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March 2008
Behind the scenes: On the rising cost of credit freezes and funny accounting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Both the House and Senate have now passed legislation to let Georgians who fear ID theft to freeze their credit reports and block distribution of their credit histories.
Both chambers have voted to cap the fee for this service at $3.
But we’re hearing that, in conference committee, an attempt will be made to raise the fee to $5 — with the support of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and at the urging of Equifax, the credit reporting giant.
The Senate’s opening bid for the cost of a credit freeze — nixed by the House — was $10.
In the House, state Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) is letting it be known that she’s tinkered with S.B. 300, which is up for a vote Tuesday.
Chambers said new language in the bill would requires all state authorities and the Board of Regents to submit their annual audits to the state auditor, who will check their math.
The audits would be made available via the Internet.
Chambers specifically cited adventures that state Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) has experienced with the Jekyll Island Authority over its finances. In its 2006 annual report, the Jekyll authority stated it was $210,575 in the red. But the authority actually turned a profit of $1,950,081 that year, according to the state auditor’s office.
The bill would also give the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House the authority to request assistance from the state attorney general when examining spending issues. Right now, only the governor can do that.
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Oh, those jokers in the House
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sonny Perdue was out of the country less than half a day before a certain lawmaker hung out a new shingle for the governor. Someone didn’t ask Neighborhood Watch to mind things while he was out of town.
A makeshift sign hung outside a certain governor’s office. Elissa Eubanks/AJC
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It looks like the end of the road for Brown’s modesty list
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A House committee has stalled the effort by state Sen. Robert Brown (D-Macon) to create a registry of people who don’t want any public building, road, or bridge named after them once they’re gone.
State Sen. Robert Brown (left) and Michael O’Sullivan, aide to Secretary of State Karen Handel. Elissa Eubanks/AJC
A House committee voted 4-0 to table S.B. 191 after a representative for Secretary of State Karen Handel spoke against it.
In essence, Georgia is too good for the legislation. Too modest. So many people might sign up that the list could become an unacceptable financial burden for the secretary of state, whose staff would have to maintain it.
“That could go on forever. You could have tens of thousands of people calling to have their names put on the list,” said Michael O’Sullivan, legislative affairs director for Handel.
There was also the issue of people who might change their minds, or the case of a bitter ex-spouse who nominates a former partner without permission — robbing said ex of a chance at immortality.
Brown likened the registry to a do-not-call list, and said the measure would help people avoid embarrassment when unwanted honors are heaped upon them. The Senate minority leader offered to add a $5 fee to the bill, to cover any unexpected costs that might arise from an outbreak of mass saintliness.
We might even make a profit, Brown said.
No dice. The committee tabled the legislation. It could come back, but it doesn’t look likely. Because the people of Georgia are just too darn swell.
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Meet Ralph Reed, novelist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So what, you ask, has Ralph Reed been doing since is unsuccessful ‘06 run for lieutenant governor? Aside from those appearances on Fox and CNN.
Apparently, he’s been at the word processor — moving in the same direction as Newt Gingrich, from large thoughts to fiction. I just got an announcement from the Atlanta Press Club, saying Reed will make a June 12 appearance there.
The communication includes this line:
“He will also sign his first novel, Dark Horse.”
The guess here is that it won’t be a bodice-ripper.
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Linder has a Democratic opponent
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democrat Doug Heckman is using a 2 p.m. conference call with reporters today, to announce his candidacy for the Seventh District congressional seat now held by John Linder, the Republican incumbent.
Heckman, who describes himself as a conservative, is a graduate of West Point, and recently served as a senior advisor to the Iraqi army. So he fits the pro-military, Jim Marshall-style profile that Democrats have attempted to develop among their candidates.
Heckman’s web site can be found here.
The Seventh is still considered Republican territory, but Heckman’s candidacy is likely to fuel GOP speculation over whether the state’s two longest-serving Republican congressmen, Linder and Nathan Deal, will sign up for another term.
Qualifying is at the end of this month. But you can bet that Republicans in Washington don’t want to see any more open seats in the House than they already have.
(Got a call this afternoon from a staffer for Deal. The congressman is in fact running again — though he won’t raise any local money until he has opposition. So all of you ambitious Republicans in north Georgia, please stand down.)
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On the transportation sales tax and family connections
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday’s Marietta Daily Journal had an editorial noting the high wall faced by a referendum that would permit groups of counties - specifically metro Atlanta - to levy a one-cent sales tax for transportation.
Said the MDJ:
At a time when even Georgia’s vibrant economy is starting to wobble a bit, and in the absence of a clear plan for how to spend the revenues from a regional SPLOST for transportation, that measure’s proponents may find voters less than eager to climb behind the wheel.
As MDJ columnist Don McKee aptly put it in his Friday column, “Most citizens of Georgia are looking for tax relief - not more taxes.”
What makes this editorial worth noting is the fact that MDJ publisher Otis Brumby’s son-in-law is Heath Garrett, former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. Garrett is now a private citizen, and formulates media strategy.
Should the House and Senate vote this week to put the regional sales tax on the November ballot, Garrett will be one of those putting together the campaign for passage of the referendum.
