Collins makes campaign stop in Rome
♦ Senate candidate speaks on justice reforms, economy and unemployment.
Georgia’s Ninth District U.S. Congressman Doug Collins listened to concerns of Rome-area residents Monday during a campaign stop at Doug’s Deli Downtown.
The Gainesville Republican is seeking to win a special election in November to complete the remaining two years of former Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term. The seat is currently held by Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-atlanta, who was appointed to the post in January by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Collins, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he’s been frustrated by the lack of leadership in Washington on criminal justice reform. He said the committee had been working in a bipartisan manner to address issues well before the recent round of police incidents that sparked nationwide protests over the past three weeks.
“We just sort of abandoned it,” Collins said.
Congress, he said, has to look for ways to help law enforcement get better — get better training and make sure that bad officers don’t simply transfer from one department to another.
“It’s a limited federal role,” Collins said. “You can put standards out there. It allows states and localities to find their ways to match up.”
The four-term congressman from Northeast Georgia said he believes the federal role in response to the COVID-19 outbreak ought to involve making sure that states and communities have easy access to things they need
“I’m not a believer than we need to extend the federal part of unemployment any further, because we’re hearing from businesses all the time that it’s keeping employees from coming back to work,” Collins said. “They’re making more per week now than they would be if they were working.”
Collins said the only way to get anything done in Washington is to find a bipartisan solution to any issue.
“But in today’s political environment if you do that, then you’re attacked for working with the other side,” Collins said. “I understand that people need to see things get done ... You’re not judged on what you don’t get done, you’re judged on how well you accomplish stuff.”
Collins told Rome residents who dropped by Doug’s Deli Downtown that he has a track record of being willing to stand up and explain why something matters instead of just reading talking points.
The congressman said he feels the U.S. economy will return to some semblance of normalcy following the COVID-19 problem much quicker than it did after the recession a decade ago. “This one was not an internal monetary issue, this is not an economic issue,” Collins said. “This came out of the simple fact that our government said no, for our own safety, we need to make sure people are social distancing and keeping out.” He said a few sectors of the economy, particularly the hospitality and travel industries, may be slower to come back.
The Nov. 3 special election has drawn a field of 21 candidates of both parties, including Loeffler. If no single candidate draws a majority of the vote — as expected — there will be a runoff on Jan. 5, 2021.
All candidates, regardless of party, will be placed on the same ballot. The top two vote recipients will be in that runoff and Collins said he expects that to be one Republican and one Democrat.