Fresh Political Pickins From The Peach State

This is the second of a two part series regarding the Democratic Party of Georgia. The first may be found here.

A couple of days ago you read about my disappointment with the Democratic Party of Georgia’s 2008 slate of candidates, or lack thereof. However, just as “change” was the word of the day, I suppose you could also say that hope springs eternal. [click to continue…]

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The GA Democratic Party has come out against Paul Broun.

Georgia’s Democratic Party said Tuesday that Rep. Paul Broun of Athens is proving to be part of an extremist political fringe by calling President-elect Obama a Marxist.

Party spokesman Martin Matheny said in a statement that Broun’s comments are “ridiculous” and “undignified” for a member of Congress. He called on Broun to stop playing partisan politics and focus on legislating.

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Is it a prelude to him becoming Secretary of Defense?

President-elect Obama has hired former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sam Nunn to help shepherd his Pentagon transition, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Nunn, a former Georgia senator and veteran Democratic defense adviser, was once rumored as a potential running mate for Obama. Transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Nunn will perform “an informal senior adviser role throughout the defense transition process.”

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It’s first black Sheriff.

Walker, 48, defeated fellow deputy Lee Henley by a vote of 3,084 to 1,774.

He replaces retiring Sheriff Kerry Dunaway, who has served as sheriff for 25 years. Dunaway said the county’s in good hands. “I feel very confident leaving the sheriff’s office in his charge,” he said.

Walker said being elected Crawford’s first black sheriff is an honor.

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Legislators are already talking about bringing back the incumbent protection policy:

State Rep. Austin Scott said he expects legislators to discuss tightening runoff guidelines in the wake of the surprising showing by Democrat Jim Martin that forced a Dec. 2 showdown with Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. He also said he was considering whether to draft a measure that would shorten Georgia’s 45-day advance voting period.
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Republicans could also overhaul election rules that now require a runoff if none of the candidates earn more than 50 percent of the vote.

Scott and a slew of House Republican leaders unsuccessfully proposed lowering the bar to 45 percent last year, and he said the provision could resurface from legislators concerned about the mounting costs of runoffs.

Statewide runoffs have cost tens of thousands of dollars in the past, and the Dec. 2 contest could top $100,000.

“The counties have asked for that 45 percent threshold because of the cost of elections,” Scott said.

Georgia partisans have changed runoff guidelines twice in recent years.

The then-ruling Democrats passed legislation after Republican Paul Coverdell ousted Democratic U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler in a 1992 runoff that set the threshold for avoiding a general election runoff at 45 percent.

But after Republicans took control of the Legislature in 2004, they changed the law again to require candidates to earn more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

I expected this. It came up last year and Decaturguy and I raised holy hell about it. I suggested an alternative in Instant Runoff Voting.

IRV is the best way to avoid the cost of a runoff without being partisan.

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Much has been said about the McCain Palin campaign and what went wrong or what could have been done differently.  It is said in politics and elections - when you win you’re a genuis and when you lose you’re stupid. 

Let me first say that there was no better or more qualified candidate for President of the United States than John McCain.  John McCain would have made an excellent President.  John McCain has been a warrior on our national stage for reform and transparency in government and he would have reigned in out of control spending and made government smarter and more efficient. 
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Newsweek interviewed me today for a profile of RedState and me. They flew the photographer in from NYC. He did an hour of photos. The proofs looked good.

Suzanne Smalley, the reporter, flew in from DC and interviewed me for two hours. Wow does my head hurt. I think it was a great interview, but she asked lots of open ended questions and wanted a lot of detail. On the one hand, it’s nice to have a reporter really digging, instead of tuning out when you answer. Oh the other, it’s mentally exhausting. And you just know if you make a funny face for only a moment, that’s what’ll wind up in the magazine.

The profile should be in next week’s Newsweek.

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As Erick posted yesterday, Newt Gingrich’s name has been floated out as a possible Chair of the Republican National Committee. Other names have been floated as well and it seems that Newt and former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele are the two left standing.

Late word today suggests Newt may not be running after all, but since he never said he was, who really knows? In order to save Jason Shepherd from a broken heart we must keep hope alive.

Here’s a poll to gauge opinion of a possible Gingrich run among PP readers:

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It’s a done deal.

