December 2009
- The return of liveblogging and, in particular, our joint venture with Dan Lorentz at both Walker's Pub and Trappeze.
- The Georgia Theater fire and the inspiring determination of Wilmont Greene to bring it back better than ever.
- Georgia beating Georgia Tech 30-24 on Nov. 30. No matter how...
- Athens-Clarke County District Nine Commissioner Kelly Girtz reviews the past year for us.
- J.T. talks about some possible changes to the editorial board at the Athens Banner-Herald. He's done a mighty fine job steering the ship over there, and he's been a gracious host to my columns.
- Froma Harrop is living in a fantasy world.
- Lee Becker conducted survey of Oconee County voters and found that more than half of those contacted...
Awesome ...
The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered.
Speaking of deliberately misleading coverage of climate change issues, this editorial from The Washington Times - proudly Twittered by John Oxendine - is an absolute trainwreck. It obsessively scrutinizes the interview responses from three scientists quoted in an Associated Press article dealing with the mischaracterization of data from some in the climate science community and then, in interviews with two of those scientists, does the exact thing it accuses the AP of doing ...
The first scientist quoted in the article, Mark Frankel, is director of scientific freedom, responsibility and law at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AP quotes him as...
Earlier we talked about the six Georgia Republican congressmen who filed a challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement that carbon emissions, and their resulting impact on the environment, pose a health risk to the nation's citizens.
The legal challenge was filed by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, an organization that elevates 'frivolous lawsuit' to a whole new level. In previous years, SLF has partnered with disgraced Whitewater attorney Kenneth Starr to challenge the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold Act and led the way going after the law license of President Bill Clinton during his tenure in the White House ... so, you know, they're arguably on the up-and-up.
Eager to suck...
Ugh ...
The Southeastern Legal Foundation filed a petition last week calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its Dec. 7 “endangerment finding” declaring carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming a threat to public health and the environment.
The petition argues that news of a conspiracy within the scientific community to hide evidence that calls into question manmade...
OK, I'll concede this is way late ... but how did I miss Hartwell's mayor-elect being arrested for a DUI?
Not necessarily on tax increases as I'm perfectly content with targeted ones, but the expansion of the tax base is something I'm all for.
Here's an interesting policy proposal ...
(Bibb) County is looking into a so-called “blight tax,” which would drastically increase the property taxes on blighted properties across the county. Some blight taxes turn into a redevelopment credit, which allows property owners who fix up their land or replace the buildings to get a tax break.
Bibb County Chief Administrative Officer Steve Layson said the blight tax would tell neglectful property owners, “‘Your taxes are going up fourfold.’ That may force the property owner to do something with the property, or they may pay higher property taxes for two-three years and then decide to do something with it.”
...
Foreign policy really isn't my area of coverage, per se, but there's a whole boatload of crazy going regarding the nut who lit his underwear on fire in what, according to some folks, is the greatest affront to our freedom in modern history. Republicans have seized on this to hammer President Obama, and Democrats in general, and label them as 'weak' when it comes to terrorism.
Leaving aside the blatant hypocrisy from the fact that any criticism of foreign policy during the Bush Administration led to howls of 'treason' from the right, let's instead focus on the blatant hypocrisy stemming from the fact that some Republicans wish to try this lunatic in a military court. It's worth noting that this case is exactly like the shoebomber terrorism attempt of December 2001 where...
- David Cappi, owner of DePalma's, takes some shots at downtown parking right after opening a restaurant on Timothy Road. Cappi assumes that folks don't want to go downtown because parking fines are higher, but that argument doesn't wash. When I go downtown in the afternoon or evening, it's still hard to find a spot and the parking decks are filling up as well. Granted that's a rather subjective analysis on my part, but so is Cappi's. Regardless, higher parking fines coupled with meters that permit longer parking times is the way to encourage fair and equitable turnover that doesn't punish the visitor.
- Besides, if Cappi wanted to boost business at his restaurant, I don't know ... perhaps he...
From my mid-week column in the Athens Banner-Herald ...
And what does this say about his truthfulness? Meyer was criticized for a well-publicized recruiting flap during his first year at Florida when he told Jevan Snead, the current quarterback at the University of Mississippi, that he only wanted Tim Tebow to play linebacker for him. Of course, two national titles and one Heisman Trophy later, Tebow is set to leave the school as one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game.
Yet that bit of truth-stretching pales in comparison to the blatant dishonesty he peddled to his family. After the drama of Saturday night, Meyer's resignation was supposed to be so certain that...
- This is a pretty good editorial regarding the Nuci's Space issue, but my contention throughout this whole thing is simple ... it's a legislative issue, not a legal one. The law clearly permits Nuci's Space to offer those services and use its facility in the manner they currently do, and that's what's bothering the Athens-Clarke County Board of Assessors. The problem, of course, is rather than waste taxpayer money by appealing court case after court case, they should simply direct the Athens-Clarke County Commission to contact the local delegation and seek a remedy through the state legislature.
- Like most Georgia games this year, it wasn't pretty at all ... but...
I think this is a rather accurate criticism from Paul Krugman ...
So what could Obama and the Democrats have done to reach out? As far as I can tell, the centrists believe that Obama must have done something wrong, because otherwise Republicans would have been more cooperative. But, you know, there’s another interpretation: that what’s really enraging the Republicans is the fact that there’s a Democrat in the White House.
And there’s nothing Obama can do about that.
In fact, I think that's terribly accurate. My own personal experiences are a testament to his claims.
Consider the health care debate. Given that the majority of...
Via Blog For Democracy, Rep. John Barrow is the second least valuable Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
And I'd venture to say Barrow ought to top this list because Rep. Artur Davis, who's No. 1, has only tacked to the right as of late ... and that's because he's opted to run for governor in Alabama (which is insane in its own right, but no matter). Shoot, Barrow's a full point ahead in the standings of a guy who's in a +12 Republican district.
Arguably, the problem with this article and the comments from those interviewed is that it forecasts a return to those heady days of home sales. Of course, that's entirely unfeasible and, quite frankly, it should be. Selling 1,500 lots and more than 400 homes in a single year is astounding, but it's also not the norm. The problem with the housing industry, and many builders in general, is such astronomical numbers are being viewed as the new standard ... and that's not good for the economy, land use patterns, environmental impact, sustainable growth, market values, etc. and etc.
The peak year of 2005 is something we shouldn't desire to go back to, largely because it will mean...
Sen. Tom Harkin on the GOP's use of the filibuster ...
In the past, we've always had one or two or three senators who would try to block something. The most famous was Jesse Helms. He could tie people up in a conniption. But the thing is, when he went too far, his leader, Bob Dole, wouldn't put up with it. Neither would Trent Lott. And later on, even Bill Frist. You allow him to do so much, and after awhile, you say, that's enough.
Now we have more of the Jesse Helms. The Vitters and DeMint and Coburn, and maybe throw in Inhofe and a couple other newcomers, and they now run the minority. You don't have a minority leader putting them in check, saying we have to...
- I trust everyone had a nice Christmas. It was a nice time over at my place, including the four hours I invested in assembling a play kitchen for The Kid (19 steps ... with each step featuring four to five sub-steps). Still, good company, good food and good presents, and I'm always pretty bummed to see the holiday fly by.
- Speaking of bummed, Florida fans were for about 18 minutes until Urban Meyer remembered he's got no scruples. Here's somebody who, on Saturday night, makes an incredible revelation and, given his success, an even more incredible choice - he's leaving football to focus on his health and spend more time with his family. His daughter hugs him, proclaiming that she 'gets her...
My Christmas present to JMac, I'm going to do my take on the "Couple of Things" so he doesn't have to. (He probably will anyway, perfectionist that he is.)
Statewide non-profits group weighs in on Nuci's case
Hey, this is a good sign. A statewide group representing non-profits is getting into the Nuci's case.
...The center argues that the appeals court misinterpreted state law when a three-judge panel said that Nuçi's Space is ineligible for a property tax exemption because it rents out its facilities for functions that are not exclusively related to its charitable purpose, such as weddings and band rehearsals.
Each Christmas, I try to spotlight some non-profit organizations. Here are some of the agencies that both Martin and I like, and, in the spirit of the season, I encourage you to consider lending them your support. In addition, don't forget you can go here and, through Dec. 31, choose from more than 30 area non-profits through the Athens Annual Holiday Benevolence Market ...
