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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The e-mail that one state employee would like back
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every now and again, the Jack Abramoff saga — already forgotten by many — jumps up in the most unexpected of places.
Abramoff is the high-powered Republican lobbyist whose connections with Indian tribes and their gaming operations proved such a problem for Ralph Reed in his ’06 bid for lieutenant governor.
In Washington, low-grade prosecutions continue. Robert Coughlin, a former member of the Justice Department, pleaded guilty last week to accepting thousands of dollars in meals and tickets from Abramoff.
An article posted on the web site of the ABA Journal says that prosecutors aren’t through.
Make sure you get to the third paragraph in this excerpt:
One e-mail from Kevin Ring, a member of Abramoff’s lobbying team at Greenberg Traurig, touted his success at securing a $16.3 million Justice Department grant for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the story says. Initially a deputy assistant attorney general had approved only $9 million for the tribe, but someone in Justice approved the higher amount.
Ring, a former staffer in the Justice Department under Attorney General John Ashcroft, had tickets for the Dave Matthews Band that he was giving to the lawyers who helped his clients. Coughlin, who at one time worked with Ring at DOJ, had helped his friend make contacts with Justice Department staffers. “I have the suite filling up with DOJ staffers that just got our clients $16 million,” Ring said in an e-mail to a fellow lobbyist, Padgett Wilson.
Wilson’s e-mail reply asserted that Dave Matthews tickets weren’t enough of a reward. “As for those DOJ staffers, those guys should get anything they want for the rest of the time they are in office—opening day tickets, Skins v. Giants, oriental massages, hookers, whatever.” Wilson is now director of governmental affairs for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.
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A city slips out from under a ‘gun rights’ senator
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Tuesday, the mayor of Woodstock, Ga., sent Gov. Sonny Perdue a letter begging him to veto H.B. 89, the measure to expand the public places a concealed weapon can be carried by permit holders.
Mayor Donnie Henriques wrote “to express the collective concern of city council.”
Quoth the mayor:
While a paramount objective of any elected body is safety of the public they serve, we are inclined to believe the proposed amendments will not only fall seriously short of enhancing public safety but more than likely will escalate the frequency of armed confrontation between police and persons traveling armed, entering public property armed, consuming alcoholic beverages while armed or reacting overtly to what they perceive as a threat to another.
You can read the rest on the jump.
The significance of this letter is that Woodstock is home to state Sen. Chip Rogers, a Republican who was key to the bill’s passage by the Legislature.
We caught Rogers in the hallway today. He said he was surprised by his city’s action. And not pleasantly.
In the meantime, GeorgiaCarry.Org has written a rebuttal to a letter sent to Perdue from the Georgia Restaurant Association, warning that H.B. 89 would lead to serious legal and insurance liabilities for its members.
Read the GeorgiaCarry letter here.
It comes to this rather esoteric conclusion:
H.B. 89 is the most important bill to restore gun rights to citizens in Georgia’s history. As you know, the public gathering law was a Jim Crow law passed in response to a Republican protest against blacks being ejected from the General Assembly after Reconstruction. This is an opportunity for you to help heal Georgia’s racist past.
And, as promised earlier, the Woodstock letter can be found below.
April 29, 2008
The Honorable Sonny Perdue
Governor of the Great State of Georgia
203 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
Dear Governor,
In this legislative session our elected delegates addressed many issues with typical spirit and competency and I am again honored to be associated with the men and women who dedicate their lives to public office.
I write however to express the collective concern of City Council regarding HB 89 that amends Part 1 of Article 4 of Chapter 11 of Title 16 OCGA entitled the Business Security and Employee Privacy Act. While a paramount objective of any elected body is safety of the public they serve, we are inclined to believe the proposed amendments will not only fall seriously short of enhancing public safety but more than likely will escalate the frequency of armed confrontation between police and persons traveling armed, entering public property armed, consuming alcoholic beverages while armed or reacting overtly to what they perceive as a threat to another.
Notwithstanding the licensing requirements for those carrying guns there is a stark reality of the relationship between gun access and violent crime. The United States is the most highly armed country in the world with 90 guns for every 100 citizens according to the 2007 Small Arms Survey. In the rest of the world, the rate is ten firearms for every 100 citizens. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 1990’s found the U.S. firearm homicide rate for children at 16 times that of other developed countries and on average 30,000 Americans killed each year because of firearms. In fact, since 1963 more Americans died by gunfire than perished in combat during the entire 20th century.
