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Saturday, March 8, 2008
Ex-Cleland aide pleads to trespassing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The one-time chief of staff to former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia pled guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge of trespassing after being accused with breaking into a coast guard station on Martha’s Vineyard last August.
Michael Duga Jr., 32, had also been accused of crashing a fundraiser for then-presidential candidate John Edwards, a Democrat, though Duga produced e-mails from an exchange with Edwards’ campaign that showed Duga was supposed to be there even though he was not recognized by event volunteers working for Edwards.
Charges of larceny and possession of marijuana were dropped, Duga’s lawyer, Al Daniels, told the Associated Press.
Duga declared himself “satisfied and grateful.” Cleland, who suspended Duga immediately after the incident and later fired him, told the Associated Press he considered Duga a “loyal, dedicated friend.”
The good news is that Kingston was wearing his flag lapel pin at the time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This article in Friday’s The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress, sounds like a private conversation gone awry:
A House Republican leading efforts to reform the earmarking process has come under fire from House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) for privately telling him he supports earmarks.
Obey said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who has sponsored legislation that would ban earmarks this year, privately told him he was in favor of earmarks.
“You know, David, I am really for earmarks,” Obey said Kingston told him.
“I said, ‘Yes, Jack, I do know,’” said Obey, who added that Kingston made numerous requests for earmarks last year to the appropriations panel.
Kingston confirmed the conversation, but said it reflected his beliefs about reforming the appropriations process.
“What I have told David privately and what I have said publicly is the same thing. I have been very upfront,” said Kingston in a phone interview with The Hill.
Those mayoral letters of praise for the anti-tax vote aren’t a coincidence
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So why did House Democrats bite the bullet last week and vote to kill the repeal of the car tax contained in House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s tax reform bill?
Because it included a cap on property tax levies on local governments — which county commissions and cities insisted would wreck their finances. And the Georgia Municipal Association and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia couldn’t get a firm commitment from Republican Senate leaders to remove the cap once the bill moved to that chamber.
In return for their votes, the GMA and the ACCG promised to give House Democrats as possible. As soon as the vote went down, mayors and county commission chairmen across the state began sending out letters to local newspapers, praising the Democratic position.
We’ve already seen the one from Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
Those letters will be pulled out again in the fall, should they be necessary to fend off Republican attacks.
Schaefer on Broun: ‘Democrats wouldn’t have voted for me’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nancy Schaefer, the North Georgia state senator who just jumped into the Republican race for the 10th District congressional seat, was on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens on Friday, talking to Tim Bryant.
Listen to the sound clip here.
Schaefer criticized Republican incumbent Paul Broun for relying on Democrats last summer to win the special election for the seat.
“Paul Broun had the votes from the Democrats to get him elected, and to raise his support. And I’m a conservative Republican, so I don’t think that would be happening to me,” she said.
Schaefer also criticized Broun’s vote to permit states to allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
House Majority Whip Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) is also in the GOP primary race. For details, see this article by the fellow on the left on Broun’s dilemma.
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