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June 2007
Matters with Kansas: Of high courts, tornadoes and abandoned backhoes in Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kathleen Sebelius, the Democratic governor of Kansas, breezed through Atlanta on Friday to speak to the White House Project — a non-partisan effort to lure women into political campaigns, as candidates.
Sebelius is chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Gov. Sonny Perdue chairs the Republican version of the group.
Like Perdue, Sebelius, now in her second term, has been mentioned as vice-presidential timber — perhaps more seriously, given her geographic location.
In all likelihood, you last heard from Sebelius in May, when she teed off on President Bush. An EF5 tornado had wiped out Greensburg, Kansas, but the Kansas National Guard was restricted in the help it could offer — because nearly half of its equipment was in Iraq.
We’ll come back to that.
On Friday, the immediate topic was the U.S. Supreme Court and its ruling 24 hours earlier on the use of race in school redistricting. Kansas, of course, is home to Oliver L. Brown et.al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka the 1954 case that shaped desegregation in America.
Ever cautious, Sebelius noted that she hadn’t read the decision, nor had the governor discussed its implications with the home folk.
“It does appear that this may be a significant step back from what the Brown decision was intended to produce 50 years ago,” Sebelius said.
And it was “ironic,” she said, that the Brown decision was used by Chief Justice John Roberts as a justification for its restrictions on the use of race by school districts attempting to diversify their student bodies.
Sebelius said the Brown decision has become a source of pride in her state. Kansas, quite literally, drove the stake through the phrase “separate but equal.” A total seven school districts across the nation were involved in the court battle. In six, the promise of equal facilities was a sham.
“Kansas had all black schools, but actually they were using exactly the same curriculum, using the same facilities. The teachers in many cases had even more qualifications, with PhD’s,” Sebelius said.
By killing segregation in Kansas, in other words, the Supreme Court struck not just at the failed promise of “separate but equal,” but at the concept.
Now back to the National Guard.
Sebelius came to Atlanta from Washington, where she and U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) tried to put a spotlight on equipment and manpower shortages, and the brutal deployment rotation of troops.
“The message gets a little more powerful if you have a tornado at your back,” said the governor. Incidentally, the broach on her business suit lapel is a pair of little ruby slippers and a wand.
But in fact, Sebelius said she’d been hard at the subject of depleted Guard resources for nearly two years.
“Governor Perdue and I actually were on a trip to Iraq together when this was first brought to my attention by our National Guard unit that was in Talil — an engineering company that gave me a three-page list of equipment and said, ‘Do you know we’re leaving this behind — and it’s not going to be replaced?”
Said Sebelius: “I came back in November ’05 and sent that to Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfield.”
Which makes you wonder if Sonny Perdue was offered a similar list.
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Hank Johnson says he wants Dick Cheney impeached
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-DeKalb County) just confirmed for us that the congressman has joined nine other House members on a petition recommending the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Here’s part of the formal statement from Johnson that his office is about to issue:
“I am displeased with the operations of the executive branch, with regard to the secrecy, the incompetence and the lack of cooperation that is coming from the vice president’s office.
“This vice president has continually operated in the shadows beyond the view of the American public. I intend to hold him accountable to the same high standards that we must all uphold.
“We all acknowledge that he is the most powerful vice president in the history of this nation. However, he is not above or beyond the law.”
Johnson made his decision Thursday evening, said spokeswoman Deb Speights.
Remember that Johnson represents a district that often applauded the previous occupant, Cynthia McKinney, when she made her sharp attacks on President Bush.
Speights said that, for Johnson, the “last straw” was Cheney’s dismissal of a congressional subpoena this week, and his attempt to declare himself separate from the executive branch — and thus not subject to laws governing the handling of sensitive information.
The sponsor of the impeachment resolution, is Dennis Kucinich, the Democratic presidential candidate.
You can read Johnson’s entire press release, issued at 5:30 p.m., on the jump.
CONGRESSMAN JOHNSON VOTES TO IMPEACH VP Supports H.Res. 333 After Cheney Disassociate From Executive Branch
WASHINGTON—Congressman Hank Johnson, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he is fed up with the Vice President operating as if he is above the law and joined nine co-sponsors in finding H.Res 333, a resolution to impeach Vice President for high crimes and misdemeanors.“It is time to send a message to the Vice President that such arrogance cannot go without an equally serious response,” said Rep. Johnson. “Recent assertion that his office is not part of the executive branch and in defiant of an Executive Order relating to the handling of classified materials is outrageous and was the last straw for me.”
The resolution, introduced in April by Re. Dennis J, Kucinich (D-OH), states that the Vice President has “purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive” citizens and the congress by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
“I am displeased with the operations of the Executive Branch with regard to the secrecy, the incompetence, and the lack of cooperation that is coming from the Vice President’s office,” said Rep. Johnson. “This Vice President has continually operated in the shadows beyond the view of the American public. I intend to hold him accountable to the same high standards that we must all uphold. We all acknowledge that he is the most powerful Vice President in the history of this nation, however, he is not above or beyond the law.”
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A note from the guy in the foreground
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
True story: I once knocked on a fellow’s door and introduced myself, and was greeted with an astonished, near terrified look, followed by a peal of wild laughter.
As he pulled back the door, I could see he’d been sitting in his apartment on a Saturday morning watching a video of “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” that Woody Allen film in which a movie character named Tom Baxter comes down off the screen and into the life of a New Jersey waitress.
I’m shooting for a similar effect right here. The guy with the glasses on the end of his nose is stepping down off the sig to say that after 33 years at a newspaper I’ll always love, I’ll be leaving at the end of this month. I’m going to become editor of the Southern Political Report, a newsletter-website which has been written for many years by Hastings Wyman, an old friend from many campaign trails, who’s staying on as founding editor. It’s a great opportunity, and what more than one colleague has described as a perfect fit.
I leave you in the capable hands of Jim Galloway, who has done most of the heavy lifting in this space for a while anyway. And I’ll be checking this space regularly to find out what that suburbanite Scotsman has to say.
This is a great newspaper because it has great readers, and a blog like this one really puts you in contact with them. It’s been an honor to provide the fodder over which you have argued, digressed from, agreed with guardedly and many times disagreed with heartily. To put it in Internet terms, politics is an open architecture subject: Anybody can plug in and play, and the Insider has become a forum for people to do so.
Earlier this week, the calendar pulled to within 500 days of Nov. 4, 2008, in which so much will be riding, in the state and the nation. That period ought to be a golden age for political discourse of every sort, and as our loyal readers know, this is a great place to pick up the conversation. And as for our political friends, may all your financial disclosures come back clean as a whistle, and all your election night parties be safe and sober. Happy trails.
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‘Suddenly, there were Mexicans everywhere’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gainesville, Ga., is the star in today’s Washington Post article detailing the role of small-town America in killing the immigration reform bill.
Here’s one snippet:
A stay-at-home mother of two, [Stephanie] Usrey has dreaded shopping at this particular branch ever since a Friday afternoon about five years ago, when she said she suddenly noticed she was the only non-Latino customer.
“That was the first time I looked around and said, ‘Man, I didn’t realize how many Mexicans there were here,’ ” Usrey, 39, recalled.
And here’s another:
Nowhere were the bill’s opponents more influential than here in Georgia, whose two Republican senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, originally helped craft the legislation.
Two days after its unveiling in May, Chambliss was booed at his state’s Republican convention. Isakson’s office received more than 21,000 calls from opponents of the bill, compared with 6,000 from supporters.
Thursday, both Georgia senators voted to kill the bill they once supported.
The article carries a serious demographic point. It argues that the current illegal immigration backlash resulted from a new migration pattern that developed in the 1990s — when southern border-crossers leaped beyond the seven or so “gateway” states and into middle America.
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Isakson, Chambliss: Now let’s talk about a border bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was a telephone press conference not to praise the immigration reform bill, but to bury it. And to predict a partial resurrection.
U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss on Thursday afternoon said that, now that the immigration reform bill is dead, it’s time for the White House to send an emergency funding bill that deals solely with sealing the border.
“I’m not one of those who believe the debate is over. This bill is over,” Isakson said. The senator said he believed a border-only bill could be addressed within the next 12 to 18 months. Click here for an extended listen.
Chambliss said that, for him, the killer amendment in the bill was offered by U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota). It would have put a five-year sunset on the guest-worker program demanded by business interests.
Here’s an extended quote from Chambliss.
“The temporary worker program is the guts of the whole issue relative to providing workers to business,” he said.
Chambliss called the Dorgan amendment a “poison pill.” And in fact, it probably discouraged business support for the reform effort.
But the importance that Isakson and Chambliss put on the Dorgan amendment and guest workers highlights a gulf yet to be bridged between Georgia’s business community and its voters.
Let us take you back to the state GOP convention last month. Chambliss won his chorus of boos not because he endorsed “amnesty” — by whatever definition that word is tagged with.
The hoots and hisses began with this phrase: “We’ve got to face the fact that we’ve got to create a new, truly temporary worker program for that segment of our economy that need temporary workers.”
Chambliss, by the way, said he couldn’t see addressing the issue of temporary workers in agriculture as part of the current farm bill now under discussion. “I don’t think it would be appropriate to have a debate on immigration in the farm bill,” he said. Best to let the issue lie fallow for a season.
And both senators refused to be lured into say anything bad about talk radio, which provided much of the heated rhetoric that doomed the immigration bill. Isakson and Chambliss both said they would oppose any attempt to re-instate the Fairness Doctrine that would require broadcasters to give their programs more ideological balance.
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Republican finds gainful employment — and the Barrow vs. Burns trilogy is cut short
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s Savannah Morning News, political columnist Larry Peterson says Max Burns is moving on.
Burns, a Republican who was stripped of his 12th District congressional seat by Democrat John Barrow in ’04 and lost a rematch by a whisker in ’06, hasn’t exactly said so.
But North Georgia College & State University has confirmed that Burns is its new chairman of the business administration department.
“He’s due to move soon to the Dahlonega area, where the college is located,” writes Peterson.
Burns will be living in the Ninth District, which is already occupied by U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal and an army of ambitious Republicans eager to wish Deal well whenever he chooses to retire.
The question now becomes who Republicans will throw against Barrow in ‘08. Somebody call us with a few names.
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Rather than a tax rebate, double state reserves, says budget analyst
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve told you about Jared Thomas and his anti-tax chapter of Americans for Prosperity. They want that $142 million property tax rebate vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue to be earmarked for another day.
Now comes the counter-argument, Alan Essig, a former state budget analyst and head of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
He says the state should dramatically increase its reserves — from the current $792 million to $1.8 billion — to make sure it can afford to fund state government during the next economic downtown.
When tax collections slid in 2002 and 2003, Gov. Roy Barnes and his successor, Perdue, had to slash spending for a wide array of state-funded programs, from schools and health care to forestry services. Perdue also raised cigarette taxes to help pay the bills.
In a newly released report, Essig’s group argues that the shortfall reserve should be closer to 10 percent of the state’s budget, more than twice what it is today. “Currently, Georgia reserves are inadequate to meet the needs of the state during an economic downtown,” said Essig, whose group backs more spending on social programs. “Instead of playing politics with surplus revenues, our state leaders need to develop responsible and conservative policies to grow the reserves.”
Essig has been critical of some of Perdue’s tax policies. His group, for instance, came out with a study last year showing the governor’s proposed income tax cut for retirees would go almost exclusively to old fogies with more than $100,000 in annual income.
But on this one, Essig echoes the governor. Perdue said he vetoed the property tax rebate in part because he was worried about an economic slowdown. A spokesman for the governor called the Americans for Prosperity petition drive in support of the tax cut “more publicity than policy.”
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How peace came to Belfast before it came to Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle described the situation to reporters on Wednesday.
“Here are two individuals that were arch-enemies, and they came together to form this new government about peace,” he said.
“You could sense that here were two individuals that had an awful lot of things that they disagreed on, but their focus was really to unite their country around peace,” Cagle said. “To do that, they had to say, these are the things that we can agree on. We have people depending upon a stable economy, that are depending upon a safe environment in which they can raise their kids.”
Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson? Alas, no. Merely Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, the leaders of the Protestant-Catholic partnership government in Northern Ireland.
Cagle was on the state trade mission to Europe, but left early and had just returned home. Perdue finishes it out this week.
But Cagle did say he and the governor had some conversations about the melt-down in the Legislature this session.
“We did have an opportunity to converse. I don’t know that the situation has improved a lot,” Cagle said. “I think you’ll see the governor most likely reaching out to both the Senate and the House, to try to find some common ground, particularly on budgetary issues.”
Cagle, by the way, hadn’t heard of the furor Vice President Dick Cheney had stirred up in Washington by declaring that he was no longer a member of the executive branch.
Even so, Cagle was asked whether lieutenant governor, who presides over the Senate but is next in line to succeed the governor, is fish or fowl.
“I kind of straddle the fence,” Cagle admitted. “I guess my salary’s paid as an executive branch member.”
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Not again. Another state lawmaker, after bowing in, bows out of race for Macon mayor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Somebody in Macon is distributing wishy-washy pills that, if aren’t illegal, should at least be clearly labeled.
Twice this season we’ve been misled on what Democrat might be willing to jump into the this year’s race for mayor in the city.
First it was Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown, who bowed out for health reasons. We can understand that.
But over the last two to three weeks, state Rep. David Lucas, who sits in the Legislature as a Democrat, has put himself forward as the alternative candidate. An independent. On Monday, he tried and failed to talk his way into a forum for Democratic candidates — Macon being one of those cities where elections remain partisan.
But this morning, according to the Macon Telegraph, he pulled out of the contest.
Lucas “decided he didn’t want to ‘challenge the system’ and split local Democrats,” the newspaper reported.
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The 10th District debate: From Athens, the digitally delayed version
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republicans Jim Whitehead and Paul Broun met this morning in their first one-on-one debate, broadcast from Athens on WGAU (1340 AM). The two men are locked in a run-off that will be settled July 17.
Radio host Tim Bryant, who served as moderator, was kind enough to send us two hefty sound clips — one on immigration, and another on accusations that Broun was raising money for the contest before its occupant, the terminally ill U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, was dead.
In both, Broun sought to rally insurgent Republicans to his side. Whitehead, the front-runner, made no gaffes, but did seem somewhat defensive on the immigration issue.
Click here for the five-minute segment on premature electioneering, in which Broun — an Athens physician — protests his innocence.
“I began preparing for a congressional race in 2010 when I thought that Charlie Norwood would run for governor,” Broun said. “When his health issues surfaced, I stopped making preparations for a season, but then I realized — as his health degraded — that if I did not start making those preparations, that the political hierarchy in Atlanta would try to anoint a candidate — as we have seen happen with Mr. Whitehead. My preparations were all about giving voters a choice.”
Said Whitehead, a former state senator from Columbia County: “The FEC says close to $5,000 was collected in January and February before Charlie ever came home.” But Whitehead does say that Broun came to his tire store in Augusta two years ago, to solicit Whitehead’s support for his candidacy for the congressional seat.
Asked if he made any pre-mortem preparations, Whitehead replied, “Absolutely not.”
Click here for the seven-minute segment on immigration.
In it, Whitehead accused Broun of twisting his position on immigration. Perhaps a dozen times, Whitehead declared himself against any legislation — the current Senate bill in particular — that offered what he called amnesty.
Whitehead cited his support by activists on the issue, include former candidate Bill Greene. “I am the right man to go to Congress and fight against illegal immigration,” Whitehead said.
But Broun brought up a recorded statement that Whitehead made on the issue at a previous forum. “We have 12 million immigrants in this country, and we need to make them legal,” Broun quoted his opponent as saying. “He’s said that in multiple venues. It’s not a flippant remark. It’s not a slip of the tongue.”
Said Whitehead: “I don’t know how many times I have to say I will not vote for amnesty.”
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And in Augusta, where a day without a perp walk is like a day without sunshine….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Augusta Chronicle reports today that the son-in-law of former state senator Don Cheeks has been indicted on felony charges in connection with a 2002 land deal.
The indictment revolves around a $240,000 profit that Ashby and Donna Krouse made on the sale of some swampland to the state. No joke.
Neither Cheeks, a Democrat who switched to the Republican party during his last years in office, nor his daughter, Donna Krouse, face charges.
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That Oconee endorsement of Whitehead? Consider it undone.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember that item about the Oconee County Republican party endorsing Jim Whitehead in the July 17 run-off for the 10th District congressional seat?
Never mind.
The party’s executive committee met Monday to rescind their Friday endorsement, according to today’s Athens Banner-Herald.
The endorsement had been an embarrassment to Paul Broun of Athens, who took the No. 2 berth in the June 19 vote. Oconee, which borders Athens/Clarke County, was one of six counties where Broun outpolled all other candidates.
Poll: Chambliss, Isakson get wrist-slap for immigration; Thompson grabs lead from Giuliani
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Strategic Vision, a Republican-oriented public affairs and polling firm in Atlanta, says it has a poll in hand showing that Georgia’s two U.S. senators, Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, have seen a slight decline in their job-approval numbers as a result of the immigration debate.
Of some 800 voters surveyed, 50 percent said they approved of Chambliss’ performance in office, while 52 percent said they liked what Isakson was doing. Gov. Sonny Perdue’s job-approval rating was 55 percent.
David Johnson, head of Strategic Vision, attributed the decline to the disenchantment of conservative Republicans.
That said, Chambliss had 55 percent margins and greater in hypothetical match-ups with Democrats Vernon Jones and Dale Cardwell in his re-election contest next year.
The three-day poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. We’ve asked for cross tabs, and have been told we’ll soon get them. The SV press release can be found here.
The poll also indicates that, among Georgia voters, Fred Thompson has ripped the lead away from Rudy Giuliani in the Republican race for the White House.
The field looks like this:
Thompson — 25 percent;
Giuliani — 20 percent;
John McCain — 11 percent;
Newt Gingrich — 7 percent;
Mitt Romney — 6 percent;
Mike Huckabee — 5 percent;
Sam Brownback — 4 percent;
Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul — 2 percent;
Tommy Thompson, Chuck Hagel, Jim Gilmore, Duncan Hunter — 1 percent.
On the Democratic side,
Hillary Clinton — 29 percent;
Barack Obama — 26 percent;
John Edwards — 18 percent;
Bill Richardson — 7 percent;
Joe Biden — 4 percent;
Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich — 1 percent.