The Athens Area Homeless Shelter (AAHS) provides a cooperative approach to homeless individuals and fosters public awareness of homelessness in the community. AAHS's Almost Home...
A little more information on the John Osborne situation, as both The Oconee Enterprise and The Oconee Leader are reporting that Osborne addressed members of North Oconee High School's football team in November and attended a game between the Titans and Lamar County. As part of Osborne's leave, he was forbidden from attending any school function, thus suggesting this might be just part of what Oconee County Superintendent John Jackson was suggesting when he noted that 'other issues' had surfaced in recent weeks.
As an aside, The Oconee Leader's account of the issue is a tragic re-telling that is nowhere remotely grounded in reality.
By Jane Kidd
For many Georgia families, Christmas came right on time, and Senate Democrats have brought America another step closer to affordable health care for the middle class. Today’s vote marks an historic moment in the decades-long struggle to pass comprehensive health reform. It is also the greatest deficit reduction package passed in the last decade.
Republican political posturing to the contrary, this bill is a clear victory for Georgia taxpayers. It will deliver on the promises President Obama has made since the health care debate began – reducing costs, providing quality, affordable choices for the uninsured and providing stability and security for those who already have coverage.
While the...
By a 60-39 vote, health care reform has passed the U.S. Senate.
Amen. And amen.
It's as a good a time as any to suggest I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day.
- Ah yes, the Republican sour grapes have begun. It's all rather silly considering Sen. Max Baucus addressed the constitutionality concerns, and Georgia would benefit from the Medicaid expansion as noted by Tim Sweeney from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute and yours truly. Just because a handful of obstructionists say something is so, doesn't mean it is.
- I hate to borrow any sort of line of argument from John Oxendine, but ......
'Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus'
Also printed in the Athens Banner-Herald.
Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun it's so." Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.
All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man...
Andrew Sullivan on health care reform and insurance profits ...
... why is so much hostility to the bill wrapped up in the horror that private insurance companies might actually make some money off this? That's what private companies are supposed to do. They're constrained from many of their worst and cruelest tactics in this reform, but remain the primary vehicle for it, as was well advertized from the very beginning. It seems to me that many on the left so loathe these companies they'd rather leave people uninsured than allow the insurance industry to benefit. That strikes me as ideology speaking.
Amen...
Gov. Sonny Perdue is open to interbasin transfers of water, something which is in violation of state law and would need legislative action to make possible ...
Obviously I make people nervous there because we've got this culture of this inviolate theory of no interbasin transfers. I just want us to look at it from a Georgia perspective -- all Georgians. Some out there want to talk about Atlanta's problems. As I said, do they affect us all over Georgia? Absolutely they do. ...
We can't look at them (natural resources) in a selfish possessive way just like we don't try to make one area...
- I'm curious to know the environmental impact of, you know, burning tons of trash. I'm thinking it really can't be a good thing, but, to be fair, I'm just not up-to-par on, you know, burning tons of trash.
- Leave it to Kate McDaniel to completely misread the point of a conversation, reach a predetermined opinion on it and then stubbornly cling to it regardless of whatever corresponding evidence pops up that rebuts her argument. I sat through an open session of the Oconee County Commission where she took in a nuanced, complex debate on setting up an economic development partnership with Athens-Clarke County and offered only '...
Most Frequent Questions Asked Of Santa
(From Macy's 'Guide For Santas' in 2006)
Q: What are the names of your reindeer?
A: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blizen and Rudolph
Q: Whose child is Rudolph?
A: Doner's
Q: How do the reindeer fly?
A: They are fed a magic mixture of corn and oats that only grows near the North Pole.
Q: Are you lactose intolerant?
A: No. Santa likes all kinds of milk, except buttermilk, although he will use buttermilk in cake and pancakes.
Q: How do you fit down a chimney?...
Richard McSpadden, an Oconee County resident, served on the Water Task Force appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue earlier this year, and he had a hand in helping to craft the various recommendations that group put forward. McSpadden, who served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years and was the assistant air attache for the U.S. Ambassador to the Phillippines, John Negroponte, is a member of the Upper Oconee Council. He was gracious enough to share his thoughts on the process, as well as offer some observations on the list of recommendations, with us ...
1. What are your overall thoughts on the final set of recommendations?
It's important to...
Just to give everyone a heads-up, we'll have some limited blogging going on this week at BTT. Both Martin and I have some professional obligations, as well as the usual 'wait ... I didn't buy any Christmas presents yet?' running around that we're all accustomed to this time of year.
Plus, we'll be working on our year-end lists and top names in the news which we'll unveil next week.
This week, we've got some Christmas-themed posts lined up. Each day I'll be putting up 'Tis The Season' in the morning, which will rely on excerpts from A Family Christmas, which is a collection of Christmas stories, tales, songs and the like edited by Caroline Kennedy. Some of them, like...
- John Osborne is leaving North Oconee, but a lot of questions remain ... including who asked who to go?
- James Lahiff is kinda grumpy, isn't he?
- The first key vote on health care reform was held last night in the U.S. Senate, and Democrats held their 60 votes to call for cloture. There are a series of additional votes for cloture before the actual vote for the legislation, but, as Talking Points Memo notes, this means it's all but certain the bill...
Joy To The World
Joy to the world! The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let ev'ry heart prepare him room;
And heav'n and nature sing;
And heav'n and nature sing;
And heavn', and heav'n and nature sing.
Joy to the world! The Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
This glories of his righteousness,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders of his love.
...
From my Sunday column in the Athens Banner-Herald ...
Yet, despite pumping billions of dollars into the financial sector to increase liquidity, lending has fallen dramatically. Since October 2008, in the middle of the economic crisis, bank lending has dropped 17 percent.
In contrast, the same institutions that benefited from TARP turned around and, during the same time, spent hundreds of millions of dollars to lobby against proposed bipartisan financial regulations and consumer protections. Even more egregious, however, is that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase handed out almost $30 billion in executive bonuses for 2009.
Let's consider AIG, which...
This was flagged by a reader, but it's from Oconee County School Superintendent John Jackson's statement during Friday's called meeting of the Oconee County Board of Education (and captured in video here) ...
Last February, I recommended to the Board that Mr. Osborne's contract be renewed as principal of North Oconee. The Board approved this recommendation, and, accordingly, a contract was offered to Mr. Osborne for the 2009-10 school year. Mr. Osborne responded to the offer by requesting an extension of the deadline that all employees have for signing contracts, and informed met hat hewas pursuing employment in another school district.
This extension was granted,and allowed Mr. Osborne to...
Well, it's official, North Oconee Principal John Osborne has resigned, and hopefully we can all move on.
The parents at North Oconee, however, appear determined to inflate a personal disagreement and blatant insubordination from an employee into a rallying cry.
But let's be clear, John Osborne is a nice man, but he's no martyr. And his shameless exploitation of this entire incident has been harmful to the school system and, unfortunately, has stirred up some underlying prejudices and exposed them for all to see.
During yesterday's meeting, as the Oconee County Board of Education announced Osborne's retirement, one individual made public what many folks have been whispering all along...
Various governmental agencies and other organizations submitted 68 projects totaling more than $356 million for funding consideration from SPLOST 2011. The extension of the local sales tax is projected to bring in $170 million, less than half that total amount.
Heading up the submissions is an $84 million request for a new jail which, given the overwhelming need for a new facility, is a virtual lock to receive funding. Granted the size and cost of the project may vary as Athens-Clarke County Commissioners start to take a close look at it, but it's a safe bet that it will occupy at least 25 percent of the funding, if not considerably more.
In addition, the Classic Center is seeking more than $48 million for an expansion to its facilities, while the Athens-Clarke...
JMac touched on it in the morning roundabout, and Blake had it initially - a State Senate candidate who, admittedly, I've never heard of is going on the attack against property taxes in Athens-Clarke County. In the spirit of the season, it's time to air some grievances, and Kelley Gary, I got a lot of problems with you people.
Gary's statement tells you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, exactly what kind of state senator he'd be - namely, the type who considers it his Constitutionally-mandated obligation to tell local governments how to run their communities. Or, put another way, the same kind of state senator as the...
- Ah-ha! I knew there was something up here. I had a hunch John Osborne would not be returning to North Oconee High School, and I had a feeling it would be based on a decision he made. Way back when all of this got started, I had two sources tell me this whole thing would end with Osborne using this to land a job elsewhere. I'm not necessarily sure that'll be the case here, but the resignation definitely starts us down the path of that narrative.
