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Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Coweta Commission chairman is unseated
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tim Lassetter edged incumbent Greg Tarbutton in the Republican primary for the Coweta County Commission District 2 seat.
Lassetter, an operations manager with Eckerd Drugs, earned 52.9 percent of the vote in the district, which encompasses the western side of the county. He’ll face Democrat Jett Smith in November.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome,” Lassetter said. “So many people that I have known all my life who said they were going to support me did so. But any time you run against an incumbent who is the chairman of the county commission, it’s not an easy task.”
Tarbutton, elected to a first term in 2002, is chair of the county commission, which has a rotating chairmanship.
The unofficial count in District 2 was 792 to 705, with a handful of provisional ballots yet to be verified. Overall turnout in Coweta County was 17.75 percent.
Tarbutton, a managing partner in Keystone Apartments in Jonesboro, said he was disappointed with the results but not “crushed.”
“I would have preferred it to come out the other way, but the long and short of it is that there’s finality to it,” he said.
Tarbutton said he had spoken with Lassetter.
“I’m convinced that he has Coweta County’s best interest at heart,” he said. “I’m going to do everything I can to help him get up to speed.”
For his part, Lassetter, a lifelong Coweta native, said he planned to take a week off from campaigning before gearing up again for the general election.
Permalink | | Categories: Coweta County
Belle Isle wins Alpharetta seat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
David Belle Isle defeated Mark Smith in the race to replace controversial former Councilmember R.J. Kurey.
Kurey was ousted by his fellow councilmembers for bad behavior.
Belle Isle took 51 percent of the vote, compared to 49 percent for Smith.
Permalink | | Categories: Fulton - North
Alpharetta tax district is approved
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Alpharetta residents strongly supported a tax district to fund a downtown redevelopment project.
The special tax district would pay for public improvements on 7 acres of prime downtown real estate, most of which is underused. The city owns 3 of the acres — part of it tied up in parking, the rest the aging Eagle Village gym and Police Athletic League complex.
The proposal, approved in concept by the city but still in the development stage, calls for about 50,000 square feet each of retail and office space, new space for city government offices, 162 condominiums and nearly 900 parking spaces.
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Sandy Springs approves exemptions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Six ballot questions in Sandy Springs asked voters to approve city homestead exemptions that mirrored what residents received when the community was part of Fulton County’s special service district.
Two of the exemptions applied to all city residents. The other four were just for residents who are disabled or over a certain age and meet various income limitations.
All received overwhelming support on Tuesday. Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos said the exemptions will offset any increase in tax bills, starting with this year’s, except for inflation or an increased assessment.
Permalink | | Categories: Fulton - North
Crow, Dudgeon win school board seats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two school board races were settled Tuesday, with no possibility of a runoff.
District 1 incumbent Ann Crow defated Ed Mitchell, and District 2 incumbent Luke Haymond was unseated by Mike Dudgeon.
Issues in the race have included school start times and the handling of sales tax referendums for school projects. The next sales tax referendum will take place during the general election in November.
Permalink | | Categories: Forsyth County
Incumbent commissioners face runoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Both Forsyth County Commission incumbents will have to compete again in an Aug. 8 runoff.
Whoever wins that race will win the seat, as no Democrats qualified to run for the County Commission.
In District 1, Charlie Laughinghouse will face Ralph “Pete” Amos, a county planning commissioner, while Commission Chairman Jack Conway will compete against Jim Harrell., former c Neither incumbent received more than 50 percent of the vote to ensure victory.
Both incumbents have antagonized different constituencies. Laughinghouse has drawn the ire of longtime property owners and builders for supporting tough development standards. Conway has angered homeowner advocates who believe he has become too pro-growth.
Permalink | | Categories: Forsyth County
Goreham scores easy victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the Cobb County Commission District 1 race, incumbent Helen Goreham won the primary without the need for a runoff. With 57 of 58 precincts in, she had 53.3 percent of the vote.
Of her two closest challengers, former restaurant owner Johnny Woodward won 15.9 percent of the vote and former Powder Springs mayor Brad Hulsey took 14.2 percent
“I’m feeling positive and upbeat. As long as we’ve got more than 50 percent, it’s fanstastic,” Goreham said earlier in the evening as she gathered with supporters at a downtown Marietta restaurant to await returns.
Far back in the pack were former county finance department worker John Osborne, builder Scott Richards and retired police officer Charles Spann.
Goreham, a retired physical therapist, was first elected in 2002 on a platform of keeping residential growth in check.
Permalink | | Categories: Cobb County
Secretary of state: Crowded field delivers runoffs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The bitterly contested Republican primary for secretary of state between Bill Stephens and Karen Handel will continue for three more weeks.
Handel, the Fulton County Commission chairwoman, was leading Stephens, a state senator from Canton, late Tuesday. Because neither candidate won 50 percent of the vote in the four-candidate primary, a runoff is needed on Aug. 8.
The GOP race was marked by accusations of flip-flops, lies, distortions and dirty tricks. Both sides produced negative attack ads on the other. Stephens on Tuesday continued to call himself “the only conservative” in the race, a charge that infuriates Handel.
A runoff also is set in the crowded Democratic contest, where state Rep. Gail Buckner (D-Jonesboro) was leading Darryl Hicks, a former executive for the parent company of Atlanta Gas Light.
The Democratic primary was a relatively sedate affair with six candidates in the running. The Democratic candidates — several of them political neophytes — mostly struggled to distinguish themselves from the pack.
Both Handel and Stephens raised large amounts of money, and have plenty remaining to continue waging a campaign. Stephens has emphasized his work in the state Senate, where he helped build a majority for the GOP in recent years as one of the chamber’s top leaders. He also counted former Gov. Zell Miller, for whom Stephens had worked, as his supporter.
“Tomorrow we start over, and there’s a brand-new election in three weeks,” Stephens said late Tuesday. “Everybody starts from zero. We’re in the fourth inning of a nine inning game, and I know how to close a game.”
Handel cited a combination of her political experience, business experience — she’s former head of North Fulton’s chamber of commerce — and work for both Gov. Sonny Perdue and former Vice President Dan Quayle and wife Marilyn Quayle as qualifications for the job.
“We figured all along it would be a runoff,” Handel said Tuesday night. “What I’m real proud of is we’re coming in the strongest position.”
Buckner campaigned on her 16 years in the Georgia Legislature, saying that it gave her the knowledge to understand the inner-workings of state government.
Buckner said Tuesday night that finishing first was the best result she could have hoped for in a six-person field.
“We plan to work hard for the runoff,” Buckner said. “I have the experience of working with the issues relative to the duties of the office of secretary of state, and I think that’s the message the citizens will be looking for.”
Hicks said his experience as a lobbyist for AGL Resources helped him understand government workings, and said his many years as a manager in the customer service field would help him make the secretary of state’s office more customer-oriented.
“I believe that I’m going to be victorious,” Hicks said late Tuesday. “We’ve got a plan and a message. I believe that my experience will be my defining factor in this.”
Runoffs in the race were expected, given the crowded field for the post, vacated by outgoing Secretary of State Cathy Cox who waged her own campaign for governor.
Ten people — six Democrats and four Republicans — were competing for the statewide office.
The secretary of state’s office has become a plum job in recent years, in part because of controversial elections issues throughout the nation and its high visibility. Former Georgia Secretary of State Max Cleland parlayed the post into a seat in the U.S. Senate.
The office in Georgia has responsibility for a wide range of governmental functions, including oversight of elections; the licensing of 64 trades and professions, from cosmetologists and psychologists to auctioneers and geologists; regulating investment advisers, the issuance and sales of securities; and the registration of corporations and nonprofit groups. It also oversees the state’s archives and the Capitol museum. The job pays $114,376 a year.
Other candidates in the Republican primary included businessmen Charlie Bailey of Cobb County and Eric Martin of Dunwoody.
Democratic candidates who trailed the top voter-getters in the runoff were Atlanta lawyers Shyam Reddy and Scott Holcomb, former state senator and parole board member Walter Ray of Coffee County in south Georgia, and DeKalb County businesswoman Angela Moore.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
What do you think of cityhood results?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thousands of north Fulton County residents voted in overwhelming fashion Tuesday to form two new cities — Milton and Johns Creek — meant to replace the county as the focal point of local government. Do you agree with the outcome?
Permalink | Comments (26) | Categories: Fulton - North
Race for governor starts before dawn
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Taylor, who won the Democratic nomination for governor, said he was working on three hours sleep. Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had only token opposition — and presumably a good night’s sleep — said he was ready to begin the contest for the governor’s mansion.
Both men looked fresh this morning as they appeared separately on the local morning news programs, beginning with Perdue’s appearance shortly after 6 a.m. on WSB-TV. Taylor, who won a concession from challenger Cathy Cox just before midnight Tuesday, was on in the second half hour of the morning news show.