Immigration reform: The roll call on the cloture vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can find the list here.
Brownback of Kansas was one surprise. You might find others.
Georgia politics and the case of the dropped — and missing — drawers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Monday, a certain court decision in Washington set tuning forks in Georgia humming.
No, no, not from the U.S. Supreme Court. Not McCain-Feingold. This is about the lost pair of pants. And the effect the missing trousers could have on state politics in ‘08.
By now you know that the fellow in D.C., who sued his dry cleaner for $54 million after the business misplaced the lower half of his $1,000 Hickey Freeman suit, got his head handed to him by a judge.
After paying court costs and such, the plaintiff will probably lose his shirt as well.
It was a small and quirky case, more than 600 miles distant from Atlanta. But minutes after the judge lowered the hammer, we received the first press release.
From the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
“The suit itself was ludicrous. As an attorney for 30 years, I am aware of the dangers that this type of sensationalism can generate,” said Joe Watkins, president of the GTLA. “Now that the decision has been reached, the general public can bask in what is just another example of the civil justice system accurately and fairly working for us all.”
On Tuesday, Athens attorney Jay Cook, who just left the presidency of the State Bar of Georgia, joined in: “There are preposterous cases. But they almost always get resolved the right way. Not perfectly, but over time they get to be resolved the right way. The law is meant to be fair, not fast.”
Why was the local reassurance even necessary? Because chances are the lost pants are about to be tailored into a symbol.
In Washington, the dry cleaning business owned by the Chung family, a trio of South Korean immigrants, has become a cause celebre for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other critics of civil suits. A fund-raiser for the Chungs is scheduled for July 24.
The lost-pants case is “the epitome of a frivolous lawsuit,” says the recording on the Chamber’s web site. Just as that too-hot cup of coffee from McDonald’s once was — though cranky lawyers still like to point out that the beverage caused third-degree burns in the lap of the elderly plaintiff.
If business types are successful, if the lost pants do become the next embodiment of lawyerly excess, Georgia is one of the first spots both legs might be hoisted on a flagpole.
Not now, but in ‘08. That’s when Robert Benham — the first and longest-serving African-American on the Georgia Supreme Court — comes up for re-election.
Replacement of sitting high-court judges in various states is a critical part of the tort-reform strategy pushed by pro-business groups in Washington.
Last year, the U.S. Chamber and the American Justice Partnership sent $2.3 million to Georgia in an unsuccessful effort to oust incumbent Justice Carol Hunstein.
They’re expected to do much the same thing next year for Benham.
All sides recognize the role the lost pants could play in a TV-driven campaign. People don’t understand law. But they know from trousers.
Hence yesterday’s quick condemnation of the plaintiff (a lawyer and administrative law judge) from the GTLA.
In a broader sense, this is also why you’ve seen those TV spots sponsored by the State Bar, extolling the role of lawyers and judges in society.
Benham, by the by, looks to be adopting the same bipartisan strategy that helped preserve Hunstein. He’s hired the outfit that produced those brutal TV ads that Hunstein used against her opponent, Mike Wiggins.
We’re told that he’s got former Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, and former attorney general Mike Bowers, a Republican, lined up for a joint fund-raiser.
The justice is taking some strategic advice from Bobby Kahn, the former Democratic party chairman who ran Benham’s first campaign for the office back in 1984. But Benham’s looking for Republican advice, too, we hear.
Help build a North Carolina blog’s historic vocabulary
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friends, North Carolina needs our help.
Ryan Beckwith, who operates a political blog for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., has been trying to trace the origin and legislative meaning of the term “catfish amendment.”
He thinks, with no degree of certainty, that the phrase has Georgia origins.
Beckwith has a blog discussion on the topic here. The first reference he can find dates to 1957.
So far, most think the phrase was a more colorful way of describing an amendment that guts a bill — defeating the purpose for which it was intended. But there has been this slightly different explanation:
Anyone who fishes for them knows that they grab a bait, and hug the bottom and roll, as opposed to other fish that often run to the surface and jump. Only speculation, but I suspect plenty of rural legislators from the ‘60s and ‘70s had caught plenty of catfish on rod and reel and understood this tendency. Hence, to “catfish a bill” is to grab it and load it up with something that sends it to the bottom.
And as we all know, most Americans prefer ‘good craziness’ over ‘bad craziness’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lanky, cigar-chomping state Rep. David Lucas moved closer to jumping into the race for mayor of Macon on Monday night, according to the Telegraph.
The Democrat, who intends to run as an independent, has one good line: “I’m saying to you one thing: I’m the guy that’s always been there for you, and I can lead the city.”
And then he has another line that needs some work: “Let me say this to you: I’m crazy. But I’m that good crazy.”
Lucas made his comments at the tail end of a forum for Democratic mayoral candidates. Blogger Amy Morton at Georgia Women Vote has a detailed account of Lucas’ unsuccessful effort to join the debate.
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For a governor who has everything, another checking account
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A sharp-eyed reader caught this legal ad in today’s edition of the Fulton County Daily Report, advertising the incorporation of the Perdue PAC, with a street address identical to the state Republican party.
The registered agent is one James N. Ayers, who served as campaign manager for Gov. Sonny Perdue’s ’06 re-election campaign. Former state GOP chairman Alec Poitevint and ex-chief of staff John Watson are the other two officers in the non-profit corporation.
There are three basic reasons that a sitting governor would want to establish such a political action committee, which has the expressed purpose of doling out campaign money to other political figures:
— No. 1, Perdue has ambitions for public office beyond his second term, and Perdue PAC would be a way to keep his fund-raising machine together — independent of state party machinery.
— No. 2, Perdue’s relationship with members of the Legislature is such that he’ll need to give some lawmakers some contributions to assuage their anger. And will need to fund opponents to punish the recalcitrant.
— No. 3, as current chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Perdue needs to be able to send money to movers and shakers outside Georgia’s borders, expanding his influence nationwide. Just in case something in the category of No. 1 crops up.
Said Ayers on Monday:
“I wouldn’t read much into Perdue PAC. Most incumbent statewide officials have a PAC to support political candidates, push their agenda and stay in touch with their supporters.
“For now, that’s what Perdue PAC will do.”
Marlow concedes, says there will be no recount
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got a press release from James Marlow, the failed Democratic candidate for the 10th District congressional race.
He’s sent out a letter to supporters that declares he doesn’t intend to ask for any recount, and congratulates the two Republicans who finished ahead of him: Jim Whitehead of Columbia County, and Paul Broun of Athens.
Not that there was much chance of him doing otherwise.
With 100 percent of the vote now in, Whitehead finished with 23,555 votes, or 43.5 percent; Broun had 11,208 votes, or 20.7 percent; and Marlow finished with 11,010 votes, or 20.3 percent.
Marlow missed the run-off by 198 votes.
Here’s the letter:
Dear Friends,
I would again like to thank everyone across the Tenth District, Georgia and the nation who supported our campaign. I would especially like to thank the folks in my hometown of Lincolnton and my campaign headquarters in Athens.
From the beginning, the most enjoyable part of this campaign was reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to everyone who contributed to the campaign, hosted me in their home, knocked on a door, made a phone call, waved a sign on a street corner or just spoke with a neighbor about our campaign.
I can’t thank you enough for believing in me and the message of our campaign.
I do not plan on contesting or challenging the results of the election, and I congratulate Jim Whitehead and Paul Broun for winning the two slots in the runoff.
Again, I thank everyone who participated in the campaign, and I congratulate all of the candidates on a well-run race.
Sincerely,
James Marlow
The vice president’s next secret visit to Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re still trying to get our arms around that fact that a secret visit by Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday resulted in the closing of one of America’s most popular national parks — in high summer — for an entire day.
But just so you can mark your daybooks: Cheney’s next secret visit to Atlanta will be Monday, July 16. He’ll be the star attraction at a fund-raiser for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss hosted by Charlie Loudermilk.
That’s a red alert for traffic in the I-75, Northside Drive area. Fortunately, the event is at mid-day.
First Whitehead-Broun debate Wednesday, on Athens radio
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The run-off in the 10th District congressional race continues to perk along.
The first debate between the two candidates will happen Wednesday morning on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens, we’re told. It’ll be a 9 to 10:30 a.m. studio affair between the two candidates: front-runner Jim Whitehead, a former state senator from the Augusta area, and Paul Broun, an Athens physician.
Late last week, the Oconee County GOP narrowly became the 10th Republican county organization in the 21-county district to endorse Whitehead.
Said the Athens Banner-Herald:
The Oconee GOP’s executive committee split over the endorsement. Chairman James Griffith originally cast the tie-breaking vote against endorsing Whitehead, but later ruled that past chairman Larry Davidson could cast a proxy vote in favor of endorsing Whitehead, causing the motion to pass, according to minutes of the meeting.
Broun won 50 percent of the county, which borders Athens/Clarke County in last Tuesday’s 10-candidate shake-down.
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ICYMI: Chambliss ‘consulted’ with Boortz on immigration
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the weekend, an Associated Press article on the influence of talk radio and TV in the debate over immigration reform had this telling paragraph:
“Neal Boortz, he popped us pretty good,” said Lindsay Mabry, a spokeswoman for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who shifted from qualified support to opposition to the bill in recent days. She said Chambliss consulted with Boortz on immigration even though the senator was not an on-air guest during the debate.
To paraphrase Mr. Twain: Put all your eggs in a single basket, and then watch the basket
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember the $142 million property tax cut that Gov. Sonny Perdue drew a line through last month? If you’re a member of the Republican base, it’s not the kind of thing you forget.
Once vetoed, the money went into the Revenue Shortfall Reserve Fund. Think of it as 142 million eggs placed in a single basket.
Jared Thomas and his anti-tax group, Americans for Prosperity, have assigned themselves the task of watching the basket.
On Tuesday, they intend to start a “Save the Surplus” petition, passed around the state, to encourage all in the state Capitol — be they governors, lieutenant governors or speakers — to preserve that $142 million like it was a errant snail darter, perhaps even sending it back to its original habitat next year.
The Augusta-Athens runoff: There’s no place like home
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There was a lot of talk - much of it by us — about national issues like illegal immigration and the war in Iraq, but last week’s special election to fill the seat of the late U.S. Rep. Charles Norwood underscored the importance of local considerations in an race like this.
Local as in, living there. The U.S. Constitution doesn’t require candidates to live in the district they’re running for, but in this race the costs of not being a local were strikingly clear. In a low-turnout affair like this one, the friends and neighbors effect can be decisive.
Former state senator Jim Whitehead and Dr. Paul Broun, two Republicans who live on opposite sides of the 10th Congressional District, finished in the one-two positions, followed by three resident Democrats: James Marlow, Denise Freeman and Evita Paschall.
The four Republicans who don’t live in the district - Bill Greene, Nate Pulliam, Erik Underwood and Mark Myers - trailed significantly. Only two of them, Greene and Pulliam, managed to poll ahead of Libertarian Jim Sendelbach.
As to what national significance last week’s vote might have had, Whitehead advisor John Stone had a ready answer.
“This was absolutely, without a question, a rejection of the new Democratic House and Senate,” said Stone, in words that might have come from his old boss, Norwood.
The conservative 10th is hardly a bellwether district, but the declining poll numbers for the Democratic Congress support Stone’s point. Certainly, if Marlow had gotten into the runoff with a better-than-expected vote, this race would have been read the other way.
With 44 percent of last week’s vote, most of the money and the endorsements of a string of conservative figures to establish his credos on the illegal immigration issue, Whitehead would have been a solid favorite in the July 17 runoff no matter who came in second. But a race against an anti-establishment conservative from his own party isn’t necessarily going to be easier than a run-off challenge from a Democrat.
Like Marlow, Broun comes from the Democratic-leaning Athens side of this east Georgia district, and while a four-time Republican candidate with strong ties to the religious right might seem an unlikely local favorite, Broun’s campaign was rolling out the welcome mat for Democratic voters after Tuesday’s election.
“If Democrats want to stick their finger in the eye of the Republican establishment, sending Paul Broun to Congress would be one way to do that,” said Tim Echols, Broun’s treasurer and founder of TeenPact, which has helped provide a lot of homeschooled shoeleather for conservative campaigns.
Whitehead, who he described as an establishment candidate in a district with a very conservative establishment, is “not a bad guy,” Echols said. But Broun is a candidate “willing to go off-road to stand up for his principles.”
“I’m not going to be a go-along Republican. I want to push the Republican Party toward what it should be,” Broun said last week, discussing his differences with Whitehead.
Translation: He’s a long shot, but one his heavily favored opponent can’t ignore in these discontented times. When competing for a small number of votes in the heat of July, intensity matters.
Another Yankee, another surprise attack: Cheney makes a secretive visit to Kennesaw Mountain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So there we were — one of us, anyway, the one who’s not retiring to a life of leisure — making the evening slog up I-75 through heavier-than-usual rush-hour traffic.
The radio was on. Vice President Dick Cheney had declared himself part of the legislative branch, and thus immune to some law about the handling of classified info.
And there was news about efforts to shut down the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay. Cheney was part of that story, too.
Cops lined every overpass on the interstate, which was strange. And all entrances to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park were blocked. We commuters were a bit ticked.
It was the guy on the radio. The vice president had made a surprise visit to a reunion of descendants of the 21st Ohio, who fought in the run-up to the Battle of Atlanta. No press, no photos, no word put out to anyone.
Not to us. Not to his troops on the ground.
“I find it a bit embarrassing that I didn’t know anything about it,” said Scott Johnson, chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party.
Then he called Sue Everhart, a Cobb resident and chairman of the state GOP. She didn’t know anything either.
“That made me feel better,” Johnson said.
Everhart called about 10 p.m. tonight. She said the lack of a heads up had her ready to make a bit of a fuss to her contact at the White House.
Don’t get nervous, but that Yankee with a gun could be the vice president
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cobb commuters and civil war reenactors alike were surprised Friday afternoon by an visit to Kennesaw National Park by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Cheney’s great-grandfather, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, was a captain in the 21st Ohio Infantry Regiment, whose descendants are holding a reunionat Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
Cheney’s Friday afternoon drop-in was unannounced, and we don’t have many details yet. We think he dropped in for a quick afternoon stop, because his schedule lists him as spending the night in Vail, Colo.
The 21st Ohio Re-enactors Unit, which is based in the Atlanta area, marched in the 2004 presidential inauguration.
The GOP in nine counties line up behind Whitehead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Establishment Republicans began lining up behind Jim Whitehead of Columbia County in the 10th District congressional run-off on Friday.
GOP organizations in nine of the 21 counties within the district endorsed Whitehead over Paul Broun of Athens, who came in second in the June 19 vote.
They were Richmond, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Putnam, Elbert, Stephens, Madison, and Towns.
This is more important than it sounds. With some exceptions, the nine counties generally run up the eastern-most side of the district, from Augusta north. On Tuesday, they produced 53 percent of the 54,229 votes counted to date.
More significantly, the nine counties produced nearly three-quarters of the 23,572 votes that went to Whitehead, a former state senator.
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Revenue figures bounced in other states, too, the governor’s top guy tells lawmakers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ed Holcombe, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s chief of staff, sent an e-mail to state lawmakers this week in an effort to disabuse them of any notion that Perdue juggled state revenue figures in order to justify his opposition to a cut in property taxes.
In rejecting the tax cut, Perdue cited a 24 percent decrease in tax collections during April. But in May, after the governor levied his line-item veto, income tax collections jumped 45 percent.
Lawmakers have expressed great suspicion.
Wrote Holcomb:
“Please allow me to assure you that the governor, nor any representative of his office, asked DOR to delay the processing of tax checks.
“Governor Perdue has made it clear that under his administration, DOR will set month-end and year-end dates in advance - no manipulating the dates to come up with some desired result.
“A request has been made of the state auditor to look at the reporting of April and May revenues. We look forward to complying fully with this request.”
Attached to Holcombe’s e-mail was some research committed by the state Department of Revenue, which stated that 13 of the 24 states with personal income tax experienced similar jumps in revenue in May. You can read the entire DOR note on the jump.
To: Bart L. Graham, Commissioner
From: Tax Law & Policy
Date: June 18, 2007
Re: Other States’ 2007 Tax Collections - 28 States Responding
Personal Income Tax Collections
— 13 of the 24 states with personal income taxes (54%) mirrored Georgia with a May revenue increase that was much higher than their April figures, which were generally flat or decreased from the prior year;
— 5 of the 13 states joined Georgia and had an actual decrease in April revenues, ranging from (-2.3%) to (-16.9%), compared to Georgia’s (-24%) drop;
— 12 of the 13 states had double-digit increases in May, ranging from +18.5% to +58.5%, compared to Georgia’s +45.4% May increase.
— 7 of the 24 states (29%) experienced the opposite trend from Georgia, with April revenue increases of up to 17.3%, followed by smaller May gains and 5 states with actual revenue decreases of up to (-26.8%);
— Michigan, although trending opposite from Georgia, noted a processing change that accelerated about $60M of May revenues into April - this year payments attached to extension requests went straight to Michigan’s third party processor for faster deposit;
— Wisconsin also trended opposite from Georgia, but Wisconsin kept their April books open through the end of the first week in May, substantially increasing April revenues; and
— Of the 6 remaining states for which we had collection data, 2 showed similar revenue increases in both April and May, and 4 have no personal income tax.
Total Revenue Collections
— 12 of the 24 states that provided data on total collections (50%) mirrored Georgia with a May revenue increase that was significantly higher than their April gains;
— 5 of the 12 states joined Georgia and had an actual decrease in April total tax revenues, ranging from (-1.3%) to (-11.2%), compared to Georgia’s (-2.0%) drop;
— 11 of the 12 states had double-digit increases in May, ranging from +10.4% to +67.0%, compared to Georgia’s +27.9% May increase.
— 8 of the 24 states (33%) trended opposite to Georgia with April gains in total tax revenues that were greater than their May gains, or even May decreases from the prior year;
— Note again that although Michigan and Wisconsin trended opposite from Georgia, there were processing changes or booking methods that caused most of the difference; and
— Of the remaining 6 states that responded, 2 had generally similar increases in both their April and May total revenue collections from prior periods, and 4 have not yet provided their May total revenue figures, although personal income tax figures were available.