- Likewise, for any North Oconee parent to jump up and down and use this as yet another excuse to bash John Jackson or the Oconee County Board of Education is absurd. There's no verifiable evidence to suggest that Jackson forced...
Rep. David Ralston wins and will be the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House.
That's a surprise. A big one actually. That's an anti-Richardson and anti-Perdue vote all rolled into one.
So, in Glenn Richardson's hyperdramatic, self-serving farewell speech, he kinda apologized ...
Whatever “failures we may have made,” he said, “I take full responsibility for those failures. All of them. When you leave here today, you leave them behind, you leave them on my shoulders.”
He's spreading 'failure' around? When he is the one who got this whole thing going? When he is the one who used his political stature to terrorize his ex-wife? When he is the one who had an affair with a lobbyist who represented a utility company with a lucrative piece of legislation on the...
As we await the results from the House Republican Caucus, Aaron Gould Shenin posts an interesting question ...
While the second ballot is being cast, an interesting thought: There are two Georgia state patrolmen standing guard outside the door to the House chamber and another trooper outside the anteroom.
Considering this is a political function (i.e. the House Republican caucus is not an official body of government) it sure is interesting that state resources are being devoted to it.
The Rev. Amy Shorner-Johnson, the associate pastor at Milledge Avenue Baptist Church, shares a holiday message with the BTT community.
By Rev. Amy Shorner-Johnson
As we move closer and closer to one of the greatest holidays of the year, I have been thinking about preparations. Honestly, I am far behind on my preparations for Christmas. My family barely got the lights thrown on the bushes outside. We have some candles on the mantle that spell out the word “Joy!” The only tree that is out is less than a foot tall and holds only my first baby ornament (which my mother gave me at Thanksgiving).
All of this lack of Christmas decorating makes me grateful for the simplicity of the Advent wreath that is sitting on our table. That is really what this season is about –not pulling out all of the decorations, but getting ready. It is about preparing ourselves for...
With all due respect, I think this is a rather simplistic criticism.
There was a strategic decision made by Rep. DuBose Porter that was a symbolic pledge for both sides to work together to pass legislation on transportation, water policy and the budget crisis. Now, Republican infighting negatively impacted the process on all of those bills - and it's culiminating in the spectacular meltdown we're seeing this very minute - but the obvious intention was to say 'let's put aside petty differences and fix these problems.'
Suggesting Porter should have not made such a show of committment to the voters' agenda because he had antecedoctal knowledge of Rep. Glenn Richardson's sordid personal life not only makes little sense...
- It seems to me that the parents had the purpose of this meeting somewhat confused, though, of course, they're taking every action taken by the Oconee County Board of Education as a slight against their cause. Granted, it's somewhat unusual that John Osborne hasn't been officially reinstated, but there appears to be a strain of paranoia running rampant that it's all part of some nefarious plot aimed at preventing the former principal from returning to his old job. In addition, all of the speculation seems to be focused on the BOE preventing Osborne from returning, but isn't it also a possibility that Osborne himself might be delaying his return for a variety of reasons?
-...
Yes, unemployment is high in Georgia, but it's 50 percent in Detroit. 50 percent.
This would be a good time to link to a piece in The National Review on how to rebuild Detroit for the future.
Via Yglesias ...
I think that the deal emerging in the Senate leaves us with a package that’s not just “worth passing” but actually as Kevin Drum says a really good bill. If Barack Obama signs it into law, he’ll go down as the president with the most progressive legislative accomplishments since Lyndon Johnson. You’ll say that the American welfare state was inaugurated by FDR, substantially expanded by Johnson, and given its final shape by Obama....
Are there going to be daily updates of ethical investigations involving members of the Republican leadership?
John Oxendine takes $100,000 from a contributor to travel out to Hollywood (partying with Elton John in the process), and it turns out that contributor was also a doctor he went to bat for in various insurance negotiations. In turn, there's a federal investigation going on.
Not to be outdone, Rep. Nathan Deal is being investigated by a congressional ethics panel for his role in a business that contracted with the state to earn $1.5 million.
And then we've got Rep. Larry O'Neal, who was exonerated by the IRS for his role in Gov...
Got to say this makes this seem a little more interesting, no?
Sen. Chip Rogers, who helped usher through assessment caps which have the ability to suppress actual market values of properties, told Georgia Public Broadcasting that he wants to have assessments based on market value rather than 'a general trend in a property's community' ... but that's roughly the same thing. The market bears what the market will bear, and if sales prices are rising for similar properties in surrounding areas, that means consumers are willing...
Wow.
Matt Welch, the Libertarian editor of Reason, argues for socialized medicine.
- Awesome, awesome, awesome. Buffalo's deserves much credit for this incubation idea as well its willingness to look beyond its own profit motivation and focus on something which can benefit entreprenuers.
- Well, this is beautiful. Apparently the state's violating the Constitutional right to legal representation. Because self-absorbed petty preoccupation with the folks in the public defender system is just rationale to ignore the Bill of Rights.
- I covered many of Oconee County's games on the Warriors' 1999 title run, but that title...
Is it just me or is something about the airline industry fundamentally flawed?
Particularly since Georgia subsdizes the purchase of fuel for Delta?
Arguably, the shamelessness of Sen. Joe Lieberman has soured everyone on the ongoing debate over health care reform.
That said, Ezra Klein continues to make very valid points ...
A lot of progressives woke up this morning feeling like they lost. They didn't. The public option and its compromised iterations were a battle that came to seem like a war. But they weren't the war. The bill itself was. When liberals talked about the dream of universal health-care insurance 10, 20 and 30 years ago, they talked about the plight of the uninsured, not the necessity of a limited public option in competition with private insurers.
"This is a good bill,"...
A very strong commentary from Jim Higdon, the president of the Georgia Municipal Association ...
Most importantly, the state should steer clear of efforts to place artificial limitations on property tax rates. It may be tempting and be seen as an easy “fix,” but in the long run, this does nothing but tie the hands of local government policymakers, hinder natural growth and development and create inequities in what is otherwise a fair, transparent and balanced local tax system.
The keys to revenue stability are diversity and responsiveness. Decisions about service needs and how to fund them should be made locally. The property tax, as one part of a...
Having castigated Georgia House Republicans for having their hands in the cookie jar, the Banner-Herald is perhaps a little too eager to give them a cookie today.
It's a little late, but there is at least some hope that Republican members of the state House of Representatives are beginning to understand the absolute need to get squeaky clean on all manner of ethics-related and open-government-related issues before the Georgia General Assembly convenes less than a month from now.
Not necessarily. Events have shown us that the Republicans are to ethics what I am to club dancing. When it's done at all, it's a tragic, poorly-executed...
- Martin points to the lack of transparency and randomness of Strategic Vision's polling.
- It hasn't even been a year, but we're already staring at potential cost overruns courtesy of The Georgia Power Ponzi Scheme. As a result we're staring at a project that could be a lot pricier than was sold to us
- I think we're setting the bar kind of low if we're suggesting merely...
Here's an interesting little item that Blog for Democracy pointed to just now about Nate Silver from fivethirtyeight.com. Silver, if you don't know him, is a blogger and polling wunderkind, and he's got the scoop on Georgia-based Republican polling firm Strategic Vision.
Some months ago, the American Association for Public Opinion Research censured SV for being less than forthcoming in regards to their methodology. ("Stonewalling" might be a more appropriate term.) SV's CEO threatened to...
Well, not so hot, actually.
You may remember SB 31, the Great Georgia Power Giveaway of 2009 the Georgia Nuclear Energy Financing Act. The bill, as presented by Georgia Power, was a way to save us lowly ratepayers a little dough on our power bills by charging us early for the construction of two nuclear plants near Augusta. As Georgia Power explained it, it seemed like a good deal. We were going to pay off the interest early, and save a boatload of money.
Except that it wasn't everything it seemed to be. And, upon...
Because my local elected officials don't say things like this on our blog:
Well I guess as usual you kind of feel – well – STUPID. You have made comments without the facts. I cannot understand how you have a blog that you are unable to tell the truth with.
This and so much more, courtesy of Flowery Branch Councilman Chris Fetterman, responding to a Left on Lanier post criticizing him. Here are some more Fetter-classics:
If your lazy butt would research instead of open your mouth and spill out lies...
And this one,...
Erick Erickson, quoted in Friday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...
Part of Erickson’s cachet is he is not in Washington or New York, although he travels to both cities each month. It gives him a regular-guy authenticity, he said. “I don’t have a ‘me wall’ with pictures of me shaking hands with important people,” he said.
