The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Kemp to address Cobb business leaders

It’s unclear whether governor will discuss All-star game’s move.

- By Stephen Deere stephen.deere@ajc.com

Gov. Brian Kemp’s keynote address at the Cobb Chamber’s annual luncheon Monday was scheduled far in advance of Major League Baseball’s decision last week to pull its All-star game out of Truist Park

But now Kemp will address a room full of business leaders and politician­s whose communitie­s will miss out on lost revenue because of the league’s decision to have the Midsummer Classic played in Denver over concerns about Georgia’s new voting law.

A chamber spokeswoma­n said she did not know if the governor would mention the controvers­y during his address.

Supporters have praised the new law for restoring integrity to the state’s elections, while critics have denounced it for unfairly impeding minority access to voting.

When MLB Commission­er Rob Manfred announced that baseball was moving the game, he cited the league’s opposition to “restrictio­ns to the ballot box.”

Kemp has criticized the

MLB for caving to liberal lies and for ignoring the consequenc­es of the decision to the local community.

The chamber’s event, which will be held at the Cobb Galleria Centre from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., is sold out. But the public can view it on the chamber’s Facebook

page starting at noon.

Kemp will talk about his administra­tion’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, workforce developmen­t, small businesses, transporta­tion and the military, the chamber spokeswoma­n said.

The amount of lost economic impact from the relocation

of the All-star game is unclear. Economists have told The Atlanta Journal-constituti­on that it could be minimal. Cobb Travel and Tourism, on the other hand, put the figure at nearly $100 million. Travel and Tourism officials haven’t said how they calculated their estimate.

 ?? STEVE SCHAEFER FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTI­ON ?? Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at an April 3 news conference at the state Capitol about MLB’S decision to move the All-star game from Georgia over the state’s new voting law. It was unclear whether he planned to mention the issue at the Cobb Chamber’s annual luncheon Monday.
STEVE SCHAEFER FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTI­ON Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at an April 3 news conference at the state Capitol about MLB’S decision to move the All-star game from Georgia over the state’s new voting law. It was unclear whether he planned to mention the issue at the Cobb Chamber’s annual luncheon Monday.

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