Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for August 25, 2014

On August 25, 325, the Council of Nicea adopted the Nicene Creed.

On August 25, 1864, Union troops stopped artillery bombardment of Atlanta and withdrew from fortifications around the city. On the same day, in Virginia, Confederate forces attacked Federals under Gen. Grant at Ream’s Station.

On August 25, 1877, delegates to the state Constitutional Convention approved a new post-Reconstruction state Constitution, the seventh in state history, to be submitted to the voters on December 5, 1877.

The all-time highest score in a professional baseball game was recorded on August 25, 1922, as the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies by 26-23.

Paris was liberated from German army control on August 25, 1944.

On August 25, 1950, President Harry S. Truman ordered the seizure of the nation’s private railroads by executive order.

Our photo selections from Gould Hagler show two different shots of the same monument, the state’s second oldest Confederate monument in Griffin, Georgia. Here’s what it looked like before a cleaning and restoration.

And after cleaning and restoration:

Gould’s book, Georgia’s Confederate Monuments: In Honor of a Fallen Nation, is available for ordering online from Mercer University Press. We receive no compensation for running these, and paid for our own copy.

Happy Birthday to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal

I didn’t get you anything, but you have my support and on November 4, 2014, I’ll vote to re-elect Governor Deal.

Nydia Tisdale arrested at Dawsonville GOP Rally

Nydia Tisdale is a Forsyth County political activist who has made a name of herself by shooting video at public meetings and political events and posting them on YouTube.

She’s not always welcomed. In 2012, Cumming Mayor H. Ford Gravitt had her removed from a meeting of the Cumming City Council.

Attorney General Sam Olens disagreed with the City’s video policy.

Olens filed suit in Forsyth County Superior Court against the city of Cumming and Mayor H. Ford Gravitt for the alleged violation of Georgia open meetings law on June 5, 2012.

On the same day of the alleged [2012] violations, Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law the updated version of Georgia’s Sunshine Law.

The law says that a person is allowed to make visual and audio recordings at a public meeting. The new law, which went into effect the same day, provides for visual and sound recordings of public meetings and authorizes the attorney general to sue violators and seek penalties.

This past Saturday, Tisdale uploaded to YouTube a video she shot of Gov. Nathan Deal, Senate candidate David Perdue and others at the North Fulton Victory 2014 Rally held earlier this month.

Then she went to a meet and greet in Dawson County at Burt’s Pumpkin Patch. And everything went downhill from there. From FetchYourNews.com:

With Tisdale’s camera rolling Hudgens started making his campaign stump speech. When talking about Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate Michelle Nunn, referring to the Chamber of Commerce debate between Perdue and Nunn, Hudgens said listening to Nunn

“I thought I was going to absolutely puke.”

Hudgens looked at Tisdale and said

“I don’t know why you’re video taping?”

[Sheriff’s Deputy] Wooten told her she had to turn the camera off. Tisdale refused and continued to video. Wooten started to try to remove the camera from Tisdale’s hands. When she refused and struggled to keep the camera running, Wooten started physically removing her from the event. Tisdale physically resisted being removed turning the camera on Wooten screaming,

“identify yourself, who are you?”

[Later, Attorney General Sam] Olens took the microphone and looked around the crowd like did anyone else see what I just saw? Respecting the Burt’s private property rights he made the following statement.

“Let me be possibly politically incorrect here for a second. If we stand for anything as a party what are we afraid of with the lady having a camera filming us? What are we saying here that shouldn’t be on film? What message are we sending? Cause it’s private property they shouldn’t be filming? What is the harm? The harm that this poses is far greater than her filming us. What are we hiding? If we are telling you why we are running and what we stand for, what are we hiding?”

Pointing in the direction from where Tisdale was drug away,

“there is no reason for that, that is not right”.

There’s a good deal more in the story from FetchYourNews.com, and I encourage you to read the entire story.

I received the following comment from Sheri Kell, spokesperson for the Sam Olens campaign:

“As AG Olens said to the attendees Saturday when he spoke at the rally, he thought Ms. Tisdale should not have been removed and that she should have been permitted to continue recording all of the comments.

He also expressed his opinion to the [property owner’s] representative and told the audience that all of their comments should be viewed as public wherever they are campaigning.

He can’t speak to any interaction between the Sheriff and Ms. Tisdale at, or away from the Rally area; but it was a very unfortunate incident.”

It should be clear to anyone in 2014 the journalists to whom First Amendment and statutory protections extend are no longer only the Jimmy Olsens working for newspapers, but also includes private citizens with video cameras, blogs, or twitter accounts.

As conservatives, we should support the recognition of all Constitutional rights, even when people in power tell us they weren’t meant to protect what the plain language of the documents say they protect. Those who complain about the liberal bias in mass media should welcome the emergence of citizen journalism that offers different perspectives, especially those dedicated to shining light in corners of our public politics that very rarely see daylight.

Meanwhile, Floyd County Republicans had a somewhat less eventful rally with all the usual suspects.

The Rev. Harvey Palmer sat at one of several tables set up under the shade of the hangar. A black minister who previously served Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Rome, Palmer said it was expected when he grew up that blacks would become Democrats.

Palmer quickly noted, however, that he felt some of the best decisions over the years have come from Republicans.

“That’s how we became interested in party politics,” Palmer said. “It’s not about who’s right, it’s about what’s right.”

The buzz of the crowd softened as speakers took their turns at the lectern. U.S. Rep. Tom Graves likened the two main political parties to teams, telling the crowd they knew which team was the right choice.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said people should remember the party’s principles and why they’re fighting. He said some want an entitlement society.

“I will promise you, the Democrats are coming,” Cagle told the crowd of more than 200 people. “They will try to make Georgia a purple state. We do not need that to happen.”