“We feel it is critic that we be effective in the next three days, consolidating our support in the Democratic Party… so it is going to be back at it hot and heavy,” said Taylor, who is finishing his term as lieutenant governor.
Perdue said he was glad to see an end to the Democratic primary campaign for governor, which he called “one of the nastiest I can remember in Georgia history.”
Through the primary, the television advertising run by Taylor and Cox, who is secretary of state, hammered each other with allegations of misspending, improper influence and questionable alliances. Issues were rarely discussed.
“Now people have a choice between two candidates, we can hopefully get to the issues,” Perdue said.
Taylor said he was prepared to battle Perdue on the issues.
“We need a governor that will really get busy about the high cost of health care in Geogia,” Taylor said. Said Perdue: “I will not have any trouble defending my record.”
Campaign contribution and spending reports indicate Taylor goes into the race with about $1 million, while Perdue, because he had little need to spend on a campaign, has about $9 million.
“I feel when they take a look at the candidates…even though we will be outspent, we will win this campaign,” Taylor said.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Clayton finishes counting votes — at 2:30 a.m.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voting went smoothly in Clayton County on Tuesday.
Vote counting did not.
Because of computer problems, votes were counted into the early morning hours, with the last results posted about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday — hours after other counties had finished.
County officials said voting machines could not be transported from the precincts when the polls closed at 7 p.m. because the computerized cards that were supposed to lock voting machines did not work.
New cards had to be sent to all precincts. That delayed the poll managers from bringing the voting machines to the county’s emergency operations center, where votes were tabulated. Some poll managers waited in line to deliver machines until 10 p.m.
“We got a bad batch of cards,” said Annie Bright, elections director.
“We can’t shorten the process,” said Bob Bolia, chairman of the county board of elections and registration. “We do the best we can with what we’ve got.”
Candidate Lee Scott stayed until the last votes were counted. He compared he ordeal to birthing a baby. “My goodness, I don’t know why it took so long,” Scott said.
CLAYTON COMMISSION DISTRICT 1 Carl Rhodenizer, the two-term incumbent, will face Sonna Singleton in a runoff. She is an employee of Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill, who has clashed with the commission. Rhodenizer’s opponents have attacked him for supporting the use of county funds for a proposed commuter rail line between Clayton and downtown Atlanta.
CLAYTON COMMISSION DISTRICT 4 A runoff will take place in Clayton’s most closely watched Democratic primary race. Neither Lee Scott nor Michael Lester Edmonson got enough votes to win outright. Scott is married to Clayton District Attorney Jewel Scott. In recent years, Lee Scott has helped several candidates, including Sheriff Victor Hill and Riverdale Mayor Phaedra Graham, win campaigns. Edmondson is a local banker. Longtime incumbent Charley Griswell did not seek re-election.
SCHOOL BOARD In District 8, incumbent Allen T. Johnston was beaten by Norreese Haynes. In District 4, incumbent Ericka Brown Davis beat Milton Mack. There will be two school board runoffs. In District 1, A. Michelle Strong will challenge incumbent LaToya J. Walker. In District 9, incumbent Connie Kitchens faces Sandra Scott.
Permalink | | Categories: Clayton County
Reed couldn’t shake ties to Abramoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the end, Ralph Reed couldn’t do for himself what he had helped Republicans do all the way up to the White House: Get elected.
Despite the backing of top conservatives including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, Reed failed to win Georgia’s GOP nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday. He lost to little-known state Sen. Casey Cagle of Gainesville.
“I’m not focused on being a candidate in the future, but I’m glad I ran,” Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, told supporters in conceding to Cagle before all of the votes had been counted.
Cagle credited his Senate colleagues with helping him win the nomination. In February, 21 Republican senators signed a petition urging Reed to drop out of the race — out of a concern, they said, that Reed would prove a drag on GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue’s re-election bid.
“We’ve still got one more hurdle to go,” Cagle told supporters Tuesday night after his win, “and that’s in November.” He said Reed called to offer his support.
Cagle will face either former state Sen. Greg Hecht of Jonesboro or former state Rep. Jim Martin of Atlanta in the November general election. The two Democratic candidates are headed to an Aug. 8 primary runoff.
Without a doubt, said state Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), it was Cagle’s ability to tie Reed to convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff that sealed Reed’s fate. In doing so, Cagle cracked Reed’s rock-hard base of Christian conservatives — whom Reed had led to the ballot box time and time again.
“The Cagle campaign was very successful at planting doubt among members of the faith-based community. They stayed home,” said Staton, a Reed supporter.
Star of religious right
With Reed as fuel, a normally dull, down-ticket race was transformed into a nearly national affair, fought out on Web sites and editorial pages across the country.
At the start of his 18-month campaign in 2005, Reed, 45, was considered a shoo-in, based on his national reputation with the Christian Coalition and his proven ability to churn out Republican votes — evangelical and otherwise — for two U.S. presidents, both named Bush.
After attending high school and college in Georgia, Reed in 1989 joined the Rev. Pat Robertson’s new organization, the Christian Coalition. As executive director, Reed applied a precinct-style organization that stressed grass-roots organizing.
It worked. With Reed at its head, the coalition was essential to the GOP’s 1994 takeover of the U.S. House, an effort led by Newt Gingrich. Months later, Reed made the cover of Time magazine as the boyish face of the religious right.
By 1997, Reed was back in Georgia. He had left the Christian Coalition to establish a private consulting firm — and to lay groundwork for his entry onto center stage in politics.
An early backer of George W. Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign, Reed parlayed those Bush contacts, and a reputation for grass-roots organization, into a successful bid for chairman of the state Republican Party in 2001. Republicans won the governorship and the state Senate the next year. Reed took an even larger role in Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign.
Telegenic, smooth and well-connected, Reed saw early money pour into his campaign for lieutenant governor at a record rate. One opponent, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, withdrew early from the primary contest, leaving only Cagle, a 12-year veteran of the Legislature.
Reed pitched himself as the ideas candidate, with a 63-page, downloadable position paper that included his support for a state spending cap tied to population growth and inflation, and his call for a 20 percent across-the-board reduction in income taxes by 2011.
But while Reed was getting his campaign off the ground, a U.S. Senate committee and federal prosecutors were probing deeper into Abramoff’s affairs. A Reed associate, Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to bilking his Indian tribe clients of tens of millions of dollars, and of bribery of a public official.
Reed has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
But e-mails between Abramoff and Reed revealed that the longtime friends, who met as college Republicans, had developed a close business association, often sharing clients and trading favors. A Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), concluded that Reed had been paid $5.3 million by two casino-owning Indian tribes, both Abramoff clients, to rally Christian voters against attempts by other tribes to establish competing casinos.
Reed repeatedly denied that he knew the money that financed his anti-gambling campaigns came from gambling revenue, although several e-mails showed that Abramoff informed Reed of the money’s origins several times.
For the last six months of the campaign, Reed continually expressed regret for his association with Abramoff, and frustration that the media were not covering the important issues of the campaign. Cagle used the Abramoff scandal to repeatedly accuse Reed of hypocrisy.
“The way he sold out our values? That’s wrong,” Cagle said in one of several TV ads that saturated Georgia’s airwaves in the final two weeks of the campaign.
In the last three months of the race, Cagle’s barrage against Reed began to pay off. Cagle rose in the polls and raised more than three times as much as Reed from contributors. Reed closed the financial gap with a $500,000 personal loan to his own campaign. By June 30, both men had raised roughly $2.5 million.
Abramoff controversy
The lieutenant governor’s race in many ways became a measure of the continued influence of Reed and his Christian conservatives, nationally as well as within the state Republican Party.
Conservative radio-TV talk show host Sean Hannity and future presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani traveled to Georgia to help Reed build his war chest. Giuliani said it was “very important” that Reed get elected.
Bush, however, made only passing reference to Reed — and Cagle — when he visited in March for a fund-raiser for Perdue, which was attended by both lieutenant gubernatorial candidates.
“Two candidates running for lieutenant governor, Casey Cagle and Ralph Reed, we appreciate them both being here tonight,” Bush said.
The Abramoff controversy forced Reed to conduct a campaign that was usually out of the view of even journalists inside the state.
Cagle, meanwhile, built his campaign around a network of Republican public officials, most of them state lawmakers, who were worried about the impact that Reed’s candidacy might have on the re-election bid of Perdue. Perdue himself remained strictly neutral.
Reed often blamed “the liberal media” for focusing on the his dealings with Abramoff, but in fact many evangelical Christians were also disaffected.
Clint Austin of Marietta is a former Reed employee who ran Reed’s successful bid to become state Republican Party chairman in 2001. On Monday, Austin, now a state Capitol lobbyist, posted on the Internet an article in which he explained why he would not vote for Reed.
