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Friday, October 10, 2008
This homicide case had a congressman as a juror. The verdict was ‘guilty.’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Very rarely do you hear of a congressman doing time on a jury.
And the Insider has never heard of a congressman sitting on a jury in a homicide case.
But that’s what happened this week in Fulton County. U.S. Rep. Tom Price, a Republican from Roswell, confirmed that his re-election efforts were put on hold for four days this week to hear a case of voluntary manslaughter.
Price and other jurors found 30-year-old Kelly Hickson guilty. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The congressman didn’t offer any details of the deliberations. Heck, he wouldn’t even say what the case was about. “All I did was answer the summons and do my civic duty,” Price said. And that’s all he would say.
According to the office of District Attorney Paul Howard, the case involved a 2004 incident in which 28-year-old Jamon Cromwell and his friends were leaving the Queen City strip club in Atlanta’s West End. Hickson and Cromwell began arguing over money — until Hickson pulled a gun and shot Cromwell in the stomach.
Cromwell died a month later. The defendant claimed to have shot Cromwell, who was unarmed, in self-defense. Obviously, a jury of Cromwell’s peers, including the two-term congressman, didn’t buy it.
Price, by the by, faces Democrat Bill Jones on the November ballot.
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When trying to oust a Speaker, a testimonial from Zell doesn’t hurt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So you thought that state Rep. David Ralston’s challenge to House Speaker Glenn Richardson was over and done with.
Nope.
The Republican from Blue Ridge will soon be passing to members of the House GOP caucus copies of a hand-written testimonial from former governor and U.S. senator Zell Miller.
“I’ve applied for a job, and I was looking for a recommendation, the attorney said. “I’ve been telling everybody that we do have a race. I think this is Exhibit A.”
The letter doesn’t mention the post that Ralston is seeking, or the current occupant. But Miller says this:
“For years I have watched you use your rare gift of stability and tact in the courtroom, community and before the committees of the State Capitol. And I have been envious of your skill at bringing people with differing views together.
“Never has that rare talent been more needed at every level of the political spectrum as it is today.
“I do not write this letter with any desire to get involved in today’s political process. I’ve been there, done that and am thankful for the experience. I just wanted my old friend to know that I have always admired you.”
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The Wall Street debacle and the Barr effect
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just checked in with Russ Verney, the campaign manager for Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr.
Verney said the Wall Street crash and bailout has revived Barr’s standing as a factor in the 2008 presidential race.
“We’re seeing an enormous amount of activity coming in from the web site, from people opposed to the bailout,” Verney said.
Many are die hard Republicans, he said. “They’ve had it, they’re coming over and they’re bringing their friends.”
This low-key but effective criticism of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue, videotaped in Barr’s Smyrna headquarters and posted on YouTube, is driving much of the traffic.
Verney said Barr’s new standing in the presidential campaign remains hard to measure. “Most of the polling eliminates us,” he said — under the label of “other.”
But a look at Barr’s schedule shows the former Georgia congressman focused on areas where he could peel critical votes away from Republican John McCain.
Barr is in western Pennsylvania today, and has spent a great deal of time in southern Ohio, Verney said. “There’s a state where an awful lot of folks need a bailout, and they see the bailout is going to Wall Street,” he said.
Next week, Barr will spend three days in southern Virginia. He’ll devote a couple days in Georgia toward the end of the month.
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Carter cuts Bush no slack: ‘Atrocious’ policies have caused worst economic crisis since Great Depression
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This was just posted by Reuters:
Former President Jimmy Carter said on Friday the “atrocious economic policies” of the Bush administration had caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Carter told reporters on a stopover in Brussels that “profligate spending,” massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts since President George W. Bush took office in 2001 were behind the market turmoil and economic crisis.
“I think it’s because of the atrocious economic policies of the Bush administration,” said the 84-year-old Democrat, who served in the White House from 1977-1981 during a period of high inflation and energy crisis.
Photo credit: MCT
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Handel on the voter registration lawsuit
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
See the full AJC story here, but this is building fast:
Voting rights groups on Thursday sued Secretary of State Karen Handel on behalf of a Cherokee County man who they said has been the victim of a methodical effort to deny him the right to vote.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, seeks to halt the state’s attempts to verify the identities and citizenship of registered voters so close to the Nov. 4 election. Attorneys for the plaintiff, Jose Morales, also want the suit to become a class action.
U.S. District Judge Jack Camp scheduled a hearing for Friday morning on a request for a temporary restraining order.
The suit comes the day after the U.S. Department of Justice said the state’s actions to verify identity and citizenship appear to violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The law requires states with a history of discriminatory voting practices to get approval from the federal government before making certain changes to voting and election policy.
Handel has just put out a statement that includes the following:
“The lawsuit filed in Georgia appears to be an orchestrated and well organized effort to dismantle our state’s identification laws and verification process. The safeguards we have in place help to ensure that only those applicants and voters who meet all eligibility factors are permitted to cast a ballot in our elections.
Unfortunately, the organizations appear to want to open the door to allow non-citizens to register and vote in the General Election. If the plaintiff prevails, thousands of non-citizens in Georgia could be allowed to vote.
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