A Conversation with Phil Kent
Austin recently had a chat with former editorial page editor of the Augusta Chronicle and current co- host of “The Georgia Gang” Phil Kent about the passing of legendary Augusta legislator and businessman Don Cheeks
Austin Rhodes: Now, ladies and gentlemen, one of the greatest and most respected political pundits in the state of Georgia. He is a regular member of the Georgia gang, seen on public television around the state, and also at the news on Fox News Online. Let me see if I can pull him up here. Is it Fox News online? Is it the WAGA’s website? How is that handled, Phil? You tell me.
Phil Kent: Oh. Hey, Austin. Yeah. Fox five. Atlanta WAGA-TV. You can get that on YouTube. Just call it that, call it the Georgia Gang.
Austin Rhodes: The Georgia Gang. And by the way, this is not only the, great representative from actual conservatives across the state of Georgia, but he and Lori Geary have strong Augusta ties. So it’s old home week when we see you guys on that show, when you really appreciate it’s literally the premiere political talk show for the state of Georgia. And we appreciate you guys.
Phil Kent: Well, thank you Austin and I know you get the magazine I published James magazine.
Austin Rhodes: Absolutely. I was going to I was going to mention James magazine. He works in conjunction with our old Phil. Our Phil, listen to me. Our old friend who ran for lieutenant governor. What’s your business partners name?
Phil Kent: Matt Towery. Matt.
Austin Rhodes: Towery. I always think about him in the glasses that he doesn’t have to wear anymore. He wore these incredible glasses that were part of his personality. Then he got his eye surgery done. And like Clark Kent, lost his secret identity on this.
Phil Kent: He did. And I got to tell you and the listeners a quick story. I endorsed him, when he ran in 1990 for lieutenant governor, and, it was the only newspaper in the state, the Chronicle, that endorsed him. And, of course, he carried this area of Columbia, Richmond County, but he wants the rest of the state. So I’ve always reminded him that I was there from the beginning.
Austin Rhodes: Yeah, that kind of really started setting the tone back in those days are how important Columbia County specifically could be for the Republican Party statewide. And we’ve we’ve enjoyed great influence ever since. Well, the reason Phil’s joining me this afternoon, if you have missed some of the the news and it’s funny, I don’t know that they have run an obituary, an obituary in the Augusta Chronicle. It shows you how the times have changed. But, over the course of the last several days, we lost probably one of the most important state legislators of the last 50 years in the Augusta area. Former state Senator Don Cheeks passed away, and he was 92 years old. God bless him and not been in good health in recent years. But I was thinking back, and I would have to say that if there were two kingmakers and/or political bigwigs, in the state legislative world in the last 40 years, the two that probably were the most prominent, Charles Walker and Don Cheeks. Would you agree with that?
Phil Kent: I would agree, but I would add one more. And that was, the late Jack Connell, who for years was the speaker pro tem, and Ju was the right hand man of, long time House speaker Tom Murphy. He did a lot for, the Richmond County area and frankly, the CSRA. I’d add him as a third.
Austin Rhodes: I would agree with that. I think probably the reason I didn’t is that as he slowed down later in life, he became a lot less involved in the nuts and bolts of it. I don’t I don’t think Jack had much at all to do with the, consolidated government agreement of 96/97 that Don Cheeks and, Charles Walker, put together
Phil Kent: You’re right about that. But, but he was very instrumental, as you remember, with that notorious Green Door committee that offered that secret. And they dole out, money to, Richmond County and all of their friends and, but it actually did redound to the benefit of Richmond County. Tom Allgood was part of that crowd, as you remember, the late senator Tom Allgood. And, of course, Don Cheeks.
Austin Rhodes: Absolutely. Well, and also, Don was the only man of that era or person of that era that made a successful transition to the Republican Party and lived to tell the tale. I mean, he not only made the transition, he made the transition and retained his power and and actually grew in stature as the Republicans took over.
Phil Kent: He did. And since we’re walking down memory lane, he yes, was a Democrat at first, and he wore it with the late Bob Beckham, who was a state representative Republican. And I remember Don did suffer one defeat by 12 votes, if you remember that. That was quite a rivalry back then between Beckham and Cheeks.
Austin Rhodes: So yeah. Was Bob beat him by 12 votes? Wow. That’s hard to believe. But I think Don, did Don, run for that seat again or did he go straight to the Senate?
Phil Kent: Yeah, he eventually won. Yeah. That’s right.