“My reason for abandoning my support of Ralph is simple: Ralph Reed’s words and actions do not match up,” Austin wrote.
Anecdotal evidence showed some attempts, including by gay and lesbian voters, to pull Democrats into the race against Reed, but their effectiveness couldn’t be measured by early returns. For more than a decade, Reed has served as a lightning rod for those critical of the expanding influence of evangelical Christians in national politics.
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll be voting Republican for the one and only time in my life, to stop Ralph Reed. If we let Reed win this election, we can kiss our freedoms good-bye,” said one automated phone message left anonymously on answering machines in white Democratic areas of Atlanta on Monday night.
A spokesman for the Cagle campaign denied authorship.
Reed’s defeat has set a limit on the influence of Christian conservatives in Georgia’s growing Republican Party, said Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. “They may be the tail now, but they’re not the dog anymore,” he said.
Bullock said he didn’t Reed running for public office anytime soon. “We’ve witnessed the final implosion of Ralph Reed,” he said. Considering the high expectations placed on his candidacy, it would be hard to reignite broad support, Bullock said.
Supporters in Reed’s emptying ballroom disagreed late Tuesday night.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” said a tearful Sadie Fields, head of the Georgia Christian Coalition. “The state lost an opportunity. But he will be back. He has far too much to offer.”
Staff writer Mark Davis contributed to this article.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
McKinney headed for runoff with Johnson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is headed to a runoff against a relatively unknown challenger in a Democratic primary she was expected to win with ease.
The controversial 4th District incumbent, accused of striking a Capitol Hill police officer last March, narrowly led former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson.
Alpharetta businessman John F. Coyne III came in a distant third but with enough votes to play the spoiler in his first election, keeping McKinney from topping 50 percent of the vote.
Few political analysts expected McKinney to have much trouble in her re-election bid even though her longheld status as a political lightning rod reached new heights over her very public confrontation with the Capitol guard.
Using a strategy that has been effective before, McKinney ran a low-key campaign — even refusing to appear at major debates against her challengers. She concentrated on her base in south DeKalb, meeting with constituents in the area.
In 2004, McKinney ran as an outspoken opponent of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism and ousted five Democratic primary opponents without a runoff. She then defeated the sole Republican in the general election to reclaim the seat she had held for 10 years before she was upset by Denise Majette in 2002.
Recognizing his daughter’s polarizing effect, former state representative Billy McKinney on Tuesday night discounted Johnson’s showing in the primary.
“There’s a love and hate of Cynthia McKinney,” he said. “Mickey Mouse would get a certain amount of votes.”
Anne Dishman of Decatur, who said she voted for Johnson, reflected voter discontent with McKinney. “I don’t know a lot about him [Johnson],” Dishman said as she left her polling place at Holy Trinity Parish. “It’s most important that Cynthia is not voted back in her office.”
Lance Blair of Decatur also supported Johnson. “I preferred his tone, which would be more advantageous for the district,” Blair said. “Right or wrong, Washington has tuned McKinney out.”
McKinney made a brief appearance before supporters late Tuesday. As Michael Jackson’s song “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” played in the background, McKinney said, “We won’t stop until we get enough.” McKinney also cited her opposition to “this administration’s war machine,” support of black farmers who sued for racial discrimination and bringing “hundreds of millions of dollars back to Georgia” for traffic and green space improvements and other projects.
“I’m asking the people of the 4th Congressional District to stand with me now,” she said. ” We’ve been here before, but you know what? It is impossible to keep a good woman down. …This battle is now engaged and we intend to win.”
McKinney is seeking a seventh term in Congress. She will face Johnson in an Aug. 8 runoff because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.
The victor in the run off in the heavily Democratic district would be a strong favorite in the general election in November.
The district encompasses most of DeKalb County, half of Rockdale County and a sliver of Gwinnett County.
McKinney has drawn support in the district despite widespread criticism over her confrontation with the police officer. A grand jury declined to indict McKinney.
“A lot of people don’t like her, but she’s a fighter, she’s a trouper and she’s a winner,” said Mary Harvey of Decatur, who said she voted for McKinney as she left the precinct at the Covington Highway Library.
“She’s trying to fight for equality for women, for the doors that have been closed” to minorities, Harvey said.
Johnson, who resigned his DeKalb County Commission seat in April to run for the congressional post, positioned himself as an alternative to McKinney. He called her confrontation with the Capitol Hill policeman “an embarrassment to the people of the district.”
He said he would “take care of home first,” focusing on issues like education, the economy, health care and transportation.
He said McKinney had not done enough for the district.
McKinney disputed that criticism.
She was joined at her campaign gathering Tuesday by Cindy Sheehan and Lithonia resident Patricia Roberts, two mothers whose sons were killed in Iraq and who have criticized the war.
Johnson said Tuesday he was prepared for a runoff against McKinney.
“We trained for 15 rounds, and this is round 12,” he told cheering supporters. “We’re not ceding any location.”
Staff writer Charles Yoo contributed to this article.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Hill fails in political comeback
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wayne Hill’s bid for a political comeback failed Tuesday as state Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill) handily defeated the former Gwinnett commission chairman in the race for the 98th Georgia House district.
“I’m relieved,” Reese said. “I’m glad it’s over.
Hill said, “We ran a clean hard campaign and kept it on the up and up, and I’m proud of that.
Hill, who once harbored ambitions for the governorship, added, “I probably will not run for office again, but still be involved in other people’s races.”
It was good night for incumbent legislators from Gwinnett. They easily swatted down their primary election challengers.
Victories by state Reps. Clay Cox (R-Lilburn), John Heard (R-Lawrenceville) and Pedro Marin (D-Duluth), as well as Reese, means all four incumbents are virtual shoo-ins for re-election this fall. None faces opposition from candidates from other political parties or independents.
In many respects the Hill-Reese race was a referendum on Hill’s 12 years as the head of Gwinnett County government as well as his tenure as appointed chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Hill entered the race with a pledge not to run attack ads or mail fliers against his opponent. In a odd reversal of campaign roles, Hill, the challenger, seemed to run as though he were the incumbent. On the stump, Hill rarely mentioned his opponent. Instead, both in public and in his direct mail fliers, Hill focused on his accomplishments as the leader of Gwinnett government and the expertise he gained as a major voice in the ongoing debates about metro Atlanta’s transportation and water supply problems.
It wasn’t enough. In running a resume campaign, Hill failed to convince voters that Reese needed to be replaced.
Meanwhile, Reese didn’t shy away from knocking his opponent. The incumbent also benefited from the support of longtime anti-Hill community activities and a statewide environmental group that actively campaigned against the former Gwinnett Commission chairman.
The group, the Georgia Conservation Voters Fund sent district voters mailers and ran cable television ads blaming Hill for metro Atlanta’s traffic problems. The group also accused Hill of allowing uncontrolled development to ruin Gwinnett’s quality of life.
Hill was hobbled by significant health problems. In early June, he underwent open heart surgery, which, though successful, kept him off the campaign trail for several weeks and prevented him from campaigning more aggressively, even after his doctor cleared him to resume his campaign.
Reese faced a significant personal distraction of his own. In recent weeks, the incumbent spent much of his time in southern Alabama visiting his ailing father.
Reese’s election will send him to the state Capitol for his fourth term. Reese was first elected to the House in 1998. He lost a bid for state Senate in 2002 and reclaimed the seat two years later.
Hill’s political career began in 1988 when the lifelong Gwinnett resident first ran as a Democrat for a north Gwinnett county commission seat. Hill lost. Four years later, Hill, who switched to the GOP, ousted incumbent Gwinnett commission Chairman Lillian Webb.
He was re-elected twice, in 1996 and 2000. Hill was denied a fourth term in 2004 by Charles Bannister, who defeated the incumbent in a GOP runoff election in August that year.
During his tenure, Hill presided over a growth boom that transformed Gwinnett from a bedroom suburb into a highly urbanized county with a population that continues to grow more ethnically and socioeconomically diverse.
Hill takes credit for preparing the county for growth and for the economic development successes that came with it.
He presided over hundreds of millions of dollars of public works projects including 47 new roads and the construction of a sewage treatment plant that bears his name and is considered to be among the best in the world. Other successes include a new four-year college, an arena, an expanded park system, scheduled public bus service and the giant Mall of Georgia near Buford.
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
Szabo prevails in solicitor’s battle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Veteran prosecutor Rosanna Szabo prevailed Tuesday in the hotly contested race for solicitor general. Gwinnett voters chose longtime prosecutor Szabo over young defense attorney Jonathan Aurelia by nearly 2 to 1 in Tuesday’s Republican primary election. Szabo led with 66 percent of the precincts reporting just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“I am really humbled by the support I received,” Szabo said from a festive party at Lawrenceville restaurant Bistro Sol Terra. “I have realized that one person can’t win a political campaign; it takes a huge group of people.”
