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April 2006
A primary pitched toward Peachtree Street
Silent Republicans, squawking Democrats -- the shape of this year's primaries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The politicians have put their money down, and we know a lot more than we did before last week’s qualifying period about how other primary races might affect the big statewide races in each party.
In a nutshell, the Democrats will have a lot more to sort out, up and down the ticket, than Republicans this coming July 18. And there will be more for Democrats to sort out in Metro Atlanta than anywhere else.
The three major candidates in the Democratic lieutenant governor’s race are from Metro Atlanta, and the only congressional primary likely to spark turnout is Hank Johnson’s and John Coyne’s challenge to 4th District Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Most of this year’s competitive state Senate primary races are for Metro Atlanta, Democratic seats, and there are several primaries for House seats rippling off those races.
As Rep. Nan Orrock, one of three Democrats competing for the departing Sen. Sam Zamarripa’s seat, put it, there’s the makings of “a very healthy, robust primary in the heartland of Democratic voters.”
Not that a quiet primary is a bad thing. In fact, for Republicans it’s a sign of success in the form of increasingly entrenched incumbents. But in does mean that across most of the state, by far the hottest race attracting Republicans to their primary will be the Ralph Reed-Casey Cagle lite gov duel, with little else for them to decide.
As the former state party chairman and executive director of the Christian Coalition, Reed would seem the beneficiary of a low-turnout Republican primary, if that’s how it turns out.
Which of the South Georgians running for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor or Secretary of State Cathy Cox, benefits from a Democratic primary tilted more than ever toward Peachtree Street?
With a lot of women candidates involved in these Metro races, Cox might gain some advantage. But so many turnout-inducing races in such an expensive media market could also be a boon to a candidate who can spend money and put up effective ads – something Taylor has demonstrated he can do.
Democrats see silver lining in delay
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
However a federal panel rules on Democratic Rep. Jane Kidd’s redistricting challenge, the court order extending qualifying until next next Friday for Athens and surrounding areas gives Democrats at least a chance to improve their position.
Kidd is challenging the way Republicans redrew three Senate districts, including the one she’s running for, in this year’s legislative session. But qualifying for 13 House districts in and around Athens has also been extended, giving Democrats another week to find candidates for seven House seats where Republicans are so far unchallenged.
One of those Republicans is Rep. Mickey Channell of Greensboro, a recent party switcher. Democrats would surely like to find a challenger for him, but it remains to be seen how far they’ll go to represent in all these races.
Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) characterized the decrease in the number of House races where Democrats will oppose Republicans this fall, from more than 50 two years ago to 36, as a positive development from the standpoint of the party’s ability to fund truly competitive races. In other words, they can no longer spend money just to show the flag.
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Sonny Perdue to hit airwaves on Monday
Gosh. With lots of money in hand, Perdue seems to be tracking Roy Barnes' schedule
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re told that Gov. Sonny Perdue, flush with re-election cash, is set to start his TV campaign on Monday. He’s arranged to drop nearly $1.5 million over the next five weeks in metro Atlanta alone.
For those of you who keep calendars, that’s only two days later than Roy Barnes began running his television spots four years ago.
The most recent polls showed President Bush dragging down Perdue and other Republicans in Georgia, and that may be one reason for Perdue’s early launch. But also remember that, in 2002, Perdue had so little money that he couldn’t afford a substantial televised introduction to the state.
This time, he’s got $8.2 million in hand, and it’s the Democrats who are sucking wind. Statewide, Perdue has purchased time in second-tier markets, too — Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah. Total buy is about $2.1 million. A moderate entry into the ‘06 race.
We’ve no word on content. The timing says to expect Perdue’s ads to be warm and fuzzy. Then again, only a few weeks ago, the governor showed a video to the Republican upper-crust that emphasized his leadership in fighting gas-gougers after Hurricane Katrina.
Obviously, current gasoline prices are a worry for any incumbent. We’ll offer a link as soon as we can.
None of this info comes from Perdue campaigners, but they don’t dispute it, either. And by coincidence, Monday is Perdue’s formal kick-off day. Re-election festivities begin with a rally on the Marietta Square at noon.
The flaggers get their man
But 'States' rights' McBerry thinks immigration and eminent domain may be hotter buttons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue will be able to do much as he likes over the next three months before the July primary. But he won’t be able to call himself unopposed.
This week, loyalists of the ’56 state flag and its battle emblem fielded their own candidate in the Republican primary.
He is Ray “States’ Rights” McBerry, a 38-year-old, self-employed ad salesman from Monroe County.
Chances of winning? Slim to none. Significance? For the first time, we may be able to put a number on the hardcore flagger vote. All right, you can call them Confederate heritagists. Whatever their name, they’e widely believed to have cost Gov. Roy Barnes his political career in 2002.
McBerry is backed by the Georgia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the League of the South, the Southern Heritage PAC, the Constitution Party and the Southern Party of Georgia.
But here’s the interesting thing about McBerry, which may generate a bit of perspiration in Republican armpits: He lists the flag as No. 3 on his menu of concerns, behind immigration and eminent domain.
McBerry considers the current Republican administration to be soft on those last two issues.
Of S.B. 529, McBerry said: “I think what was just signed was more of an amnesty bill than an anti-immigration bill. I think there certainly needs to be a little bit more strict or severe penalty for employers. And January 2008 is a little too far down the road for it to begin.”
On eminent domain, the new candidate echoed sentiments already expressed by state Sen. Jeff Chapman of Glynn County: “We certainly are glad that it’s being discussed. However, the constitutional amendment that’s being proposed still provides the General Assembly a loophole to come back in and re-define ‘public use.’ Which is the same problem that got us here in the first place.”
And yes, there is the issue of the flag. He’ll push for a statewide referendum on the ’56 flag and it’s St. Andrew’s Cross.
And remember those planes with trailing banners, the ones that dogged Perdue during his first couple years as governor? They’re coming back, McBerry said.
Next thing you know, there’ll be Hechtiacs
Howard Dean's former advisor to direct Hecht's web effort
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Joe Trippi, the guru of Howard Dean’s internet-fueled 2004 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, has signed on as a consultant to former Sen. Greg Hecht, who qualified Thursday for the non-Ralph Reed side of the lieutenant governor’s race.
We’re told Trippi will do some of the standard “message” work that political consultants do, but he’ll focus on Internet fund-raising and networking, which gave Dean an early, and as it turned out short-lived, boost.
Now it seems the Democratic consultant is turning that into something of a specialty. (Rule No. 1 for Internet political consultants: Stay away from Wikipedia.)
Although Dean faltered, Trippi just had a big win: He was involved in the final months of the Romano Prodi campaign.
Che cosa? You are asking, who is Romano Prodi? Why, the center-left candidate who just knocked off Silvio Berlusconi in the Italian prime minister’s race. Consultants get around these days.
He’d never been Van Dyked before
Phil Gingrey expounds on the Iraq war, homosexual car sex, and his moustache
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston’s goals in life is to see that Georgia is the first state to have its entire congressional delegation interviewed on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” It’s a new-media thing.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta did his part Wednesday night, and kept a largely straight face during the faux confrontation. U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg is set for a May 12 taping.
Gingrey can be seen again at 8:30 p.m. tonight, but in case you miss it, here’s the transcript:
Colbert: Welcome back. During the break I was just humming that great Jamie Fox classic “Georgia on My Mind.”
Why? Because Georgia is on my mind and on my television show. It’s a subject of our 20th installment of my 433-part series “Better Know a District.” Georgia’s 11th district. The fightin’ 11th. Though it may not be fightin’ enough.
In 1864 General William Sherman burned Marietta to the ground on his famed March to the Sea, leaving only two buildings standing. One was the historic Kennesaw House, whose inhabitants were lucky that the other was the historic Kennesaw outhouse.
But the 11th has made lemonade out of their burned to the ground lemons with the ‘Gone with the Wind’ museum where you can find production stills and Scarlet O’Hara’s dress.
You can even get your picture taken with the original wind. The 11th town of Rome like the ancient Italian city it’s named after houses a statue of Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars who were suckled by a wolf.
A note to our younger viewers, please do not try this at home. Serious injuries can occur when you suck wolf teat. Not worth the risk, but, oh, wolf milk is so delicious. Tempting.
The 11th is also known for its political heavy hitters like FDR, who died in the town of Warm Springs, and, appropriately, enough Newt Gingrich, who 50 years later tried to kill everything FDR accomplished.
And who’s the gentleman with enough Southern charm to represent this fine district? Why, I do declah, it’s none other than Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey. I sat a spell with him in his Washington office.
Colbert: Tell me about the 11th district.
Gingrey: It’s a great district. It’s shaped a little bit like Indonesia, as you probably know. Represents 17 counties including Muscogee, the home of the infantry at Ft. Benning.
Colbert: That’s the part of the district that looks like the [insert made-up name here] region?
Gingrey: That would be, yes.
Colbert: Gingrey. Gingrich. Are you related to the former speaker of the House?
Gingrey: No, I’m not related but this district was formerly his district.
Colbert: How many people voted for you out of sheer confusion?
Gingrey: I think none because he’s been gone a good while from the west Georgia district.
Colbert: but They might think he’s back and he’s trying to pretend it’s not him. He grew a moustache.
Gingrey: I’m better looking than he is. Some would question that.
Colbert: I would question that. You’re different. You’re both very attractive men. You have a lovely mouth.
Gingrey: Well, thank you. I think.
Colbert: I mean there’s nothing — a guy can say that to a guy. A good looking guy. In a related matter, you’re against both gay marriage and gay adoption.
Gingrey: I am.
Colbert: What is it about homosexual couples that you believe they should not be allowed to adopt?
Gingrey: Well, I think it’s showing a child a lifestyle that is certainly against everything I’ve read in the Bible but more practically….
Colbert: You don’t get any more practical than the Bible.
Gingrey: You don’t get any more practical. That’s right.
Colbert: I believe being gay is a choice. If a gay couple wanted a baby that much, maybe they should choose to find a woman attractive. Isn’t that a little selfish to not stop having sex with other men?
Gingrey: I think if they wanted a baby bad enough they could make that choice. I’m not saying it’s an easy choice. But I agree with you on that.
Colbert: It’s so nice to be talking to somebody that I can agree with.
Gingrey: Thank you.
Colbert: Where do you come down on gays having driver’s licenses?
Gingrey: They have every right to drivers licenses and other state privileges.
