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February 2008
Chapman has a defender on the Jekyll Island Authority
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know that on Thursday, the Senate Economic Development Committee killed three bills sponsored by state Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) intended to upend current redevelopment plans for Jekyll Island.
In the process, two members of the Jekyll Island Authority — chairman Ben Porter and board member Steve Croy — accused the senator of using lies to make his case. See the details here.
This afternoon, we got this note from Ed Boshears, a third member of the Jekyll Island Authority, indicating some sharp division among members of that board:
“I want to make it clear that I have not accused Sen. Chapman of lying and I do not think he is lying.
“There is a difference of opinion about the interpretation of certain figures concerning Jekyll. Chapman may or may not be right in what he is saying. If Porter and Croy want to make shrill, hysterical accusations that Chapman is lying, then they need to provide proof and the only way to do that is to have an outside independent agency do an evaluation of the figures.
“We are taught as attorneys never to accuse anybody of lying unless you are prepared to prove it. Porter and Croy cannot prove that he is lying and they know it.
“As the dean of my law school used to say, ‘Figures don’t lie but liars can figure.’ I did not learn how true that maxim is until I got on the Jekyll Authority Board. Porter and Croy’s statements are grossly irresponsible and I do not want anybody to think that I agree with or condone their behavior.”
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Look who’s not sponsoring McCain’s ATM stop in Buckhead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican presumptive nominee John McCain comes to town on March 6 for a $1,000-a-head Buckhead fund-raiser. Here’s the invitation, and here’s the detailed article.
It’s worth noting which GOP members of Congress are not on the list of hosts.
So far as we know, U.S. Rep. John Linder’s the only one absent who has a decent excuse. His candidate’s still in the race.
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DOT to ax 150 road projects next week
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re picking up word that the state Department of Transportation, in an effort to reconcile the reality of funding with an overpromised list of projects, is preparing to issue stop-work orders on 150 current road projects contained within 70 contracts.
Which projects, we don’t know. Letters are to go out next week. About half of the 35 contracts could be renegotiated, but the others will be dropped entirely.
We’re told to anticipate a drop in annual funding for the Fast Forward program — Gov. Sonny Perdue’s top-shelf transportation program — from $2.7 billion to $1.1 billion.
Since roads are a big part of politics, the cuts are likely to spur legislative efforts to come up with more cash to relieve traffic congestion in metro Atlanta and elsewhere. Both the House and Senate are mulling over different approaches that involve a 1 percent sales tax.
Shortly after taking the job of DOT commissioner last year, Gena Abraham said her initial investigations found that her inherited staff couldn’t tell her how many projects the agency had. She also confirmed that the department needed $7 billion more over six years to cope with commitments it had made.
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Obama without a lapel pin is unpatriotic, but Kingston without one is a fashion statement
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A cardinal rule of politics: When attacking your opponent for failing to wrap himself in the flag, first make sure the banner in question is fastened securely around your own shoulders.
U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah) caused a stir last week when he questioned the patriotism of Obamas on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO — Michelle for her statement about pride, and Barack for his supposed refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance and wear an American flag lapel pin.
Kingston has dropped the Pledge of Allegiance accusation. But he was on MSNBC’s “Live with Dan Abrams” on Thursday, hammering on that lapel pin.
Said Kingston: “Everybody wears ‘em, from a mayor to a county commissioner to members of Congress to the president. And it’s curious that suddenly there’s a guy who doesn’t want to do it….”
Abrams: “Congressman, first let me ask you, you’re not wearing a lapel pin, are you?”
Kingston: “I will wear one and I have worn one. But I’m not making a statement about it.”
Abrams: “But you see my point? I had no idea you were going to show up without a lapel pin, but it seems kind of absurd that you’re saying that Barack Obama’s patriotism should be questioned because he’s not wearing a lapel pin, and then you come on the show not wearing one.”
Kingston: “Well, Dan, I don’t follow that at all. I’m saying I will be glad to wear one. I have worn one and I do wear one. But Barack Obama says he won’t wear one. That’s a completely different thing.”
The Savannah congressman declared that his comments shouldn’t be characterized as attacks. They were just “a little banter back and forth.”
Hat tip to aTypical Joe for this one.
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The Speaker’s tax plan: Before the blow from the left, a swipe from the right
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This afternoon, Democrats in the state House and Senate will formally announce their opposition to House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to shift the state away from the school property tax in favor of an expanded sales tax.
But they were beaten to the punch by Grover Norquist, leader of the Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform, who e-mailed a letter to House members urging them to vote “no.”
“This plan, which has been modified numerous times, is now being fast-tracked with little room for legislators to analyze or fully digest the consequences to taxpayers. This is not the way to set tax policy. Barring any possibility for further review, which would help clarify certain issues and allow signers of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to get certainty that this is in fact not a tax increase, ATR urges you to vote no on the GREAT plan,” wrote the leader of the anti-tax group.
This doesn’t bode well for Richardson, who needs two-thirds of the House to move his plan to the Senate.
