Charlie Bailey, Democratic Candidate for Lt. Governor (note: at time of airing, Bailey was running to be GA's next Attorney General)

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

Our guests highlight democratic activities and actions to work toward a Blue Georgia. The 9th Congressional District spans 20 counties across the region and covers a good deal of northern GA including Blue Ridge, Morganton, Fannin, Union, Banks, Athens/Clarke, Dawson, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, and White counties. 

Our democratic party podcast also disseminates information and interviews powerful Democrats across the state of GA working to overthrow the suppression tactics of the GOP and ensure democracy and our values, grassroots efforts, and goals remain intact. 

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Transcript

Meral Clarke: 0:18

Hello and 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 special guest Charlie Bailey running to be Georgia's next attorney general. Welcome to the show, Charlie. We're happy to have you with us today.

Charlie Bailey: 0:39

Well, thank you Meral for having me for inviting me on and it's the second best thing to be in in Fannin County. I guess it's been virtually with you all as well.

Meral Clarke: 0:48

We're happy to have you here. So let's let our listeners know a little bit about you. Back in 2018, Charlie Bailey stood up to the powerful special interests and political insiders by running for attorney general of Georgia. Charlie is an eighth generation Georgian, who grew up on his family's cattle farm in rural Georgia ran against Chris Carr, an insider political appointee as well at the time, Charlie was outspent four to one by national Republicans. But as he has done his entire career, Charlie stood strong in his convictions and went on to raise over $1 million and received 49% of the vote, the highest percentage of any down ballot candidate. Congratulations on that. Charlie's record and prominence has already led him to earn the endorsements of numerous local and state leaders, including representatives Hank Johnson and Lucy McBath. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and former Governor Roy Barnes. With adequate funding, Charlie Bailey will become the next attorney general of Georgia. So thank you, Charlie, for all of that and for your career, which we'll delve into in just a moment and for running to be attorney general, which is such an important office in the state. So you stated that your career has revolved around the principle of fighting to ensure justice for those who have been wronged. Let's talk about your record. As the Senior Assistant District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, what did you accomplish? And does your background serve to make sure every Georgian's civil rights are not compromised?

Charlie Bailey: 2:32

Well, one, thank you for the introduction, Meryl. And when I was a senior assistant district attorney in Fulton County, and that's where I met Bonnie Willison before I was in the gang unit, I was in the trial division, and she was head of the trial division. So she was my boss back in the day and is my good friend. Now, you know, the kinds of cases I worked on and handled and, you know, handled hundreds and hundreds of them. But there were cases ranging from domestic violence all the way to shootings, and armed robberies, and murders. Before I was in the gang unit, there were things that were not gang related. And then after I was in the gang unit, it was obviously those kinds of crimes of violence that had a tie in to organized crime or gangs. And obviously, you can think about those things. They're clear victims, people that have been physically harmed. But there's also the violence that spins off of that. And what I mean by that is, you know, I sat in the living rooms of the victims of that kind of violence in the families of those victims. I've also sat in the living rooms of some of the families of the defendants, I was prosecuting in some of the witnesses. In my cases, in the communities that are ravaged by this kind of violence, it is far reaching, and victims are the people that are shot, sometimes killed, but they're also the kids that get pulled into these gangs and organized crime syndicates, they are grist in the mill, and the people that are the leaders of the organized crime syndicates that are really making the money on the human trafficking and the narcotics trafficking and the illegal arms trafficking. Frankly, they don't give a damn about these kids. And the path for those folks in the one two places, some rare exceptions, and that's prison for the coffin. So I know the gravity of how these communities are affected. I know how it affects people's lives, how it's forever changed by the violence swirls around organized crime, I know what it means to stand in front of a jury and ask a jury to convict somebody of murder or kidnapping, but also know what it means to stand before a judge on behalf of the people of Georgia and dismiss a case or reduce a charge if it needs to be reduced, you know, dismiss a case if the case shouldn't have been brought in the first place. And so I have practiced criminal justice reform in the courtroom in a very real way. And so when I talk about building a civil rights division and building an organized crime division, it's not separate, right? It's part of the same idea of justice and fairness, that everybody that gets up and goes to work every day and just wants their kids to be safe and be able to get a good education, they have a right to be treated fairly, they have a right to be safe. And so whether we're talking about going after those organized crime syndicates, or going after violent white supremacist domestic terrorists, which are the number one domestic terrorist threat facing our country, right now, whether we're talking about, you know, doing pattern and practice investigations of rogue elements within law enforcement agencies, where you got people with a gun and a badge, that should never have a gun badge, that have hate in their heart. And are not there to protect the public, which they should. Whichever one of these things you're talking about, you're talking about justice, safety and fairness.

