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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Reed lays claim to Obama campaign advisors
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last year, Councilwoman Mary Norwood said she’s the Barack Obama candidate in the race to succeed Shirley Franklin to become Atlanta’s next mayor.
But when it comes to Obama infrastructure, much of that has been snagged by state Sen. Kasim Reed, according to my AJC colleague Eric Stirgus.
Reed announced Thursday that AKPD Message & Media will serve as his camp’s media consultants. Some of the firm’s better known names include David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager; John Del Cecato, who produced many of the presidential candidate’s TV ads; and John Kupper, who helped the president-to-be as a message and advertising consultant.
Additionally, Reed said he has lined up Cornell Belcher, who was Obama’s pollster.
“I am proud that they have joined our team and will help us lay the foundation for victory in this election,” said Reed, a Democrat who represents portions of southwest Atlanta in the Georgia Senate.
Reed spokeswoman Goldie Taylor said she hadn’t seen details about the terms of the contracts, particularly how much they’ll be paid. She said Reed began negotiations with the teams in Denver during last summer’s Democratic National Convention.
Norwood, an at-large city councilwoman, currently has the lead in campaign donations and recently released a poll that showed her with a 30-point lead over Reed. Reed’s folks noted that Franklin was down early in the polls before besting Robb Pitts in the 2001 mayoral election.
Franklin, a two-term incumbent, is prohibited from running for a third consecutive term.
Governor vows to crush a transportation rebellion
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Holy cow. Have you ever seen anything so….well, snafued.
While you sit in traffic, the state’s system for getting you there is erupting in a civil war that’s likely to end up before the Georgia Supreme Court.
Less than an hour ago, shortly after the board that governs the state Department of Transportation fired its commissioner, Gena Evans, Gov. Sonny Perdue made clear that he intends to use the incident to press the Legislature for his plan to gut the agency and create something new.
A majority of the DOT board, even without newly elected member Bobby Parham, decided that Evans showed excessive loyalty to the governor, who lobbied the board to hire her in late 2007. Read the details here.
In a press release, Perdue said:
“Sadly, today the State Transportation Board proved that a majority of its members are more concerned with personal vendettas and politics than delivering value to citizens in transportation.
While I am not privileged to the reasons behind their decision, I believe they have fired a competent Commissioner for no reason other than her commitment to put the needs of Georgia’s citizens ahead of board members’ personal agendas of spending taxpayer dollars on their individual projects.
The Lt. Governor, Speaker and I are committed to creating a transportation system that allows the citizens to hold us accountable for moving Georgia where we need to go in transportation.”
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On Sunday sales and the Senate’s playful sense of irony
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The joy of our state Capitol can be found in the twists and turns that lawmakers are prepared to take — sometimes, on behalf of the right people.
Late Wednesday, after an hour and 45-minute delay, a meeting of the Senate Regulated Industries Committee was canceled on account of lack of interest. Only two of 13 lawmakers showed up.
One cannot help but think that the absences were deliberate. The committee was scheduled to take up S.B.16, the bill that would allow communities across the state to decide whether their grocery and convenience stores should be allowed to sell beer and wine on Sundays.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle cleared the legislation for a floor vote before the session began, but that hasn’t stopped the hemming and hawing. A major quality-of-life issue with huge political impact, lawmakers argue in private. The Georgia Christian Coalition is attempting to reassert itself by opposing the measure — a source of great concern.
But it’s all about quality of life, of course. For some.
Today, the Senate voted 32-14 to pass S.B. 68, which apparently had no problem escaping the same group of concerned lawmakers on the regulated industries committee.
The bill allows local communities to decide whether to exempt themselves from a state law that prohibits the sale of alcohol within 100 yards of a public housing complex. My AJC colleague Mary Lou Pickel was in the chamber at the time.
“Are we sending the wrong message by making an exemption in the law?” asked Sen. Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur), who opposed the bill.
Sen. Jack Murphy (R-Cumming), the sponsor of S.B. 68, said local government should be allowed to decide for themselves where liquor stores set up shop. Murphy was one of those who didn’t show up at the committee meeting on Sunday sales.