Erick Erickson, at Peach Pundit in...
Via The Plum Line, video footage of Sen. Joe Lieberman endorsing a plan for anyone 50-or-older to have the ability to buy in to Medicare ... three months ago.
J.T. wrote a nice piece defending the work of Madison County schoolchildren who are doing oragami in a way to promote world peace. Apparently, commenters at the Athens Banner-Herald's web site took it upon themselves to deride their work and personally attack these children.
So it isn't as if I disagree with J.T. Far from it. The people who offered childish comments that grossly insulted the work of children should rightly be chided. However, it's worth noting this is something which the Banner-Herald is inviting by even permitting comments.
Want an example of the high-minded debate that populates the comments section? Consider...
Fascinating findings from Pew Research Group ...
Even without further research, we already know a few big things about the Millennials.
- They are the most ethnically and racially diverse cohort of youth in the nation's history. Among those ages 13 to 29: 18.5% are Hispanic; 14.2% are black; 4.3% are Asian; 3.2% are mixed race or other; and 59.8%, a record low, are white.
- They are starting out as the most politically progressive age group in modern history. In the 2008 election, Millennials voted for Barack Obama over John McCain by 66%-32%, while adults ages 30 and over split their votes 50%-49%. In the four decades since the development of Election Day...
Sen. Joe Lieberman opted to screw over the American public today - which is nothing new for the unintellectual, self-serving senator from Connecticut - but let's leave that aside. This report on the U.S. Senate's proposed health care reforms - sans the Medicare expansion - suggests that while it would achieve some short-term savings, it would ultimately result in an inching up of long-term costs.
That's not good. But it's not the fault of the legislation necessarily. It's the fault of political posturing and misinformed arguments finding their way into what ought to be a rational, fact-based development of policy. Yet, that's unlikely to happen given near uninamous Republican...
Bingo ...
That means Lieberman has unlimited control over what happens, and no incentive to compromise, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’s being uncompromising. Can’t liberals be just as stiff-necked as Lieberman? Sure, they could. But liberals members do have an incentive to compromise—the tens of thousands of people who die every year for lack of health insurance. The leverage that Lieberman and other “centrists” have obtained on this issue (and on climate change) stems from a demonstrated willingness to embrace sociopathic indifference to the...
Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2000: Let's expand Medicare!
Sen. Joe Lieberman in 2009: Expanding Medicare is a horrible idea!
OK, I've been pretty opposed to using budget reconciliation to pass some components of health care reform, but it's painfully obvious now that as long as Lieberman holds the influence he does, nothing is going to get passed as a measure of payback for progressives defeating him in the 2006 Democratic primary.
Let's be clear - Lieberman has no interest in seeing any measure of reform pass, and he's doing it for unintellectual, non-fact-based reasons. He's...
- This will take a little more thought, but the litany of court cases suggests this whole thing is a mess. Even a surface glance at Blake's article digs up a 'on this hand, ... but then again, on the other hand ...' Safe to say, it's been an ugly 2009 for the Athens-Clarke County Board of Tax Assessors.
- Brandon Shinholser launched his campaign web site for 2010, which looks a lot like the 2009 version only with more functionality. It's a nice site though.
- It looks like the University of Georgia fixed this, which is a good development moving forward.
- Again, I...
From my Sunday column in the Athens Banner-Herald ...
The reason various European countries enjoy lower health care costs than the United States isn't single-payer systems. Outside of Great Britain's government-managed National Health Service, many of those countries have systems with private insurance options managed in national exchanges and funded by sliding-scale subsidies awarded to individuals.
For instance, despite the existence of a public health insurance plan in France, more than 92 percent of its population uses private insurance. Yet, despite relying primarily on private insurance, their costs remain dramatically lower than here in the United States.
...
There's been a spate of water stories in the paper lately, which reminds us that it's probably time to talk about how metro Atlanta is more or less constantly scheming to take our water how we, as a state, need to think seriously about how we're protecting our natural resources.
Plain and simple, parts of Georgia, notably the metro Atlanta suburbs, have spent the past several decades allowing development to explode, unfettered by inconvenient things like effective planning, considerations of land use, and the like. The prevailing philosophy has been, "Oh, you want to build a Walmart there? Will it bring us more money? Coooooooool!"...
It's clear that, for far too long, the Republican leadership in the House has had much to hide. What remains of that same leadership missed a golden opportunity today to prove, through actions, not rhetoric, that they are committed to turning over a new leaf. Instead, they chose to shut out the public watchdogs in the press, and decided to hold an election for speaker in a closed-door private enclave instead of on the House floor.
Actions speak louder than words, and by choosing to shut out millions of voting, taxpaying Georgians, House Republicans have shown that they have no more commitment to transparent government and accountability than they did a few weeks ago, before their dirty laundry was aired on every newscast, front page, and blog in the state....
Hillary and Jeff Snowden are having an interesting dialogue on 'class war' that is built off of the latter's letter to the editor earlier this week. I think Hillary's more right than Jeff is, obviously, so let's look at a few comments in the exchange ...
From Hillary ...
I have maybe gotten a refund once in my life, from the state, not the federal government. So I do understand that it's not fun to pay taxes and that sometimes you get screwed. I'm not opposed to reforming the tax code. Part of the problem is that, right now, small businesses think they're on the same side as the rich. They...
Jason Pye's all over the GOP's House Caucus meeting (which is good since, of course, no one could get in).
Apparently Rep. Jerry Keen is gonna stay on as House Majority Leader, which Jason thinks is a bad idea. He also names the three top candidates to be the next Speaker of the House - Rep. Larry O'Neal, Rep. David Ralston and Rep. Bill Hembree.
Wow. Gov. Sonny Perdue is, well, kinda dense.
First, Perdue decided to pretend the GOP's House Caucus wasn't, you know, elected officials, but rather his Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue ...
As for the decision to close the meeting to the public, Perdue said that was to be expected.
“I don’t invite the media when we’re having a family discussion in my home, either,” he said. “That’s their decision.”
So, the GOP leadership violates the public's trust, and it decides to close its meeting to public ... and that's dismissed as merely a 'family discussion' we shouldn't care about?
Then he acknowledged the current...
Spinning off of the call for ethics reform from Rep. DuBose Porter and Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, it's important to remember what is actually passing for ethics reform from the Republicans in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Via Blake, Rep. Jim Cole put forward his suggestions ...
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us are perfect and we rely on God's grace. Truer words have never been spoken. While we are all human, it is right to expect that those of us who seek leadership will receive a greater degree of scrutiny and be held to a higher level of expectations. The cornerstone of this higher standard is fidelity to one's...
Rep. DuBose Porter and Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver announced today they will co-sponsor ethics legislation aimed at curbing the culture of corruption in Atlanta. This is the third time the pair has proposed ethics reform, though Republicans defeated the previous attempts in 2005 and 2006.
Oliver said this was a bipartisan issue, not a partisan one ...
We owe the people of Georgia more than the old Republican leadership has delivered on ethics reform. I sense a strong frustration by the rank and file of both parties, and we need and I expect a bi-partisan effort to restore faith in Georgia’s state government
From their press release ...
HB 890 lowers campaign contribution limits from $5,000 to $2,000 for a primary...
It seems to me that if you're trying to shed the image of being a bunch of good old boys who operate in secrecy, you probably shouldn't kick the press out of the vote for an interim speaker.
- Awesome. This has the potential to develop into exactly the type of mutual learning partnership the University of Georgia and the local schools should be doing more of. Well done.
- These guys are, well, pretty much exactly right.
- As Blake notes, the obvious narrative from last night's rather uneventful Athens-Clarke County Commission is that some commissioners are uncomfortable with the high price tag of the proposed new jail. And they were asking good questions, and I'm still not entirely sure those questions have been answered yet....
For UGA punter Drew Butler who picked up the Ray Guy Award for the best punter in college football.
If he gets rid of the 'Hawks' then I might be willing to say he's the best candidate out there.
Ezra Klein interviews Rep. Steny Hoyer, who talks about how obstructionism for political gain has replaced pragmatic compromise that seeks valid policy solutions ...
The motivation Congress has on each side of the aisle is to be in the majority so it can set policy. But it’s very difficult for the institution to move forward on a bipartisan basis when the minority party does not believe that that’s in their best interest to regain the majority. Rarely do you get a crowd ecstatic about a compromise. So the parties, to some degree, think the Gingrich strategy might be successful. And the only way to overcome that is to have it not be successful, and the only way for that to...
