Georgia Political News for Friday, March 2, 2012

Today’s adoptable puppy is a flat-coated retriever pup, part of a litter that will be at The Forum in Norcross on Saturday from 11 AM to 3 PM with Angels Among Us dog rescue. Angels Among Us will also be at Perimeter Petsmart at the same time Saturday.

Adopt A Golden Atlanta, from whom we adopted Henry, will have it’s next “meet and greet” day at the Pet Set in Loehmann’s Plaza on N. Druid Hills Rd at Briarcliff on Sunday, March 4th from noon to 2 PM.

Legislative News

Georgia’s criminal justice reform, House Bill 1176, which reduces prison terms for some non-violent offenders and expands the use of “accountability courts” modeled on drug courts currently used in some jurisdictions, continues to be revised. Yesterday, the Special Joint Committee on Georgia Criminal Justice Reform met for four hours to discuss the bill. The Special Joint Committee meets again today at 9 AM in CLOB 406.

The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee passed SB 469 by Sen. Don Balfour (R-Gwinnett County), which extends the state’s prohibition on picketing on private property to private residences. Violators will be subject to fines up to $1000 per day and an organization that coordinates violations may be fined up to $10,000 per day, which is more than the annual gross income of all the OccupyAtlanta hippies combined. Speaking of hippies, two OccupyAtlanta protesters were arrested at the Committee meeting for disrupting it.

State Rep. Mike Jacobs wrote an Op-Ed in the AJC arguing that self-governance was a major impetus of the American Revolution and that Brookhaven’s incorporation is the latest manifestation of the continuing movement to self-governance.

DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis had a temper tantrum after reading Jacobs’s piece and wrote his own childish Op-Ed attacking Jacobs and making the incredible claim that [DeKalb County is] “the most efficient government of its size, anywhere.”

Congressman Tom Price (R-Roswell) recently attended a fundraiser for Brookhaven cityhood advocates. Much of Brookhaven will now be in Price’s congressional district.

Immigration Lawsuit Delayed

The 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals heard oral arguments yesterday on whether to lift an injunction preventing enforcement of parts of Georgia’s immigration reform bill from last year. The court announced it will not decide the case until after the US Supreme Court issues a decision about the Arizona immigration law in which it will hear oral arguments next month.

Campaigns and Elections

The Cherokee Tribune has coverage of Newt Gingrich’s visit to the county here and here. Gingrich sat for an interview with Dennis O’Hayer. Gingrich will visit the Columbus airport today.

Coverage of Rick Santorum’s rally at Peachtree-DeKalb Airport is available here and includes video, or here is some audio. Santorum will visit Augusta on Saturday at Springfield Village Park.

Ann Romney’s visit to Alpharetta and Buckhead is covered here. Attorney General Sam Olens was named head of the Romney campaign in Georgia.

Thirty-nine communities across Georgia will vote on whether to allow Sunday Sales on March 6th, when voters go to the polls to vote in Presidential Preference Primaries.

Transportation

The South Carolina Senate has unanimously overriden Gov. Nikki Haley’s veto of the measure that seeks to prevent the deepening of the Savannah River to improve river access to the Port of Savannah. Movements were reported at Fort Sumter. According to the Savannah Morning News, Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, a Charleston Republican, “The governor’s veto of this resolution was just as off base as DHEC’s decision,” and McConnell earlier called the proposed dredging “the rape of the river.”

Keith Golden was unanimously selected as Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Random Notes

The ice on which the Gwinnett Gladiators play hockey at Gwinnett Arena was painted pink for games held today, Saturday and Sunday to help raise money for breast cancer research.