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The topic of the day for conservatives: The “2% illusion”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal is churning through right-handed web sites today, and providing much fodder for talk radio:
A tax policy that confiscated 100% of the taxable income of everyone in America earning over $500,000 in 2006 would only have given Congress an extra $1.3 trillion in revenue.
That’s less than half the 2006 federal budget of $2.7 trillion and looks tiny compared to the more than $4 trillion Congress will spend in fiscal 2010. Even taking every taxable “dime” of everyone earning more than $75,000 in 2006 would have barely yielded enough to cover that $4 trillion.
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January unemployment rate hits record high
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The state Department of Labor just released January unemployment figures, showing a preliminary but record-high rate of 8.6 percent.
This is the highest seasonal rate since 1976, when the U.S. Labor Department standardized unemployment rates among all states, said state Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond.
“We are officially sailing in uncharted economic waters,” he said in a press release.
The previous record high was 8.3 percent, recorded in January of 1983.
Dalton again was the hardest hit, with a 7.6 percent loss of jobs over January 2008. Macon and Athens did the best, but barely held even. Click here for a city-by-city breakdown.
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Your morning jolt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning on ajc.com:
— Sonny Perdue says if he doesn’t take every last stimulus dollar, it won’t be out of protest.
— Georgia economy in the tank until 2011.
— Georgia Power’s nuke bill up for what could be a final vote, in the House.
— State senators decide not to show up for vote on Sunday sales of beer and wine.
— The $18.9 billion mid-year budget comes up for a House vote.
— A $1.75 trillion federal deficit.
— Salmonella outbreak could last two years.
— Atlanta finances ‘going down a dark hole.’
— Atlanta police chief denies widespread misconduct in the ranks.
From elsewhere:
— NYT: GM loses $9.6 billion.
— WSJ: Karl Rove on Obama’s straw men.
— WP: Majority of Americans back Obama on Afghanistan.
— WP: Kurtz asks “How bad was Bobby Jindal?”
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Bobby Jindal as the next ‘secret Muslim’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dan Gilgoff, who writes the God & Country blog for U.S. News and World Report, says that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is running up against the same “secret Muslim” allegations that dogged Barack Obama.
Gilgoff had posted earlier this week on Jindal’s role as chief responder to President Obama:
I’m surprised that a few comments on my post about Bobby Jindal as the new face of Christian conservatism allege that he’s got ancestral Muslim roots, in addition to the acknowledged Hinduism of his Indian-born parents. Remind you of any other recent rumor campaigns against promising young minority politicians?
What’s surprising is that some of the comments appear to be from pro-Sarah Palin conservatives. They’re a likely preview of what a Jindal primary faceoff with Palin or another Christian conservative might look like, with both vying for conservative Christian support.
I haven’t read any credible profiles of Jindal claiming Muslim roots. I’ve read several pieces that track the extraordinary depth of his early conversion from Hinduism to Catholicism, including his own account of participating in a Christian exorcism.
President Obama waged an intensive, nearly two-year effort to combat the false rumor campaign that he was secretly Muslim. If Jindal is to run for president in 2012—and he insists he won’t—he’ll have to start doing the same thing soon. That might also include debunking false rumors that he’s secretly still Hindu.
Hat tip to redstate.com on the above.
In today’s Washington Post, Howard Kurtz weighs in on the same topic, with a headline that shows his direction: “How bad was Jindal?”
Wrote Kurtz:
Whatever Jindal had to say—and I’m glad his immigrant father saved enough money to pay for his delivery—he was so oddly paced and awkward that he created an indelible image—and not a flattering one for a rising Republican star.
Following a presidential address to Congress by speaking from an empty room almost guarantees that you’ll fall flat. Tim Kaine was among the Democrats who belly-flopped in the Bush years. But Jindal risks becoming a punchline.
Many conservatives are cringing. Laura Ingraham, on her radio show, said Jindal gestured with only one hand and was “very off-putting … A wonderful human being, I like him very much, but he is a horrible speaker.”
