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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Georgia unemployment figures are about to go presidential
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This afternoon, state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond issued the straight press release on August labor figures.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 6.3 percent in August, the highest in 15 years.
Officially, Thurmond told Georgians to buck up.
“We’re in the midst of a very challenging job market,” he said. “And finding a job is difficult, but not impossible. I encourage all job seekers to keep the faith and continue their job search efforts.”
But come tomorrow, Thurmond will be telling Georgians why they should be ticked off as well.
The labor commissioner has a noon presser at the state Capitol, where he’ll “discuss the economic hardships of Georgia residents and the impact on the presidential race” — on behalf of the Barack Obama campaign.
Photo credit: William Vasta/AJC
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Jimmy Carter’s close call in Denver
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It came to light only after everyone left town, but Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter had a close encounter with a drunk driver while tooling around Denver last month.
The following was posted last night on the web site of television station CBS4 in Denver:
Denver law enforcement authorities are refusing to release any information related to a DUI crash that came close to the motorcade of former President Jimmy Carter during the Democratic National Convention.
A CBS4 investigation previously reported that a suspected DUI driver, Amber Voiles, came close to colliding with the former President’s motorcade on the night of Aug. 26. Carter had appeared at the convention the previous day.
The former president and his wife, Rosalynn, were being driven through downtown Denver and were stopped at a red light when the 31-year-old Voiles apparently hit a car in front of Carter’s motorcade. The incident occurred in the 1200 block of 17th Street at about 10:30 p.m.
Voiles was a production assistant working on a documentary about Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and the convention. She was working for the mayor’s cousin, George Hickenlooper, the filmmaker behind the documentary. Voiles is not a city employee and was not driving a city vehicle, according to aides to Mayor Hickenlooper.
Photo credit: Associated Press
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Ouch.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This was just issued by the state labor department:
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 6.3 percent in August, the highest in 15 years. The jobless rate was up 1.9 percentage points from 4.4 percent at this same time last year. During the same period, the number of payroll jobs decreased 37,700 or nine-tenths of one percentage point.
The last time Georgia’s unemployment rate reached this level was in March of 1993, and there has not been an over-the-year decline in jobs this great since June of 2003.
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House votes to override D.C. gun laws; Broun and Lewis take opposite sides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Late last night, the U.S. House voted to rewrite the District of Columbia’s rules on gun ownership. Two Georgia congressmen took part in the argument.
The bill was sponsored by a Democrat, newly elected Travis Childers of Mississippi, and was backed by the National Rifle Association.
This June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the district’s 32-year ban on handguns, and the district’s requirement that other home firearms be stored disassembled, or bound by trigger locks.
In response, the District’s local government set up a registration process for revolvers, but continued to ban most semiautomatic pistols — and kept the requirement that guns be stored in pieces, or trigger-locked.
The House legislation was prompted by Second Amendment advocates who accused D.C. officials of giving only lip-service to a Supreme Court decision that for the first time declared possession of firearms to be part of an individual right to self-defense.
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens) jumped in on the side of gun advocates, coming out against not just robbery or rape, but pillaging, too. Which was no doubt a reference to the lobbying industry.
Said Broun:
”It’s inane to think that somebody can’t have a gun and own that gun and have it loaded.
“It’s inane to think that somebody has to have a gun unloaded or locked or taken apart because if somebody’s breaking into your house, if they’re robbing, raping, pillaging, you don’t have time to put those firearms together, even the loaded firearm.”
The Athens congressman was followed by U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who offered a defense of the District’s right to make it’s own rules:
“Some of my friends have fought tooth and nail against too much government intervention. So how could you suggest tonight that Congress circumvent, disregard, and disrespect the rights and freedom of the citizens of this city?
“D.C. residents have made it crystal clear they want to limit the proliferation of guns in Washington to protect all of its citizens, including members of Congress, staffers, even the president of the United States, who all live and work in this city.
“The amendment would nullify the will of hundreds of thousands of voting Americans like they don’t even exist. They are citizens of America. They are human beings.
“We all heard the news of a few weeks ago: 11 people were shot, wounded, some even died on the streets of Washington in one night….You may believe what you will. Maybe you truly think that when everyone bears arms, the city will really be safer. You have a right to your opinion, but we are here tonight to say the people of the District of Columbia do not agree.
“And they should not have your way of life, your viewpoint, your amendment forced down their throat. “
The bill passed easily, but has an uncertain future in the Senate. But it did allow some Democrats the November protection that comes with supporting a pro-NRA bill.
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Got a problem with the business community? Put a chamber head in charge of your campaign
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since the meltdown in the Legislature this spring and the Senate failure to pass a transportation bill, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s relationship with the business community has been in need of repair.
But Harris Blackwood of the Gainesville Times points out that the lieutenant governor now has a significant liaison to the economic set:
Charles K. Tarbutton, assistant vice president of the Sandersville Railroad Co., is chairman of Georgians for Cagle, the official name for the gubernatorial campaign committee.
Tarbutton, who was a supporter of Cagle in his 2006 bid for lieutenant governor, is also current chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Blackwood also makes this observation:
The only other Republican in the race, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, holds the post of chairman and treasurer of his own campaign committee for governor. Oxendine held the same posts in his campaign for his current office and for his brief run for lieutenant governor.
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ICYMI: An anticipated pile-up at the polls, Barr wants McCain and Obama off the Texas ballot, and Sebelius claims Obama is black
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some of today’s essential reading:
— In today’s AJC, there’s talk that Georgia pollworkers could be overwhelmed by voters in the presidential election:
As local registrars prepare for absentee voters, a new report by a government watchdog group suggests Georgia may not be able to handle the large crowds expected in November.
In a report released Tuesday, the group, Common Cause, said Georgia was among the least-prepared states it studied. The group warned of long lines, confusion —- and the possibility that some voters will be denied ballots.
“The voting process is going to be tested like it has never been before in its history,” said Tova Wang, who wrote the report and is Common Cause’s vice president for research.
Common Cause is a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s voter ID law. That lawsuit is still pending.
Karen Handel, Georgia’s secretary of state, “disagrees with a number of the conclusions [in the report], which appear to be based purely on subjective criteria that Common Causes supports,” said a spokesman, Matt Carrothers.
— Bob Barr, who this week survived a GOP attempt him to remove him from the Pennsylvania ballot, is out to return the favor:
Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr’s campaign filed suit Tuesday seeking to remove Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama from the ballot in Texas, alleging that the two major candidates missed the deadline for officially filing to be on the ballot.
The lawsuit by the former Republican congressman from Georgia claims that neither McCain nor Obama met the requirement of Texas law that all candidates provide “written certification” of their nomination “before 5 p.m. on the 70th day before election day,” because neither had been formally nominated by their respective parties in time. The suit was filed in the Texas Supreme Court in Austin.
That would have been Aug. 25. Obama did not accept his party’s nomination until Aug. 28, McCain his on Sept. 4.
— And at an appearance in Iowa, the governor of Kansas publicly wondered whether Barack Obama’s African origins might be a factor in this year’s close presidential contest:
“Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American?” Sebelius asked in response to a question about why the election is so close. “That may be a factor. All the code language, all that doesn’t show up in the polls. And that may be a factor for some people.”
The remark, delivered in the governor’s low key, folksy, out-from-behind-the-podium style, raised a couple chuckles but few eyebrows in the downtown Iowa City crowd, but Republicans took offense and responded in short order.
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