Contained within today’s AJC report on job cuts within MARTA comes this gem of a quote from its General Manager, Beverly Scott, about handing out pink slips to some employees:

“I felt like Simon Legree,” Scott said.

Really? I mean…really? You felt like the cruel slave master from Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Good Lord, does she feel like this guy when she hires someone? Is this woman stable? At the very least, she needs to get over herself and get a grip.

Rasmussen Reports, in conjunction with Fox Television Stations, Inc., is out with a new poll today showing Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss beating all Democratic challengers by an average of twenty-one points.

According to the poll, 61% of Georgians have a favorable view of their senior United States Senator. The telphone survey was conducted May 6th, includes a sampling size of 500 Likely Voters, and has a margin of error of +/- 4%.

Chambliss vs. Cardwell:

51% - Chambliss
37% - Cardwell

Chambliss vs. Jones:

58% - Chambliss
30% - Jones

Chambliss vs. Martin

54% - Chambliss
33% - Martin

Click here for the complete Rasmussen poll and analysis.

Don’t be surprised to see Chip Rogers run for Lieutenant Governor.

Well, maybe not. It appears that the Municipal Court Judge and Mayor of Hazlehurst, located in Jeff Davis County, are having a bit of a tiff in the style of the City of Lithonia. From the Jeff Davis Ledger:

The controversy erupted last Thursday when Judge Smith conducted his monthly municipal court in a courtroom virtually devoid of defendants and court personnel. Neither Hazlehurst Police Chief Steve Land, who normally serves as the municipal court prosecutor, nor court clerk Deborah Kornegay, a Police Department dispatcher, were present, apparently under orders from Mayor Stone not to attend the court session. And defendants who arrived for their scheduled appearances in court were turned away outside by Chief Land who distributed flyers announcing that the next court date would be May 29.

Interesting that the Police Chief is ALSO the City Solicitor in that fine city…

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

The Georgia Department of Labor said Thursday the number of laid-off workers who filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits rose 21.3 percent in April.

Of course, the article doesn’t mention that per Georgia DOL statistics, our unemployment rate is still only 5.3%, or .1% higher than the national average. That kind of employment level is still bordering on full employment.

There were two candidate forums this week featuring the candidates for Gwinnett Commission Chairman. Here are reports on the two events.

Monday’s Greater Gwinnett Republican Women’s forum:

Bannister noted during the meeting that the county’s revenue is running about 15 percent down from last year, and that the county government has begun studying its departments to find ways to cut costs.

“It’s not a joyous time,” he said. “There is no answer.”

But Bannister said he would be more inclined to find ways to cut taxes than raise them, saying that county government needed a Reagan-esque answer to the shortfall. Bannister said he has a plan to reduce property taxes, but asked to reveal the plan’s details later.

Green took issue with Bannister’s approach, noting that the county’s reserve account had fallen from $133 million in 2005 at the start of his term to about $75 million now - the minimum amount necessary to maintain a triple-A favorable bond rating.

County staff told the commission that it needs to raise taxes or cut services, she said. Cutting taxes isn’t an option, because county government can’t run a deficit, Green said.

Wednesday’s Gwinnett Village CID forum:

The only negative comments - when Green accused incumbent Chairman Charles Bannister of missing the majority of Transit Planning Board meetings - came in a moment where many complained they couldn’t understand the speakers.

Green said she wants to see more police officers on the street and even more focus on illegal immigration, a topic on which she has sparred with Bannister for months.

“The reason illegals flock to Gwinnett is because of jobs. We need to cut off that life line,” she said, adding that she wanted help from the Legislature to impose a rental ordinance to also attack housing issues.

Bannister, who said hiring illegals should be a reason to take away business licenses, had ideas to improve the zoning process by forcing people to register as lobbyists to relieve political pressure and to consider changes to the county’s land use map before taking up a potential rezoning.

Glenn Pirkle, an electrical contractor from Buford running for chairman, distinguished himself as the only candidate opposed to the use of tax allocation districts to fund redevelopment. The issue will also be on July ballots.

Johnny Isakson is not running for Governor in 2010.

This is from Bob Barr’s campaign:

Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr will hold a press conference on Monday May 12 to discuss his future plans and the 2008 election. Rep. Barr launched an exploratory committee last month to determine whether he should file as a candidate for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination.

