This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud Sally Harrell contributed a whooping 53 entries.
Labor Commissioner Mark Butler Spurns Legislators This week, Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) Commissioner Mark Butler cancelled his call with the Senate Democratic Caucus, saying: “Due to threats to protest at the Commissioner’s personal residence by members of the Democratic Caucus and the recent protests that almost started a riot at a GDOL location, we […]
Hope Isn’t Cancelled Georgia’s Governor is running our state like an authoritarian dictatorship, and it’s not sitting well with local leaders. In a recent AJC “Power Poll”, respondents made it clear that local elected leaders should be able to protect their communities with public health ordinances that are more strict than the Governor’s orders. As […]
I cannot be quiet and do my job. Many of you helped me get elected, and the “Senator” you put in front of my name now amplifies my voice. A couple weeks ago I told you about Georgians who have not yet received their unemployment benefits and are struggling to survive. Their pleas have still […]
Mask Madness, Civil Disobedience and John Lewis Several weeks ago, I received a few dozen emails warning me that “Mandated medical interventions have no place in a free society.” Yet requiring masks is one of the only tools we have left to slow the rapid spread of COVID-19. My grandmother, “Nana,” wrote in her memoir […]
Silence is a Strategy The worse the news gets about Georgia’s COVID spread, the more silent the Governor’s office gets. And that’s no accident. Silence is being used as a strategic tool. The data I’ve studied says that COVID hospitalizations are rising quickly. Within a week or two, things could be really bad. As I’ve often […]
Bringing It Home Back in May, we celebrated our collective efforts at “flattening the curve,” but the virus is spiking again. And today, as we celebrate the 4th of July without parades, it has hit me especially hard that the COVID-19 virus is not going away anytime soon. Its path of destruction has brought about not […]
Sally’s Senate Snapshot #12 – It’s Over! Last week was bad, but this week was worse. At times I felt like I was observing the pit of humanity. At other times I felt like I was in the middle of a war, with bad bills circumventing the process overnight. All this was played out against […]
This Father’s Day, I remember how proud my dad was when I won my election to the Georgia Senate, but if he were with us today, he would have been ringing his hands at the thought of me returning to work. It was a rough week at Georgia’s State Capitol. After three months of mostly […]
Back to Work, 2020 Style On March 12th, 2020, the legislature was suspended on day 29 of a 40 day session. On June 15th, three months later, the Georgia General Assembly will return to work to finish the last ten days of the legislative session. How the Next Ten Days Will Work During the time […]
Demonstrations and protests during a pandemic are unsettling. Many have asked me, “what can we do?” To start, we need to listen to black people. Last week, my neighbor Deontez Winbley published an essay on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s news website about the need to be uncomfortable, and he has given me permission to reprint it […]