Colbert: That’s where you and I part ways, sir. I don’t want my highways all gay-ed up. I don’t need to be sitting behind a car and seeing a bumper sticker that says “my other car is having sex with a man.”
Gingrey: Well, it’s a good point but we have to….
Colbert: Thank you. Thank you. Very few people say that.
Gingrey: Let’s move off that for a second. The war in Iraq. A great war? Or the greatest war?
Gingrey: Possibly the greatest war.
Colbert: Back that up.
Gingrey: We’re talking about the Middle East and literally a billion Muslim people in the world, and we need to win their minds, hearts and souls.
Colbert: Is there any better way to do that than with a war?
Gingrey: If there was, the president would have taken that option.
Colbert: Now is not the time to question anything he does.
Gingrey: Absolutely, Steve
Colbert: Congressman, are you a Georgia peach?
Gingrey: Indeed I am a Georgia peach.
Colbert: You are. I see you have some fuzz.
Gingrey: I do have a little fuzz.
Colbert: Congressman, may I stroke your moustache?
Gingrey: No, Steve, you can’t.
Colbert: Congressman, may I comb your moustache?
Gingrey: No, Steve.
Colbert: Congressman, may I give you a Van Dyke?
Gingrey: You may. (Colbert puts fake beard on Gingrey.)
Colbert: It works. Has anyone ever given you a Van Dyke before? Is this your first Van Dyking?
Gingrey: I never knew what Van Dyking was. This is a whole new thing. This is certainly the first time I’ve ever been Van Dyked.
Colbert: Congressman, thank you for restoring dignity to the democratic process.
Gingrey: Thank you, Steve.
Colbert: Can I have that back? I’ve got to put that on the next guy.
Gingrey: Sure.
Georgia has Iraq Democrats, too
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So far – please let us know if we’ve missed somebody — we know of two Iraq-era vets who have qualified for state races. In keeping with a national trend, both of them are Democrats.
Scott Holcomb, an Atlanta securities attorney who’s running for secretary of state, timed his filing to fall on the third anniversary of his return from Kuwait. Holcomb was a lawyer in the Army also, and according to his bio, provided legal counsel to military leaders during the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
So far, the only Democrat to sign up for a run against Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) is John Tibbetts, a high school history teacher who retired from the Army two years ago. He’s a West Point grad who retired a lieutenant colonel, and so is his wife, Jeanni.
Tibbetts served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Turkey during his 21-year career.
Nationally, several recently discharged veterans are running as Democrats, including Tammy Duckworth, who’s running for the Illinois seat now held by Republican Henry Hyde. Former Sen. Max Cleland has been active in campaigning for them, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see him to the same here.
No clinking of martini glasses
Legislator feted by lobbyists for coming nuptials decides to bow out
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. Stacey Reece of Gainesville, the Republican who landed in some hot water as a result of a lobbyist-sponsored engagement party, has decided not to seek re-election. The Gainesville Times has it here.
In the face of a threat
This may be one press release that Cagle's people wish they could take back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The slightest difference has developed between Casey Cagle, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and Senate president pro tem Eric Johnson — over the $1,000 checks they wrote to Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor in 1999.
We may be looking at the first significant gaffe, on Cagle’s part, in the primary campaign. Not his admission on Saturday that he wrote the check, nor his stated motivation — to apologize for a nasty campaign against Taylor by Republican Mitch Skandalakis, in which Reed had a hand.
The gaffe may have happened Tuesday, in a press release the Cagle campaign issued, labeled “The Caution Flag.”
Here’s the passage:
“Taylor threatened the Republican Senate leadership, of which I was a member. If we did not make a contribution to him to ‘bury the hatchet,’ then Taylor would strip all Republicans of their committee assignments and kill all Republican legislation.
“The Democrats still controlled all of state government in 1999, and we (the Senate Republican leadership) had a choice to make. Clean up Ralph Reed’s mess or our Republican Senators would pay a very high price. [Johnson] and I decided to do what was best for the Republican Party.”
It’s one thing to offer reparations, voluntarily, for the misdeeds of another. It’s another to respond to intimidation. One speaks of compassion and goodwill, the other of victimhood. Especially when Johnson isn’t backing you up on a crucial point.
“My memory is there were no threats from the Taylor camp,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. But Johnson has said that committee assignments for GOP members of the Senate were a concern.
Look for Cagle to change the topic, quickly. Perhaps to the 10 GOP congressmen that Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff targeted in the 2000 general election, for daring to vote for the Internet Gaming Prohibition Act. Reed’s shop did the mailings, according to the Washington Post — on behalf of a company that wanted sell state lottery tickets on-line.
The new House score: GOP 104, Dems 76
Johnny Floyd of Cordele, Richard Royal of Camilla cross over to the other side
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. Johnny Floyd of Cordele switched to the Republican side of the aisle on Wednesday, the last trick that GOP leaders say they have up their sleeves. He was joined by state Rep. Richard Royal of Camilla — although Royal had already announced his intentions.
That brings the number of Democratic switchers this year to four. And the Republican majority in the 180-member House now stands at 104.
House Majority Leader Jerry Keen of St. Simons Island stood watch over the pair. He said no more switchers are expected this year. And that Republican efforts to lure members of the opposite party have now ended.
The majority leader said he anticipates November bringing one more seat into the GOP camp — despite polls showing Republicans headed toward a poor showing nationally.
“We put our sweat into qualifying. We won our races before the season starts,” Keen said.
He didn’t know Taylor, but played him on TV
Or how rappers got the idea that Fulton County buildings were great locales for their videos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eight years ago, Joel McElhannon was a 24-year-old neophyte in Georgia Republican politics. He was a tad overweight, with a shock of black hair. One might have called him stout.
Yet it was McElhannon’s girth that got him the casting call.
It was at the height of the 1998 general election season, and the plea came from John Watson, a party staffer who is now Gov. Sonny Perdue’s chief of staff.
Mitch Skandalakis was the GOP’s abrasive, no-holds-barred candidate for lieutenant governor, and he needed someone who, in bad light, looked like Skandalakis’ Democratic opponent — the hefty Mark Taylor, a state senator from Albany.
Fred Davis, a media consultant known for taking chances in his TV spots, was in charge. He’s the guy who would create Perdue’s “King Rat” Internet commercial in 2002.
Said McElhannon on Tuesday: “They told me to show up at the basement of the Fulton County government at 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning. They padded me up with this foam rubber belly thing that made me a ton bigger, and they put this bath robe on me, and messed up my hair,” he said.
“They told me to kind of shuffle down the hallway. At the end, Fred was like, can you kind of slip and fall? Which is what happened at the end of the commercial. The padding was actually helpful there,” McElhannon recounted.
We are speaking, of course, about the most famous political commercial that most Georgians will never see. It accused Taylor, falsely, of cocaine addiction. The cinderblock hallway was to represent a drug rehab clinic. Skandalakis settled the resulting slander suit.
The TV spot was given rerun status this week, following a Saturday debate between Ralph Reed and Casey Cagle, the two GOP candidates for lieutenant governor. Reed was the aggressor in the confrontation, and prompted Cagle to admit that, yes, he’d given Taylor $1,000 in 1999, following the Democrat’s victory in the race.
Cagle said he and fellow senator Eric Johnson had given identical donations by way of apologizing for the brutality of that particular TV ad.
Cagle also noted that Reed, as a new but heavy-weight political consultant, was major part of the machinery of the Skandalakis campaign. Many Republicans blame that one race for dragging down Guy Millner’s bid for governor.
Reed has distanced himself from the Skandalakis campaign of 1998. And many of those who served on Skandalakis’ campaign staff say that while Reed was valuable during the primary, he wasn’t that much use in the general election.
But no one has mentioned the supreme irony.
Young McElhannon, the stand-in for Taylor, is now Cagle’s top political consultant — strategizing the Cagle fight against Reed.
Like Davis, McElhannon said he was told by Skandalakis campaigners that the documentation behind the commercial was in hand. It wasn’t.
“Looking back on it, it was a horrible thing to do, because it was wrong. As much as I don’t like [Taylor], don’t like his politics, it was not right to flat out lie about somebody. But I was a young naïve kid who thought I was helping out the party,” McElhannon said.
Understand that McElhannon is a predictable witness when it comes to Reed. If Reed didn’t know about that TV spot, McElhannon said, he should have.
“He should have just flat-out walked away. Nothing happens on my campaigns that I don’t know about,” McElhannon said. Something to be filed away, under “Famous Last Words.”
Another battle for DeKalb
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When he qualified for the lieutenant governor’s race Tuesday, Democrat Jim Martin released a list of 22 legislators who are endorsing him. It’s of course intended to show broad support for the former Atlanta legislator and Human Services commissioner, but in particular the DeKalb/Atlanta names look like a blowback to Sen. Steen Miles, the latest entrant in the race (see below).
The senators endorsing Martin are: David Adelman (DeKalb), Gloria Butler (DeKalb/Gwinnett), Vincent Fort (Fulton) and Sam Zamarripa (Fulton).
The House members are: Kathy Ashe (Fulton) Tom Bordeaux (Chatham) Tyrone Brooks (Douglas/Fulton), Roger Bruce (Douglas/Fulton), Robert Bryant (Chatham), Douglas Dean (DeKalb/Fulton), Karla Drenner (DeKalb), Pat Gardner (DeKalb/Fulton), Gerald Greene (Calhoun/Clay/Early/Miller/Randolph/Seminole), Michele Henson (DeKalb), Lester Jackson (Chatham), Mary Margaret Oliver (DeKalb), Nan Orrock (DeKalb/Fulton),Bobby Parham (Baldwin/Putnam), Robert Ray (Bibb/Crawford/Houston/Lamar/Monroe/Peach/Upson), Georganna Sinkfield (Clayton/DeKalb/Fulton), LaNett Stanley-Turner (Fulton), and Rep. Rob Teilhet (Cobb).
And Steen Miles dips in
Entry of third candidate in the Democratic race could make for an expensive run-off.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One-term state Sen. Steen Miles of DeKalb County has decided she wants to be lieutenant governor after all. Sounds like she intends to ride the DeKalb County wave of votes in the Democratic primary. She’ll be drawing from both other candidates, Jim Martin and Greg Hecht.
This is from her morning press release: “I’m running to make certain voters have viable choices and that we have continuity of a Democratic governor and lieutenant governor elected in November. Further, I didn’t come into the political arena to make a career, but to make a difference. We need to do everything possible to regain Georgia for Georgians.”
