Kolbey Gardner, Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor of GA

The North GA Blue: Getting into Good Trouble podcast covers democratic politics in North GA, the 9th Congressional District, and across the state of Georgia. The podcast is in Q&A/Interview format with various democratic politicos including county chairs, democratic operatives, politicians, and more. It is our mission to deliver crucial information to our listeners in a timely manner as we fight for community values and principles in the 3rd most Conservative district in the state. Our website is: https://www.fcdpga.com/podcasts

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Transcript

Meral Clarke: 0:17

Welcome back to the North Georgia Blue Podcast produced and distributed by the Fannin County, Georgia Democratic Party. I'm your host Meral Clarke and we're getting into some good trouble today with our guest, Kolbey Gardner running for lieutenant governor of Georgia. Welcome to the show, Kolbey. We're happy to have you with us today.

Kolbey Gardner: 0:38

I'm so happy to be here.

Meral Clarke: 0:39

Fantastic. Let's let our listeners know a little bit about you. Kolbey Gardner is an entrepreneur, community activist, organizer and democratic strategist. He has advised organizations and campaigns all over the country, including Black Voters Matter acting as political director for Sarah Riggs Amicos campaign for lieutenant governor and with the Youth Vote Project for Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Kane's 2016 campaigns. He's engaged with countless nonprofits and elected officials advancing the Democratic agenda fighting for healthcare, jobs and justice all over the country. Before forming his company United Strategies Group, Kolbey worked in corporate operations at Apple and Verizon Wireless. Kolbey and an alumni of Clark Atlanta University studied business administration with a contraction in marketing. He is also active in the Human Rights Campaign and Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, Inc, serving on the National Board of Directors and advising the organization as it celebrates its 100th anniversary. So what made you decide to run for office? This is your first run. Is that right Kolbey?

Kolbey Gardner: 1:51

Yes, you're correct. This is my first run for office. And I want to thank everyone for having me, Georgia has a very interesting space as we enter this upcoming election. Now we got the municipal election here in 2021. But next year in Georgia, we have some big decisions to make. We look at Georgia, over the course of the past 20 years with Republicans have been in control and every level of government, we have some space to go. Some ensure that we're having a good place for every Georgian to live. And it's a thriving we were the number one place for business. But I think in the next election, we have a decision to make about where we want to go to make sure that we're the number one place for families and folks of all races, ethnicities, cultures, and creeds to make sure that we're just creating the best future for everyone.

Meral Clarke: 2:36

Absolutely. And so that is why you're running is to rectify or at least try to fix all these issues that we're facing right now.

Kolbey Gardner: 2:44

Absolutely. This campaign is laser focused on getting to the gold dome and January 2023, working to fight on behalf of poor and working class Georgians who have been ignored for far too long. We have to do all that we can to ensure that we're making a better Georgia for everyone.

Meral Clarke: 2:59

Okay, terrific. Now, the Lieutenant Governor, as the highest officer in the state after the governor would of course step in, should the governor be incapacitated or resign. You've never held political office, as we know. So why do you feel like you're the one for the job? Why do you feel that you're prepared at this point?

Kolbey Gardner: 3:18

Well think about my career. It's always been centered around organizing and working with people during my time in the corporate world, working on behalf of the consumers to ensure that we're providing a good product. And as I transitioned over into the organizing world, it's always been about making sure that folks voices are heard. And we're working towards solutions for everyone. It's been my pleasure to do that work. I think that in my unique skill set, and my willingness to work on behalf of people qualifies me to be lieutenant governor, but to all of the duties that that role entails. As I think about how I got here. And my upbringing, I was raised by my grandmother, her name is Betty Jean, born in 1943. In the deep south, our parents were sharecroppers and they moved up north to provide a better life, their family and she did what life had planned out for where she graduated, she bought a house she she took care of her children. And when the time came, took care of me and my siblings as well. As I think about her story very uniquely from today's lens. After 40 years of hard work, she left her career, including a managerial role making $7.75 per hour. And we know that if you make minimum wage or close to that now, you would not be to take care of your children, much less multi generations. As we look at the opportunities not only here in Georgia, but really all around our country. We know that they aren't being afforded the same level of opportunity for care based upon their zip code based on their sexuality based on their gender identity based upon oftentimes the intersectionality of all those things, and I think is our duty to work towards solutions that work for people in their layered experiences that just has not been done over the course of the last 20 years.