Meral Clarke: 5:48

Yes, absolutely. And I appreciate your talking about that as well and addressing these critical issues. So let's talk about the current attorney general's office under Chris Carr. We don't have a civil rights division in Georgia, correct in the current AG's office, or an organized crime division? So obviously, you want to create those, correct? And how will that help protect our civil rights moving forward?

Charlie Bailey: 6:17

So let's start with and these are things that I talked about. And you'll probably remember from the last campaign, or years ago, I was campaigning on these things, which, by the way, I think this kind of messages, justice and fairness and these two policy points, that's the reason I got that 49%, the highest vote share, mini down ballot statewide Democrat, I think it's directly related to the issues that we're talking about here. So we sit here three years later, we still don't have a civil rights division. I'll start with that. And we're in the cradle of the civil rights movement. You've got AG's offices all across the country that has civil rights division. I'm not talking about reinventing the wheel here. I mean, this is done. Not only is it done in many states around the country, it's done in department justice. DOJ has a Civil Rights Division. That's actually the division that brought the lawsuit against SB 202. Here in Georgia, that is the division that is suing our state over that legislation. So the kinds of things that are civil rights division, what I envision it doing, you can use it to go after employment discrimination, and housing discrimination, discrimination in lending, particularly on the lending side and housing side vestiges of redlining, which has been with us for over 100 years, and conducting those pattern and practice investigations. Because my phone is filled with names in the contact list, start with OFC officer, or DET detective or IMV investigators and people I've worked with. The vast majority of law enforcement and public servants that have a really important job and do a dangerous job to protect us. But like with anything, there are absolutely folks in there and some of it is systemic and some of these law enforcement agencies and to be nowhere on investigating this, like the fact that we could sit here right now, there's not been one investigation by the Attorney General to determine or any of our law enforcement folks involved in any way in January six. Right, right. I mean, not heard one word

Meral Clarke: 8:16

That is absolutely abhorrent to me. I can't believe that the office can function this way.

Charlie Bailey: 8:23

In my view, it's all about priorities. And I don't disparage anybody. I got friends in that office, you know, but the attorney general determines that those people don't determine whether there's a civil rights division, or they don't write up the legislative proposal to go to the legislature or the general assembly and say, Listen, we need this funding and these powers to carry out this work. That's not their determination. It is a lack of prioritization civil rights, and a lack of understanding of prosecution that leaves us in a place with an attorney general, that's never prosecuted a traffic ticket, much less a murder or kidnapping. He doesn't understand it. And with the great power he's been given, he doesn't do anything about it. And so I mean, I know people that know Chris, and everything, and I've met him a few times before we ran against each other, you know, you meet him and he smiles and he shakes your hand and he's a pleasant enough individual, but frankly, nobody cares about that. It's what are you doing? That is the urgent question of life. It's not what you say, but what do you do? But those are the kinds of things that we're going to work on in the civil rights division. And some of it is so people can understand and know that if they don't have a dist attorney like a Fani Willis by people that live in Fulton County know, they've got Fani there as their DA, and if their rights are being violated, or they're being mistreated or a case of theirs is not being taken seriously, they can go to Fani Willis. If Ahmaud Arbery had been murdered in Fulton County with Fani Willis as the DA, then you would not have seen that delay in justice that we saw. But when you have a DA like Jackie Johnson who acted at bare minimum unethically in an inappropriate way, was the DA in Brunswick. The whole point is when that happens, you have to have an AG that prioritizes civil rights and understands prosecution. And people got to know that they can go to their attorney general and say, hey, something's bad wrong here. And I need you to look at it. And what we saw with Ahmaud Arbery, which I'm friends with the lead investigator there and in the lead attorney prosecuting that case, but before it ever got to them and everybody, I've talked to them, I said listen to the whole lot of people in this state in this country who were standing with in that courtroom and try to get justice for Ahmaud's family, but when Jackie Johnson recused herself and tocar she accused her so three days after Ahmaud was murdered on that very same day she suggested her replacement she recommended DA Barnhill take the case and without even considering taking the case themselves. Without doing the first conflict check to determine is Barnhill conflicted. I mean, I'm from a small town, Harris County where people county to county know each other particularly worked in law enforcement. They don't even care enough to check on the very same day she refuses and suggests Barnhill, he appoints Barnhill. And then when asked about about the AJC, He says, Well, that's really just an administrative function in bulk for that video being leaked. And everybody in the world seeing that and then this huge spotlight coming down and then Oh God, the press is on it. Now it's CYA and figure out they got it to the DA and finally started being treated with the seriousness that it should be treated. But for that video coming out, we've been talking about this right now. And that falls directly at the feet of somebody that just doesn't understand prosecution and does not prioritize civil rights.

