Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for July 16, 2014

On July 16, 1790, Congress declared Washington, DC the new capital city.

Georgia Congressman Carl Vinson set a new record for longevity in office on July 16, 1963, having served 48 years, 8 months, and 12 days since his election in 1914. Vinson’s record held until 1992 and his tenure is now sixth-longest.

On July 16, 1914, Asa Griggs Candler, retired President of Coca-Cola, wrote his brother Warren, who was a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a letter offering one million dollars and 72 acres of land in Atlanta for the church to establish a new university in the East.

The United States performed the first test of an atomic bomb on July 16, 1945 at the Trinity site in New Mexico.

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the project, watched the mushroom cloud rise into the New Mexico sky. “Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds,” he uttered, reciting a passage from an ancient Hindu text.

Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Early voting is still open at your local Board of Elections through this Friday.

Click here for links to your home county and information on where and when you can cast your ballot in advance of the July 22d Primary Runoff election.

Click here to sign-in to the Secretary of State’s My Vote Page and see a sample ballot of which elections are on the ballot next week.

If you live in DeKalb County, be sure to vote on Tuesday, as we are choosing a new Sheriff in a special election – it will appear on all ballots, whether you take the Republican, Democratic, or Nonpartisan ballot.

Loyalty to the Republican Party and Michelle Nunn have become a campaign issue… in Carroll County Commission District 4.

[Incumbent Commissioner John] Wilson sent out an email newsletter to District 4 voters over the weekend, showing a photo of Morgan, equating her by separate photos, with Georgia Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn and President Barack Obama. The email alleged that Morgan was seen at a Nunn fundraising campaign in March in Carrollton and that she donated to Democrat Roy Barnes in his gubernatorial bid against Gov. Nathan Deal. The email also included a copy of a donation receipt to Nunn’s campaign made to “James P. Morgan.”

The latest poll in the Senate race shows Jack Kingston with a six-point lead over David Perdue entering the home stretch.

PPP found Kingston, who represents Georgia’s first congressional district, with 47 percent, Perdue, businessman and former CEO of Reebok and Dollar General, with 41 percent, but still 13 percent of the voters not sure. The survey, conducted July 9-12, included 516 voters who said they would definitely vote in the July 22nd runoff. The poll has a +/- 4 percent margin of error. Read full result of the poll here.

Forsyth County has several hot local elections that will determine, among other things, part of the County’s representation under the Gold Dome.

Depending on what part of the county a voter lives, the Republican ballot could include as many as three local posts: County solicitor general, District 27 state Senate and District 22 state House of Representatives.

District 22 covers parts of Cherokee, northern Fulton and southwestern Forsyth counties. In Forsyth, that amounts to voters living in the Brandywine, Polo and Midway precincts, or about 10,000 people. The race features Cherokee County residents Meagan Biello and Wes Cantrell.

For the state Senate seat, incumbent Jack Murphy faces challenger Michael Williams, while the solicitor general’s contest pits Donna Gopaul and William “Bill” Finch. Gopaul was appointed to the post in March 2013 by Gov. Nathan Deal.

There also are runoff contests for the Republican U.S. Senate and Republican and Democrat state school superintendent nominations.

 

Taxes

The Gwinnett County Commission has seen fit to retain last year’s millage rate, which will result in higher property tax bill for many homeowners, as assessments have risen.

Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash believes leaving the millage rate unchanged is the right decision.

“As an individual who has spent as much time as I have dealing with the finances of this county, I believe that this is the prudent thing for us to do,” she said.

On Tuesday, commissioners voted 4-1 to leave the total county millage rate for properties in unincorporated Gwinnett at 13.75 mills, the same rate as last year.

Saying county officials have worked through the economic downturn “as well as we possibly could,” Nash emphasized the need for additional funding.

“There are some things that we’ve got to address and we can’t keep putting them off,” she said.

District 3 Commissioner Tommy Hunter, who had previously expressed reservations about the millage rate proposal, chose not to elaborate after casting the lone dissenting vote.

“I’m going to let my vote speak for itself,” he said.

Fulton County property taxpayers are being hit with not just rising assessments, but the possibility of a higher millage rate as well.

Thousands of Fulton County property owners face a double whammy of rising property values and a steep tax rate hike. The result could be sticker shock when they get their tax bills later this summer.

According to the Fulton tax assessor’s office, the total value of taxable real estate countywide rose just 1.3 percent percent this year. But individual values vary widely, with some rising much more and others still declining. For those whose property values rose, the proposed tax increase would mean substantial tax hikes.

And county officials are feeling the heat from taxpayers. They’re scrambling to find spending cuts that could offset at least some of the proposed tax increase before they make a final decision on the tax rate July 16.