Meral Clarke: 4:56

Is your grandmother, the one who instilled your respect and love of unions? I believe you mentioned something about supporting unions in your statements in the past and why you're such a strong supporter of unions for the State of Georgia. How would you go about facilitating the sea change of making unions more accessible for workers across the state?

Kolbey Gardner: 5:19

I believe that union rights are imperative to ensure that both family have good paying jobs, so they are protected once once they get there. But you are correct, my grandmother, she did inspire my love of unions. She was a member of the Union, my entire youth super active and all the activities they had, whether that be the annual events and picnics and barbecues, working to organize in that space, as well as striking when necessary, because sometimes striking is the only way that workers at that time can have their voices be heard to negotiate for fair wages, it still is, there really is and that's why I stand in solidarity with all the strikes currently happening. Now I'd be remiss if I did not mention the current strikes, I'm about IATSE fighting for folks who work in the entertainment industry, whether that'd be your makeup artists or your screenwriters to ensure that they're all protected during their current negotiation. So my prayers are with them. But as I left home in Georgia, which allowed those members right here in Georgia as well, we have to do all the we can to strengthen the rights of unions to not only organize, but also work to protect all of their members. Here, we're seeing constant attacks. You know, Georgia, the right to work state, so that really impedes the power of unions to organize in a way that will be most effective. And I will be a strong advocate and ally, to ensure that we're working with our business community to make sure that workers are protected in every way that we can. I firmly believe in that.

Meral Clarke: 6:40

Oh, terrific. And I completely agree with you. It's critical that we help workers obtain their rights, their full rights, which they certainly don't have now, in the state. You've also said that you support healthcare, gun reform, racial equity and justice Roe v. Wade, which we know is now under attack gay and black representation as a gay black man yourself and shoring up failing public schools. How do you expect to make an impact on any and all of these issues as Lieutenant Governor?

Kolbey Gardner: 7:11

Honestly, I believe our government works best when we have people who are earnestly working towards making change, having an open mind towards solutions that can really work to solve these problems. I think that on day one, as I see my role as working with organizations, all levels, working with stakeholders on the ground working folks who've been doing this work for the last, sometimes even decades, to ensure that we're having every voice heard and not just the voice of corporate interests. The door of lieutenant governor's office, if I'm elected, will be wide open to everyone who's willing to come in with strong ideas to fix these issues. I'm gonna start at the top and work my way down a little bit that works. When we look at criminal justice reform, we know that we have a problem mass incarceration and police accountability here in Georgia. And we know that Georgia's incarceration rate is higher than lots of bikes here in this country. And black, Latin x, indigenous and poor folks are disproportionately affected by that. And that comes in a variety of ways, not only just use the probation were over represented in that space, and then also making sure that our police interactions are also not only transparent, but also fair and equitable. And ensuring that we're interacting with the public in ways that they will want their family members interacted with is the best way to describe that. And systems really work. And we have accountability, we have to make sure that we're doing things like looking at qualified immunity, ensuring that it's used in the right spaces, and not used in other places where is being abused, and where we're seeing these instances of malfeasance or malpractice, that we're calling them out using every tool in our tool belt to hold those folks accountable. So that way we work to regain trust within the public. Because right now you have decades, sometimes longer mistrust in between states, such as public safety departments, they're supposed to protect folks, you have obvious roadblocks to not allowing us to really address those long term systemic problems. I say this often, and I'll say this publicly, is that honestly, crime and theft and the higher rates that we're seeing all over our state, of course, they were exacerbated due to the pandemic. But a lot of that has to do with some long term systemic problems that have not been solved, such as food insecurity, such as rampant poverty, such as underinvestment in communities that creating inequality that are creating the conditions for these spikes to happen. If we're going to work to solve for crime, we have to be careful about how we're approaching it. And I think the first step to doing that is rebuilding trust in those communities.