Another prominent Mariettan, former state GOP chairman Chuck Clay, has been carrying much of the water at the state Capitol for those who want more cash pumped into transportation infrastructure.
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Buckle up your life belts. We’re in for a bumpy finish
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We have entered the dangerous, final days of the Legislature’s winter session — a season of desperation in which innocent bills are forced into sudden, shotgun marriages with amendments they’ve never met.
Legislative dogs are wedded to feline decrees-to-be that streak through the Capitol. Often, the unions are conducted in such secrecy that even professional spectators remain ignorant — until, after several months’ gestation, the unpleasant results begin crawling around.
Lawmakers have until Friday, when the Legislature is to adjourn, for such last-minute mischief. Supervision is lax. Gov. Sonny Perdue is far away on a Chinese trade mission, struggling through the hell of chopsticks and endless toasts with sorghum-based paint-thinner.
But most of the funny stuff happens out of the schoolmaster’s line of vision anyway — unless the schoolmaster decides to join in.
An example of the shenanigans to come snuck up last week. The locale was a meeting of the House Motor Vehicles Committee, a small collection of part-time legislators whose life experiences have included real estate, law enforcement, personnel management, business and the pharmaceutical industry.
The topic at hand was S.B. 412, the epitome of do-good legislation.
Its sponsor, state Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur) wants every reference to “seat belts” in the Georgia code changed to “life belts.” He wants “air bags” to become “life bags.”
Jones hatched the five-paragraph idea with Adam Goldfein, the fellow at V103 radio who specializes in advice for car buyers. “Parents explaining to their children to buckle up their life belts really has meaning,” Jones, a car dealer, told the committee.
S.B. 412 has already passed the Senate, and now must run the House gauntlet. But several days ago, Jones was informed that his bill had grown a sixth, 113-word paragraph. “House leaders told me it had been added — they don’t ask permission,” the senator said later.
Jones was philosophical. If the addition could speed House passage of his bill, he was for it. If it proved a barnacle that would slow it down, he was against it.
Now, about that sixth paragraph. Printing it would only put you to sleep. But it contained phrases like “the proximate cause” and “industry-wide liability” and “public nuisance.” All terms were covered on that bar exam you took.
But even a layman could see this was another shot fired in one of the state Capitol’s never ending wars, over who should be permitted to sue whom. This one had to do with product liability.
State Rep. Tom Rice of Norcross, the committee chairman, embraced the addition. “I’d favor anything that would reduce the opportunity for what I call nuisance suits,” he said.
But Matt Dollar of Cobb County, the vice chairman, was more suspicious. He didn’t know what had been promised to whom, but nobody had told him. And he wondered why the paragraph had magically appeared in front of a motor vehicles committee, instead of a lawyer-laden House Judiciary Committee.
Who’s your client? Dollar asked the attorneys from Powell Goldstein, the firm that authored the paragraph.
The Public Nuisance Fairness Coalition.
Who’s that?
The attorneys couldn’t say. The members were Fortune 500 firms whose names — because of attorney-client privilege — couldn’t be disclosed right then and there. The lawmakers could be told eventually, but the lawyers would have to get permission first. One attorney let slip that a chemical company was involved.
“We’re not talking just about air bags, are we?” asked state Rep. Alan Powell of Hartwell.
The committee summoned Bill Clark, a representative of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, the group that does battle against business in the lawsuit war. He’d only learned of the sixth paragraph a few hours ago. He didn’t know what the language did — or didn’t do.
“I’ll concede it may be little or no change. It may be a very significant change in Georgia law,” he said. Clark advised removing the language first, and investigating the implications over the weekend.
But he was countered by Joel Williams of Powell Goldstein, who assured the part-time lawmakers that they were capable of understanding the implications of those 113 words. “You have the ability, you have the brain power,” Williams assured them.
Flattery didn’t work. On Dollar’s motion, the sixth paragraph was stripped out, and the bill was put on hold.
“There’s a rat in there somewhere,” muttered committee member and pharmacist Bobby Parham of Milledgeville as he exited the hearing. “There’s a rat in that one.”
Welcome to the final hours of the 2008 Georgia General Assembly, a period in which a law degree isn’t nearly as important as a sharp nose for vermin.
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Not a gusher — just seepage at the Governor’s Mansion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A reader was driving down West Paces Ferry Road on Thursday, took one look at what looked like drilling equipment at Governor’s Mansion, and wondered if — when it came to rain — Sonny Perdue had given up on prayer and gone prospecting.
After all, God helps those who help themselves.
Stacy Shelton, one of the AJC’s water specialists gave a quick call to the governor’s office this afternoon.
Despite what it looks like, Perdue’s not drilling for water, says a spokesman. Elissa Eubanks/AJC
The monstrous piece of equipment at the mansion is not being used to drill for water, said Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley. Or oil.
He said the mansion’s basement needs waterproofing. Workers are digging a trench around the residence’s basement walls, which are then being sealed off.
Brantley said the basement, which contains a ballroom and kitchen for big events, has sustained some minor damage from the prayed-for rain.
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Cagle shows his backing from ACCG, GMA, and tax groups
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Let the House-Senate fight over tax cuts begin.