Sources
— Information was gathered through the web site of the Federation of Tax Administrators (“FTA”), as well as direct contacts with other states’ departments of revenue. All of the information used is publicly available.
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Blogwatch: A Sonny Perdue sighting in Paris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue has been spotted at the Paris Air Show. A blogger for the Weekly Standard snapped the governor while Perdue was trying on an F/A-18 Super Hornet.
No, we don’t think he bothered to ask if he could fly it. The blog was posted today.
The blogger noted that Perdue was followed into the cockpit by “a former Soviet MiG pilot and Moldovan minister of defense now serving as that country’s ambassador to NATO.”
And the French are worried about spied on via their BlackBerries.
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Isakson, Home Depot, and the NYT editorial page
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) takes a hit on the editorial page of today’s New York Times.
The NYT accuses Isakson of placing a “squalid little amendment” in the immigration reform bill on behalf of Atlanta-based Home Depot.
The amendment would prohibit states and cities from passing laws and ordinances to mandate that Home Depot — and stores like it — erect shelters for the day laborers they attract.
The city of Los Angeles is currently considering such an ordinance.
Contacted this morning, a spokeswoman for Isakson says the senator is trying to protect private businesses from unwarranted government mandates that leave owners exposed to costly lawsuits.
Says the editorial:
“Mr. Isakson pulled his support for the immigration bill on Wednesday, because he doubted it was ambitious enough to seal the Mexico border. Now he wants the Senate to minutely tweak the grand bargain to allow his friends at Home Depot — the country’s second-largest retailer, and a campaign contributor — to save some pocket change and to shuck off responsibility for the unruliness in its parking lots to its customers and neighbors.”
Joan Kirchner, speaking for Isakson, makes two points in a quick e-mail:
“No cities have passed a law yet, but there have been a number of localities (as many as a half dozen we’re told) that have told Home Depot they won’t issue a business license unless Home Depot builds a shelter on its property for day laborers. These obligations are costly and represent an unwarranted interference by the government with the rights of businesses to use and operate their property.”
“The liability issues are huge. If there is an incident between a day laborer and a Home Depot customer, for example, is Home Depot responsible then for the actions of that day laborer or that customer when the company was told by the municipality that they had to build a facility that is a magnet for these day laborers to congregate on their property? Home Depot is not guaranteed any protections against lawsuits.”
Not so fast on paper ballots, state Republicans say
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The State Election Board, including Secretary of State Karen Handel, wants Washington to slow down on its push toward mandatory paper-ballot back-ups on electronic voting machines, according to Dave Williams in today’s Henry Daily Herald.
The board, of which Handel is a member, on Thursday unanimously voted to give a thumbs-down to legislation now in the U.S. House that would demand that paper receipts be in place in time for next year’s presidential election.
“I support a voter-verified paper trail,” said Handel, a Republican who took office in January. “This bill, however, is untenable in the timeline.”
State Rep. Mike Jacobs, the new Republican, picks up his first opponent
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two days after he switched to the Republican party, state Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Atlanta) has picked up his first announced Democratic opponent.
Keith Gross, who describes himself as a small business owner and real estate agent, announced Thursday afternoon that he was ready to challenge the newly minted Republican incumbent for ownership of House District 80 in north DeKalb County.
Gross, 23, says he’s owned a chocolate company in California, a steakhouse in Washington D.C., and is in the process of starting a sports equipment company in Atlanta devoted to something called kite-boarding. (We’re old and frail. What do we know?)
“Mike Jacobs has lied to us. He’s became a court jester at the Gold Dome, trading his honor in exchange for proximity to power,” Gross said in a press release.
Democratic party spokesman Martin Matheny said Gross had contacted Democratic officials weeks before Jacobs made his switch, to discuss challenging Jacobs in next year’s primary.
But Matheny also said that Gross is “one of a handful” of Democrats who have expressed interest in the race.
Another Democrat higher in the food chain told us that Gross hasn’t been one of the party’s recruiting targets — which were identified to us as a pair of older, more experienced possibilities.
We know not who, but some enterprising soul has established a web site, Democrat for District 80, collecting contact information for anyone willing to volunteer time or money to whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee.
We’ve got to stop doing Neal Boortz’ research for him
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late last week, while dissecting the difficulty of gathering votes for the immigration reform bill, U.S. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ticked off the Limbaugh-Hannity-Boortz triangle.
“Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem,” Lott groused.
Apparently, the senator was dissatisfied with the hole he’d dug himself. Too snug. So he kept on shoveling today, making his new home a little wider and deeper, in this article from the Biloxi, Miss., Sun-Herald.
The topic was goats. And immigration reform. We think.
Said Lott:
”If the answer is ‘build a fence’ I’ve got two goats on my place in Mississippi. There ain’t no fence big enough, high enough, strong enough, that you can keep those goats in that fence.”
“Now people are at least as smart as goats,” Lott continued. “Maybe not as agile. Build a fence. We should have a virtual fence. Now one of the ways I keep those goats in the fence is I electrified them. Once they got popped a couple of times they quit trying to jump it.”
“I’m not proposing an electrified goat fence,” Lott added quickly, “I’m just trying, there’s an analogy there.”
And the flak he’s taken from talk radio?
“I keep trying to tell everybody, ‘Calm down, calm down. Let me be the one that offends the left, the middle and the right.’ I’m doing great, aren’t I? But it gives you a level of utopia that is just so blissful.”
Blogwatch: ‘Once upon a time, education was on the Republican hit list.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Libertarian blogger Jason Pye has jumped to the defense of 10th District congressional candidate Paul Broun, who apparently has earned the second berth in a July 17 run-off with Jim Whitehead.
On Wednesday, Whitehead’s people told us that they would chase after Broun for past statements questioning the federal government’s spending on such things as spending and disaster relief.
Says Pye: “Broun is dead on, for the most part.”
“I seem to remember a certain party running on eliminating the Department of Education (among other departments) in 1994 and returning education back to the local level.”
Putting the governor’s visit to Northern Ireland in Gaelic context
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’re ignoring Gov. Sonny Perdue’s historic trade visit to Northern Ireland, the blogger complained.
On Tuesday, the Georgia government and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle became the first senior public officials to meet in joint fashion with Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, top leaders of a newly formed, home-rule government that weds Protestant and Catholic.
The fact that the two Irish gentlemen did not shoot each other in front of strangers is apparently considered important in some circles.
“I’m getting fed up with the local media,” the writer snarled today.
But not at us. This was an Irish blogger, upset that the local paper had given more ink two other events.
One was the case of the two missing government laptops, which were later found locked safely in a cupboard.
The other was an article in which Mr. McGuinness, the deputy first minister and a Catholic, encouraged anyone with knowledge about the location of the grave of a British captain — who was shot by the IRA and secretly buried in 1977 — to come forward.
Perspective is everything.
It was too traumatic. He doesn’t want to talk about it.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was in Atlanta on Wednesday to address the National Association of Attorneys General.
After his speech, an Associated Press reporter asked him if the firings of eight federal prosecutors had damaged the reputation of the U.S. Justice Department.
“No,” said Ashcroft, who then walked away.
Apparently, there was no chance to ask him what he thought about that trip that Alberto Gonzales, as White House counsel, made to Ashcroft’s hospital bed in 2004.
Gonzales, now his successor as AG, is addressing the group in Buckhead, even as we post.
His calendar just opened up. Like magic.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After ducking two of the final broadcast debates in the run-up to Tuesday’s vote in the 10th District congressional race, Republican front-runner Jim Whitehead of Columbia County now says he’s in the mood to talk.
In his first post-election press release, the loose-tongued scamp has committed to three confrontations with his yet-to-be-named run-off opponent:
— One on Friday, June 29, from 5 to 6 p.m. WGAC 580AM in Augusta;
— A televised debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club and GPTV on July 9;
— And a third in Athens on WGAU 1340 AM, on a date to be determined.
The run-off for the 10th ain’t final, but Whitehead’s already focused on Broun
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When last we checked, there were about eight precincts still uncounted from Tuesday’s 10th District congressional race.
There’s been no concession from Democrat Jim Marlow. That said, the campaign for Jim Whitehead of Columbia County has begun looking at the run-off as a Republican-on-Republican affair.
The front-runner is gearing up for Paul Broun of Athens— who has run in three federal races, but has yet to win one.
We talked this afternoon to Joel McElhannon, one of Whitehead’s consultants. The Whitehead campaign will allege that Broun a) made a 1996 statement in which he allegedly advocated the elimination of Social Security and Medicare; b) wants an end to federal spending on education; and c) doesn’t think disaster relief is a proper role for the federal government.
In other words, Whitehead campaign’s message will be ‘We’re conservative, but Broun’s off the charts.”
This race to July 17 will be brutish, short, and will pit metro Augusta against that high-brow city with the university. “We’re coming to Athens and hell is coming with us,” McElhannon said.
Georgia companies plead with Isakson and Chambliss: ‘Stay the course’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got off a conference call with the Georgia Employers for Immigration Reform, the only big group in the state to come down on the side of the bill now being torn apart in Washington.
These are the people that put up the 60-second radio spot on WSB this week.
With the immigration bill coming up for a second round of debate, the ad’s intended to offer some encouragement to U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, who had been deeply involved in negotiations — though they’ve begun to pull away after harsh reaction at home.
“These two senators have rolled up their sleeves and been willing to, against a lot of pressure, to get out there and participate in the development of this bill over many months,” said GEIR chairman Wayne Lord. “But certainly the purpose of this campaign at this time is to encourage them to stay the course, continue to be engaged in this important process.”
The GEIR’s timing may be off. Local blogs are already discussing a report that both senators intend to vote against cutting off debate for the bill — in essence, to kill it. Here’s the CQ article at the center of the conversation.
Lord is a vice president with Pilgrim’s Pride, the largest poultry company in Georgia. We’re to get a complete list of companies involved in this effort sometime tomorrow.
But those on the line Wednesday said they’re desperate for a workforce that won’t disappear tomorrow — and decried the atmosphere that has put their employees under a “siege mentality.”
“Companies want stability. We like stability in interest rates, we like stability in predicting what tomorrow will bring. We like stability in markets. And right now, our most important resource of the company is up for grabs,” said Steve Newton, an executive vice president for the Southern Nurseries Association.
Listeners to the telephone conference call were carefully screened. Last month, a foe of the bill was quietly given the password to a conference call in which Isakson and Chambliss spoke with state lawmakers.
The morning line on the 10th District race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican Jim Whitehead finished with 43.5 percent of the vote last night, according to the secretary of state’s web site.
But the real news is Democrat Jim Marlow’s third-place finish, out of the running. Republican Paul Broun of Athens came in second, with 20.7 percent, or 11,203 votes. Marlow, also of Athens, finished with 20.3 percent, or 11,016 votes.
All total, the three Democratic candidates in the 10-candidate race gathered up only 28.3 percent of a vote — hardly evidence of any broad-based dissatisfaction with the Republican brand.
In the 2006 race against U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, who died in February, the underfunded Democrat received 33 percent of the vote.
Democratic blogger Jon Flack at Tondee’s Tavern has a cogent, early morning expression of frustration.
A number-crunching friend provides this:
— Athens and Clarke County accounted for 36.2 percent of Marlow’s total votes. Clarke was the only county he carried. Twenty-one counties are in the district. Whitehead carried 16, and Broun took four.
— Columbia County accounted for nearly 40 percent of all votes Whitehead received. Columbia County also had a disproportionately high turnout—-accounting for nearly a quarter of all votes cast in the race so far. In Norwood’s ‘06 victory, Columbia provided 18 percent.
Which means Whitehead’s strategy of avoiding the stage with other candidates seems to have worked. And he doesn’t appear to have been unharmed by grassroots anger at the Republican establishment for its role in the current debate over immigration reform.
Republican Bill Greene, who ran as the hard-core immigration candidate, obtained a mere 3 percent of the vote.
Turnout looks to have been about 16 percent, well above the 10 percent predicted by Secretary of State Karen Handel. Ninety-six percent of the vote has been counted.
If you check the county-by-county chart, the missing votes seem to be uncounted absentee and early votes, which trend Republican.
As most of you know, a 187-margin in the race for second place seems small. But in this era of automatic and automated recounts, the likelihood of this changing is relatively small.
Last night’s results go a long way toward guaranteeing the east Georgia seat will remain in Republican hands, dashing any Democratic hopes of wreaking a bit of summer havoc with the Iraq issue.
“There is little doubt that a Republican will be elected as Georgia’s newest congressman on July 17th,” said Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee late last night. “Georgia’s 10th congressional district is a Republican stronghold that has performed true to form by delivering approximately 70 percent of its votes for Republican candidates in this election.”
The winner in the 10th District race: Saxby Chambliss
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With 94 percent of the vote in, Republican Jim Whitehead of Columbia County has a comfortable, 44 percent lead.
The only question is the identity of his run-off opponent. Democrat James Marlow of Athens at this moment is running only a handful of votes ahead of Republican Paul Broun, also of Athens.
The high Republican turnout — at least in terms of percentage — and the boxes that remain outstanding don’t auger well for Marlow.
And that means U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who faces re-election next year, should be smiling. No matter all this brouhaha over immigration.
Still a squeaker….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With 67 percent of the vote reported in the 10th, it’s still very tight with Jim Whitehead at 39 percent, and a dogfight brewing for second place between James Marlow — 23 percent — and Paul Broun with 21 percent.
Meanwhile, Republican Bill Jackson wins Whitehead’s state Senate seat in a relative walk with 58 percent of the vote.
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Whitehead takes early, narrow lead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With 18 percent of the votes counted - and they should be rolling in fast in this light-turnout affair, State Sen. Jim Whitehead holds the lead in the 10-candidate special election for the 10th District congressional seat.
But in the early going, the frontrunner looks far from bullet-proof. He’s getting about 30 percent of the vote, with Democrat James Marlow at 26 percent and Republican Paul Broun at 23 percent.
One caution: Most of these votes are coming from the Athens area, where both Marlow and Broun live.
Leftovers from the day’s party-switching
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
At 11 a.m., Mike Jacobs was waiting at the Starbucks on Peachtree Road, right across the DeKalb County line.
He seemed pretty jovial — probably relieved by a decision that has been several months in the making. He said all that he said in the straight story, which can be found elsewhere on ajc.com.
But he said a couple of other things, too.
First, Jacobs said that one of the issues that tipped him toward the Republican part was that Democratic radio ad recorded for John Eaves, the Democratic candidate for Fulton County Commission, by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and former mayor Andrew Young.
The one in which Lewis said a Republican victory would turn back the clock: “You think fighting off dogs and water hoses in the ‘60s was bad?”
Said Jacobs: “That sort of tactic we see time and time again in DeKalb County politics, and I don’t like it.”
On a national level, Jacobs also pronounced himself uncomfortable with the direction that Democrats are taking on foreign policy. His soulmate is U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who like Jacobs is Jewish. He draws a direct parallel between Lieberman’s experiences with Democrats, and his own.
“The parallels are uncanny,” he said. Only half in jest.
On the other side of the aisle, the roughest treatment that Jacobs received on Tuesday came in an open letter to Jacobs from state Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna).
Wrote Teilhet: “I am reminded of the time last summer in the days before the primary election when you sought to switch your support from Cathy Cox to Mark Taylor.
“I remember thinking then, as I find myself thinking again today, of how awful it must be to be someone whose only core value is expediency and whose thoughts are only of the very next political calculation that may advance their self-interest.”
Teilhet closed by demanding Jacobs refund past contributions that the Smyrna lawmaker made to the gentleman from north DeKalb County.
You can read Teilhet’s letter in its entirety on the jump.
Dear Mike,
It is with great interest that I read your blog post this morning, announcing your decision to become a member of the Republican Party. It is of course, a disappointment.
I am reminded of the time last summer in the days before the primary election when you sought to switch your support from Cathy Cox to Mark Taylor. I remember thinking then, as I find myself thinking again today, of how awful it must be to be someone whose only core value is expediency and whose thoughts are only of the very next political calculation that may advance their self-interest.
I am afraid your statement omitted some important points, so I thought I might remind you so that you can make your constituents aware of them.
You’ve made no mention of your support for cuts to Georgia’s Peachcare for Kids program, which helps provide health insurance coverage to children of working families. Your vote for HB 340 would have allowed thousands of children to be denied health insurance coverage arbitrarily by an unaccountable bureaucrat, and to have their dental and vision coverage removed altogether.
You’ve also not mentioned your support for this year’s ghoulish and predatory payday lending legislation. You voted this year, by supporting HB 163, to allow payday lenders to charge up to 395 percent interest rates and to provide de facto amnesty for those loan sharks that broke the law for the better part of the last century by offering these loans despite the fact that they were clearly illegal under Georgia law.
You also omitted from your message to constituents your support in the Judiciary Committee for several measures that would limit the applicability of the Open Records Act and make public documents more difficult to obtain. Most heinous was your support for requiring open records requests to be made in writing.
You supported this despite uncontested testimony in committee that the bill would have allowed government to require a citizen to identify themselves and state the reason they wanted certain records in writing before having their request for public information processed. Public documents belong to the public, and should be made available without requiring a citizen to be subjected to aggravation or even political retribution for requesting them.
Feigning a commitment to open government, while you seek to undermine it through your work in the legislature, is one of the oldest and worst parlor tricks in politics. Such duplicity creates fertile ground for the cynicism that makes good public service more difficult.
Further eroding any credentials you may think you have as an advocate for open government and individual liberty has been your unabashed support for Glenn Richardson as Speaker. Mr. Richardson has, each and every year that he has been Speaker, sought to limit public debate in the House by gutting the ability of legislators to offer amendments to bills both on the floor and in committee. Mr. Richardson has also sought to limit the Open Records Act to allow secret government negotiations affecting millions in taxpayer dollars with private business.
Mr. Richardson has also used his power, won with the aid and support of legislators like yourself, to pursue new limits on women’s reproductive freedom each year and repeatedly stifled ethics legislation that would eliminate or at least reduce the lavishing of expensive gifts on legislators by registered lobbyists.
Your support for Mr. Richardson as Speaker has also enabled the blockage of any meaningful legislation dealing with transportation and traffic congestion. Your constituents will have plenty of time to contemplate the many faces of Mike Jacobs as they continue to sit in ever worsening traffic without any meaningful plan for relief.
