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Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Isakson to Clinton: What about preconditions for talking with bad eggs?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Today’s examination of Hillary Clinton, President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for secretary of state, by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a largely friendly affair — in keeping with the chamber’s clubby reputation.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) posed one of the few questions reminding the world that Clinton and Obama were bitter enemies only a few months ago. And that one of their chief disagreements was over the terms under which the U.S. should speak to its enemies.
Here’s the meat from a transcript:
Isakson: In the presidential debate, I watched both sides — ours and yours. There was a significant debate over foreign policy and over the issue of precondition. I really appreciated your responses throughout, and I think you added a great deal of strength to that debate.
And now that we’re looking at suggestions of talking to Hamas or maybe Hezbollah or maybe Iran, preconditions are absolutely essential, I think, to good, strong diplomacy. I hope you still feel that way.
Clinton: Well, I certainly do, as does the president-elect. I think that his commitment to vigorous and effective diplomacy is in context of his understanding that there are different ways for us to engage.
When it comes to non-state actors like Hamas, as I said at the very end of the morning session, there are conditions. Hamas must renounce violence. They must recognize Israel, and they must agree to abide by all previous agreements.
There are conditions that are usually part of the preliminary discussion that would lead to any kind of negotiation. The president- elect believes that he has the right to claim the opportunity to speak with anybody at any time if it’s in furtherance of our country’s national interests and security. But he fully appreciates the preliminary work that has to be done in order to tee up any such discussions.
So I think we’re in vigorous agreement, Senator, that we want to be smart about how we engage in diplomacy. We want to make sure that when the president of the United States or the secretary of state is engaged in any diplomatic effort that all of the necessary preliminary work, including conditions, if appropriate, have been met before doing so.
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WXIA political reporter Denis O’Hayer leaves for WABE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This from the AJC’s radio/TV blog:
WXIA-TV political reporter Denis O’Hayer has been hired to replace John Lemley as local host of “All Things Considered” on 90.1/WABE-FM from 4 to 6:30. He will also do local spots for “The World” at 3 p.m. and “Marketplace” at 6:30 p.m.
He starts on air Feb. 2 though he’ll be at the station starting Tuesday January 20. Lemley now handles classical duties from noon to 3 p.m. but will continue to do some news-related duties. He used to do classical music before he did news.
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A bill to require voters to prove citizenship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. James Mills (R-Chestnut Mountain) has dropped a bill to require those who register to vote to bring a birth certificate. Their own, preferably.
Watch this one, people. It’s got legs.
This from the Gainesville Times:
“This is to protect the integrity of the voting system,” Mills said. “If there were situations where people were being registered to vote erroneously, this would certainly help to deter that.”
Mills said the measure was patterned after an Arizona law, Proposition 200, a public initiative that was passed by voters in 2004. That law requires the presentation of documents related to citizenship, among them is a birth certificate.
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A Gingrich-Schwarzenegger alliance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CNN has this today, on California Gov. Arnold Scwharzenegger’s budget troubles :
….[The] governor’s senior aides recently turned to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for input on how to enact political reforms and make the government run more efficiently, Schwarzenegger communications director Matt David tells CNN.
David said the discussion between Gingrich and Schwarzenegger chief of staff Susan Kennedy did not focus on the current deadlock over the California state budget, but rather the governor’s goal of creating a more efficient state government that could include “consolidating some agencies and getting rid of overtime and sick time abuse.”
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Updated: The transportation teeter-totter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An odd dynamic is at work in the state Capitol, courtesy of a 2010 race for governor that’s already well underway.
Picture Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, only one of the leading GOP candidates, at one end of a teeter-totter.
This session, Cagle is under pressure to prove both his own effectiveness and his independence from Gov. Sonny Perdue. He also must match wits with his institutional opponent, House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
So put Richardson and Perdue at the other end of that seesaw.
But two other Republican candidates for governor are in the state Capitol complex. Secretary of State Karen Handel sits in a second floor office, catty-corner from Cagle. And state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine occupies an office across the street.
Over the next 39 days, both Handel and Oxendine will dip into the debate at times and places of their own choosing. But it’s becoming clear which end of the teeter-totter they prefer.
