Political Insider: Your daily jolt: Korean-American to enter GOP race for U.S. Senate

We?re about to get a new Republican candidate in the 2014 race for U.S. Senate ? but not anyone most of you have heard of, or would expect.

Eugene Chin Yu, a Korean-born but long-time resident of Augusta, has engaged political consultant Rich Thompson and is expected to announce his candidacy on Friday.

So far as we know, he?d be the first Korean to run for statewide office in Georgia.

Yu came here as a teenager, graduated from Butler High School in Augusta, and quickly became an American citizen. Yu, 60, is the past president of the Federation of Korean Associations, a group that he?s told others will help finance a multi-million dollar campaign.

From his official biography:

?He has dedicated his life to protecting the lives and freedom of Americans as a member of the United States Army military police, an Augusta Richmond County fireman, and a Richmond County Police Deputy. As President, CEO, and Owner of Continental Military Services, Inc., Yu supplied military grade armaments to our allies in the continuing fight against global terrorism.?

A March article in Global Atlanta indicates that Yu was also a consultant for ?General Purpose Vehicles, which sells armored vehicles to the Korean and Egyptian militaries.?

Thompson, in a telephone interview on Tuesday, said Yu is no longer connected with the firm.

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If you read this blog on Tuesday morning, then you were surprised that Gov. Nathan Deal appointed Commissioner Lee May to be the temporary sub for DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, who is under indictment for strong-arming vendors for campaign contributions.

We told you that a county statute had laid out a succession scenario in which the presiding officer of the commissioner ? i.e., May ? would replace Ellis.

But we also told you that Deal thought that a state law giving him appointment power was preeminent. He was hesitant about stepping into a Democratic feud between Ellis and May, and was looking for an outsider to step in. But DeKalb is a racial minefield in which the governor ultimately decided not to tread. From his Tuesday evening press conference:

?First of all, I believe the law does give the prerogative to the governor. But they have the local statute that would seem to indicate that there was a succession in place by local statute that would have made him assume the position of the CEO in the event of a vacancy. I did not consider that that local statute pre-empted the authority of the governor. But in keeping with the spirit of that local statute, I felt it was appropriate under these circumstances to make the appointment.?

We?re told that state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, was among those who helped the governor to this conclusion. Carter declined to offer any details of his session with Deal, but he advocated for May, and said he was the best choice under county law.

"I don't know what the other options could have been," Carter said. "From the standpoint of county stability, there was almost no other option."

Something else was working in May's favor, too, Carter said. May has argued for the abolition of the county chief executive, an idea that Deal has said should be considered.

"I think we all need to look at the form of government in DeKalb, and Lee has been a proponent of abolishing the CEO structure," said Carter. In that sense, Carter called the appointment ?healthy.?

***

It doesn?t take an oracle to predict that Democrats will press a plan in next year?s session to weaken or abolish the self-defense law at the center of widespread protests after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin. But if Gov. Nathan Deal is any measure, it won?t get very far.

The governor said he had no appetite to sap the ?stand your ground law? in Georgia, one of roughly two dozen states with similar laws. It allows people to defend themselves with deadly force if they feel threatened at home, in their cars or other places where they are entitled to be.

?I?m fairly sure there will be somebody in the General Assembly who will ask us to at least look at the ?stand your ground? legislation that passed in 2006,? he said. ?I do not see anything out of the ordinary in terms of that statute. It?s very similar to the statute in other states, particularly Florida ? And I do not see any reason to change it. But there again, it?s the will of the General Assembly that will prevail on that issue.?

Don?t expect Senate Democrats to shy away from the challenge. After Zimmerman was exonerated by a Florida jury on Saturday night, Senate Minority Whip Vincent Fort called on politicians and activists to ?redouble our efforts to create a just and fair society in Georgia? by revisiting Georgia?s statute.

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Gov. Nathan Deal puts any changes to the death penalty statute in the same category.

The case of Warren Lee Hill, who is scheduled to be executed Friday night, has prompted critics to call for changes that would make it harder for to execute the mentally disabled. Death penalty opponents also want to repeal a new state law that shield the identities of lethal injection drug manufacturers.

Asked for his view, Deal put it bluntly: ?I don?t see any reason for us to revisit our statute with regard to capital punishment.?

Of course, that could be taken another way, too. Republican legislators have for years tried ? so far unsuccessfully ? to make it easier to secure a death penalty by no longer requiring unanimous jury verdicts to condemn someone.

***

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, this week and last, has quietly backed away from suggestions that the city would permit the construction of a new Falcons stadium on top of a recalcitrant Friendship Baptist Church, with which negotiations continue. The latest iteration comes from Doug Richards of 11Alive:

Specifically, Reed said he was not willing to wedge the project into the south site next to Friendship Baptist -- a scenario floated by his staff earlier this month.

"There isn't going to be any pressure applied to get this deal done," Reed said. "We're either going to do it under favorable terms, on the south site where people leave feeling like it's a win-win, or we'll go to the north site."

Source: http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/political-insider/2013/jul/17/your-daily-jolt-korean-american-enter-gop-race-us-/

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