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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Investigated judge says he intends to retire
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WALB-TV in Albany is reporting that Brooks Blitch, the chief judge of the Alapaha Judicial Circuit, has handed in his resignation.
Blitch, 73, one of Clinch County’s most powerful political figures, is at the center of a federal investigation — the judge’s South Georgia chambers were bugged for a time, the FBI admitted recently.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission has charged him with 12 instances of misconduct.
Blitch says his retirement has been planned for some time, and will take effect June 30.
In a press release, according to WALB, Blitch’s counsel, former Gov. Roy Barnes, says that he’s informed the judicial board that Blitch does not plan to seek appointment as a senior judge — as retired judges often do — “because of his desire to return to the private practice of law on a limited basis.”
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Marshall with 3-to-1 edge over Goddard in ready cash
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall, the constantly embattled Macon Democrat, should be breathing a bit easier today, knowing that — as of March 31 — he had a nearly 3-to-1 cash advantage over Republican challenger Rick Goddard.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Goddard is reporting net contributions of $573, 224, with $403,826 in cash on hand.
Marshall reports just over $1 million raised this cycle, with $1.19 million in cash on hand.
The two candidates are roughly equal in contributions from individuals, but Marshall has a substantial advantage when it comes to party support, and money from political action committees. He is, after all, the incumbent.
But the bet here is that Marshall, a superdelegate to the convention, is still not comfortable enough yet to declare whether he’ll support Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama
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Voter stats from February primary show a Democratic surge of black and young voters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two months after the Feb. 5 presidential primary, we now have the first hard-and-fast statistical take on what a Barack Obama surge in Georgia might mean this November.
The answer is six percentage points. Maybe more. Which is why many Republicans you know are developing worry lines — and praying for Hillary Clinton.
This week, the office of Secretary of State Karen Handel quietly released the race, age and gender breakdowns for the February contest.
Some of these figures you certainly know. Others are new:
— Democrats cast nearly 53 percent of the 2,007,544 ballots counted on Feb. 5.
— Within the Democratic primary, African-Americans cast 55 percent of the vote. This is the first time that’s happened. White voters made up just a tad less than 40 percent of the Democratic vote.
— White voters made up 96 percent of the Republican presidential primary vote.
— African-Americans cast 30 percent of all votes on Feb. 5. In November 2006, with gubernatorial candidate Mark Taylor at the top of the Democratic ticket, black voters cast only 24 percent of all ballots. This is the number causing Republicans to lose sleep.
— In addition to juicing turnout among black voters, the Feb. 5 primary showed signs of a shift in party preference among the state’s youngest voters. You read above that Democratic voters accounted for 53 percent of all ballots.
But 61 percent of voters 24 and under picked up a Democratic ballot.
— Young voters are notoriously unreliable, but young African-American voters — 24 and under — had a voter turnout rate of 26 percent. That’s remarkably strong. Turnout among young white voters was 22 percent — again, not too shabby.
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Ties to an indicted company make local politicians uncomfortable
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Suddenly, the biggest worry in local politics has become fallout from the federal indictment of the Facility Group, a Smyrna architectural and engineering firm that’s ram-rodding some of the biggest building projects undertaken by local governments in Atlanta.
The company’s three top executives, as well as the firm itself, have been accused of funneling excessive campaign contributions to a public official in Mississippi to win a contract to manage the completion of a beef processing plant, which ultimately failed.
Last week, the Cobb County Board of Education approved an audit of its relationship with the Facility Group.
The firm has managed the district’s publicly tax-funded $1.16 billion school building program for the past 10 years. A vote to renew the penny sales tax that funds the construction comes up in September — and Cobb has a fickle history when it comes to approval of sales taxes.
This morning, the Marietta Daily Journal reports that the Facility Group “has been performing free work on the school system’s proposed SPLOST III since last summer.”
“Do I receive help from people who want to help me? Sure,” said John Crooks, vice-chairman of the school board.
In Cherokee County, the Ledger-News reports that Sheriff Roger Garrison has returned $3,000 in campaign contributions he received last summer from executives of The Facility Group, which expanded the county jail.
Says the Cherokee newspaper:
Garrison also recently listed in a campaign finance disclosure document a $1,000 contribution returned to Neighbors of Earl Ehrhart, the campaign of state Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), who is a Facility Group executive, and a returned $1,000 contribution from company executive Robert “Bob” Moultrie Jr. and his wife Kelley Moultrie. Garrison received the contributions last July at a golf tournament in the gated Hawks Ridge community.
Ehrhart, a vice president for the Facility Group, is also chairman of the House Rules Committee.
And in Paulding County, where the Facility Group oversees the construction of a $65 million county administrative complex, the company’s influence has become one of the more popular topics on Paulding.com, a community news web site.
According to the State Ethics Commission, the Facility Group political action committee alone has given $21,700 to political candidates in the last 15 months.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has received the largest portion — $10,700. Other contributions include: $2,000 to Jerry Shearin, chairman of the Paulding County Commission; $1,000 to Secretary of State Karen Handel; $500 to Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren; $1,500 to the Georgia Federation of Republican Women; $500 to Cobb County Chairman Sam Olens; and $500 to Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon.
