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Thursday, July 26, 2007
On manners, a missing moustache, and Washington-proof briefs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Notes from a short trip to Washington:
— Talked to Joshua Evans today. He’s the 24-year-old campaign manager for Paul Broun, who’s now trying to help the new congressman set up his office. He mentioned that Jim Whitehead has yet to call with his congratulations.
Don’t know what’s up with that. Republican Mac Collins has yet to concede his ’06 congressional race against Democrat Jim Marshall. Maybe graciousness has become a sign of weakness in the GOP camp.
Evans, by the way, will not be Broun’s chief of staff. He’s a city councilman in Greenbrier, Tenn., a position he’s held since he was 21.
— Passed U.S. Rep. Tom Price in a basement corridor in the U.S. Capitol, but neither of us had a chance to stop. He’s followed colleague Phil Gingrey and has ditched his moustache. Given his campaign stash, we know it’s not an attempt to duck creditors.
— One of the surprising attendees at U.S. Rep. Paul Broun’s swearing-in was state Rep. Bobby Franklin, a hard-core Republican from Cobb County who once told us that he feared the reach of Washington corruption so much that he always took the bypass when he found himself close to D.C.
He had special dispensation for this trip. Or was wearing protective underwear. One or the other.
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Not just an impartial dispenser of justice, but an ATM, too
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s the political story that everyone’s talking about today, from the Associated Press:
HOMERVILLE, Ga. - The sheriff got a $23,485 patrol car, the tax assessor got a $2,407 computer and Homerville City Hall got its carpets cleaned for $665 - all with the stroke of a judge’s pen.
As one of rural Clinch County’s most powerful politicians, Superior Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III has been generous over the years in ordering the county to spend money on new equipment, upgrades and repairs.
County commissioners, who control the budget under Georgia law, always complied - until they discovered the judge had ordered payments to five employees totaling $67,255. A June 8 audit report showed the money, paid out over six years, was kept off the books and was never taxed.
Soon after commissioners reported Blitch to state authorities, FBI agents executed a search warrant on the judge’s office in Homerville, the county seat, on June 26.
Clinch County commissioners say the secret payments are just one example of how Blitch, chief judge of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit, has usurped their control of the county budget - which came to only $3.5 million last year - by holding back thousands of dollars in court fines and fees and dictating how those funds are spent.
Kind of redefines the term “activist judge,” doesn’t it? Judge Blitch, as many of you know, is husband to former state senator Peg Blitch.
