Campaigns & Elections

Savannah Morning News reports that Dr. Bob Johnson, running for the 1st District in Congress raised nearly 85 percent of the $42k that came from others from medical doctors and healthcare interests; Rep. Ben Watson, running for 1st District in the State Senate raised about 45% of his $40k for the quarter from doctors, healthcare interests, and medical PACs.

Disclosures for Federal Candidates — Congress and US Senate — are due today, and we’ll likely be discussing them most of the week. I’ve only glanced at Sen. Buddy Carter’s disclosure for Congress, where he will meet Dr. Johnson next year, and it appears that he also raked in a good bit of his $232k total from medical interests, notably his fellow Pharmacists.

Carter also received at least $16,000 from his legislative colleagues and their campaign committees. His top group of donors is “People Named Buddy Carter,” dipping into his own pocket for $100,000.

The committee that will recommend whether Gov. Nathan Deal should suspend DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, who has been indicted for allegedly shaking down county vendors for campaign contributions, will meet this morning at 9:30.

The criteria for suspension: whether the charges against Ellis compromise his ability to lead the county or adversely affect the interests of the public if he remains in office.

If the committee recommends suspension, Governor Nathan Deal has the discretion to follow or reject the recommendation. If the panel recommends no suspension, the Governor is required to follow the recommendation.

The June 30th Campaign Disclosure Report filed by Burrell Ellis showed him raising about $2000 and spending more than $43,000 to leave a cash-on-hand balance under one thousand dollars. About two-thirds of the recorded expenditures consisted of refunds to previous contributors. Anyone else think that’s odd?

Maurice Carter will run against incumbent Covington City Council member Chris Smith in the November elections; Carter’s wife, Kim, served as Mayor from 2008-2011. Covington Council member Keith Dalton apparently has operated his business without a business license.Candidates for Gillsville Mayor or two seats on the City Council will qualify for the November 5th election August 26-30th, from 8:30-4:30 daily in the elections and voter registration office at the Hall County Government Center on Browns Bridge Road.

Former Hall County Commissioner Ashley Bell, who switched from the Democratic party to the GOP and was then defeated for reelection, will make a bid to restart his electoral career, running for Gainesville City Council Ward 1. Sam Couvillon will also contest the seat, which is being vacated by incumbent Danny Dunagan, who is running for Mayor.

Rome and Cave Spring, Ga, will hold municipal elections on November 5th, and Floyd County voters will decide whether to levy a general-purpose SPLOST and whether to extend an educational E-SPLOST. Several incumbents in Rome appear to have missed the deadline for filing their June 30th Campaign Disclosures.

Tuesday night, the Newton County Commission will meet and is expected to raise the property tax millage rate; the county Republican Party sent out a robocall asking voters to oppose a tax hike. The City of Pooler in Chatham County is likely to lower its millage rate; no one is complaining.

Election 2014-15

Walter Jones of Morris News has written an analysis of how the changed election dates for 2014 federal election will affect Georgia politicians, and it includes an interesting personal tidbit about Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

When federal Judge Steve C. Jones ordered the date changed for Georgia’s federal elections, he set in motion a series of political changes as well.
Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced the order Friday as the outcome of a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice had filed against the state. Even though Jones and Kemp are both Athens natives, the hometown ties were not enough for Kemp to win.
“We are buddies. He just made a wrong decision,” Kemp said.
Jones lengthened the election by moving candidate qualifying and the primary election earlier in the year and extending the general election into the next year when a runoff is required. A longer election is unlikely to enthuse voters, candidates or political donors.

Candidate qualifying will be in March during the legislative session. The primary will be in early June rather than mid-July. And a general-election runoff would be Jan. 6, requiring candidates to campaign during the holiday season and for the winner to be sworn in after Congress has already begun.

The new dates mean legislators running for higher office will resign midterm to escape the legal prohibition against fundraising when the General Assembly is in session, thereby triggering special elections. It will mean they’ll have to raise extra money for a longer primary runoff period which will be increasingly negative since attacks done through press releases cost less than advertisements. And they’ll be running ads during the Thanksgiving to New Year’s period when merchants do their main advertising.
“I’ve been in a summer runoff, and I can tell you, three weeks is brutal,” Kemp said. “I can’t imagine going a little over three months.”
Veteran political consultant Mark Rountree of Landmark Communication has the same suspicions as Kemp. Rountree believes absentee-ballot campaigns are ineffective at stimulating votes or altering the outcome of elections anyway.
“It’s almost as if the feds wanted to make it as painful as possible to have runoffs,” he said.
From a practical standpoint, a June primary may draw in older volunteers who don’t have the stamina to go door to door in July heat but might in milder June weather, he speculated. Plus, students could be engaged in their final weeks of school in ways unlikely after they scatter for the summer recess.

Walter is one of my favorite political writers, but I must deduct one point for using “enthuse” as a verb and an additional half-point for compounding the travesty by using it in the passive voice. Sorry, bro; I don’t make the rules. Mark Rountree gets one-half point for using “the feds” to refer to anyone from the federal government; a full point would have been awarded if he called them “the federales.”

