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Thursday, April 6, 2006
An ounce of prevention…
Lack of attention to preparedness could come back to haunt close to Election Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This thought rattled round through the entire session, and a quickie trip to New Orleans over the weekend has done nothing to dislodge it. It’s about the most surprising omission we noticed this year.
After the huge traffic jam caused by the evacuation of Savannah before Hurricane Floyd in 1999, state and local officials took steps to insure that any future evacuation would go more smoothly. And the state officials in charge of emergency preparedness tweak their plans on a regular basis.
But on a purely political level, wouldn’t you think that if you were running for re-election this year anywhere near a hurricane zone, you would go to some pains to demonstrate you’d tried to avoid anything like a repeat of the Katrina debacle?
At the beginning of the year, several states did take steps along these lines. Despite a governor and several prominent coastal legislators up for re-election right after the close of hurricane season, nothing similar happened here.
Aren’t we talking about the often just symbolic gestures that politicians make only to cover their rears? Maybe so, but if the wind gets high enough it won’t seem like it was such a bad idea.
Aren’t we over reacting, given the forecast this week that this hurricane season won’t be as bad as the last? Take another look at that story. The experts – who by the way vastly underestimated the severity of last year’s hurricane season – expect an only somewhat milder year this year. They say there’s an 81 percent chance a hurricane as strong or stronger than Katrina – which, while huge, was a Category 3 when she hit shore – will hit the U.S. coastline this year, in all likelihood within two to four months before Election Day.
If that storm causes anything close to the breakdown that followed Katrina, there’s a 100 percent chance it’s gong to cause big waves at the polls.
Let the money game begin
A Democrat who's Shyam, but not shy, raises enough to play with Republicans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The official deadline to disclose campaign contributions for the last three months is at midnight today.
And the first candidate to report his collections — to us, anyway — is Shyam Reddy, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state.
He’s reporting $151,149 raised since January, or $486,225 total. And he’s got $408,000 on hand. Not bad for a 31-year-old attorney making his first bid for office.
Reddy is one of seven candidates in the primary, but the dollars he’s raised put him in the same company as Republican candidates Bill Stephens and Karen Handel.
Reddy’s with Kilpatrick Stockton in Atlanta, and boasts a background in voting rights and campaign finance. He’s one of the founding members of the Red Clay Democrats — a tight circle of young professionals in Atlanta who include state senators Kasim Reed and David Adelman.
He’s a native Georgian, raised in Dublin, and the son of Indian immigrants. In fact, on Thursday, Reddy’s wife let it be known that Bibi magazine — no doubt you’ve all heard of it — has named him one of the six sexiest Indian-Americans. Though not one of the richest.
We have Murphy Brown on Line 4
Once on the chalk board, forever in our hearts. Dan Quayle's spelling lives again
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Karen Handel and Bill Stephens, two Republican candidates for secretary of state, have agreed to produce the week’s most entertaining exchange.
It’s darn near vaudevillian.
On Wednesday, Handel announced her endorsement by the Family Quayle, both Dan and Marilyn. Handel served as deputy chief of staff to Marilyn Quayle, part of the office of the vice president, for nearly four years.
Sniffed Katie Grove, Stephens’ campaign manager, to InsiderAdvantage: “At least all of Bill’s endorsers can spell ‘potato.’�
Oh, dear. Handel’s people called the comment “inexplicable� and “disrespectful.�
And they accused Stephens, a former Democrat, of campaigning against Quayle in ’92, by supporting the Clinton-Gore ticket. “He is a Republican now and he should start acting like it,� said Handel campaign manager Marty Ryall
Grove says she stands by her statement. And her spelling.
In other newspapers
Republican senate leader says he may not run again. But then again, he might.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) created a stir when the Savannah Morning News reported Thursday that he might not run again.
“I will not make that decision until … after Easter,” Johnson said.
We know that he went to Sonny Perdue during the session to let the governor know of his thinking.
Part of the trouble is that, when Republicans stripped Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, Johnson inherited the responsibility for all Senate operations — but none of the monetary compensation.
Taylor earns $83,000 a year. And Johnson gets $16,000 a year — just like any other legislator.
Evidence of some Republican dissatisfaction with Sonny’s eminent domain stuff
State Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) says he’ll vote against the constitutional amendment on eminent domain that’s been placed the November ballot.
The referendum’s part of the governor’s package to restrict government land-grabbing signed by Sonny Perdue this week.
Chapman told the Brunswick News that the amendment is little more than window dressing. Chapman takes issue with a provision in the proposed amendment, supposedly added at the behest of Perdue, that allows eminent domain to be defined by the Legislature.
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From Sam to Nan in a day
Democrats try to make Orrock a concensus candidate to replace Zamarripa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Twenty-five hours after Senate District 36 opened up, state Rep. Nan Orrock of Atlanta gathered 30 or so of her closest friends at the state Capitol to announce she wanted it.
It was an impressive social list that included state Sens. Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Curt Thompson of Norcross; state Reps. Pam Stephens, Howard Mosby, Kathy Ashe, and Pat Gardner; plus Chuck Bowen of Georgia Equality; and Richard Ray, president of the AFL-CIO in Georgia.
The Democratic incumbent, Sam Zamarripa, announced on Wednesday that he wouldn’t seek another term.
The show of force by Orrock was purposeful, and meant to frighten off other candidates for the solidly Democratic, east Atlanta seat. “We can’t afford to have a heavily competitive primary race in Atlanta,� Reed said.
Economically, Democrats have too many other priorities. Speaking of which, former U.S. senator John Edwards of North Carolina, the former candidate for vice president, will the main attraction today at an Atlanta fund-raiser for the House and Senate Democratic caucuses.
“We’ll have a major Democrat in the state every month,� Reed said.
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Time to show and tell your taxes
Drexinger hands over his tax returns. Expect the same move in other races.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Guy Drexinger, the Democratic candidate for state insurance commission, released 10 years’ of income taxes on Thursday and challenged Republican incumbent John Oxendine to do the same.
Drexinger is the former chairman of Cobb County Democrats. We’d tell you how rich he is, but his e-mail kept exploding the computer. (Note to Guy: We’re extremely Mac-sensitive.)
Nonetheless, expect Democrats in all races to make this play. Most especially in the races for governor and lieutenant governor.
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