See the complete letter on the jump.
Dear Legislator,
As you continue to debate the latest version of the GREAT plan, I urge you to take into consideration all of the moving parts of this package and ensure that taxpayers will truly be rewarded for the fruits of your labors. Before enacting comprehensive tax “reform”, please step back and consider the implications of each piece of the package.
Many of you have pledged to your constituents that you will oppose and fight against any efforts to raise taxes. As a result, you will want to ensure that the result of this package is at minimum, revenue neutral, or better yet, an overall tax cut.
In its current form, the package contains one key element to ensuring that this reform effort is a victory for taxpayers: assessment and millage rate limits. Without these essential taxpayer protections, you run the risk of enacting only “loosely-stitched” property tax relief that could easily be undone in future legislative sessions.
Without the guarantee of limitations to local spending, Georgians could be subject to increased local spending (supplemented by higher assessment and millage rates) on top of higher grocery and services bills. If these taxpayer protections are dropped, this package runs the risk of becoming a tax increase.
In stark contrast to the rate limits, one element of this package potentially disables the viability of your “reform” effort. Calling for an expansion of the states sales tax to include what appears to be a telephone-book listing of services, is a move that both harms the taxpayer and is likely to cause great contention if passed.
In the last 6 months, Michigan and Maryland each passed a similar services tax, which were immediately opposed by voters throughout the state. Michigan legislators were forced to overturn their tax, while Maryland legislators are currently working to do the same. It seems that taxpayers do not respond well when winners and losers are selected by their elected officials.
Experience in other states shows that the more moving parts involved in a tax “reform” package, the greater the risk of unintended consequences. Taxpayers oftentimes find themselves on the losing side of the bargain when comprehensive “reform” is on the table.
Bearing this in mind, I urge you to proceed with caution. Rumor has it that this bill continues to develop and that all of the aforementioned elements may have been subtracted or changed in the process. If that is the case, the likelihood of this package being an overall tax increase goes up exponentially. One thing is certain, if you cannot identify all the moving arts of this plan- you should be wary of what dangers may lay in store for taxpayers if it passes.
This plan, which has been modified numerous times, is now being fast-tracked with little room for legislators to analyze or fully digest the consequences to taxpayers. This is not the way to set tax policy. Barring any possibility for further review, which would help clarify certain issues and allow signers of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to get certainty that this is in fact not a tax increase, ATR urges you to vote no on the GREAT plan.
Onward,
Grover Norquist
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On dealing with dissident groups: First, remove the cash from their wallets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Earlier this week, the state Capitol was flooded by men and women — many of them elected officials — representing the state’s school boards, city governments and county commissions.
All were protesting passage of House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to shift the state from school property taxes to an expanded sales tax.
The Georgia Municipal Association, the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, the Georgia School Boards Association and the Georgia School Superintendents Association all carry a great deal of weight.
So now we have H.B. 854, sponsored by state Rep. John Lunsford. As we understand it, the bill was defeated 6-5 Wednesday by the House Regulated Industries Committee.
But Lunsford, one of the Speaker’s “hawks,” asked for a vote of reconsideration. He got what he wanted, and the bill stands a good chance of resurrection today.
H.B. 854 was conceived last year as a measure to require unions to file all sorts of financial information with Secretary of State Karen Handel. But it has also been amended to say this: “No public funds shall be disbursed, either through contract or grant, to any organization which engages in lobbying.”
The influential organizations we named above are largely funded with dues paid by cities, counties and school boards across Georgia.
Sounds like someone’s trying to clear the halls in the Capitol.
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Another short list — but this one doesn’t include Sonny Perdue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Should a Democrat win the White House in November, the immediate question becomes who he/she would pick for the next opening on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The name of Leah Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, currently tops one list on a legal blog run by a law professor at Ohio State University.
“Age 52 and the only African-American female chief justice in the United States,” is how Douglas Berman describes Sears.
Hat tip to Jason Pye and Peach Pundit for this one.
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Blogwatch: Fight brewing over legal ads between on-line firms, newspapers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Macon blogger Amy Morton is taking on state Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) and his S.B. 391, which would require Secretary of State Karen Handel to hire a company to run a web site that publishes the legal ads that now go to local newspapers.
“I’d say that this bill is a not-so-thinly-veiled smack at [House Minority Leader] DuBose Porter [of Dublin] who owns several papers in rural Georgia if the truth were not a bit plainer,” writes Morton, a Democratic activist.
Global Notice, a California company, “has made $1,000 campaign contributions to both Staton and [state Sen. Chip] Rogers, two of the sponsors of the legislation,” she writes.
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Keep your day job — because the other one may not be there
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Early this morning, the state Department of Labor reported that the state’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent in January, up a full percentage point since November.
It’s been 16 years since we’ve had a two-month increase like that, according to state record-keepers.
“I continue to be concerned by weakness in Georgia’s labor market,” said state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “Clearly, the credit crisis and slumping housing sector are negatively impacting the job market.”
