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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Vivian Bishop: ‘I lost a delegate spot because they didn’t believe I supported Clinton’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometime this week, the state Democratic party will release the list of delegates headed for the national convention in Denver this summer.
But already, we know the names of some of those defeated in a weekend round of voting. For instance, Vivian Creighton Bishop, wife of U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, was rejected as a Hillary Clinton delegate.
Her husband is co-chair of the Barack Obama campaign in Georgia.
The Albany Herald quotes Vivian Bishop as saying she lost because her fellow Clinton supporters doubted her sincerity, and because the Saturday selection convention in the 2nd Congressional District was abruptly moved from Columbus to Americus.
She can’t win, it seems. Earlier this year, the congressman’s wife said she was accosted because she wasn’t supporting the black fellow in the presidential primary.
Here’s what the Herald reported from the weekend vote:
“There were some comments from those in my opponent’s camp, that they didn’t believe I was truly a supporter,” she said.
In addition to media attention, her decision to support Clinton has garnered criticism from members of the black community and occasional harassment, she said.
“I think that’s silly, very immature and very misinformed. I certainly would not support (Obama) just because he’s black,” she said. “Just as I would not support Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman.
“I think it’s unfair for them to have to use that race card, like, ‘she’s not really for Hillary; she just wants to get there and support Barack.’ Hillary knows that and my husband knows that that is not true.”
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Eric Johnson on defeat of transportation bill: ‘I wasn’t doing the governor any favors’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nearly three weeks after the end of the 2008 session of the General Assembly, lawmakers are still dealing with the repercussions.
Eric Johnson, the ranking Republican in the state Senate, just sent out an e-mail defending his vote against S.R. 845, which would have permitted regions to levy one-cent sales taxes for transportation.
Wrote Johnson:
Recent reports have hinted that “Senate leadership” may have voted against T-SPLOST (SR 845) because the Governor opposed it. That is incorrect. And there are reports of political revenge by “business interests” against those who voted against higher taxes for roads. I hope that this is incorrect, too.
The Senate president pro tem’s full explanation can be found below.
What’s Johnson reacting to? There’s been plenty of criticism. Tom Barton, who runs the editorial page of the Savannah Morning News, which circulates in Johnson’s district, had this blistering column on Saturday.
And there was this last week on InsiderAdvantage:
The business community is on the verge of declaring war on legislators who failed to support transportation and other pro-business issues during the 2008 legislative session.
While their actions, for the moment, are expected to remain well hidden, there is a strong likelihood that numerous incumbents - particularly in the Senate - will find themselves facing well-financed challengers.
Already, two Republican senators from Cobb County have silent but strong competition lining up for their seats. Other senators who are viewed as having “talked one way and voted another” are expected to get opposition in the days leading up to qualifying.
Read the Johnson’s entire statement on the jump.
Tuesday statement from Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah:
Recent reports have hinted that “Senate leadership” may have voted against T-SPLOST (SR 845) because the Governor opposed it. That is incorrect. And there are reports of political revenge by “business interests” against those who voted against higher taxes for roads. I hope that this is incorrect, too.
While I cannot speak for other Senators, I believe that they were opposed for the same reason I was - it amounted to ‘taxation without representation’. That issue started a revolution 232 years ago and I believe it would have started another one if it had passed.
When SR 845 left the Senate on February 20, it passed 51-4. It would have allowed any county to add an additional one penny sales tax for transportation needs. Like other Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes (SPLOST), it would be for specific projects for a limited time and require voter approval. I voted “YES”.
On April 4, with literally 4 minutes left on the last day of the session, the Senate was presented with a new version that allowed a large group of counties to decide on regional road projects and then voted on by every county in the region. If a county voted against it, but it passed regionally, that county’s taxes were raised anyway. That was obviously unacceptable to many Senators, including me.
As a proposed Constitutional amendment, it required a 2/3 vote. It passed comfortably in the House, but failed in the Senate by 3 votes. 14 of 34 Republican Senators, including their 4 top leaders, and 4 Democrat Senators, including the Minority Leader, voted against the final version of the bill. The bill was reconsidered and failed again by the same vote.
I represent a portion of a large county (Chatham) and two smaller counties (Bryan and Liberty). Under the provisions of SR 845, Chatham County voters could outnumber the two smaller counties and force their taxes to increase. That is political suicide. It also isn’t fair. I make no apologies.
I want to help with traffic relief. I voted for T-SPLOST. But I couldn’t support what we were faced with at the last minute. I also believe that, if SR 845 had passed and been on the ballot for voter confirmation, it would have been defeated. We can come back and give local communities the ability to raise their own taxes if they want, but we should never allow someone to raise it against their will.
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Regina Thomas on her challenge to John Barrow: It’s all about geography
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Sen. Regina Thomas of Savannah says she’s jumping into the Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. John Barrow to thwart an Athens Mafia that controls three of the state’s 13 congressional districts.
Thomas was on Tim Bryant’s talk show on WGAU (1340 AM) in Athens this morning, declaring that she hadn’t given the slightest thought to the possibility that she might be weakening Barrow to the point that Republicans might actually have a shot at the 12th District congressional seat in November.
Listen to a three-minute sound clip here.
“It is time for a change. It is time for equal representation. And we feel that we don’t have that at this time,” Thomas said.
Explain, please, Bryant implored.
“You have three congressmen from the Athens area,” Thomas said.
Indeed, Paul Broun is from Athens, though fellow Republican Barry Fleming of Augusta — in another instance of geographic chauvinism — would like to rip that prize away from him.
Jack Kingston, now of Savannah, spent his youth in Athens. And Barrow was an Athens/Clarke County commissioner — who was drawn out of his seat by a Republican state Legislature, and so shifted his headquarters to Savannah.
We just hope that Markel Hutchins doesn’t find out that U.S. Rep. John Lewis is originally from Alabama.
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Lawmaker suggests relationship between Evans and Abraham began much earlier
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. Carl Rogers (R-Gainesville), is strongly hinting that the relationship between state transportation board chairman Mike Evans and his commissioner, Gena Abraham, began much earlier than the two are saying.
This is in today’s Gainesville Times:
State Rep. Carl Rogers began hearing it in November.
The rumors were flying about a relationship between then-transportation board Chairman Mike Evans and Gena Abraham, the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.
“I was told about some things going on, and I knew they would surface. I just didn’t know when,” Rogers said. “They had been seen together, and I couldn’t give you any particulars.”
Rogers has expressed interest in replacing Evans on the transportation board.
Evans and Abraham said their relationship began after Evans’ re-election to the board in early February. She was reprimanded Monday for not informing the board of the romance until last week.
State Sen. Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville) has also been mentioned as a candidate to replace Evans on the 13-member DOT board, but the same article says that he — like Rogers — intends to qualify next week for another term in the Legislature.
Ben Bridges, the ex-state patrol officer who is retiring from the House this year, has expressed interest in the job.
More interesting, and perhaps more appropriate — given the current circumstances in that lovenest we call the Department of Transportation — there’s word that Gov. Sonny Perdue may be pushing Steve Farrow, a Dalton attorney.
Farrow is the former chairman of the State Ethics Commission.
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It’s the spot where Obama supporters are least likely to gather
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The debate among Republicans is about how to match an Obama-inspired surge of Democratic voter registration in Georgia.
Which has led the DeKalb County GOP to slip in a clip and rack the chamber.
Members will spend Saturday hunting new voters at the Eastman Gun Show at the North Avenue Trade Center, according to Jamie Sibold, chairman of the DeKalb Republican party.
It’ll be the first of many attempt to put more gun owners on the voter rolls, Sibold said.