“I’m going to work hard to bring that [tax rate] number down,” said commission Chairman John Eaves. “I certainly want to be sensitive to all the concerns I’ve heard.”

Roswell will hold a hearing on property taxes tonight at 6:30 PM.

The city is proposing to leave its millage rate of 5.455 mills in place. If approved, a homeowner whose home is valued around $258,000 would pay about $562.96 in property taxes.

Cobb County taxpayers results may vary based on where they live. Powder Springs has seen higher assessments and plans to keep the current millage rate, forcing higher tax bills for those with rising assessments. Meanwhile, the Marietta School Board lowered the property tax rate for city schools.

The Marietta school board voted Tuesday night to lower property taxes for Marietta residents.
The decrease means someone who owns a $200,000 home will pay $54 less than what they paid in 2013, according to a presentation to the school board.
The Marietta school board dropped the millage rate from 18.682 mills to 17.97 mills with a 4-0 vote, with Jeriene Bonner-Grimes and Jill Mutimer absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
This is the second time in the last two years the school board has lowered the millage rate.

The Columbia County Board of Education is keeping its millage rate steady.

In Bartow County, the Cartersville Board of Education rolled back the millage rate.

During its regular July meeting, the Cartersville City School Board voted to set its millage of 17.93, a rollback from the current rate of 18.23 mills.

The city school system chose to rollback local school millage rates for city residents, which represents only the second rollback in the last 10 years (the previous one in 2007). The school system will continue to offer a full 180-day school year for all students and 190-day work calendar for teachers.

In Senate District 16, which includes parts of Fayette, Spalding, and Monroe Counties, and all of Lamar and Pike, David Studdard and Marty Harbin face off in the Republican Primary Runoff.

I was talking to a reporter about the State School Superintendent’s race the other day, and while we were discussing the Republican Primary, I looked up some data on the Democratic race between Alisha Thomas Morgan and Valarie Wilson.

Here are some statistics that might be helpful in looking at the Democratic side:

On May 20th, Valarie Wilson took 19,600 votes to ATM’s 13,485 in DeKalb, outperforming her by 50%+ and 6000 votes.

In Cobb, Alisha Thomas Morgan took 7364 to 3780, nearly doubling Wilson’s share, but still netting roughly fewer 2400 votes in those two counties combined.

So far, in advance voting, there were 2949 votes in DeKalb’s Democratic Primary Runoff v. 606 in Cobb’s Dem Runoff, so it looks like Wilson might extend her lead in those two counties.

As of the most recent Early Voting File, 89,743 ballots have been cast statewide in the Runoff Election.

In State House District 22, Meagan Biello and Wes Cantrell meet in a Republican primary runoff after having shut State Rep. Sam Moore out of the runoff.

The Cherokee Tribune profiles both candidates. We’ll start in alphabetical order with Meagan Biello.

Biello is set to face off with opponent Wes Cantrell in the July 22 general primary runoff election, and said the biggest issues facing the county are transportation, economic growth and education.

“I would fight to end the regional transportation system, enabling counties and other municipalities to work together to solve their transportation issues based on the needs of their local businesses and residents,” Biello said. “I support legislation that decreases the bureaucracy for small businesses, encouraging homegrown entrepreneurship and enabling small businesses to grow rather than regulating them out of business.”

Biello said she would address education concerns by advocating for more school choices, “especially for high school graduates, so we can ensure they are workforce ready if they choose not to attend college.”
As part of the advocacy, Biello said the first bill she would author if elected to the state House of Representatives would deal with improvement of high school diploma requirements.
“Not every student needs to attend college, and we must equip our high school students with the skills necessary to enter the workforce and become productive and contributing members of society upon graduation,” Biello explained. “When graduates are qualified for higher paying jobs right out of high school, they tend to rely less on government assistance in the long run.”

And Wes Cantrell:

Cantrell said the most pressing issue facing the district right now is job creation, and “the government cannot create jobs, but it can remove a lot of the barriers to job growth that it has created.”
“One key way to do this is by eliminating the state income tax,” Cantrell said Friday. “Texas, Tennessee and Florida have all demonstrated that this can work … I will sponsor legislation to eliminate the state income tax.”
Cantrell said another priority would be to impose term limits on many elected positions.
“I believe in term limits for all state legislators. The state House and Senate were designed to be citizen-led organizations. They were not designed to be led by career politicians. This is why I am the only candidate in this race to term limit himself,” Cantrell said. “I will introduce or support existing legislation which limits all state legislators to four consecutive terms, (totaling) eight years.”
Cantrell added “the source of many of our current problems on the state level is career politicians.”