I'd be remiss if I didn't note that Karen Handel, a candidate for governor or Georgia and the state's current Secretary of State, has handled this whole GOP implosion thing rather well. She was the first prominent Republican to call for Glenn Richardson to step down, and her proposals for ethics reform aren't awful ones.
That said, she clearly enjoyed engaging some absurd, revisionist history today.
Handel sent out a fundraising email earlier today that attacked 'career politicians' in an obvious shot at folks like John Oxendine. Of course, in order for this email to remotely true, it would have to be that Handel herself isn't a 'career politician' ... which, you know, she is.
As the Democratic Party of Georgia pointed out, it's hard to find a job that Handel'...
Per usual, we'll be covering the Athens-Clarke County Commission agenda setting session tonight, starting around 7 p.m. Follow it on Twitter, and we'll make sure we get some wrap-up notes here.
As all of you know, I've been involved with the Annual Holiday Benevolence Market, which is really one of the best events in town that benefits a whole host of non-profit organizations in the community. This year, we had 32 area non-profits gather at First Christian Church.
Still, times are tough, and we need your help. Our fundraising total from this year's event was two-thirds less than what it was in previous years. As a result, we've keeping the market open, if you will, and we're encouraging people to...
Check out this video of Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge talking about inflation and why Georgia needed to elect Governors every four years instead of every two.
[h/t @rustytanton]
Today's editorial in the Athens Banner-Herald focuses on the marginally bipartisan commission formed to evaluate ideas on how to reduce the federal deficit, and I agree with the central criticism which is that this is nothing but a legislative show not really aimed at doing anything.
Of course, the larger problem with the commission is that if it really was formed to actually accomplish something, the way it's structuring the process makes it virtually impossible to get any sort of major deficit-reduction legislation passed ...
Let me get this straight. You have a...
Dan Lorentz wants Athens-Clarke County to consider a branding effort.
Apparently 'Life Unleashed' isn't working for him. It ain't working for me.
- Athens-Clarke County District Nine Commissioner Kelly Girtz keeps the door open for funding the diversion center, and his fellow commissioner from District Two, Harry Sims, agrees.
- Martin contrasts the way the dropoff in tax revenue is reported, which is interesting. A 16.2 percent dropoff from the previous November isn't good.
- Unrelated, if you read through some of the comments on the tax collections story...
Don't close the door on getting the diversion center on line sooner than later.
Athens-Clarke County District Nine Commissioner Kelly Girtz indicated he was open to revisiting the funding of the diversion center during an interview with Flagpole's City Dope, and he reiterated that committment in an email exchange with me earlier today.
Girtz said he would push for additional discussion of the diversion center as the commission begins its annual budget deliberations later this winter. The recent vote to postpone the implementation of certain SPLOST projects isn't the final determination in the schedule, as Girtz said the official schedule can be adjusted during the budget process.
Returning the...
Offered mostly without comment, two ways of characterizing state revenue figures released today:
Aaron Gould Sheinin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
This marks the 12th consecutive month of declining revenues. Perdue’s office pointed out that tax collections in November 2008 were actually up over the year before, meaning this month’s report is comparing a bad November 2009 with a decent 2008. The true picture of the state’s current financial condition will become clearer next month, when December figures are released.
The Atlanta mayoral recount is over, and Mary Norwood's challenge has resulted in her picking up exactly one vote. Earlier today, Secretary of State Karen Handel dismissed a citizen group's complaint that more than 1,300 voters cast ballots illegally.
So Sen. Kasim Reed is (officially) the mayor-elect of Atlanta.
Here's something that's totally not news.
In a poll from Public Policy Polling, we see that President Obama defeats former President George W. Bush in a hypothetical matchup by a 50-44 margin, winning the independent vote by a 54-39 spread.
For some much needed perspective, Obama defeated Sen. John McCain - at the height of Bush's unpopularity - by a 53-46 decision, and he did so by effectively linking McCain to the failed policies of the previous administration. In addition, Obama won the independent vote, according to most exit polling data, by a 56-43 margin.
As a result, we find out what we all really knew last year ... that Obama and his policies...
JMac points to Myra Blackmon's column in the Banner-Herald today, and it's a pretty good, if somewhat frustrating, read. Initially, I was going to push back a little against some of her ideas, specifically closing down state parks on a temporary basis. Truth is, I think there are better ways to save more money. State parks don't take up a lot of revenue, and in order to shut them down temporarily, you'd also be treading on some dangerously thin layoff ice with regards to Department of Natural Resources employees.
But I digress, because I want to talk about this particular line of Myra's:
It's time for the governor and the legislature to get serious about priorities...
Though some progressives won't be thrilled with this, I think it's arguably a step in the right direction toward health care reform. And, truth be told, I'd much rather see an expansion of Medicare to cover the uninsured (and currently insured), so any movement that lets the general public have the ability to buy-in to the program is a positive development for me.
In any event, what was left of the public option was so weak and ineffective, this compromise results in much better tools to utilize in the future. Regardless, this is the type of compromise that can get 60 votes in the Senate, and then get the House and Senate at the table to hash out...
- Flagpole's City Dope has a pair of interesting items, including Athens-Clarke County District Eight Commissioner's suggestion the Athens-Clarke County Commission revisit its decision to delay the construction of the diversion center. Girtz suggested shifting money around in the existing budget, and he targeted the existing leaf and limb program as a possible area to cut. Identifying existing funding would alleviate - or possible eliminate - any possible property tax increase needed to offset the expense.
- The other item includes a conversation with the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation's Amy Kissane where she offers her thoughts on the recently approved ordinance aimed at slowing demolition of historic...
John Oxendine ... arguably arrogant and, via Jason Pye's collaborative post, presumably cowardly too.
Former Clarke Central coach Billy Henderson earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Atlanta Falcons. The fact it's the same weekend as when the program he led to three state championships will be squaring off for its first title in almost 25 years is even more fitting. Let's hope when he arrives to the gala, the Gladiators have given him a fourth championship.
I'm not even sure Rep. Clay Cox recognizes the epic fail of his official announcement to seek the seat of Speaker Pro Tem in the Georgia House of Representatives. According to a statement over at Jason Pye's place, Cox, a Republican representing Gwinnett County, is aiming to usher in a new era of leadership under the Gold Dome ...
It’s been a tough couple of weeks, and we are now faced with not just finding new leadership but hopefully forging a new direction for our caucus and our chamber. To that end, I am announcing my candidacy for Speaker Pro Tempore of the House. I do so because I believe that the new brand of leadership in our caucus, and for our cause, should look and...
Ezra Klein takes down the illogical arguments of Sen. Kent Conrad ...
The question I'm going to try and answer in this post is whether Conrad has a point, and Medicare does put rural hospitals at a disadvantage. It's going to get real complicated, real quick. But before it does, keep this in mind: There are, according to experts I spoke to, seven hospitals in North Dakota that rely on Medicare payment rates (others use special reimbursement schemes, and so aren't relevant to Conrad's point). Seven. There's something deeply absurd about scotching good national policy because seven North Dakota hospitals complained to Kent Conrad.
On to the...
Hillary responds to Jeff Snowden ...
As the comments are already doing a good job pointing out to Jeff, those on the poorer end of the spectrum aren't exactly winning the war on their higher-incomed counterparts. Or doing much damage. If anything, what this country needs is an escalation in class warfare and a realization on the part of the infantry that their chances of becoming generals is slim to none and strongly rigged against them. Believe me, nonprofit social activists aren't in this for the money. There are plenty of better fields to go into if that were their goal.
...
A mixed bag for Georgia defensive end Jeff Owens according to his Twitter account ...
Rise and shine Twitter world, I am loving that I am done with school no more waking up early!!! I feel like I am getting an ear infection.
Ugh ...
As officials eye more program cuts and possible furloughs for state employees, some Georgia lawmakers say they think they should look at cutting taxes again in 2010.
"The necessity for cutting taxes is greater now than it's ever been before," said state Rep. Martin Scott, R-Rossville, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
The state legislature earlier this year passed a package of legislation that would have reduced substantially the state's capital gains tax and given tax breaks to businesses that hire new employees. Gov. Sonny Perdue vetoed the package, calling it "unattainable," according to The Associated Press...
Tim Sweeney, a health care policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, has penned a forum on the effect of the proposed Medicaid expansions on the state budget. Give it a read.