You will recall Miles as the senator who put Jane Fonda in for plaudits this session, though the resolution was later withdrawn.
Burmeister bows out
One of GOP's leading women in the House says no to a fourth term
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the highest ranking women in the leadership of the state House abruptly announced Tuesday she would not run for re-election, citing the need to spend more time with her family.
State Rep. Sue Burmeister, a three-term lawmaker from Richmond County, said she would instead concentrate on spending more time with her two sons and two daughters. “I practice what I preach, and family should always come first,” Burmeister said.
Burmeister was the sponsor of the 2005 legislation requiring women to wait 24 hours before obtaining an abortion, and a sponsor of the voter ID legislation.
She serves as vice chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, secretary of the House special judiciary committee; and is a member of the Health and Human Services; Appropriations and Government Affairs committees.
Burmeister’s husband recently took a new job in Alabama. Last year, her 24-year-old son was arrested and charged with aggravated child molestation.
Let the games begin, slowly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In another year, the departure, sans farewell speech, of a Sam Zamarippa or a Jeff Brown might not be such a big deal. Zamarippa, a Senate Democrat, and Brown, a House Republican, were promising legislators, but they haven’t been around long enough to be in the top rungs of leadership.
These days a little institutional memory goes a long way, however. And the overall pool of candidates willing to put up with long hours for a lot of free Brunswick stew doesn’t seem to be getting any larger. Which is why we ought to look with just a little concern at that pageant of political ambition called qualifying week.
Republican consultant Mark Rountree, who keeps up with this kind of thing, estimated Monday the overall number of candidates qualifying for legislative races will be down 25 percent. And he was standing on what was, on Monday at least, the lively side of the Capitol. Things were a lot slower over on the House side, where the Democrats were signing up.
A lot of the Republican incumbents have become more entrenched and all the redistricting changes of this decade have discouraged potential candidates by making it hard to plan for and execute a race. But another, more ominous factor is that the price of public service has gone up, and priced a lot of qualified people out of the game.
A graph that says it all
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes things don’t click until you turn a chart or a map sideways or upside down. A great current example is this graph, which simply turns the index of gas prices upside down, so that expensive is down and cheap is up, and tracks it with President Bush’s poll numbers.
This graph also has the virtue of confirming our own biases about what’s really driving Bush’s dismal numbers. The big question is whether public dismay over oil prices has any impact on elections this year.
Smaller races that could make big waves
In South Georgia, the Reed-Cagle race could turn on the chamber president vs. the dental hygenist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today, hundreds of men and women will ignore common sense, their wallets, and half-choked pleas from their spouses.
They will declare themselves political candidates.
TV cameras at the state Capitol will pick out a few Democrats and Republicans as they sign their lives away. Most will toil in relative anonymity, on the edge of exhaustion and insolvency — just for a whiff of popular approval.
And yet some of these smaller races could have a tremendous impact on who rules this state.
Point your eyes south and east to House District 178, where state Rep. Hinson Mosley of Jesup is retiring after 14 years. The district occupies three counties, one layer away from the Atlantic coast: Pierce, Brantley and Wayne.
Mark Williams, a Jesup real estate broker and former chamber of commerce president, will be here first thing Monday morning to sign up for the House seat in the Republican primary.
Interested in the same post is Kay Godwin of Blackshear, a dental hygenist, part-time lobbyist and Republican activist. She’s close to Sadie Fields, chairman of the Georgia Christian Coalition.
Godwin is a fervent, unflinching supporter of Ralph Reed in the GOP race for lieutenant governor.
Mark Williams has endorsed no one in that contest. But his biggest backer is Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams of Lyons. (No relation between the two.)
Tommie Williams has quietly lined up behind Reed’s rival, Casey Cagle.
More than anywhere else, South Georgia is a bastion of Christian conservatism — and viewed as an area that Reed must carry if he’s to win in July.
This lone House race and the contest for lieutenant governor are likely to depend on each other. A vote for Godwin, the dental hygenist, is odds-on to produce a vote for Reed.
A vote for Williams — either the senator or the land broker — is just as likely to produce a vote for Cagle.
And in the famous 4th District
A challenge to Cynthia McKinney may have some cash behind it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Also Monday, DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson will don his armor to run against U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic primary.
One could term his quest quixotic, except for two things: 1) McKinney’s recent, national theatrics with a Capitol Hill cop in Washington; and 2) the fact that Johnson has contracted the fund-raising expertise of Kristin Oblander.
“She’s on board with the campaign,” Johnson confirmed Friday.
Yes, “she” is that Kristin Oblander, the prominent hunter-gatherer of political cash. The one who’s feuding with Bobby Kahn and the state Democratic party over her involvement in Georgians for Truth.
But put that internecine fight aside for a moment, to focus on the one in the 4th Congressional District.
One of the great truths in politics is that big fund-raisers rarely dabble in hopeless, small-dollar causes. The presence of a big fund-raiser, who lives on commissions, implies that someone has concluded that money is ready to flow in this race.
Perhaps like it did with Denise Majette in 2002.
One assumes that the first question check-writers will want answered is whether Johnson, an attorney and former magistrate (an eery Majette parallel), has any ambition to run for the U.S. Senate in 2008.
Johnson has already matched McKinney in money. As of March 31, he had $17,791 in cash on hand. McKinney, famous for running word-of-mouth campaigns, had $15,729.
If big cash rallies behind Johnson, and the contest becomes real, the impact on the Democratic primary for governor could be tremendous — and enhance DeKalb County’s already substantial weight in determining the winner.
Mark Taylor, one of two Democratic candidates for governor, has been endorsed by McKinney. A competitive primary in the 4th District would tie McKinney to her home base, and prevent her from becoming a statewide advocate for the lieutenant governor — though her value in that role has probably already been squandered.
The question for Taylor could become whether he can cherry pick support on both sides of a 4th District fight. Or whether Democratic rival Cathy Cox, who polls well among African-American women, can dip into the anti-McKinney sentiment.
Blut und Boden auf dem Potomac
A (beer-soaked?) report on U.S.-German political diplomacy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jason Shepherd, a member of state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine’s staff, sends this report from the next generation of politicians:
“Approxiately 200 Young Republicans and YR alumni were hosted at the German Embassy house for two hours of German beer, hor d’ouvres and politics. The hosts talked about a new spirit of cooperation between the Bush administration and the government of Angela Merkel who will be visiting DC in less tham two weeks. YR National Chairwoman Nicolee Ambrose talked about how much the CDU has in common with our party as opposed to the SPD under Schroeder.
“With Germany the fourth largest economy in the world, continued economic cooperation is vital for both economies.”
A big day for maps
We don't know if this board can take politics out of redistricting, but they could have quite a cocktail party.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday was sort of a triple-witching day for redistricting junkies.
First, state Rep. Jane Kidd filed a motion with the federal court panel that drew the state House and Senate maps in 2004, asking them to uphold their own handiwork and overturn the changes to the Senate map made in this year’s legislative session. We ought to know today whether the court is going to jump into this before qualifying begins next week.
As the day drew to an end, the Justice Department faxed its clearance under the Voting Rights Act of the new map. That was expected.
Meanwhile, Gov. Sonny Perdue was announcing 11 appointments to his Independent Redistricting Task Force, which is charged with coming up with a way for the state to avoid the sort of line-drawing anxiety that has come up every year or so during this decade.
Good luck on that one.
We must say it’s an interesting group Perdue has choses for this difficult and ultimately thankless task, worth mentioning all 11:
- The chair is former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Clark.
- Veronica Biggins, director of presidential personnel in the Clinton administration, who has a ton of Atlanta civic and business cred.
- Banker Sonny Deriso, from Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor’s home town of Albany, who chairs the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.
- Macon lawyer Frank Jones, who returned to be counsel to his old firm, Jones, Cork and Miller, after retiring from King and Spalding. He’s a former president of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
- Former state Sen. Randy Hall of Augusta.
- Dink NeSmith of Athens, co-owner and president of the Community Newspapers chain. Like Jones, he’s also on the Commission for a New Georgia.
- Steve Smith of Atlanta, vice president of corporate responsibility for Turner Broadcasting System.
- John Sours of the Atlanta law firm Wasson, Sours and Harris. An active Republican and a big John McCain guy.
- Frank Strickland of the Atlanta law firm Strickland, Brockington and Lewis. A key Republican lawyer who has kept an eye on the past few redistricting sessions.
- Kennesaw State poly sci professor and political consultant Kerwin Swint, who’s latest book is titled “Mud: The Top 25 Negative Political Campaigns of All Time.” (We’ve covered several of them, btw.)
- Columbus businessman William Turner, who’s served on a number of top boards, including Coca-Cola and Georgia Power.
It’s never too early to talk about 2010
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s a good interview with U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Sharpsburg on jasonpye.com. He kicks it with this question:
JP: There has been some speculation of you running for governor in 2010. I understand that 2010 is a long way off and many things could change between now and then. But is that something that you’d like to pursue?
LW: Timing is everything in politics. For now, all options remain open. Certainly, my wife who doesn’t like to fly would like for me to keep my feet planted firmly in Georgia. That said, I’m enjoying my time in the House and I feel like there’s a need in Washington for fiscal conservatives who are will to sacrifice all to reform our budget process and get our nation’s finances back in order. For now, I’ll focus on that as I continue to serve and represent my constituents in Georgia’s 8th Congressional District to the best of my ability.
Read the entire Q&A here.
Making lemonade
Says Reed: Put me on the ticket, and Democrats won't have time to attack Sonny Perdue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Below is the best line from today’s Wall Street Journal article, written by Jeanne Cummings. It take a New York-conservative look at the Ralph Reed-Casey Cagle race for lieutenant governor:
“Wrapping up a Republican Party meeting here, Mr. Reed makes a stab at turning his own controversial candidacy into an asset: By putting him on the Republican ticket, the party faithful will be doing a favor for Gov. Sonny Perdue, who is seeking re-election. How so? Democrats will spend precious resources trying to defeat Mr. Reed and they won’t be able to ‘just key on Sonny,’ Mr. Reed says.”
The entire article can be found here.
Your assignment? Debate the strength of Mr. Reed’s argument.
A third party for real
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When the Georgia Libertarian Party gets together for its convention this Saturday at the Holiday Inn on Howell Mill Road, it can celebrate 20 years that it has consistently maintained ballot access requirements for statewide candidates. That’s saying something, in a state where a high bar is set for third parties.