Your message also suggests support for Mr. Richardson’s tax plan, which depending on which version you support would increase current sales taxes by more than 25% and levy billions in new sales taxes on needed everyday goods and services such as groceries and doctors visits. Your statement of a belief in fiscal restraint, when combined with your willingness to support a plan to tax everything that moves, raises additional questions about your basic credibility.
One of the things about public service that can be most disheartening is watching the effect that politics can have on individuals who are not anchored in principle. Such individuals become, over time, unmoored and willing to sell anything for the right price.
It is a sad but important reminder to all public officials that you must always remember why you ran for office in the first place, and stay connected to values larger than your own gratification and self-interest.
I am requesting a return of my past contributions to your campaign efforts, which were funded overwhelmingly by Democrats who hoped for the best from you. They got something less, and we all deserve a refund.
I look forward to your unvarnished answer and direct response to my refund request.
Good luck.
Rob
A new radio spot in defense of the immigration bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the truisms of Georgia politics is that, if you bring the business community into a fight, it will certainly add clout. But count on that clout striking a bit behind the beat.
Just in time for the second round of debate, Georgia Employers for Immigration Reform on Tuesday launched a first round of radio ads in defense of the immigration reform deal in Washington. We heard it on, of all places, the Neal Boortz program on WSB.
We first learned of GEIR last month, during the state Republican convention.
The chairman is Wayne Lord, vice president for governmental affairs with Pilgrim’s Pride, the largest poultry company in Georgia. We’re looking for a complete membership list.
The 60-second spot argues that should immigrant labor disappear — the narrator never uses the world ‘illegal’ — then “native-born Americans” would suffer, too. Here’s most of the script:
“Many people think the immigration bill is an effort by business owners to get cheap labor. The fact is, business owners are looking for any labor, period. With unemployment very low and our economy running strong, businesses need immigrant workers to keep operating.
“And what if the immigrant workers all left the country tomorrow? Many of these businesses would have to shut their doors — simple as that. And to make matters worse, millions of native-born Americans, who also work for these companies, would lose their jobs, too.
“Immigrant workers are good for our economy. And new provisions in the immigration law are providing billions in additional border security measures, and giving businesses more tools to help enforce immigration laws.
“Call your senators and congressional representatives today. Tell them you want to protect American businesses, protect American jobs. And ask for their support on the immigration bill.”
State Rep. Mike Jacobs switches, Democrat to Republican
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After news of his intentions leaked out on Monday, state Rep. Mike Jacobs of Atlanta ‘fessed up on his web site this morning.
He’s finally decided to abandon Democrats and become a Republican.
“What has changed is that my strong belief in fiscal responsibility and restraint - a belief that the vast majority of my constituents share - is not a good fit within the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives,” Jacob says.
“I fit best with moderate Republican legislators like Jill Chambers (Chamblee, Doraville, and part of Brookhaven), Ed Lindsey (Buckhead and parts of Brookhaven and Sandy Springs), and Fran Millar (Dunwoody, Huntley Hills, and part of the Murphey Candler area).” he says.
“I’m proud to join them as a Republican member of the House.”
We don’t know if this means anything, but the Atlanta legislator closes by saying this: “I look forward to continuing to work with you to make our North DeKalb neighborhoods a great place to live.”
Blogwatch: Lucas in Macon, Orr in Gainesville, and Collins in Dreamland
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Amy Morton over at Georgia Women Vote says David Lucas, the cigar-totin’ Democratic state lawmaker from Macon, is collecting the signatures he needs to run for mayor — as an independent.
His wife, Elaine Lucas, is seeking re-election to her seat on the city council.
— Republicans at Peachpundit.com are stewing over Monday’s news that “Never-Say-Surrender” Mac Collins, who has yet to concede defeat to Democrat Jim Marshall in the 2006 congressional race, is thinking about another try at the seat.
This despite the fact that, after much wooing, Republicans have lured retired Air Force major general Rick Goddard into the GOP side of the contest. Here’s the story from the Macon Telegraph.
— Jon Flack, the blogger behind Tondee’s Tavern, wants to draft Gainesville attorney Wyc Orr into the Democratic race for U.S. Senate.
Orr is a former state representative and a former vice president of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
Flack has declared himself unimpressed with the two other Democratic candidates — Vernon Jones and Dale Cardwell. He shipped Orr into the water over the weekend, and says he’s collected signatures from voters in 22 counties.
Says a flattered Orr in today’s Gainesville Times: “(A Senate campaign) is not something I’ve given much thought to, until now,” Orr said. “A few people have mentioned this to me in casual conversations.”
Oaky Woods lease jumps up 24 percent after owner cited for dove hunt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just what Gov. Sonny Perdue needs. Here’s an excellent story with implications, published Sunday in the Macon Telegraph.:
Developers who own the Oaky Woods Wildlife Management Area in Houston County are requiring that the state pay 24 percent more this year for the privilege of managing wildlife and public hunting on the land.
And why would this be?
Charles Ayer, one of the owners of Oaky Woods and spokesman for the group, was cited for unlawful enticement of game after a large group of hunters was caught hunting doves in September over a field baited with wheat….
According to a DNR incident report, Ayer, who also owns The Sports Center in Perry, told Fox that federal regulations allow this type of dove hunting.
The report said that when [DNR law enforcement agent Sgt. Tony Fox] offered to consult a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services special agent, Ayer “responded by telling [Fox] that … the Department’s ability to lease theWMA in the future was dependent upon how officers elected to pursue prosecution - he plainly stated that federal involvement would adversely impact the lease.”
Barr on gays in the military: ‘Maybe it’s time to rethink the conservative position’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We missed it, so maybe you did, too. But last week, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr , in a piece for the Wall Street Journal, suggested that it might be time for Republicans to rethink the issue of gays in the military — and that “don’t ask, don’t tell” has the look of a tired chestnut.
Says Barr:
The bottom line here is that, with nearly a decade and a half of the hybrid “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to guide us, I have become deeply impressed with the growing weight of credible military opinion which concludes that allowing gays to serve openly in the military does not pose insurmountable problems for the good order and discipline of the services.
The ban has put a strain on the military, says the man who helped lead the impeachment of President Bill Clinton:
The U.S. has fired over 11,000 people under the current policy, and in the process has lost over 1,000 service members with “mission-critical skills,” including 58 Arabic linguists. Researchers at the UCLA School of Law have found that lifting the ban could increase the number of active-duty personnel by over 40,000.
And the military itself is getting more comfortable with the issue, Barr maintains:
Three-quarters of returning Iraq and Afghanistan vets said in a December 2006 Zogby poll that they are “personally comfortable” interacting with gay people. A majority of those who knew someone gay in their unit said the person’s presence had no negative impact on unit morale.
Evidence that state Rep. Mike Jacobs (D-Atlanta) might finally be ready to switch?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For months and months and months, we’ve been hearing that state Rep. Mike Jacobs, the Atlanta Democrat, has been fixin’ to get ready to switch parties.
He may be getting close. He sent the following confidential e-mail out this morning:
Subject: Invitation to Press Conference
Dear Friends:
I would like to invite you to a press conference that I am holding on Wednesday, June 27, at 9:00 a.m. in the Hearst Building at Oglethorpe University.
This press conference is about a decision I have reached regarding my future service to constituents in House District 80.
Without being too mysterious, let me assure you that each of you will approve of this decision.
I ask that you keep this e-mail message and the press conference strictly confidential. Please let me know via reply e-mail whether you will be able to attend. I hope to see you on June 27!
Thanks,
Mike
The view from Augusta: Whitehead and Marlow in a run-off
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta Chronicle political columnist Walter Jones has made his call on tomorrow’s vote in the 10th District congressional race. He sees a run-off between the hometown boy, Republican Jim Whitehead of Columbia County, and Democrat James Marlow of Athens.
As for us, we’re too timid. Secretary of State Karen Handel is predicting a turnout of only 10 percent, which makes for a volatile pool of voters. But it does look like somebody from the Athens end of the district is holding Whitehead’s attention.
In the run-up to last week’s debate on GPTV, the Whitehead campaign was slamming Paul Broun, a fellow Republican, for allegedly soliciting campaign funds while the late U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood was still alive. Broun, son of a well-known Athens state senator, denies any ill-considered behavior.
The only thing we’re predicting is that — if there’s a run-off — it’ll be July 17.
Looks like Sonny’s traveling in Jimmy Carter’s wake
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jimmy Carter speaks today with the Irish prime minister — known in native parlance as the taoiseach. Eight paragraphs down, the local newspaper makes mention of the happenstance:
Coincidentally, senior politicians from Georgia are paying a two-day economic and diplomatic visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland this week.
Current Governor Sonny Perdue will also meet the Taoiseach tomorrow, along with the Lieutenant Governor of Georgia and the Commissioner of Economic Development.
The governor is due to attend a reception hosted by the Georgia Tech Ireland research facility in Athlone. Companies based in Georgia such as Coca-Cola, UPS and Georgia-Pacific have significant investments in Ireland.
Georgia’s exports here reached [121 million pounds] in 2006, making Ireland the state’s 12th biggest export market.
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On your next trip to the Emerald City, go for the heart instead of the brain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Very possibly, the last time you heard about Drew Westen, it was 2004.
The Emory University researcher had just finished peering into the brains of 15 right-handed, over-the-top John Kerry fans, and 15 right-handed, rabid supporters of George W. Bush.
In addition to plenty of sawdust, Westen found this: Regardless of political party, the human mind will twist an unwanted fact into a pretzel to prevent it from contradicting a deeply held belief.
Political strategists, diplomats and parents of teenagers know this as a matter of faith. But Westen and his compadres documented it.
What’s more, they saw that, once uncomfortable facts are disposed of, brains reward themselves by activating some of the same circuitry that makes drug addicts feel so warm and fuzzy about their chemical experiences.
Anyone who finds a biological underpinning for the phrase “self-deluding political junkie” is obliged to write a book. Westen, in fact, has parlayed his research into “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.”
But the professor wasn’t satisfied with academic cliché. He’s also become a Democratic political consultant.
The Emory researcher began writing his book last June, and sent the early chapters to a colleague, who copied an editor at the liberal magazine, American Prospect. By the fall of 2006, Westen was in Washington, lecturing Democratic strategists in a backroom of the Old Ebbitt Grill.
Westen’s chief message is that, unlike Republicans, Democrats have allowed mere facts to get in the way of the gut-level campaigns needed to persuade and motivate voters. “They do so, I believe, because of an irrational emotional commitment to rationality,” he writes.
Think Michael Dukakis in 1988, Al Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. All candidates determined to show themselves as masters of detail, all beaten by Republicans who understood the emotional short-cuts into the psyches of voters.
“Democrats think rationality equals ethical, and emotional equals unethical,” Westen said last week. “But you can appeal to people’s better angels through emotion. In fact, the easiest way to get them to think about something is to get them to feel about it.”
In other words, no matter what Frank Baum thought, the Tin Man, not the Scarecrow, was the better politician. Westen’s model candidate? Bill “I Feel Your Pain” Clinton. And FDR. And in a pinch, Lyndon Johnson.
Already, Westen has held confabs with representatives from every major presidential campaign in the Democratic field. He says he has Democratic backers want him to vet messages and strategies for candidates up and down the ’08 ticket.
The book comes out next week. In no uncertain terms, “The Political Brain” is directed at a Democratic audience.
Westen dissects the role of the amygdala — that area of the brain that synthesizes emotional information, even subliminal messages — in the racially driven Willie Horton ads used against Dukakis in ’88. He discusses the importance that evolution places on emotions in the fight to survive, and why music is so important, and why so much of it is wrong in Democratic campaign ads.
But be not afraid. While dead serious, the book is written in breezy fashion, by a man who - in another, non-academic life - dabbled in stand-up comedy.
Nor is it a dry well for Republicans. Read it, and you might understand why talk of a White House run by uber-rationalist Newt Gingrich is fading, and why the campaign of Fred Thompson — like Ronald Reagan, a professional emoter — is taking off.
McCain: “Guardedly optimistic” in the short and long term
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before the Friday afternoon fundraiser, mentioned below, Republican presidential hopeful spent a few minutes with reporters, talking mostly about the two issues which have dogged him through this campaign, immigration and Iraq.
McCain said he was “guardedly optimistic” about the latest effort in the Senate to revive the immigration bill. Noting the 10th District congressional race, where no one in any of the three parties represented has much good to say about the bill, we asked McCain if he thought the bill, even if it passes, comes with a long-term political cost.
“I think there’s a long-term political benefit to getting something done,” the Arizona senator replied. “Everybody agrees that the status quo is unacceptable. and I say to those opponents of this legislation, what is your proposal? The fact is that if you do nothing we will still have de facto amnesty, because we already have 12 million people who are here illegally.”
The challenge, McCain said, is to “convince Americans that we are truly enforcing the border and securing the border” - which Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson would probably be quick to agree with.
On the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq, McCain noted that the last troops involved in the buildup have just arrived in Iraq.
“Don’t understand the viewpoint that we’re trying to determine whether it’s worked or not when we’ve finally gotten the last contingent over there,” he said.
Asked about the latest wave of violence in Gaza and the victory of the Hamas faction, McCain let out a barely audible “whew,” which is probably the most honest response to a volatile situation over which the United States has no control.
“We now have a terrorist organization, Hamas in control of Gaza. I think it’s very obvious we’re going to see increase attacks on Israel, with Hamas in control,” McCain said.
McCain said while he didn’t favor direct U.S. involvement, an international peacekeeping effort should be brought to bear in the Palestinian territories.
McCain came in tow with former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, incidentally. The Columbus native and former Texas politician was looking well, and said he still gets back to Georgia every year to go turkey hunting.
On immigration: Isakson and Chambliss keep their distance, Trent Lott endears himself to talk radio
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Stray thoughts on the immigration reform bill:
Today’s AJC and New York Times carry strong indications of how Georgia senators may vote on the immigration reform bill when it comes back up.
In the AJC:
Meeting Tuesday with Bush at the Capitol as he sought to save the bill, the Georgians urged him to send Congress a separate emergency budget bill that would guarantee immediate and continuing funding for border security measures. Such a guarantee could win over congressional conservatives and an American public skeptical that the federal government is committed to securing the U.S.-Mexico border, they said.
Bush’s support for attaching the money directly to the immigration bill — in hopes that future fees collected under the measure would be sufficient to cover the expense— makes the funding less stable.
“It’s a little disappointing that the president didn’t come out and accept our recommendation for a supplemental,” Chambliss said. He said Bush’s offer did nothing to change his mind about the inadequacies of the bill.
In the New York Times article, the immediate topic is President Bush’s infusion of $4.4 billion for border security as an inducement for Republican support.
Then there’s this:
Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, described the call for $4.4 billion as “a good start.” But Mr. Isakson said Mr. Bush needed to do more to secure the border and to show that he was serious about enforcing immigration laws.
We’re betting that both Isakson and Chambliss — despite their strong roles in the negotiations — will vote against the bill, and that it will still pass.
Whatever the two senators do, they’ll do together. This particular strategy may be the salvation of Chambliss, who’s up for re-election next year.
By linking themselves arm-in-arm on this issue, they’ve sent a message to the most militant opponents of the immigration deal: To attack one, you must attack both.
This week, state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) cited many reasons for resisting suggestions that he challenge Chambliss in next year’s primary. He didn’t say so, but the idea of running against Chambliss and Isakson had to be one of them.
Also in the New York Times piece is this paragraph:
Comments by Republican senators on Thursday suggested that they were feeling the heat from conservative critics of the bill, who object to provisions offering legal status. The Republican whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supports the bill, said: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”
Quick. Somebody call Neal Boortz.
John McCain’s got a fund-raiser in Atlanta today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s a lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel in Buckhead. Tickets are $1,000. We hope to bring you a report from the Republican presidential candidate later today.
But the event does raise the question of whether fund-raiser prices are a sign of market strength. Fred Thompson’s event here on July 6 likewise has tickets going for $1,000. But Thompson organizers also have scheduled a reception for those willing to pony up $2,300.
Immigration bill is coming back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority and minority leaders, respectively, have agreed that the immigration bill will come back — right after the Senate finishes with the energy bill.
The fun never stops.
Nature, the lieutenant governor and your dog: None of them can stand vacuums
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Savannah — On Thursday, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was all about filling the void. Both of them.
First, there was the venue.
Cagle’s audience was the Georgia Press Association at its annual gathering. The organization is dominated by small dailies and weeklies in rural Georgia, and its members have felt cold-shouldered by Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
The lieutenant governor recognizes that the group is an essential ingredient to opinion-making in areas of the state not dominated by the media machines of metro Atlanta.
Check out the group’s web site. Its home page carries a notice that Cagle will be holding monthly conference calls from reporters for Georgia’s weeklies.
Then there was the topic. Cagle touched on health care, economic development, even Sunday sales of alcohol. But the largest part of Cagle’s comments dwelt on a topic that Georgia’s business community thinks the governor has largely ignored: Transportation.
Cagle spoke of the necessity of giving the problem in metro Atlanta its due. Of the need for innovation, and the moribund thinking at the state Department of Transportation. The lieutenant governor committed a small heresy by mentioning the need to consider rail as well as bus lanes.
He even hinted at — if not corruption, then questionable spending strategies. “There was a bridge that was designed by the [DOT] in Augusta to be built, and unfortunately they designed it in such a way that it was a one-of-a-kind bridge and only one bidder could bid on the project,” Cagle said.
Details? Cagle offered none. This was a tease for a pitch that’s still a few months away. We caught him afterwards, but he wouldn’t say much more.
“There will have to be reorganization of the Department of Transportation. That doesn’t necessarily mean the board or the commissioner. But it does mean there’s got to be a change in philosophy in the way that business is being conducted,” he said.
On the topic of a special session, Cagle has clearly put the brakes on the topic — with a caveat that we’ll get to in a bit.
Yes, the lieutenant governor said, the Legislature can call itself into session — but only in an emergency.
“What I’m saying is, I haven’t seen the emergency that has occurred. Now, we’re still trying to go through everything — but that emergency has not been defined.
“The state’s doing fine,” he said. “Are there bruised egos? Sure? But bruised egos don’t justify wasting taxpayers money.”