The office of Lt. Gov. Casey this morning unloaded several serious endorsements of the Senate plan to trim the state income tax by 10 percent.
The House has pitched the elimination of the state car tax.
From the Association County Commissioners of Georgia: “The House-passed version of H.R. 1246 did not constitutionally guarantee full reimbursement to counties for the elimination of the personal vehicle ad valorem tax. In addition, it would have forced counties to raise millage rates just to keep up with inflationary increases in the cost of providing existing county services.”
The Senate version, the ACCG said, “provides significant tax relief to Georgia’s citizens without creating service delivery problems at the local level.”
From the Georgia Municipal Association: “Without getting into any of the economic or fiscal theories supporting an income tax cut, the proposal appears to be fair to every taxpayer in Georgia.”
From the Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform: “While tax cut plans being measured by both chambers are promising…the House plan, while providing about $760 million a year in tax relief once fully implemented, does not go as far as the tax cut plan put forth by Lieutenant Governor Cagle.”
From the Washington-based National Taxpayers Union: The Senate option “represents the largest, real-dollar tax reduction.”
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A lawsuit link between Bishop Paulk and Vernon Jones?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Only recently has WAGA-TV (Fox 5) posted on its web site this report that Dale Russell put together last week, theorizing that there’s a lawsuit link between disgraced Bishop Earl Paulk and Vernon Jones, the DeKalb County CEO and U.S. Senate candidate.
In February, Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott ordered a couple and their attorney suing Bishop Earl Paulk to pay more than $1 million in legal fees and court costs from a dismissed case.
Report posits a lawsuit link between Earl Paulk and Vernon Jones. WAGA-TV
Mona and Bobby Brewer dropped their years-old suit last July, but each filed a separate suit in state court later in 2007.
That led Scott to rule the first suit frivolous. The million-dollar award is to cover court costs and fees for Paulk’s lawyers.
Using footage of former DeKalb County prosecutor J. Tom Morgan, who calls the award “unheard of,” Russell points out that the Scott ruling had a side effect.
Says Russell:
“Judge Scott’s ruling delayed the second lawsuit, just six days before Judge’s friend and political supporter, DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones, was set to appear in court as a witness.
“Last October, Vernon Jones gave a deposition in the Paulk case. According to court records, Jones refused to answer questions about his personal relationship with Patty Battle. She was once a key member of Paulk’s church, and admitted under oath she had a sexual relationship with Earl Paulk.”
Morgan, who is no friend of Jones, represents Battle.
Russell is reporting that the second lawsuit is unlikely to resume until late this year.
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Inside dope: On transportation and two election contests
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Word is:
— That House Speaker Glenn Richardson has appointed former state lawmaker Stacey Reece to the state tollway authority board. Reece was Richardson’s candidate in the unsuccessful, House-backed attempt to dump state Department of Transportation board chairman Mike Evans.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, who backed Evans, is chair of the tollway authority board.
— Ann Wead Kimbrough, chief of staff for DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones, is considering a run for her boss’ job. He’s running for the U.S. Senate.
This won’t make state Rep. Stan Watson (D-Decatur) happy. Watson has already announced for the CEO job.
— State Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) has picked up some November opposition. Democrat Chris Huttman wants her seat. (Whoops. It’s not his first campaign. As a 22-year-old, he ran against Republican state lawmaker Fran Millar of Dunwoody in 2002.) Huttman currently works for LUC Media, the time-buying firm of Bobby Kahn, former chairman of the state Democratic party.
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And now, the governor’s argument against a transportation sales tax
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House debate over S.R. 845, which would permit regions to levy a sales tax for transportation, has begun.
This is the outline of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s arguments against the measure, placed on every House member’s desk over lunch.
On the jump is a copy of the “floor letter” that the Get Georgia Moving coalition placed on the desks of House members.
Dear Representative,
We are writing this letter as co-chairs of one of the broadest coalitions in Georgia’s history to ask you to vote “yes” on SR 845. The Get Georgia Moving coalition includes more than 50 organizations that cover the entire state. This unprecedented alliance - which includes local governments, the road and transit industries, chambers of commerce and environmental organizations - has worked hard over the past 10 months to come to a consensus on a way to provide connectivity and mobility for the third-fastest growing state in the nation.
We applaud the work of the Joint Transportation Funding Study Committee and the leadership that both the House and Senate have exhibited on the issue thus far this session. Get Georgia Moving feels strongly that proactive steps must be taken now to create a sustainable transportation funding system that will strengthen our economy, protect our environment and improve our quality of life. Current efforts to improve efficiency at GDOT are critical and commendable, but they alone will not allow us to overcome the funding shortfall.
A single “silver bullet” solution does not exist and all proposed solutions must be based on clearly identified needs and priorities and include measurable benchmarks that ensure progress and guarantee accountability. Get Georgia Moving funding recommendations include the dedication of the 4th percent of the motor fuel tax to all modes of transportation, a state infrastructure bank, public-private partnerships on transportation initiatives and increased rail infrastructure investments.
The coalition supports referendum-based sales tax funding that gives regions the ability to choose when and how they will invest their transportation dollars. SR 845 provides that choice, and combined with the proposal to change regional development centers to regional commissions, offers the best platform for the multi-county cooperation needed to develop and fund transportation solutions.