Austin Rhodes: So it’s an interesting tale. What Don did. And I can remember when Charles Walker was in all the legal trouble that he was in. And by that time, Don Cheeks, I think, had retired. Or at least he was on his way to retirement. And I can remember him saying to me off the cuff one time, and he never would have said this publicly, but we were talking about Charles’s downfall and the legal trouble he was in. And he says some people just didn’t realize that the gravy train ended about ten years ago, because now it’s very sophisticated and they can catch you doing things they never could catch you doing before. And, and, and Don made his fortune. And I’m not speaking ill of the dead. I think if Don were candid with you he’d admit to a lot of this. But Don made his fortune in real estate speculation, and it wasn’t a secret where he was getting his information from. If you go back and check property records, you would see that Don Cheeks did very, very, very, very, very well in areas where interstates intersected with known roadways and new expressways intersected with new roadways. And almost not every time, but many, many times you would see his name or the name of his business associates pop up as having recently bought, you know, five acres, right? Where I 20 was to interchange with with Bobby Jones Expressway, that kind of thing.
Phil Kent: That’s right, a shocker.
Austin Rhodes: And again, he.
Phil Kent: Had his, he got his, secret contacts.
Austin Rhodes: Yeah. And again, this was a guy hardscrap, born and raised in Harrisburg, horrible family life from the extent that he was. They were dirt poor. And correct me if I’m wrong did don’t I remember hearing a story about him killing an intruder in his mother’s house, when he was a kid?
Phil Kent: Yeah, I did hear that story. I had some, some scrapes over the years. In fact, I’ll never forget. I think this was in the late 1980s or early 90s. My wife Bonnie and I were having dinner over at his house, right there, Wolf and Wayne. And we looked up at the wall as we were at the table eating, and, I tell them it looks like a bullet hole in your wall. And he said, yeah, somebody shot into the house the other night.
Austin Rhodes: Wow.
Phil Kent: I looked at my watch and we left.
Austin Rhodes: I was gonna say, and that was a night that you weren’t expected there. So goodness gracious.
Phil Kent: Heheheh.
Austin Rhodes: You can imagine. Imagine how popular a target that would be if they known you were over there, too. .
Phil Kent: That’s right. Gee, I never thought about it.
Austin Rhodes: Yeah. He he started doing it. He started doing things like running paper routes and collecting bottles and tin cans and whatnot when he was a child. And it seems like the story went that he was in the process of getting ready to make a newspaper run early in the morning, and he was either about to leave or maybe coming back in the house, and he ran square into an intruder in the kitchen, and he killed the guy right there. And I think he was, what, 12, 13 years old? Something like that.
Phil Kent: You know, you’re jogging my memory. Yeah, I’ve heard a similar story. Yeah. Of course, he could have been embellishing that.
Austin Rhodes: Well, as one of the reasons people didn’t mess around with him. He was a hard scrap guy and he did not back off. He would get in your face and loud if he thought he needed to. And, he was certainly a throwback to the old days. He he was not.
Phil Kent: He was. He once called us over at the Chronicle, and, you know, he was upset that we criticized him. And Billy Morris set him straight, says, Don. We’re going to praise you when you do right and hit you when you do wrong. So that kind of cleared that up.
Austin Rhodes: Do you remember the day at Daniel Field when he welcomed Sonny Perdue and endorsed him for governor?
Phil Kent: Yes.
Austin Rhodes: That was an interesting, interesting day. And Bob Beckham was there, you talking about the rivalry that they had? And, I think it was maybe heardHerb that said, I thought it’d be a cold day in hell for we’d have to depend on Don Cheeks for any kind of political help. But here we are.
Phil Kent: They both became Republicans, you know.
Austin Rhodes: They absolutely did. Well, like I said, kind of an end of an era. He and Charles Walker, two of the last big, real big names, to survive in politics and certainly the only one from this area that made a really, really super successful transfer in the state legislature from Republican to Democrat. There were others who attempted it that didn’t quite make it. And then most of the old timers like Jack Connell and. Some of the folks of that same era just retired rather than switch.
Phil Kent: Well, you’re right. And I remember, when Danny Craig was the district attorney, of course, ran as a Democrat, as a conservative Democrat. And I always teased him. I said, you need to switch the Republican Party. The state’s changing and all that, and he never would. And then he finally he was he was another one that finally became a Republican.
Austin Rhodes: He finally did and then had to wait in line behind, Judge Annis before he got his appointment because Judge Annis had been a Republican longer. Yeah.
Phil Kent: That’s right. But he made it.
Austin Rhodes: It this is interesting time, to say the least. I hate to say this, but I, I look, I look up and here we are, 30, 40 years, you and I have been working together, and, I mean, we’ve seen a lot of changes, haven’t we?
Phil Kent: I know it, it’s it’s time flies, doesn’t it? Really does. But it’s good history that you’re recording here.
Austin Rhodes: Listen, while I’ve got you on the air, I hope you know I’m asking going off script a little bit, but I have to ask you. You’re on the ground in Atlanta. What are you hearing about the Fani Willis fallout? Is there enough trouble brewing for her that this case is going to have to be reset? I don’t think it’ll ever be tossed out completely, but they may have to reset everything and start all over again. And are you hearing that?