Contrary to popular belief, gun violence is not an urban, gang or a criminal problem. More than 16,000 suicides, accidental deaths of children and domestic violence related homicides by use of a firearm in the home occur each year and more than $2.3 billion is spent annually on medical costs attributed directly to gun violence. When coupled with lost productivity of those killed and wounded, the economic impact in communities and the devastation to the fabric of a presumably civil society the need to limit the number of weapons on our streets not increase them is apparent.
Last year firearms related violence prompted the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Joyce Foundation to partner with civic leaders to develop a comprehensive strategy. That summit produced a series of recommendations that included law enforcement leaders needing the support of elected officials at every level of the legislative process with emphasis on the need to act in the public interest and stop catering to special interests to reduce the terrible, and escalating, risk of gun violence in America.
Undoubtedly some have presented the Bill as an extension of the 2nd Amendment. We find this to be a gross exaggeration of our Constitution, ignorant of the ramifications when relatively untrained and inexperienced persons are allowed to possess guns in public places for discretionary use. To assert accessibility of a firearm to an average citizen will intimidate or thwart the violent criminal is merit less. Ironically research summarized in Private Guns, Public Health, demonstrates gun owners to be disproportionately at risk for gun injuries and suicide and a 2003 Brookings Institution study by economists at Duke and Georgetown Universities effectively disputes the argument that gun ownership deters crime.
Governor, we live in a civilized society and if we as elected representatives believe the safety of our constituency to be so threatened by those with criminal intent then we should commit the resources necessary to strengthen our law enforcement components, not relax restrictions of legitimate legislation.
We strongly believe as the senior leader of our great State you have little alternative but to delay passage of House Bill 89 in order to allow for more constructive discourse and determination to truly provide a safe and secure environment for all Georgians.
With due respect,
Donnie Henriques, Mayor
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Cardwell joins Senate race. And not quietly.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dale Cardwell became the third wheel in the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate this morning.
The former TV journalist immediately laid into the two men who signed up before him: Jim Martin, the Atlanta attorney and former state lawmaker; and DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones.
Cardwell entered the race last June, but has found himself sidelined by Martin’s access to campaign cash and Jones’ presumed appeal among African-American voters.
Which means Cardwell must attack both if he’s to have any chance in the July 15 primary.
Much of what the former WSB-TV reporter said Wednesday about Martin, who was recruited by top Democrats into the race, is contained in the YouTube video that he posted this week. “Convenientcrat” and such.
But Cardwell used two harsh words to describe his other rival. One was “crook.” The other was “Republican.”
This is going to be a very caustic race.
“Vernon wants to maintain that every accusation that’s ever been leveled against him is categorically, undeniably false. And that’s simply not true,” Cardwell said in a phone interview after he signed his paperwork.
“People in the media are tip-toeing around Vernon Jones. And it’s time for somebody to stand up and tell the record as it is. Vernon Jones the Pete Rose of politics. He’s a man who’s completely destroyed his credibility both on and off the field. And it’s time for somebody to say it out loud.”
We’ve got a call into the Jones campaign for a response. In the meantime, here’s the post from Jones’ appearance at the state Capitol yesterday.
You’ll see that Jones and Cardwell have at least one thing in common. They’re both ticked off that party heavyweights lured Martin into the race.
But Cardwell doesn’t think Jones should be in the contest, either. Not on the Democratic side. He pointed to Jones’ admission that he twice voted for George W. Bush.
“It’s shame that there’s not been a leader in the party that has stepped forward and pronounced the fact that we can have a very broad tent, but we shouldn’t have to accept a Republican in sheep’s clothing,” Cardwell said.
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Sam Olens: ‘Top leaders’ stonewalled transportation measure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sam Olens, chairman of both the Cobb County Commission and the Atlanta Regional Commission, has an op-ed piece on traffic congestion in today’s AJC.
Olens gives kudos to House Speaker Glenn Richardson, and to Vance Smith and Jeff Mullis, who respectively chair the House and Senate transportation committees.
But then Olens writes this:
“However, other state leaders elected to craft solutions for Georgia’s greatest challenges were not on board. These top leaders either stonewalled or actively opposed legislation to provide new funding for greater mobility in our state.”
But he doesn’t name names.
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