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Monday, March 3, 2008
An election-year heckle from the Jekyll Island contingent
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With their legislation tromped on and their senator sponsor dubbed a liar in a Senate hearing last week, supporters of a more cautious approach to rebuilding Jekyll Island have decided to redirect their anger toward the November ballot box.
This ad will be appearing in the AJC and other newspapers across the state sometime this week, lamenting the defeat of three bills by state Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) that would have “prohibited development along the park’s remaining beachfront and promoted Jekyll Island’s affordability for average citizens.”
The ad offers up names and phone numbers of the Senate Economic Development Committee, whose members voted down the legislation last Thursday.
Continues the ad: “If you are among the thousands of Georgians who are angry because their wishes for Jekyll were discounted by Sen. [Chip] Pearson’s committee, hold on to that anger for 244 days.”
David Egan, leader of Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island, said the group will be churning out bumper-stickers, too — “Remember in November Who Killed the Jekyll Bills.”
Perdue: VP post = eviction notice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue was in Washington today to announce his endorsement of Sen. John McCain, the all-but-official Republican nominee for president.
Perdue was among six governors to announce their new allegiance with the Arizona senator, who never got along with conservatives in his party and who may be considering a running mate a little further right to balance the ticket.
When asked, though, Perdue down played the chance that that conservative could be him.
The only ones talking to him about the possibility of a VP slot, he said, are “the media - and they’re just trying to get rid of me in Georgia.”
Kasim Reed takes first step toward Atlanta mayoral bid
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s another sign that the post-Shirley Franklin era has begun.
State Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) will announce today the formation of an exploratory committee — the first step in his anticipated campaign for mayor of Atlanta in 2009.
Reed, a partner at Holland & Knight law firm, is calling his group ONE Atlanta, and has already signed up 33 member-supporters, many of them close to Mayor Franklin. (Reed acted as her strategist in two campaigns.)
So who is Reed? Despite his status as a Democrat, Reed is one of the better deal-makers at the state Capitol. He’s the fellow who cut the deal with Republicans in the Senate back in 2003 to keep the old state banner — the one with the Confederate battle emblem — off Gov. Sonny Perdue’s flag referendum.
Though a Barack Obama supporter, Reed says he’ll hold a Hillary Clinton-style “listening tour” of Atlanta over the next few weeks.
So far as we know, Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders remains the only formally declared candidate who has announced her intention of accepting campaign contributions for the ’09 contest. Others interested in the spot include city council members Mary Norwood and Ceasar Mitchell. (Norwood and her minions have phoned and e-mailed us to say that she, too, has formed an exploratory committee. Her list of member/supporters can be found here.)
The three chairmen of Reed’s exploratory committee are consultant Peter Aman, DeKalb County District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming, and Daniel Halpern, president of Jackmont Hospitality.
The entire list is on the jump, but a few more names are worth noting: Stephen R. Leeds, a major force within the state Democratic Party; Billy Linville, vice president for public affairs with AT&T, who helped push through Atlanta’s sewer referendums; and Robert Highsmith, a partner with Reed at Holland & Knight.
Highsmith is one of the most well-connected Republicans in Atlanta, and is the attorney for Gov. Sonny Perdue’s personal political action committee, Perdue PAC. His support of Reed is kosher, because — at least technically — municipal races are non-partisan.
This is also the first time we can remember seeing the son of former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, Andrew “Bo” Young III, taking a prominent role in a political campaign.
In addition to the three co-chairs, the members of the ONE Atlanta Exploratory Committee include:
Elaine Alexander, Civic Leader
Hon. Kathy Ashe, Georgia State Representative
Constance Barkley-Lewis, Partner, Constance Change, LLC
Justin Berman, Vice President, Goldman Sachs
Phillipa B. Brown, Senior Managing Partner, MobilizingPeople.Org
Jan P. Bryson, Managing Partner, BenchMark Management, LLC
Lawrence E. Cooper, M.D., President and CEO, Bentley Investments, Inc.
Brenda Cornelius, Principal, The Cornelius Group, Inc.
Rhudine Crawford, Civic Leader
Hon. Karla Drenner, Georgia State Representative
Eugene Duffy, Partner, Paradigm Asset Management Company
Susan E. Edlein, Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
Cabral Franklin, Partner, CK Franklin LLC
Jerry L. Gray, Director, Chitwood & Harley LLP
Virginia Hepner, President, GHL, LLC
Robert S. Highsmith, Jr., Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
Stephen R. Leeds, Partner, Rogers & Hardin LLP
Billy Linville, Vice President Public Affairs, AT&T
Amol S. Naik, Associate, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP
Larry Pellegrini, Executive Director, Georgia Rural Urban Summit
Amy Phuong, Operations Manager, McMaster-Carr Supply Co.
Nancy Rafuse, Partner, Ashe, Rafuse, & Hill, LLP
H. Jerome Russell, President, Russell New Urban Development
Shelley A. Senterfitt, Partner, Senterfitt & Knight, LLC
Sachin Shailendra, Project Manager, The Shailendra Group
Shakir Stewart, Senior Vice President, Island/Def Jam Records, Inc.
Lovette Stovall, Civic Leader
Andrew “Bo” Young, III, President, Young Solutions, Inc.
Joseph D. Young, Partner, DLA Piper LLP
William K. Whitner, Partner, Paul Hastings LLP
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