But notice Cagle’s language. “We’re still trying to go through everything,” he said. A day before, he said, the case for a special session had not been made “yet.”
Possibly it’s just us, or a trick of the ear. But those qualifiers sound like the lieutenant governor might be putting Sonny Perdue on a kind of probation.
Isakson on immigration: Bill is just ‘hopping’ along
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s a pretty good exchange that occurred this afternoon on WGAU (1350) in Athens, between U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and talk host Tim Bryant.
The topic, of course, is the immigration reform bill and the meeting that Isakson and other Republican senators had with President Bush this week.
Said Isakson:
“I told the president what I said in the letter and what I say about the Congress. There is a low confidence level in the Congress and the president in terms of this issue because of what happened in 1986.
“And until that confidence level is restored to a level it needs to be, we’re going to continue to have trouble on anything dealing with this bill.
“And what does restore the confidence is not a promise to secure the border, but the funding being delivered and that work actually taking place — which is why we recommended they send an emergency supplemental [bill] appropriating the money, get the work done, and decouple the issue of reform with security.”
Said Bryant:
“Which makes it something other than comprehensive reform, which is what the White House has said they’ve wanted all along.”
Replied Isakson:
“You can’t walk with putting both feet forward at the same time. You fall over. That’s called hopping.”
Lawmakers tell Perdue there’s no such thing as a small budget change
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our colleague James Salzer tells us that House and Senate leaders made it clear Wednesday morning that they won’t be rubber-stamping even routine budget requests made by Gov. Sonny Perdue and state agencies anytime soon.
It took the Legislative Fiscal Affairs Committee close to three hours to consider and approve a few dozen changes Perdue requested in the fiscal 2007 budget, most of them basic bookkeeping shifts from one program to the next.
Typically, Fiscal Affairs meetings are low-key affairs, the kind of get-togethers where it’s hard to tell if the attendees are breathing until it’s time to vote.
Usually, the governor requests money to move around to make sure the bookkeeping lines up or to pay for a program that cost a little bit more than expected. Typically legislators approve the transfers without raising a peep.
The governor appoints half the members of the committee, so the odds are generally in his favor.
But times have changed, as Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said during this morning’s meeting.
Perdue just vetoed $130 million in spending approved by lawmakers and essentially told agencies to ignore the wishes of the General Assembly on other spending items.
So legislators asked questions about most of Perdue’s proposed changes, lambasting state agencies for spending money and then coming to the Fiscal Affairs Committee to “approve” the money they’d already spent, a fairly common practice among agencies.
The committee also killed one of the transfers requested by Perdue: $145,000 to pay for food stamps given to Vietnamese, Haitian and Cuban refugees. The federal government had previously paid for those food stamps, but the state spent a little this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson said the agency that runs the food stamp program, the Department of Human Resources, shouldn’t be coming to the committee less than three weeks before the end of the fiscal year asking for money for a program that the state had never before funded.
Richardson said his aim was to “send a message” to state agencies that the committee would be taking a much closer look at the changes in funding they — and Perdue — request in the future.
On a special session: Richardson says he’s patient, Cagle says case not made yet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our colleague James Salzer was there when House Speaker Glenn Richardson said Wednesday that there is no timetable for when lawmakers would consider calling themselves back into special session to override Gov. Sonny Perdue’s budget vetoes.
Legislative leaders talked about doing so last week during a meeting at a St. Simons Island resort.
As expected, whether it happens or not depends largely on the Senate, which has been reticent to go against Perdue’s wishes over the past five years.
“I feel that the House members support it overwhelmingly and a lot of senators do — but I don’t know if enough senators support it,” Richardson said.
In his first comments on the matter, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the Senate’s president, said, “There have been no official steps taken by senators to move in that direction. The case has not been made [for a special session] at this point.”
Says Rogers: ‘I’m flattered, but no thanks. Not right now’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As the rented PT Cruiser was pointed to Savannah for the Georgia Press Association meeting, state Sen. Chip Rogers called with the relatively predictable conclusion of the day.
He’s not running against Saxby Chambliss next year. He likes him, even. And Johnny Isakson, too.
But the Republican from Woodstock, who headed up the 2006 state assault on illegal immigration, didn’t deny that he’d had plenty of dissatisified people ask him.
“I am humbled and flattered by the support of many who have asked me to run for United States Senate. My efforts in elective office have been solely focused on doing all I can for Georgia. I will continue to do exactly that - as a state senator,” he said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.
Rogers’ candidacy had been suggested that morning by John Konop, a fellow Cherokee County Republican. (See below for details.)
Rogers cited two reasons. First, a young family that includes four kids. And a respect for the guys already up there.
“I have great personal respect for both Senators Isakson and Chambliss. And while we may not agree on every issue, there is far more that unites us than separates us,” he said.
One of the things that separates them on the immigration issue is George Bush. Rogers was on PBS on Tuesday, calling President Bush’s efforts a joke. Chambliss and Isakson met with Bush’s lieutenants on Wednesday morning — in the Dirksen Senate building, not the White House, as Chambliss said in a report we posted below.
Fred Thompson wants your money
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The current speculation is that Fred Thompson will jump into the Republican race for the White House on the Fourth of July.
Two days later, he’s got a fund-raiser scheduled in Atlanta. It’s the usual $2,300 for close contact, $1,000 for distant longing. Peachpundit.com was the first to collar the invite.
Check out the host list.
Rumors and such about Chip Rogers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve already told you about the appearance Tuesday by state Sen. Chip Rogers on PBS’ “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer,” to discuss immigration reform.
It was a 12-minute segment, and Rogers acquitted himself forcefully.
This morning, John Konop — a Republican who challenged U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) in last year’s primary — is fueling talk that Rogers is being pressured to run against U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss in next year’s GOP primary.
Don’t jump to conclusions. We’ve got calls into Rogers, a Woodstock Republican who was behind the state’s 2006 immigration reform package. We’ll keep you apprised.
Chambliss and Isakson have a chat about the immigration bill at the White House today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss was on WGAU (1340 AM) in Athens this morning, talking about the immigration reform bill and his non-relationship with Ted Kennedy.
Chambliss may have actually made some news.
Talk host Tim Bryant sent us a sound clip.
The senator begins by distancing himself from Ted Kennedy, the lead Democratic negotiator on the issue.
“Ted Kennedy and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum, philosophically. We share nothing in common when it comes to politics. I don’t hang around with the guy,” Chambliss said. “But there are times when you can’t pick and choose your partner on the other side, and Kennedy just happens to be the guy who’s leading the negotiations for the Democrats on this issue, because he chairs the Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.”
But it also sounded like our Georgia senators and the White House are getting pretty tight. You’ll recall that, on Tuesday, Chambliss and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson suggested that President Bush use an emergency spending bill to prove to critics that he’s serious about beefing up border security.
Said Chambliss: “We’ve got a meeting with the White House this morning. This bill was put on hold until Johnny Isakson and I work with the white house to try to craft a provision that will put border security first.”
Chambliss isn’t the only political figure hitting the airwaves on the immigration reform.
State Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) was one of two state lawmakers who appeared on a 12-minute segment of PBS’ “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer” to debate the issue.
Rogers was the angry guy. On the opposite side was Ben Miranda, a Democratic state lawmaker from Arizona.
Here’s the transcript. A video link is in the same neighborhood.
Said Rogers about the bill: “It is a joke. This president has been a joke on this issue. [Miranda], he continues to talk about labor needs, labor needs, labor needs. I talk about what’s best for the American people, not what’s best for multinational corporations.”
Because we can’t resist: Video on the 10th District debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is from Ms. Spacey G.
Click and enjoy.
Verbatim: Iraq and the 10th District debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Iraq was the topic of the first question asked of the nine candidates for Congress participating in the Atlanta Press Club/GPTV debate on Tuesday afternoon.
Republican Jim Whitehead of Columbia County, thought to be the front-runner in the contest for the 10th District seat, was the only candidate who chose not to appear.
Even so, with so many candidates talking, it’s hard to make generalizations. But it’s fair to say that the five Republicans in the debate spoke less about bringing troops home than the three Democrats and one Libertarian.
We’ve transcribed their remarks on the war. You can see them in full on the jump.
James Marlow, Democrat: The quicker we have an honorable exit from Iraq, the better. In Congress, I’ll do everything possible to make that happen. What I’m recommending that we do is listen to the wise counsel of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and that we have a staged withdrawal from Iraq, that we have a major diplomatic offensive in the region, and that we work to fight and protect America both here and abroad. There are many things that we need to be doing. We’re clearly not going about it the right way. The American military has done their job, it’s now time for the Iraqi people to do their job. We’re currently fighting the war on a credit card, and that credit card is owned by the Chinese. And I just don’t think this is the right way to go about it. We don’t have to occupy a nation in order to fight terrorism in it.
Denise Freeman, Democrat: We have to honor the men and women who are fighting in Iraq. And as I talk to them across this district as I travel, they’re telling me it’s time for us to come home. It’s time for us to bring them home, and until that time, if we have a timetable, it needs to be confidential. We need to make sure that our commanders who are in the armed forces, who know what’s best — because that’s what they were trained to do, they know what it is they need to do. Give them the tools, the equipment so that they can continue to fight this war, end it efficiently, and effectively with the [least] amount of lives lost, and they can come home to us safely. And that’s what we need to do — is to bring our troops home.
Nate Pulliam, Republican: I am the only one of the 10 candidates who was actually a career military officer and who actually served in combat in Iraq. I was an advisor to the 6th Iraqi Infantry Division from November ’05 to November ’06. My boss was wounded three weeks after I got there. The Iraqi general I advised was killed in an ambush, and I lost two very close friends in November. The Bush Administration has made terrible mistakes in Iraq, but despite that we absolutely must prevail in Iraq. I define victory in Iraq as leaving a stable, peaceful Iraq that’s under neither the domination of Iran nor a safe haven for Al-Qaida. We must do three things. We must provide security to buy time for the Iraqi government to stand up, we must assist their military, and we must keep pressure on them to do the right thing. A government that does not win its wars will not survive as a nation.
Evita Paschall, Democrat: We have to support our troops. It is my belief that we should allow the surge to continue. It has been alleged that the surge will bring the results that we’re seeking by the end of the year. I think we should allow that to happen. And if it’s not resolved by the end, it’s my belief that we should have a gradual reduction of the troops, but at a time when the military determines that we should have a gradual reduction. I don’t believe we should have a specific time when the troops are removed.
Jim Sendelbach, Libertarian: The libertarian position would be one of non-intervention. We wouldn’t have been there in the first place. But the fact is that we are there and doing a fine job, but our goals are not clear. What is it that we’re doing there? I’d like to see the president clarify that for the benefit of the American people. And once that is clear, then to have him work with the other countries. All of the neighboring countries — Saudi Arabia, Jordan — really should be involved in this conflict. And if they are not, at least I don’t know why they’re not participating in it, this is not an American war. And I also believe that a timetable would be disastrous for our American forces there.
Erick Underwood, Republican: I’m the only person here with a plan. It’s called the Underwood plan. It’s a bold step in the right direction. The Underwood plan separates Iraq into three regions: Sunni, Shi’ite, and Kurd, and creates one national parliament at the national level that will elect a rotating prime minister and/or president. I believe that the Underwood plan will unite Iraq together, and will finally be the infrastructure that we need to bring our troops finally home. More of my plan is at erikunderwoodforcongress.com.
Mark Myers, Republican: There’s a lot of uncertainty in Iraq, but one thing is very certain. If the president and the congress send mix messages, it will discourage our troops and it will encourage the terrorist. So I think we need to speak with one voice, and the Iraqis are going to have to accept the responsibility of their own protection. So this is going to be a short-term stay, I hope we can get this wrapped up. But we don’t need to be red states and blue states, we need to be the United States and be red, white and blue states. I have more information at my web site, markmyersforcongress.com.
Paul Broun, Republican: The president has a new policy in Iraq, and I think we need to just give it a chance to work. It needs to be just a reasonable amount of time. Fighting in Iraq is just one front on this whole war on global terror. And actually it’s not a war against terrorism. It’s a war against Islamic fascists who want to totally destroy America and our way of life. We do have a new policy, we need to see it work, we need to do everything that we can to fight these people, because they do want to destroy America. We’re fighting in Afghanistan and Somalia and a whole lot of different places. But the generals need to fight, we need to let the soldiers fight, and stop the defensive war that we’ve been doing.
Bill Greene, Republican: I’m not running for commander-in-chief. I am running for the United States Congress. The question was, ‘What are the next steps that need to be taken in this particular war.’ Well, the first step that needs to be taken is to get Congress out of the war. We have allowed politics to control what we’re doing here. We’ve allowed especially the Pelosi Democrats — who are trying to pull the rug out from under our troops in Iraq. We need to get the politicians out of the way — get the 535 commanders-in-chief out of the way. Let the Army do what the Army does best — all the armed forces — what they do best, which is to kill our enemy and break their stuff. If we allow them to that we will have victory in Iraq and in the war against Islamic fascism. And then they will be able to come home, and not until then.
Things to look for in tonight’s 10th District debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some things you’ll see, and some you won’t, in today’s 7 p.m. GPTV broadcast of the 10th District congressional debate, sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club:
— Yes, there was a fellow in a chicken suit, razzing Republican Jim Whitehead for skipping the debate. He — the guy in the suit — swore he wasn’t affiliated with any campaign, and identified himself as blogger Shelby Highsmith of Atlanta, and author of shelbinator.com.
Highsmith maintained that he just had a new chicken suit lying around, and decided this would be an occasion to use it. You probably have relatives that fit this description. Keep an eye on them.
— Nine of the 10 candidates in the race showed up for the hourlong forum, which was taped at 2 p.m. The Atlanta Press Club left an open lectern for Whitehead, a former state senator from Columbia County.
Two candidates asked questions of Whitehead — Republican Bill Greene and Democrat James Marlow. Whitehead did not answer.
— Once candidates were permitted to question each other, Marlow was the target of three of the first four questions, which tells you who the other candidates think has the best chance of making it into a run-off with Whitehead next Tuesday.
The fourth question was Greene’s for Whitehead, asking why he thought it expedient to skip so many joint appearances.
— No one had a kind word for George W. Bush, save for Republican Mark Myers of Loganville, who complimented the president on his tax cuts.
— Evita Paschall, a Democrat may have had the line of the night, when she attacked Republican Erik Underwood’s plan on Iraq. The “Underwood plan” — which sounds like something advocated by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden — would sequester Iraq into Kurdish, Shi’ite, and Sunni regions.
Said Paschall: “If it was that simple, Bush would have thought of it.”
— Bush wasn’t the only collateral damage in the debate. Republican Nate Pulliam, a retired lieutenant colonel and a Conyers real estate agent, was asked his opinion of the immigration reform bill now in the Senate.
Said Pulliam: “I think we can call it the George Bush, Saxby Chambliss, Johnny Isakson amnesty bill. I am totally opposed to it. Now when Saxby Chambliss got up and tried to convince us all that this was a good bill, it’s like a child coming home with a report card with three A’s and two F’s, putting his thumb over the F’s, and saying, ‘Dad, look at the A’s.’”
— Asked what he thought of the Patriot Act, Republican Paul Broun of Athens said he like some parts. But some sections, he thought — electronic surveillance without oversight, in particular — were “flirting with tyranny.”
— The cutest moment: The way Greene, the Republican, kept shooting winks and nods up to his wife in the audience.
Advice to Bush from Georgia senators: Show critics the border money
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Johnny Isakson’s chief contribution to the immigration reform package now stalled in the Senate is the concept of border security as a trigger for other measures, including the granting of legal status to illegal immigrants through “Z” visas.
But opponents of the measure have told us that they view Isakson’s trigger mechanism as so much whitewash. Given the federal government’s past record of border enforcement, they don’t trust it.
Apparently, they’ve told Isakson the same thing.
On Tuesday, Isakson and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (an earlier post about his situation is below) sent a letter to the White House, offering President Bush this piece of advice: If you want to move immigration reform off the shoals, show critics the money. Says the letter:
“We believe that you and your administration could alleviate many of the fears of our constituents by calling for an emergency supplemental bill to fully fund the border and interior security initiatives contained in legislation currently pending in the Senate, as well as any outstanding existing authorizations.
“Such a move would show your commitment to securing the border first and to stopping the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into our nation. It will also work towards restoring the credibility of the federal government on this critical issue.”
Both Isakson and Chambliss are among the Republican senators expected to have lunch with Bush at 1 p.m. or so.
The president’s job was outlined in another letter — sent to him Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, according to the National Journal.
“Only seven Republicans joined 38 Democrats in voting to bring debate on the bill to a close in a timely manner,” Reid said. “We believe it will take stronger leadership by you to ensure that opponents of the bill do not block the path to final passage. Simply put, we need many more than seven Republicans to vote for cloture and final passage of this bill.”
Read the entire Isakson-Chambliss letter on the jump.
Dear Mr. President:
Although the Senate’s effort to reform our nation’s immigration laws through the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 is stalled, illegal immigration remains our nation’s number one domestic issue. We therefore believe it is incumbent upon us and our colleagues to tackle this issue and not leave this problem for future generations to solve.
As we travel around Georgia and continue to hear from our constituents, the message from a majority of Georgians is that they have no trust that the United States Government will enforce the laws contained in this new legislation and secure the border first.
This lack of trust is rooted in the mistakes made in 1986 and the continued chaos surrounding our immigration laws. Understandably, the lack of credibility the federal government has on this issue gives merit to the skepticism of many about future immigration reform.
We believe the way to build greater support for immigration reform in the United States Senate and among the American public is to regain the trust in the ability of the federal government to responsibly administer immigration programs and enforce immigration laws.
There is bipartisan agreement that we need to secure our borders first, and we believe this approach will serve as a platform towards addressing the other issues surrounding immigration reform.
To that end, we believe that you and your administration could alleviate many of the fears of our constituents by calling for an emergency supplemental bill to fully fund the border and interior security initiatives contained in legislation currently pending in the Senate, as well as any outstanding existing authorizations.
Such a move would show your commitment to securing the border first and to stopping the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into our nation. It will also work towards restoring the credibility of the federal government on this critical issue.
We urge you to carefully consider this request, and thank you for the opportunity to express the views of the people of Georgia on this matter.