This year it looks like Garrett Michael Hayes, who carried the flag for the party in 2002, will again be its nominee for governor. Here’s a list of the rest of the party’s ticket.
Time magazine and Georgia’s immigration law
Good on the broad overview, but a little short on the local politics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What with Vincente Fox so upset over Georgia’s law to tamp down illegal immigration, Time magazine has taken a look at it.
But we think Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor’s going to be pretty ticked off. The article includes this paragraph:
“In the middle of an election year, it’s also not altogether surprising that Georgia’s GOP governor signed the Security and Immigration Compliance Act. Even though the state continues to trend more Republican, Perdue faces a very real challenge this fall from Democratic Secretary of State Cathy Cox, and the law commanded broad public support in a state with an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 undocumented immigrants.”
There’s no mention of Taylor. Ouch.
Read it here
McCain and Falwell, Giuliani and Reed
Each trying to build a majority for '08 — kind of like the Iraqi parliament
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ralph Reed, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, is getting a bigger-than-expected ride out of his announcement that he’s landed former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani for a second fund-raiser in May.
In essence, the Giuliani-Reed alliance provided a mental bookend for many national political analysts who have been baffled by the rapprochement between John McCain, currently the GOP leader in the ‘08 race, and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
The Giuliani-Reed embrace was fodder for the last news cycle on half a dozen political variety shows and many, many web sites. On Tuesday night, it made MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews, though not in a particularly good way.
Matthews was interviewing Susan Schmidt, the Washington Post writer who just won a Pulitzer for her investigation of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Matthews: “Are you amazed that Rudy Giuliani is out there campaigning for Ralph Reed?”
Schmidt: “I am amazed.”
Matthews: “Hasn`t Ralph Reed got problems down there?”
Schmidt: “Well, he`s certainly heavily implicated in the whole Abramoff scandal. He got loads of money from Abramoff, which Abramoff got from gambling casinos running his Indian tribes, and gave it to Reed who was running around as an anti-gambling advocate. So the hypocrisy factor is stunningly high.”
On Wednesday morning, on CNN, Amy Walter, a senior editor with the Cook Political Report, said Giuliani could help Reed.
“If you are going to bring in a Republican heavyweight, he fits the bill on so many levels. He is popular, there is still a star quality around him and he does not bring with him any baggage,” she said.
Giuliani’s first fund-raiser for Reed was last June, a lifetime ago. The ‘08 presidential race hadn’t yet raised its head. Reed’s contest was different, too. The Abramoff scandal had yet to prove it had legs.
This time, the meeting can’t be ignored. The Reed campaign tells us that, unlike with other fund-raisers, the press will be allowed in to witness whatever Giuliani has to say about Reed.
There is the sense that we’re witnessing the development of a rift among Christian conservatives.
McCain, the power behind the Abramoff investigation in Washington and thus Reed’s nemesis, will speak at Falwell’s Liberty University next month.
Much of this story has been driven by an appearance Falwell made Sunday on CNN, in which he dismissed Giuliani - who has been courting evangelicals - as a presidential candidate.
Giuliani supports abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control.
“Everybody admires him. And I’ll never forget the great things he did on 9/11 and following,” Falwell said. “But, of course, we have, as conservative Christians who take the Bible seriously, we have probably irreconcilable differences on life and family and that kind of thing.
“I’ll never speak an ill word about him because he means so much to America. But, yes, you’re right. I couldn’t support him for president,” he said.
On the other hand, the Rev. Pat Robertson - Reed’s mentor in evangelical politics - had very nice things to say about Giuliani last year.
“Although he doesn’t share all of my particular points of view on social issues, he’s a very dedicated Catholic,” Robertson said.
Reed’s people were reading from the same hymn book on Wednesday.
“Rudy Giuliani helped rally America after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and he was a leading surrogate for President Bush in his re-election campaign,” said campaign manager Jared Thomas.
“We are honored to have him in Georgia to support Ralph’s candidacy for lieutenant governor. They don’t agree on every single issue, but we welcome his support,” said campaign manager Jared Thomas.
More fallout from Georgians for Truth
Peace among Democrats could all depend on what the meaning of 'fired' is
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The back-and-forth over Georgians for Truth continues among Democratic ranks. It’s poor entertainment. We shall let each side have its say, then drop it like a hot rock.
To recap: The Georgia Democratic Party says it sacked fund-raiser Kristin Oblander, a party contract employee, for her association with Georgians for Truth, which launched an independent attack on Gov. Sonny Perdue for his past failure to pay his taxes on time.
We obtained the following fax on Wednesday from House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin), via Oblander:
“There appears to be a misunderstanding on the relationship between Kristin Oblander and the House Democratic Caucus. She is still being retained to do fund-raising activities for the caucus.
“Apparently Bobby Kahn and the Democratic Party of Georgia believe there is a conflict between her work for the caucus and the independent committee, Georgians for Truth. If this turns out to be true, details relating to the working relationship will have to be worked out.
“To say that she was fired is a misstatement.”
And so we presented the above to Kahn, who sent us this reply:
“The Democratic Party of Georgia operates a non-federal account called the Georgia Leaders Campaign that supports the campaigns of state House candidates. House members raise and spend the funds in this account to support House campaigns, subject to the limitations of state law.
“Effective [Tuesday], as a result of her management role with Georgians for Truth, Inc., Kristin Oblander’s contractual relationship with the Democratic Party of Georgia to raise funds for this account was terminated.
“The two roles present a potential conflict under state law. Individual members of the state House Caucus may choose to retain Ms. Oblander through a means other than a contract with the [Democratic Party of Georgia].”
For the curious, Georgians for Truth is a “527” group, according to its treasurer, Jeff Bramlett. It’s subject to know contribution caps. The group received most of its seed money five months ago, from Atlanta attorneys Ralph and Marjorie Knowles, who gave $25,000 each.
Ralph Knowles is listed as chairman of Georgians for Truth.
The info on the money is according to disclosure forms filed in early January. Hardly any cash was raised in the next three months. Bramlett says much money has been donated since March 31, but those sources won’t be disclosed until this summer.
Taylor’s new ad
The unanswered question of 2002 rises again: What mother would let her baby crawl around on the state Capitol floor, amongst all those lobbying germs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, one of two Democratic candidates for governor, is sticking with what has served him well. His first, introductory ad of the 2006 campaign is a reprise of the “Big Guy-Little Guy” theme from four years ago.
The chief difference is the presence of the narrator — former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, who has a history of appealing well to both white and black voters.
Click here to see it.
Made for each other
Giuliani to star at Reed fundraiser
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What do a former New York mayor who’d like the Republican presidential nomination and a former Christian Coalition director who’d like to be lieutenant governor see in each other?
Opportunity, is the feeling we get from a photo of a beaming Rudolph Giuliani, shaking hands with Ralph Reed. The photo goes with an invitation to a May 18 fundraiser at which Giuliani is the featured attraction.
For Giuliani, it’s an opportunity to get some cred with the sort of Republicans he didn’t have to worry about in any of the five buroughs. And for Reed, there’s that Rudy star power.
As the late Lee Atwater used to say, it’s a big tent. Giuliani’s a big draw all over the GOP these days. He did an event for embattled Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum Wednesday, and he has a big fundraiser in New York for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next week.
There’s a ton of check-writing power on the co-chair and host committee lists for the Reed event, too. This should be a big one: prices range from $100 for a single luncheon ticket to $5,000 for a platinum sponsor, which gets you five tickets to the VIP reception, a table for 10 at the luncheon, the chance to get your picture taken with the politicians, and a spot in the program.
Conservative strudel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Politics by its nature – that is, the sort of politics we do, with elections and so forth – is an intramural sport. Every now and then parties of different countries do develop a relationship, however. There was the courtship of the Reagan Republicans and the Thatcher Tories, followed by the apprenticeship of the Blair Laborites to the Clinton Democrats.
So we were interested to see that as part of a Washington conference this week, the Young Republican National Federation is having a cocktail party at the German Embassy.
“We are excited to join the German Embassy in commemorating the election of Angela Merkel, Germany’s new chancellor from the socially conservative Christian Democratic Union,” federation chairman Nicolee Ambrose said in a release.
Wonder what Bush’s numbers are in Bavaria?
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You’ve read the review, now see the movie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s the 30-second TV ad from Georgians for Truth, attacking Gov. Sonny Perdue. This is what’s caused all the internal stir among Democrats. Let us know what you think.
Sonny Perdue’s new bodyguards
Democrats Cox, Taylor try to slam the lid on a negative TV attack on their Republican opponent
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A small but important battle erupted within Democratic ranks on Monday.
It featured an odd sight: two Democratic candidates for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Secretary of State Cathy Cox, throwing themselves in front of Sonny Perdue, to protect the Republican governor from a negative TV attack.
Then it got stranger, with a demand by Taylor that the state Democratic party sever ties with one of its best fund-raisers, in an election year.
The drama began last week, when Democrats discovered a new group in the state’s political mix, calling itself “Georgians for Truth.” (Remember Swift Boat Veterans For Truth?)
The group’s leader is Ralph Knowles, a prominent Atlanta attorney. Another officer is Kristin Oblander, who has the biggest Rolodex of Democratic money in Georgia. Oblander was the state finance director for presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.
More research showed the group with $45,000 in hand. And some relatively small TV buys — $4,000 on WGCL-TV (Channel 46) and $17,000 on WSB-TV (Channel 2).
Over both their signatures, Taylor and Cox sent a hand-delivered letter to Knowles, dated April 12.
“It has come to our attention that your organization, Georgians for Truth, Inc., is raising money to produce and air broadcast advertising attacking Gov. Sonny Perdue,” the letter said. “We respectfully request that your organization refrain from such activity.
“While both of us understand that electoral politics can be a ‘rough-and-tumble’ business, we do not approve of organizations that are set up and funded specifically to attack a particular candidate. We believe the public good is advanced when the candidates themselves are responsible for political advertising, and are answerable to the voters for its content.”
The letter’s kicker: “We believe that an effort by an outside organization to attack Governor Perdue will likely backfire against Democratic efforts in this critical election.”
Both Taylor and Cox appear to be concerned that a small attack on Perdue — we hear the content of the TV ad was to be about the governor’s tax history — would give the Republican incumbent the excuse he needed to launch a well-funded, retaliatory strike against one or both Democrats.
Apparently, the warnings went unheeded. On Monday, Mike Mikus, manager of the Taylor campaign, issued a written ultimatum to the state Democratic party. He wanted the head of Oblander, who last week brought in $100,000 with a lunch featuring former vice presidential candidate John Edwards. The money went to state House and Senate races.
