So it turns out that, this spring, tea partyer Debbie Dooley won't be camping out in north Georgia in an attempt to unseat House Speaker David Ralston – as she has in the past.
Instead, Dooley is focused on giving Nathan Deal a bit of heartburn, championing a Republican solar advocate against Tricia Pridemore, the governor's handpicked choice for state Public Service Commissioner.
Dooley is a co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party back in the day, a Donald Trump supporter, and a now solar advocate recently vetted by the New York Times. She's backing John Hitchins III, a Republican and Smyrna resident who has raised no money (or at least has filed no campaign finance report). He, too, has declared solar power to be his cause.
“Georgians deserve someone to represent them on the Public Service Commission that will actually look out for the best interests of consumers, not shareholders of large corporations that fill their campaign coffers,” Dooley wrote in an email endorsing Hitchins late Monday.
You’ll recall the back story: Stan Wise, the PSC chairman, offered up a long-telegraphed resignation in February, after casting a crucial vote to permit Georgia Power’s continued construction of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in east Georgia.
Ratepayers have been picking up much of the cost of financing for years, despite cost overruns, broken deadlines and the bankruptcy of Westinghouse Electric, the lead contractor.
Deal appointed Pridemore, whom he had once backed in a failed bid for state GOP chairman, to replace Wise. She has quickly raised $222,225 (with cash on hand totaling $174,756.89). Much of her cash has come from big names in the energy business, as you can see here.
Doug Stoner, the former state senator and Smyrna city councilman, is the best-funded Democrat in the contest, raising slightly more than $50,000, according to his March 31 disclosure. Stoner had been considered the most likely to raise the Vogtle issue.
But Hitchins' web site includes some sharp wording:
"I am one who has zero allegiance to big business and will work to end the corporate welfare that the current Public Service Commission has established."
And this:
"Georgia does not need a handpicked Georgia Power puppet who will continue making the same bad decisions we've witnessed in the past."
If Hitchins raises any cash, or has access to funds of his own, he could prove troublesome for Pridemore.
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We appear to be headed back to a pre-massacre state of normality when it comes to guns. From the Gallup organization:
Americans' mentions of guns or gun control as the most important problem facing the nation fell by over half this month, ticking down to 6% from last month's record high of 13%. Still, gun control continues to be one of the highest-ranked issues named by Americans -- only dissatisfaction with government, immigration and race relations were named more frequently.
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Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle won the National Rifle Association's endorsement last week. But Secretary of State Brian Kemp, one of Cagle'srivals for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, hasn't stopped trying to get a piece of the action.
Kemp's campaign on Monday trumpeted the support of former Georgia congressman Bob Barr, a one-time Libertarian candidate for president who sits on the gun group's board.
"I know you to be a man of integrity and who sincerely understands and supports the 2nd Amendment," said Barr. "This is a primary reason why I am proud to endorse your candidacy for governor."
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Talk about awkward timing. Blue Cross Georgia chief executive Jeff Fusile was scheduled to host an all-day golf fundraiser for Republican candidate for governor Casey Cagle on Monday - the same day Gov. Nathan Deal set as a deadline for the insurer to hash out an agreement with Piedmont Healthcare over an impasse that's left about 600,000 Georgians in limbo.
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Buckhead's net worth jumped a few points this week. The Charting the Course conference featuring some of the biggest Democratic bigwigs in the nation crowded into a luxury hotel on Monday to help hash out a strategy to win the midterm election and topple President Donald Trump.
Among the participants was billionaire Tom Steyer and Hawks co-owner Rutherford Seydel. A gaggle of Democratic candidates made the rounds, including Stacey Abrams and Sarah Riggs Amico.
Very few of them accompanied Steyer to his "Need to Impeach" town hall gathering near the state Capitol later in the evening.