Sincerely, Saxby Chambliss
United States Senator
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator
Opposition to Chambliss from within?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Many conservatives are writing about local repercussions in the fight over immigration reform.
The following lines appear in a piece posted Monday by Martha Zoller, the North Georgia radio host, on the Human Events web site:
In a background meeting of Republican activists last week, [participants] were concerned that Senator [Saxby] Chambliss will be challenged in the 2008 primaries. Republicans don’t like opposition to their sitting elected officials, but if they continue to show complete disdain for the voting public, they will have it. At this moment, there are two members of the Georgia state legislature traveling the state to see if they can garner support for a run against Senator Chambliss.
Zoller doesn’t say so, but we presume the alleged tire-kickers are Republican.
No surprise — but Gloria Norwood picks Whitehead in 10th District race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While nine other 10th District congressional candidates are sweating under studio lights in Atlanta on Tuesday, engaging in a statewide TV debate, Jim Whitehead will be on the radio, basking in an endorsement from the widow of U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood.
The Whitehead campaign will have this ad up on local radio on Tuesday, in which Gloria Norwood picks the former state senator from Columbia County to replace her husband in Congress.
“Jim’s a friend. He’s as conservative as Charlie, and almost as independent,” she says.
Last week, Whitehead skipped a forum broadcast on Athens radio. He’s also decided to skip tomorrow’s debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Television. We’re hear that debate organizers will have an empty chair for him, just in case he changes his mind.
Which isn’t likely.
Whitehead, long considered the front-runner in this race, has raised more than all the other candidates combined for the contest — $576,833, according to reports filed last week.
He had $249,787 in cash on hand. Democrat James Marlow is his nearest rival in the money race, with a total of $122,183 raised and $84,798 in the bank.
Gingrich on Boortz: He leaves himself and McCain out of the ‘most likelies’ for GOP nomination
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Newt Gingrich was on Neal Boortz’ radio show this morning — and again seemed to be writing himself out of contention in the ’08 presidential race.
Gingrich named three GOP candidates he said had a chance at the Republican nomination. Significantly, he didn’t include himself — or U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
“I think the three people most likely to be nominated are Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani, who has had a great record of fighting crime in New York and changing things in New York, [Massachusetts] Gov. [Mitt] Romney, who did a great job turning around the Winter Olympics when it looked like it was going to go bankrupt, and Fred Thompson,” Gingrich said.
The former U.S. House speaker seemed on the verge of declaring himself a “Fred-head” — and noted that former Tennessee senators Howard Baker and Bill Frist are pushing Thompson’s cause.
“If Fred decides to get into this race, he will — overnight — be a major contender. He’s got good knowledge, going back all the way to when he was Howard Baker’s law director on the Watergate committee, he’s got tremendous knowledge about how the system works, he has a presence,” said the former Georgia congressman.
“He has the same advantage Ronald Reagan had of real training in television and in movies. When you watch Fred, you see a guy who’s very comfortable in his own skin.”
UGA researcher: Iraq war has a 26 percent chance of success — at 10 years
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s something you’re likely to read more about tomorrow:
A University of Georgia researcher has determined that the world’s most powerful nations — including the United States — have failed nearly 40 percent of the time in military actions since World War II.
And based on her calculations, the current war in Iraq has a 26 percent probability of success — with an estimated duration of 10 years.
The study by Patricia Sullivan, an assistant professor at the university’s School of Public and International Affairs, looked at 122 interventions in which the United States, the Soviet Union, Russia, China Britain or France fought a weaker adversary.
According to the UGA press release issued Monday, “Sullivan said the most important factor influencing whether the more powerful nation is successful is whether its strategic objective can be accomplished with brute force alone or requires the cooperation of the adversary.”
Update at 12:24 p.m.: Sullivan was kind enough to provide this copy of her entire study.
Isakson and Chambliss: Still in the hunt, just not in the picture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Friday, Ted Kennedy and other senators who had given birth to the bipartisan deal on immigration reform held a press conference in Washington, to serve notice that they would persevere on the issue.
But two Republican senators, who had been in photographers’ frames with Kennedy when the deal was unveiled in mid-May, were missing this time.
They were Georgia’s own Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss.
The duo weren’t about to make the same mistake twice. We’re told that both senators have caught nearly as much flak for their appearance at the original photo op as they did for their substantive roles in the bipartisan negotiations.
Isakson and Chambliss have been operating in tandem throughout the debate. They haven’t withdrawn their support from the effort — which would hard to do immediately, given that President Bush wants a crack at reviving the bill this week.
But since the bill flunked a test vote last Thursday, they have emphasized two points: a) The current version of the bill isn’t “good enough for Georgia,’ and b) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been irresponsible for cutting off debate.
Isakson and Chambliss want two votes in particular. One is an amendment that would remove the executive branch’s ability to block or delay any spending on a border fence mandated by Congress.
To satisfy critics who doubt the will of the federal government on this matter, the amendment would put funding for border security in the same class as entitlement spending — like Medicaid or Medicare.
Both senators also wanted a vote that would require illegal immigrants to return home before receiving “Z” visas that would give them legal status in the United States.
Of the two senators, with his name on the ballot next year, Chambliss is most vulnerable on the immigration issue.
And as long as the bill is in limbo, so is he. Talk radio, cable TV and Internet blogs have vowed to keep up the pressure.
Last week, a web-based organization called grassfire.org included Chambliss and Isakson in a national round of attack TV ads, entitled “Where’s the Fence?” The Georgia version, which appeared in metro Atlanta only, included photos of the two senators, both with buttons reading “Got Amnesty?”
On Friday, Stephen Elliott, president of grassfire.org, promised more TV ads in Georgia. “We’re going to continue to target the senators who have not openly opposed the bill,” he said.
The Georgia effort to change Catholic minds in Iowa and New Hampshire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If there’s one thing politicians can’t stand, it’s an outside group inserting itself into local affairs.
But occasionally, it’s the other way around. Someone in Georgia decides to stir the pot everywhere else.
On the Fourth of July, 37-year-old Steve Dillard will launch a national web site called CatholicsagainstRudy.com.
Despite his age, the Macon attorney describes himself as “the grandfather of conservative Catholic bloggers,” having operated a now-defunct site known as Southern Appeal until a couple years ago.
Dillard was a chief Internet advocate for William Pryor, the former Alabama attorney general who finally won a seat on the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in 2005.
Dillard, a convert to Catholicism, was also a vocal critic of John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign. That’s why he’s going after Rudy Giuliani, who has had only limited success among Southern evangelicals because of the thrice-married candidate’s support of abortion rights, and his statements in favor of civil unions for gay couples.
“We need to tend to our own house. And we need to hold Republicans to the same standard that we did John Kerry,” Dillard said recently.
Many social conservatives are worried that a Giuliani victory in the Republican race for the White House would be followed by a decline in the party’s emphasis on core issues that have rallied Christian conservatives to the GOP side since the early 1980s.
“[Giuliani]is emblematic of a coming — or already existing — rift in the Republican party,” Dillard said.
The attorney, who currently leans toward Fred Thompson, said CatholicsagainstRudy.com would be fit for family viewing.
“You won’t see the picture of Rudy in drag on my web site. You’re not going to see the video of him kissing Donald Trump. I’m not even getting into the divorce stuff,” Dillard said. “I want it to be on his stated public policy. I don’t want this to be a ‘I hate Rudy’ web site.”
That’s because he admits the distinct possibility that Giuliani could carry the day.
“If he becomes the nominee, the web site will shift gears a little bit,” Dillard said. “I don’t hold out the notion that a faithful Catholic couldn’t vote for Rudy in a general election against someone like Hillary Clinton.”
The real battle is over which high school gets the clubhouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Cobb County school system is again redrawing its high school districts to accomodate new construction. This time much of the action is in the far northwest corner.
School board members are in the rough for dividing a massive golf community in two.
Let’s just say that political discourse in this territory is conducted on a higher plane. Today’s Marietta Daily Journal has an angry resident saying this:
“I just don’t understand how anyone in their right mind can take a community and play holes one through three and be in the Harrison school district, and play holes four through nine and be in the Allatoona school district.”
Atlanta City Council balks at ‘free speech zone’ ordinance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late word is that the Atlanta City Council has decided to put off consideration of an ordinance that would have allowed the creation of “free speech” pens to corral protesters at city-licensed events.
A vote had been anticipated for Tuesday.
Here’s the link to our original post on the topic, and the ordinance in question.
Can’t imagine who he was talking about. Really.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning, radio curmudgeon Neal Boortz was extolling the high-end mental capacity of co-workers who surrounded him in his studio at WSB headquarters. “You’d have to go to the third floor to find any dumb-asses,” he said. “And they’ve left to run for the U.S. Senate.”
Budget paralysis: It’s contagious
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s interesting to see that even with this year’s legislative session in Georgia as a negative example, the South Carolina legislature adjourned Thursday on just as ineffective a note.
Ask any South Carolinian, and they’ll tell you they’ve had a dysfunctional Republican governor-legislature relationship long before Georgia. So far, this year’s train-wreck appears to have happened without much direct involvement from Gov. Mark Sanford — it’s a House-Senate faceoff. They’re getting used to this sort of thing - the legislature is already planning to come back in two weeks to try to hammer out a budget. No Alabama-style fisticuffs (see below) in Columbia.
Smackdown in the Alabama Senate — and a blurred photo
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A fist fight broke out in the Alabama Senate on Thursday. You can see the Associated Press version on ajc.com by clicking here.
But let us also encourage you to visit the Birmingham News site. The home page has an astounding photo of the punched-out Democratic senator’s head whipping to the side as it meets a Republican fist.
In the attached story, bystander Alabama Sen. Parker Griffith (D-Huntsville), said that, had Sen. Lowell Barron (D-Fyffe) not partially ducked the punch, he might have been seriously injured.
“This was a violent, violent punch,” said Griffith, a retired physician. “Had he not ducked, it was a hospitalization punch. It was a neurosurgery punch; it was a deforming punch. It was that hard. It was a brutal attack.”
And you thought hardball was the game played in the Georgia Legislature.
Sometimes, pleading stupidity is the only reasonable thing to do
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know that House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) sent a letter to Sonny Perdue, suggesting that the governor call a special session of the Legislature to lower state taxes on gasoline.
Early today, we rather limply opined that Perdue was unlikely to do so, simply because it would mean the return of 236 cranky lawmakers to Atlanta.
Mark Twain once wrote that the difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. Ditto with analysis.
In his personal blog, state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) chose to go with the lightning bolt rather than the bug.
“A special session for any purpose would force the Governor to immediately transmit his budget vetoes to the House, bringing that issue to a head now as opposed to next January, when the fiscal year will have been largely completed,” he wrote this afternoon.
Links to the 10th District debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Athens Banner-Herald has put up audio links to Wednesday’s debate that featured nine candidates for the 10th District congressional contest. They’re at the top of the story, which can be found here.
The deal on Rand Knight: His press release and bio
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got a note from Rand Knight, a 35-year-old scientist with the National Ecological Observatory Network, who announced his Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Senate race with his e-mail.
Here’s his web site, though some finishing touches are still needed.
If you’ll read his bio and press release, you’ll know as much about him as we do.
Knight comes into this race only four days after former WSB-TV reporter Dale Cardwell did the same. DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones is interested in the race, but has made no formal declaration of candidacy.
Democratic candidate No. 3 in the race for U.S. Senate?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The blogs are buzzing today about another Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.
We may have come across the first evidence, at the web site of the Chatham County Democratic party. Among the details of a June 9 fund-raiser is a list of sponsors.
And at the top of that list is “Rand Knight for U.S. Senate.”
He’s got a web site, which is not active. At this point, we know nothing more than that.
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The Athens debate: Much talk about Iraq, and there was the bobble-head doll
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Athens Banner-Herald provides the best account of Wednesday evening’s Jim Whitehead-less debate among the nine other candidates in the 10th District congressional race.
The newspaper had planned a link to the two-hour audio of the local event, but is apparently experiencing some technical bugs. We’ll update when it’s fixed.
At the debate itself, the candidates were asked whether, given the information at the time, they would have voted to go to war in Iraq. Five said yes.
Democrats Evita Paschall and Denise Freeman, Republican Erik Underwood and Libertarian Jim Sendelbach answered in the negative.
But according to the Banner-Herald, “most of the candidates who said they would have let [President] Bush invade said they now think it’s time to leave.”
“We’re currently fighting on a credit card,” Democrat Jim Marlow said. “That credit card is owned by the Chinese. This is the worst foreign policy we’ve ever had.”
Only Republican Bill Greene spoke up for Bush. He said nice things about the surge.
“Anyone who says we need to bring the troops home now really means we need to bring the war home now,” he said.
Whitehead, a former Columbia County state senator and one-time University of Georgia lineman, skipped the affair, as we reported Wednesday. He’s considered the leading candidate.
But in Whitehead’s honor, WGAU voice Tim Bryant, who moderated the forum, “placed a bobblehead doll dressed in a University of Georgia football jersey at the end of the table.”
And while they’re at it, they could plot the override of another veto
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue thinks its ‘too early’ to respond to House Minority Leader DuBose Porter’s call for a special session of the Legislature to lower Georgia’s gas tax, the Macon Telegraph reports today.
No surprise. A sense of calm has finally returned to the state Capitol, after weeks of intra-Republican warfare. The last thing Perdue wants in Atlanta are 236 surly lawmakers, the majority in his own party.
Perhaps he’s a ‘Fred head:’ Newt puts chances of his running at 4-to-1
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ve got to think that, just maybe, Fred Thompson’s non-entry into the Republican race for the White House could be drawing attention away from the other major non-candidate.
The Associated Press reports today that Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker and Georgia congressman, is now giving himself 4-to-1 odds against running for president, “an assessment that conflicts with his recent pronouncements about seeking the Republican nomination.”
Only last month, he said it was “a great possibility.”
Signs of ‘fraying’ among immigration dealmakers?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last night’s votes on the immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate indicated that pressure on Republican conservatives might be having an effect.
The Washington Post specifically singled out Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss as its prime examples.
The topic was one of the challenges to the bipartisan deal, an amendment by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) that would have barred illegal immigrants from obtaining legal status if they have been guilty of “legal infractions,” including run-ins with immigration courts.
We’ll let the Post pick it up from here:
But the coalition shows signs of fraying. Georgia’s senators, Republicans Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, had helped forge the immigration deal, but they bolted from the coalition to back Cornyn’s amendment. Chambliss, who was booed recently at his state’s Republican convention, hinted that he could oppose the bill on its final vote.
“I’m committed to the concepts” of the agreement, he said. “To say I support the bill, I’ve never said that.”
Let us also draw your attention to today’s InsiderAdvantage, which reports that political commentator Phil Kent, who is also head of the U.S. Immigration Reform Political Action Committee, has vowed to oust senators who support the immigration bill.
“The top senator we want to defeat is Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and if he votes for the current Senate amnesty bill, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.),” Kent said in a statement issued Wednesday.
A long day for Michelle Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As much as she can, Michelle Obama tries to structure her campaign stops for her husband so that she gets home every night to be with their two children. Some days are harder than others.
On Wednesday, she arose at 4 a.m. in Chicago, got Malia, who turns 9 next month, and Sasha, who turns six on Sunday, up at 5:30, had breakfast and dropped them off with a neighbor before heading to O’Hare for a flight to Atlanta.
This wasn’t going to be her last stop of the day, so she didn’t expect to make it back on this day before the girls went to bed. But she’s determined to keep homelife as normal as possible, even as the campaign picks up in intensity.
“We’ve started thinking about strategies, striking that balance so that both of us aren’t away from the kids at the same time,” Obama said. “That’s something that Barack and I committed to, coming into this thing.”
In addition to being a mother and campaign wife, Obama is the vice president for external affairs for the University of Chicago hospitals. Her brother is the men’s basketball coach at Brown University.
They grew up in Southside Chicago, the children of a stationary fireman at the city water filtration plant and a stay-at-home mom. It’s a background she said has given her a common set of values with her husband.
“We’re both from working-class Midwestern households,” she said.
That ideal of giving your children a better life is one that plays heavily in the Obama campaign message that his generation is in danger of potentially “handing over a country to our children and grandchildren that’s a little bit poorer and a little bit mean than the one we got.
Obama drew more than 600 women to a $250-a-plate fundraiser at the Depot, followed by a rally with student supporters.
At the lunch, she stressed the importance of the early contests, which in this part of the country means South Carolina and Florida. It’s a point that was also emphasized at her husband’s big rally here earlier this year.
With the race shaping up as a short sprint, that’s kind of an obvious point, but it’s one Obama’s troops seem particularly concerned about. He’s made huge strides in the polls and fundraising, but you get the sense his campaign doesn’t want to get caught short before his supporters get the chance to impact the process.
So far, she said, the crowds and the enthusiasm for her husband haven’t died down.
“That’s what’s been most amazing to us. There’s this hunger out there,” she said. “At every event I meet at least four or five people who’ve never voted before, never written a check. This campaign is tapping into a whole layer of people who have never felt a reason to engage.”
Notes and mutterings from Georgia blogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Updated at 8:39 p.m. Wednesday with paragraph at bottom Michelle Obama, wife of Barack, drew some 600 women to a fund-raiser for her husband’s Democratic presidential campaign in downtown Atlanta this afternoon, we’re told. Price was $250 a head.
We’ll have details for you later in the day.
In the meantime, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John, was in Savannah and Macon Tuesday, on a similar mission. Blogger Amy Morton has beaucoup details, but be aware that she helped plan the event in Macon, and is not disinterested.
Blog for Democracy pushed out the first photos of the Edwards event in Macon, including a photo of former lieutenant governor Mark Taylor shaking hands with newbie U.S. Senate candidate Dale Cardwell.
But the text focuses on a wild rumor that was said to be wafting through the fund-raiser — that Taylor is considering a ’08 run for the U.S. Senate.
We haven’t talked to Taylor, but we’ve got to throw cold water on this one.
When you’re a neophyte running for a U.S. Senate seat, you make phone calls to all and sundry figures that might be competition. Any one of them could crush you.
We know Cardwell called former Gov. Roy Barnes. Probably Columbus attorney Jim Butler and U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall as well. And, we presume, both Taylor and Cathy Cox, Taylor’s Democratic rival in the ’06 gubernatorial contest.
