ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp announced Wednesday he’s going to visit South Korea. Kemp says firms from that country have created 9000 jobs in Georgia, including the giant Kia auto plant in West Point, near the Alabama border.
It’s the first of what’s likely to be many overseas trips by the new governor, if recent history is any indication.
Early in his term, Delta Air Lines gifted its coveted Medallion status to then-Gov. Nathan Deal. And Deal wasn’t shy about using it.
During his first three years in office, Deal visited at least 11 different countries. He started with three countries in Europe – Great Britain, Germany and Austria.
A month later he went to Canada. Four months after that, he was in South Korea and China.
The following year he went to Turkey, Canada again, Switzerland and Japan. In 2014, Deal was in Israel.
"It’s something that all states do," explained Brian Robinson, a former Deal aide who accompanied the governor to Asia. "I don’t know if it’s a competitive edge. But if you don’t do it, it’s a competitive disadvantage. You are letting the other states get ahead of you."
Robinson says every Georgia governor has to travel the globe to talk up Atlanta’s airport – and to talk up the busy Port of Savannah. Robinson says Gov. Kemp can’t afford not to.
"We’re competing with North Carolina, Texas, Florida, and to some degree even California and New York on some issues. So that’s a big stakes game. And we’ve got to have a big presence on the world stage," Robinson said.
William Perry of Georgia Watchdogs counters that the benefits of gubernatorial world travel are too vague and are rarely documented.
"I think the public should view it with skepticism," Perry said. "There ought to be some kind of follow up report, or some kind of official documentation from the government body saying how this trip benefited" taxpayers.
MORE HEADLINES