Aurelia conceded defeat from a gathering in Norcross late Tuesday.
“She won. It has been 2 to 1 all night,” said Aurelia. “I am not even paying attention to the numbers anymore.”
Szabo will take over as head solicitor for Gerald Blaney, who retired after 20 years in the office. Szabo, 44, had worked in the solicitor’s office for 17 years. For nine years, she was Blaney’s chief assistant in the solicitor’s office. Before that, she worked for about a year as an assistant district attorney in Milledgeville. Aurelia, 31, worked at the county solicitor’s office from 1999 to 2003. Szabo was his boss. After that, he worked in DeKalb County as an assistant district attorney for two years. Since then, Aurelia has been working in private practice.
The solicitor’s office prosecutes thousands of misdemeanor cases, such as those involving arrests for DUI, battery, shoplifting or traffic offenses.
The race between the two former colleagues had been cordial. But as the election approached, they began to attack each other in the press.
Aurelia claimed that Szabo had been lenient in dozens of DUI cases to solicit campaign contributions from defense attorneys. Szabo passionately denied the allegation then released to the media court records of a 10-year-old DUI arrest of Aurelia in Duluth.
Aurelia confirmed that he had been arrested when he 19 years old.
Szabo said she will continue to prosecute offenders aggressively and to keep numerous cases from backlogging in the system.
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
Robertson, James in runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shelitha Robertson, a chief prosecutor for the Atlanta Police Department, and DeKalb assistant district attorney Robert James are heading for a runoff for DeKalb Solicitor General. They defeated former Newton County prosecutor Brian Ross.
All three candidates are Democrats. The winner will challenge Republican incumbent Shawn LaGrua in November for the right to prosecute criminal misdemeanors.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
Kenerly faces commission runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett Commissioner Kevin Kenerly did Tuesday what he always does on an election day — he went to an afternoon movie with his family. This year’s selection: “You, Me and Dupree.
Kenerly had hoped the three-way GOP primary for the District 4 commission seat would come down to just “me.” But Tuesday he had to settle for “you and me.”
Kenerly is headed for a runoff with real estate attorney Jodie Rosser after a heated race that included home-owner activist Butch Poss.
“I thought I could pull this thing off today,” Kenerly said Tuesday night. “When you get three people in a race, it’s very difficult to win it outright.”
Kenerly and Rosser will face each other in a runoff Aug. 8. The winner will go on to face Democrat John Kenney in November.
District 4 includes Buford, Sugar Hill and Lawrenceville.
Turnout at Gwinnett’s 158 voting precincts was 18 percent.
“I knew it was going to be a low turnout, but I thought there would certainly be more people,” said voter Fred Jones of Suwanee, who praised the efficiency of the county’s electronic voting machines.
Technical difficulties with new touch-screen machines poll workers use to check in voters caused delays at four precincts, Gwinnett elections officials confirmed. The four polls were kept open for up to 30 minutes past the 7 p.m. closing time to make up for the lost voting time.
The vote tally was delayed, as well, Tuesday because of a computer glitch that kept some precinct workers from transmitting results by modem to elections headquarters, County Administrator Jock Connell said.
Kenerly hunkered down Tuesday night at a relative’s house in Hoschton as he waited to see whether voters would give him a fourth term in his District 4 seat. Kenerly pulled on his cherished Dallas Cowboys ball cap — another of his election traditions — to watch poll returns.
Kenerly has spent the past two months defending himself against anonymous attacks from someone who blanketed the district with ads under the name beatkevin.com.
The mailings seem to be illegal under state elections laws because they are clearly political, but no registered campaign committee is identified and no candidate has taken credit for the expenditures.
One of the mailers included a DVD showing Kenerly gambling with developers in Las Vegas in March. Someone hired a private investigator to videotape Kenerly at Caesars Palace. The footage, which shows Kenerly gambling and dining with Gwinnett developers, also was sent anonymously to local media outlets. Kenerly provided canceled checks showing he paid his own way on the trip. He said he takes a similar trip with family and friends every year.
Rosser, Poss and Kenney all say they had nothing to do with hiring the private investigator or organizing the smear campaign against Kenerly.
Kenerly has said if he wins the election, it will be his last term in District 4.
Kenerly, 43, a real estate investor from Braselton, said he would focus his fourth term on reducing traffic congestion by finishing widening projects on Ga. 20 and Ga. 324 and finishing construction of the Sugarloaf extension south of Lawrenceville. He also wants to finish several park projects in the district. Kenerly spoke against impact fees even though he set up a citizen committee to study whether Gwinnett should adopt them.
Rosser, 27, a lawyer from Lawrenceville, campaigned on ethical government, saying she will serve no more than two terms and push for term limits. She wants to “stop overdevelopment” by imposing impact fees. Rosser said she wants to help control the spread of crime by putting 75 new police officers on the street every year.
Poss, 47, a financial adviser from Lawrenceville, promised to control growth by limiting densities in new subdivisions. He said he would fight crime by emphasizing the need for strong homeowner associations and participation in neighborhood watch programs. Poss also said he would do everything he could to “reduce and eliminate” classroom trailers at local schools.
Not surprisingly, Kenerly was able to capitalize on his 12 years in office to build the largest campaign war chest in the race, raising more than five times as much as his closest competitor and setting a new record for district commission candidates.
Kenerly raised $389,000, according to his most recent contribution disclosure June 30. He had $108,000 left as of that report.
Poss had raised $3,550, with $250 coming from his own pocket, according to his June 30 report. Most of the money remained in his account as of his June report.
Rosser took in a total of nearly $73,000 in contributions, according to her June 30 report. Of that, Rosser loaned herself $10,000 and donated $16,500. She had nearly $13,000 on hand as of June 30. Staff writers Rosalind Bentley and Laura Diamond contributed to this report.
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
Rader defeats Broussard
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In what was expected to be one of the closest local races of the evening, newcomer Jeff Rader narrowly defeated Don Broussard in the Democratic primary for District 2 commissioner. Rader had 51 percent of the vote, compared to 49 percent for Broussard.
The men, both city planners, want to replace long-standing commissioner Gale Walldorff, who is retiring at the end of her term. The winner will face Republican Hubert J. Rambo in November.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
Stokes wins District 7 race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the District 7 County Commission race, incumbent Connie Stokes scored a commanding win over challenger Willie R. Mosley Jr. She took 80 percent of the vote, compared to 20 percent for Mosley. Stokes will not face a Republican challenger in November.
A neighborhood blackout left poll workers and voters sweating in at least one of the District 7 precincts — Trinity Presbyterian Church in Decatur. The voting machines run on backup batteries and voting was never interrupted, said poll manager Christine Hameed. She said 231 people had voted as of 5:45 p.m.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
Lee May wins special election
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lee May handily won a speical election in DeKalb County for District 5 commissioner.
May, a theater owner, had 51 percent of the vote. His next closest challenger, Otis Marks II, received 16 percent of the vote. Other candidates were: Michael Leeper, Grady Yancey and Mary Louise Freeman. With five candidates, there had been speculation that there would be a runoff.
The winner of the race will take the seat previously held by Hank Johnson, who resigned to run for Congress in the 4th Congressional District.
Permalink | | Categories: DeKalb County
McKinney: “The battle is now engaged”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Cynthia McKinney acknowledged about 12:50 a.m. that she is headed for a runoff election to see if she will represent the 4th District in Congress for a seventh term.
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, McKinney had 46.9 percent of the vote, compared with 44.5 percent for Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr., a former DeKalb County commissioner. A third candidate, Alpharetta businessman John F. Coyne III, received 8.6 percent of the vote.
A candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
McKinney was accused of striking a Capitol Hill police officer last March.
She pledged in a speech to fight for her seat.
“The battle is now engaged and we intend to win,” she said. “It is impossible to keep a good woman down.”
She also touted her opposition to the Iraq war and her ability to bring money to the district.
“I don’t mind speaking truth to power and I intend to speak truth to empower,” she said.
The district encompasses most of DeKalb, half of Rockdale County and a sliver of Gwinnett County.
A runoff will be held Aug. 8.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Brown ahead in race for labor post
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta businessman Brent Brown appeared to be headed to easy victory Tuesday night in his second straight bid for the Republican nomination for state labor commissioner.
Brown held a sizable lead over Woodstock state Rep. Chuck Scheid, in early returns. The winner faces Democratic incumbent Michael Thurmond in November.
“Things are certainly trending in the right direction,” Brown said of the early returns. “But some of the bigger counties haven’t come in, so we’re still watching.”
Brown ran for labor commissioner in 2002, but narrowly lost the Republican primary to Richard McGee, a former deputy commissioner with the labor department.
This year, Brown’s primary opponent was hampered by tax and ethics problems.