But we’ve checked out another rumor, and it is in fact true. Tondee’s Tavern was the first to report that Cardwell voted Republican in the July 2006 primary.
The records bear that out. Our researchers tell us that Cardwell voted in five Democratic primaries from 2000 to 2004. But last year, he voted in the Republican primary and the primary run-off.
Which means he didn’t have a horse in the nasty Taylor-Cox race that tore other Democrats apart.
We’ve got a call into the Cardwell campaign.
Addendum: Emil Runge, a spokesman for the Cardwell campaign, said Cardwell had a particular reason for voting in the July 2006 Republican primary.
“Like many Democrats, Dale voted in the Republican primary to cast a ballot against Ralph Reed,” Runge said.
Barr says the REAL ID requirement in immigration bill won’t fly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last month, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr chastised those passing too-quick judgment on the immigration reform effort now going on in Washington.
But on Wednesday, he announced that he’d found something objectionable “hidden deep within the massive bill.”
The legislation, he said, would require use of the REAL ID — a drivers license that can serve as a national identification card, approved by Congress in 2005. States have until the end of 2009 to issue them. Barr and other civil liberty activists say a nationalized ID raises the specter of a broad invasion of privacy by the government.
But with the immigration reform bill, Barr said, the ID would become “one of only two forms of identification a U.S. citizen could use lawfully to obtain or retain employment; the only other being a passport.
Barr wants that provision out. He’s written “key members” of the Senate — i.e., Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss.
“No America citizen should have to prove to a government entity who they are in order to obtain or retain employment,” he said.
Complete statement is on the jump.
Atlanta, GA, - Former Congressman Bob Barr, who has offered general support for the Immigration Bill currently pending in the U.S. Senate, has taken strong exception to a particular section hidden deep within the massive bill that requires the use of a REAL ID.
The REAL ID Act was passed by Congress in 2005 and, once it takes full effect in two years, would mandate that all state drivers’ licenses adhere to federal standards in order to be accepted for any “federal purpose,” such as airline travel, obtaining federal benefits or access to any federal facility.
Under the provision in the immigration reform bill, a REAL ID Act-compliant driver’s license would be one of only two forms of identification a U.S. citizen could use lawfully to obtain or retain employment; the only other being a passport.
Barr has now written to key members of the U.S. Senate urging that the REAL ID Act provision in the immigration bill be removed.
For one thing, Barr said, “no America citizen should have to prove to a government entity who they are in order to obtain or retain employment.”
“In the second place,” Barr continued, “if such a provision remains, and if a job applicant is a U.S. citizen he or she should be allowed to establish that fact through any number of legitimate identification documents.
Thirdly, and most importantly, limiting the permissible forms of identification to those that are REAL ID Act-compliant is especially problematic, given the strong and legitimate concerns with what is essentially a national identification card that the REAL ID Act has engendered.”
Barr also noted that already a number of states are enacting legislation that would opt out of the REAL ID Act provisions. Finally, Barr said, “the immigration bill should not be allowed to serve as a stealth REAL ID Implementation Act.”
Whitehead spurns last two debates for a paid TV barrage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With two weeks to go, Jim Whitehead hit the airwaves Wednesday. On his own terms.
A Republican and the best-funded entry in the 10-candidate race for the 10th District congressional seat, Whitehead launched a 30-second TV spot that pitches him as the natural successor to U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, who died in February.
It comes on the same day that the Athens Press Club hosts a debate to be broadcast on WGAU (1340 AM). Whitehead intends to skip the gathering, as well as a June 12 televised debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Television.
The content is almost wholly introductory, and much like a radio ad already aired by the candidate. “When we lost Charlie, we lost a great congressman, and I lost a great friend,” Whitehead says to the camera.
But there is a subtle difference. In the radio ad, Whitehead said he’d fight for “Lower taxes, stronger economy and to control our borders.”
In the TV ad, the former Columbia County senator adds “and to defeat terrorism.”
Whitehead has been criticized, particularly by Democrat James Marlow, for ducking any extensive discussion of Iraq, not a topic likely to stir the passions of Republicans these days.
Ten-candidate debates can be pure torture, both for the audience and the participants. Look at the presidential versions. Or better yet, don’t.
That aside, in strategic terms, it’s easy to explain Whitehead’s decision to skip the last two debates. He’s considered by nearly all parties as the front-runner.
To win without a run-off, Whitehead needs 75 percent of the Republican vote in the district. That’s a difficult goal. Appearing at joint forums allows other Republicans, including Paul Broun of Athens and Bill Greene of Braselton, to whittle away at Whitehead’s GOP base — and permits Marlow to solidify Democrat support.
Whitehead has also been guilty of some verbal gaffes that have provided his rivals with ammunition — for instance, his statement that Iraq was not a “big issue” in the district.
The Athens forum is a solid two hours. That’s a long time on the hot seat. And remember that Athens is one of two population centers in the 10th District. Unlike Augusta, it’s a bastion of Democratic votes.
We talked to John Stone, who was once right-hand man to Norwood and is now giving advice to the Whitehead campaign. Stone pointed out that Whitehead did participate in a recent debate in Augusta — friendly territory for his candidate.
“It was a well-formatted, very fair debate,” Stone said. The rules made it difficult for candidates to confront one another. The program was recorded by a local cable company. The Whitehead campaign intends to post a link to it on its web site.
Stone said Whitehead has events that conflict with the final two debates. “Everybody’s missed some for various and sundry reasons, he said. But at least when it comes to tonight’s event in Athens, there was another reason as well.
“It wasn’t entirely formatted to what we wanted,” he said.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his sweet tooth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week, The Hill newspaper in Washington asked select members of Congress the following question:
What one trait bothers you most in another person?
Replied U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah): “Not sharing your dessert. I really resent it when I reach across the table for some ice cream and they get resentful because I double-dip the spoon and they have a little sniffle or something.”
So some Republicans do condone the forced redistribution of wealth. But only if followed by cigars.
Because sometimes speech is so precious it must be corked and preserved
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Get ready to rumble over the First Amendment and free speech in Atlanta.
People who like it out there on the picket line are looking askance at a proposed ordinance that would permit the creation of “free speech” pens at nearly any city-licensed event.
Normally, it’s the kind of thing you see in major crowd control situations — at say, national political conventions or G-8 meetings.
Read the entire ordinance here.
Councilman Jim Maddox is the sponsor. The measure, to be voted on next Tuesday, June 12, we’re told, would permit the organizer of a sanctioned event to bottle up people with unwanted or competing messages — in the name of good order and the right of licensed speakers to be heard.
Barack Obama organizers, for instance, would be able to restrict Hillary Clinton supporters and their signs to a “free-speech zone” designated by the city of Atlanta.
Abortion rights supporters would be allowed to keep abortion opponents at bay. Supporters of the current immigrant reform efforts would be able to cleanse their numbers of opponents.
And how would these fly-in-ointment spoilsports be singled out?
The proposed ordinance says:
“A person shall be deemed to be exercising her/his First Amendment rights when s/he is: using a bullhorn or some other amplification device; distributing items, including without limitation leaflets and/or literature, to more than ten people s/he does not know; preaching to people s/he does not know; conducting a monologue with people s/he does not know; protesting; carrying a sign, including without limitation a picket sign or banner; wearing a sign that is larger than 8 inches by 11 inches; and/or conducting a performance, including without limitation singing, performing a play or skit, or miming.”
Lord knows it’s hard to shout over a mime.
The good news is that messages contained on clothing, buttons, jewelry or patches — no matter how unwanted — would be hunky-dory.
An “Outdoor Festival Host,” says the ordinance, “shall be responsible for determining, prior to the commencement of each day of the event, who is authorized to exercise her/his First Amendment rights as part of the Outdoor Festival on that day, and shall issue such people a badge to be worn indicating such authorization.”
It takes us back to our campfire days, when only he who held the talking stick was permitted to speechify.
According to our colleague David Pendered at Atlanta City Hall, proponents of the ordinance argue that the city is responding to court rulings that have demanded protection for speakers at a main event, who might be drowned out by protestors.
Others have pointed us to the United States Social Forum, scheduled to hit Atlanta on June 27. It’s a gathering of virtually every liberal group you can imagine — from the Alliance for Global Justice to Young Workers United.
Thousands of people are expected, all of whom take their demonstrations — and counterdemonstrations — very seriously.
Jerry Weber, the legal director for the Georgia chapter of the ACLU, said this to the City Council on Monday, according to Pendered:
“We have very significant constitutional concerns,” Weber said. “We ask for the council to defer to discuss the constitutional problems with the ordinance. One of the most difficult areas of constitutional law is balancing free speech. It’s complicated case law.
“We’ve handled a lot of it, including Martha Burke and the Masters golf tournament. This code asks citizens to determine if someone is with [them] or against, if they should be in a corral or with them [and] they could have criminal sanctions.”
‘We’ll see you in C-U-B-A’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When the governor closes a door, the Lord opens a window.
Many of you have been grieving over the fortunes of House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island).
He and another House leader were bumped from a state trade mission to cold, gray Europe — because, many assume, of recent House behavior toward Gov. Sonny Perdue and his recent veto of a budget bill.
You can dry your eyes now. Keen was one of several House members and other officials — including U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston — who flew down to bright, sunny Cuba last week to sell a few chickens and other Georgia commodities.
Also on the trip were House Speaker Glenn Richardson, Speaker pro tem Mark BurkHalter, state Rep. Jay Roberts, state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin and his new deputy, former House speaker Terry Coleman.
Majority Whip Barry Fleming, the other House leader bounced from the trip to Europe, did not go to Cuba, either.
But if you’re from Harlem, Ga., you’ve already got all the culture you need. And your local opportunities for a tan are practically endless.
Second thoughts on Dale Cardwell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now that people have read his stump speech and poked through his web site, we’re hearing from a few who question Dale Cardwell’s digestibility as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.
So Far, So Left, a Democratic blog that doesn’t hide its orientation, likes Cardwell’s focus on special interest politics, but questions his stand on immigration reform.
Says the author: “Attacking Saxby from the right on immigration, while tantalizing, is nevertheless wrong, and probably stupid, too. Wrong because the position itself is wrong, and stupid because, as I see it, it will alienate Democratic voters - like, say, me - and it won’t win any Republican voters. They may not like Saxby, but they know better than to trust a Democrat to oppress the weak.”
Alan Abramowitz, the Emory University political scientist, sent us a note saying much the same thing. Cardwell’s position on the Iraq war in particular could be problematic.
“Democratic primary voters in Georgia are predominantly liberal and anti-war. They’re not going to support someone who wants to abolish the IRS and who basically supports the war. He’s in the wrong party,” Abramowitz said.
He also points out that Cardwell’s web site shows no emphasis at all on two key Democratic goose-bump issues — health care and the economy.
On the other hand, we talked this morning with a Republican strategist who was intrigued by Cardwell’s candidacy, and pointed out the resemblance between Cardwell and James Marlowe, the lead Democrat in the 10th District congressional race.
Here’s one more thought. For the last few months, Vernon Jones, the DeKalb County CEO who also has his eye on the Democratic nomination, has been fluffing his conservative feathers to attract support.
It’s possible that Cardwell’s loud entry into this race could turn Jones leftward.
The new blog out of Macon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Travis Fain and the Macon Telegraph have begun a new blog that’s half politics and half not. Called “Lucid Idiocy,” it’s worth keeping an eye on.
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Says Cardwell: Chambliss is ‘a borrow-and-spend pawn of the special interests.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dale Cardwell, former journalist turned first-time Democratic politician, jumped into the U.S. Senate race with both feet on Monday, condemning Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss as “a borrow-and-spend pawn of the special interests.”
The former WSB-TV reporter becomes the first Democrat to formally announce for the seat, and in his debut meeting with journalists — many his former colleagues — struck a populist note, and focused specifically on the man he hopes to meet on the ballot in November ’08.
“You need to know that most of your elected officials no longer work for you,” Cardwell said. “They’ve been busy looking for the special interest groups that fund their campaigns and send them on fancy vacations all over the world. Our current senior senator, Saxby Chambliss, is no different.”
Cardwell made no mention of Vernon Jones, the CEO of DeKalb County and the only other Democrat who has expressed interest in the race. But standing behind Cardwell at his announcement was Eddie Moody, the former DeKalb County police chief who said he was ousted by Jones in 2004.
With a message aimed at swing voters and disaffected Republicans, Cardwell has provoked early — and extremely high — interest among key Democrats. As consultants, he’s hired on Jeff DiSantis, former executive director of the state party, and Emil Runge, former spokesman for the party. Another former executive director of the party, Jon Anderson, is doing direct mail for Cardwell.
But most interesting was the presence of a half-dozen union officials, including Richard Ray, president of the AFL-CIO in Georgia. “He’s got some good ideas. Some I’m kind of shaky on,” said Ray. “He’s got an uphill battle.”
“This is no endorsement. We’d like to hear what he has to say,” said Ben Myers, political and legislative director of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 613.
Cardwell again promised he would take no money from special interests, but said his name recognition in metro Atlanta would help overcome his financial disadvantage. “I kind of get to start on the 30-yard line,” Cardwell said.
Again, there was the populist message. “This may be our last chance to take our government back. This may be our last chance to elect an outsider who will stay an outsider,” Cardwell said. “I’m going to be able to draw money and raise money from people who have never been politically active because they don’t trust Washington. They know they’re being lied to.”
Cardwell also indicated he would be relying on credentials earned as a watchdog journalist. “I pursued [errant politicians] like a hound dog, grabbed their pants leg, and I didn’t let go until I got the truth. That’s what I will continue to do for you,” he said.
The former investigative journalist declared himself pro-choice, anti-IRS, pro-Second Amendment, opposed to the current immigration reform bill, and in favor of a tougher line on Iraq and its government.
Cardwell said he began thinking of entering the Senate race in December, and made his final decision two months ago. His last day at WSB-TV was Friday.
Among the highlights of the press conference:
— “Georgians want the truth. They want an honest person, an independent thinker who will not be the lapdog of their party when their party is wrong,” Cardwell said. “When asked about the war in Iraq, Mr. Chambliss, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told us, ‘I don’t know what was wrong with our strategy, or who was responsible for it.’ My fellow Georgians, it’s time to change that.”
But Cardwell said he was not in favor of withdrawing from the region. He wants the Iraq government held to benchmarks. “If they fail, we will redeploy our troops, but we will never surrender a security perimeter, a beachhead if you will, that we’ve earned with the blood of American lives,” he said. “We’ll maintain a base, we’ll make it safe from insurgents, and we’ll use that base to launch attacks against al-Qaida.”
But withdrawing would lead to chaos, he said. “Within five years, within three years, my 19-year-old son is going to be drafted to go to Iraq to go to the Middle East, to keep oil lanes open. We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Cardwell said.
— He spoke of abolishing the IRS, and replacing the current system with something more “simple.” Whether the so-called “fair tax” or a flat tax, Cardwell said he hadn’t decided.
— Cardwell said he’s in favor of a tougher immigration reform bill, and demanded the immediate construction of a wall across the southern U.S. border. He accused Chambliss of helping to write a bill that favored “amnesty.”
Cardwell said he favored tougher criminal and financial penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
While he said he didn’t like the guest-worker provision of the immigration reform bill, because it doesn’t allow the federal government to accurately track those workers. But he did concede that some guest worker program was necessary.
We contacted Chambliss’ office for a comment from the senator.
His spokeswoman replied, “He is preparing for a serious and spirited campaign in 2008. Whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will be formidable and Senator Chambliss looks forward to a serious dialogue on the issues.”
Perdue ‘pulled the rug out from under me,’ says Conyers senator
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Updated at 5:54 p.m. Monday. See paragraphs at bottom.
Add state Sen. John Douglas (R-Conyers) to the list of those put out by Gov. Sonny Perdue and his many vetoes of last week.
In a letter to constituents, Douglas complains of being “blind-sided” by the governor’s use of a his line-item veto powers to delete $2 million toward the expansion of a public library in Conyers.
This after Douglas had declared himself a Perdue ally in the governor’s fight with the House over the budget bill.
“He has pulled the rug out from under me and other Republicans in the Senate who would have voted to sustain his budget veto of the 2007 supplemental budget,” Douglas wrote. “That apparently didn’t carry much weight with Governor Perdue.”
“What we have seen,” said Douglas, who can be blunt, “is poor leadership in action.”
But what really miffed Douglas was the fact that not “even the lowest member of the Governor’s staff” called to let him know. Not even Ed Holcomb, the governor’s chief of staff, who lives in Rockdale County.
Read the entire letter on the jump.
ADDENDUM: Apparently the letter had some effect. Shortly before 6 p.m., Douglas sent us the following note:
“In an effort to keep you informed, I had the opportunity to speak to Ed Holcomb, the chief of staff, this afternoon to discuss the matter in more detail.
As you recall, the point of the original e-mail was that I had not be notified before hand of the coming veto and vented about how it would have been more professional to have known ahead of time.
In our conversation today, Ed tells me that few if any advance notices were given on any of the vetoes in the budget. He also said that the priority ranking of the library $2M was not as high as some of the other projects and it was that reason that the money was removed from the budget.
I accept that explanation as I have seen that sort of mechanism used on a number of other occasions in the budget process.
I appreciate the difficult and sometimes thankless job both Ed and the Governor have in Atlanta. I look forward to continuing to work with and support them on matters of importance in the future.”
June 2, 2007
Dear Rockdale Friends and Supporters:
It seems the Governor has vetoed the $2M in the FY 08 budget for expansion of the library in Conyers.
The money was inserted into the budget by the Senate after the House failed to appropriate the amount asked for by local library and community leaders.
Both Senator Ron Ramsey and I worked hard with Senate budget writers to get and keep that money in the budget.
When the budget went to House-Senate conference committee negotiators to hammer out a final version, the money remained and we celebrated what would be a great addition for local library patrons.
Now we have been blind sided by the veto of Governor Perdue.
After having supported him in every instance other than his first ill advised attempt to raise taxes in 2003, he has pulled the rug out from under me and other Republicans in the Senate who would have voted to sustain his budget veto of the 2007 supplemental budget.