Enclosed with this letter for your reference is a list of Get Georgia Moving’s members, the coalition’s transportation investment principles, and a Georgia transportation funding fact sheet. We invite you to visit GetGeorgiaMoving.com to learn more about our organization. Thank you for all you do to serve the people of this great state.
List of Participating Organizations
Association County Commissioners of Georgia
American Council of Engineering Companies
Atlanta Regional Commission
BP
C.W. Matthews, Inc.
Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development
Central Atlanta Progress
Citizens for Progressive Transit
Civic League for Regional Atlanta
Clean Air Campaign
Community Improvement District Alliance
Council for Quality Growth
CSX
Cumberland Community Improvement District
Evermore Community Improvement District
Fulton County Government
Georgia Asphalt Pavement Association
Georgia Assn of Regional Development Centers
Georgia Budget and Policy Institute
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Georgia Concrete Pavement Association
Georgia Concrete & Products Association
Georgia Conservancy
Georgia Construction Aggregates Association
Georgia Department of Transportation
Georgia Economic Developers Association
Georgia Electric Membership Cooperatives
Georgia Engineering Alliance
Georgia Highway Contractors Association
Georgia Municipal Association
Georgia Power Company
Georgia Railroad Association
Georgia Transit Association
Georgia Transit Coalition
Georgians for Better Transportation
Georgians for the Brain Train
Governor’s Office of Highway Safety
Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce
Gwinnett County
Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District
Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District
Henry County Chamber of Commerce
HNTB
Liberty County Development Authority
Livable Communities Coalition
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce
Norfolk Southern
Perimeter Community Improvement District
Regional Business Coalition
Sierra Club
Southern Environmental Law Center
Southwest Georgia Business Coalition
State Road and Tollway Authority
Transit Planning Board
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Sonny Perdue’s argument against Sunday sales of beer, wine, and such
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue has just put out an op-ed style piece intended for use by Sunday newspapers across Georgia, on the topic of allowing local communities to decide whether the retail sale of beer, wine, and liquor on the Christian Sabbath should be permitted.
No mention of the governor’s support for the portion of the bill that would permit Sunday beer sales in a Gwinnett Braves minor league stadium, and no “You should plan ahead” argument. The governor emphasizes public safety this time. We hear Sunday sales proponents will argue that the New Mexico data cited by the governor is faulty.
Here’s what has come out of Perdue’s office:
Do no harm. It may sound like a simple concept, but it is one that I am afraid supporters of Sunday alcohol sales may have forgotten.
Above all else, I believe it is the responsibility of the Governor and the General Assembly to reject a piece of legislation that hurts more people than it helps.
Allowing the sale of alcohol in grocery stores as well as liquor stores on Sundays will do far more harm than good. In fact, other than those who profit from those sales, it will not help anyone.
In the 1990’s, the citizens of New Mexico debated the issue of Sunday alcohol sales. On July 1, 1995, most counties in New Mexico began allowing the sale of alcohol on Sundays.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded a study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, to uncover the legislation’s long-term effects using data from the first five years that alcohol sales on Sunday were allowed.
The study found that legalizing Sunday packaged alcohol sales “exacts a significant price that is paid by crash victims and their loved ones, health care providers, insurers, law enforcement and the judicial systems.”
The sponsors of the New Mexico legislation hoped that allowing sales for off-premise consumption might encourage more people to buy alcohol and drink at home, thus reducing accidents and deaths. This argument was a tempting trap for the state’s legislators, and many of our own elected officials are chasing the same carrot without seeing the stick.
Now, I have always been a data-driven decision maker, so let me share the numbers with you. The study found that alcohol-related crashes increased by 29 percent on Sundays in counties that allowed sales.
Those additional crashes led to a 42 percent increase in alcohol-related fatalities on Sundays. If we apply these same percentages to Georgia’s highways, using 2006 data from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, we can expect approximate increases of 371 alcohol-related crashes and six alcohol-related fatalities per year.
No other day of the week saw a statistically significant change in the percentage of alcohol-related crashes and fatalities after the enacted legislation, according to the study. Counties that chose not to participate saw their Sunday accident and fatality statistics remain similar to before.
The Republican principle of individual freedom is just as important to me as it is to my colleagues in the legislature, but so is the principle of protecting innocent Georgians.
Click below to continue.
If you have ever comforted the parents or grandparents of a young person lost in a DUI crash, then you know that the cost of this proposal is too great and the damage it stands to inflict is too heavy a burden for innocent families to bear.
I know that Georgians expect me as their Governor to do all that I can to make the people of this state as safe as possible. That’s why I have made creating a Safe Georgia one of the cornerstones of my administration, and that’s why I will continue to argue against this legislation out of concern for the safety of every Georgian.
I urge the members of the General Assembly to heed the warning conveyed in the final sentence of the New Mexico study, “State legislators should consider [the] consequences when deciding on policy that is intended to serve the public well-being.”