Meral Clarke: 9:44

How would you accomplish that with a republican General Assembly? How would you accomplish all of these goals?

Kolbey Gardner: 9:52

I think that as we're looking towards the local ensuring that we're having the best policies all over the country be talked about in forums where we can work together to come up with solutions that work for each individual community working on the county level to ensure that as we're looking at developing long term strategies for success, and there, we're looking at the best examples all again, all over the country, that work towards solving these problems is by having an open mind to those ideas, and work with everyone at the table every stakeholder to get those things accomplished.

Meral Clarke: 10:24

And how would you push the legislation through a Republican state legislature?

Kolbey Gardner: 10:30

They're partners on a lot of these concepts and ideas, sometimes they get bogged down during election years. But I'm a firm believer that no party has a monopoly on good ideas. Um, so was working on these issues where we can agree and having an open and honest dialogue about where we don't, and then working towards getting as many bills passed through as we can, understanding that we are in minority and the Democrats, we do have some work to do and this upcoming election, and I believe that we'll make some traction there. But where we don't, we have to find ways to work with the party on the other side of the aisle to get things accomplished. It has to be mutual, for it to work in our state for movie and there are some places where we definitely agree and working with leaders on both sides who are willing to do their hard work.

Meral Clarke: 11:14

And you have mentioned mass incarceration, which is a particular issue that we're all invested in, because the communities that are affected are oftentimes devastated. What are your thoughts on for profit prisons? Because I think for profit prisons are the reason why we have this new indentured servitude, as I call it within the prison population.

Kolbey Gardner: 11:36

I mean, me you completely agree there. Yes, yes. Where you have for profit prisons, you have a disincentive. A lot of ways to come up with policies that will reduce the population is there that don't get me wrong, I do believe in having public safety when folks are committing crimes that are harming people, such as murder, and rape is rampant crimes are just impacting our citizens. But we cannot continue to support a system that is keeping folks in debt in prison. And like you said, in servitude for an indefinite amount of time, that just will not work.

Meral Clarke: 12:10

Right. And that's what's been happening all over the country. So it's certainly something that needs to be addressed and addressed quickly. The Republicans obviously aren't going to do it. So I was very happy to hear you mentioned that. And you're also in favor of canceling student and medical debt. Let's talk about that. How would you work to ease these burdens?

Kolbey Gardner: 12:30

I think when you look at student loan debt, the moment that you erase it the moment, 8 million women of color are lifted out of poverty immediately.

Meral Clarke: 12:39

Wow, that is a tremendous number.

Kolbey Gardner: 12:42

And I think that as you look at the thought that's affecting, again, disproportionately minority communities, I think that the ability to get higher education is a thing that we must address on all levels, of course, right with our federal partners, to ensure that we're doing all that we can, but also where we can here on a local level, looking at ways we can make community college free, job trainings free, ensuring that we're inviting people into the job market in ways that's fair for everyone. I don't want to miss out on that opportunity to recognize that education is one of those keys towards a more sustainable life for your family. But at the same time, we have to make sure that folks aren't burdened with debt, that sometimes last generations.

Meral Clarke: 13:22

And medical debt as well, which is tell me about healthcare and your views on ACA and the lack of options in Georgia, how would you address those issues?

Kolbey Gardner: 13:33

Oh, let me start with the facts what's happening now, more than 1 million Georgians have no insurance whatsoever. And another stat and it's interesting, we tie in third for both of these, not in a good way, we're the third for the most uninsured. And we're also third for the most rural hospitals to close over the course of the last decade. And this is in a country in the country. Yes, we're looking at maternal mortality rate, we're awake 49 or 50. It is literally safer if you're a black woman to have a baby in a third world country than here in Georgia. We must expand Medicaid. That's just it has to happen. And I believe that our next governor that again prayerfully that she will work to get that done.

Meral Clarke: 14:14

Hopefully she'll announce soon.