I had already told the Senate leadership that I would vote to sustain his veto and work with him to craft a better use of tax payer dollars. That apparently didn’t carry much weight with Governor Perdue.
I had no warning whatsoever that he was even considering this veto.
I first heard a rumor on June 1 that some library money had been vetoed and then read the Citizen article June 2 to confirm that he had indeed killed this project.
At no time did any person on his staff, including his Rockdale Chief of Staff, Ed Holcomb, contact me or speak to me about a potential veto.
I deeply regret this turn of events. What we have seen is poor leadership in action.
Just the courtesy of a call from even the lowest member of the Governor’s staff to warn of the impending veto would have satisfied me. But that didn’t happen and we will deal with the aftermath.
I apologize for what has happened but cannot tell you it won’t happen again. Thank you for your support and consideration.
John Douglas
The Big Guy resurfaces for John Edwards
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, will add a second stop in Georgia on Tuesday. She’ll be in Savannah, then head for a Macon fund-raiser.
(Barack Obama’s wife Michelle is in Atlanta for a fund-raiser on June 6.)
In the meantime, the Edwards campaign has released a new list of Georgia supporters and it includes former lieutenant governor Mark Taylor. “He is definitely the most electable candidate in 2008 and we need a Southerner who is committed to providing good paying jobs with benefits for all Americans,” Taylor says in the release.
Taylor was among those in attendance last month at the Jefferson-Jackson Day fund-raiser for the state Democratic party. Edwards was the keynote speaker. Cathy Cox, who was Taylor’s rival in the primary race for governor last year, was there as well — but so far as we know, hasn’t made her presidential preferences known.
Other Edwards supporters announced Monday:
— State Sen. Valencia Seay of Riverdale;
— State Sen. Steve Henson of Tucker;
— State Rep. Wade Starr of Fayetteville;
— Jeff Carter, associate director for the Conflict Resolution Program and son of President Jimmy Carter
— Stephen Leeds, Atlanta attorney, party insider, and close ally of former U.S. senator Max Cleland;
— Michael Moore, former state senator and Middle Georgia attorney;
— John Moore, former state representative and former chairman of the Polk County Democratic party;
— Nick Giles, former Taylor County sheriff and past president of the Georgia Sheriffs Association;
— Ashley Bell, former DNC executive committee member and former national president of the College Democrats of America.
First a rocker, and now a developing environmentalist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of the surprises of this past session of the Legislature was the strong support that protectors of Jekyll Island were able to generate.
A combination of environmentalist muscle and concern for economy-minded vactioners — for whom the island was established — produced a bill that drew a literal line in the island’s sand.
Jekyll’s southern end will be protected from development.
The fight apparently made an impression on certain people.
Within 24 hours of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s signing of H.B. 214, the state issued a request for contract proposals from developers to re-make the rest of Jekyll.
The Jekyll Island Company, of course, is highly interested.
And it just added three new members to its board of directors.
One of them is Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for — among others — Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers Band. Leavell is making a name for himself as an environmentalist, and this spring donated a 300-acre conservation easement near Macon to the state.
Says the press release from the Jekyll Island Company:
“As members of the board, these individuals will help The Jekyll Island Company principals expand its eco-friendly coastal development expertise to projects like the redevelopment of Jekyll Island.”
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Cardwell leaves WSB-TV one day, announces for U.S. Senate the next
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Friday, Dale Cardwell ended an 11-year stint as an investigative reporter at WSB-TV.
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On Saturday, he became a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, looking to knock off Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
Surprise.
“It’s been so doggone hard to keep this under wraps,” the 44-year-old former journalist said. But he’s done it.
Cardwell, a six-time Emmy winner, will formally announce his candidacy on Monday at his campaign headquarters in College Park. He joins DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones as the only Democrats yet to express public interest in the ’08 race.
Cardwell said he will run against what he calls the daily, debilitating corruption of Washington, and promises to eschew money from special interest groups and political action committees.
Anyone who has seen Cardwell on TV knows there is a mild-mannered look about him.
But it turns out there’s a bit of mad-as-hell Howard Beale in him, too. “I have a passion as a believer and an observer, and I just can’t stand it any more,” Cardwell said.
The first issue he mentioned to us was the immigration reform bill now before the U.S. Senate, and hammered out with the assistance of both Chambliss and Johnny Isakson.
Cardwell called it an “amnesty” bill that’s aimed at satisfying corporate interests. “Georgia has to be freed from this illegal invasion that’s holding down salaries,” he said.
No, Cardwell hasn’t ever run for public office before. But he’s got a background that lends weight to his rookie attempt. And it was pointed out to us that WSB-TV’s footprint covers 60 percent of the state.
“I don’t have any baggage. I have 5 million people — they may not know my name, but they know what I stand for,” Cardwell said. “They know I’m an equal opportunity investigative reporter. I’ve investigated as many Democrats as I have Republicans.”
But Cardwell’s family background is hardcore Democrat. He was born in Kentucky and raised in Alabama, the son of a union man, a coal miner.
His wife Angie, of 21 years, is a hospice nurse. He has two children, 19-year-old Adam and 16-year-old Jessica.
Here’s a tidbit from his official bio: His mother “recalls Dale was born during a particularly brutal winter, and [that she] went as far as wrapping her newborn in blankets and placing him on the opened door of the kitchen oven, in order to ward off the single digit temperatures and biting wind that pounded the mobile home in which they lived.
Says the new candidate: “If you boil both parties down to the salt, the Republican motto is survival of the fittest. The Democratic motto is do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Cardwell says his Southern Baptist upbringing would never let him embrace social Darwinism.
It doesn’t sound like Cardwell will be one of those white Democrats who cringe at any mention of religion. He’s a deacon and substitute Sunday school teacher at Dunwoody Baptist.
His bio also lists his hobbies: restoring classic cars, sports, and singing with his brother in their long-time gospel group. So music at fund-raisers will be no problem.
Tell us the truth. You thought Clark Howard had a lock on local politics, didn’t you?
Go to the jump to read the official bio that Cardwell’s new campaign organization has put out, and a summary of his journalistic accomplishments.
Dale Cardwell Bio
Dale Cardwell is one of the premier and most consistently honored investigative journalists in Georgia. His six “Emmy” awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, as well as numerous other honors such as 2005’s “Journalist of the Year,” from the Atlanta Press Club, bear testament to the positive change he has brought to the people of the “Peach” state.
Dale’s investigations have saved taxpayers millions of dollars, and resulted in the prosecution and or resignation of numerous corrupt politicians and their appointees.
William “Dale” Cardwell was born in Greenville, Kentucky, December 31st 1962. His Father, Bill Cardwell is a retired coal miner and his mother Carolyn Cardwell is a homemaker. Dale is the second of three children. His older brother Bruce is the married father of two, and a graphic artist in Nashville, Tennessee. His sister Rebekah is a nurse, wife and mother of three in St. Augustine, Florida.
Carolyn recalls Dale was born during a particularly brutal winter, and went as far as wrapping her newborn in blankets and placing him on the opened door of the kitchen oven, in order to ward off the single digit temperatures and biting wind that pounded the mobile home in which they lived.
Bill and Carolyn are natives of Northeast Alabama, and soon after Dale’s birth, moved the family back to the Deep South when a coal mining job opened up south of Birmingham.
Dale’s early life revolved around church, family and sports. He became a born-again Christian at age nine when he gave his heart to Christ in a pew of Faith Baptist Church in Hueytown, Alabama. He attended grammar and middle school in Jefferson County Alabama, was president of his 4-H chapter, and won the club’s district-wide public speaking award in the state’s most populated county.
Dale learned first hand about harsh economic reality while watching his Dad go on strike and fight for better health care and wages as a member of the United Mine Workers of America, and later when his Dad’s mine closed down in 1976. Pending unemployment sent the family once again to the coal fields of Western Kentucky. Dale attended Ohio County High School in Hartford Kentucky, earned co-captain honors on his football team, and graduated with the distinction of student council class president in 1981.
Dale worked his way through college, spinning records and giving the news by way of several local radio stations throughout the Western Kentucky region.
He graduated cum laude from Western Kentucky University with a double major in journalism and political science in 1981, landed his first television reporting job at WKAG in Hopkinsville, and married his high school sweetheart, Angie Saint, in Beaver Dam, Kentucky on January 18, 1986.
Dale quickly demonstrated his “nose for news” when he obtained an audio tape sent from a serviceman who later died in the crash of an army-chartered jet in route to the US from Gander, Newfoundland in December of 1986, which killed all 248 aboard. The tape, mailed to the serviceman’s fiancé’ days before the flight, told her of the service men and women’s fear of flying on what he referred to as the “rickety-old” army-chartered transportation. Dale’s story was aired on every national network and led to hearings in Washington and a thorough vetting of the military’s aviation transport policy.
Dale continued his investigative journalism at WBMG in Birmingham, Alabama, WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, WSMV in Nashville, Tennessee and an eleven year stint as a consumer reporter and investigative journalist with WSB in Atlanta, the nation’s ninth largest television market.
Dale’s first three years at WSB gave him the opportunity to work closely with and produce stories for the premier radio and television consumer expert in the nation, Clark Howard. Clark and Dale’s investigations earned numerous awards, but more importantly, saved Georgians millions of dollars, and empowered them to “save more, spend less, become their own consumer advocate.”
Dale’s more recent investigations have led to the exposure of corruption on the part of former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, the conviction of former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, the resignation of Fulton County Sheriff Jackie Barrett, the return of public funds by Senator Zell Miller, and the termination of Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue’s abuse of government airplanes and helicopters for private benefit.
Dale lives in DeKalb County Georgia, with his wife Angie, their son Adam and daughter Jessica. Dale serves as a Deacon and substitute Sunday School teacher at Dunwoody Baptist Church. Dale’s hobbies include sports, singing with his brother Bruce in their long time gospel group, and restoring classic cars.
Memorable Dale Cardwell Investigations
July 2000 DeKalb Sheriff Sid Dorsey’s illegal misuse of County deputies.
Investigative journalist Dale Cardwell catches Sheriff Dorsey using on-duty County deputies staffing bank security jobs on behalf of the sheriff’s private security company. The investigation leads to the exposure of multiple illegal acts by the sheriff, and the exposures are key to Dorsey’s conviction on corruption charges.
March 2001 Derwin Brown Murder Investigation:
Dale Cardwell lands key interview with figure in the Derwin Brown murder investigation. The woman, who has refused to cooperate with authorities, tells Dale Cardwell that the shoot-out at Derwin Brown murder suspect Patrick Cuffy’s home, was actually the result of a drug deal gone bad. Cardwell’s exposure of Cuffy’s drug dealing provides authorities the necessary leverage to jail Cuffy and create the pressure that eventually leads to Cuffy’s cooperation with authorities. Cuffy admits that he carried out the murder of Derwin Brown on orders from his boss, Sheriff Sid Dorsey.
September 2000: Bill Campbell Investigation: Dale Cardwell, in partnership with Channel Two investigative colleague Mark Winne, exposes the Federal investigation into the gambling activities of Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell. Cardwell and Winne’s stories keep the public informed as the investigation widens and eventually leads to the prosecution of more than a dozen top city officials and culminates in the former mayor’s prosecution in 2006.
April 2003: Oxendine Car Investigation:
Dale Cardwell exposes the fact that during a severe state budget crisis, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has used state funds to purchase and luxuriously appoint a Crown Victoria automobile, after the state’s Department of Administrative Services has specifically instructed him not to do so. The story is just one of an unending line of such exposures which show waste in Government and hold elected and appointed leaders accountable.
January 2004: Governor Aircraft Investigation:
Dale Cardwell exposes the unauthorized personal use of state aircraft by Governor Sonny Perdue. Cardwell’s investigation documents Perdue’s decision to bypass Atlanta in the state helicopter because his son is running late to a high school football game. Dale’s story, and subsequent exposures of misuse lead Georgia’s Attorney General to issue an order prohibiting the Governor and future Governors from using state vehicles for non-state business.
March 2004: Sheriff’s Illegal Investments Investigation:
Dale Cardwell exposes Fulton County Sheriff Jackie Barrett’s illegal investment of seven million public dollars. The investigation exposes Barrett’s receipt of tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions from the private investors who received portions of the seven million dollars. In May, Barrett’s Chief Deputy Caudell Jones pled guilty to his hand in the illegal scheme. Jones is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney and the investigation is continuing.
February 2005: Politicians’ Flood Buyout Investigation:
Dale Cardwell exposes how dozens of DeKalb County homeowners who qualified for Federal flood plane buyouts were “leapfrogged” by the buyout of a local politician’s home. The public paid more than 300-hundred thousand dollars for the politician’s home, though his “buyout” score was substantially lower than dozens of deserving families who’s homes are in a perpetual flood plane. The County administration never explains its reasons.
March 2005: Fulton County Courthouse Shooting Investigation:
Dale Cardwell exposes the inexcusable security lapse that led to Fulton County courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols’ escape. Cardwell obtains copies notes found in Nichols’ cell, which show Nichols had been planning an escape for some time. Additionally, Cardwell, with the help of Fulton County Deputies, expose the fact Nichols had been caught with “shanks” in his shoes two days before his escape, and e-mails sent from Nichols’ mother, warning Fulton Sheriff’s officials of the likelihood of her son’s violent reaction to a guilty verdict. Even so, security measures weren’t followed that would have most likely averted the greatest tragedy in Fulton County courthouse history.
February 2006: Illegal Investment of Public Money:
Dale Cardwell exposes the 600-thousand dollar breach of public trust by the man who would become the Fulton County Sheriff’s Chief of Staff. Cardwell learns from sources that in 1999, John Crosland and his company had been awarded a 600-thousand dollar grant from Georgia’s Department of Human Services, to move mothers from welfare to work. The State’s Attorney General determines the money had been squandered by Crosland and his company, and that almost none of the money had been spent on its intended purpose. Cardwell learns the Sheriff employs Crosland as his Chief of Staff, even though the Sheriff knew of this breach of public trust. After Cardwell’s exposure, Crosland is ordered by the state to repay the money.
July 2005: Zell Miller Mansion Funds Investigation:
Dale Cardwell exposes the misuse of state tax dollars by former Governor Zell Miller. The money had been provided by Georgia citizens for the purpose of operating the Governor’s mansion. Cardwell learns that Miller had been “bankrolling” the public’s money by having private companies and special interest groups pay for functions and entertainment at the mansion.
Miller left office without the public knowing he’d pocketed more than 112-thousand “mansion” dollars. He paid it back after Dale exposed it.
September 2006: Dentist Bart Corbin Murder Investigation:
Dale Cardwell travels to Alabama and confronts the best friend of Gwinnett County Dentist and murder suspect Bart Corbin. Cardwell travels to Troy Alabama and shines the light on the key witness who supplied the gun that killed Corbin’s wife Jennifer. According to Jennifer Corbin’s family, Dale’s confrontation with Richard Wilson in Wilson’s home town, along with a well timed visit from Gwinnett County D.A. investigators, prompts Wilson to “come clean” to investigators. The break in the case seals a guilty plea on two murders from Bart Corbin and saves Georgia taxpayers more than one million dollars in trial expenses.
May 2007: Georgia Administrators “Double-Dipping”
Dale Cardwell exposes the fact that Georgia taxpayers are shelling out nearly 400-million dollars annually to state retirees who are drawing substantial state pensions, and also returning to the state tax-payer funded work force. Specifically, Dale’s investigation shows nearly one-fourth of that money is being used to pay retired school administrators to return to administration jobs, with no competition, and preventing that money from going to the places it was intended by the legislature; specifically, to bring veteran classroom teachers back to the classroom where they are needed. Dale’s exposure of the abuse prompts action from the Governor, a state audit, and planned legislative action to correct the abuse.
Thompson demonstrates the advantage of non-candidacy to Romney, McCain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Matt Towery of InsiderAdvantage is branching out into national polling, with a 1,000-voter survey of Republican voters and their presidential preferences.
Towery says the buzz over actor/former U.S. senator Fred Thompson has vaulted him to No. 2 in the GOP scrum for the White House, past both Mitt Romney and John McCain. But Rudy Giuliani still holds the top spot with a substantial lead.
The poll was conducted May 30 and 31. Note that Thompson, Romney and McCain are all within the 3 percent margin of error. Newt Gingrich was not included among the pack.
Here’s the rundown:
Rudy Giuliani - 28%
Fred Thompson -19%
Mitt Romney 17%
John McCain -16%
Mike Huckabee- 4%
Sam Brownback -3%
Duncan Hunter- 2%
Ron Paul - 2%
Jim Gilmore - 1%
Undecided/Don’t Know -8%
Download the crosstabs by clicking here..
Okay. Now he’s not running for mayor of Macon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon) just announced he will not run for mayor of Macon, citing unspecified but recent surgery. Brown said he’ll keep his position as leader of the Democratic caucus in the Senate.
Yes, we told you a few weeks ago that he was in. Ah, well.
Here’s most of Brown’s statement:
“Until today, it had been my intention to run for mayor of Macon, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not be able to run.
“I am recuperating from surgery. The surgery and my recovery period could last for another two to three weeks. As an active and, until now, very healthy person, I believed that I would be able to speed up my recovery in time to run a full campaign for mayor of Macon
“Unfortunately, I was overly-optimistic in my ability to recover from my surgery.
“My doctors assure me that I can expect a full recovery, but unfortunately the period of time from qualifying until the primary vote is compressed — only six weeks — and every day on the campaign trail will be crucial. I look forward to continuing my service as Democratic leader in the state Senate.”
Naturally, we called Brown’s chief of staff, Matt Gewolb, to inquire into the nature of Brown’s date with the scalpel. If you know Brown, you know how incredibly close he keeps his cards to his vest.
His own chief of staff said he didn’t know any details about Brown’s health problems.
Carter Center highlights the post-presidency
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Possibly the only museum on earth where you would expect to go to an exihibit featuring a preserved guinea worm and a life-size pit latrine would be the one in our fair town, adjacent to the Jimmy Carter Library.
These items, along with a roving ballot box and bicycle used in village elections in China and other mementos of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s efforts around the world, are part of “Beyond the Presidency: 25 Years at the Carter Center,” an exhibit which opened Wednesday and runs through Nov. 27.
For a history-minded visitor, actually, it might be an interesting stop.
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