Georgia Political News for March 26, 2012

Splash (left) and Socks (right) are coonhound-mix sisters who need foster homes and adoptive homes. They are estimated to be 1-2 years old, have been spayed, current on their shots and housebroken. You couldn’t ask for a nicer dog then either of these girls. Available singly or as a set from Angels Among Us rescue.

If you live or work near Peachtree Parkway and Holcomb Bridge, the “Spay-ghetti and no meat balls” fundraiser for Angels Rescue will be today from 11:30 AM to 8:30 PM and includes an Italian buffet ($20 lunch, $25 dinner).

Finally, Angels Rescue needs foster families to help rescue dogs and cats.

Legislative News for Day 38

Here is the Senate Rules Calendar. The Senate convenes at 1 PM.

Senate Meetings Calendar

8:30 AM	REAPPORTIONMENT & REDISTRICTING	450 CAP
9:30 AM	HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES	450 CAP
10:00 AM	INSURANCE & LABOR	MEZZ 1
11:00 AM	FINANCE	307 CLOB
11:30 AM	JUDICIARY	450 CAP

Here is the House Rules Calendar. The House Convenes at 10 AM.

House Meetings Calendar

8:00 AM	APPROPRIATIONS	341 CAP- CANCELED
9:00 AM	RULES	341 CAP
4:00 PM	STATE INST. & PROP.	515 CLOB

In what may be the first actual results produced by a candidate in what will be the new 80th House District, Rep. Scott Holcomb produced results of a urine test he took in what he calls “leading by example.” Holcomb proposed legislation to require a drug test of candidates for the General Assembly in response to GOP-legislation requiring drug tests for recipients of TANF funds. He will hold a press release today at 9:30 AM in State Capitol Room 216. No word on whether he’ll demonstrate his leadership.

State Rep. Brett Harrell (R-Snellville) replied that “Rep. Holcomb exceeds the bounds of political pandering.” Never one to be out-pandered, Rep. Harrell will also pee in a cup, which is not political pandering if Harrell’s test is randomized.

The online peeing contest continued, as Rep. Holcomb marked his territory, responding to Harrell that, “[i]f you think that leading by example is political pandering then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” If you think peeing anywhere constitutes “leading,” you might be a male dog. Just saying. For my part, I will avoid standing anywhere near either of the gentlemen for the foreseeable future. Perhaps the Patch.com symbol of green grass is apropos after all.

House Bill 954 by Rep. Doug McKillip (Finger in the wind), which would tighten restrictions on abortion availability, is expected to be voted on in the Senate today.

The Macon Telegraph has an interactive map with voting data for proposed districts in a consolidated Macon-Bibb Commission. It looks just like you would expect a Macon-Bibb political map to look — polarized between Democrats and Republicans. The Telegraph analysis shows 67% performance by Roy Barnes in the 2010 general election for two districts, while GOP-leaning districts went for Gov. Nathan Deal by 51% and 54%.

Activists will rally at the State Capitol today at 5:30 PM, calling for an investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin. Georgia’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law will likely be questioned.

Executive Branch

Attorney General Sam Olens will be at the United States Supreme Court today, representing the state in the ObamaCare lawsuit. Former US Solicitor General Paul Clements will argue for the states involved in the lawsuit. Olens said, in a press release,

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the most consequential Constitutional questions of our lifetime: whether or not the Congress has the power to force individuals to purchase a product,” said Olens. “The Constitution clearly places limits on the authority of the federal government, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act flagrantly exceeds that authority. This case will determine if the federalist system, as envisioned by our Founding Fathers, remains intact or if there is no limit to the power of the federal government to regulate personal decisions of citizens, such as healthcare. I look forward to representing Georgia at this historic argument.

Olens discusses some of the background in the case in the video below.

Georgia Trend interviews Attorney General Sam Olens in its March issue.

The Savannah Morning News editorial board writes:

Georgia is one of a dozen states opposing Obamacare, along with the National Federation of Independent Business and four individual plaintiffs…. The Supreme Court has allotted an unprecedented six hours of time for oral argument, which will conclude Wednesday.

Most cases that come before the high court address issues that directly affect a limited number of people. But only a handful affect all Americans and future direction of the country. This case is one of them. Let’s hope today is the beginning of the end for Obamacare. Give Congress the opportunity to come up with something better — and constitutional.

Ethics and Lobbying

The Georgia State Ethics Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission website appears to be having some problems lately, as 2012 lobbyist disclosures and composite data have been intermittently available. After the state House added $250,000 to the Commission’s budget, partly to cover IT upgrades, the Senate reduced the amount to $150,000. An explanation for the Senate trimming the budget upgrade is that the lower figures matches the agency request.

