by Chris on March 8, 2010
From the AJC
“The Department of Transportation says it costs $400 to do each of the safety inspections the fee [$10] — unchanged since 1978 — is supposed to fund.”
This is a good chance for the General Assembly to do two things – one determine if we should even be licensing this at all, and if not cut spending by eliminating the staff who do the licensing, or two – set the fees to match the cost so the rest of us aren’t subsidizing it.
I’d even suggest a third option which is to create enabling legislation to allow the department heads to set the fees as they see fit (with review from the General Assembly) and then cut out all financial support for the activity from the general appropriations bills.
There is no reason my tax dollars need to go subsidize the gun nuts who want to get a dealers license, but don’t want to pay the costs themselves.
Fees that have no relationship to the costs of providing the service is the same as “From each according to their ability to pay, to each according to their political connections”.
by Jason Pye on March 8, 2010
by Icarus on March 7, 2010
Well, tonight marks yet another round of Oscar awards for the lib’ral Hollywood elite to pat themselves on the back for solving global warming, eliminating poverty in the third world, and adopting a child from every continent. And, when you think of the Oscars, what icon of Georgia politics do we all think of? That’s right, my main man John Oxendine.
We all know Ox has a history with the Oscars, but I was worried that Ox might not get to go this year because of his souring relationship with Dr. Jeffery Gallups. You don’t remember Dr. G? He’s the dude that bundled over $100K in family contributions to Oxendine’s campaign, and took him to the Oscars not once, but twice. He also took Ox hunting and lived to tell about it. Must be a brave man.
But, the worry for Ox at this year’s Oscars appears to be over. According to the following memo that may OR MAY NOT be from the Ox’s campaign, it looks like plans to attend this year’s Oscars are in full force: [click to continue…]
by Buzz Brockway on March 7, 2010
Comment using the console below or via Twitter using the hashtag #gagang.
by Chris Huttman on March 5, 2010
According to the New York Times, Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) will resign from Congress Monday. Massa was a liberal “No” vote for the House’s healthcare reform, because he didn’t think the bill went far enough. What this means though is that the magic # for health care passage is back down to 216 from 217. You will recall that when Nathan Deal said he was going to resign, that dropped the number from 217 to 216. When conservatives like John Fund started going crazy about that, Deal walked back his resignation saying he’d wait until after the vote. Well, with Massa leaving the House, it’s back down to 216 (and for the record, if Deal now left it would still be at 216 because these things move in multiples of 2).
So essentially, Deal now gets no benefit from staying in Congress because his vote doesn’t change the Health Care calculus. But…they might find time to hit him with that ethics report.
by Tyler on March 5, 2010
Rep. Paul Broun had an interview with Sirius XM radio host Pete Dominick on Thursday. The interview was first flagged by the liberal blog Think Progress. During the interview Dominick asked Broun if he thought President Obama was “an American citizen and a Christian.”
Broun first responded, “I’m not going to get involved in that.”
But pressed on whether he thought Obama is a citizen, he said “I don’t know.”
“Is he a Christian?” Dominick then asked.
“I don’t know that,” Broun responded, explaining that “I’m a Christian but only me and the Lord know that for sure.”
It sounds like Broun might be joining Deal in the ranks of Birthers. Broun is unsure if Obama is an American citizen (must be natural born to be President), which means he isn’t sure if he qualifies for office. Well, has Broun been sworn in yet? Conspiracies everywhere, the plot thickens…
by Buzz Brockway on March 5, 2010
An online poll of announced and potential candidates has popped up at the website of the Barrow Journal. It seems to me the list of names in the poll comes from some of those early national stories so it shows Shafer and MacGinnitie who of course are not running. Nevertheless the poll is fun to look at on a Friday afternoon.
Consider this an open thread.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Chuck Efstration who says he did not send out an email asking people to vote in this poll.
by Icarus on March 5, 2010
Senator Lee Hawkins, candidate for the 9th Congressional District, released the following statement today:
“With the Administration’s announcement yesterday of a set date for the health care vote, many American’s are in disbelief.
After months of outrage over the proposed health care bill, President Obama and House leadership have announced their plans to move forward on a vote with their version of health care reform.
“The plan of the Democrat’s to move forward with health care in the House is not shocking to me by any means, but am I disappointed…yes.” Said State Senator Lee Hawkins. “About the only positive I can find in this whole situation is that Nathan Deal will be up there to add one more vote against the bill.”
With passage of the Senate version of the bill in the House the health care bill would go straight to the desk of the President and most likely immediately be signed into law.
Senator Lee Hawkins has served in the Georgia Senate since 2006 and is a former President of the Georgia Dental Association and has spent over 30 years as a dentist in Gainesville, GA.”
by Jason Pye on March 4, 2010
by Tyler on March 4, 2010
Perhaps he needs to pay more attention or have someone else watch his Facebook. Here’s the latest from the sponsor of SB31:
by Buzz Brockway on March 4, 2010
Here’s a list of announced and rumored candidates for the various open positions in Gwinnett County. There are a number of other potential candidates who are thinking about running who I’m sure I’ll be adding to this list soon. If you know of others please say so in the comments.