Meral Clarke: 12:08

Exactly. Has Chris Carr ever litigated a case in court?

Charlie Bailey: 12:12

Litigated is a particular term. To my understanding, he's never tried a case. He's never prosecuted. He's never been a prosecutor at all. And the small amount of time, I think, about 18 months where he was actually a lawyer. He was at a firm here in Atlanta. To my knowledge, he never went to court that someone could say, oh, no, he came to court with me on some, you know, hearing or something that could have happened. But

Meral Clarke: 12:36

Yes, clearly his record is abysmal. So you've been a civil rights advocate for a long time now. How has Chris Carr violated Georgians' civil rights and you touched on that and squandered taxpayer monies? Let's chat also about his direct support and backing of the January six insurrection in the wake of the news that he helped fund and organize the event. How horrifying is that?

Charlie Bailey: 13:02

Yeah. And you start to see a pattern with Carr. So he was chair of the Republican Attorney General's Association. RAGA was a funder and promoted January 6 rally became an insurrection in our nation's capital. When that became public, and I'll say Chris himself, has never actually talked about this. Yet a statement through a spokeswoman that said, denied knowledge of the robo call, there was a particular robo call that RAGA put out to get people to come. I'm sorry, what is RAGA? The Republican Attorney General's Association. So there's a DAGA there's a Democratic Attorney General's Association, like the DGA, or the D, Triple C, but the DC umbrella group, but for AG's and so there's a Republican one, and there's a Democratic one.

Meral Clarke: 13:53

Right. I just wanted you to define the acronym. So go ahead.

Charlie Bailey: 13:57

So when that came to light that they had put out that robo call through a spokesperson, he denies knowledge of the robo call. And then he says, Well, I'm going to get to the bottom of this. About three, four months later, he resigns from RAGA and says he doesn't agree with the direction that they went in. But he never stated what he did or did not know what he knew beforehand. He's never to this day talked about what did you find that when you got to the bottom of it, who was involved over there? And he just acts like, well, let me just act like that didn't happen.

Meral Clarke: 14:38

Well, let me ask you a question. Did he fund and organize the January 6 event on his own dime? Or was he using the office?

Charlie Bailey: 14:47

There's no evidence I'm aware of that Chris Carr or his campaign funded that. What we know is that RAGA that he was chair of did provide funding and did promote it. So he chaired the organization that did it. And what is unknown because as I was just saying he refused to answer questions about what did he know or not know about all that? And did he direct some of that? Truth is we don't know the answer to the question, because he hasn't been honest. And sat down and done an interview and said, This is what I know. And this is what I don't

Meral Clarke: 15:23

And I'm sure he won't, it seems his own office know. should be investigating him. But that's a different conversation. So moving on, let's talk about cracking down on rising white supremacy groups, militias and domestic terrorists, which you touched on earlier that are working across the state, how will you eradicate Georgia's human trafficking issue as well, which is out of control with the Atlanta airport, obviously, so how would you actually go about ensuring that these issues are taken care of, because certainly, they're not being taken care of now?

