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DEL.ICIO.USAward winner misses own party
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful was so good at keeping John D. Stephen’s Environmental Legacy Award a secret that he didn’t show up to accept it.
Instead, Connie Wiggins, who heads Clean and Beautiful, and Sheriff Butch Conway had to track down Stephens last Thursday afternoon to present the award to the contractor. The presentation took place at 4:30 p.m.in a QuikTrip parking lot on Sugarloaf Parkway.
That’s about an hour after a scheduled award presentation for Stephens at the Gwinnett Chamber.
In a press release that had been previously e-mailed to various news outlets, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Stacey Bourbonnais requested secrecy from reporters.
“Please do not try and contact Mr. Stephens prior to Jan. 11, because he does not know he is receiving this award,” Bourbonnais wrote.
In hindsight, Wiggins wondered if they’d been a tad too emphatic with that request.
“To keep it a surprise from him was really a challenge,” Wiggins said. “We may have outdone ourselves.”
Mass transit may take back seat
Those dreaming of a Gwinnett mass transit champion on the state Transportation Board can put away their pipes.
Rudy Bowen isn’t likely to be their man.
State lawmakers from the 7th Congressional District last Thursday unanimously elected the Suwanee homebuilder to the DOT board. He was chosen in an open election held at the state Capitol.
State lawmakers did a little chest-thumping over opening up the historically secretive process of electing a DOT board member. Of course, it’s easy to cast a vote in full public view when there’s only one candidate on the ballot.
Bowen became the lone candidate when developer Emory Morsberger pulled out of the running a couple of weeks prior to the vote. Morsberger is one of the loudest cheerleaders for a new Atlanta-to-Athens commuter rail link known as the “Brain Train.” That should tell you something.
We called Bowen after his election to the 7th District seat and asked him what his priorities were. The words “public transit” weren’t among his first words.
“Right now, we’ve got a long list of road projects to finish first,” Bowen said.
Asked if he supported the Brain Train, he said, “I haven’t had a chance to study it.”
Lawmakers edge toward car-tax cut
Gwinnett officials are paying close attention to a new push by the state Legislature to slash and possibly wipe out the ad valorem taxes motorists pay on their cars.
A bill hadn’t been filed as of Friday morning, but House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta) has proposed legislation that would exempt motorists from paying taxes on up to $25,000 on the value of their cars.
Gwinnett County Administrator Jock Connell said it’s too early to comment on legislation still in the drafting stage, but “going off what we read in the paper, a $15,000 exemption would result right at $69 million in lost revenue [for Gwinnett governments].”
The county government’s bite would be roughtly $24 million. The county’s school system would take almost all of the remaining $45 million hit, said Connell.
“If it [a bill] get’s dropped, it’ll stir up some interest,” Connell said.
About your salary, Mr. Superintendent
State Rep. Clay Cox wants to give Gwinnett state lawmakers the power to limit what Gwinnett School Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks gets paid.
Cox, a GOP House member from Lilburn, has introduced a bill that would give legislative delegations across Georgia control over the salaries of their local state school superintendents.
This would let local legislators limit the amounts local school boards pay their superintendents.
Cox insists he doesn’t have a personal beef with Wilbanks. We’re not mind readers so we take him at his word. However, of the four pieces of legislation introduced by Cox, three of them are aimed at the superintendent’s office. Besides the pay bill, Cox has introduced two measures to allow voters to change the appointed job of superintendent to an elected post. We’ve already noted that during the 2006 elections, Wilbanks gave $2,000 to Cox’s opponent, Woody Woodruff.
That’s the most anyone can donate to a political candidate for a primary election campaign.
“We hope efforts would be on items that would improve education rather than taking us backwards,” said Wilbanks, who makes $241,000 in annual salary. “If you look at the more successful school districts across the country, they are the ones that have an elected board of education and appointed superintendent. This arrangement allows the superintendent to focus on public education, not politics.”
Waffle Man still rules rules committee
Don Balfour (R-Snellville) still chairs the most powerful committee in the Georgia Senate.
Why is that news? We weren’t entirely certain Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle would let the Snellville Republican and Waffle House executive keep his Rules Committee chairmanship.
Here’s why: Last summer, as Cagle battled Ralph Reed for the GOP Lite Guv nomination, Balfour distributed a company memo stating that only Reed signs could be posted outside any of the company’s restaurants.
Balfour insists he was only acting as a messenger and that he stayed neutral during the campaign. Balfour’s boss, Waffle House president Joe Rogers, openly supported Reed.
Since Cagle’s election, Gold Dome watchers had speculated that Balfour might lose his powerful post. How powerful is it? For any bill to reach the Senate floor for a vote, it must be approved by the Rules Committee. As committee chairman, Balfour can single-handedly kill a bill by refusing to let it get a hearing by the committee.
Can Balfour breathe easier now?
Balfour’s never had to answer to anybody before. When Republicans seized control of the Senate in 2002, they stripped then-Lt. Governor Mark Taylor, a Democrat, of many of his powers.
They’ve now restored many of those powers to Cagle.
Balfour now serves at the pleasure of the new Republican lieutenant governor.
Balfour could ignore Taylor. He can’t ignore Cagle.
But Balfour sees things differently.
“You’re missing the point,” Balfour said. “When I was the Rules Committee chairman, do you think I was doing what the majority leader and the pro tem didn’t want? The only thing this changes is who the boss is.”
And, finally, on a sad note
We can’t end this column without our expressing our condolences to Sen. Balfour and his family.
The Snellville Senator’s father, Don Balfour Sr., died on Jan. 7. The elder Balfour, who was 83, had been in a coma since suffering a major stroke on New Year’s Day.
In an interview last March, the younger Balfour credited his father with kindling his passion for politics. He recalled staying up well past midnight to watch the 1968 presidential election returns on TV with his father. The elder Balfour was a Baptist minister.
“He was never involved in the process but he loved it,” said Balfour.
Balfour’s mother, Marie, died in 2004.
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