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Thursday, November 15, 2007
Mike Jacobs: Vernon Jones doesn’t need that veto power
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got back from a speech by Newt Gingrich at a meeting of the Jewish National Fund in Atlanta. Among several legislators in the audience was state Rep. Mike Jacobs of north DeKalb County, who turned in his Democratic credentials earlier this year.
We began talking about DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, who this week vetoed an ordinance to roll back closing time at bars from 4 a.m. to 2:30 a.m.
Now a Republican, Jacobs said he was preparing legislation — general, not local — that would strip Jones of his veto power. The legislation would apply to every county commission in Georgia, but the DeKalb CEO is one of the few heads of local governments so empowered.
This from Jacobs in a follow-up e-mail: “The bill would prohibit the CEO from vetoing legislation and enable the county commission to preside over and set the agenda for county commission meetings. In order to become effective in DeKalb, the bill would require a referendum to occur in 2008.”
Another House Republican, Jill Chambers, is a co-sponsor. Jacobs said the introduction of the legislation so quickly after Jones’ veto isn’t a coincidence. “We aim to put citizens, neighborhoods, and their elected commissioners back in the driver’s seat of the DeKalb County government,” Jacobs said.
But let’s go back to that referendum.
Jones is a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Let’s assume he wins the Democratic nomination. With this bill, Republicans in effect would be calling for a countywide referendum on Jones’ eight-year tenure as CEO — just as Jones would be counting on DeKalb for a lopsided turn-out in his favor.
What an interesting little bill this could turn out to be.
The state NAACP gets a nasty bit of mail
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia chapter of the NAACP says its office received a letter yesterday “containing a powdery white substance and racial epithets.” We’re presuming they’ve handed it over to law enforcement.
A press conference at the state Capitol is scheduled for 11:30 p.m.
A state Senate committee has an all-day hearing on hate-crime legislation scheduled for today. State NAACP officials are among those scheduled to give presentations.
On Republican chances and the fractured Christian base
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s must-read comes from the Los Angeles Times, which takes a look at the impact of a fractured and disillusioned evangelical base on Republican chances next year.
We’ve addressed this topic before, and — what with praying for rain and all — you may be tired of reading about the intersection of religion and politics.
But when it comes to the ’08 presidential race, the splintering of the Religious Right will rank with the Iraq war as a defining dynamic. And it will have everything to do with the South’s future relationship with a national Republican party.
Here’s the lede from the L.A. Times:
A fundamental shift is transforming the religious right, long a force in presidential politics, as aging evangelical leaders split on the 2008 race and a new generation of pastors turns away from politics altogether.
The result, in the short term, could be a boost for the centrist candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose messy personal life and support for gay rights and legal abortion have not produced the unified opposition from Christian conservatives that many anticipated.
Over the longer term, the distancing of religious leaders from politics could prove even more consequential, denying the GOP one of the essential building blocks it has used to capture the White House in five of the last seven presidential races.
For you Fred-heads out there, here’s the killer quote:
“The days when Ralph Reed [and his Christian Coalition] could mobilize tens of thousands of followers are gone,” said Rich Galen, an advisor to GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee. “In terms of suddenly turning on a spigot of funds and volunteers and direct mail, that just doesn’t happen anymore.”