Take the all-important issue of transportation. There is general agreement that Georgia hasn’t been putting enough money into roads, bridges, and rail. The state’s business community — recognizing the opportunity that a gubernatorial election brings — has demanded a reality check.
Cagle backs an approach that would allow groups of counties — metro Atlanta, in particular — to band together for the sake of levying a one-cent sales tax that would go toward easing congestion or addressing whatever transportation needs a community has.
It would also put money, and thus power, in the hands of people not part of state government. Decision-making would be somewhat decentralized.
But in a Sunday op-ed piece in the AJC, the House speaker strongly hinted that he wanted to revive debate on another approach — a statewide sales tax that would generate much more money. And would be distributed in a more centralized fashion.
“Adding a lane along a busy interstate, extending a rail line by a couple of miles or simply allowing metro Atlanta to tax itself won’t solve our problems,” Richardson wrote.
On Monday afternoon, after the first day’s session, Oxendine was in the Capitol, having provided part of the background for a press conference on illegal immigration.
Afterwards, I asked the insurance commissioner what he thought about the transportation issue. Oxendine said he’s for whatever works.
However, Oxendine said he’s suspicious of a regional approach. It would be too easy for counties at two ends of a transportation corridor to approve the tax, while those between opt out. “There’s a potential for gaming the system,” he said.
Rural areas must be convinced that finding a solution to metro Atlanta’s traffic problems is a statewide problem. After all, it’s hard to persuade a widget business to build a plant in south Georgia if those widgets — once loaded in north-bound trucks — are paralyzed in big-city traffic.
We hear that Handel is prepared to say the same thing, or something close.
That’s a lot of weight at one end of the teeter-totter.
Update: The above dynamic became even more pronounced this morning at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues Breakfast. My AJC colleague James Salzer was there.
“It’s time we address transportation on a statewide basis. If we’re going to solve transportation for Atlanta, we have to solve transportation for Georgia. Simply drawing a circle around Atlanta and letting Atlanta tax itself to fix transportation in Atlanta, I don’t believe will help transportation in Atlanta,” House Speaker Glenn Richardson said.
The speaker said the problem requires a statewide tax that goes for everything from road projects and rail in Atlanta, to figuring out routes to steer traffic away from the city. Of the regional transportation idea, he said, “I believe that plan will not fix transportation.”
Afterwards, Gov. Sonny Perdue told reporters, “The speaker made some good points. Transportation is a statewide issue. I want a statewide solution to transportation as well.”
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he couldn’t comment on Richardson’s proposal because the speaker’s comments were “general.” He added, “A statewide, one penny increase in the sales tax just for transportation would probably be difficult to pass in the Senate.”
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Updated: Keeping double books in the race for governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Updated: A staffer for the gubernatorial campaign of John Oxendine said Tuesday afternoon that the $19,000 recorded by the State Ethics Commission as going to his state insurance campaign fund was the result of a computer error. The entire amount should have been credited to Oxendine’s gubernatorial fund, said campaign manager Kathryn Ballou. Ballou said she was working with the ethics commission to correct the entry.
Original post: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine spent the fall raising money for their 2010 gubernatorial bids. But they were also collecting campaign checks for their current offices.
While reviewing disclosures filed last week, my AJC colleague James Salzer found Cagle’s lieutenant governor’s campaign account listed $61,000 raised during the second half of 2008. Some of the checks came in while he was also raising money to run for governor.
Oxendine has been raising money to run for governor since the spring of last year. Nonetheless his insurance commissioner’s campaign fund collected $19,000.
State law prohibits candidates from raising money for one office and then spending the money to run for another. So, technically, they can’t use the money they raised for their current offices in the Republican race for governor.
However, candidates find creative ways to get around that law. Candidates refund money they raised for one office and then ask donors to re-contribute the money for their new race. Both Oxendine and Cagle refunded some money they’ve raised for their current officers.
Candidates also can spend the leftover money in their old campaign funds to enhance their general name ID. For instance, Salzer found that Cagle spent more than $200,000 in leftover funds in his lieutenant governor’s account to promote his CutWaste.org.
Cagle ran TV ads promoting his web site.
Cagle ended 2008 with $41,822 left in his lieutenant governor’s account. Oxendine ended the year with $480,000 in his insurance commissioner’s account.
