner has served as interim CEO.
The Boys & Girls Club of Athens operates after-school and summer programs for youth ages 6–18 at various locations across the county, serving approximately 1,500 students in 2023.
Tourism Boosts Athens Economy
The tourism industry continued to fuel jobs in Athens and Georgia as a whole last year, according to figures announced by local tourism agency Visit Athens GA last month.
A record 171 million people visited Georgia last year, spending a total of $43.6 billion. In Athens, visitors spent $454 million, supporting an estimated 4,456 jobs and generating $32.4 million in tax revenue, saving each local household an average of $608.
“It’s a remarkable achievement for Athens’ tourism and hospitality industry to reach these impactful economic milestones, benefiting our community’s businesses,” Katie Williams, executive director of Visit Athens GA, said in a news release. “Athens offers a rich selection of hotels, restaurants and retailers for travelers, providing memorable experiences for visitors while significantly boosting our county’s economy.”
Visit Athens GA announced award winners as well: Partner of the Year Anna Joerschke of Benson’s Hospitality Group; Hospitality Hero Maria Alacron of Hotel Indigo; Classic Host winner Dusty Smith of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders; and retired UGA urban planning professor Jack Crowley for the Louis Griffith Hospitality Award.
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