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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Roy Barnes hired to block Dunwoody legislation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Dunwoody Crier, published by “Georgia Gang” host Dick Williams, is reporting that former Gov. Roy Barnes was hired by DeKalb County to contest state legislation allowing a referendum on a city of Dunwoody.
Says the Crier, quoting documents obtained through the state Open Records Act:
Barnes, now a trial lawyer in Marietta, was hired last year by the county attorney, William Linkous III.
“You will assist us,” Linkous wrote to Barnes on April 27, 2007, “in determining the impact that the City of Dunwoody legislation will have on DeKalb County and with follow up litigation opposing HB 264.”
…..Barnes will bill the county at a rate of $473.33 per hour. His associates will be billed at $233.33 per hour, with paralegals, law clerks and other researchers to be billed at their regular rate, but not more than $95.00 per hour.
….Last month, DeKalb’s chief executive, Vernon Jones, took the Board of Commissioners into executive session to discuss litigation. Barnes was at the meeting.
A referendum vote is scheduled for July 15.
WSB-TV has quoted DeKalb County Commissioner Elaine Boyer as saying the DeKalb commission wasn’t informed of the Barnes hiring.
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Cagle on an aviation school, the CRCT mess, and transportation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle talked to the Marietta Kiwanis Club on Thursday — the most politically connected civic group in Cobb County. Judges, city council members, mayors, future and current candidates for office filled the room.
Two years ago, in the very same room, Cagle made one of his first campaign appearances in his race against Ralph Reed.
In 2006, the candidate’s topic was what he’d do if elected. This time, Cagle was asked about what Republicans haven’t done. Uncomfortable questions for someone likely to enter the 2010 race for governor later this year.
The lieutenant governor was questioned about Gov. Sonny Perdue’s veto — for the second time — of an $8 million expenditure to build a charter school connected to a planned aviation museum near the Lockheed Martin plant and Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta.
Cagle supported the expenditure as a means of increasing the state’s supply of science and math students.
“I’m disappointed that we’ve tried twice to get it done, and yet the governor has vetoed it. I am very committed to making it happen, and I’ve told everyone involved. We fought hard, and we came up short,” Cagle said. He talked of using “other avenues” to find funding for the project.
One audience member also quizzed Cagle about last week’s debacle with the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test — tossed out by School Superintendent Kathy Cox. Educators had plenty of warning that a large majority of students would fail the social studies test. Even so, school officials maintained their disastrous course.
The questioner put it bluntly: Something is aromatic in Denmark.
Said Cagle:
“Your point’s very well taken. What I’ll say to you is the system’s broke. What we have today in education, truly, is a bureaucratic maze that micro-manages the entire process.
“We’ve gotten away from allowing teachers to truly teach. That doesn’t exist. We’ve tied the hands of teachers. We’ve allowed a funding formula to drive everything that goes on in the classroom. That’s the problem.”
Note that in each of the above cases, Cagle tried to separate himself from the governor and the school superintendent. In neither case did he throw them under the bus.
Cagle has received the most criticism for his handling this month of a transportation bill that failed on the final day of this year’s legislative session.
The lieutenant governor says he’ll pitch a new package within two months. Cagle’s first priority — matching one espoused by the governor — will be reinventing the state Department of Transportation.
Secondly, he wants to look at private-public partnerships when it comes to construction.
But thirdly, and most important to Georgia’s business community, Cagle said it would “focus on new revenue streams that are going to assist our communities, particularly in a regional capacity.”
That’s as specific as Cagle got about new tax money to address congestion — and even state lawmakers in the audience weren’t sure exactly what the lieutenant governor meant.
Photo credit: John Spink/AJC
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Talk of Nunn as veep is unnerving some gay Democrats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the vice presidential sweepstakes, Sam Nunn has become a kind of default setting for those mulling Barack Obama’s choices.
David Brooks of the New York Times is the latest in the mainstream media to note that the former Georgia senator would compliment Obama’s lack of experience:
”Sam Nunn and Tom Daschle seem to fit the bill. Nunn is one of those senior Democrats (like David Boren and Bob Kerrey) who left the Senate lamenting the dumbed-down nature of modern politics. Daschle was more partisan as majority leader, but he is still widely trusted and universally liked. As experienced legislators, both could take Obama’s lofty hopes and translate them into nitty-gritty action.”
Again, Nunn says it’s highly improbable that Obama would reach out to him as a running mate. Even so, the speculation has unnerved some sectors of the traditional Democratic vote.
On his blog, gay activist Wayne Besen portrays Nunn as the “crass” force behind the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy established in the 1990s:
”For those who don’t remember, candidate Bill Clinton promised to repeal the ban on openly gay service members. As president, he tried to follow through and a national uproar ensued. The opposition from conservative Republicans was to be expected, but Nunn’s fingerprints were all over the bloody knife that protruded from Clinton’s back….
“When it comes to the idea of Sam as Veep, I’m having Nunn of it. Beyond his DADT disaster, the senator’s weakening of Clinton helped enable and propel the Gingrich revolution in 1994 - a huge setback for gay and lesbian equality…..
“[I]t is crucial that Obama’s gay staff members make it clear to the candidate how unacceptable Nunn would be. The campaign shouldn’t even float his name unless it is attached to a runaway blimp drifting towards outer space.”
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Casey Cagle: ‘I’m staying out of this DOT board race’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Gainesville Times reports that Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — and the governor, and the House speaker — will stay out of today’s election for a north Georgia member of the state Department of Transportation board.
The Times today quotes Cagle as saying that that “he risked a considerable amount of political capital in the last race for the State Transportation Board” and so will keep to the sidelines.
The article doesn’t contain any promises from Gov. Sonny Perdue or House Speaker Glenn Richardson — just Cagle’s statement that there is a neutrality agreement among the three.
Says the Times:
“I don’t know that there’s a consensus candidate,” Cagle said. “There’s still several in the race, and they are all very, very good candidates. I don’t see a real consensus.”
Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, became entangled in a high stakes battle when Evans stood for re-election in February. Two months later, after winning a second term, Evans resigned after informing the board of a budding romance with Department of Transportation Commissioner Gena Abraham, now his fiancee.
“I have elected to stay out along with the speaker and the governor and let the legislature express their views,” he said.
The vote is schedule for 3 p.m. this afternoon. The vote will be made by state House and Senate members contained within the 9th Congressional District.