Kolbey Gardner: 14:18

From your lips to God's ears. Yes, seriously. But on top of that, we must also work with our federal partners to figure out how we can expand health care to every single person in our country. I think that you're seeing some innovative strategies all over the country, New York City they tried to model where again, the population New York City is almost as large as Georgia think about a population lives where they're making army healthcare, the rate of care either free or low cost of their citizens. So like I said, it's not about copying, you know, just one city or one area of the country. But looking at the best of the ideas to ensure that we can get health care to folks. And also we have to use our rural communities and ensure that folks aren't driving 50 miles get to their nearest hospital and I've been all around Georgia when I was a political director for Sarah Riggs Amico, we travel to every corner of the state. And one of the most heartbreaking stories was hearing the story of a woman down in Camden County, Georgia where she had worked all her life. And near the end of her career towards retirement, she had cancer. And she had made just too much money in the previous year that she found them Medicare coverage gap where she's having to pay out of pocket costs for her cancer treatments. That's terrible. We're hearing stories like that you see a system that's broken and not working for people, you have to work to fix it like it is. These are one often anecdotal stories, but they add up into real life experiences that impact the day to day life of Georgians.

Meral Clarke: 15:43

And there are several stories like hers, she is not by any means unique to this situation. And it's not just the Black population, although the Black population is certainly disproportionately affected by so many of these injustices. But it's also poor, rural people in general, who are also suffering because they can't afford the insurance options available to them. So again, I completely agree with you.

Kolbey Gardner: 16:11

One more instance where a family mentioned they had to get a helicopter insurance to get to a hospital.

Meral Clarke: 16:16

Oh my we have that up here too because we reside in a rural area, it's terrible. And it shouldn't be that way. And we should not be failing the citizens of this state in this manner. So that's terrible. But I understand because it happens more often than not, and not just in the rural parts and not just in Georgia, it's everywhere. So that is a major issue. I agree. So we need to work on that. You've also stated this repeatedly, you're a proud and out, gay man who supports the LGBTQ plus community and I can't imagine being Black and growing up gay in the south, I cannot imagine what you've been through. So how have your views been shaped by your experience and what more needs to be done especially to help younger folks who may be struggling?

Kolbey Gardner: 17:03

Being black and gay in the South, I think in a lot of ways, I'm also a Christian has been a blessing because I've been able to make such profound connections and community and not always family since my time in college and beyond. And they would meet a wonderful, wonderful partner that has been just so supportive, and I have him as well. As I look at the issues facing the LGBT community, I think about the first pride, which was installing wall and a black trans woman named Marsha P. Johnson started the movement by throwing a brick towards a surveillance police state.

Meral Clarke: 17:44

Right? Yes, I've read up on that. I'm familiar.

Kolbey Gardner: 17:47

And so since its inception, the LGBTQ plus movement has been a civil rights movement that such as the intersectionality of so many issues, whether that be from the right to an abortion, whether that's housing, whether that's access to health care and mental health services in here in Georgia, I think you see a variety of ways that showed up, whether it's in Atlanta looking at the housing crisis, and management of HOPWA, which is a fund that helps support LGBTQIA community members that have been affected by the HIV and AIDS epidemic, when you look at the rates of HIV and AIDS around the country, and how Georgia ranks repeatedly in the top three. But the issue that's such as near and dear to my heart, I think that I want to combat on day one, this issue of housing, you're seeing a disproportion amount of LGBT youths that have been unhoused throughout their lives typically around that teenage to around 23 year old age, and that deeply affects me. Yes, it's so sad and so preventable. But you see amazing nonprofits in Atlanta and all around the country that are working to combat that. I'm a firm believer that nonprofits should eventually work themselves out of a job. And we must work to solve for this problem, because that housing is key to how you can live the rest of your life. We have to work to fix that immediately.

Meral Clarke: 19:15

And it's so important and not just in Atlanta all over the state Blue Ridge here. City Council just voted down affordable housing up here. It's of course comprised of Republicans voted it down. And the same thing happened in various other counties up here in the ninth district. So how do we reinforce the fact that housing is so important for everyone and especially for our underserved communities? How do we do that?