After leaving the State Ethics Commission, former Executive Secretary Stacey Kalberman was slated to become the Executive Director of Atlanta’s independent Board of Ethics. Following a dispute over the extent of the Board’s authority, Kalberman withdrew her

Last month, the General Assembly questioned spending decisions made by Kalberman at the state commission.

Budget documents show raises under Kalberman ranged from 9 percent for a secretary to 59 percent for the office’s computer expert, who went from an annual salary of $59,650 to $90,074.

“Would you repeat that?” asked Rep. Lynn Smith, R-Newnan.

“Fifty-nine percent. Five, nine,” LaBerge said, noting that the employee makes more than she does.

Kalberman’s own $120,000 salary did not increase; in all, however, salary costs increased increased 23 percent – or about $93,000.

“Many [state] employees haven’t seen any kind of pay raises … and we’ve got 59 percent pay raises at the ethics commission,” Rynders said.

Kalberman, contacted after the hearing, defended the raises as coming when the commission’s staff had been cut and its workload dramatically increased by new legislative requirements.

Kalberman said she processed the raises “by the book,” taking them to the personnel department in the Secretary of State’s office. Each position was analyzed according to the state formula and Kalberman said she set salaries in the middle of the pay scale.

Kalberman also denied making any unauthorized purchases with her office’s state purchasing card.

An ethics commission purchasing-card expenditure of nearly $5000 remains unidentified and  unexplained.

The AJC discusses the role of lobbyists in the passage of major tax reform legislation this year.

Walter Jones writes that threats against legislators appear to be on the rise and may be influencing the course of legislation.

Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, got a rash of threats when he sponsored House Bill 87 last year to increase state enforcement of federal immigration laws. Many were crude or offensive, and the legislator, like most of his colleagues, shook the bulk of them off. The GBI looked into some of the most insidious that mentioned his children by name, their schools and his home address.

“Particularly when you start talking about my family and my children, I take them all seriously,” he said.

Asked if he let the threats weaken his resolve, at least on the immigration issue, he shook his head.

“No, I don’t think we can,” he said.

Campaigns and Elections

The National Republican Congressional Committee has begun robocalls into the new 12th Congressional District criticizing Congressman John Barrow’s (D) votes in favor of Obamacare.

Barrow voted against the law but, while supporting measures to change or rescind parts of it, has rejected attempts to repeal the entire statute.

“Barrow,” says a script for the call, “supports continuing the government takeover of health care which cuts $500 billion from Medicare and is going to cost taxpayers nearly double what Washington politicians claimed.”

It said what it terms “Barrow’s plan” empowers “unelected bureaucrats to make decisions that could deny access and raise the cost of care.”

Barrow spokesman Peyton Bell said Barrow actually co-sponsored a GOP-backed bill to abolish the panel to which the script refers.

Maria Sheffield (R-Dublin), who is running in the Republican Primary to oppose Barrow, also has linked Barrow to Obama, who won only 44 percent of votes in the new district.

Jerry Lee, who is running as a Republican for Floyd County Commission district four announced his new website.

Jim Galloway writes that Georgia Democrats are desperate for an active and nationally-funded Obama campaign to stem recent losses that will otherwise be exacerbated by new district lines.

There is a distinct possibility that, in each chamber, Democratic numbers could fall below the one-third mark. This would allow Republicans to pass at will proposed constitutional amendments — the most difficult legislative victory to achieve, and the most powerful.

“With Obama out of play, and a lackluster turnout, it could be a tsunami of sorts, politically,” [State Rep. Calvin Smyre, former state party chair] said.

The effort would cost money — and would be aimed primarily at the large number of unregistered African-American voters in the state. Smyre said he has talked about the prospect with Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.

“There’s no way to turn this state politically, and to execute — to register, and flush the vote, and have an effective get-out-the-vote campaign — without several million dollars. You’ve got to have the tools and the resources to do it,” Smyre said. “I think the national party has to put a stake in several Southern states rather than concede. It’s not good policy to concede a whole region of the country.”

Local News

The Cobb County Board of Elections will call for a revote in the March vote on Sunday Sales in unincorporated parts of the County because voters who live in cities were not permitted to vote. Former State Rep. Roger Hines filed suit challenging the election after the county elections attorney advised the Board that city residents should not vote.