Charlie Bailey: 16:00

Right. So I'll start with the human trafficking piece, and then I'll go to the domestic terrorist is only human trafficking, you know, because the Atlanta airport also because of our interstates, and because it's Savannah port, Georgia has a lot of transportation hubs, and a lot of things that move up the East Coast or down and then out to Texas, whether it's narcotics trafficking, or human beings or illegal arms trafficking come through. So we have probably greater than our population, because of the transportation costs that we have. Now, that is being done by organized crime syndicates, in games, the human trafficking piece. And it's bigger than Georgia, it's national, and it's in sometimes International. So if you want to go after human trafficking, you have to be serious about going after organized crime syndicates, let me say something on behalf of the DAs is in the state, they figure out one person that's been trafficked, and they can have a specific case on that. But if they start to uncover more, the truth of it is they don't have the resources and the woman power manpower, to do the kind of long term investigations that it takes to figure out where all that goes, where that money is coming from, where's it being laundered through, those are not simple, who done it show up, there's the gun, you got your guy. These are more complicated and longer investigations. And DA said they don't have the resources to do that they've barely got the resources to handle the cases. And so whether you're talking about human trafficking, or narcotics trafficking, or illegal arms trafficking, that's all organized crime, because it takes that kind of organization and the money backing it, to move those things to our communities to make the connections with people in other cities and other states that you're selling to, that you're selling the quote unquote, product to. So building that organized crime division, the first job is going to be identifying who are the syndicates that are moving, that are most dangerous, and that have the highest level of activity in human trafficking in these other areas. So first, you got to identify, then you got to set up and do these investigations to bring down the leaders of the syndicates, the folks that are really making money on this. And let me say

this: 18:15

gangs and organized crime, all that is people tend to think about what it means these very specific things, all you're really talking about is a group of individuals that have gathered together, to coordinate to break the law to make money, right, and it can be different things and you're not going to eliminate organized crime, no more than you can eliminate human sin and fallibility. Because humans been organizing to break the rules to get an advantage money. Otherwise, since we started building the huts closer together, right, I mean, that's

Meral Clarke: 18:49

Nothing has changed, really.

Charlie Bailey: 18:51

The effects of it are amplified because of the tools that we have. So you're not going to eliminate it. But you can make a severe indentation in it right, you can make a big difference that'll save people's lives along the way. But you really start to make that difference by locking up these leaders and folks that are making money on it. Because you start putting those people in prison, then the funding

Meral Clarke: 19:11

No, that's okay. This is very interesting. sources start drying up, it gets more difficult to move the money around, and it's the money that makes it all work. And so you drive up the cost of them doing the business you make it harder for them to conduct their business, which is a disgusting exploitation of human beings. And in in the process, let's say over five years, we save 200 lives. One that's 200 lives, right? But then think of the many hundreds of sons and daughters and mothers and fathers nieces and nephews that have those people that didn't have them before. And so that's how that works. And that's where you have to start. Similarly, when you talk about violent white supremacy domestic terrorist, which the FBI director is testified, I think five times now over the past a little over a year is that that is the number one domestic terrorist threat facing our country. Right now, many of those domestic terrorist cells and hate groups are also engaged in human trafficking in narcotics trafficking in illegal arms trafficking. They do it to pay to foment their hate, but they're doing some of those same things. So you use some of the same tools that you use to go after any other organized crime syndicate to go after them. You know, some of the most effective elimination of KKK groups in the 70s and 80s was through civil action. Because people can think what they want to think you have that freedom of belief in our country. And so we don't lock people up for thinking something even as a porn as it is. But if they're breaking the law along the way, in fermenting their hate, then you use the same tool to break them down. That's th nuts and bolts of it. But let m say it starts even before then and then I'm going to stop th ask another question.

Charlie Bailey: 21:13

In September of last year, it was one of the debates when Donald Trump then the President of the United States in the leader of Chris Carr's party, refused to denounce white supremacist on national TV. I remember it well. And when that happened, it was such a shocking thing to me. Did Chris Carr say one word? The answer's no. Did not say one word, to denounce the leader of his party who he proudly voted for and endorsed when they refused to denounce white supremacy. So it starts there. If you can't even say, wrong is wrong, then you don't have the moral authority to lead, much less the understanding prosecution to carry out the kind of action that I'm talking about. But he hasn't even done the bare minimum. And that's denounce that kind of hate speech. And every time one of these Republicans that wants to go to the Chamber of Commerce and shake hands and the Kiwanis Club and all that, they want to do all that. And every time they don't stand up to the hate, and the authoritarianism that is leading their political party right now, and I do not say that lightly. I got friends and family Republicans, but the guiding light of that party right now, is that authoritarianism. And when they do not denounce it, it emboldens it and that, to me, is just an absolute and utter dereliction of duty.