And, as always, if you'd like to submit a forum you can email us at safeashousesathens@gmail.com.
By Timothy Sweeney, MPA, Senior Healthcare Analyst, Georgia Budget & Policy Institute
Leading congressional health insurance reform proposals include expanding Medicaid, which could not only bring coverage to nearly one million low-income, uninsured Georgians, but would provide at least 90 percent of the funding to do so.
Despite the obvious and significant benefits to the state's economy and its citizens, Gov. Perdue, Lt. Gov. Cagle, and others opposed to reform are arguing that Georgia cannot afford its share of the proposed Medicaid expansion in either the House or Senate proposal.
They claim that expanding Medicaid will cost Georgia more than $2 billion over six or seven years, but they rarely mention...
Mary Norwood may want a recount, but Kasim Reed is moving ahead with his plans to revamp the city.
He just announced the appointment of Peter Aman as his chief operating officer for Atlanta ...
As COO, Mr. Aman will lead the executive management of the municipal operating departments: Police, Fire, Corrections, Aviation, Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, Public Works, Parks/Recreation/Cultural Affairs, Watershed Management, and Planning and Community Development.
“I am honored by this appointment and excited at the opportunity to continue to serve the City of Atlanta. I look...
- Good to see progress is being made on this front. The proposed Athens Resources Center For The Homeless - even with the dropping out of the Interfaith Hospitality Network Of Athens - can represent real progress in the fight against poverty.
- Also good is this. Anything spurring economic development is always positive.
- I'd suggest using that $200 billion to provide spending vouchers for taxpayers, as well as targeted incentives to encourage businesses to hire workers.
- Ah yes,...
In a sudden and surprising development, Rep. Mark Burkhalter has opted not to seek the job for the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Our pal Dan Lorentz was kind enough to send us a guest post that starts with a really simple question for policymakers in Athens-Clarke County - “What apps would you find useful as an Athens-Clarke Co. policymaker?”
If you want to guest post (and seriously, we're easy), just drop us a line at safeashousesathens /at/ gmail /dot/ com.
By Dan Lorentz, myAthensblog.com
“What apps would you find useful as an Athens-Clarke Co. policymaker?”
That’s the question I emailed a couple weeks ago to all county commissioners and a few other county-level policymakers. I let people know that I was welcoming serious as well as fanciful suggestions.
After I emailed the question, I found out—according to one insider’s estimate—just five of the eleven commissioners use iPhones or similar devices. Still, I got a couple responses.
Here is what I got. The asterisked ones...
Safe to say, I probably won't be on Ron Steinman's Christmas card list.
Steinman, the executive editor of The Digital Journalist, has penned one of the most arrogant, ill-informed and elitist pieces on the impact of new media on the everchanging landscape of journalism. In it, he poormouths bloggers and 'citizen journalists' in a silly attempt to define what 'real' journalism is. Truth be told, I've rarely read such a piece that has bothered me so much.
Typically, I shy away from these types of discussions and let Grift handle them with care. However, given my background across the...
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun has introduced a bill that would eliminate what's left of the federal economic stimulus package and cut taxes instead.
The bill would use the unspent $539 billion of the $787 billion stimulus package to fund tax cuts on corporate and individual income, dividends and capital gains intended to help the private sector create jobs....
Broun disparaged the idea that government spending can help the economy recover.
The Jumpstarting Our Business Sector, or JOBS Act, includes a two-year moratorium on all dividend and capital gains taxes. For two years, it would also cut the 6.2 percent payroll tax and 15.3...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did a fine bit of investigate journalism over the past few months in its report on property tax assessments. However, the predictable response is distressing as well ...
The General Assembly saw the struggle and feared counties wouldn’t lower values. So, lawmakers passed a law that required assessors to consider distressed sales in setting values.
That bill didn’t have the full impact its supporters intended, however, because it didn’t tell local governments how to factor in foreclosures. So, each county did it differently.
For example, Clayton counted the number of foreclosures in a...
After the last couple of weeks, and the rumors of what is to come, it's a sure bet that we're going to see more state legislators pushing ethics "reform" than you can shake a stick at.
Today, the first serious salvo in that battle, courtesy of Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna). According to the AJC:
Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna), a 2010 candidate for attorney general, said that he would introduce legislation for the coming session to overhaul the state’s conflict of interest laws and to transfer...
J.T.'s thoughts from Sunday are spot-on ...
So go ahead and heap a huge helping of scorn on the speaker's head. But save some outrage for the lobbyists who facilitated his delusion, and for the legislative colleagues who chose not to speak truth to the speaker's power even as some of them likely knew he was crossing an ethical line. As much as those lobbyists and legislators may want to believe that Richardson was the problem here, the truth is that he was merely a symptom.
Today, Glenn Richardson is a broken man, and maybe that's a price he deserves to pay. But there can be no doubt that he is the product of a broken system, and the question that lingers now is not if another...
The circular firing squad in the Republican ranks continues as Erick peddles in rumor-mongering at Wacky McWacko Peach Pundit. Grift, however, suggests there might be come credibility to the rumors surrounding Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (which, as everyone concedes, are no secret among those who follow state politics).
- Rep. Mark Burkhalter, the speaker in waiting, says he won't raise taxes on anything ... despite a $1.5 billion-plus shortfall. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
- Related to that, the Athens Banner-Herald editorial takes about the cowardice of postponing some of those tough fiscal decisions until the very end of the legislative session.
- Another editorial from the ABH that talks about some suggestions on how to curb the trashing of North Campus at the University of Georgia. As of now, I'm all for selling those spots to high-profile...
From my Sunday column in the Athens Banner-Herald ...
By floating the possibility of a tax increase, Cagle is doing nothing more than trying to shift the responsibility for the state's ongoing budget fiasco from its rightful owners at the state level to Congress.
It's a straw-man argument to suggest that health care reform will be responsible for the undoing of the state budget. Quite frankly, that budget is undone, and it has nothing to do with a proposal to expand Medicaid coverage.
Our primary problem is that Georgia is dealing with a structural deficit. We have a tax code suited for the 1930s trying to meet our needs in the 21st century, and it's riddled with...
Congratulations to my alma mater, Clarke Central, on a crushing victory last night. Here's yer open thread.
Go nuts.
Earlier this week, the Athens-Clarke County Commission opted to redirect funding to build a proposed diversion center, but narrowly voted to delay its construction to postpone its impact on the local budget.
Athens-Clarke County District Seven Commissioner Kathy Hoard expressed her opposition to the diversion center along fiscal lines. She argued that adding $422,000 in additional operating expenses to a budget already facing a deficit was 'irresponsible.' The result, Hoard said would be that the commission would have to raise property taxes to cover the costs.
Fair enough, but ... Athens-Clarke County is already facing a $1.4 million budget shortfall if they wish to maintain existing services, and that shortfall...
Fortunately, there's probably going to be a jobs bill put together in the beginning of 2010 and, coupled with the most impressive report on job losses in November, that should get the economy back on track sooner than later.
Derek Thompson from The Atlantic has nine strategies on how best to spur job creation, and the majority of them are really good. For instance, direct aid to state governments saves jobs and protects social services, which is a win-win. Likewise, a jobs tax credit...
Sure, we've been hard on David Poythress now and then, but I'm a believer in giving credit where credit's due, and he deserves plenty of it for talking about getting lines of credit flowing to small businesses in small communities across Georgia ...
Right now we see too many banks waiting for liquidity to enter the marketplace before they open up small business credit. Yet jumpstarting small business hiring and expansion are not possible without credit help. That’s why If I were Governor today, I would work with banks to create a public-private partnership that would help Georgia banks restore credit lines and new business start ups.
By breaking the logjam in the small business credit market, we can begin to restore Georgia’s...
Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Gary Horlacher sent us an op-ed on ethics and whatnot. You can check it out here.
And, if you want to do a guest post here, email us at safeashousesathens@gmail.com.
Gary Horlacher: Democratic candidate for Secretary of State
Georgia’s government has a responsibility to function openly, honestly, efficiently, and with integrity. The conduct of public officials is important when entrusted to oversee the public’s affairs. Transparency and Accountability have been intentionally erased in recent years by our current leadership. We need a much sharper focus on ETHICS. Over the last several years, there has been a serious erosion of the public’s trust in government, at every level, national, state, and local, because of an incredible number of cases of corruption and serious ethical and moral breaches.
The recent revelations about Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson are only the latest and...
Amidst all the blah-dee-blah about Glenn Richardson, let's make extra sure that we're still looking at what matters more.