We owe it to the citizens of this state to consider the cause-and-effect of our actions. There is no doubt that this legislation will make Georgia roads more dangerous. We cannot afford to jeopardize people’s lives, nor can we stick our heads in the sand pretending that our actions will have no consequences, even under the guise of letting the people choose.
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‘Life belt’ bill has new chrome — an amendment to discourage product liability lawsuits
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re in the dangerous, final days of the Legislature’s winter session, during which bills get married to amendments of an entirely different species.
The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association has spotted one.
S.B. 412, sponsored by state Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur), a car dealer, began innocuously enough. This legislation would change “seat belts” to “life belts” in Georgia law books. “Air bags” would be known as “life bags.”
Jones’ measure is now sporting some very strange chrome. The amendment would severely restrict product liability lawsuits in Georgia. The entire bill goes before the House motor vehicles committee at 2 p.m. today.
To read the amendment, go to the jump:
“Any claim against a manufacturer for a defective product under this Code section shall require proof that the manufacturer made the actual product alleged to have caused the injury and that that the product was the proximate cause of the injury to the plaintiff. Proof that a manufacturer made or sold the same type or category of product alleged to be defective shall not satisfy the requirements of this Code section. A manufacturer shall not be held liable for the manufacture of a defective product based on theories of market share, enterprise, risk contribution, or other theories of industry-wide liability or on the basis that the product or its use constitutes a public nuisance.”
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Perdue says he’d campaign against a sales tax for transportation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue promised a group of rural lawmakers on Thursday that, should the November ballot include a referendum on regional sales taxes for transportation, he’ll campaign against it.
The House is scheduled to vote on S.R. 845 today.
News of the 4 p.m. meeting with the governor comes from a Republican lawmaker who was one of 30 or so members of the bipartisan rural caucus, invited to the session by Perdue.
Two Democrats, Charles Jenkins of Blairsville and Barbara Reece of Menlo, both attended the meeting and gave essentially the same account. Both continue to support S.R. 845.
“I don’t remember his exact words, but he did say he was going to campaign against it through November,” Reece recalled.
Remember that the governor has established a 527 organization called Perdue PAC, which would be able to act as a treasury for such a campaign. No doubt many organizations that support the sales tax for transportation also contributed to Perdue PAC.
S.R. 845 would permit the creation of regional alliances empowered to levy a one-cent sales tax for all forms of transportation, including rail. Read more detail about amendments to the current version here.
In the meeting, the governor reportedly cited several reasons for opposing the legislation. First, it would take transportation policy out of the hands of the state. Money would flow primarily to metro Atlanta.
According to this lawmaker, the governor also said it made no sense to vote for what he called a tax increase at the same time the House is calling for a tax cut.
Perdue isn’t the only one applying heat to House members. Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform has notified those who have signed a no-new-taxes pledge put out by the organization that voting in favor of S.R. 845 would be a violation of that oath.
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Bob Barr thinking ‘very serious’ thoughts about a presidential race, Iraq, and torture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On an Internet site called Anti-War Radio, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr confirmed on Wednesday that he’s “very seriously” looking at joining the race for the White House as a Libertarian — and had harsh words for both the Iraq war and for the Bush Administration’s defense of “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
Many thanks to blogger Jason Pye for passing on word of the interview.
On a presidential run, Barr said:
“There’s been a tremendous expressed to me both directly and indirectly on the Internet. I take that support very seriously, and I think it also reflects a great deal of dissatisfaction with the current candidates and the current two-party system. So it is something, to be honest with you, that I’m looking very seriously at.”
Barr said a Libertarian candidacy would essentially be an extension of the Ron Paul campaign.
“Ron Paul tapped into a great deal of that dissatisfaction and that awareness. Unfortunately, working through the Republican party structure, it became impossible for him to really move forward with his movement. But we have to have ….a rallying point out there to harness that energy, that freedom in this election cycle,” Barr said.
On Iraq:
“What we’ve fallen into in recent years — not just since 9/11, but particularly since 9/11 — is this notion that, in order to protect ourselves, we have to preemptively go into and — in the case of Iraq — occupy another sovereign nation,” Barr said. “Simply saying, ‘Gee, it’s better to fight over in this other nation and destroy another nation, so we’re not potentially attacked here, is the height of arrogance.”
As for the Bush administration’s refusal to define waterboarding as torture, Barr referred to the practice as “sophistry of the worst and rankest order.”
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Perdue and his economists meet with senators to talk tax cuts and the economy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sonny Perdue and his team of economists went up to the fourth floor of the state Capitol on Wednesday afternoon to meet with members of the Senate. If the governor intended to talk that chamber out of pursuing a tax cut in the last six days of this session, it didn’t work.
The governor said he didn’t push the case himself. “Although the economists did indicate to them that they didn’t think — in a balanced-budget state environment — this was a good time to be cutting revenue when revenue was already on a downward trend,” Perdue said.
The governor said the economy continues to contract, but maintained that whether the word “recession” should be used is purely a matter for academics to debate.
The economy was the chief topic of discussion, but the governor’s revenue estimates were another. On Tuesday, Perdue sent this letter to House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, accusing the House of passing a 2009 budget that was $17 million out of balance — and threatening to lower his revenue estimate even further. He’s already done it once.