Meral Clarke: 22:42

We would have to agree completely. So let's talk about voter rights, and the current voter suppression laws Republicans have enacted in our state. What can you do as AG to alleviate this attack on all of our civil rights, as a matter of fact, besides building the Civil Rights Division, and I did want to ask you about where your resources would be to make that happen. But go ahead. What are your thoughts on voter suppression?

Charlie Bailey: 23:10

Well, I've come out from against SB 202. And there are things in SB 202, I mean, it is an ominous bill. I mean, it is massive, and there's some stuff in it, it's totally fine. You know, it's just regular legislation. But there are aspects to it. And you know, then but the restrictions around making it hard to vote by absentee taking away Dropbox making it so folks can't vote, if they show up at the wrong precinct, but they are registered to vote, just to name a few Not to mention that the mechanism that can take power away from local county election boards and give it to a partisan Republican legislature. Those aspects are voter suppression, and I believe unconstitutional. And I have said I would refuse, as Attorney General refuse to defend those aspects of the law based on them being unconstitutional. Under the Voting Rights Act and equal protection clause of the United States Constitution. Not only would I refuse to defend it, I'd file an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs in these cases in the Attorney General gets to decide what the position of the State of Georgia is. And it's not dispositive. It's not like I can say that, and then it goes away. I mean, still a judge has to decide, but it matters, what the attorney general says. And I'll say, had I been the attorney general, You're the lawyer for the people, You're the lawyer for the state, it's incumbent upon you to speak up and say, Hey, this thing you're about to do, it's unconstitutional for these reasons, and it's going to cost us X amount of money to litigate it and it's wrong. You know, you have a duty to do that. Of course, Chris did not do that. So if I'm lucky enough to become the attorney general in our state, and if that is still litigated, I will, on my first day change the position of the Attorney General's office in that litigation and will on behalf of the plaintiffs in that case.

Meral Clarke: 25:03

Well, I'm happy to hear that. I was also relieved to see that you're planning to address homelessness across our state, which is obviously a severe issue. Very few other statewide candidates even mentioned it, if at all. So how do you plan to alleviate homelessness and ensure every Georgian has affordable housing available to you that?

Charlie Bailey: 25:23

Well, I think this is something that Carr has just not done. You have a bully pulpit as Attorney General, you know, Attorney General calls a press conference, press shows up. And so the values that you talk about, and the things you promote matter, and can have an influence on what the legislature does, we have in our state, and I'm not an expert on homelessness, before I was in trial division, you know, I was in a division that handled some lower level offenses, you know, nonviolent offenses. And oftentimes, I would see defendants come through, like their third or fourth criminal trespass, and now it's a felony or an enter in auto or burglary business or something like that at night, and you see these defendants and they clearly have their homeless, but then they also have other health issues, sometimes substance abuse, sometimes mental health challenges, and many of them have never been diagnosed. And so that's where I started to be introduced to a lot more of that and then see, when we were trying to figure out like, what do we do with these folks? You know, it's not a question of whether they broke the law. It's not that it's for this kind of offence, there's no violence, nobody around or anything like that. And prison is not going to solve this issue. If we let them back out, they're going to do it right again. So you know, what do you do, you start looking to find some sort of infrastructure to get folks the help that they needed that they never got. And we don't have a mental health infrastructure at all in our state. There are very few places you can go there very few beds, unless you have money. And so it leaves a lot of human beings. They're human beings, and they're human beings that had mothers and fathers, you know, and they had dreams. And this is not all homeless people by any stretch, but it is a big chunk of it, there's no place for them to go. And then there's no hope, which is the worst thing for someone to analyze. So I'm going to be an advocate for investing in a real mental health infrastructure in our state. So people can get off the streets get better, so that they can live a life that any human being deserves.

Meral Clarke: 27:45

That would certainly be optimal. Yes.

Charlie Bailey: 27:47

And I can't tell you how many sherriffs that talk to and sometimes Republican sherriffs, no, ask them what the first issue for them is it Charlie, my deputies are not equipped to treat people with mental health issues and substance abuse issues. And my jails not equipped for it, but there's nowhere for them to go, there's nothing there. And so it's not only the right thing to do, in my view, but it also is someone gets the treatment they need and they're not out there on the street looking for a car to get into sleep into. And so it is a good inefficient thing for society is well, there's a whole nother piece of homelessness, that is not related to mental health, or substance abuse, or anything like that. And it's just a lack of resources to fill the gap where people don't have a whole lot of money to fall back on.