The Richardson story, and it's weeks of spinoff stories and analysis stories, is a very entertaining distraction, but it is just that - a distraction. As Democrats, we need to keep our eye on the ball, and dare I say, as mine host pointed out, establish a narrative?
Here's the bigger issue.
More steep cuts in government are in store for 2010, Athens-area state lawmakers said Thursday.
The state will spend less than $15 billion next year on education, health care, law enforcement and other government...
As I noted yesterday, despite the most fervent hopes of Democrats like me, the race to be the next Republican, gavel-wielding thug in charge at the Georgia House is going to probably end with a group hug, not a catfight.
JMac got to it first:
Burkhalter holding on to the throne preserves the internal leadership status quo...
With Burkhalter in charge, the fix (as Jason Pye put it) is in. The status quo is preserved, and a floor fight is avoided.
It goes without saying that Democrats' chances to throw a Baby Ruth in the Republican country club swimming pool are somewhat reduced now.
It might have been a necessary thing from an activism point of view, but convincing liberals that this bill was worthless in the absence of the public option was a terrible decision, wrong on the merits and unfair to the base. The achievement of this bill is $900 billion to help people purchase health-care coverage, a new market that begins to equalize the conditions of the unemployed and the employed, and a regulatory structure in which this country can build, for the first time, a universal health-care system. Thousands and thousands of lives will be saved by this bill. Bankruptcies will be averted. Rescission letters won't be sent. Parents won't have to fret...
Jim Galloway is reporting that Rep. Mark Burkhalter has opted to withdraw his name from the executive director search for the Georgia World Congress Center, meaning he's ready to make a permanent play for the job of Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
May not be the type of 'fix' Jason Pye was talking about, but Burkhalter holding on to the throne preserves the internal leadership status quo ... and puts someone in charge of the Georgia House who turned away from all the nonsense involving Glenn Richardson.
Sounds a lot like more of the same to me.
And, as...
It's the day after Rep. Glenn Richardson's resignation stemming from his affair with a lobbyist, and progressive bloggers are talking about ... why they think the Democratic Party of Georgia will fail?
Keith McCants, who runs Peanut Politics, put the following message up last night on Facebook ...
Can democrats steal house district 19 from the republicans now glen richardson has resigned? will democrats even put up a challenger for that seat?
Sara shared her thoughts as well ...
I'm warning you guys now, if you don't come away with more seats in 2010 and at least one new...
Taking a break from wall-to-wall coverage of the trainwreck that is soon-to-be private citizen Glenn Richardson and his spectacular fall from power, let's talk about the diversion center again.
Ken Justice's point in his Banner-Herald letter today is well-taken. The truth is, we need to build that diversion center, and we need to find the money somewhere. But, is it really as simple as Justice (great name for a writer on this issue, btw) makes it sound?
...the projected $422,000-per-year operating cost for the 72-bed diversion center equates to a cost of $16 per bed per day to local taxpayers. This is about one-third of the $45 per inmate per day currently being spent...
- Sen. Ralph Hudgens embraces cognitive dissonance. Related, I'm on board with all of Rep. Doug McKillip's proposals.
- The Associated Press's take on Rep. Glenn Richardson's resignation. Martin's take on this mess is a good read too.
- Clarke Central's hosting Rockdale County in the Class AAAA semifinals at Billy Henderson Stadium, and folks ought to go check them out. Martay Mattox is a player, and the Gladiators have a berth in the Georgia Dome and a slot in the...
This is just tacky:
In making this public disclosure, it was my hope to raise awareness and encourage others who suffer from this disease to come forward and seek treatment. I fear that the media attention of this week has deflected this message and done harm to many people who suffer from this condition.
How about it, depression sufferers? Anyone feel like the media attention on a guy who threatened to sic the GBI on his ex-wife for leaving him when she found out he was knocking boots witha lobbyist has hurt them? Show of hands?
Crickets.
Well, there goes our class action suit against the media.
Maybe he meant the media attention was harmful to manipulative bullies, not depression sufferers, since...
So, the Speaker resigned. Can we all just take a breath from our collective political junkie "squeees" of elation? I've been fairly quiet about this, for a couple of reasons, but if you want my take, here it is:
Richardson is a bully, and someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants, or what he thinks he's entitled to. Comeuppance is a bitch. However, just because the regent is dethroned doesn't mean the next guy is going to be any better. The next Speaker (elected one, that is; Burkhalter becomes the Speaker by procedure) will almost certainly be part and parcel of the same corrupt, rotten leadership that Richardson put in place to begin with. Whether it's Burkhalter, Keen, or whoever, the culture of corruption and the...
Yikes. Reader F.R. has some thoughts on the coverage - or lack thereof - of the resignation of Rep. Glenn Richardson in some parts of the progressive blogosphere ...
So, RIchardson resigns, after getting busted banging a lobbyist, and threatening to use his power and position to essentially screw up his ex-wife's life. The same Richardson who helped gut education and passed the Georgia Power giveaway bill. And the best some progressive blogs in the state (cough-you know who) can do is sit around and dissect a month-old flier from the state democrats in a campaign in Milledgeville? Give me a friggin' break.
At least the fanboys at Peach Pundit are attacking their leadership on something topical.
Rep. Glenn Richardson has resigned from the Georgia House of Representatives ...
Effective January 1, 2010, I will resign my position as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives and as state Representative for the 19th District in Paulding County.
It has been an honor to serve the citizens of Paulding County as their Representative for 14 years and as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives for the last five years. During this time, I have appreciated working with the members of the House and the people of Georgia to keep state government efficient and ensure a low tax burden for our fellow Georgians.
As Speaker, I have been well served by the entire staff of the House of Representatives, especially the staff in the Speaker’s Office...
David Pollack is reporting via Twitter that he's heard various rumblings that Rodney Garner has resigned from Georgia.
If he doesn't land the defensive coordinator's job, that's a likely outcome. Of course, all that's going on right now is simple Twitter-land rumors.
WABE is reporting that Rep. Glenn Richardson is set to resign during today's hastily called 4 p.m. conference call for House Republicans.
Safe to say, this is a fabulously bad idea.
If you begin driving news coverage through market research and sales figures, you're going to lose the value of the press. The Dallas Morning News is potentially on its way to becoming a massive public relations firm, adhering more to the bottom line rather than the journalistic product they put out.
Now, this isn't to suggest that the interests of the sales team and news staff don't come into direct conflict every once in a while. I recall one particular episode during my days at the Athens Banner-Herald - and, to be clear, we're talking about something more than eight years ago that is two executive editors...
Jason Pye reports on Twitter that Rep. Barry Loudermilk is interested in running for Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives if when Rep. Glenn Richardson steps down.
At Peach Pundit, Pye connects the dots to suggest 'the fix is in' for the current GOP leadership to preserve internal power.
That sound you hear is John Oxendine falling in the polls ...
I call on all Georgians of faith to pray for wisdom and grace for our state leaders in this hour of difficulty. No Georgia House members need nor require candidates exploiting this issue for political gain. I have confidence the majority caucus and the House as an institution will deal with this current situation.
Given that Oxendine himself is under a state ethics investigation for potentially violating two campaign finance laws, perhaps this is a smart play. Then again, anyone who doesn't distance themselves from this mess is going to be in for a...
Via Jim Galloway's post last night ...
By sunset Wednesday, calls went out to the three Republican leaders of the House: Richardson, Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter of Johns Creek, and Majority Leader Jerry Keen of St. Simons Island, asking them to assemble at the residence of Gov. Sonny Perdue for an evening discussion.
One item on the agenda, we’re told, was how to ease Richardson’s exit. The $99,082.95 he earns each year as speaker is his primary source of income, and times are hard.
Abusing power and physically threatening your ex-wife apparently results in the GOP leadership...
Remember this?
It's a statement from then-Sen. Eric Johnson, now a Republican candidate for governor in Georgia. Johnson headed up a three-person ethics committee which investigated a complaint against Rep. Glenn Richardson filed by then-Democratic Party of Georgia chairman Bobby Kahn. The complaint alleged that Richardson, the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist for Atlanta Gas and Light. At the time, the Richardson was co-sponsoring a $300 million pipeline bill sought by the utility group.
The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee...
Gov. Sonny Perdue has a plan to take water from Lake Hartwell and give it to Gwinnett County, an action that would seem to violate a state law that strictly prohibits river basin water transfers.