Scheid, who has been in the General Assembly for more than six years, was hit twice in the past year with tax liens, alleging he owed $42,467 in taxes, penalties and interest for the tax years 1998-2002 and $18,277 for 2003-04.
In addition, he was hit last July with a $1,000 fine and $1,450 in late fees by the State Ethics Commission for failing to file 11 required campaign disclosure reports from 1998 to 2004 and for being late filing nine other reports in that same six-year span.
Most of his tax problems were resolved before the campaign, but, as of May, he still owed the state $4,237, according to a letter he provided The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Brown, who is in sales for NCO Financial Systems, has said he’ll work to ensure that Georgia has a well-trained work force by forming a strong alliance between the Labor Department and the state Department of Education.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Kathy Cox, Denise Majette win bids
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Republican incumbent seeking a second term, a former Democratic congresswoman returning to politics and a Libertarian candidate will face each other in the November election for state schools superintendent.
According to unofficial returns from Tuesday’s primary elections, current superintendent Kathy Cox beat Republican Danny J. Carter, who left his job as a Department of Education administrator to challenge his former boss.
“I’m very pleased,” Cox said. “I’m looking forward to the next couple months of getting out on the campaign trail and telling the voters of Georgia all the good things that are happening in education.”
Carter could not be reached for comment.
On the Democratic side, one-term U.S. Rep. Denise Majette, who was conducting her first campaign since losing a bid for the U.S. Senate two years ago, bested Carlotta Harrell, a substitute teacher who was making her first bid for statewide office. Harrell conceded the race late Tuesday after receiving about a third of the votes.
“I’m excited, very gratified,” Majette said. “I’m looking forward to continuing the campaign, talking about the issues and how we can improve Georgia’s schools.”
One Republican and one Democrat will join Libertarian David Chastain of Acworth on the ballot in November. Chastain, a logistics analyst for Lockheed Martin, qualified for the race last month.
Chastain was watching the returns Tuesday, hoping that a split Republican vote would bode well for his campaign.
“I think there’ll be more people this year willing to switch parties on down-ballot races,” he said. “That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.”
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Governor enjoys easy primary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They called it “Sonny’s Primary Party,” but it looked a lot like a campaign kickoff.
About 1,000 people crowded a ballroom at the Buckhead Westin late Tuesday night to cheer Gov. Sonny Perdue, who had only token primary opposition from Republican challenger Ray McBerry of Henry County.
Speakers blared John Cougar Mellencamp’s tune “Small Town” as slides and video of Perdue — much it from his 2002 underdog campaign — flashed across a huge screen near the stage.
Bouquets of red-white-and-blue balloons lined the room, and Perdue’s backers held signs that read: “Sonny — Georgia’s Governor.”
Perdue touted his administration’s accomplishments on the economy, private property rights, education, welfare reform and even wait times at driver’s license offices.
“This is our record. Do you want to go back?” Perdue asked. “No,” the crowd shouted back after he made each point.
Perdue, who comes from the tiny middle Georgia town of Bonaire, is Georgia’s first modern Republican governor.
He faces a tough, four-month fight to repeat his historic 2002 victory.
He’ll face Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who beat Secretary of State Cathy Cox in the Democratic primary.
McBerry, Perdue’s opponent Tuesday, is chapter chairman of the League of the South, a Southern nationalist organization.
He had little funding and no support from the state Republican Party, which did not even list his name on its Web site.
“I want to give people, especially Republicans, a chance to vote for a conservative,” McBerry said in a recent interview.
“The main thing we are trying to get across is there is an alternative to Sonny.”
The GOP faithful, however, sided solidly with Perdue.
Now, a rested Perdue will face an opponent battered in the Cox-Taylor race, which was marked by waves of attack ads.
“They’re bloodied and they’re broke,” Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political scientist, said of the Democrats. “They also face the challenge of trying to reunite the party.”
Perdue has another big advantage — he begins the general election race with his campaign coffers brimming.
The governor has raised $10 million for the campaign and has about $9 million cash on hand, said campaign spokesman Derrick Dickey.
The governor gets his campaign rolling this weekend with an eight-county campaign rally in Hiawasee.
Despite his initial advantages, Perdue is well aware there are no guarantees in politics.
At this stage in the 2002 election, then-Gov. Roy Barnes, who was beaten by Perdue, had huge campaign reserves; the Republicans had just come off a divisive gubernatorial primary; and no one thought a guy named Sonny had much of a chance to become governor.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Cagle tops Reed for GOP nomination
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the end, Ralph Reed couldn’t do for himself what he had helped Republicans do all the way up to the White House: Get elected.
Despite the backing of top conservatives including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, Reed failed to win Georgia’s GOP nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday. He lost to little-known state Sen. Casey Cagle of Gainesville.
“I’m not focused on being a candidate in the future, but I’m glad I ran,” Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, told supporters in conceding to Cagle before all of the votes had been counted.
Cagle credited his Senate colleagues for helping him win the nomination. In February, 21 Republican state senators banded together to sign a petition declaring that Reed should drop out of the race — out of a concern, they said, that Reed would prove a drag on GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue’s re-election bid.
“My senators,” Cagle said. “I knew that by having these guys behind me that we could reach out into every community and have a base of support.”
Cagle will face either former state Sen. Greg Hecht of Jonesboro or former state Rep. Jim Martin of Atlanta in the November general election. The two Democratic candidates are headed to an Aug. 8 primary runoff.
Without a doubt, said state Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), it was Cagle’s ability to tie Reed to convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff that sealed Reed’s fate. In doing so, Cagle cracked Reed’s rock-hard base of Christian conservatives — whom Reed had led to the ballot box time and time again.
“The Cagle campaign was very successful at planting doubt among members of the faith-based community. They stayed home,” Staton said.
Star of religious right
With Reed as fuel, a normally dull, down-ticket race was transformed into a nearly national affair, fought out on Web sites and editorial pages across the country.
At the start of his 18-month campaign in 2005, Reed, 45, was considered a shoo-in, based on his national reputation with the Christian Coalition and his proven ability to churn out Republican votes — evangelical and otherwise — for two U.S. presidents, both named Bush.
After attending high school and college in Georgia, Reed in 1989 joined the Rev. Pat Robertson’s new organization, the Christian Coalition. As executive director, Reed applied a precinct-style organization that stressed grass-roots organizing.
It worked. With Reed at its head, the coalition was essential to the GOP’s 1994 takeover of the U.S. House, an effort led by Newt Gingrich. Months later, Reed made the cover of Time magazine as the boyish face of the religious right.
By 1997, Reed was back in Georgia. He had left the Christian Coalition to establish a private consulting firm — and to lay groundwork for his entry onto center stage in politics.
An early backer of George W. Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign, Reed parlayed those Bush contacts, and a reputation for grass-roots organization, into a successful bid for chairman of the state Republican Party in 2001. Republicans won the governorship and the state Senate the next year. Reed took an even larger role in Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign.
Telegenic, smooth and well-connected, Reed saw early money pour into his campaign for lieutenant governor at a record rate. One opponent, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, withdrew early from the primary contest, leaving only Cagle, a 12-year veteran of the Legislature.
Reed pitched himself as the ideas candidate, with a 63-page, downloadable position paper that included his support for a state spending cap tied to population growth and inflation, and his call for a 20 percent across-the-board reduction in income taxes by 2011.
But while Reed was getting his campaign off the ground, a U.S. Senate committee and federal prosecutors were probing deeper into the affairs of Abramoff, a Reed associate who pleaded guilty in January to bilking his Indian tribe clients of tens of millions of dollars, and of bribery of a public official.
Reed has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
But e-mails between Abramoff and Reed revealed that the longtime friends, who met as college Republicans, had developed a close business association, often sharing clients and trading favors.
Cagle used the Abramoff scandal to repeatedly accuse Reed of hypocrisy.
A Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), concluded that Reed had been paid $5.3 million by two casino-owning Indian tribes, both Abramoff clients, to rally Christian voters against attempts by other tribes to establish competing casinos.
Reed repeatedly denied that he knew the money that financed his anti-gambling campaigns came from gambling revenue, although several e-mails showed that Abramoff informed Reed of the money’s origins several times.
“The way he sold out our values? That’s wrong,” Cagle said in one of several TV ads that saturated Georgia’s airwaves in the final two weeks of the campaign.
In the last three months of the race, Cagle’s barrage against Reed began to pay off. Cagle rose in the polls and raised more than three times as much as Reed from contributors. Reed closed the financial gap with a $500,000 personal loan to his own campaign. By June 30, both men had raised roughly $2.5 million.
For the last six months of the campaign, Reed continually expressed regret for his association with Abramoff, and frustration that the media were not covering the important issues of the campaign.
Abramoff controversy
The lieutenant governor’s race in many ways became a measure of the continued influence of Reed and his Christian conservatives, nationally as well as within the state Republican Party.