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Hutchins takes a shot at Lewis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Rev. Markel Hutchins, who’s challenging Rep. John Lewis in the Democratic congressional primary this summer, found fresh ammunition to use against the incumbent after Lewis announced he was dropping his support for Sen. Hillary Clinton in favor of Sen. Barack Obama.
Lewis’s decision to back Clinton, a friend, over Obama, potentially the nation’s first African American president, proved that he was out of touch with his district, which overwhelmingly backed Obama in the Georgia primary, Hutchins said.
Lewis’s switch to Obama, however, showed that Lewis is also a typical Washington political opportunist, Hutchins said.
“After nearly a month of suggestive posturing, denials and confusion, it became clear that Congressman Lewis has spent too much time in Washington and too little time listening to his constituents,” Hutchins said in a statement.
For his part, Lewis said Wednesday that he plans to run an aggressive campaign against Hutchins.
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Democrats to put themselves in front of House speaker’s tax plan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House and Senate Democrat leaders, plus state party officials, will assemble at the Capitol on Thursday to announce their opposition to House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to shift Georgia away from school property taxes — by expanding the reach of the sales tax.
If they hold together, Democrats could deny Richardson the two-thirds majority he needs in both chambers in order to get the measure on the November ballot for the required referendum.
Look for them to focus on the 174 new services that a sales tax would include — from haircuts to ATM withdrawals to car repair — to make up for the property tax revenue that now flows to school systems.
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Budget tales: How a parking deck became a foray into China
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last year, Gov. Sonny Perdue nixed $2 million lawmakers had approved in the state budget for a parking deck in Gainesville.
In the typical, round-about-way these things happen at the Capitol, at least some of the money may go to promote Perdue’s launching of a China economic development office when he travels there next month, according to our AJC colleague James Salzer
It’s only $2 million in among $20.5 billion. But it’s one of those seemingly minor issues that typically hold up passage of budgets at the statehouse.
The money Perdue killed for the parking deck was in the fiscal 2008 budget, which began last July 1. When the House began taking up the mid-year changes in January, it left the $2 million cut alone.
But the state’s economic development agency said it needed the money. So the Senate put the $2 million back in the budget.
House leaders said they weren’t told anything about how the money would be spent, and besides, it didn’t fit with the Senate’s often-repeated budget principles that the mid-year budget be used for school enrollment growth and emergencies.
House leaders — and Salzer — finally got a list this morning of how the money would be spent. About $250,000 would go to upgrade the Georgia.org web site. More than $500,000 would go to promote a biotech conference next year (including a “golf event”) and $250,000 would be spent on the launch of the state’s new China economic development office, including “significant expenditures” for advertising, public relations, marketing.
As part of the launch, Perdue is leading a group of business leaders on a trade mission to China as part of Delta’s inaugural flight to Shanghai.
House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans) said the economic development agency has already committed to spend much of the money it wants added to the budget. But little of what the agency wants to do, Harbin said, sounds like an emergency that demands immediate funding.
“We appreciate the work the department has done,” Harbin told Salzer. “None of these meet the criteria of an emergency or critical need. That’s why we are asking these questions. If these are emergencies, we are willing to work with them.”
Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) responded, “It’s not a lot of money considering all we are doing to try to recruit businesses to Georgia. It sounds like legitimate places to spend it, in the correct fields. I don’t know why the House should oppose the funding.”
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Studying ‘Terminator’ battlefield possibilities at Georgia Tech
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a little offbeat, but Ronald Arkin of Georgia Tech is mentioned prominently in an AFP piece today on the battlefield use of killer robots — seriously, “gun-toting” robots — by the U.S. military:
“Robotics systems may have the potential to out-perform humans from a perspective of the laws of war and the rules of engagement,” he told a conference on technology in warfare at Stanford University last month.
The sensors of intelligent machines, he argued, may ultimately be better equipped to understand an environment and to process information. “And there are no emotions that can cloud judgment, such as anger,” he added.
We did a little Internet searching — and came up with this Arkin paper on “Governing Lethal Behavior: Embedding Ethics in a Hybrid Deliberative/Reactive Robot Architecture.”
Happy reading, science fiction buffs.
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A TV tale of the EPD director and the chairman of the state DOT board
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dale Russell at Fox 5 had a piece on Tuesday in which he said Carol Couch, director of the state Environmental Protection Division, overruled her own staff and federal regulators to give developers permission to build on top of an intermittent stream near Lake Lanier. For a local Walmart.
One of the developers was Mike Evans, chairman of the board that governs the state Department of Transportation. Couch’s decision eventually was set aside. Here’s a link to the video.
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Schaefer says she may jump into 10th District race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun may be picking up another opponent in the Republican primary this July.
State Sen. Nancy Schaefer (R-Turnerville) just told us that she’ll decide “in the next few days” whether to enter the race.
This is important because it would force a three-way geographic split in the 10th District congressional contest. Broun hails from Athens. House Majority Whip Barry Fleming, who announced last summer, draws his support from Augusta.