State Rep. Allen Freeman has conceded defeat to Democratic challenger James “Bubber” Epps in the House District 140 race.

Freeman, a Republican from Macon, called Epps to congratulate him on his victory after returning home from an out-of-town field trip with his daughter’s class Friday.

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I feel someone tasteless bumping this above Erick’s post, so I’ll try and bump it below.

From my inbox:

Campaign rally for Saxby this Thursday, November 13, 2008 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway in Atlanta, Georgia. McCain will be joined by Senator Chambliss and Senator Johnny Isakson along with many federal, state, and local officials. This event is free of charge, and the doors open at 4:00 p.m.

No word if Governor Palin will be flying in from the continent¹ of Alaska to join them.

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President Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed Nov. 11 to be Armistice Day in 1919 — the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, marking the beginning of the end of World War I. The day was set aside to honor those who fought for our country during what was then known as “the war to end all wars.”

Seven years later, Congress passed a resolution declaring that the day “should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”

Armistice Day became a legal holiday in 1938. It was renamed Veterans Day in 1954, and expanded to include veterans of World War II and the Korean Conflict. Today, the holiday encompasses veterans of all wars, celebrating their patriotism, honoring their valor and recognizing the sacrifices they made.

If you have the funds available, consider a donation today to Operation Homefront (which provides emergency assistance and morale to our troops, to the families they leave behind and to wounded warriors when they return home) and the USO of Georgia (which provides morale, welfare and recreation services to active duty military personnel and their families at facilities across Georgia).

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After raising an insufficient number of eyebrows with his comments to the Martinez-Evans Rotary Club yesterday, Georgia Congressman Paul Broun (R-Can’t Get Sworn In) decided to up the ante in an interview with the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship.

“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”

And just in case he didn’t set off enough crazy alarms, he decided to go ahead and invoke Godwin’s Law for good measure:

“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did,” Broun said. “When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

I remain skeptical of President-Elect Obama and his intentions, as I should have remained skeptical of President Bush and the Republicans in Congress over the last 8 years.  That said, I think if we as Republicans want to represent a credible opposition, we probably should fight actual battles as proposals are made, instead of diminishing the little capital we currently have with crazy talk like this.

In the mean time, I will continue to hope that our new President is actually successful, that America prospers under his leadership, and that we remain a country that is the envy of the world.  It is in that spirit that I will continue to support him until he actually proposes something I can’t support.  Then, and only then, will I consider calling him a Nazi to ensure that my protest and opposition is completely ignored.

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Below is the take of a trusted friend who I agree with, but who has better knowledge of the situation than me, so I’d rather post his take:

Since becoming Commissioner in December of 2007, Gena Evans has asked two simple questions – how much money do we have to spend and how many projects are we trying to build? These questions seem reasonable for any new CEO coming into a new job. After 10 months of reviewing the financials, the State Auditor released the report today and revealed constitutional violations cover ups for over expenditures and boxes of missing contracts that had not been recorded.

It appears Evans recommended to the Board the Mahfuz the Treasurer, be fired months ago after preliminary reports surface and the Board chose only to demote him to Assistant Treasurer. If it had been a private company there would have been no question. However, two Board members came to the rescue, Doss and Wellborn. Mahfuz was their direct connection to funding projects in their districts. They now seem to be the great defenders of the old GDOT and proponents of the status quo.

Doss and Wellborn, along with the Highway contractors have for weeks been blaming Gena Evans for “creating” this $456 million dollar deficit, the report on page 41 says “Speculation that ‘accounting changes’ were responsible for the ‘preliminary deficit’ detected during the course of this audit is not correct” in fact it goes on to say “During fiscal year 2008, the financial position marked notable improvement as a result of a slow-down in project lettings, the de-obligation of various outstanding encumbrances, and other adjustments” translation : financial moves that Gena Evans and the “NEW” GDOT have enacted in response to this real crises.

Finding 8 (page 58) Budget amendments were submitted and approved that erroneously increased GDOT’s annual operating budget. These amendments exceeded actual funds available that GDOT could obligate by $2,388,738,059.41.

The list goes on and on…………….

How long will it take for someone to call for an official investigation into who lied and who covered up what? And who will call for it?

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