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The American Civil Liberties Union engages in one of the decisive battles of the mid-term elections of 2018: $ 800,000 for a television commercial aimed at strengthening Democracy Democrat Stacey Abrams in the Georgia Governor's Equal Race Against Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
As a non-profit organization, the group does not formally support candidates. But the purpose of the advertisement is clearly to highlight Abrams' work with popular outgoing GOP governor Nathan Deal on issues of criminal justice reform.
The announcement is the latest step in the 98-year-old civil rights organization's quest to become more directly involved in electoral politics. This year, she ousted prosecutors who were blocking reform efforts and ended the notorious former Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, at the GOP, Senate, GOP. And it was breaking with the years of tradition to oppose Brett Kavanaugh's ultimately successful nomination to the Supreme Court.
"Civil liberties and civil rights are too much in the running for governorship in Georgia to keep us out of this election," said Faiz Shakir, the group's national political director. "The next Georgian governor should continue the bipartisan struggle for criminal justice reform, taking specific measures to reduce mass incarceration and state dependence on private prisons, as well as to priority to treatment rather than incarceration. "
The ad features a mother from suburban Atlanta who explains how her son, an addict, was sentenced to six years in prison.
"Georgia spends millions of people to keep juvenile offenders in jail," says a narrator in the ad. "Stacey Abrams has joined Nathan Deal on bipartisan reforms to cut costs, and Stacey Abrams will end dependency on private prisons, saving millions that could be used for treatment."
Abrams and Kemp are in a tight race that pits a progressive legislative leader who would be the first female black governor of any state in the country to an arch-conservative who has earned a reputation for suppressing voters.
On criminal justice issues, Abrams proposed to end the cash bail and private prisons in the state, to limit the use of confiscation of assets, to increase funding diversion programs and decriminalizing marijuana. Kemp objected to these reforms and said he considered private prisons as a form of "competition" for state-run institutions.
Advertising also has the advantage of linking Abrams, who tries to seduce moderate voters since the primary, to Deal, whose approval rate is generally higher than 50%. Deal approved Kemp.
Ad buying is the largest in the ACLU cycle. The organization announced last week that it was suing Kemp's office against the state's controversial policy of exact registration registration adequacy.
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