Schaefer currently represents northeast Georgia, which provided Broun with much of his surprise margin of victory in last year’s special election to replace the late Charlie Norwood.
Schaefer also does extremely well among conservative Christians, another point of support for Broun.
“We’ve had a poll run. We have quite a large group that has asked me to run on several occasions,” Schaefer said.
And the poll? “It was pretty favorable,” she said.
Democrat Bobby Saxon has also announced his candidacy for the 10th District.
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Put it on. Put it all on.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They roasted Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle last night.
All right, they didn’t roast him. They held a match under his feet until his toes got warm.
Since the collapse of the great Cracker Crumble, that irreverent and often ribald fund-raiser for the Georgia Press Association, the place of humor in local politics has been a touchy thing.
Tuesday night’s $100-a-seat cause was sufficient — TEAM Georgia raises money for highway safety initiatives and a scholarship for children who are victims of drunk drivers.
But it’s clear that even Senate chairmen, with bills and causes of their own at stake, were hesitant to poke fun at their boss in public. A non-politician, local radio voice Rhubarb Jones, got the largest laugh.
Listing what Cagle must avoid if he’s to become governor in 2010, Jones included, “No secret divorces in Paulding County.” Not something any lawmaker with legislation in play at the state Capitol is at liberty to say.
The lieutenant governor himself may have put on the most entertaining show. He walked in with a Great Dane — no, we’re not sure why — and immediately stripped off his shirt and tie to reveal a referee’s zebra togs.
Because he thinks of himself as the peacemaker between House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Gov. Sonny Perdue, that’s why.
During dinner, Cagle stepped behind a video screen to change back into a shirt and tie. But the screen was backlit. So the audience — the portion that was paying attention — was treated to the silhouette of the lieutenant governor doing a reverse strip-tease. Into a brown suit.
Take our word for it. Cagle may be many things, but he’s no Gypsy Rose Lee.
Still, for morality’s sake, it is somehow an encouraging thing to watch a politician put his clothes on in public.
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Because nothing eases a tense situation like a bottle of water and a coonskin cap
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Finally, Tennessee is cracking a smile.
Over the last few weeks, that state has reacted to Georgia’s call for moving their shared border a smidge north with a distinct lack of humor.
“Ill-conceived” and a “heinous assault on the sovereignty of Tennessee” was the wording of a resolution introduced Monday into that state’s legislature, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
But today, the mayor of Chattanooga — portions of which would be gobbled up by Georgia were the southern state to get its way — decided to give ridicule a try.
Chattanoogan.com is reporting this:
The city of Chattanooga, facing a possible Georgia land grab as part of an effort to get access to the Tennessee River, is sending a truck load of bottled water to Atlanta.
Mayor Ron Littlefield said the water will be delivered on Wednesday by his aide Matt Lea wearing a coonskin cap.
The mayor has officially proclaimed Feb. 27, 2008, as “Give our Georgia Friends a Drink Day…..”
“Please know that we are willing to help our neighbors to the south with this complimentary truck load of water,” said Mayor Littlefield. “And along with this water, we want to send Georgia legislators a message that focusing on conservation efforts would be much more productive than an ill-conceived land and water grab.”
The water is being donated by the Chattanooga Choo Choo and others. The truck is on loan from a local automobile dealership.
Obviously, this must be dismissed as a publicity stunt. Serious diplomacy would include several cases of Tennessee whiskey to go with the water.
Also, we’ve come across a letter that state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), sponsor of the border legislation, has sent to Ron Ramsey, lieutenant governor of Tennessee.
Ramsey had been quoted as saying that any border change would require approval of Congress and the legislatures of the two states — which the lieutenant governor called an impossibility.
Wrote Shafer:
“You may misunderstand the application of that requirement in this case. Neither the United States Congress nor the Georgia General Assembly has ever given approval to changing the border from the 35th parallel of northern latitude.”
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No matter where he’s gone, Lewis hasn’t been able to escape the pressure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No doubt you’ve seen the report on ajc.com, in which the Rev. Joe Lowery says that U.S. Rep. John Lewis is ready to switch his allegiance to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and will announce it soon.
It’s impossible to imagine the pressure that Lewis has been under, but one of our AJC colleagues, Dan Chapman, caught a glimpse of it last Saturday at the Rev. James Orange’s funeral at the King International Chapel at Morehouse College.
Two hours into a five-hour service for the civil rights pioneer, Lowery was at the pulpit and wandered into the topic of Obama. He observed that most people in the chapel were eager to see a black American become president of the United States.
Then Lowery turned and smiled at Lewis, who was sitting behind him. Lowery remained silent for several seconds until the crowd got the joke, and began to applaud.
It was at the Orange funeral, Lowery said, that Lewis told him he’d move from Hillary Clinton to Obama.
