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Friday, December 14, 2007
Fleming committee wants Brian Nichols judge to show lawmakers the books
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House committee conducting a special inquiry of the money being spent for Brian Nichols defense has sent Fulton County trial Judge Hilton Fuller their request for an accounting.
The entire letter, signed by state Reps. Barry Fleming, Jay Shaw and Chuck Martin, can be found here.
Here’s the gist:
“Because you have spoken from the bench as to the need for more public funding for Mr. Nichols’ trial, and because you have already approved close to $2 million in expenses for Mr. Nichols’ defense team, it is incumbent upon us a legislators to ask for your help in understanding what has been spent and why.
“To that end we are requesting that you release to us all orders in which the court has directed the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council to pay the fees and expenses sought by Mr. Nichols’ defense counsel.”
The letter closes with this thought: “We are unable to budget to provide Mr. Nichols and others the reasonable and necessary defense to which they are entitled if we do not know for what we are being asked to pay.”
Blogwatch: Dems gather in Forsyth County to chew the issues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Drifting through the Grift has a thorough, candidate-by-candidate synopsis of a forum of Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate on Thursday evening.
The locale was Forsyth County. Participants included Maggie Martinez, Rand Knight, Dale Cardwell, and Josh Lanier. Vernon Jones didn’t show.
Chambliss wanders from Georgia, in search of a fight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How confident is U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of his ’08 chances at re-election?
Confident enough to jump into someone else’s race. YouTube is sporting a video that Chambliss helped make for Republican colleague Norm Coleman of Minnesota.
The topic is the farm bill, and Chambliss appears about two minutes into it.
Like Chambliss, Coleman is up for re-election next year. The Minnesota senator faces Democratic opposition that includes satirist Al Franken, the former “Saturday Night Live” performer.
The New York Times reported last week that Franken has raised $1.89 million for his contest, which includes a non-primary nomination process — compared to the $1.7 million that Coleman has gathered up.
The healing effect of the Huckabee campaign in Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One thing worth noting about the rising of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in Georgia is the unifying effect he’s had on Christian conservatives — who were split last year by the Ralph Reed race.
We’ve already told you that Kay Godwin of Blackshear, a leading voice in the state’s Religious Right, has signed on with Huckabee.
In recent days, Maurice Atkinson of Macon, a member of the GOP state committee, put out an e-mail announcing he was a Huckabee man, too.
Atkinson and Godwin were on opposite sides of the Reed campaign. Godwin was for Reed, Atkinson for the ultimate victor, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
Talked the other day to Sadie Fields, leader of the Georgia Christian Alliance. She says she’s staying on the sidelines of this one.
Blogwatch: Franklin taking some heat for that Vick letter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On his Mad Democrat blog, Javier Brown takes after Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin this morning for that letter to the judge she wrote on Michael Vick’s behalf, prior to his sentencing.
“I find it deplorable for the leader of our city to even get involved in this garbage,” he writes.
In the letter, Franklin notes that she confabbed with the fallen Falcons quarterback this summer.
“Knowing how much Michael means to the city of Atlanta, I sat down and talked with him this summer following his guilty plea,” she said.
Her most specific request:
“I ask that any sentence you impose allows this young man an opportunity to attempt a return to his employment with the NFL.”
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