“We have demanded that [the] advertising not be aired, apparently to no avail. Apparently, this does not concern Ms. Oblander at all. Therefore, we urge that she be relieved of her duties today. Failure to do so only makes every Democratic elected official look complicit in their plans — and we are not,” the Mikus letter said.
One reason why Taylor may be more concerned is the fact that, on Tuesday, he’s set to launch the first big round of TV ads in Georgia’s political season.
Late Monday, we had yet to talk to Knowles, Oblander, or anyone else associated with “Georgians for Truth.” But state party officials considered the matter important enough to raise an ax over the woman who fills one of their many wallets.
“Kristen Oblander has been told she cannot work for the state party and the third-party group,” said spokesman Emil Runge.
And the “Georgians for Truth” ads have yet to run.
‘To be’ wins out
Senate leader decides he'll go for a seventh term
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After playing Hamlet the last couple weeks, Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah announced Monday that he had decided to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune for another two years.
In other words, the No. 1 Republican and de facto leader of the Senate has decided he will, in fact, run again. Among his top priorities: Filling the “mega site” just outside Savannah, once eyed for Daimler-Chrysler, and making trauma care available to every Georgian.
The decision by Johnson, an architect and developer, also means he’ll be on hand to greet the next lieutenant governor of Georgia. And presumably will have some say in how much — if any — power flows back to that position.
If you’re worried that Johnson’s hemming and hawing may have hurt his chances, fear not. His latest campaign disclosure shows $385,548.66 in the bank, ready to go.
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Roy Barnes jumps into the race for governor
If not as a candidate, then as a fly in the Republican ointment
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not enough has been made of the entry of Roy Barnes of Mableton into the 2006 race for governor.
Not as a candidate, mind you. But as someone out to upset an apple cart belonging to a certain Sonny Perdue.
Last week, the former Democratic governor filed a lawsuit in DeKalb County Superior Court - note the venue - challenging the 2006 version of the voter photo ID law passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year.
The 2005 version has already been challenged in federal court. The lawsuit at that level argues the statute is discriminatory and violates the Voting Rights Act. In early rounds, a judge has given the lawsuit an encouraging reception.
The Barnes action, formally filed on behalf of a Lithonia woman, attacks the cleaned-up, 2006 version of the voter ID act. But it does so from a state rather than federal point of view.
It’s designed to bring the voter ID issue before the Georgia Supreme Court for a final and quick decision. Remember that Georgia’s anti-sodomy law survived federal court challenges for several years. It was actually killed by Georgia’s highest state court.
The keystone of the Barnes lawsuit can be found in Article II, Section I, Paragraph II of the state Constitution. Anyone 18 and older, who meets residency requirements and hasn’t engaged in moral turpitude “shall be entitled to vote at any election by the people.”
In legal circles, “shall” is a very important word. It is a mandate, not a recommendation. The phrasing dates back to the era World War II, when photo IDs were a rare and costly thing.
It’s considered untoward for a former governor to criticize a sitting one. But Barnes comes close: “It’s not essential for members of the General Assembly or other high elected officials in the state to read the constitution of Georgia, but it is helpful from time to time.”
Perhaps this is the place to note that this lawsuit filed by a former governor, on a pro bono basis, is directed at a host of state officials, topmost among them Gov. Sonny Perdue, the man who ousted Barnes. It is a technicality. Perdue will never have to show up in a courtroom. But there can be symbolism in technicalities.
Barnes has already shaped his argument. Not only does the voter ID law add requirements not sanctioned by the state constitution, it is designed to give Republicans an edge in all future elections.
“I believe in partisan politics as much as anybody on the face of the earth. It’s the American way. However, what I don’t like is hypocrisy,” the former governor said.
Several authorities have identified absentee ballots as the most likely source of voter fraud in Georgia. “But we won’t do anything about absentee ballots because Republicans vote absentee,” Barnes said.
The Democratic contention is that by requiring a photo ID to be presented at polling places, the law discriminates against the people most likely to lack a driver’s license - the poor and the elderly.
“It’s really an income issue rather than a racial one,” Barnes said. “The talk down there amongst them is that this will cut 6 percent off Democrats.”
Barnes estimates his lawsuit could get a hearing by June. Just as the state is entering the summer political season.
Republicans don’t altogether mind that the voter ID issue percolates. It polls well among middle-class voters who spend their lives on Georgia’s highways, to whom a drivers license might as well be a microchip under the skin. And if a judge criticizes the law, well, that’s just more evidence of judicial activism.
But the Democratic advantages of this lawsuit are also clear. Four years ago, Barnes couldn’t match Perdue in the court of public opinion. Yet in a formal courtroom - a highly controlled environment where fund-raising advantages are irrelevant - the former governor is a master.
He’ll have a forum in which to rally African-Americans and older voters. He’ll be able to wax eloquent about what he sees as a Republican lack of respect for the rule of law. Barnes will be a favorite image for TV cameras, perhaps just as Perdue kicks off his campaign, reminding voters what they gave up in 2002.
The question is whether that’s enough to create a sense of buyer’s remorse.
Stem cell salvage operation
Governor to create a blood bank intended to aid research, despite bill's failure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Friday, Gov. Sonny Perdue will do by executive order much of what S.B. 596, which failed in the final minutes of the 2006 Legislature, would have done for stem cell research in Georgia.
Most importantly, Perdue will announce the establishment of a bank for umbilical cord blood, to encourage potentially life-saving, non-embryonic stem cell research — the kind that everyone agrees is a good thing.
One small clue to Perdue’s intentions is the fact that the governor has included in the day’s ceremonies state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), author of S.B. 596.
But a larger tip-off comes from a member of Georgia’s scientific community, who tells us that, yes, the governor intends to announce the creation of a stem cell bank. And a commission to over see it, made up of movers and shakers in the state’s embryonic (pardon the pun) biomedical industry.
This last part is important. Though they didn’t oppose the bill that died, an earlier version unsettled some medical researchers. Scratch that. It scared the bejeezus out of them.
A state-sponsored commission on the subject would insure that science has a seat at the table when the topic comes up again next year.
The unanswered question is what kind of funding the stem cell bank will have. That, say researchers, is the truest indication of commitment.
A guide to Fulton’s explosion of cities
Perfect for refrigerator posting, since it shows the county carved up like an Easter ham
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts sent a chart out late Thursday, breaking down the current status of new cities in his county, when each one takes effect, etc.
It looks to be a handy document. Here is the link.
Of engagement showers, and the AIDS virus
Unusual political topics that could dominate two races in the July primaries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That engagement shower thrown for state Rep. Stacey Reece may be more expensive than anyone imagined.
The Gainesville Republican has picked up primary opposition from Lee Hawkins, a local dentist. Hawkins made his announcement Wednesday morning on Martha Zoller’s morning radio show on WDUN.
Last month, Reece and his intended were guests of honor at a downtown Atlanta party that celebrated their coming nuptials. The problem is that the fete was thrown by 21 lobbyists, while the Legislature was in session.
Reece also riled hard-core GOP conservatives last year with his successful sponsorship of a smoking ban in public places.
On another political note
And you thought Nan Orrock would be replaced by some Republican in a tweed suit?
Allen Thornell, former head of the gay-rights group Georgia Equality, has jumped up to say he wants to replace Orrock in her District 58 House seat. He’d be the first openly gay man in the Legislature. (He and state Rep. Karla Drenner could form the first gay-lesbian caucus in the state Capitol.)
Interestingly, Thornell is also open about being HIV-positive. He’s infected by the AIDS virus, a fact he found out 12 years ago. He expects the topic to be raised during a campaign that’s likely to include a large number of Democratic candidates.
“Certainly my HIV status is pretty well known because I’ve always been open about it,” Thornell said in a press release announcing his decision. “It has helped me understand the problems with our health-care system — it comes as an advantage actually.”
As head of Georgia Equality, Thornell waged an unsuccessful fight in the halls of the Legislature, to keep the gay marriage amendment off the November 2004 ballot.
For the past two years, Thornell has been the deputy regional political director of the Service Employees International Union, which means he could have some substantial labor support for the seat.
District 58 straddles the east Atlanta and the DeKalb County line. It includes portions of Grant Park and Reynoldstown.
Orrock, one of the Legislature’s most reliable liberals, is going after the state Senate seat being vacated by Sam Zamarripa.
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Campaign inflation
Just because Cagle and Reed have collected all that money, doesn't mean they can spend it.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit bloggers, here and on peachpundit.com for this one. A few swift calculations show that the money race in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor is tighter than the totals indicate.
Campaign finance reports filed last week show Ralph Reed with $1.4 million cash on hand, and Casey Cagle with $881,227 in the bank. That’s a hefty $565,275 spread. But about $250,000 of the difference is illusion.
Both candidates have inflated their totals by taking more than the allowable $5,000 per individual, and diverting the excess to races beyond the July 18 vote. They can’t touch the extra dough until after the primary.
Reed in particular has juiced his total by 22.7 percent, by accepting $58,000 for a primary run-off (even though there are only two GOP candidates so far) and $269,821.82 for the general election.
Cagle has puffed up his total by 8.5 percent, by accepting $74,504.90 in general election cash.
In other words, Reed’s working total of cash on hand for the primary is $1,118,681. And Cagle’s is $806,721. So the true spread between the two candidates is $311,960.
That’s still significant, but the difference between the two candidates is now down to about the price of a week’s worth of broadcast TV spots in metro Atlanta.
Herman Cain diagnosed with cancer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Herman Cain, the former U.S. senate candidate and the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, has been diagnosed with colon cancer, a spokeswoman for Cain said this morning.
“The guy’s a fighter and he’s going to be fine,” said Ericka Pertierra, his chief of staff. “He’s trying to figure out how to do the radio show from the bed.”
Cain, 60, learned of the diagnosis “a couple weeks ago” and is scheduled for surgery later this month at a hospital in Houston, she said. Doctors said the cancer was caught at an early stage.
Cain was one of three Republican candidates in the 2004 race for U.S. Senate. The Henry County resident came in second with 26 percent of the vote, behind U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson but ahead of U.S. Rep. Mac Collins.
Currently, Cain is a motivational speaker, and has a weekly radio show on WSB (750 AM). His web site is here.
Best-laid plans ripped by immigration issue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When tens of thousands of people take to their feet in suburban Atlanta, that means something.