“Oftentimes, conspiracy theories develop around here,” Perdue said. “That the governor’s trying to play games with the revenue estimate, to give us heartburn during the appropriations — and really I just wanted to share the facts as I get them.
“I don’t make up the revenue estimate,” the governor said. “I rely on trusted professionals to look at all the factors — of employment and housing and all those things — and come to a point.”
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle invited the governor to speak with members of the Senate. Cagle said nice things about Perdue — but made it clear that he was still committed to a 10 percent cut in the state income tax.
“We still believe that that is good sound public policy. We need to make sure that we are able to put more money in each individual’s pocket,” Cagle said. “Whether we can get to an agreement with the house still has yet to be determined.”
Oh, and Cagle agreed with the governor on one thing. The alleged out-of-balance budget passed by the House.
“I firmly agree with the governor. The House obviously did not pass a balanced budget. It’s very unprecedented. For them to say contrary is somewhat perplexing,” Cagle said.
That ought to do wonders for House-Senate negotiations.
Majority Leader Jerry Keen of St. Simons Island spoke for the House leadership. “We sent over there a very fiscally conservative budget,” he said.
As for a tax cut, Keen said, “We could argue that the best time to give tax relief is in fact when the economy is slowing. Even the Democrats in Washington get that.”
Obviously, Keen doesn’t expect any support from the governor’s office. “The only way that Georgians are going to see a tax cut out of this legislative session is if its voted on in a constitutional amendment,” he said. That way, no gubernatorial approval is needed.
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Head of Facility Group indicted by feds for ‘trying to influence’ Mississippi official
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is in today’s Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger:
Three Georgia businessmen face a 16-count federal indictment involving the defunct Mississippi Beef Processors Plant, including allegations that their company tried to influence a Mississippi public official through campaign contributions.
The indictment charges Robert Moultrie, 67, of Smyrna; Charles Morehead, 57, of Lilburn and Nixon Cawood, 58, of Woodstock with one count of conspiracy to corruptly influence a public official and 15 counts of mail fraud….
The processing plant opened in August 2004 but shut down three months later, costing the state about $55 million.
Robert Moultrie is chairman of The Facility Group of Smyrna, an architectural and engineering firm with deep political ties in Georgia. House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) is a senior vice president for the company.
The Associated Press had this:
Ehrhart said he was not involved in the federal probe.
“I’ve never been interviewed by any law enforcement about anything,” said the Republican from Powder Springs. “I haven’t done anything.”
Ehrhart referred additional questions to a company spokesman, Flip Spiceland, who said Ehrhart was not involved. Spiceland said he could not talk about the facts of the case, but he said business was proceeding as usual at the company.
Says the Clarion-Ledger:
The indictment said Moultrie and Cawood carried out a scheme to give more than the allowable $5,000 in campaign contributions to the re-election campaign of the unnamed public official, who is not indicted, intending to influence and reward him for the state selecting The Facility Group to manage the design and construction of the beef plant.
Federal officials would not identify the “public official,” but former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove’s 2003 re-election campaign finance records match the contributions listed in the indictment. Musgrove is now a candidate for U.S. Senate.
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Coastal bill supporters may let measure die rather than permit restriction to Jekyll Island development
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An amendment that challenges development plans for Jekyll Island could kill S.B. 367, a bill to avoid the automatic repeal of the Georgia Coastal Management Act.
Backers of the bill, who include state Sens. Ross Tolleson (R-Perry) and Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), are spreading the word that they’ll let the measure die rather than accept the provision a House committee attached last week, which would bar development of a huge parking lot on Jekyll that provides direct access to the beach.
The amendment was approved on a narrow 9-8 vote last Thursday. The House Natural Resources committee has yet to report the bill out to the House Rules committee, which in itself is unusual. Click here for the amendment offered by Debbie Buckner (D-Junction City). It’s not on the legislative web site yet.
As originally written, S.B. 367 is intended to extend the Georgia Coastal Management Act, which is set to expire July 1, 2009. The plan gives Georgia access to federal funds for coastal repair.
Supporters of S.B. 367 — and the Jekyll development plan currently in the works — say environmentalists and island enthusiasts are jeopardizing the $2.3 million in annual federal funding, all for the sake of a parking lot.
On the right is the photograph that’s being e-mailed around the state Capitol by those in favor of the current Jekyll plan, featuring the territory in dispute.
Environmentalists we’ve spoken to say that, with expiration of the coastal plan more than a year away, the Legislature would have another crack at extension next year.
And the parking lot, they say, is more than a parking lot. “Where else can you drive up to the edge of the dunes and go to the beach?” asked House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin).
Well, there’s Tybee Island, isn’t there?
But that’s built up, Porter said.
This may be the most significant development in regard to Jekyll politics. In the Senate, state Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) has been the champion of the less-is-more side of remaking the island.
But in the House, Democrats are the ones who have taken the lead, with a significant slice of the Republican caucus.
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The cat’s not away yet, but the mice are already breaking out the croquet mallets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The plan is for the Republican-controlled Legislature to conceive and execute a tax cut next week — by a two-thirds vote in each chamber — after Gov. Sonny Perdue takes a fast plane to China.