Athens Tea Party Allegedly Stiffs Speakers

The Athens Banner-Herald reports that an event by the Athens Tea Party left a bounced check, a Washington, DC-based blogger out $11,000 in speaking fees, and local radio host Martha Zoller also out her promised fee.

One speaker, a conservative blogger based out of Washington, D.C., filed a police report Tuesday stating she was duped out of $11,000. Another, Georgia political pundit Martha Zoller, said she was cheated of her speaker fees as well.

Before that, the Classic Center canceled the event after a check bounced, Executive Director Paul Cramer said.

Keyantwon Stephens, the 17-year-old chair and founder the Athens-Clarke County Tea Party Patriots, said a press conference [was] planned for [Saturday] to address the matter in more detail.

In a Friday interview, Stephens said he’s been in communication with each scheduled speaker except Crystal Wright, the Washington blogger, about repayment plans. He said the speakers are owed about $65,000 in total, minus the amount owed to Wright. Stephens said the group intended to sue Wright for defamation.

Zoller said she spoke with Stephens on Friday, but no details were ironed out concerning her fee. She said Stephens told her more information would be forthcoming at the press conference….

The plan to make-good on money allegedly owed? A series of fundraisers.

Keyantwon Stephens, who also serves as the local tea party organization’s chairman, said the speakers, who included investigative reporter Ben Swann and 2012 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson, are owed approximately $65,000. He claimed Saturday to have been in touch with management personnel associated with Swann and Johnson, and further claimed to have their support for the payment plan.

Stephens could not say what type of fundraising activities would be scheduled, other than to suggest that a “community carnival” might be one option. He said the tea party group was getting guidance on its fundraising plans from “a political person” whom he would not further identify.

Stephens blamed the group’s financial predicament on sponsors of the Liberty Convention, against many of whom he claimed the Tea Party Patriots are taking legal action. Because of the claimed pending legal action, Stephens wouldn’t specifically identify the sponsors, except to say that they represented various businesses and political organizations. According to Stephens, a number of sponsors who contracted to have banners placed at the convention site and to be mentioned in the event program did not meet a payment deadline. Banners were priced at $500, with program mentions set at $200, Stephens said.

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Tea Party activists, concerned with fiscal conservatism and personal responsibility, are unlikely to bail out this Charlie Foxtrot. Especially when they learn this goofball is also running for Chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Tax Reform Likely in General Assembly

Comprehensive tax reform has dogged the General Assembly, as it turns out to be harder than it looks.

Even when the effort focused more narrowly on eliminating the “birthday tax” or yearly ad valorem tax on cars, the legislature had to return the next year to fix a mistake that would have punished those who lease cars by double-taxing them, and those who are lessors by making it more difficult to do business.

But a lot of folks want to try again, especially headed into an election year that features every General Assembly member and the Governor up for reelection. Will they learn from the recent past?

“There definitely is a need for tax reform,” said Virginia Galloway, director of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation-Georgia, a conservative group favoring a reduction in taxes, spending and regulations. “Georgia is not in bad shape right now compared to other states, but other states are continuing to reform their taxes so if we stand still, we actually go backward.”

House Speaker David Ralston said he was unsure how much of a priority tax reform would be in next year’s legislative session.

“There is a lot of interest out there in looking at the income tax and going to either a phased down or toward an elimination of that,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge. “I don’t think that’s something that is going to happen tomorrow or next week or overnight, but I think it is something that does merit us having some discussion.”

Asked if he would support eliminating the state income tax, Ralston said lawmakers should be “very, very careful” in the current economic climate.

One [bill], sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer, R-Duluth, would place a constitutional amendment before voters to ban any increase of the state income tax, currently at 6 percent. A second, also sponsored by Shafer, would ask voters to prohibit state lawmakers from increasing the state or local sales tax unless a referendum is passed on infrastructure projects or lawmakers authorizing an increase do so in conjunction with a decrease in the state income tax rate.

Gov. Nathan Deal has said there’s no need to worry about increases while he’s in office.

“The best cap on the state income tax is the veto pen that I hold, and it’s got a cap on it,” Deal said. “And it’s going to be a cap on raising any income tax in our state.”

Sales Tax Holiday Dates Announced

August 9-10, 2013 will be the dates that Georgians receive a “sales tax holiday”.

[M]erchants won’t be charging sales tax on clothes, shoes, school supplies and computers.

Shoes can’t cost more than $100 a pair, same with each item of clothing. The cap on school supplies is $20 per item, and it’s $1,000 on computers and computer accessories.

National Train Show in Atlanta this Week

The National Train Show will be at the Cobb Galleria Center July 19-21. As you can imagine, I’m planning to go; the Atlanta Journal Constitution is offering subscribers a “buy one get one free” for adult tickets on Friday, which is when I’ll be attending. If you want my extra ticket free, email me and it’s yours, provided you’re willing to pick it up from me at the show. Scots and military in uniform receive free admission.