The Monday march through the immigrant section of DeKalb County - think on the peculiarity of that phrasing - was the equal, perhaps the superior, of another march nearly 20 years ago in Forsyth County.
That demonstration drew 30,000 and was a last hurrah of the old guard of the Civil Rights era. The target was Forsyth County’s racial insularity - a certain eagerness to cling to a culture long out of favor.
Given Forsyth County’s sky-high economic trajectory, the outcome and impact of that 1987 march through suburbia was never in doubt. Growth settles many arguments in Atlanta.
The same can’t be said for Monday’s march.
The immigration issue has turned out to be just as volatile as Republicans feared - perhaps because growth is seen as a cause, not the solution.
Business was the quiet, practical force that pushed the South out of its segregated cocoon. This time, not a few people think that a corporate thirst for cheap labor is why we’re having this discussion.
Let us point out just a few patches where the illegal immigration issue has ripped some carefully stitched political fabric.
Catholics are the fastest-growing religious denomination in the South.
For three years, Gov. Sonny Perdue and the state GOP have nurtured a permanent alliance between conservative Protestants and like-minded Catholics over issues such as school vouchers and abortion.
Illegal immigration has become the fly in that ointment. Last week, the archbishop of Atlanta and the bishop of Savannah loudly expressed their disappointment that the Legislature had passed S.B. 529.
That’s the bill designed to satisfy the Republican base on illegal immigration, without threatening GOP business interests. Gov. Sonny Perdue is all but obliged to sign it.
The fact that Catholic criticism was aimed at a specific piece of legislation was highly unusual - and doesn’t bode well for an alliance of the magnitude Republicans might have once hoped for.
In a conversation last week, a top Republican confessed he was worried about the angry direction in which this debate was headed. That was immediately followed by an exchange between Casey Cagle and Ralph Reed, the two GOP candidates for lieutenant governor.
“Reed flip-flops on illegal alien amnesty,” was the headline over the Cagle press release.
Cagle’s opposition research crew had discovered a transcript of Reed appearing on MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country” in January 2003.
But the most important fact that Cagle didn’t mention: Reed was appearing as a spokesman for the Bush/Cheney ‘04 re-election campaign.
Said Joe Scarborough: “Ralph, as you know, a lot of conservative Republicans are very angry with the president’s plan to grant, in effect, what they believe is amnesty for illegal aliens who work in America.
“Why is he doing that?”
Said Reed: “No. 1, this is a much more conservative policy than the Reagan policy of 1986 of blanket amnesty.
“What Reagan did was, he said to everyone who was in the country illegally, you can achieve citizenship. This president has not done that. This is a guest worker program that does not encourage law-breaking and doesn’t encourage illegal immigration.
“They have to go in and register. They have to have a job. They have pay to a fee. The employer has to certify that they attempted to hire an American citizen and couldn’t.
“They have a three-year period, renewable for three more years, that doesn’t guarantee them a green card and doesn’t guarantee them citizenship…..
“This is a responsible policy by the president. And he should be applauded for allowing a problem that has festered for decades and to grab the bull by the horns and fix it.”
And what’s Reed not saying? He’s not saying that in a post-911 world, Bush’s proposal to fix the country’s immigration problem was an immediate flop - denied if not denounced by most Republican leaders in the South.
Perhaps America’s post-Bush period started last year, in one of Reed’s first appearances as a candidate. Reed very bluntly said he was against amnesty in any form — a decision to put air between himself and the president for whom he once spoke.
Cagle’s unlikely to let the argument go. Prepare for many arguments over the meaning of the word “amnesty.” And more rents in the political fabric.
Another sign of the post-Bush era
Gingrich doesn't recommend a pull-out in Iraq, but a "pull back." And calls occupation an "enormous mistake."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Words on Iraq from former House speaker and possible presidential candidate Newt Gingrich: “It was an enormous mistake for us to try to occupy that country after June of 2003. We have to pull back, and we have to recognize it.”
The venue was the University of South Dakota. Here is the entire article.
Notes on the money race
Who's got how much money, beginning with the race for lieutenant governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
According to Friday’s disclosures, four candidates for lieutenant governor have raised a total of nearly $5 million for the coming campaign — before the first TV ad has been fired.
Or look at it another way: The election season hasn’t even gotten underway, and this quartet has already spent $1.3 million.
As we suspected, Ralph Reed, the former head of the national Christian Coalition and the state GOP, has raised the most ($1.7 million) and has the most cash ($1.4 million) on hand.
He raised $269,461 during the first three months of this year.
As we reported Sunday, Casey Cagle, the state senator from Gainesville, raised $132,937 (for a total of $1.4 million) and has $881,227 in cash on hand. (Scour the print edition for some additional nuggets on Reed’s and Cagle’s money, along with details of cash in the race for governor.)
Of the two Democrats, former state senator Greg Hecht of Jonesboro boasts the most cash raised, but his three-month total includes a $58,000 personal loan.
Hecht raised $238,174 in the latest period, for a total of $1 million. He’s got $789,865 in the bank.
Jim Martin, the former state lawmaker and ex-head of the state Department of Human Resources, raised $157,098 in the first three months of this year, for a total of $744,705.
He’s got $469,297 in the bank.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
In the race for attorney general, Democratic incumbent Thurbert Baker’s major numbers are: $23,451 raised this period; $2 million total raised; $1.25 million cash on hand.
Republican challenger Perry McGuire: $77,161 RTP; $149,578 TR; and $111,810 COH.
STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
In the race for state insurance commissioner, Republican incumbent John Oxendine also boasts a hefty bank account: $60,655 raised this period; $1.5 million total raised; and $1.2 million in cash on hand.
Democratic challenger Guy Drexinger, a Cobb County attorney, reports $53,929 RTP; $261,843 TR; and $130,656 COH.
Much of Drexinger’s money has been spent running a series of early TV ads attacking Oxendine for accepting donations from health and insurance companies.
SECRETARY OF STATE
Depending on how you count it, Republican Karen Handel, now the chairman of the Fulton County Commission, leads fund-raising in the race for secretary of state.
But figured another way, the leader is a Democrat, of all things.
Handel reported $172,506 raised this period, for a total raised of $413,153. She has $309,758 in cash on hand.
Shyam Reddy, the Atlanta attorney and a Democrat, reports $151,149 RTP, for a TR of $486,225. He’s got $408,000 COH — significantly more than Handel.
State Sen. Bill Stephens of Canton, a Republican whose fund-raising was circumscribed by state law, reports $33,675 RTP; $188,517 TR; and $143,308 COH.
Former Democratic lawmaker Walter Ray of Douglas, Ga., reports $86,075 RTP, including a $40,000 personal loan; $86,075 TR; and $78,343 COH.
Scott Holcomb of Atlanta, a Democrat, reports $61,897 RTP, including a $1,741 personal loan; $104,042 TR; and $73,927 COH.
Darryl Hicks of Fayetteville, another Democrat, reports $126,800 RTP; $151,875 TR; and $131,023 COH. [Note to readers: As one of our bloggers pointed out, and we missed, this campaign’s contributions include a $100,000 personal loan. Thanks for the catch. JG]
STATE AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER
In the contest for commissioner of agriculture: Long-time Democratic incumbent Tommy Irvin reports $29,327 raised this period; $2 million total raised; and $588,152 in cash on hand.
By far, the closest Republican to Irvin is Gary Black of Commerce, who reported $104,430 RTP; $430,674 TR; $353,204 COH.
Brian Kemp of Athens, who as a senator was barred from raising money during much of the session, reported $20,295 RTP; $386,086 TR; $164,178 COH.
Two other Republicans who were in the hunt four years ago are barely scratching, moneywise.
Deanna Strickland of Brooklet, Ga., has raised only $1,600 and is $1,418 in debt.
Bob Greer of Cumming, Ga., is $122 in the hole, and going deeper. He listed a $70,000 in-kind contribution for creation of a web site, which exceeds the $5,000 donation cap.
In an appendage, he said he intends to take out a $65,000 personal loan to cover most of the donation.
Through a glass, darkly
First postings of campaign disclosures by ethics commission few, far between.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At midnight Friday, three months’ worth of political money in Georgia was supposed to be accounted for.
And it may well be. You just can’t see much of it.
A system designed to shed more light on money candidates take, and from whom they get it, has — at least over the weekend — gone largely blank.
On Saturday, the campaign finance reports for most major statewide races, from governor to agriculture commissioner, had yet to be posted at the web site of the State Ethics Commission.
Last year, Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Legislature gave birth to a new state ethics law, shifting responsibility for collecting campaign finance documents from the secretary of state to the State Ethics Commission.
The measure went into effect in January. But days before, the State Ethics Commission, under fresh Republican control, dismissed longtime Executive Director Teddy Lee.
And money for the transition has yet to find its way into the right hands. Software systems have yet to be coordinated.
“Not only did we do this on a shoestring, but with a change of administration,” said Rick Thompson, acting executive director.
“I’ve got three people working 11 and 13 hours a day. They’re fingers are bloody from all the typing,” he said.
Thompson said most of the candidate reports should be available Sunday.
This round of disclosure reports, which cover contributions from January through March, are important on several levels. In addition to letting voters see the flow of money in campaigns, the reports also provide a strategic look — at a candidate’s alliances, spending and overall strength.
Over the weekend, several of the major campaigns gave us much of the information they’ve sent to the ethics commission.
In the governor’s race: Because all three major candidates are state office-holders barred from raising money during sessions of the Legislature, the financial dynamics of the race haven’t changed much.
During the first three months of the year, Secretary of State Cathy Cox, a Democrat, raised $185,892, compared with Democratic rival Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor’s $98,531 and Republican incumbent Perdue’s $142,500.
The disparities grow when it comes to money in the bank: Cox has $2.9 million, Taylor has $4.1 million, and Perdue has $8.3 million.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, we’ve only got complete numbers for the Republican side.
Ralph Reed, the former head of the national Christian Coalition and state GOP chairman, raised $269,461 over the three-month period, maintaining a significant lead in financing.
But Casey Cagle, a businessman and state senator from Gainesville, made the most of March 31, the only day left to him in the reporting period. According to his disclosure, Cagle received $103,510 in 24 hours, for a total of $132,937 during the period.
In the all-important category of money in the bank, Reed has $1.4 million, while Cagle reports $881,227.
The two disclosures hold a few surprises. Reed’s contributors include Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who held a fund-raiser for him last month.