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Sonny Perdue on SCHIP: ‘Give us more money, but don’t expand past health care for kids’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sonny Perdue was one of several governors to appear before Congress on Tuesday, to urge changes in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program — known as SCHIP nationally and PeachCare here.
Based on his prepared remarks, his was a mixed message. On one hand, Perdue said the funding formula for the program punishes success:
“Georgia has done well in implementing SCHIP. We’ve done too well - in fact, we’ve been penalized for it. We’ve enrolled so many kids in SCHIP that our percentage of uninsured children has dropped dramatically. As a state we’ve grown by over 1.5 million citizens since the inception of the program, however we’ve cut the number of uninsured children by over 22 percent.
“And because of a flawed funding model that partially bases states’ allotments on the number of uninsured children, Georgia, along with our neighbors like Mississippi and North Carolina, are facing growing shortfalls.
“The better you are at implementing SCHIP, the less funding you receive. If a state was 100 percent successful and reached all eligible uninsured children, its funding the next year would be drastically cut - because no children would be uninsured.”
But Perdue also condemned an expansion of the SCHIP program to adults — with all the passion of someone on a list of potential Republican vice presidential candidates:
“It is a grave mistake to expand taxpayer funded insurance to a level that undermines personal responsibility for those who are able to purchase private insurance on their own. By focusing funding and enrollment efforts on low income children, we are reaching those most in need, those who have no other options.
“It is not the role of government to provide health insurance for each and every citizen. Our role is to facilitate personal responsibility. We do this by giving people the information they need to make educated health care choices, and by creating tiers of options that help individuals graduate from public plans.
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Vanity plates for out-of-state schools might be grandfathered, permanently
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Never let it be said that the state Capitol is indifferent to an angry constituency.
After some heated protests from voters who like to use their car tags to advertise their out-of-state college ties, we’ve picked up the first signs of some alterations to H.B. 1165.
We asked Jack Murphy (R-Cumming), chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee about a possible Thursday hearing on the bill, which could bar vanity plates for out-of-state university alumni if neighboring states don’t make it easier for Georgia grads in their territory to do the same.
Murphy said details of the hearing are still being worked out. But he mentioned some changes that the bill’s two sponsors, state Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) and Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) are contemplating.
Should the bill pass as now written, out-of-state alumni would eventually lose their vanity plates once new ones are required. Johnson and Fleming are contemplating language that would grandfather in current plateholders, permanently.
Murphy acknowledged a heated lobbying effort at work, saying his office had been inundated with phone calls and e-mails.
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Because beer is a Sunday tradition — but only if it’s surrounded by a stadium
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill to permit a new minor league baseball stadium in Gwinnett County to sell beer on Sundays is No. 6 on the Senate’s order of business today.
Look for its sponsors to immediately move to engross S.B. 454 — and thus prevent advocates of Sunday sales of beer and wine in retail outlets from expanding the measure through amendments on the floor.
On Monday, we ran into one lobbyist for the latter, who argued that — regardless of whether they win that technical battle — theirs is a win-win situation.
Even if S.B. 454 remains as narrow as it currently is, this lobbyist argued, the retailers will have this current crop of senators on record as supporting the sale of alcohol on the Christian Sabbath.
Speaking of which: We haven’t heard anything from religious groups on the Gwinnett stadium bill. But, supposing baseball to be akin to religion, some might consider a Sunday beer as a kind of sacrament.
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Hey, did you hear the one about Obama and his wife…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Jack Kingston, a conservative Savannah Republican, made his eighth appearance on the ultra-liberal HBO talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” last Friday and wondered aloud whether Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, even like America.
Michelle Obama last week sparked conservative charges that she’s unpatriotic when she said she her husband’s progress as the first viable African-American presidential candidate made her proud of America for the first time in her adult life.
The rules of copyright prevent us from linking to the HBO clips posted on YouTube, but a simple search will put the video in your lap. Kingston starts in Part II, and really gets rolling in Part III.
“The thing she did not do and still has not done for three days is to explain what she meant,” Kingston said on the show. “It would have been that simple just to say, ‘You know, this is a great country and I’m just proud that people are getting involved in this election.’ That would have been the end of it.”
What made it worse, Kingston added, was the fact that Barack Obama himself also may not love the nation he wants to lead.
“When you combine [Michelle’s comment] with the fact that the guy would not say the Pledge of Allegiance and won’t put a American [flag] lapel pin on his coat, that’s things voters are watching,” Kingston said.
Maher interrupted and asked Kingston for proof that Obama won’t say the Pledge of Allegiance. Kingston said it’s contained in “the famous picture of him standing while Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton have their hands over their hearts while saying the Pledge and Obama has his hands deliberately down.
“The concern is this guy is applying for the job on the No. 1 cheerleading squad for the United States of America. Where do they stand on America?” Kingston asked.
Now, about that “famous picture,” courtesy of Time magazine, the first media outlet to run it. The political trio wasn’t saying the Pledge. They were singing the national anthem.