Kolbey Gardner: 19:43

All over Georgia, we must have robust conversation communities, and where we can put faces to the issue and make it very human for folks to recognize that it's, it's your neighbor that can fall on hard times and when it happens it causes instability that can sometimes last generations. And where Georgia is the eighth largest economy in our country, where the United States with the wealthiest countries in the world, we have a moral imperative to make sure that housing is a human right, that is meant for everyone. And what that means is variety of things with us keeping folks in their homes, whether that's ensuring projects like affordable housing packages are put together and most creative way as possible that makes sense for that community. Whether that's working to ensure that folks are paid a living wage, I think that it all really comes back to the ability to see our fellow Georgians as human and recognizing that needs to take care of each other. And I think that's at the core of what this campaign means.

Meral Clarke: 20:44

Okay. Terrific. So the Lieutenant Governor serves as president of the Georgia senate and is elected separately on a different ticket than the governor. So you would also serve on the Governor's Council of State as well, if elected. Can you elaborate on these responsibilities and what you'd be doing within those roles?

Kolbey Gardner: 21:04

Absolutely. So in the role of lieutenant governor, very unique on the legislative side, I'd be working as President of the Senate to operate that house throughout the 40 legislative days of the year working with administrative committee to ensure that the Senate can run as it needs to, but then also on the executive side, working with our next governor, we know that she will have a robust agenda, and that she'll work through not only the legislative session, right, those first 40 days. But then also throughout the year through policy and action. The State of Georgia has around 38 different departments and the governor appoints individuals to serve on those boards. And lieutenant governor has the opportunity to work in those spaces as well to ensure that among the various departments of the Georgia State Government, that we're working on behalf of the people see that the first thing I would personally request that Governor Abrams reinstate.

Meral Clarke: 21:55

I'm with you, there, Kolbey, all the way.

Kolbey Gardner: 21:58

The consumer protection council that exists the other Governor Perdue during the first part of his term as governor and reinstating that to ensure that the government of Georgia is also protecting the consumer there, we're seeing some rapid consumer attacks happening, especially through Plant Vogtle, that's affecting folks that currently use Georgia Power. And having a place to voice those concerns to ensure that we're seeing those gross actions happening, that State of Georgia can step in and have conversations and negotiate on behalf of those consumers. Other than that, working to ensure that every level of government, again, working with state Senate, have the opportunity to work with all 159 counties, and all of our senators and also be an access point for our reps as well, to ensure when those constituents have questions. I'm getting them answered,

Meral Clarke: 22:45

Which primarily now they're not being answered. So

Kolbey Gardner: 22:49

I will be the lieutenant governor to go on behalf of one individual to figure out what's happening and give them a concrete answer as to the next steps where it's being held up and why. Because I've seen a variety of questions be emailed to our reps and senators, and basically zero answers zero response. And that's just not okay.

Meral Clarke: 23:07

It's never okay. And that does need to change. So speaking of lieutenant governor, our current lieutenant governor, Jeff Duncan, who is stepping down to run for another office, which of course gives us democrats a great opportunity. He says on his website that his top priorities are healthcare, education, technology, and transportation. How's he failed Georgians in this regard? And has he succeeded in accomplishing any of his goals? I have to ask, because I was shocked to read that on his website with not a whole lot of information to go with it. So what are your thoughts?

Kolbey Gardner: 23:44

About what's going to Lieutenant Governor Duncan is, I believe that he came into office, intending to attempt to make Georgia better for folks. But he failed to realize that his already at the time President Trump would have every way worked to thwart those efforts. I think that before I cast judgment, I want to take a look to see what they would do. And during the first legislative session, under his leadership, da variety of now the anti LGBT restricting women's rights to abortion, you saw every manner of bill attacking the civil liberties of Georgians, and you saw him lockstep with his party every step of the way. This year doing SB 202. You saw him for the first time step away from the desk while President Pro Temp Miller set the gavel to pass that, but that was just an act of maybe regret or cowardice because he was unafraid to stand up to members of his own party to say, hey, this bill is wrong. This bill is restrictive. Instead, he went to his office and hid while it was being passed, and still participated in the bill, signing, still did everything within his power to carry forward the agenda, the Georgia GOP. So I'll say that all to say that I'm happy he's he's not seeking reelection not because it creates an opportunity for Democrats to win. I mean, that's happy byproduct. I'm also happy because we need folks who are willing to do the hard work, to make life better for Georgians and stand up even through your own party. We see wrongs being done on that level.