During the last six months of 2005, half the money Reed raised came from out of state. In the first three months of 2006, most all donors are from within Georgia.
Cagle’s contributions include $500 from a John Weaver of New York City, and $200 from Orson Swindle of Alexandria, Va.
Weaver was political director for U.S. Sen. John McCain in the 2000 presidential race. Weaver tangled with Reed, who was working for George W. Bush, in the South Carolina primary — where McCain was knocked out of the contest in a bitter fight.
Swindle is a former member of the Federal Trade Commission and was a Vietnam POW with McCain.
In a series of e-mails made public last year, Reed and Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff discussed going to Bush adviser Karl Rove to keep Swindle’s wife from obtaining a White House appointment.
“Can you ping Karl on this? I can’t believe they just don’t get this done?” Abramoff wrote. Replied Reed: “I am seeing him tomorrow at the WH and plan to discuss it with him as well.”
Swindle’s wife didn’t get the job.
If money talks, Thurmond and ‘with a K’ could be in trouble
Both candidates are currently being out-raised by the other party
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What little we’ve seen of this round of campaign disclosures holds some disquieting info for both Republicans and Democrats.
Kathy Cox, the Republican state school superintendent, raised only $1,300 during the first three months of this year. She has $46,738 in the bank.
Meanwhile, Carlotta Harrell, a relatively unknown Democrat who ran for school board in Henry County in 2004, reports raising $28,275. And has $74,394 available for spending.
Former congresswoman Denise Majette, who recently announced for state school superintendent, apparently wasn’t required to file a report.
In the race for state labor commissioner, incumbent Democrat Michael Thurmond reports having raised $3,069 this month, and has $72,428 in cash on hand.
But Republican Brent Brown of Atlanta, who ran for the post in 2004, raised a surprising $100,525 during the same period. And has $91,414 in the bank.
State Rep. Chuck Schied, a Republican from Woodstock, has also announced for the labor commissioner race. He had not filed a report this weekend — from what we can see on the web site.
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Photographs and memories
Next up: Stephens challenges Handel to produce her high school yearbook portrait
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When last we heard from the two Republican pugilists in the race for secretary of state, the mouthpiece for Bill Stephens had heaped scorn on former vice president Dan Quayle’s endorsement of rival Karen Handel.
The best spellers are lining up with Stephens, she said.
In nuclear retaliation, the Handel campaign has reminded the world of Stephens’ Democratic past. They’ve handed out this shot of Stephens at the ‘92 Democratic National Convention in New York, where Gov. Zell Miller, Stephens’ former boss, gave the keynote address.
Stephens, through spokeswoman and champion speller Katie Grove, has confirmed that the fellow on the right is himself. A Democratic source tells us that the guy with the Clinton-Gore sign and fishing hat is Jim Butler, the Columbus attorney and former member of the state natural resources board.
No booze in the hands of either man, and no floozies at their sides.
This is fun. But of limited use in a battle to get on the same ticket with Sonny Perdue, another former Democrat — and Handel’s old boss.
Edwards: Still hope for Dems in the South
But he's not sure that everyone in Washington thinks the same way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards spoke at a $1,000-a-plate Democratic fund-raiser in downtown Atlanta on Friday.
The fact that extra tables had to be brought out was much remarked upon. Organizers said $100,000 was raised, which will be split between state House and Senate campaign efforts.
Edwards gave the Readers Digest version of a speech on poverty that he’d just delivered in Athens a few hours before. Americans need to reach out to the “37 million people who wake up in poverty every day.”
He also demanded that the nation “end a national embarrassment” and raise the minimum wage.
Afterwards, reporters quizzed him about the immigration fight in Washington.
Edwards said he liked the McCain-Kennedy approach — tougher border security “that that needs to be combined with a policy that favors hard work, respects hard work, so those that those who have been living here and working hard can get on a path to citizenship.”
Asked about ’08, the former U.S. senator from North Carolina said: “I’m considering, but I have not made a decision.”
He remains one of those who thinks the national Democratic party can’t walk away from the South. “It’s critical for my party to compete in Georgia and North Carolina,” he said.
Then he was asked whether that thinking has yet penetrated the Beltway. “That’s a good question,” Edwards said. “I think Governor [Howard] Dean believes it. But it’s sometimes hard to get people in Washington to understand what’s happening in the real world.”
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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McKinney & Fox & Friends
It takes a special woman to give Tom DeLay a chance to talk about somebody else's troubles
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Seven days after the event, Gov. Sonny Perdue waded into the flap over U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney of DeKalb County.
On Wednesday, he challenged his two Democratic rivals in the governor’s race to turn their backs on the congresswoman, who allegedly struck a U.S. Capitol policeman — after he chased her down for bypassing a security checkpoint.
“We have to be accountable for those people we associate with, and I think the silence is deafening,” Perdue said at a morning press conference. “I think we need to hear from those people who would associate with Congresswoman McKinney.”
A couple things are happening here. Obviously, it’s in Perdue’s interest to tie McKinney as closely as possible to Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Secretary of State Cathy Cox. McKinney is red meat to white swing voters who’ll decide the race in November.
McKinney has endorsed Taylor’s bid for office and Cox’s husband, Mark Dehler, has contributed money to McKinney’s past campaigns. (However, McKinney and Cox are famously at odds, the result of past voting disputes in DeKalb.)
So there’s the Georgia angle.
But McKinney has become exceptionally convenient to national Republicans as well. It’s clear that they see the flap as a topic-changer, an antidote to the Beltway buzz that surrounds the departure of former House majority leader Tom DeLay.
And you’ve got to admit, McKinney seems to be doing her best to keep the story alive. She was on Fox News on Wednesday morning. So an hour later, when DeLay was interviewed on the same program, he had something to talk about other than Jack Abramoff, or House ethics investigations.
“Anybody who would hit or attack the Capitol Hill police — I had a Capitol Hill police officer die, was shot in my office, protecting my office. So I have a special place in my heart for the Capitol Hill police, and anybody that would attack them for doing their job is just outrageous, and frankly ought to be punished,” DeLay said.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, we hear, is furious with McKinney. Other Georgia Democrats are innoculating themselves. Said U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon on Wednesday, in a prepared statement:
“Thinking an officer is racially motivated does not excuse hitting or pushing past him. If there is proof the officer was racially motivated, he should be punished.
“If there is no such proof, just a color difference, then the officer is due an apology at the very least. Racism hurts people. False accusations of racism hurt us all. They wrong the accused, reinforce negative stereotypes and distract us from real racial discrimination.”
Just for the record
An L.A. Times piece says Abramoff dropped Reed's name into negotiations with Sudan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Los Angeles Times this week published an article that detailed conversations between Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Sudanese officials in 2001, during which Abramoff proposed to help the troubled African govermnent rebuff criticism by Christian evangelicals for human rights violations.
The talks allegedly took place in Abramoff’s skybox at Washington’s Fed-Ex field during a Redskin football game, and that the dollar figure for a contract is said to have ranged between $16 million and $18 million.
During negotiations, Abramoff reportedly “invoked his connections” to Ralph Reed, now a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia.
At the time, Reed would have been allied with Abramoff on anti-gambling campaigns in Louisiana and Texas, on behalf of the Coushatta tribe in Louisiana.
But the Sudanese contract never materialized, and there’s no evidence presented in the article that Reed had any involvement in the matter. “Under no circumstances would he have worked on behalf of the Sudan and he has never done so.” Reed spokeswoman Lisa Baron is quoted as saying.
The entire article can be read here, but it’s not likely to be a factor the Republican primary campaign.
The DeLay factor in Georgia
A candidate with close ties to Abramoff — but none that are illegal — bows out of a 'negative, personal campaign.'
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Tuesday morning, every Republican in Georgia with geek credentials was attempting to triangulate the meaning of former House majority leader Tom DeLay’s resignation.
“Because I care so deeply about this district and the people in it, I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative personal campaign,” Delay said.
Ralph Reed faces the same Democratic gauntlet, plus a tough Republican primary. What’s the impact of this on his campaign for lieutenant governor?
Reed’s not saying. His daily communiqué focused on a Henry County judge’s decision in an eminent domain case. The rival GOP campaign of Casey Cagle also remained mum.
Carolyn Meadows of Cobb County, a former member of the Republican National Committee and a board member of the National Rifle Association, backs Reed in the lite gov race, and knows DeLay.
She wasn’t surprised by DeLay’s decision to pull out of his race. “I figured this would come sooner or later,” said Meadows, though she admits the timing caught her off guard.
But she expects no repercussions for Reed. “I think there’s still enough time that this is all going to die down before the election,” Meadows said.
Before you argue that Georgians don’t really care what happens in Texas, know this: Last week, one of the most popular pieces of literature passed among Republican lawmakers, in the House as well as Senate, was a photocopy of a mailer from a Texas education PAC.
The target was a GOP candidate in a special, February statehouse election in Austin. The district was limousine Republican. The flier carried the “culture of corruption” message pushed by Democrats — with photos of DeLay, Reed, and Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The Democrat won.
Not Denise Majette, but Steen Miles
Her motto: What's good for DeKalb County is grrrreat! for Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democrats in Georgia released a collective breath when Denise Majette, the former U.S. Senate candidate, announced she would run for state school superintendent — rather than lieutenant governor.
Her candidacy would have guaranteed at least a run-off for two white males already in the race: Jim Martin and Greg Hecht — an added expense that cash-strapped Democrats can’t afford.
But now there’s another bullet out of DeKalb County to be dodged. State Sen. Steen Miles, a first-termer, says she’s contemplating a run for lieutenant governor.
Miles, who like Majette is African-American, is the senator who pitched the Jane Fonda resolution this session. So at least we’ll have something to talk about.
We couldn’t catch Miles on Tuesday. But in an InsiderAdvantage interview, she sounded like she could be talked out of it.
Because she’s so new to politics, one Democratic analyst said Miles’ impact on the race would be less than that of Majette, though she could still force a run-off.
“Denise Majette is to Steen Miles what Jesse Jackson is to Al Sharpton,” our analyst said.
Says Chambliss: No round-up of illegals
"I think we’re kidding ourselves to think that we can do that"
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You could almost see U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss squinting at the needle as he threaded his way through the immigration issue on Tuesday.
He was on the phone with a half-dozen reporters. First bit of news: Chambliss doesn’t think the legislation now before the U.S. Senate has much of a chance of passing this week.
“This bill has tied immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship. That’s proven to be a difficult hurdle to get beyond,” he said.
