Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for July 17, 2012

“Dolly” is a one-year old 56# greyhound mix who is available for adoption from Walton County Animal Shelter. She looks like she’d make a great companion for a runner. Her $40 adoption fee includes her vaccinations and a voucher for a discounted spay/neuter.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

State Administrative Law Judges have been busy working their way through the challenges to candidates’ qualifications. Yesterday, an ALJ recommended the removal of Ronnie Mabra from the ballot for State House District 63. Mabra’s law firm represented Rashad Richey, the Democratic Party of Georgia political director who sued bloggers at Georgia Unfiltered and Blog for Democracy.

Another state Administrative Law Judge recommended that candidate Clarence Johnson, who qualified for Fulton County Superior Court, be disqualified over failures to pay taxes.

Johnson admitted that he defaulted on both his state and federal taxes, but said he has entered into a payment plan with the IRS and an installment plan with the state to remedy his liabilities, Malihi said in his order.

The problem, however, is that Johnson failed to take care of the problems before he formally filed his notice of candidacy with the state, Malihi said.

“Accordingly, he did not meet the qualification for office at the time he swore that he was eligible to hold office,” Malihi wrote. “… Therefore, he does not meet the constitutional qualifications and is ineligible to be a candidate for Superior Court judge.”

Note that last line appears to mean that a candidate cannot simply get right with the law after qualification and a challenge, but must be up-to-date on the day he or she qualifies.

The same judge who recommended that Clarence Johnson be removed from the ballot has given the go-ahead for Augusta Juvenile Court Judge Willie Saunders to stay on the ballot for Superior Court Judge.

Judge Michael M. Malihi, with the Office of State Administrative Hearings, said although Saunders owes federal taxes, his plan to pay the IRS under a Chapter 13 bankruptcy settlement meets the standard for a payment plan required by state law.

State law makes an exception for candidates “making payments to the tax authority pursuant to a payment plan,” but Long argued that Saunders’ payment plan did not qualify because it was not for the full amount.

Malihi’s said that Saunders’ payment plan was “sufficient” to meet the standard, affirming Saunders’ eligibility.

Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s spokesperson, Jared Thomas, (who owes me a response to a question I emailed him) notes that ballot disqualifications are not automatic:

The final decision on Saunders’ eligibility belongs to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, said Kemp’s spokesman Jared Thomas.

“It is an initial decision, which is advisory,” Thomas said, explaining that Kemp could accept the judge’s decision or rule that Saunders is ineligible. He expects that decision to come in the next two to three days.

“It is an important case which he will be looking at very closely,” Thomas said.

Even if Kemp goes along with the judge’s ruling, the decision can still be challenged in Superior Court, something Long said he might do, even though the election is only two weeks away.

“By the time the court hears it the election will be over,” Long said. “It will be moot.”

Aaron Gould Sheinin and Kristina Torres of the AJC profile four high-stakes races for the State Senate, including challenges to Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, Rules Committee Chair Don Balfour, Senator Bill Heath, and Democratic Senator Doug Stoner.

Jim Galloway, also at the AJC, writes about the ongoing questions about the Senate Republican Trust’s plan to support incumbent in contested primaries. That plan involved the Georgia Republican Senatorial Trust writing two checks totaling $140,000 to a purportedly independent PAC called the “Georgia Republican Senate Caucus Promotion PAC”.

An additional question is why the Georgia Republican Senatorial Trust has not filed a contribution disclosure since its January 7, 2012 filing for the period that ended on December 31, 2011.

Newt Gingrich, who won the last statewide election in Georgia, has recorded a robocall for Republican Public Service Commissioner Stan Wise, one of the first elected officials to endorse Gingrich for President.

Gingrich is working with the National Republican Congressional Committee to jointly raise money to pay off his campaign debts and assist GOP candidates.

A committee, “Solutions Start in the House,” registered with the Federal Election Commission at the end of May. Proceeds from the joint committee are split between Newt 2012 and the NRCC. The next fundraising stop for the committee is coming up in Nevada.

“The goal of this venture is to raise money for candidates running for the House but also to  pay down our own debt,” Gingrich spokesman, RC Hammond, told NBC News. “We want to pay off the debt off as fast as possible but we are realistic that it will take a few years to pay down the debt.”

