Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stumps for governor’s seat at Nonami Plantation

ALBANY — Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle brought his campaign for governor to Southwest Georgia on Wednesday, and it was only fitting that he gave his stump speech at Nonami Plantation with three grain silos and a John Deere tractor in the background.

Not surprisingly, Cagle spent much of his time talking about his plans for education, helping south Georgia farmers, bringing broadband internet access to the rural parts of the state, and economic prosperity for all Georgians.

“The School Turnaround legislation is really all about giving struggling schools the tools that they need to accurately assess the problems that exist in their school,” Cagle said. “The legislation will give them the help they need to turn around that school. We cannot tolerate failing schools. We have to lift every student and every school up so they can reach their highest potential.

“We will have a chief Turnaround Officer in place who will hire assessment experts and also put a turnaround plan in place. All of those things are not interfering with local control but will allow local communities to be a part of the overall solution.”

Cagle then pointed to the state’s third-grade reading levels.

“They are way too low, and we have to declare war on low performance,” he said. “We have to declare war on dropout rates. If a kid can’t read on grade level in the third grade, those individuals will probably drop out of school before the 12th grade.”

One of Cagle’s biggest supporters, Sen. Greg Kirk, R-13, said he has no qualms about throwing his support behind the state’s lieutenant governor in his gubernatorial quest.

“As the leader of the Georgia Senate, Lt. Gov. Cagle has helped get my bills through the senate and into law,” Kirk said. “His help has been invaluable to me, and that is why I am supporting his bid for governor.”

During his announcement to run Sunday in Duluth, Cagle promised to bring 500,000 jobs to the state. Broadband access is a large part of that promise.

“We’re going to see greater economic growth under my leadership throughout this entire state,” Cagle said. “The rural parts are just as important. I talked about the broadband initiative, which I’m very serious about, and we’re going to launch it throughout the state. We’re going to put real money behind it to build that out and get the kind of jobs we need in the rural parts of the state. It’s all about work force development.”

Cagle said he was pleased that nearly 50 farmers showed up at Nonami to listen and talk with him.

“Agriculture is the state’s No. 1 industry, and we have to be committed to the great work that the farmer does and what it means to our economy in terms of food and fiber,” Cagle said. “We have to let them have access to a global market. We’re no longer looking at just the domestic market, we’re looking internationally. We are committed to the deepening of the (Savannah) harbor and giving every farmer with the ability to penetrate the world marketplace.”

A native of Gainesville, Cagle is the third person to enter what could be a crowded GOP primary field in May of next year. Secretary of State Brian Kemp and State Sen. Hunter Hill have already announced their plans to run for the office. Several other big names, including Speaker of the House David Ralston and former congressman Lynn Westmoreland, are rumored to be mulling bids for the seat as well.