7th Congressional District (being vacated by John Linder)
Senator Don Balfour(R) (announced)
Commissioner Mike Beaudreau(R) (considering it)
Representative Clay Cox(R) (website)
Doug Heckman(D) (considering it)
Tom Kirby (R) (website)
Ralph Reed(R) (considering it)
Senate District 9 (being vacated by Don Balfour)
Representative David Casas(R) (announced)
Fmr. Gwinnett GOP Chairman Greg Howard(R) (announced)
Fmr. Gwinnett and 7th District GOP Chairman Mike Royal(R) (decided not to run)
State House District 98 (being vacated by Bobby Reese who will run in the 9th CD)
Josh Clark(R) (website)
Jason Thompson(R) (website)
Wayne Hill(R) (website)
Full disclosure: I’m managing the campaign of Josh Clark
State House District 102 (being vacated by Clay Cox)
Travis Bowden(R) (announced)
Linda Carsten(R) (announced)
Keith Royal (considering it, according to the tip line)
State House District 103 (being vacated by David Casas)
Steve Ramey(R) (announced)
State House District 106 (being vacated by Melvin Everson who is running for Labor Commissioner)
Warren Auld(R) (website)
Steffini Bethea(D) (website)
Brett Harrell(R) (website)
by Buzz Brockway on March 4, 2010
Received via email:
AFP GA Day at the Capitol – Tue, March 9th – 9:30AM
Don’t miss our annual AFP GA Day at the Capitol! Hear from some of GA’s fiscally conservative leaders and hear directly from them about bills they are sponsoring. Spend a day learning how to lobby effectively, pull bills, speak in committees. RSVP to joel.foster@afphq.org for this FREE event so we will know how many to prepare for lunch and other materials. Click HERE for more information.
No New Taxes Rally – Tue, March 9th – NOON – GA State Capitol
Teaming up with Americans For Tax Reform…. Finish up your AFPGA Day at the State Capitol or join us on your lunch break to declare “No New Taxes!” for GA in 2010 with special Guest Speaker Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform and board member of the National Rifle Association. Bring your No New Taxes posters – contest! Must be on topic to win. Free event on front steps of Capitol building. Why? With the budget still not balanced, a number of new taxes are on the table. We say cut wasteful spending first!
by Tyler on March 4, 2010
Jamie Dupree of WSB Radio is reporting that Nathan Deal has changed his mind on his resignation and will be staying in Congress through March for the health care debate and vote.
Congressman Phil Gingrey inadvertently broke the news about Deal’s decision: “Deal is putting Georgians-and all Americans first-by seeing this debate through”.
Deal’s press release:
WASHINGTON – Following President Obama’s Wednesday announcement that he would seek a quick vote on health care, Congressman Nathan Deal, R-Ga., today announced that he will postpone his resignation until later in March. Deal discussed the change with Governor Sonny Perdue, who strongly encouraged him to stay.
“Just two days after I announced my intentions to leave Congress, the majority party stepped up the schedule for the proposed health care bill. Having been deeply involved in all health care legislation for the past decade, I knew it was important to stay and vote down this bill.
“I announced my resignation from Congress to focus on winning the Republican primary for governor so as to deny Roy Barnes the opportunity to face the Republican candidate who currently leads solely based on name recognition, but is the one Republican that Roy Barnes is sure to defeat.
“Yesterday, as I listened to President Obama’s aggressive push for a quick vote on ‘Obama-Care,’ it was clear that I must stay in Congress and continue to fight against the most liberal health care agenda ever proposed.”
Icarus broke the story earlier this week about Deal’s resignation. Deal dealt with the fallout of his decision almost immediately.
According to the AJC:
This afternoon, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs set March 18 as the deadline by which President Barack Obama expects final passage of a health care bill.
Deal has decided to delay his resignation to fight the Democrat’s health care reform, but still faces the possibility of his ethics inquiry resurfacing. This week just gets “curiouser and curiouser”. [click to continue…]
by Jason Pye on March 4, 2010
Continuing their week of releasing poll results for Georgia, Public Policy Polling has put out the numbers for the Republican primary for Governor.
These numbers show John Oxendine at the same spot that Insider Advantage’s recent poll and around the same as Rasmussen. Karen Handel makes a substantial jump, narrowing Oxendine’s lead to single-digits, Deal also makes a jump, however, this poll was done before his resignation and focus on his ethics problems.
As always, you can see a list of polling in both party primaries here.
GOP Primary for Governor
Oxendine: 27%
Handel: 19%
Deal: 13%
Johnson: 3%
Scott: 3%
Chapman: 2%
McBerry: 2%
Undecided: 32%
by Buzz Brockway on March 4, 2010
Last week, shortly after this post, I received a call from a person who knows Daniel Stout. We talked about the situation for a while and was asked if I would like to speak with Stout. I said yes and later that day we spoke. I found him to be a man who is humble and transparent. He made no excuse for himself and spoke openly about his faith. Obviously he would rather not talk about it, but he doesn’t dodge questions when asked. He is a man who knows what it’s like to hit rock bottom and move on with life. He knows what it’s like to ask for and receive forgiveness. Frankly, I like those kind of people.
Contrary to what a few folks on the Georgia Gang said this week, this story did not break in the AJC the day before the election. It appeared on a Paulding County website a week earlier. How many people actually heard about it I don’t know, nor do I know how this will impact Stout’s reelection effort in July.
Since Stout has been elected, I’ve heard some say that he should have told the voters about this a long time ago. I couldn’t disagree more. Stout never wronged me, nor the voters of the district in which he was elected. He made it right with the people he did wrong and even made a public confession at the time (he had no obligation to do so in my opinion). I sincerely hope we don’t get to a place where candidates have to expose every mistake, big or small, they’ve ever made in their lives simply to satisfy the blood lust of a few. I think it’s more instructive to observe how people handle themselves when their mistakes are uncovered. In my opinion, Daniel Stout has handled this very well. As they say, “past performance in not indicative of future results,” but I’ll be interested to see how Stout performs as a Legislator. I think he’ll do just fine.
For more about this story, read this article from the AJC earlier this week. Here’s an excerpt:
[click to continue…]
