Political Insider

By Bill Kecskes

April 24, 2007 1:59 PM | Link to this

Teeribly unfair to even remotely suggest a quid pro quo linkage on these issues.

PeachCare wasn’t amended because the Senate clearly was not going to amend it.

As for the veto,it was pretty obvious that all House Members (except 5) felt the relevance and independence of the House was at stake. Oh yes, the integrity of the prior vote on HB 94 was also at stake. If you vote for a tax refund one week; you’d better support it ten days later!

As for Dunwoody, the Dunwoody delegation clearly fumbled this ball with too many last minute changes and indecisions. Sen. Dan Weber’s presentation before the House Government Affairs Committee was an embarrassment and the Dunwoody incorporation bill probably failed because of that alone.

By Joe

April 24, 2007 5:33 PM | Link to this

Bill:

Obviously you do not have a clue as to how Georgia politics work. All of the House leadership were completely behind the Dunwoody bill. What happened is that the larger than life ego of wannabe-Governor Richardson got in the way of principled legislation. Richardson made a political calculation that having an ill-advised override of the Governor’s veto was more politically expedient than keeping his principles intact. So much for conservative ideals. Neverhteless, a lot of people will not forget Richardson’s sell-out come election time!!

By Bill Kecskes

April 24, 2007 6:33 PM | Link to this

OK - I’ll concede the House leadership’s support of Dunwoody incorporation - no question there - but, how do you explain the constant changing of Dunwoody bill details plus the incredible bumbling of Sen. Weber’s presentation before the House Government Affairs Committee?

By sm

April 24, 2007 7:34 PM | Link to this

Because legislators are generally stupid. Including Weber.

By Bill Kecskes

April 24, 2007 8:00 PM | Link to this

SM - they’re not stupid - we are, for letting them get voted back in —-

I also wanted to let Joe know we fiscal conservatives really can’t afford to have more “Republican cities” created (supposedly to save the Republican residents on their property taxes) — case in point: In HB 95 (approved) there is appropriated $500,000 to beautify John’s Creek.

Question: If it looked that ugly, why didn’t ya’ll just let Fulton County keep it?

By dick

April 24, 2007 9:49 PM | Link to this

I hope when special session is called, the majority of house and senate are fishing in the coastal waters and leave their cell phones at home. This way they wont’ cost us tax payers any more money.

By Jim J

April 25, 2007 10:33 AM | Link to this

I miss the Democrats being in charge. At least they returned some of the money they stole in the form of programs and services. You Republicans just keep all of it for yourselves.

By Veritas

April 25, 2007 10:41 AM | Link to this

If you go back and look at the actual videos of the hearings, you will see that it was Representative Jill Chambers who made most all of the changes. She has always been against the right of Dunwoody residents to determine their own future and has worked to derail this legislation. If you view the hearing you will see that it is Chambers, not Weber that demanded all of the changes.

By jillchambers

April 26, 2007 12:26 PM | Link to this

Yes, I passed a few technical amendments to the Dunwoody bill and I am proud of the taxpayer protections they provide. All of my proposed changes were provided in writing and verbally to the Governmental Affairs Committee, Citizens for Dunwoody, Senator Dan Weber, and Rep. Fran Millar at the first House committee hearing on March 21st.

The Citizens for Dunwoody did put some of those changes into the three different versions of the charter they brought to the committee chairman within 24 hours of the last committee hearing. I passed the others (listed below) only after reviewing them with the Senator and prior to reconvening after the recess to read the charter that Senator Weber had brought to us just minutes before the meeting began. At all times, the committee only worked with his multiple versions of the bills.

I did not initiate the changes to the boundaries of the city - that was proposed by Senator Weber and Rep. Millar. They even met with the Ashford Alliance to announce these boundary changes. Since their changes were taking only commercial property south of I-285, I did mention that Georgia Municipal Association testified that a city should include residential communities adjacent to any commercial property they take. When Senator Weber and Rep. Millar changed the boundaries once again (on the day before the House committee meeting) to keep the city boundaries north of I-285, that principle became moot.

Here are the taxpayer protection amendments I proposed and passed - all of my amendments were shown to Senator Weber before the committee resumed after the recess (the committee chairman allowed us 20 minutes to examine Senator Weber’s newest version of the 60+ page charter). Rep. Wendell Willard even helped me with the language on one of them:

require a referendum to raise the millage for the second time (the first millage increase is allowed by the charter) and to approve “special projects” (special projects are not defined in the charter)

removed language that allowed the use of eminent domain outside the city limits

removed language that would allow the parks to be converted to “other purposes” (I did this to protect the deed restictions at Brook Run park)

removed the retirement and insurance benefits for the mayor and city council (the city must have time to become solvent before providing lavish benefits to elected officals - the fiscal savings here can pay the salary of at least one more police officer).

allow the city council members to request items be put on the agenda

have the mayor vote on city matters

have the city council approve the mayor’s appointments of city officers

define “valuable gifts” that the city council and mayor may accept

I find it hard to believe anyone could have a problem with these taxpayer protection measures that any good fiscal conservative should applaud. These measures truly bring government closer to the people.

If the rallying cry for Dunwoody is “let the people vote,” then why are some of the city organizers complaining about the right for citizens to vote for subsequent tax increases?

You can review the comments made by Committee Chairman Austin Scott and other members at the committee archives and watch me explain my amendments one by one: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/house/Committees/govAffairs/govArchives.htm

As a show of support for the right to self determination, I was even assigned by House leadership to carry the bill on the floor of the House. At Rep. Millars’ request, he spoke first on the bill instead.

thanks, Jill Chambers

By Trackboy1

April 26, 2007 11:13 PM | Link to this

Jill, you don’t want to respond to every blog that mentions your name.
This isn’t the first place you’ve done so. Thin skin will not get you to higher office. Make a decision, stick by it, and take your lumps. Keep focusing on MARTA finances and start including GDOT spending and contracts with your auditing skills; that’s where you can make a massive positive change for the entire state.

By Brian

April 27, 2007 12:37 PM | Link to this

It’s been clear for years that Rep. Austin Scott isn’t a team player and like to grandstand. Fairness be damned - he’ll thrown anyone under the bus to look like a bigger man. So, for Chambers to wait until the end to bog down the process only fueled Scott’s self-righteous, self-serving fire.

In other news, Johns Creek got $500,000 in the 2008 state budget for beautification purposes (that place is such an eyesore) and south Fulton residents will soon get to vote on proposed cities that nobody really wants - good job to everyone for approving those measures last year…