Meral Clarke: 28:36

And that leads me to my question, how will you obtain those resources from a Republican legislature to establish all these new offices and fight all of these ongoing epidemics of homelessness and the opioid epidemic as well, and the attacks on ACA, the Affordable Care Act? How will you ensure you have what you need to make all of that happen?

Charlie Bailey: 29:00

Well, Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say, and I think we're gonna win seats in the General Assembly next year, but because they are drawing the lines here in a few weeks, it's unlikely we will take back control the state senator state house, so you're right, it will likely be dealing with a Republican legislature. So you set your priorities, and then you put together a legislative proposal, you bring allies on board, you first go and have the conversations you try with honey, right? You see where you can have common ground and some of these things. There's some I mean, I don't think if we get into talking about mental health, infrastructure, substance abuse, I don't think it's going to be a zero Republicans get on. I would love to have a majority of Republicans. I don't think you get that. But I believe there's the majority vote there are these things. I think there's a majority vote for the funding behind an organized crime division and a civil rights division, but you go first and you find that common ground and you start somewhere We're in the things that they don't want to come along on and don't want to pass. And I'll also say, you know, another thing that will help with this is a Governor Stacey Abrams.

Meral Clarke: 30:09

Yes, yes, very much. So.

Charlie Bailey: 30:11

And I'm not breaking news.

Meral Clarke: 30:13

I wish I wish you would go ahead and announce I'm ready to get on board that train.

Charlie Bailey: 30:18

I think we all are. We all are. Yes. And I was proud to be on the ticket with her last time. So I do certainly hope she runs. And we'll wait for a decision on that. But a Democratic governor says he or someone else budget doesn't pass without them sign into. So yes, the Republican legislature has leverage was so does the governor. And so we win that governor seat, and it's not going to be everybody come into the feet of David Ralston to be blessed on what they want in the budget, we're going to have equal weight around what goes in that budget. So if you go the honey route, and then Republicans still don't want to do it, then you have to be prepared to use the sticks to say, and I will be prepared to go around the state and campaign with their local TV stations and local radio stations and local newspapers, and tell them what they voted against. And exactly the dollars that that would have meant for that community. And so then the next time it comes up, they heard from it from home, and it gets a little bit easier. The next vote.

Meral Clarke: 31:18

Okay, fair enough. And I could talk to you for another two hours easily about all of this, but unfortunately, we're running short on time. So if someone wants to support your campaign, volunteer or donate, where would you send them?

Charlie Bailey: 31:32

The website is Charlie for Georgia.com. That's all spelled out. My first name Charlie, for Georgia, all spelled out.com. You can volunteer there, you can donate there, you can see the endorsements in the campaign. If you are on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all you have to type in is Charlie Bailey, Attorney General, those pages come up, like and follow and share and retweet. And there's a whole lot of content as the kids say, on those platforms, as well.

Meral Clarke: 32:05

Fantastic. And I ask all my guests this question, this is my final question. Tell us a fun fact about yourself something not related to your campaign or your background as a prosecutor or your current political leanings. Tell something fun just about Charlie.

Charlie Bailey: 32:21

Well, I like to think I'm a fun loving guy. One thing, which I think is fun about me or embarrassing, but you know, it can be fun for others. I'm in a fantasy football league, where there are serious consequences for finishing last in the league. And there's a punishment for it at one time a number of years ago, I think it was six years ago, the punishment was you had to make a calendar of yourself. And because many of my best friends, my brothers that I love dearly, knew that I've been a lifelong since a kid fan of Lord of the Rings. They decided that I should make it Lord of the Rings themed calendar, which I did. And I think I did a great job with it. But yeah, I'm a good enough sport to make fun of myself dressed as a Hobbit or a wizard, or an elf or a dwarf. So that's one fun thing about me, I think.

Meral Clarke: 33:20

Fantastic. I love it. Well, thank you, Charlie for joining us today and sharing more about your campaign 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. We hope you'll join us next time when our special guests will be Marissa Pyle, Rapid Response organizer in north Georgia rural liaison with Fair Fight Georgia. To learn more about the work we're doing, visit us online at FanninCountyGeorgia Democrats.com Share the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family and be sure to subscribe and follow. 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.