But the photo provoked a new, Internet-style whisper campaign alleging that Obama is an unknown who may be, as the harshest of the rumors put it, a Muslim trained in the Middle East as a “domestic insurgent.”
Lighten up, Kingston said in an interview with us later.
Maher’s show is about entertainment — though it also includes substantive debates, he said. And besides, “If you run for president you’re going to be under a microscope.”
The reason people are questioning who Obama is, Kingston said, is because the country knows so little about the man who wants to lead it.
“It hit a very tender, sensitive nerve of the Democratic left,” Kingston said. “If we know that bringing it up is a problem for them, we’re going to bring it up over and over.”
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To vouch or not to vouch: Clayton County forces the question
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The threatened collapse of the 53,000-student Clayton County school system has shed light on some philosophical differences among the state’s leading Republicans when it comes to public education.
Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) is pitching his current school voucher bill as “a lifeline for the parents of these children.”
“S.B. 458 would require that the state funding for each child be offered to the parents as a scholarship that can be used to transfer the child to any public or private school that will accept the student.
“We estimate that the scholarship will be worth about $4,150 in Clayton County. That will cover a significant portion of private school tuition,” Johnson writes in an op-ed piece snared by Jason Pye and Peach Pundit.
But Gov. Sonny Perdue made it clear last week that he wants a sharp line drawn between his package to rescue the school system and any broad call for vouchers.
“I think they’re two entirely different things. I think…any kind of bill like [S.B. 458] requires a robust and healthy educational competitive environment. I don’t really think that a wounded type of environment would be the best way to see that bill,” the governor said.
Perdue said vouchers are fine for niche markets — like special needs students who were the topic of voucher legislation sponsored by Johnson last year.
But it’s no replacement for an entire public school operation. “Our goal is to restore the Clayton County school system to health and to being a school system that serves its students well,” the governor said.
Both men agree on one thing: Nowhere in the Georgia Code or state Constitution is there currently a mechanism that allows for the state to take over a failing local school system.
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Heads up: Dick Cheney to headline Georgia GOP bash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re hearing that Vice President Dick Cheney will make his way to Atlanta next March 10 as the keynote speaker at the state GOP’s annual Presidents Day fund-raiser. Look for the vice president to serve as John McCain’s attack dog until the presumptive Republican nominee settles on a running mate of his own.
We don’t have a locale for you yet. So far, we’ve heard of no plans to close Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
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Keep it down. Water machinations at work
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Look for word to spread very quickly that Georgia needs to cool its rhetoric on a border fight with Tennessee, lest it let a bird in hand escape.
Since December, three new Bush appointees to the nine-member governing board of the Tennessee Valley Authority have been waiting confirmation by the full U.S. Senate.
One of them is the first Georgian ever to be nominated — Tom Gilliland of Blairsville, a vice president of United Community Banks.
The TVA is the agency that has jurisdiction over interbasin transfers of water — of the sort that Georgia would like to see.
Here’s the thing: In 2006, when the last batch of nominees to the TVA was advanced, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson — noticing a lack of Georgia representation — put a hold on a floor vote until the nominees promised, in writing, to pay attention to his state’s need for water.
But if the border volume gets too loud, either one of Tennessee’s two senators could return the favor and put a hold on Georgia’s only representation on the TVA board.
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Perdue: ‘I haven’t asked to be considered for veep’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The New York Times has this today about vice-presidential talk at a National Governors Association:
Republican governors said that Mr. [Tim] Pawlenty [of Minnesota] and Mr. [Mark] Sanford [of South Carolina] were in the top tier of potential running mates, but that Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida and Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia were also contenders.
Mr. Crist’s endorsement helped Mr. McCain win the Florida primary.
Mr. Perdue said he had not asked anyone to include his name on a list of potential running mates. But he said, “People include my name because we’re the capital of the South, a fast-growing region, and we’ve had wonderful success with a conservative fiscal policy.”
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Stop by a welcome center and see what the fuss is about
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The next time you drive into Georgia, stop at the welcome center and pick up a free 2008 road map of the state.
Unfold it, and look closely at the top. You’ll see the northern border with Tennessee as a strong, bold line.
But just above it runs another, barely visible line — the disputed 35th parallel, where many state lawmakers say Georgia’s border ought to be, intersecting with the Tennessee River.
The latitudinal line was added just last year. Not as a political statement, say the friendly people at the state Department of Transportation.
Just a cartographic “enhancement.” Other measurements of latitude were added as well. They’re just not as interesting.
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The male-female fight for platform committee delegates was particularly tight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late last week, the state Democratic party finally released the delegate counts from the Super Tuesday presidential primary.
Barack Obama, naturally, won the lion’s share of delegates — 60 to 27 for Hillary Clinton.
If you want to see the breakdown in all it’s complicated, gender-specific glory, click here. Bring a calculator.
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The serious side of a Tennessee-Georgia border war
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“You’ve got to see this. Who’s got Google Earth on their computer?”
The demand came from a shirt-sleeved Sonny Perdue on Friday, and was directed at a staff bunkered in one of his basement offices in the State Capitol.