He’s not scheduled to return until April 5. Perhaps, legislators say, they’ll be gone by then.
The governor has opposed initiatives both in the House, which wants to eliminate the car-tag tax, and the Senate, which has proposed a slice in the state income tax. But Perdue has no say-so over proposed ballot initiatives, which is the form any tax cut would take.
One suspects that this is, at least in part, why governor on Tuesday threatened another reduction in state revenue predictions for ’09, to make it harder for the two chambers to come to terms. Here’s a copy of the letter Perdue sent to House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
But the Legislature’s serious about this one. How serious? Without waiting for the nicety of a measure to pass both chambers, the House and Senate have already named six conferees to negotiate a deal. Both sides have confirmed this.
Negotiators for the House are House Ways and Means Chairman Larry O’Neal (R-Perry), and state Reps. James Mills (R-Gainesville) and Greg Morris (R-Vidalia). On the Senate side, the trio consists of Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), and state Sens. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) and David Shafer (R-Duluth).
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Perdue signs city of Dunwoody into existence
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue just signed S.B. 82, creating the city of Dunwoody.
As of last week, state Rep. Fran Millar, who pressed the case for the new city over several years, said he wasn’t planning to run as its first mayor.
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Never mind those lasses deployed in enemy regions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Acronyms are tiny, helpless creatures that should be treated with respect. They ought not be tortured.
But it is election season, and U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens) has a tough primary ahead of him. The congressman has posted this idea on the Republican Study Committee web site:
“I am introducing the SOLDIER SUPPORT Act: Support Our Lads Deployed In Enemy Regions by Sending Useless Pet Projects Overseas to Reinforce our Troops.
“This legislation would authorize the President - as Commander in Chief - to transfer funding for any earmark listed in either the current FY08 Omnibus or the upcoming FY09 appropriations bills directly to war-related activities in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Lads? Are the British still over there?
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That Martin-Cardwell video on YouTube
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ron Marshall of the New Grady Coalition has copped to putting up that WSB-TV clip on YouTube last Saturday.
The video shows Jim Martin, then the head of the state Department of Human Resources, in a piece on the impact of a failed computer system on those who receive welfare checks. Dale Cardwell was the reporter.
Both Cardwell and Martin, of course, are Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate.
Responding to yesterday’s post on the topic, Marshall — who says he likes Cardwell in the race — wrote this morning:
“As chairman of the New Grady Coalition and a concerned citizen, I posted the story because I believe it catches Jim Martin in a hypocritical situation: How can he advocate for struggling families and their children, when he chose to harm them in 2003?
“…..Martin’s failure to repair the DFACS computers helped his Republican boss Sonny Perdue cut the budget, even before Perdue ordered the across the board 2.5% cuts. Who side is this guy on?”
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‘Close’ vote anticipated for transportation sales tax on Thursday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It looks like we’re headed for a dicey showdown in the House over transportation on Thursday — a rewrite of S.R. 845 is to come up for the required two-thirds floor vote.
This is the ballot initiative that would allow regions within Georgia to levy a penny sales tax to go toward transportation needs — including rail.
Three amendments to the House transportation committee substitute, engineered by chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), have been added by the rules committee. Each is intended to enhance the measure’s chances of getting to the 121-vote mark.
One would make it easier for counties to opt out of the taxing regions. “I insisted on that,” said House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs). And so did members of the Senate.
A second would redirect a penny sales tax on gasoline, which now goes to the state general fund, to transportation programs that would benefit rural Georgia. This was required by House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin), whose Democratic votes are needed for passage.
A third provision would exempt — from any regional sales tax — non-road fuel purchases made by airlines, fishermen, construction workers, and those who use off-road vehicles.
I asked Ehrhart whether the votes for the measure were there. “I honestly don’t know,” he relied. “It’s going to be close.”
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Vintage video: CBS posts its original 1996 report on Hillary Clinton’s trip to Bosnia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is confessing that she “misspoke” when she described the dangers she faced on a 1996 trip to Bosnia she made as First Lady.
The CBS video that compares Clinton’s speech last week with actual footage from the trip has made it onto YouTube in several forms.
Hillary Clinton’s 1996 trip to Bosnia, posted by CBS
But the network has also taken taken the unusual step of posting on YouTube the original report from the trip, filed by reporter Sharyl Attkisson and the CBS crew that accompanied Clinton 12 years ago.
It contains references to dangers that U.S. troops in the area faced, and notes that Hillary Clinton was going deeper into Bosnia than Bill Clinton had two months earlier. But no sniper fire.
The report also notes Hillary Clinton’s greatest political worry at the time — that the trip wwould somehow provoke charges that she was engaged in an activity best left to her husband-president.
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Wanted: Hired gun to help topple Civil Rights icon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Attention, job-seekers. Blog for Democracy has found a fascinating opportunity on a political employment web site.
It seems as if an “oratorically gifted challenger” with a surging public personality — why, aren’t those the exact words that Markel Hutchins’ mother uses to describe her son? — is looking for an experienced campaign manager to help him unseat a veteran incumbent who has recently come under fire and may — or may not — be U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta.