Conservative radio-TV talk show host Sean Hannity and future presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani traveled to Georgia to help Reed build his war chest. Giuliani said it was “very important” that Reed get elected.
Bush, however, made only passing reference to Reed, and Cagle, when he visited in March for a fund-raiser for Perdue, which was attended by both lieutenant gubernatorial candidates.
“Two candidates running for lieutenant governor, Casey Cagle and Ralph Reed, we appreciate them both being here tonight,” Bush said.
The Abramoff controversy forced Reed to conduct a campaign that was usually out of the view of even journalists inside the state.
Cagle, meanwhile, built his campaign around a network of Republican public officials, most of them state lawmakers, who were worried about the impact that Reed’s candidacy could have on the re-election bid of Perdue. Perdue himself remained strictly neutral.
Reed often blamed “the liberal media” for focusing on the his dealings with Abramoff, but in fact many evangelical Christians were also disaffected.
Clint Austin of Marietta is a former Reed employee who ran Reed’s successful bid to become state Republican Party chairman in 2001. On Monday, Austin, now a state Capitol lobbyist, posted on the Internet an article in which he explained why he would not vote for Reed.
“My reason for abandoning my support of Ralph is simple: Ralph Reed’s words and actions do not match up,” Austin wrote.
Anecdotal evidence showed some attempts, including by gay and lesbian voters, to pull Democrats into the race against Reed, but their effectiveness couldn’t be measured by early returns. For more than a decade, Reed has served as a lightning rod for those critical of the expanding influence of evangelical Christians in national politics.
“Tomorrow morning, I’ll be voting Republican for the one and only time in my life, to stop Ralph Reed. If we let Reed win this election, we can kiss our freedoms good-bye,” said one automated phone message left anonymously on answering machines in white Democratic areas of Atlanta on Monday night.
A spokesman for the Cagle campaign denied authorship.
Reed’s defeat has set a limit on the influence of Christian conservatives in Georgia’s growing Republican Party, said Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia. “They may be the tail now, but they’re not the dog anymore,” he said.
As for Reed, Bullock said he didn’t see Reed coming back soon. “We’ve witnessed the final implosion of Ralph Reed,” he said. With initial expectations placed on his candidacy, it would be hard to reignite broad support, Bullock said.
Supporters in Reed’s emptying ballroom disagreed late Tuesday night.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” said a tearful Sadie Fields, head of the Georgia Christian Coalition. “The state lost an opportunity. But he will be back. He has far too much to offer.”
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
It’s cityhood for Milton, Johns Creek
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No two ways about it. This was revolt.
But it was an unabashedly American one, carried out by ballot as thousands of north Fulton County residents voted in overwhelming fashion Tuesday to form two new cities — Milton and Johns Creek — meant to replace the county as the focal point of local government.
The votes reflected decades of discontent over the urban county’s attitude towards two loosely connected areas about 30 miles north of Atlanta best known for their horse farms, cul-de-sacs and strip malls.
But it couldn’t have happened without the 2005 creation of the city of Sandy Springs, which provided the philosophical and practical model for a rolling movement that could see all of Fulton County — the state’s most populous — incorporated by the end of next year.
Residents in two communities in the southern part of the county will vote on turning that area into two cities next summer.
As in Sandy Springs, concerns about land use, public amenities and the use of tax revenues sparked voter passions in the new north Fulton cities, which are expected to open for business shortly after elections in November.
“As soon as I heard about Sandy Springs, I thought, ‘Why can’t we do that?’ ” said Ken Kacperski, who voted for the new city of Milton in part to help realize the longer-term dream of peeling away from Fulton County entirely. “Fulton County is just way too big,” he said.
Johns Creek supporters fittingly celebrated their victory in the parking lot of an as-yet unfinished shopping center called “Johns Creek Walk,” eating donated food as country band Banks & Shane wailed “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and other tunes.
Milton residents partied at an El Azteca restaurant.
A new city, according to supporters in the Republican-dominated area, means an end to their complaints of being ignored by the Democrats who control county government and funding for roads, parks and schools.
Such arguments have been at the heart of County Commission splits that have emphasized political and racial divisions in the county and have helped stall Sandy Springs’ incorporation efforts until Republicans took over the statehouse in the 2004 election.
“It means governing ourselves, having a say in what affects us,” said Wendy Bock, a real estate agent from the Wellington neighborhood.
Residents of Milton, a largely rural area of 20,000 people spread across 44 square miles, started this round of incorporation after Alpharetta rejected their request to become part of that city. Johns Creek, which has about 63,000 residents, followed shortly.
Not everyone was pleased with the decisions.
In Milton, for instance, retired UPS executive Bob Mathe said he feared voters didn’t think about the financial consequences of running such a large a city with such a sparse population.“A lot of these people went off the top of their head and never thought about what the consequences were,” he said.
While the new cities will remain part of Fulton County, the decision to incorporate will eventually put the county out of the business of providing the area with local services — such as public works, police and fire, County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel said.
“The county will continue to transition out of the municipal service business,” Handel said. “We will now become more of a secondary service provider.”
Eventually, leaders of the new cities hope, the area will peel off entirely and form its own county, one called Milton — after the county that merged with Fulton in 1937.
“We’re going to have to take a lot of vacation days in north Fulton because we’ve got two Independence Days, July 4 and July 18,” said Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta), who helped lead the legislative effort leading to Tuesday’s incorporation vote.
The new cities are modeled closely after Sandy Springs, a community of 86,000 that uses private contractors to provide most services and has strict controls making it tough for city leaders to raise property taxes.
City leaders won’t have much time to celebrate. Those who intend to run for office must file between July 24 and July 26 to run in the November election.
Staff writers Paul Kaplan, Doug Nurse, Anna Varela and Travers Johnson contributed to this article.
Permalink | | Categories: Fulton - North
PSC’s Wise takes GOP primary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Public Service Commission Chairman Stan Wise won the Republican primary.
The PSC is the five-member body that regulates utilities including natural gas, electricity and telecommunications.
Wise, who has been on the commission since 1994, had more than a 2-to-1 advantage over Newt Nickell. Nickell led a group that fought utility eminent domain rights and said during the race that Wise favored the utility industry.
Wise said Tuesday night that voters responded favorably to his work to promote diverse energy sources and affordable rates.
Real estate agent Chuck Eaton defeated Mark Parkman, a television executive with the Olympics, in the Republican race for the other commission seat. That seat is currently held by a Democrat, David Burgess.
PSC commissioners serve staggered, six-year terms. Commissioners must live in the district they represent but are elected statewide.
Wise will face Democrat Dawn Randolph and Libertarian Kevin Cherry in the November general election. Eaton will face Burgess and Libertarian Paul MacGregor.
Burgess, Eaton and MacGregor will battle for the commission spot that represents DeKalb, Fulton and Clayton counties. Wise, Randolph and Cherry will fight for the seat that represents 19 counties that stretch from Cobb in the north to Muscogee in the south to Henry in the east.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Milton candidate ready to run
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The ballots were hardly counted before the first candidate for the Milton City Council announced her intention to run for the Fifth District post.
Tina D’Aversa-Williams, a 10-year Fulton County resident, sent an email to the AJC just after midnight Wednesday, hours after the polls closed in the referendum on whether Milton should incorporate. Supporters of cityhood overwhelmingly outpolled opponents.
Candidates don’t have much time to mull over their political prospects. Qualifying officially begins Monday, July 24, and ends Wednesday, July 26. The inaugural city council election will be Nov. 7.
The city council will have six seats, elected citywide, plus the mayor. The new city of Johns Creek, also approved Tuesday, will have the same number of elected officials.
Permalink | | Categories: Fulton - North
Black, Kemp in runoff for GOP agriculture bid
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The closely watched Republican race for state agriculture commissioner is headed for a runoff.
Returns showed agribusiness lobbyist and farmer Gary Black of Commerce consistently ahead in county-by-county returns from the four-person race and state Sen. Brian Kemp of Athens running a distant second place.
But Black was unable to capture a majority to avoid an Aug. 8 runoff.
The winner of that contest faces entrenched Democratic incumbent Tommy Irvin in the November general election.
State Republicans, who already control the state House, Senate and governor’s office, are openly targeting Irvin, Georgia’s longest serving statewide elected official.
Irvin was at home in Hiawasee on Tuesday night, waiting for news on who might be facing in his 10th and last election.
“I’m ready,” the 76-year-old Irvin said. “I’ve done a good job, and I’m going to run on our record.”
He said he had anticipated a GOP runoff.
Two of the candidates — farmer Deanna Strickland of Brooklet and Robert “Bob” Greer of Suwanee — have challenged Irvin before. Strickland tried to unseat Irvin four years ago. Greer’s attempt was eight years ago.
