Keisha Lance Bottoms presses Kemp to pause diesel tax as rising

There's something almost quaint about Keisha Lance Bottoms demanding Brian Kemp bring back the diesel tax suspension like she just discovered the gas pump. The governor already did this. He signed the 60-day pause in March, extended it through May, and let it expire when the emergency had passed. Now Bottoms is running for his job and suddenly she's an expert on fuel excise taxes. The timing is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

Her argument isn't wrong on the surface. Diesel prices are climbing again and that hits everything from truckers to grocery shelves. But here's what the challenger isn't telling you: the suspension cost the state real money, money that pays for roads and bridges and the very infrastructure her campaign says she wants to build. Kemp didn't let the tax snap back because he enjoys watching Georgians pay more at the pump. He let it snap back because the state has a budget to balance and a constitutional obligation to fund transportation. It's called governing, not campaigning.

If Bottoms wants to make fuel taxes her closing argument, she should come with a plan to replace that revenue. Instead she's offering a press release. That's the difference between someone who has sat in the governor's chair and someone who wants to. Kemp made a targeted, temporary move when prices spiked. He didn't turn the tax code into a permanent campaign prop. One of them is trying to win an election. The other is trying to run a state. Georgia voters can tell the difference.