After Gingrich withdrew from the presidential race in early May, FEC reports showed he was nearly $4.8 million in debt. As of last month, the campaign still owed slightly more than $4.7 million.

In Gwinnett County, anonymous robocalls are urging “No” votes on the reelection of County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau.

The recorded voice made a number of false or misleading claims and, in clear violation of election laws, failed to mention who paid for the message. A few days later, voters in Gwinnett County District 3 received a post card in the mail with similar misleading and false claims.

Neither the robo call nor the post card promoted any candidate, so they could have originated from any of three campaigns, or through an independent source. However, considering the costs and potential benefit involved, and the funding source of previous smear campaigns, it seems highly unlikely that this one is being financed by someone not affiliated with at least one campaign. (Although this is purely speculation, this wouldn’t be the first time that a candidate with little hope of winning entered a race for no other reason than to force a run-off.)

Can anyone point me to where Georgia law requires “Paid for by” disclaimers on robocalls or direct mail?

The New York Times writes about the campaign to pass the T-SPLOST if you haven’t read enough about it already.

Ashley Fielding writes for the Gainesville Times that State Rep. Doug Collins and Martha Zoller may split the Hall County vote in their Republican Primary for Congress.

Robocalls also figure prominently in the Republican Primary for State House District 66, in Douglas and Paulding Counties.

Residents have complained about a barrage of automated phone calls, mailers and as one resident put it, “people telling lies and slinging mud.”

Welcome to the Republican Party!

In Tifton, campaign sign vandalism has risen to the level of shooting out the windows of a car with campaign signs on it.

Walter Jones writes that results in the July 31st elections will reflect whether voters trust the state’s Republican leadership.

This month’s referendum on a transportation sales tax, coupled with straw-polls about limiting lobbyists’ gifts on the Republican and Democratic primary ballots, can be considered a confidence vote of sorts.

To some extent, they will reflect attitudes toward previous leaders. Sonny Perdue was governor and Glenn Richardson was speaker of the House when the sales-tax referendum was devised. Richardson resigned over his ex-wife’s revelations that his rumored affair with a lobbyist was documented by copies of e-mails in her possession.

We have a new governor and a different speaker, but the vote will reflect on them, too, since they’re at the helm now. Indeed, Gov. Nathan Deal is campaigning for the transportation tax.

Speaker David Ralston, while neutral on the tax, continues to resist a limit on lobbyists’ gifts, dismissing it as a gimmick even though he championed other ethics legislation — like doubling the frequency that lobbyists file reports — which consumer-advocacy groups have said are just as much a gimmick.

Senator Chip Rogers is walking-back his comments on school vouchers, made at a debate sponsored by the North Fulton Tea Party.

Galloway followed up with Rogers by noting the senator has “spoken forcefully about parental choice and, if I extrapolate from what you’re saying, you’re saying that the state should be moving very quickly toward a voucher system.”

Galloway then asked Rogers “how quickly” should the state move toward that system and what the consequences would be if a move became a reality.

Rogers noted that move should have happened “yesterday.”

“And the consequences will be we’ll finally have a market-based system, where the best education schools in the system deliver a product to children and parents that they want, that they desire, that they will be involved (in) and not a system that says, ‘Because you live at 123 Elm Street you must go to this school over here’,” he said. “That’s craziness.”

Rogers went on to say the voucher system is part of the Republican Party platform and Republican governors in the states such as Louisiana, New Jersey, Indiana, Arizona, Florida and Wisconsin are all in support of vouchers.

Rogers’ statements were since met with criticism at the local level.

Cherokee County School Board member Mike Chapman, chair of Neighbors for A Better Cherokee, said Rogers’ comments were a clear indication of his agenda, which is to “dismantle public education and replace it with a privatized system.”

Chapman indicated there’s no concrete evidence that suggests providing vouchers would increase student performance.

Supporters of the Charter School Amendment on November’s General Election ballot have formed a group to advocate for passage of the amendment. Families for Better Schools has all the internet bells and whistles, including a Facebook page.