GOP operative Paul Bennecke of Atlanta, once one of Sonny Perdue's vaunted team of 20-something strategists, has emerged as executive director of the Republican Governors Association – one of the most influential repositories of campaign cash in Washington.
Bennecke was 24 when, in 2002, he helped Perdue become the first Republican governor in modern Georgia history.
This last election season, Bennecke served as chief strategist for Republican David Perdue, the former governor’s cousin and now a U.S. senator-elect. In 2012, Bennecke also served as a consultant in the not-so-successful TSPLOST campaign.
Bennecke has previous experience within the RGA, having previously served as both political director and deputy executive director.
Bennecke will succeed Phil Cox, who has served in as executive director since 2011. Under Cox, the RGA increased its total to 31 Republican governors, the most for either party in 16 years, and raised over $250 million.
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An article on Atlanta's successful luring of Sandy Springs-based Worldpay US, written for our subscribers, the AJC's Matt Kempner may have the most revolutionary paragraphs in today's paper:
"If we don't make the Perimeter market more transit oriented, we are going to lose more employers," Paul said.
While area roads are overburdened, he said, the transit system is underutilized.
Paul is a former chairman of the state GOP.
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Peach Pundit tells us there's a move afoot by a group called Young Georgians in government to lower the required age for service in the General Assembly: From 21 to 18 in the House, and from 25 to 21 in the Senate. A constitutional amendment would be required. Thoughts of adding an IQ test have apparently been pushed aside.
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In Washington, House Republican leadership's newest two-part plan to avoid a government shutdown was dreamed up by Georgia Rep. Tom Price.
Politico says the Roswell Republican is behind the idea for a so-called "Cromnibus" package that would keep much of the government funded until September 2015 but tie immigration enforcement agencies to short-term spending bills.
The plan is in its infancy, and could easily fall apart. But the GOP leadership hopes that the dual-headed strategy — envisioned by Price and [Florida Rep. Ted] Yoho — will be well received by conservatives.
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Gov. Nathan Deal's pollster, John McLaughlin, talked to GOP strategist Todd Rehm about how he predicted an outright victory for the incumbent while other polls showed a tighter race against Democrat Jason Carter.
From Rehm's piece in TownHall.com:
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"We knew going into the weekend before the election that if undecideds continued to break the way they had been, Deal had an eight-point lead and was in without a runoff. The Deal campaign and the Georgia Republican Party ran strong that weekend and up to election day and were able to make those predictions into election results."
The November results were vindication of sorts for McLaughlin, who was skewered for surveys that showed Republican Eric Cantor with a commanding lead just before his stunning upset defeat in a Virginia primary.
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You could call it the latest example of the permanent campaign.
Rick Allen, who hasn't been sworn into office yet after beating Rep. John Barrow last month, is embarking on a "thank you" tour across the east Georgia district.
He wants to thank them for their votes, no doubt, but his campaign is also mindful that after about a decade in Democratic hands, Republicans should take nothing for granted in the district.
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Rep. Hank Johnson dispatched a letter to the Justice Department urging more transparency on the role feds play in training and monitoring SWAT teams and the use of military-grade equipment by local police departments.
In the wake of the protests in Ferguson, Mo., the DeKalb Democrat has proposed legislation aimed at better providing more oversight to local agencies purchasing the equipment.
A few of the legislation's tenets were embraced by President Barack Obama as part of recommendations he unveiled on Monday, but others, such as barring police departments from purchasing some military-grade equipment, were not on Obama's wish list.
Says Johnson:
"As the review process unfolds, we must remember that military-style training on military-style equipment is the opposite of what should be happening on our main streets."
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Former Republican state Sen. Bob Guhl died Sunday after a brief illness. Here's the note from Walton County GOP chair Roy Roberts sharing the sad news:
"As you remember he had a lifetime of public service, most recently as Commission Chairman of DeKalb County and after moving to Walton County became our first Republican State Senator for many years. He has always supported me and the Republican Party and I will very much miss him. Please keep his wife Shirley and his family in your thoughts and prayers during this very difficult period for them."
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