Who: Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr
What: press conference
When: 11:00am ET on Monday May 12, 2008
Where: Zenger Room at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

Just a note if he does decide to run, the Libertarian Party’s national convention is May 22nd to the 26th.

[UPDATE] The Politico reports that Barr is running.

On the heels of the resignation several weeks ago of Chief Judge Brooks Blitch III of Homerville, comes news that State Court and Juvenile Court Judge Berrien Sutton has also resigned from that South Georgia circuit, as reported by the Clinch County News.

Sutton was the subject of charges of unethical conduct by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. According to Sutton’s attorney, Thomas Withers of Savannah, the JQC has agreed to drop the charges against Sutton. Sutton was set to go before a JQC panel on those charges on May 8 in Adel before the agreement was reached.

From WSB in Atlanta.

Bill Hargrove, the world’s oldest league bowler, has rolled his last game. The 106-year-old Clermont, Ga. resident died of congestive heart failure Monday at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center, just four days before his 107th birthday. In May 2007 he was officially declared the World’s Oldest League Bowler during a game in Decatur. Since then Hargrove bowled just about every Monday in Cleveland, Ga. with his team, Billy and the Kids.

From AJC and Savannah Morning News comes news of cuts to the DeKalb County and Chatham County School Systems.

This is NSFW (google the initials if you don’t know what it means).

A big tip of the hat to our friends at Creative Loafing who, unlike me, have enough class to not actually put up the video.

Let’s hope the person at La Quinta Inn was right.

BTW, the crazy girl would be more likely to carry a gun than the grandmother she went schizophrenic on — so Thomas is probably right about keeping guns off MARTA. But then, well, judge for yourself.

BTW2: Yeah, I know and appreciate that the crazy one probably would have gun regardless of the law. That’s why I didn’t change the title of this post.

Is Newt the only Republican who senses those pesky ‘ole winds ‘o change ‘a blowin’? Of course it all could be backdraft from his own hot air, but The Newtster has his pulse right on America, again, in his wicked-clever, backhanded way.

For instance, he’s running around TV Land wagging his finger in the faces of fellow Republicans, saying essentially that Repugs will not get McCain into the White House by trotting out that same ‘ole, same ‘ole Attwater Rovian-based Stupid White Southerners People Strategy.

That bellowing those two toxic words (Jeremiah Wright) will not only make the bellowee look like a lard-butt drooler, the whole Rev. Wright stuff simply doesn’t have the legs Republicans seem to imagine it has… in political advertising and in what passes for political analysis on Media Farms such as Fox News.

Tom Baxter in Southern Political Report today echoes a similar albeit Newt-Lite sentiment:

Coupled with Obama’s sweeping victory in the Democratic primary Tuesday in North Carolina, where the state GOP ran an ad linking him (Obama) to both leading Democratic candidates for governor, the Louisiana election last weekend suggests that Obama won’t be so toxic for down-ticket Democratic candidates in the South this fall. A better way to say that might be: no more toxic than the average Democratic presidential candidate is for the party’s candidates in Southern races.

Full story here. Other than The Newtster and a very few assorted other party operatives, Republicans aren’t exactly known for their cultural intuition. In these here times of mind-boggling connectivity, cultural intuitiveness applied to political strategy has never been more critical. (And given how portly Newt has become, he’d better lay-off the carbs and exercise more if he wants to keep firing on all his most relevant cylinders, but I diverge…)

Then again, November is a’ways away. Plenty of time for some fresh party mischief making, eh?!

The online driving school bill is a bad idea.

Scooby Doo can get behind the wheel again in Florida.

Not in real life, of course. The talking dog doesn’t exist. But opponents of a bill to let Georgia’s habitual traffic violators take court-ordered driving classes online signed the cartoon canine up for an Internet course in Florida, which has a similar law.

Ruh-roh. Not only did he pass, Doo got a certificate.

The stunt was pulled by Driving Educators of Georgia, a statewide association of driving schools trying to persuade Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto the legislation known as House Bill 1027. The group argues such a system would make it easier for reckless drivers to get their licenses back. It also would be prone to fraud, the group says.

Perdue should veto it.