Members of CobbEMC will vote on six Board of Directors seats Saturday, March 31 at Piedmont Church, 570 Piedmont Road, in Marietta from 8 AM to 3 PM.

Less than three months into the year, Gwinnett County has had 17 homicides and is on-track to surpass its 2007 homicide record of 50 and 2011 total of 28.

Seven of the victims were black males who ranged in age from 15 to 64. Five of the victims were Korean, four were white and one was Hispanic.

None of the slayings arose from the kind of stranger-on-stranger crime that tends to cause greater alarm among residents, Gwinnett County Police spokesman Cpl. Edwin Ritter said.

Three of the incidents appear to have domestic roots, while drug deals gone bad appear to have caused five homicides in two different incidents. Four of the homicides involving Korean victims occurred in a single incident.

Despite its March 6th vote in favor of Sunday Sales, Hall County has yet to issue a license in the unincorporated jurisdiction. The ballot measures passed require the County Commission to approve ordinances allowing sales, and the ordinance will require at least two hearings. The county is waiting for staff to present a new alcohol ordinance that also cleans up the rest of the alcohol code.

The Forsyth County Sheriff’s office will setup a box where people can dispose of unwanted prescription drugs. I’m going to suggest they use a very sturdy, well-protected box.

A proposed merger of the City of Dalton and Whitfield County governments may be delayed, and is unlikely to be before the voters in November.

Banking Industry and the Economy

Covenant Bank & Trust of Rock Springs, Georgia was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and its assets and liabilities assumed by Stearns Bank, NA of Minnesota in a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This is the fourth Georgia-based bank to be closed this year, a slower pace that 2010 and 2011 Georgia bank failures.

The Feds say that Wells Fargo has failed to supply documents subpoenaed in an investigation of the bank’s sale of $60 billion in mortgage-backed securitiesfrom late 2006 through early 2008. Wells Fargo calls the SEC’s district court filing to compel production of the documents “inappropriate and unwarranted.” The SEC investigation centers on whether the bank “made material misrepresentations or omitted material facts” to the extent that the contents of the securities failed to have met the bank’s stated underwriting standards.

The best explanation we have read of the role of mortgage-backed securities and falling underwriting standards is contained in the book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball.

Georgia is ranked 7th in the nation for nonfarm job growth in January 2012 over January 2011, with 2.21% change. The professional and business sector showed 7.13% change for the same period, according to a study by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Unemployment in Georgia declined for the seventh consecutive month, nearing a three-year low at 9.1% for February. The number of first-time unemployment claims hit the lowest level since January 2008. According to the Georgia Department of Labor:

The employment sectors showing growth over the year were: professional and business services, 28,000; retail trade, 12,700; education and health care, 8,300; and manufacturing, 4,200.

The 2007 Final Four tournament may have pumped $44 million into Atlanta’s economy, but the actual amount generated by sporting events is just a wild guess. Go Cats.

Other stuff

The Norfolk Southern Chattanooga diesel shop has completed the repaint of Norfolk & Western SD45 1776 into its Georgia state flag Bicentennial paint scheme for the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Norfolk Southern  ES44AC #8101 should be headed into the Chattanooga paint shop very soon and emerge as the Central of Georgia heritage unit, while Altoona’s shop will be painting another locomotive in the Nickel Plate Road livery.

Bald Eagles, which have been removed from the threatened list, but are still protected by federal law, are making gains in Georgia. A statewide survey by the Department of Natural Resources of the Bald Eagle population shows more than 100 active nests in Georgia. Chatham County has 20 eaglets in 16 nests, and roughly 75 total Bald Eagles. A pair of Bald Eagles recently set up house on the campus of Berry College in Rome.

The Confederate battle flag of the Emmett Rifles, who were based in Savannah, has been returned to Fort McAllister State Park after 148 years, and according to the wishes of the Union solider who captured it. The great-grandson of Maj. William Zoron Clayton believes his grandfather may have wanted the flag returned after a Bible taken by Confederate troops was returned in the mail 63 years afterwards. Fort McAllister will celebrate the return of the flag on April 21, 2012. The flag was first presented to Confederate troops by Mary Knox of Savannah, as reported in the Savannah Daily Morning News on April 4, 1862.

A dispute over the ownership of Christ Church in Savannah may be headed to the US Supreme Court. According to GPB, “[t]he congregation broke from the denomination in 2007 after the Episcopal Church ordained its first gay bishop,” and the Episcopal diocese asserts that the property belongs to the larger church group, not the local church.

People with low self-esteem may wish to avoid facebook. That’s what online forums are for.