Phil Kent: You know, the Fulton County D.A. is in serious trouble. She’s got pressure from several sides. February 2nd will be a key day. And that’s when they’re going. She’s going to have to answer the allegations that were filed against her by her alleged lover’s, estranged wife. And so she has not said at all whether there was this inappropriate, relationship with her special prosecutor that went after Trump. So I think that she could be removed by the Superior Court judge and, who knows? The whole DA’s office could be removed. And that would really delay if granted the prosecution of Trump and his co-defendants.
Austin Rhodes: I mean, it really is interesting that that a woman as hell, as well-educated as she supposed to be to to be a qualified attorney and district attorney, that she would be so stupid as to appoint a guy that she was canoodling with. And people say, well, she’s allowed to have a personal life. Absolutely. You’re just not allowed or you’re not supposed to put, the folks that you’re having a personal relationship with on the public dole, working on behalf of your office simply because of the way it looks.
Phil Kent: Well, that’s right, they’re using taxpayer money and, going off on vacation trips and, it’s, it also become the U.S. House of Representatives. And Chairman Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Committee is getting involved, too. Don’t be surprised if they subpoena her. And then the state Senate wants to, subpoena her and, find out the truth. And so, she’s in a real mess.
Austin Rhodes: Our attorney general, Attorney General Carr, has taken a hands off approach on this is not commented. Matter of fact, I pressed him for a comment a few weeks ago, and he just said he wasn’t comfortable commenting on it. And I’m surprised about this. He is the the number one judicial official in the state, not counting the judges. Are you surprised he hasn’t had more to say?.
Phil Kent: Not only surprised I’m disappointed, I actually saw him at an event, a couple of weeks ago and, and, I told him, I said, you know me. I said, why don’t you get involved? And, you know, certainly, there are state charges that seem serious. And he basically said, we, you know, I want to see how the process, lays out. And it bothers me because I don’t have to tell you. And a lot of your listeners, they’re aggressive attorney generals all across the country. And and the Democrats are certainly using every power that they have to go after their political opponent. And so I would hope he’d finally get involved.
Austin Rhodes: Well, I just I cannot imagine that, I mean, this is a no brainer. I mean, it really is. I set aside the Trump case any time a district attorney has the power to hire a special prosecutor and or, you know, someone to come in off of the regular payroll, and she does it with someone she’s having a personal relationship with number one and number two. And correct me if I’m wrong here Phil, because you’re much more dialed in on this than I am. I was told that he is getting a premium per hour wage compared to what others of comparable, skill.
Phil Kent: Or that is correct, that that did come out. There was other prosecutors, including an expert in the anti racketeering law. That’s what Trump and the co-defendants are being charged with. And this is not just me saying it, Austin. It’s prominent Democrat attorneys. And Atlanta and the local Republican attorneys say this is a total abuse of Georgia’s racketeering law that was designed for, you know, murder and and gangs and Mafia leaders. And so, that’s always been challenged too aside from the Willis scandal.
Austin Rhodes: Well, it’s funny, when all of this broke, I actually heard from a friend of mine who is a far, left of center, criminal defense attorney in the Atlanta area, somebody that I’ve known for 30 years who called me up and said, by the way, you know how I feel about Trump, hate his guts. But this lady up here in Fulton County is absolutely out to lunch. She…he says she’s got everybody in the legal community furious with her, the ones that are conservative are furious that she’s doing what she’s doing. The ones on the left are furious because she’s screwing up, what should be a slam dunk, they believe. And, well, she doesn’t seem to have an ally at all.
Phil Kent: Well, I agree, and there’s one word there. You asked, how could she do this? I think it’s arrogance.
Austin Rhodes: Must be boy there’s something in the water up here in Fulton County when it comes to DA’s. Unbelievable. Well, Phil, always
Phil Kent: It’s been a corrupt county for a long time.
Austin Rhodes: Yeah, always an honor. We appreciate you being able to turn to you and get the inside scoop from what’s going on up there. And please give our best to our mutual buddy, Lori Geary. We we miss both of y’all, but we really love seeing you do so well up there in Atlanta.
Phil Kent: Thank you all. Austin you take care
Austin Rhodes: By the way. The website for James is what.
Phil Kent: It’s James magazine GA.com Click on and check out all the news. It’s a daily website with News.
Austin Rhodes: James magazine GA. Com can’t miss it. Thank you so much Phil. Always a pleasure.
Phil Kent: Thanks, Austin.
Austin Rhodes: Thank you, Phil Kent. Ladies and gentlemen, remembering the late, great Don Cheeks and chiming in on the, Fani Willis situation.