One of the unusual aspects of this year’s contest is that Irvin and all four of the GOP candidates claim to be millionaires.
Irvin reports being the wealthiest, with a net worth of $16,167,233, followed by Kemp at $6,202,537, Strickland at $2,567,561, Black at $1,048,500 and Greer at $1,012,524.
The state Department of Agriculture, with an annual budget of about $43 million, has a lot on its plate — from helping farmers and inspecting food to regulating pest control companies and measuring the accuracy of gasoline pumps.
The department also is responsible for protecting Georgia’s coveted Vidalia onion against inferior imitators.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Rep. Heard defeats challenger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. John Heard won his bid for the Republican nomination to a third term in the Legislature. Heard defeated challenger David Rodriguez, a Lawrenceville city councilman, according to preliminary returns.
Both candidates described themselves as pro-life, pro-business conservatives. Rodriguez ran as an outsider pushing local growth issues while Heard touted his legislative experience and state-level issues.
“I hope people made their decision based on state legislative issues and not local growth issues,” Heard said.
Rodriguez called the campaign “a well-fought race on issues.”
“It was a grass-roots campaign and it was well-executed,” he said Tuesday after the polls closed. Heard, an architect, sold his firm in 2001 and began pursuing politics after befriending a state senator from Savannah. Heard is chairman of the Information and Audits Committee, which has oversight over state agencies. Heard also sits on the General Appropriations Committee, which controls funding for state programs.
Among other legislation, Heard supported Georgia’s new “stand your ground” law, which allows a person who is physically threatened or attacked to act in self-defense without retreating first. He backed a new law barring convicted sexual offenders from living near churches, schools and day care centers. And Heard supported a new law designed to make it more difficult for employers to hire illegal immigrants.
Rodriguez also supported the new law, but he often found himself explaining his immigration position to voters as a consequence of his Latino heritage, he said. Rodriguez said he favors strong borders and tougher federal enforcement, positions that earned him the endorsement of national border security leaders.
Rodriguez, a 38-year-old computer engineer and second-generation Cuban-American, started his political career in 2002 as a fight against the construction of some apartments in Lawrenceville. Rodriguez gathered a following of homeowners using his Web site, savelawrenceville.com, to coordinate opposition to the apartments. When Rodriguez challenged then-Councilman Sonny Brand for the 26-year incumbent’s seat, his activist base became a voting base.
Rodriguez made a campaign issue of a new law sponsored by Heard allowing contractors to use private companies to review permit applications. As described by the construction trade group Associated General Contractors of America, the bill allows permit applicants to use a licensed architect or engineer to review plans or inspect property for permit approval if government officials can’t review the plans within 30 days. Government officials can still issue or deny permits based upon the design meeting code requirements.
Rodriguez said he viewed the new rule as an unwarranted benefit to builders. Heard said the law helps builders cut through red tape.
Heard and Rodriguez also butted heads on an annexation plan earlier this year. Heard proposed the Legislature annex about 3,600 acres into Lawrenceville, an area roughly equal to all the land annexed by Gwinnett’s cities since 2001.
Had the plan gone through, it would have increased Lawrenceville’s size by about a third. Heard couldn’t raise enough support from property owners and his fellow legislators to enact the annexation.
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
Runoffs for secretary of state
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The bitterly contested Republican primary for secretary of state between Bill Stephens and Karen Handel will continue for three more weeks.
Handel, the Fulton County Commission chairwoman, was leading Stephens, a state senator from Canton, late Tuesday. Because neither candidate won 50 percent of the vote in the four-candidate primary, a runoff is needed on Aug. 8.
The GOP race was marked by accusations of flip-flops, lies, distortions and dirty tricks. Both sides produced negative attack ads on the other. Stephens on Tuesday continued to call himself “the only conservative” in the race, a charge that infuriates Handel.
A runoff also is set in the crowded Democratic contest, where state Rep. Gail Buckner (D-Jonesboro) was leading Darryl Hicks, a former executive for the parent company of Atlanta Gas Light.
The Democratic primary was a relatively sedate affair with six candidates in the running. The Democratic candidates — several of them political neophytes — mostly struggled to distinguish themselves from the pack.
Both Handel and Stephens raised large amounts of money, and have plenty remaining to continue waging a campaign. Stephens has emphasized his work in the state Senate, where he helped build a majority for the GOP in recent years as one of the chamber’s top leaders. He also counted former
Gov. Zell Miller, for whom Stephens had worked, as his supporter.
“Tomorrow we start over, and there’s a brand-new election in three weeks,” Stephens said late Tuesday. “Everybody starts from zero. We’re in the fourth inning of a nine inning game, and I know how to close a game.”
Handel cited a combination of her political experience, business experience — she’s former head of North Fulton’s chamber of commerce — and work for both Gov. Sonny Perdue and former Vice President Dan Quayle and wife Marilyn Quayle as qualifications for the job.
“We figured all along it would be a runoff,” Handel said Tuesday night. “What I’m real proud of is we’re coming in the strongest position.”
Buckner campaigned on her 16 years in the Georgia Legislature, saying that it gave her the knowledge to understand the inner-workings of state government.
Buckner said Tuesday night that finishing first was the best result she could have hoped for in a six-person field.
“We plan to work hard for the runoff,” Buckner said. “I have the experience of working with the issues relative to the duties of the office of secretary of state, and I think that’s the message the citizens will be looking for.”
Hicks said his experience as a lobbyist for AGL Resources helped him understand government workings, and said his many years as a manager in the customer service field would help him make the secretary of state’s office more customer-oriented.
“I believe that I’m going to be victorious,” Hicks said late Tuesday. “We’ve got a plan and a message. I believe that my experience will be my defining factor in this.”
Runoffs in the race were expected, given the crowded field for the post, vacated by outgoing Secretary of State Cathy Cox who waged her own campaign for governor.
Ten people — six Democrats and four Republicans — were competing for the statewide office.
The secretary of state’s office has become a plum job in recent years, in part because of controversial elections issues throughout the nation and its high visibility. Former Georgia Secretary of State Max Cleland parlayed the post into a seat in the U.S. Senate.
The office in Georgia has responsibility for a wide range of governmental functions, including oversight of elections; the licensing of 64 trades and professions, from cosmetologists and psychologists to auctioneers and geologists; regulating investment advisers, the issuance and sales of securities; and the registration of corporations and nonprofit groups. It also oversees the state’s archives and the Capitol museum. The job pays $114,376 a year.
Other candidates in the Republican primary included businessmen Charlie Bailey of Cobb County and Eric Martin of Dunwoody.
Democratic candidates who trailed the top voter-getters in the runoff were Atlanta lawyers Shyam Reddy and Scott Holcomb, former state senator and parole board member Walter Ray of Coffee County in south Georgia, and DeKalb County businesswoman Angela Moore.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Marin headed back for third term
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In what has become a rarity in Gwinnett — a winner-take-all Democratic primary — incumbent state Rep. Pedro Marin held off a challenge Tuesday from a young opponent, 22-year-old Torriel “Torry” Lewis. With all the vote counted, Marin led Lewis by about 100 votes in a race where only about 800 votes were cast.
A win for Marin would mean he was all but certain to return to the General Assembly for his third term representing House District 96. No Republican candidate has filed to run for the seat in the November general election.
Marin did not return several phone calls Tuesday night.
The candidates staked out polar opposite positions on immigration, in a district that is assumed to have a large number of recent Hispanic immigrants, both legal and illegal.
The campaigns clashed about the question of just who does a state representative represent — the residents or the registered voters?
“I feel you have to be a representative of the district,” Lewis said.
Lewis, a loss prevention detective at Saks Inc., said he believes the people in the 96th District support a recently passed state law that cracks down on illegal immigrants. On that part of the issue, Lewis aligned himself with the Republican majority in the Legislature and with Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Marin, a Puerto Rico-born business consultant, said he sought to represent all the district’s residents. “If you represent only the people who register to vote, you’re not doing your job,” he said.
He stated during the campaign that he opposed the state law, partly because he thinks the issue should be dealt with on the federal level. He also said the state law could damage the state economy.
The district is formed by an area lying between Norcross and Duluth, mostly on the northern side of I-85. The Marin-Lewis race was the only contested local race in Gwinnett’s Democratic primary Tuesday.
Permalink | | Categories: Gwinnett County
Taylor defeats Cox; readies for Perdue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor on Tuesday finally got what he’s been itching for these past four years: a straight-up political fight with Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Taylor, 49, the self-proclaimed “Big Guy,” defeated Secretary of State Cathy Cox and two minor candidates in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Cox conceded the race at midnight.
Taylor quickly shifted gears to face Perdue, a well-funded incumbent who has gone from long-shot candidate to leader of the new political power base in Georgia since the 2002 elections.
Perdue has a $9 million war chest, at least nine times more than Taylor as the general election campaign begins this morning.
