Georgia Political News for March 13, 2012

Nothing could be more fun than a basket full of puppies. Angels Among Us Rescue is seeking someone who agrees enough to foster these “Dr. Suess” puppies from Thursday through Sunday.

The puppies are thought to be a mix of Border Collie and American Bulldog.

The puppies are also available for adoption individually, or presumably as a litter. Adoption applications and other available dogs may be found at Angels’ website.

 

Legislative Day 32

The Senate Rules Calendar is available here and you may watch online here starting at 10 AM. The Senate Meetings Calendar is here.

The House Rules Calendar is available here and you may watch online here starting at 10 AM. The House Meetings Calendar is here.

Demonstrators gathered at the State Capitol yesterday to protest legislation to ban the state employee health benefits plan from paying for abortions and to require religious employers to provide contraception in employee health plans.

House Bill 711 by Rep. Ed Lindsey would eliminate the spousal privilege against testifying in domestic violence cases; it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. Rep. Lindsey said:

“Family violence does not happen just once. I’ve seen it over and over in my legal career where someone coerces someone into not testifying the first time, that empowers them, and the violence only escalates from there.”

But Sandra Michaels with the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers says victims should continue to have spousal privilege.

“I’m not making light of these situations, they are very serious. But why is the spouse versus the state, what’s the difference of who’s going to tell someone what to do? Why can’t a person make their own decision?”

Most domestic violence deaths in Georgia result from gunshot wounds, which accounted for 75% of the deaths in 2010 and 56% between 2004 and 2010.

The Senate Public Safety Committee recommended passage of a house bill that would require sellers of trailer parts worth $850 or more to present the title when selling for scrap.

House Bill 692 by Rep. Billy Mitchell passed the Senate Education Committee yesterday and would effectively revoke performance bonuses given to teachers who falsified standardized test results.

The Georgia House of Representatives yesterday killed a resolution by Rep. Keisha Waites that would have recognized and commended the Georgia Young Democrats, a UGA gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organization and UGA’s Ally Outreach, a gay rights advocacy group. Dems were furious. [At some point after I compiled this, BlogForDemocracy took that page down, so the link now points to the Google cached version of it.]

Executive Branch

Attorney General Sam Olens announced that Georgia will join 48 other states and the District of Columbia in a suit against five major US banks alleging improprieties in mortgage servicing. The complaint alleges that the banks’ actions “resulted in the issuance of improper mortgages, premature and unauthorized foreclosures, violation of service members’ and other homeowners’ rights and protections, the use of false and deceptive affidavits and other documents, and the waste and abuse of taxpayer funds.”

Secretary of State Brian Kemp will address a group of north Fulton leaders today at the Doubletree Hotel at 1075 Holcomb Bridge Road beginning at 6:30 PM to promote voter registration

Campaigns and Elections

Cobb County Chairman Tim Lee will hold a fundraiser for his reelection campaign headlined by Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 5:30 PM at The Meadows, the home of Jerry and Ann Mann, 114 Durham Street, SW, Marietta, GA 30064.

Last week, former Cobb County Chairman Bill Byrne, who is running against Lee, announced that they were leading in fundraising among the announced candidates with $33,000 raised and $20,000 cash on hand.

Forsyth County Coroner Lauren McDonald, III has announced he will run for Sheriff against incumbent Ted Paxton, ending speculation that he might challenge Sen. Jack Murphy. McDonald is co-owner of McDonald and Son Funeral Home and has been a volunteer firefighter for 24 years. His father Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, Jr. serves on the Georgia Public Service Commission and served 20 years in the state house.

Hall County will host a crowded field in the race for Sheriff with at least seven candidates, even after one dropped out.

Scott Peebles has announced his campaign to succeed Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie Strength, who announced his retirement from office. Captain Peebles runs the department’s Criminal Investigation Division. Richard Roundtree with the county school safety department has announced he will run for the office, and Lt. Robbie Silas in the Sheriff’s department, who happens to be Sheriff Strength’s brother-in-law may run.

Four GOP candidates for the Congressional seat held by John Barrow (R-Savannah) addressed a forum before the West Augusta Alliance. Rick Allen, Lee Anderson, Wright McLeod, and Maria Sheffield attended. Augusta blog CityStink suggests that the race for Richmond Sheriff could draw area voters into the Democratic primary, boosting Maria Sheffield’s candidacy as Sheffield would benefit from fewer Augusta-area votes being split among three candidates from that corner of the district.

A November 2011 election for Albany City Council Ward II has finally been decided. In that race, the Board of Elections disqualified candidate Cheryl Calhoun on a residency challenge who originally  intended to run for Ward II but signed up for the Ward I election after election officials told her she lived in Ward I. Because Calhoun’s residence was challenged after ballots were printed, her name appeared on the Ward II ballot, causing a dispute over whether a runoff election was required.

Meagan Hanson and Joseph Brannan will hold a fundraiser for their currently-unopposed campaign(s) for Chair and Vice Chair of the Georgia Federation of Young Republicans on Wednesday, March 14 from 5:30 PMto 8:00 PM at Six Feet Under Pub & Fishhouse, 415 Memorial Dr SE, Atlanta, GA 30312. Sponsors include:

Senator Josh McKoon
Michelle and Brad Carver
Dr. Beth Martin
Alton Russell
Representative Kevin Cooke
Representative Delvis Dutton
Representative Bruce Williamson

and the suggested contribution is $20 or more. Email meagan [at] hansonbrannan2012.org for more information or visit the event page on Facebook.

Local News

Snellville has hired Kevin Tallant of the firm of Miles, Patterson, Hansford and Tallant as its new city attorney, following the resignation of the former city attorney.

Confederate Flag News

On Saturday, the Gainesville Sons of Confederate Veterans planted small Confederate battle flags on the 150-odd known graves of Confederate veterans in Alta Vista Cemetery to commemorate April as Confederate Memorial Month and April 26th as Confederate Memorial Day.

The battle flag carried by the 65th Georgia Infantry returned to the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History in Kennesaw after 13 months of conservation work.

The flag was carried by its unit throughout the entire Atlanta campaign, traveling with the Army of Tennessee after the fall of Atlanta to Union Forces. It was also carried on November 30, 1864 at the Battle of Franklin (Tennessee), an engagement in which one quarter of the 27,000 man army were killed or wounded in three hours.

On April 12th, the museum will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Great Locomotive Chase, including The General, a locomotive involved in the incident.

Bubba Watson, who played golf for the University of Georgia, will not drive his original “General Lee” used in the filming of the television show, around the track before the March 4th Sprint Cup race at Phoenix Raceway.

“The image of the Confederate flag is not something that should play an official role in our sport as we continue to reach out to new fans and make NASCAR more inclusive,” NASCAR said in a statement.

Former Georgia Congressman Ben “Cooter” Jones responded:

“At a time when tens of millions of Americans are honoring their Union and Confederate ancestors during this Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, NASCAR has chosen to dishonor those Southerners who fought and died in that terrible conflict by caving to “political correctness” and the uninformed concerns of corporate sponsors.”

Mitt Romney’s campaign, which has prominently featured state flags as backdrops in events, may have downplayed the Mississippi flag, which features the battle flag on its canton, in a recent trip to the state.

Random

Joshua Bohn of Lawrenceville has the world’s greatest job, having been hired as a Master Model Builder at LEGOland in Phipps Plaza. Bohn already owns between 500,000 and 800,000 Legos and will likely spend the rest of his life living in his parents’ basement.