CPGA Press Release: ACCOUNTABILITY REQUIRED FOR ASSAULT ON GEORGIA SENATOR COLTON MOORE

ACCOUNTABILITY REQUIRED FOR ASSAULT ON GEORGIA SENATOR COLTON MOORE

On Jan­u­ary 16, 2024, the Geor­gia House Speaker’s Legal Coun­sel and Deputy Chief of Staff, Kei­th Williams, assault­ed State Sen­a­tor Colton Moore when he attempt­ed to enter the House Cham­ber for a joint ses­sion of the Geor­gia Gen­er­al Assem­bly. The Capi­tol police wit­nessed the assault and arrest­ed the vic­tim, not the assailant, dis­re­gard­ing O.C.G.A. § 16–11-34 and show­ing the dire need for Con­sti­tu­tion­al and legal train­ing. As a duly elect­ed mem­ber of the Geor­gia Gen­er­al Assem­bly, Sen­a­tor Moore had a con­sti­tu­tion­al and legal oblig­a­tion to rep­re­sent near­ly 200,000 north­west Geor­gia con­stituents by attend­ing the joint ses­sion (Ga. Con­st. Art. III, Sec IV — O.C.G.A. § 28–2‑2). The Con­sti­tu­tion Par­ty of Geor­gia and its sup­port­ers join many oth­er Geor­gians in reject­ing the bla­tant lies that Sen­a­tor Moore “cre­at­ed a dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tion” or “chose to use force” by attempt­ing to ful­fill his oblig­a­tion. The numer­ous videos of the inci­dent show the exact oppo­site.

While we respect the speaker’s author­i­ty over the House, no House rule can over­ride any member’s oblig­a­tions to his or her con­stituents under Geor­gia law and the Geor­gia Con­sti­tu­tion. Fur­ther­more, there is no jus­ti­fi­ca­tion for Attor­ney Williams to insert him­self into the inci­dent com­mit­ting an assault and bat­tery that has drawn atten­tion and ridicule through­out Amer­i­ca. In doing so, he dis­graced the integri­ty and deco­rum of the Geor­gia Gen­er­al Assem­bly and embar­rassed our entire state in what is now a nation­al­ly rec­og­nized inci­dent. For that we apol­o­gize to all Geor­gians even if the Speaker’s office choos­es not to do so.

We thank Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Geor­gia Repub­li­can Chair­man Josh McK­oon, Rep. Char­lice Byrd, Sen. Ran­dall Mang­ham and Rep. Noelle Kaha­ian, who defend­ed Sen­a­tor Moore but the Speak­er must accept respon­si­bil­i­ty with­out fur­ther delay. Geor­gians have long been dis­gust­ed with the lack of account­abil­i­ty for Geor­gia offi­cials who clear­ly com­mit wrong­do­ing. The bizarre, intol­er­a­ble act by Attor­ney Williams demon­strates he is not only a dan­ger to Sen­a­tor Colton Moore, but a threat to oth­er sen­a­tors who may choose to speak truth­ful­ly about estab­lished facts in the Sen­ate well as Sen­a­tor Moore did about for­mer House Speak­er David Ral­ston. As the for­mer attor­ney for Speak­er Ral­ston, Williams’ per­son­al vendet­ta against Sen­a­tor Moore has now rekin­dled seri­ous ques­tions about Ralston’s dubi­ous lega­cy that has come under con­stant fire ever since civic lead­ers and leg­is­la­tors began call­ing for his res­ig­na­tion over a decade ago.

While we com­mend Speak­er Burns for mak­ing strides that have improved the respectabil­i­ty of the Speaker’s office, Attor­ney Williams’ utter dis­re­gard for Geor­gia law, the Geor­gia Con­sti­tu­tion and the con­stituents of Sen­a­tor Moore can­not be tol­er­at­ed by the peo­ple of Geor­gia. There­fore, to main­tain any cred­i­bil­i­ty of lead­er­ship, Speak­er Burns and his Chief of Staff Ter­ry Eng­land must ter­mi­nate Williams who com­mit­ted crim­i­nal assault against a seat­ed Sen­a­tor in the Gen­er­al Assem­bly and phys­i­cal­ly denied the con­sti­tu­tion­al rights of near­ly 200,000 of his con­stituents.  No more excus­es, gaslight­ing, or blame shift­ing. We expect noth­ing less than cor­rec­tive action.

Ricar­do Davis, Chair­man — The Con­sti­tu­tion Par­ty of Geor­gia