It’s the contest that many have anticipated since 2002, when Perdue upset Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes and Taylor won re-election as the state’s second-in-charge in — and quickly became the new governor’s most vocal critic.
Now, Taylor said he will stand his record of achievement, of helping to shepherd the popular programs of then-Gov. Zell Miller through the state Senate in the 1990s, against those of Perdue, whom Miller endorsed. “I have been in office longer than Gov. Perdue, and I’ve done more with my time,” Taylor said.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said Taylor’s record can’t compare with Perdue’s, something Republicans will point out in the fall campaign.
“In the last four years, we’ve taken Georgia from a $640 million deficit to a surplus $500 million,” Richardson said. “I think that speaks volumes about how this governor views the taxpayer’s money and the operation of state government.”
“The lieutenant governor does nothing but stand there and hold a gavel. He doesn’t even vote to break a tie.”
The Democratic governor’s race, along with the Republican contest for lieutenant governor, were the two biggest draws of primary elections that saw light turnout in many parts of the state and polling problems in metro Atlanta.
Perdue easily won re-nomination for governor Tuesday against long-shot Republican challenger Ray McBerry, head of Georgia League of the South, a “Southern nationalist” organization.
Taylor’s road to the general election was much more difficult. Only a few months ago Cox led in the polls, promising to become Georgia’s first woman governor and take on the “good ol’ boy” network that she said had run state government for decades. But Taylor chipped away at her lead with a $4 million TV advertising campaign and pounced on early mistakes made by the Cox campaign, branding her a “flip-flopper” after she appeared to change her stance on the state’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Cox, who lost her bid for governor on her 48th birthday, showed that she wasn’t afraid of a bare-knuckle fight, accusing Taylor of using his office for personal gain.
From her campaign, Georgians saw some of the soft spots in Taylor’s record that Perdue will likely exploit, such as his work to get prison labor for a recycling plant that had been doing business with a Taylor family company.
But Taylor also showed a political tenaciousness in besting Cox, and by Tuesday night his campaign was already preparing for Perdue.
“I think the 19th [of July] will be another day on the trail, the first day in the fall campaign,” he said. “We have so much work to do. No break.”
Taylor, who has won every race he’s run dating back to his first bid for the state Senate in the late 1980s, is expected to receive national money contributed by traditional Democratic sources, such as unions, and party officials think he will have more than enough to be competitive with Perdue.
The Democratic hopeful will use Perdue’s own commercials this spring against him. The state GOP ran a series of ads touting Perdue’s accomplishments, using the catch-phrase “Sonny did” after listing something the governor did.
Democrats are prepared to counter that theme with their own “Sonny did” list that will point out, for instance, that school funding was cut more than $1 billion under the governor.
Taylor also heads into the general election with a veteran campaign staff, including Jim Andrews and Rick Dent, who learned how to win races in Georgia when Democrats ruled the state.
But it will likely be an uphill battle. Conventional wisdom among statehouse veterans and political scientists is that voters need a pretty strong reason to dump an incumbent like Perdue.
“You basically have to give voters a reason to fire the person in charge,” said Alan Abramowitz, an Emory University political scientist.
And while Taylor touts his work to help pass the HOPE scholarship, the lottery, the pre-kindergarten program, two-strikes-and-you’re-out crime legislation and the removal of the sales tax from groceries, those all happened in the 1990s, almost ancient political history.
Cox, in an interview the day before the primary, said Perdue was beatable because the state was split between the two parties and independents could go either way. “The Republicans are bragging about him doing nothing as governor and they think voters will reward a do-nothing governor,” Cox said. “Voters are angry about what he has not done.”
Recent polls have shown Perdue with a high approval rating, and Taylor has so far offered few specifics on issues such as education and transportation. He has told voters he’ll replace the more than $1 billion in school funding cut during Perdue’s administration, but he doesn’t say how, other than that he’d “re-prioritize” the budget.
And he said he’ll cut class sizes, another costly proposal. Despite the odds against beating an incumbent, former GOP lawmaker Matt Towery, an Atlanta pollster, said the battle-tested Taylor and his team shouldn’t be underestimated by the Republicans.
“The $9 million question is how does Perdue and his campaign now deal with attack ads, because they haven’t had to do that so far,” he said. “They’re playing in the big leagues. The Big Guy knows what he’s doing.”
Staff writers Jim Tharpe, Jeremy Redmon and Ty Tagami contributed to this article.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
East Cobb runoff coming for school board
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
School board member Kathie Johnstone and Baptist minister John Crooks are headed for a runoff in the east Cobb Post 6 Republican primary.
With 30 of 31 precincts reporting, Crooks led Johnstone 3393 to 2155 in a four-person field.
Crooks and Johnstone strongly outdistanced two other Republican challengers, attorney Randy Turner who took 1271 votes and engineer Al Rowe with 824.
Most election watchers expected the race to end up in a runoff on Aug. 8. To avoid a runoff the winner must take 50 percent, plus-one vote.
Crooks had 44.3 percent to Johnstone’s 28.2 percent. The winner of the runoff will take on Democrat Beth Farokhi in the November general election in the heavily Republican district.
Crooks ran an aggressive campaign to unseat Johnstone, a one-term incumbent who championed a failed take-home laptop program for all middle and high school students. The courts ruled that the board’s attempt to spend sales-tax dollars on laptops was illegal because it was not what it had promised taxpayers.
Crooks slammed Johnstone with the laptop issue and other board controversies that have beset the school district in recent months, including: a west Cobb school redistricting initially based on racial balancing, “evolution is a theory” stickers on textbooks, and a school district that has landed on the state’s “Needs Improvement” list two years in a row.
Johnstone campaigned on her experience and the district’s improved test scores.
“We’ve kind of thought there would be a runoff all along. It looks like it’s going to be a long summer. I’m just going to continue to run an ethical, hard race and keep children first,” Johnstone said.
Permalink | | Categories: Cobb County
Taylor declares victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A hoarse but upbeat Lt. Governor Mark Taylor thanked his supporters as he declared victory over Cathy Cox in the Democratic primary for governor.
Taylor addressed his supporters about 12:30 a.m. Cox had conceded defeat in the race about midnight.
“Tonight the voters spoke loud and clear,” Taylor said. “They’re looking for a governor who looks after every day Georgians,” Taylor said. “Tonight we stand in victory here in Atlantic Station. In November, we will stand in the governor’s office.”
Taylor said his battle against popular incumbent Gov. Sonny Perdue will be a tough fight, but talked aobut things he said were worth fighting for, such as elimintation tof he sales tax on medicine,.
The “Big Guy” made a joking reference to his size when h e talked about how he eliminated the sales tax on groceries. “Don’t ever forget, the Big Guy has saved a lot by taking the sales tax off of groceries, because Big Guys buy a lot of groceries. “
Taylor said he would “hit the ground running” Wednesday in his campaign against Perdue.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Cathy Cox Concedes Defeat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Secretary of State Cathy Cox conceded defeat at midnight in the hard-fought Democratic primary for governor.
Cox acknowledged defeat to Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, setting up a November contest between Taylor and Gov. Sonny Perdue, who easily defeated a challenger in the Republican primary.
“This has been a tough battle, but make no mistake: Tonight the battle has ended,” she said. “The slings and the arrows have ceased.”
She said she would support Taylor.
“He can be assured of my support in the months to come,” she said. “Tonight a new season begins.”
During a concession speech, a tearful Cox summoned her husband, Mark Dehler, and thanked him for his support.
“Mark has really been my rock … so I thank you and I love you.”
At midnight., with 89 percent of precincts reporting, Taylor had 51.5 percent of the votes compared with 44.1 percent for Cox.
Taylor led Cox consistently as results filtered in Tuesday evening, but the prospect loomed of a runoff between the two Democrats.
A candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
“This has been a tough battle,” Cox said.
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Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
Cathy Cox Admits Loss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Secretary of State Cathy Cox conceded defeat at midnight in the hard-fought Democratic primary for governor.
Cox acknowledged defeat to Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, setting up a November contest between Taylor and Gov. Sonny Perdue, who easily defeated a challenger in the Republican primary.
“This has been a tough battle, but make no mistake: Tonight the battle has ended,” she said. “The slings and the arrows have ceased.”
She said she would support Taylor.
“He can be assured of my support in the months to come,” she said. “Tonight a new season begins.”
During a concession speech, a tearful Cox summoned her husband, Mark Dehler, and thanked him for his support.
“Mark has really been my rock … so I thank you and I love you.”
At midnight., with 89 percent of precincts reporting, Taylor had 51.5 percent of the votes compared with 44.1 percent for Cox.
Taylor led Cox consistently as results filtered in Tuesday evening, but the prospect loomed of a runoff between the two Democrats.
A candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.
“This has been a tough battle,” Cox said.
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