Shortly after a federal ruling over water usage at Lake Lanier in an extended fight with Florida and Alabama over river flows to the Gulf of Mexico, a release from Gov. Perdue's newly-formed Water Contingency Task Force last week appears to be setting the stage for even more animosity over water resources in the state...
Via the AJC, Karen Handel calls for Rep. Glenn Richardson to resign.
The clock is ticking ...
Yesterday, we told you about Keith McCrory, who is the fifth candidate to declare his candidacy for Athens-Clarke County Mayor (sixth if you count Spencer Frye's exploratory committee). McCrory, a social studies teacher at Jackson County High School, was kind enough to respond to some email questions I sent his way ...
What prompted you to run for mayor?
I decided to run for mayor because I thought that I could make a positive difference in the community. I believe in a government that is fiscally responsible, efficient, acts as a good steward with public resources, and capable of making wise decisions with tax payer money.
What are the biggest...
This is rather astonishing.
Pendergrass is cutting its budget by 45 percent. I have absolutely no idea how they can make such deep cuts without dramatically undermining their responsibilities to their citizens.
- So it turns out local officials were right and Bush Administration ones were wrong. Granted, given how disasterous the last presidency was, this isn't anything new at all, but it is somewhat staggering to see how wrong they were. I mean, this thing costs 70 percent more than they projected, and it's poor planning and inefficient strategies like this that ultimately bankrupt the country (not, say, a proposed health care reform policy that will reduce the deficit).
- The downtown parade for Athens-Clarke County is tonight, so be sure you get there early.
- It's letters like the ones from...
From the University of Georgia ...
ATHENS -Contracts of three Georgia assistant football coaches will not be renewed following the 2009 season according to an announcement Wednesday by UGA head football coach Mark Richt.
Defensive coordinator and secondary coach Willie Martinez, defensive co-coordinator and linebacker coach John Jancek, and defensive ends coach Jon Fabris will not return in 2010 according to Richt; however, he indicated that all three have been asked to coach through the bowl game.
"I cannot express enough my thanks to all three for their contributions to our program," said Richt. "However, in the final analysis I'm charged with providing the leadership and direction for the Georgia program and sometimes that means making...
Since this went down over the Thanksgiving holiday, it got kind of lost in the shuffle, but the Savannah Morning News reported that Regina Thomas is challenging Rep. John Barrow again. This time around, she's basing her opposition to him largely on his vote against health care reform.
Barrow, naturally, takes exception to such criticism ...
Barrow spokeswoman Jane Brodsky rejected Thomas' contentions.
"(He) didn't vote against President Obama's health care plan," Brodsky said. "He voted against (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi's. ...
"Just because he doesn't agree with a particular legislative...
ESPN's Joe Schad reports via Twitter that Georgia will not retain Willie Martinez as defensive coordinator.
Ken Hodges, a Democratic candidate for Attorney General, has a web ad out for the holidays.
It's pretty clever.
Read John Huie's report in Flagpole on the diversion center and redicivism. It's high-quality ...
The average Clarke County jail inmate has been in the jail 10 times before; the diversion center would offer counseling programs, and could reduce recidivism and reduce the jail population by 16 percent, Goble's report said. But County Manager Alan Reddish told commissioners earlier this month that there's no guarantee the diversion center will reduce the jail population. "Do we end up incarcerating persons that are not incarcerated today, for whatever reason the judicial community might think supports it?" he asked. Local courts administrator Tracy BeMent told Flagpole...
Because four (potentially five and even maybe six) isn't enough, there's another candidate seeking the mayoral office in Athens-Clarke County.
Keith McCrory, a former Navy serviceman who apparently has a background in education, is seeking the community's top office as well. Aside from his biography page, I know absolutely nothing about McCrory, but I've got a message out for him, so hopefully I'll hear from him shortly.
If Spencer Frye opts to run - and if a rumor I keep hearing throughout the community pans out - we could have seven candidates for mayor.
- Blake's recap of last night's Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting is here, and my wrap-up is here. In addition, go back and sift through our Twitter page for updates from last night.
- Shreveport! Shreveport! Shreveport!
- Sen. Kasim Reed is declaring victory, but a recount is likely in the Altanta mayoral race.
- Speaking of Election Night, 11 Alive News tried something new last night...
Fulton County's official web site has 100 percent reporting and Sen. Kasim Reed winning 37,961 to 36,800.
UPDATE: Well, maybe not so much. Absentees are rolling in and Reed's clinging to a lead. Roughly 1,000 votes now.
This will be fun to go into tomorrow.
11 Alive News is posting dramatically different numbers for the Atlanta mayoral race than any other news outlet. In a series of posts to their Twitter account, the station said it had staffers and volunteers positioned at all of Atlanta's 170 precincts and relied on them to call in final totals rather than wait on the results to trickle in from the Board of Elections. The rationale being that precincts have to post vote totals on their doors prior to reporting them.
As of 10:15 p.m., 11 Alive News had Mary Norwood in front by 2,484 votes with 74 percent reporting. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, however, had Sen. Kasim Reed up by 2,395 votes with 57 percent reporting. The latter was relying on the tried-and-true,...
The Athens-Clarke County Commission approved a new process aimed at protecting historic structures in the community, while it delayed the construction of a variety of SPLOST 2005 projects, including a much-discussed diversion center.
The diversion center was the primary topic of interest, and it was a divisive one. While all of the commisioners were proponents of building the center, as evidenced by the willingness to divert $2.3 million in SPLOST funding to the project, there were distinctly divided in when ground should be broken.
District Six Commissioner Ed Robinson made a motion to accept the staff's recommendation that eight projects, including the diversion center, be postponed so it wouldn't impact the local budget until FY2012. Mike Hamby, the District 10...
Via a Twitter update from Thomas Wheatley, Dick Pettys is reporting that Rep. Glenn Richardson will step down as the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Check out our Twitter page for updates from tonight's Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting, as well as news from tonight's run-off election for the Atlanta mayoral election. The feed can be found at the bottom right of our page.
We talked a little bit about the seasonal flu vaccine shortage yesterday, and the role larger retail outfits might be playing. Today, I spoke with Dr. Henry Garrard, a pediatrician in Athens-Clarke County, and, though he acknowledged he was unclear on all the behind-the-scenes politics regarding vaccine acquisition, he agreed that those pharmacies do impact the availability of the vaccine.
Garrad said his private practice makes it first order for seasonal flu vaccine in the December of the preceding year. This year's shipment was much smaller than what he requested, which isn't out of the ordinary given the emphasis on producing H1N1 vaccine, but his office was out of the seasonal vaccine by October. He said they just...
Well, this Glenn Richardson stuff got mighty interesting, didn't it ...
In the interview, Susan Richardson said she is convinced her husband had an affair with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist, an affair that prompted an ethics complaint filed by legislative Democrats. The complaint alleged Richardson had an “inappropriate” and “personal” relationship with a lobbyist for the utility while pushing a bill authorizing the utility to build a controversial natural gas pipeline.
According to e-mails Fox 5 quoted between Glenn Richardson and the lobbyist, the speaker calmed her fears of being fired over the allegations...
Shocking, I know ...
Estimating the law’s overall effects on employment requires a more comprehensive analysis than the recipients’ reports provide. Therefore, looking at the actual amounts spent so far (where identifiable) and estimates of the other effects of ARRA on spending and revenues, CBO has estimated the law’s impact on employment and economic output using evidence about how previous similar policies have affected the economy and various mathematical models that represent the workings of the economy. On that basis, CBO estimates that in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to 1.6 million people were employed in the United States, and real (inflation-adjusted) gross...
Last night, Martin talked a little bit about Brian's take on Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's commentary on health care reform. Cagle is arguing that the proposed reforms will inevitably raise state taxes through its expansion of Medicaid, and Brian agress by noting that federal taxes might just stay the same, but your state tax load will have to increase due to the ongoing budgetary problems.
Brian's a friend, but we disagree - to an extent - on this matter.
Tim Sweeney, a health care policy analyst with the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, said Cagle is...
- Athens loses its own 'Liberal Lion' as Phyllis Jenkins Barrow has passed away. A devoted member of my church, she was, quite simply, just really good people, and we'll all be poorer without her.
- That 'if and when' part of Oconee County School Superintendent John Jackson's answer is the most intriguing part of the whole story. Throughout the entire process, I had a hunch that John Osborne may just voluntarily wind up elsewhere, and it seems Jackson is leaving that door open.
- Martin disagrees with...