Meral Clarke: 25:23

I completely agree. And I also wanted to ask you about this weekend on Saturday, October 2, there will be a number of marches for Reproductive Justice and for women's rights considering the attempts by the state of Texas currently and other states, including ours to copy and paste the Texas law in weaken or dismantle Roe v. Wade, what are your thoughts on that? And as a woman, I'm particularly interested in this because it's women's rights that are being harmed at this point. So what are your thoughts?

Kolbey Gardner: 25:55

I stand firmly in support of Roe v. Wade, in the words of President by its being codify throughout the last several decades, it's every facet of life. And I believe any attack on the restriction of any person seeking an abortion or any healthcare is beyond terrible, it's it should just not be. I believe that the right to an abortion is healthcare.

Meral Clarke: 26:21

So is Planned Parenthood, it's all about healthcare,

Kolbey Gardner: 26:24

Healthcare, and the right for persons who dictate their life and their future should only be determined by a doctor and the person who's seeking treatment, exactly. Anything outside of that should not be allowed in any way possible. And if I was lieutenant governor, I will use every tool that I had at my disposal to ensure that this bill, not get passed, making sure that if any infractions of the rules work, which took place that we work to stop it, and it's scary in a lot of ways as well, when you see leaders of the Georgia GOP say point blank, that they will copy and paste this law to them during the next legislative session. And then a lot of ways is political. I believe they're trying to get their, their base excited ahead of an election, when they have so much internal fighting going on, that they can make sure they can still keep their base engage, right? I see folks in Texas fleeing across state lines, and you have even people trying to figure out what to do next. I've been affected by rape and incest, with no place to turn. And my heart goes out for the people of Texas. And I know for one, I'll be out there on Saturday, standing in solidarity with women standing in solidarity on behalf of reproductive freedoms and justice, because we have to make our voices heard to let them know that this will not stand, we cannot and will not regress. And we must go forward to the future where abortion is really just gonna serve your healthcare, standard health care that everyone should have access to.

Meral Clarke: 27:54

It's a matter of choice. It's a matter of choice, being pro choice or anti choice and it's so important to make those choices available to all women everywhere and thank you for saying that that means a lot because it is the matter of civil and human rights. So this has been a great interview. Unfortunately we're running short on time but I ask all my

guests this question: 28:17

Tell us a fun fact about yourself something that's not related to your work or to your campaign something all about Kolbey that our listeners may be interested in learning about you.

Kolbey Gardner: 28:29

But one super fun fact about me is that in grade school, I love Harry Potter Those were my favorite books three and I was one of those folks standing in line waiting for the books to be released at 7am at Borders Bookstore back then. I read the fourth book in one day.

Meral Clarke: 28:45

Oh my, do you do like cosplay and or anything like that? No,

Kolbey Gardner: 28:50

I do. I do. I'm looking forward to going to a bunch of other conventions. I've been to Dragon Con just yet. But looking forward to Comic Con and call blurred con as well and I look forward to dressing up and not my favorite Griffin dororo.

Meral Clarke: 29:03

I love it. I love it. And my producer Susan, who is also a huge fan just chimed in and said the fourth book was the best. Do you agree?

Kolbey Gardner: 29:12

I agree. It's a tie between four and six for me.

Meral Clarke: 29:15

Do you like the books or the movies better or the books but good man. Good man. Well, this has been extremely informative and helpful to know all of your positions. Thank you Kolbey for joining us today and sharing more about your critical work to support Democrats and maintain our democracy. I'm Meral Clarke and on behalf of our team, I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the North Georgia Blue Podcast. To learn more about us in the work that we're doing, visit us online at FanninCountyGeorgiaDemocrats.com and share the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family and be sure to subscribe and follow and if you enjoy our podcasts become a founding patron and friend of the show at NorthGeorgiaBluePodcast.com / patron so we can continue getting into more good trouble.