AC repair inSterling, GA

In her opening statement on Tuesday, Jan. 6 select committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said that “we cannot let America become a nation of conspiracy theories.” The committee later heard testimony from Georgia Secretary of State and Georgia election official that debunked one of former President ’s most pervasive election claims — that a suitcase of fraudulent ballots cost him victory in the state in 2020.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who played a central role in Trump’s impeachment hearings and also sits on the committee, handled the questioning of Raffensperger and Sterling, and laid out the essence of Trump’s conspiracy theory about the suitcase.

“This story falsely alleges that sometime during election night, election workers at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga., kicked out poll observers. After the observers left, the story goes, these workers pulled out so-called suitcases of ballots from under a table and ran those ballots through counting machines multiple times,” Schiff said. “Completely without evidence, President Trump and his allies claimed that these suitcases contained as many as 18,000 ballots, all for Joe Biden. None of this was true.”

Asserting that video of the counting of votes at State Farm Arena revealed the fraudulent processing of ballots, Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani pressured Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Raffensperger, Sterling and state lawmakers to declare the results invalid in that must-win swing state.

“What did the tape actually show?” Schiff asked Sterling.

“This conspiracy theory took on a life of its own, where they conflated a water main break that wasn’t a water main break and throwing observers out and a series of other things, when it actually showed was Fulton County election observers engaging in normal ballot processing,” Sterling responded. “One of the specific things, one of the things that was very frustrating, was the so-called suitcases of ballots from under the table.”

Schiff played video testimony about the so-called suitcase given to the committee that began with statements by , whom former Attorney General William Barr had instructed to investigate the claims.

An estimated 120 employees at the Georgia-Pacific Sterling Sawmill no longer have jobs.

The workers were told on Thursday that the plant, in operation since 1982, will stop manufacturing operations immediately. The employees were told they will continue to be paid and receive all benefits through April 2.

Rick Kimble, senior manager of communications for Georgia-Pacific, said a team of company representatives went to the plant and met in person, first with plant management, followed by union leaders and then with employees to break the news.

Employees were surprised and disappointed with the announcement.

“It’s probably the toughest thing you’ll ever do,” Kimble said of telling workers they no longer have a job.

Some employees will be asked to continue showing up to the plant to help ship the remaining inventory of wood and to permanently close the plant. Many workers will collect a paycheck the next two months, regardless of whether they are asked to help shutter the plant.

Those who are asked to work will do because they don’t want a paycheck without working, Kimble said.

“It’s a matter of pride,” he said.

Laid off employees will have an opportunity to transfer to other Georgia-Pacific facilities across the nation if they are qualified for the open jobs, Kimble said.

There will also be a job fair scheduled sometime soon for those workers who are considering a career change.

“It will take a while for them to realize how this impacts them,” he said. “It could be an individual decision. We’ll do everything to help.”

The plant is being closed because of several factors, including the difficultly in getting timber at a competitive price. One of the problems is there is a shortage of workers qualified to work in the timber harvesting industry.

“Not everyone is interested in working in that type of environment,” Kimble said.

Another factor was housing starts are down, reducing the demand for wood and other Georgia-Pacific facilities have expanded their capacity to manufacture the same timber products.

“We have worked with that particular mill for a long time to make it more competitive,” Kimble said.

Another company spokesman, Randall Morris, said no decision has been made about what to do with the equipment inside the facility. When Gilman Paper Co. closed permanently in 2002, costing more than 900 employees their jobs, an auction was held to sell all the equipment in side.

Qualified employees who want to transfer to other Georgia-Pacific facilities may not have to travel far.

“There are 17 or 18 Georgia-Pacific facilities in this state alone,” Morris said. “There are opportunities for these Georgia-Pacific employees.”

Gabriel Sterling, a top official in the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, was spotted on Monday in the courthouse lobby.

He declined to speak with reporters.

Credit: Tamar Hallerman

On Sunday, Sterling was asked by ABC News about whether he had been called to testify before the Fulton County grand jury this week.

“My lawyer said I couldn’t talk about this too much one way or another, but if I am called, when I am called, I will go and do what I did before: I will tell the truth, answer honestly,” he said.

Sterling was a constant presence on television in the aftermath of the 2020 election, assuring Georgians that the state’s vote count was accurate as conspiracy theories flew. He answered questions on election meddling before a special grand jury in Fulton County last summer.

Sterling parked near the courthouse Monday morning, and an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter spotted him getting into a pickup truck to be driven the rest of the way in.