No Republicans need apply. Applicants should note that this candidate appears to be highly efficient at delegating. Also, there is the possibility that the position has already been filled.
Hutchins announced his Democratic primary challenge about two weeks after the following want-ad was posted:
GEORGIA (D):Experienced Campaign Manager needed for Atlanta-area congressional district challenger. This unique and historic campaign is expected to pit an older, well-known and veteran incumbent who has recently come under political fire, against a young, charismatic and oratorically-gifted challenger whose public personality has surged in recent times. The campaign manager’s duties: developing and executing a campaign plan, fundraising, organizing/recruiting and managing volunteers, coordinating the mail program, representing the campaign at events, organizing voter contact events, and other administrative tasks. Please send a cover letter, resume and salary requirements as soon as possible to changeinga@gmail.com. Posted: 2/11/08.
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A departure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By now you’ll have noticed we are much reduced. Bob Kemper has departed the Political Insider blog and our AJC bureau in Washington to pursue other opportunities. Feel free to wish him Godspeed below, as his friends here do.
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China, Tibet, and two Georgia events
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue and some 60 tagalongs — state officials, business and academic types, and press — depart on Sunday for Shanghai and Beijing.
The trip marks the debut of Delta Airline’s non-stop Atlanta-to-Shanghai service, and the opening of a trade office in Beijing.
Both are big, much-anticipated events. Delta is in difficult straits, and Georgia’s economy is swooning. But diplomatically speaking, the trip couldn’t come at a worse time — in the midst of China’s largest spate of internal unrest since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Thousands of Chinese troops have been roughly injected into Tibet and neighboring provinces. The authoritarian nation, already made nervous by the prospect of uncontrollable visitors to the Beijing Olympics this summer, has shut down borders and barred the international press from its western reaches.
A Chinese team will make its North American debut in next month’s Tour de Georgia. Chris Hunt/AJC
Expect Perdue & Co. to adopt a business-as-usual attitude throughout the six-day trip. President Bush set the tone late last week when he announced the unrest in Tibet would not affect his plans to make an appearance at the Olympics.
“We defer to the federal government on all foreign policy matters. We go to effect economic development, and we will stay away from diplomatic issues,” said Chris Young, Perdue’s chief of protocol.
Gary Black, who’ll be making the trip as president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, said the briefing he received last week made no mention of Tibet. “This was a briefing that we would have gotten six months or six weeks ago,” he said.
In case the topic didn’t come up, members of the Georgia delegation might want to take heed of this “Olympics Fact Sheet” just put out by the U.S. State Department, which notes:
“All visitors should be aware that they have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public or private locations. All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to on-site or remote technical monitoring at all times.”
The governor’s most careful moments are likely to come during the speech he’s scheduled to give in Beijing, apparently on the topic of economic gains that China might expect this summer — if all goes well. The title of Perdue’s address is “Open for Business: The International Spotlight of the Olympic Games.”
But when it comes to China and Tibet, state officials may be less worried about a slip of the tongue during a business trip, and more worried about what happens in Georgia next month.
The Tour de Georgia, now with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle at its head, has snagged the first Chinese bicycle team ever to compete in North America. Like most modern bicycle squads, the make-up of the GE Marco Polo team is international, but it will be led by Olympic hopeful Li Fuyu of China.
The Chinese television network CCTV has committed to carrying the race, which runs April 21-27.
Bicycle races and protests have a long history, and it’s entirely possible that “Free Tibet” signs could pop up in the farthest reaches of rural Georgia. Attempting to shield a 600-mile event from demonstrators would be futile.
“The event is not a political event. That said, we can’t dictate to people where they can engage in demonstrations or messaging,” said Chris Aronhalt, the tour director. “But at this point, there’s no cause for alarm.”
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A U.S. Senate poll, and a not-so-mysterious YouTube clip
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dale Cardwell, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, called a couple times over the weekend — excited by a Rasmussen poll of 500 Georgia voters conducted on March 20 — and available by subscription only — that shows him doing better against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss than his other two Democratic rivals, Vernon Jones and Jim Martin.
You folks can debate whether the margin of error, probably at 4 to 5 percentage points, gives the following horse-race numbers any statistical significance:
— Chambliss vs. Cardwell, 52 to 36 percent;
— Chambliss vs. Jones, 56 to 30 percent;
— Chambliss vs. Martin, 51 to 33 percent.
Chambliss’ combined unfavorables were at 29 percent; Jones’ were at 58 percent; Martin’s at 33 percent; and Cardwell’s at 35 percent.
A Martin-Cardwell clip on YouTube
Cardwell, a former reporter for WSB-TV in Atlanta, is probably the Democratic candidate most overshadowed by last week’s entry of Jim Martin into the Senate race. Perhaps that’s why someone — we don’t know who — chose to post this WSB clip on YouTube on Saturday.
The undated video, labeled “Jim Martin’s Secret,” features Martin, while he was head of the state Department of Human Resources, trying to explain why many state workers were “twiddling their thumbs” because of a fractious computer system.
Oh, and the reporter was a fellow named Dale Cardwell.
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The slight upside to an examination of Obama and his pastor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Republican strategist in Georgia who was thinking deep thoughts on Sund