Some took the opportunity on Saturday to have their own voices heard in a presidential straw poll. Forty-five people paid $1 each to pick their top three choices for the next occupant of the White House.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry won first place with 16.9 percent of the vote. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and former U.S. Rep. Allen West tied for second with 12.1 percent.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush took third place with 10.5 percent of the vote.

About that poll

On Friday, a new poll was released, commissioned by WSB-TV by Landmark Communications.

The Landmark Communications poll conducted exclusively for WSB-TV asked active Georgia voters who they would choose if the election were held today.

Nunn received 47 percent of the vote and Perdue received 40 percent. Libertarian candidate Amanda Swafford received 3 percent and 10 percent of respondents remain undecided.

The same poll showed the governor’s race may be tightening. Democrat Jason Carter now leads Republican Nathan Deal by a 44 percent to 40 percent margin, down from a 7-point difference in the previous poll.

Not reported in the WSB piece was that African-Americans respondents were weighted to constitute 29% of the survey sample.

Last week’s poll by SurveyUSA assumed that African-Americans would be 26% of voters in November. The difference in assumed turnout by African-American voters is sufficient to account for a roughly 3-point difference in the Democratic candidates’ favor between those two polls.

I spoke extensively with Mark Rountree, who conducted the poll, and will bring you more as the week goes by.

I’ll also be discussing my personal approach to evaluating publicly-released polls. I don’t pay attention to any single poll, instead looking at a moving average. This is generally a more accurate tally, and less subject to wild swings. For the record, RealClearPolitics averages are:

United States Senate
Perdue    46.6
Nunn       42.4

Governor of Georgia
Nathan Deal     45.0
Jason Carter    41.6

House District 98

After the death last week of unopposed candidate for State House of Representatives Michael Brown, the Georgia Republican Party Executive Committee voted to name a replacement on the ballot who will take office in January. Following are the folks whose names have been thrown into the ring for the appointment:

Jack McClure
John Westmoreland
Clint Dixon, who served on the Gwinnett County Planning Commission
James Sanford
Chris McClurg, who ran a disgraceful campaign for Superior Court in 2012
David Clark
Tommy Hughes, a former Gwinnett County Commissioner
David Hancock, who ran in the Primary against Brown
Gary Pirkle, former Mayor of Sugar Hill

Newsbites

Both candidates for the Twelfth District Congressional seat currently held by Democratic incumbent John Barrow have gone up on television with ads criticizing President Obama – Savannah Morning News.

Barrow’s newest ad, which began airing Thursday, shows the congressman at the Port of Savannah as he talks of battling the White House to help jumpstart a $706 million expansion of the port’s busy shipping channel.

“When the Obama administration didn’t put the funding to deepen the port in their budget, I took them on,” Barrow says in the ad. “And this year, we finally got it done.”

Allen’s first TV ad of the fall campaign, released last week, also points a finger at the president while ignoring Barrow altogether.

“Look at the mess Obama’s made,” Allen says. “Veterans dying, ignored by the VA. The crisis on our border. His government can’t even run a health-care website.”

The Augusta Republican goes on to say, “Yet, not a single bureaucrat’s been fired and the career politicians are letting the president get away with it.”

A mass gay marriage was held in Savannah as part of an LGBT Wedding Expo – Savannah Morning News.

Law enforcement in Georgia and several neighboring states have started a campaign against drunk driving – Savannah Morning News.

Monroe County Commissioner Larry Evans may have failed to file campaign finance disclosures from 2010 through 2013 – Macon Telegraph.

Jones County, Georgia and the Warner Robine police department both have mine-resistant vehicles acquired from the United States military through the 1033 program, despite a distinct lack of land mines – Macon Telegraph.

The Bibb County campus police, on the other hand, picked up five M-14 rifles about seven years ago.

Central Georgia Technical College police picked up four M-16 rifles in the last four years and is not the only state college to have such weapons.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department acquired a mix of M-14s and M-16s, while the Milledgeville Police Department got 29 M-16s.The Houston County Sheriff’s Office picked up 20 M-14s and 30 M-16s, while all three of its cities got arms: Centerville police got M-14 and M-16 rifles, as well as some .45-caliber handguns, 10 guns in total; Perry police got eight M-16s; and Warner Robins police.

Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese doesn’t want his ex-military M-16 rifles to remain fully automatic. He’s having them converted to fire only semi-automatic, with each pull of the trigger firing a single shot. With the work, he’ll have 20 inexpensive semi-automatic rifles, far cheaper but similar to costly civilian AR-15 rifles. They’ll be standardized across the department, simplifying training by eliminating a hodgepodge of guns he has now. He doesn’t expect them to be used and said he can’t remember a Peach County case that involved gunfire.

Federal district court judge Clay Land will begin serving as Chief Judge of the Middle District of Georgia on October 1 – Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Mark Cuban, Facebook Chief Operating Office Sheryl Sandberg, and Spanx CEO Sara Blakely will speak at the Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum today and Tuesday at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center – Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

While it hasn’t been confirmed, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation suspects that sex trafficking is occurring in Albany – Albany Herald.

Events this week

Sen. Johnny Isakson: Covington – Public Town Hall Meeting

Public Town Hall Meetings As a part of his constituent outreach efforts, Senator…

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Rep. Rob Woodall: Lawrenceville – Town Hall

Citizen Impact – Defending Our Religious Liberties Seminar with Allen West

Citizen Impact  – Defending Our Religious Liberties Seminar This one-day event i…

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Cherokee YR: Meeting with Brandon Roberts VC – Cherokee Teen GOP

Sen. Johnny Isakson: Griffin – Public Town Hall Meeting