“I’m not one of those folks who thinks that you can round up everybody who’s here illegally and send them back. I think we’re kidding ourselves to think that we can do that,” Chambliss said. “So we have got to make some accommodation for folks. But we can deal with that issue short of giving them citizenship.”
The fine line that Chambliss walks can be found in the furrowed rows of Georgia farms. He doesn’t want his farmers to have the federal government peering over their shoulders, looking at their payroll lists.
Yet at the same time, he said farmers are a first line of defense against illegal immigration, and must bear some of the responsibility.
A final word from the Mexican Consul General in Atlanta.
Nearly two weeks after the event, the Mexican consulate in Atlanta has issued a formal response to recent events in the state Legislature.
In late March, you’ll recall, the House was debating the illegal immigration bill now on Gov. Sonny Perdue’s desk. State Rep. Matt Dollar (R-Cobb County) rose to speak, and produced what he said were two matriculas consulares — photo IDs issued by the Mexican government to Mexican nationals legally residing in the United States.
Except the IDs had Dollar’s photo on them, and his name. Dollar, a genuine U.S. citizen, said he obtained them through the Mexican government — though he later backed away from this statement.
Dollars’ words were transmitted to Remedios Gomez-Arnau, the Mexican government’s top diplomat in Atlanta. She went straight to the Capitol and House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s office, where she demanded Dollar’s curly head — or at least the Mexican government’s documents, which he claimed to possess.
She was shown the door. It wasn’t pretty.
We made inquiries to the consulate, but until Tuesday morning had heard nothing. Here’s what we received, in part:
“The matricula consular is a document that has been issued for 130 years and, since May 2002, it contains a series of security features that avoid its possible forgery and make it a highly reliable document,” wrote the consulate’s spokesman, Armando Bello Padilla.
“In such sense, the Consulate General of Mexico rejects categorically any demonstration of doubt on the seriousness and consistency of the processes followed in the issuance of such consular document,” the spokesman said.
The translation, we think, is something like this: “The documents are reliable, and frat-house fakes don’t count. Anyone who says otherwise is fibbing.”
Reed’s four are also Stephens’ four
So Bill Stephens walks up to Ralph Reed and asks, 'Are you using live bait? Crickets, maybe?'
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Something interesting happened on Monday.
Several people lent their names to state Sen. Bill Stephen’s Republican campaign for secretary of state. The names listed by his campaign included U.S. Reps. Charlie Norwood of Augusta and Nathan Deal of Gainvesville. But also included were U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Georgia Christian Coalition Chairman Sadie Fields, and south Georgia activists Kay Godwin and Pat Tippett.
It’s that latter group that merits comment. All four are also big supporters of Ralph Reed, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. They’re not just representative of the Christian Right. Westmoreland is making inroads among hard-core economic conservatives in the GOP.
No one’s suggesting that Stephens and Reed are running in tandem. Tactically, that would be unusual, if not pretty darned dumb. (This judgment applies whether the candidates are Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative.)
However, it’s clear that both men are fishing in the same pool of voters — which means their futures could be tied together, despite any absence of strategery. Dispirited supporters in one camp could weigh down the other. Likewise, if one campaign catches fire, the other is likely to benefit.
What this also could mean is that the dual wings of the Republican party could have yet another reason to go at each other this July. Stephens’ opponent in the GOP primary is Karen Handel, the chairman of the Fulton County Commission. She’s also a former aide to Gov. Sonny Perdue.
And we all know how well Perdue and Westmoreland got along when they were under the same roof.
Cagle sets the bar at $100K. Reed’s answer to come by Friday or so.
The other news on Monday was the claim by Casey Cagle, the other GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, that he’d raised $100,000 in a single day last week. Spontaneously. It happens all the time in Georgia neighborhoods. Checks just drop from the sky.
Under the schedule for campaign finance disclosures, March 31 was the deadline for the period. It was also the day after the close of the Legislature, which set Cagle’s finance operation free. Reed has had three unchallenged months to beat up on Cagle with the checkbook crowd.
Reed’s returns, and Karen Handel’s in the GOP race for secretary of state, will be items of high curiousity on Friday, the approximate date they should trickle in.
Gainesville: The focus of an American nation
The dilemma of immigration, through the eyes of a city dedicated to chickens and their innards.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s always interesting to see what outsiders think of us. The Washington Post on Monday published a profile of Gainesville, Ga., and the argument over immigration. It included this bit:
“Reality speaks and it says that, absent Hispanic workers, we could not process chicken,” said Tom Hensley, chief financial officer for Gainesville’s largest chicken plant, Fieldale Farms. “There aren’t enough native American people who want to work in a chicken plant at any wage. We’d be put out of business.”
Read the entire piece here.
Cherchez les femmes
Is it true that soccer moms are more frustrated by traffic than commuting dads, and is there power in that?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Legislature abandoned Atlanta last week. Hundreds of political candidates have been set loose to roam the landscape.
It’s no secret what comes next. A lot of skirt-chasing.
Private lives are private lives. We’re talking demographics. Both Democrats and Republicans are signaling that they believe women hold the key to victory in November.
State Rep. DuBose Porter of Dublin is the leader of 79 Democrats in the 180-member state House. The topic of conversation was his caucus’ strategy for preserving itself this election year. Of what he would reveal, more than half is devoted to womenfolk.
Democrats in the House were able to piece together a trio of victories this year, their first real wins as a minority. They softened a new program that subjects the homes of Medicaid nursing home patients to confiscation, after they die.
They defeated two proposed constitutional amendments proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue: One to restrict state lottery funds used for the HOPE scholarship, and another to underline the legality of state contracts with religious groups that provide social services.
Both were unnecessary, they argued.
In an election year, acts of the Legislature aren’t just laws and resolutions that, upon a governor’s signature, bind the body politic. They are direct mail pieces. Bombs with postage stamps that land in tens of thousands of mailboxes two weeks before the vote.
For rallying against those two constitutional amendments, Perdue and his GOP will accuse Democrats of voting against “HOPE and faith.”
Porter knows this. His counterattack lies in a warehouse somewhere in Georgia, where Confederate enthusiasts tell him they have stored 300,000 signs saying “Sonny Lied.”
It’s not an outright alliance with the anachronistic, male-dominated, movement to restore the ’56 battle emblem to the state flag, whose members think Perdue reneged on promises made during his 2002 campaign.
Consider it a bit of jujitsu that a now-economically challenged political party must use to take advantage of a message that — regardless of what Democrats do — will be hammered into every other tree in rural Georgia.
So Democrats will attempt to take the flaggers’ message for men, and use it to discredit the governor on topics such as transportation and education — issues that resonate particularly among women.
Did you know, Porter asked, that polls show women are much more ticked off about metro Atlanta traffic than men? Men who work experience it only twice a day. Women toting children hither and yon, from appointment to appointment, are in it all day long.
Even in rural Georgia, the need to focus on women is obvious. Porter himself represents a district that, under the right circumstances, could go Republican.
But white women voters outnumber white male voters by 20 percent in his district. The number of black women voters is double that of black men. (In the Democratic primary, Porter leans toward Cathy Cox for governor. But common sense says that Mark Taylor’s strategy is similarly gender specific.)
Through their actions, Republicans admit that the Democratic emphasis on women is rightly placed. The most telling bit of news last week came from Perdue’s office. A spokeswoman for the governor said he would take his time deciding whether to sign a bill changing the formula for child support in Georgia.
State Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), sponsor of the measure, became a subject for demonization by the state’s army of divorced women.
Perhaps recognizing the governor’s November concerns, Ehrhart let it be known last Friday that the governor played a key role in eliminating the most controversial part of his bill.
That’s the bit that would have allowed many dads to reduce their child support payments, based on time spent with their children.
According to Republican lawmakers, the governor has no choice but to sign the bill — else Georgia won’t have any guidelines at all for making sure parents support their off-spring.
But get ready to meet Sonny Perdue, noble defender of the cast-aside spouse.
Can’t let this stay buried
We recommend sandy soil, and a bottle or two of Evian
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So there we were, in a hearing on a bill that would let owners of private cemeteries escape their scandal-plagued past and manage many of their own affairs.
A Republican lawmaker, very seriously, asked the head of a Georgia cemetery-owners group how deep they planted their clients. The General Assembly was examining a measure that mandated the burial of diseased chickens. The lawmaker needed advice.
The cemetery association guy, taken off-guard, cautiously explained that six-feet under is cultural fiction. No more than a line in a bad Western, the name of a defunct cable TV show, or a local restaurant.
In most cemeteries, the undead only have to claw through three to four feet of soil to escape.
To be fair, the cemetery guy is responsible only for the “three to four feet” part. The “undead” reference is pure speculation on our part. But we thought this was information you needed to know.
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Some kerosene for the fire
Because we thought your weekend was looking too peaceful
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Following is a quote from Kevin Phillips, author of the original Southern strategy, of what has become of his Nixonian period: “I am beginning to think that the Southern-dominated, biblically driven Washington GOP represents a rogue coalition, like the Southern, proslavery politics that controlled Washington until Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860.”
The entire Washington Post piece can be read here.
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A day in the Big Easy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two things that struck us after a day in New Orleans:
—Hurricane or not, broken levees or not, New Orleans remains one of the most publicly political towns in the USA. You see billboards for candidates in neighborhoods that look like they couldn’t support a bumper sticker. And to judge from what we saw at the “Right of Return” rally Saturday, local politics still depends heavily on personal contact.
—Maybe it’s because so many people who had homes are gone now and they stand out in sharper relief. But there seemed to be a striking number of homeless men and women on Canal Street.
It reminded us of a story we heard in Waveland last year about an old woman who pushed a shopping cart around that Mississippi town. Some who knew her thought she would be the storm’s first victim, but the day after the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over Waveland she was said to be out in the road, doing what she had always done. When you ain’t got nothing, as Bob Dylan sang, you’ve got nothing to lose.
Back on the bus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You may think that after sine die, we’re kicking back. But we never sleep.
No, seriously.
At the moment, we’re on a bus with a group of Rainbow-Push volunteers, riding through the night to New Orleans for the “Right to Return” march to be led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
That’s got us thinking again about that march last weekend which brought a half-million Latinos into the streets of Los Angeles. There are going to be big demonstrations in New Orleans and Atlanta this weekend, but nothing on the scale of the demonstrations waged to protest more restrictive immigration laws. We wonder: are we seeing the dawn of new era in protest politics?
More from the Big Easy when we get there.
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