An aide quickly fired up the requested program. “I’ll take over from here,” the governor said. Perdue bumped the aide from his seat and grabbed the mouse.
A satellite image of Georgia’s northwest corner flashed on the screen. Perdue put the cursor — in the shape of a small fist — on the state border. The latitude read 34.59 degrees.
But the Georgia Code puts the Georgia-Tennessee border at 35 degrees north of the equator. Perdue moved his cursor northward into Tennessee, until the computer read-out hit the 35th parallel.
The small fist had grabbed the middle of Nickajack Lake, a reservoir fed by a brief swath of the Tennessee River that could water north Georgia for decades to come.
“Look at that,” the governor marveled.
Last week, the House and Senate passed separate measures requiring the state of Georgia to revisit its longstanding border dispute with Tennessee. The legislation was immediately pronounced an international punchline. The state Senate encouraged the giggles by singing a round of “This Land Is My Land” prior to unanimous passage.
But don’t be fooled. The people involved in this are looking at a water shortage, exacerbated by drought, that could jeopardize thousands of billions of dollars in development over the next 50 years. A wet state grows, a dry one stagnates — and the competition with neighbors is fearsome.
Sponsors of the legislation are as serious as a heart attack.
“I don’t think it’s a gimmick,” Perdue told reporters a few hours after his computer demonstration. But the enthusiasm the governor showed in the basement had shifted to a diplomatic practicality.
“I think we have to be very careful in the way we proceed in this effort. As it gets more and more serious, the people of Tennessee get more and more concerned. There was probably a better way to do this — legislation’s a sort of in-your-face sort of thing,” the governor said.
The idea for the border challenge sprang from a conversation about 10 months ago between Brad Carver, a 36-year-old utilities lawyer in Atlanta, and a water expert with the University of Mississippi.
The pair drew up a confidential, 19-page memo that outlined the history of Georgia’s 190-year dispute with Tennessee, and offered advice on how Georgia might finally win the argument and gain access to a river with 15 times the flow of the Chattahoochee River at Buford Dam.
“As the drought got worse, this made more and more sense. We can’t conserve our way to a solution,” Carver said. The state is growing too fast, he said — and the only alternatives are desalination plants on the Atlantic coast, and the Tennessee River.
Carver handed the outline to state Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell), a former power company man who was in the Legislature when the border issue was last tackled in 1971, and state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), chairman of the Senate utilities committee.
You can see the memo here. It contains some spectacular maps.
For Georgia, the Tennessee River has every advantage over coastal desalination plants. Save for a single mountain range, the flow would be mostly downhill. “The right-of-way is already acquired. It’s Interstate 75,” Geisinger said. A pipeline would connect Atlanta and Chattanooga in revolutionary fashion.
Many people, including Perdue, have noted that moving a state boundary would be unprecedented in modern times — and thus might seem Herculean. (Ironically, Tennesee forced Mississippi in 1890 to move its border south. Because it violated the 35th parallel.)
But remember that neither land nor lines are the object here. Water is.
“Behind all this, it’s clear that the Tennessee River is the most important part of this idea,” Carver said.
No one will admit to it, but the underlying strategy appears to be this:
For the last eight years, the state of Tennessee has rebuffed the idea of sharing any water with metro Atlanta. Build a strong enough court case with the border issue and perhaps Georgia would agree to let Tennessee keep the current line — so long as Georgia gets the water it needs.
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The Gator tag bill picks up its first opponent in the Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It looks like opponents of H.B. 1165, the bill that could curtail prestige tags for alumni from out-of-state universities, have picked up their first champion.
The measure would prevent the renewal of those out-of-state university tags unless our neighbors — Florida and Alabama in particular — loosen their rules for alumni from Georgia schools. The House passed it on Thursday, and sent it to the Senate.
But on Saturday, state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) sent a note to Tim Cowan, president of the Atlanta Clemson Club, in which he said he doesn’t care how they do it in South Carolina, or Florida.
Wrote Seabaugh:
“I can not control what other states do - they have to answer to their voters. My constituents want the pride of displaying their alma mater. That is what I responded to when I voted for the alumni plates. Flordia citizens should expect the same from their elected officials.
“I will represent my constituents and their wish to have their alumni plates.”
The above e-mail was passed to us by Kurt Raulin, the attorney and Florida grad we mentioned in a previous post.
Raulin said the leadership of the Atlanta Clemson Club and the Atlanta Gator Club are now contacting other ACC and SEC alumni groups in the state to rally opposition to H.B. 1165.
Wrote Raulin:
“It would seem that over half of the other ACC and SEC alumni are in the process of applying for their own specialty tags. Even if half of these other alumni groups are ultimately approved (say, 11 of a total of 22 non-Georgia ACC and SEC schools) that would yield at least 11,000 more specialty tags and at least $275,000 in annual voluntary contributions to the state of Georgia’s treasury.”
