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Saturday, January 10, 2009
Reed reports $431k raised for Atlanta mayoral campaign
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Sen. Kasim Reed announced Saturday that he raised $234,074 in the last six months of 2008 for this year’s Atlanta mayoral campaign.
Reed, an attorney with close connections to Mayor Shirley Franklin, has now raised a total of $431,479, and has $328,129 in cash on hand. We haven’t seen the reports of any other candidates, but assume that Reed’s treasury is the largest.
Reed pointed to the diversity of his contributors. A list can be found here. For anyone interested in Atlanta politics, consider it required reading.
Photo credit: Jean Shifrin/AJC
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Barr: Blagojevich impeachment ‘premature’ and ‘irresponsible’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Georgia congressman and presidential candidate Bob Barr is taking the side of Rod Blagojevich, calling the Illinois House’ decision to impeach the governor “premature and highly irresponsible.”
The following was posted on the Libertarian Party web site:
“To impeach a duly-elected governor against who there has been no formal charges whatsoever brought, much less a finding of guilt, is premature and highly irresponsible,” said Barr, a former federal prosecutor and a Clinton impeachment manager during his service as a member of the United States House of Representatives in 1998-1999.
“To jump to the conclusion that a governor is guilty of impeachable offenses based on nothing more than preliminary, government-developed evidence for which there has been no opportunity to rebut or refute, is to render meaningless any notion of due process, equal protection of the law, or presumption of innocence,” Barr concluded.
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On whether a college degree is necessary for a governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’ve got a three-person confrontation building on the Republican side of the 2010 race for governor: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, and state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine.
One of the most sensitive issues in the contest will be the issue of education. While Cagle and Handel have compelling life stories, neither has a college degree.
Jason Shepherd, a Republican activist and Oxendine supporter, raises the matter for the first time in this post on his blog, Shepherd’s Political Pie:
There are many jobs these days that do not require a college degree. Stories like this one from CareerBuilder.com say that the field of top jobs that do not require a degree are strong and growing. There are also plenty of stories about wildly successful people like Bill Gates who became extremely wealthy and built multi-billion dollar companies without a piece of sheep skin hanging on their wall.
While you may be able to get many jobs without a four year degree, should “Governor” be one of them? After all, you can’t run for Attorney General of Georgia unless you have a law degree. What’s more, you generally can’t teach in a public school without a four year degree, no matter how talented you are….
One of the issues constantly on the minds of Georgia voters is education. I have heard from more than one elected official that, while it wasn’t an issue for their vote for Lt. Governor or Sec. of State, it is an issue while they make up their minds for Governor.
The post also makes reference to a Political Insider column on the same topic, from June 2008.
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The late Griffin Bell speaks, one more time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning, National Public Radio broadcast a fine interview with the late Griffin Bell, the late U.S. attorney general. The talk was recorded in August, not long after Bell learned of his cancer.
Most fascinating is Bell’s description of his early support of school desegregation, which he came to believe was necessary in the years after World War II.
Bell also talked about bringing transparency back to the U.S. Justice Department after the Watergate schedule.
Bell died Monday at age 90. He was buried Wednesday in Sumter County, but a memorial service in Atlanta was held Friday.