On my way to the courthouse this morning I spotted Gabriel Sterling catching his ride to testify before the grand jury. He is in the pickup truck. pic.twitter.com/cctjo62Zp7

— Tia Mitchell, AJC’s Washington Correspondent (@ajconwashington) August 14, 2023

- Live updates: AJC grand jury watch

— Staff writers Greg Bluestein and Tia Mitchell contributed to this report.

Gabriel Sterling, a top election official in Georgia who publicly disputed former President Donald J. Trump’s false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election, is testifying before the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday.

Mr. Sterling, along with Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, became a vocal defender of Georgia’s election security in the weeks after the election, even as Mr. Trump and members of his campaign sought to discredit the results and to circulate conspiracy theories that the election had been rigged in favor of Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In the hearing on Tuesday, the committee is expected to focus on how Mr. Trump and those in his inner circle targeted state officials in their quest to overturn elections results in battleground states that Mr. Biden won narrowly. In Georgia, Mr. Biden’s final margin of victory was fewer than 12,000 votes.

Mr. Sterling helped oversee the implementation of Georgia’s voting systems in 2020, including the electronic equipment produced by Dominion Voting Systems, which became the target of outlandish conspiracy theories perpetuated by the Trump campaign. He also helped organize a painstaking recount of Georgia’s nearly five million votes in order to confirm the state’s election results.

Unlike other state-level officials who did not act on Mr. Trump’s false claims, Mr. Sterling repeatedly spoke out against the falsehoods in prominent fashion.

In fiery news conferences after the election, Mr. Sterling confronted Mr. Trump’s false claims, methodically debunking many of the most widespread falsehoods aimed at the election in Georgia. He also accused Mr. Trump of whipping up public resentment toward election officials in his bid to stay in power, and he criticized the former president for refusing to condemn a wave of violent threats against officials.

On Tuesday, Mr. Sterling is expected to speak about how Mr. Trump and those in his orbit disingenuously accused officials in Georgia of failing to secure the election, even after they repeatedly explained that claims of election fraud or voting irregularities were unfounded.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. (NasdaqGS: STRL) (“Sterling” or “the Company”) today announced that its subsidiary, Plateau Excavation of its E-Infrastructure Solutions segment, has been awarded a $45 million design-bid-build project by The Joint Development Authority (JDA) of Jasper, Morgan, Newton and Walton Counties in Georgia. The first two phases of site development, which include 500 acres, are located in the East Atlanta Megasite for the Rivian Electric Vehicle (EV) plant.

The Rivian EV Plant is another major project for Georgia, as the JDA has been instrumental in creating an atmosphere that fosters top-level developments in the area. Previous projects include Takeda (f.k.a. Baxter Pharmaceuticals) and two Meta Data Centers, for which, Plateau has performed the sitework.

This significant project expands Rivian’s EV manufacturing operations and the state of Georgia’s commitment to creating and sustaining a diversified economy. The project is scheduled to run from September 2022 through July 2023.

CEO Remarks “Our unique capabilities to execute large-scale site development projects now enable us to capitalize on the emerging EV manufacturing, onshoring, and industrial opportunities. We are honored to be awarded this noteworthy project that is the single largest industrial investment in Georgia’s history. Being part of a project that improves the economy, creates good-paying long-term jobs, and improves the environment fits perfectly within the Sterling Way,” stated Joe Cutillo, Sterling’s CEO.

About Sterling Sterling operates through a variety of subsidiaries within three segments specializing in E-Infrastructure, Transportation and Building Solutions in the United States (the “U.S.”), primarily across the Southern, Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and the Rocky Mountain States, California and Hawaii, as well as other areas with strategic construction opportunities. E-Infrastructure Solutions projects develop advanced, large-scale site development systems and services for data centers, e-commerce distribution centers, warehousing, transportation, energy and more. Transportation Solutions includes infrastructure and rehabilitation projects for highways, roads, bridges, airports, ports, light rail, water, wastewater and storm drainage systems. Building Solutions projects include residential and commercial concrete foundations for single-family and multi-family homes, parking structures, elevated slabs and other concrete work. From strategy to operations, we are committed to sustainability by operating responsibly to safeguard and improve society’s quality of life. Caring for our people and our communities, our customers and our investors – that is The Sterling Way.

Joe Cutillo, CEO, “We build and service the infrastructure that enables our economy to run, our people to move and our country to grow.”

Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes certain statements that fall within the definition of “forward-looking statements” under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those risks identified in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, such statements should be considered in light of these risks. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events or developments, changed circumstances, or otherwise, notwithstanding any changes in our assumptions, changes in business plans, actual experience or other changes. These cautionary statements qualify all forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf.

Contacts

Company Contact: Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. Ron Ballschmiede, Chief Financial Officer (281) 214-0777

Investor Relations Contact: The Equity Group Inc. Jeremy Hellman, CFA (212) 836-9626