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A few questions about the Gator tag bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We may have just found a University of Florida grad to speak against H.B. 1165 at the hearing we know Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson will want to put together.
Kurt Raulin is an Atlanta attorney who just happens to be a graduate of the University of Florida — a Republican who on occasion has donated to a campaign here and there.
On Thursday, he sent an e-mail to Carla Klepper, president-elect of the Atlanta Gator Club, offering advice on what to say about the measure sponsored by state Rep. Barry Fleming. His bill would ultimately do away with prestige auto tags for the alumni of out-of-state universities - unless neighboring states offer similar opportunities for grads of the University of Georgia or Georgia Tech.
The House passed H.B. 1165 on Thursday. Johnson, a Savannah Republican and the ranking member of the Senate, has already endorsed it.
In his e-mail, which he copied to us, Raulin posed the following questions:
Q: Have Sen. Johnson or Rep. Fleming contacted the legislative leadership in the adjoining states to address the “reciprocity” issue in a productive manner that is likely to produce results?
Q: Doesn’t changing the specialty rules after the fact seem unfair to those Georgia citizens who followed the existing application process and got approved?
Q: Do the adjoining states not have similar administrative and/or legislative processes for the approval of new specialty tags? Are those procedures any more or less fair than Georgia’s specialty tag application process?
Q: Shouldn’t members of the Georgia Assembly be more concerned with the rights of Georgia taxpayers and voters rather than fans of Georgia universities who live in adjoining states?
The Atlanta Gator Club just finished jumping through state-required hoops for its plates. Graduates of Auburn University already have theirs.
In a separate e-mail to us, Raulin added this:
“Members of the General Assembly are supposed to be adults and voices of mature reason; their job descriptions do not include launching rhetorical broadsides against their fellow Georgia citizens, residents, taxpayers and voters who happened to attend out-of-state universities, nor do their job descriptions include attempting to deny their fellow Georgia taxpayers and voters due process and the equal protection of the laws of Georgia.
“These may be members of my own political party, but it is apparent (to anyone who has considered the underlying legal issues) that these young gentlemen have not thoroughly considered where they are taking the State of Georgia and their fellow citizens in this matter. I can only express my sincere disappointment in them.”
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Perdue PAC spent $35,500 on polling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last year, Gov. Sonny Perdue shifted $787,000 in leftover funds from his re-election campaign into Perdue PAC, a political action committee formed as a 527 — capable of accepting cash gifts of any amount.
In his complaint to the State Ethics Commission filed on Thursday, Bobby Kahn said the group should have filed an end-of-year report showing what contributions have been accepted in 2007.
Perdue attorney Robert Highsmith said Perdue PAC has filed all the required paperwork, including an 8872 IRS form, which we’re happy to bring to your attention. Click here to see it.
In the federal form, you’ll note that Perdue’s biggest expenditure was $35,500 in mid-October for a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies. For what, we’re not sure. It was a non-election year.
Perhaps to see what Americans were looking for in a vice president? Certainly not to see how Georgians felt about the GREAT plan.
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When Black History Month meets Confederate History Month
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since today’s AJC is chockfull of stories about the Confederate flag and the paper trail of slavery, we thought we’d help develop the day’s theme.
Next month, Gov. Sonny Perdue is to sign a proclamation honoring Bill Yopp, a black slave born in 1846 near Dublin who served as a soldier in the Confederate army. He died in 1936, and is the only African-American buried in the Confederate cemetery in Marietta.
Yopp will be a focus of Confederate History Month in April. Several of Yopp’s descendants are to attend the March 5 signing ceremony.
Say what you will about Southern history, but it is never, ever dull.
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Cagle: Attack on Cousins Properties chief is ‘political nonsense.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After reading today’s post about Senate approval of an amendment that would oust Cousin Properties CEO Tom Bell from the Grady Hospital Authority board, an angry-sounding Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle disavowed the action with this statement:
“Any allegation that Tom Bell and the other business leaders working to save Grady have done anything other than selflessly volunteer large amounts of time to save a critical indigent care hospital is ridiculous.
“Anyone spreading rumors to the contrary should be ashamed of themselves. This is exactly the kind of political nonsense that has plagued Grady for years, and it’s time for it to end.”
The amendment was to S.B. 353 sponsored by Sen. David Shafer of Duluth.
S.B. 353 is a conflict-of-interest bill that many thought was aimed at state Rep. Pam Stephenson (D-Decatur), who is currently acting as Grady’s CEO and is also chairman of the board that oversees the hospital.
The amendment affecting Bell was offered up by state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), a strong critic of the effort to push the charity hospital into private management. But Republicans knew what they were doing — the amendment was co-signed by Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons).
Shortly after we got Cagle’s message, Shafer sent us this:
“I drew up the bill in consultation with the Lieutenant Governor’s office long before the names of any prospective nonprofit directors were announced. The bill lays out common sense principles and were absolutely not crafted with anyone in mind. I cannot speak to Sen. Fort’s motives, but it is hard to arg