The “roundtable” at Curt’s Cafeteria here in Hall County is the large wooden table near the buffet line where regulars gather every morning to gobble up scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits and jaw about politics — and whatever else is on their minds.
One of those things these days is Congress: how to fix it and who to choose to represent Georgia’s new 9th district.
Warren Brown, who manages a self-serve car wash, complained Congress is beholden to special interests and not looking out for people like him.
Interviews with him and more than a dozen other voters across the district show that while they are sharply divided on who to vote for in the Aug. 21 runoff, there is agreement that Congress is dysfunctional and needs new blood.
Brown found a seat beneath the “Nutty Stories Told Here” sign this week, along with a former state legislator, the county coroner, a sheriff’s candidate, two probate judge candidates and several other regulars.
His disgust with Washington was clear. “We now have the best politicians money can buy,” he said.
Created because of its surging population growth, the new 9th District covers a wedge of Northeast Georgia and includes 17 counties and parts of three others, including Forsyth.
Its voters – some of whom have suffered in the struggling economy – are deeply dissatisfied and want their new congressman to help rein in federal spending, slash the deficit and curb joblessness. Yet the voters said they were excited about helping make history with a brand new district.
Jody Cooley, an attorney from Gainesville, will be on the ballot as a Democrat. But whoever wins the GOP runoff will be the heavy favorite to win the Nov. 6 general election because this part of Georgia typically votes Republican.
Ninth District voters could make history another way in November. Martha Zoller, a former radio talk show host from Gainesville, is competing with Doug Collins, a state legislator, in the Republican runoff. If Zoller wins in the runoff and in November, she would become Georgia’s first-ever Republican congresswoman.
Their race is razor close. Collins edged Zoller in the three-way race for the GOP nomination on July 31, 41.8 percent to 41.1 percent.
Brown worries how the deficit will affect his two sons, in their twenties. He said one recently graduated from Kennesaw State University with a teaching degree and has had trouble finding a job in his field. He also worries about the economy. He said the car wash he manages lost much of its revenues in the recession. A bank foreclosed on it and hired him to manage it. He said he plans to vote for Zoller because “she has never been a politician.”
Bobby Hulsey, a Hall County resident who owns a landscaping business, voted for Collins last month and is leaning toward him because of Collins’ efforts in the state Legislature to restrict abortions. Hulsey wants the government to curb spending and replace the income tax with a national sales tax. Like Brown, he has a low opinion of Congress.
Sharon Lance-Hutchins, who became the restaurant’s sole owner after her husband Curt died nine years ago, said the recession has thinned its customers. She, too, is critical of Congress, particularly its deficit-spending. “I could not keep my business open if I spent more than I took in,” she said. “Getting some new fresh faces in Congress can only make things better.”
Lance-Hutchins said she is leaning toward Zoller, calling her conservative, outspoken and approachable.
Just up Interstate 985 in Gainesville sits Longstreet Café, named after the Confederate general who settled in Georgia after the Civil War. Its regulars like to talk politics as they sit beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. Longstreet and other Confederate generals gaze from photos throughout the café.
Linda Satterfield of Gainesville, there for lunch this week, said she is undecided how she’ll vote. But she called Congress a “mess,” said “everybody has it harder right now” and added she opposes a federal requirement that people buy health insurance. “A lot of people can’t afford it,” said Satterfield, who previously worked for a power-tool manufacturing company in Buford. “If they don’t do it and they are going to have to pay a fine for not having it [and] if they don’t work, how are they going to do that?”
Ron Clary and Max Carnes both said they plan to vote for Collins because of his experience in the Legislature. Both are also fed up with Congress. Clary, a retired financial adviser from Gainesville, called the rate of federal spending “unsustainable.” Carnes, a businessman from Banks County, agreed: “They are not getting anything done. All they are doing right now is spending money.”
Loyd Gravitt, of Gainesville, said he was laid off from his electrical sales job in March because of the economy. He said he plans to vote for Zoller, adding he is glad she has been endorsed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of his favorite politicians.
Congress, Gravitt said, is locked in a “grudge match” and needs to focus on the economy. He’s worried about high gas prices and suggested the nation should start using its oil reserves and drilling for more fuel sources. “We ain’t got no leadership right now,” he said.
Phil Bush, a retired oral surgeon from Gainesville, also is dissatisfied with Congress. But unlike the others in the café, he said he planned to vote for Cooley, the Democrat, in the congressional runoff. He also plans to vote for Obama in November. He called Romney an “elitist” and said he could not identify with him.
Bush said he is among the minority in conservative North Georgia and that most of his friends in Gainesville are Republicans. “I have a lot of fun,” he said, chuckling. “They tolerate me.”
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