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Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Fulton ad stirs the pot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve not heard it, but we’re told the John Eaves ad we wrote about Monday has been running on local radio all day.
A furious Mike Dvorscak, chairman of the Fulton County Republican Party, called on Rep. John Lewis, Mayor Shirley Franklin and former Mayor Andrew Young to apologize for the ad, which he termed the most blatant playing of the race card by anyone this year.
“It’s pathetic. It’s absolutely pathethic. There are those who look up to these people, and they have let them down,” Dvorscak said.
This is becoming a talk radio topic, too. We may be hearing more about this after Election Day.
When Election Day produces some walking-around cash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today is Election Day. For most people here, anyway.
But to a select few, this is also payday. When you see them cheering on TV tonight, know that their sentiments run truly deep, right down to their wallets.
Most campaign contracts these days — for fund-raisers, media specialists, strategists — guarantee an extra dose of cash if their candidate wins.
The size of the bonus depends on many things, including how poorly funded the campaign was at the outset and the odds of winning. So far as we know, the personality of the candidate — with whom campaign workers are forced to live for months on end — isn’t usually a factor.
Quick example: After his upset win for governor in 2002, Sonny Perdue handed out $142,711 in bonuses and retainer contracts to his loyalists, according to his later filings. That includes $1,211 for “Staff Appreciation Day? at Dante’s Down-the-Hatch.
Among the recipients: Nick Ayers, this year’s campaign manager for Perdue, $8,000; John Watson, now the governor’s chief of staff, $15,000; and Dan McLagan, the governor’s current spokesman, $24,000 — including $16,000 in retainer fees.
The largest bonus went to Fred Davis, the Hollywood creator of Perdue’s “rat video,? who received a $35,000 bonus. Davis was again Perdue’s media guy this year.
