Top Stories

1. Lafayette, Ga bows to demographic inevitability
2. More SPLOST elections on Tuesday
3. 400k Georgians lose insurance due to Obamacare

Go vote today or Tuesday

In most cities across Georgia, today is the last day of early voting before the 2013 General Election on Tuesday, November 5,2013. To find out where to early vote today, hit this link to the Secretary of State’s website and use the menu to find your county.

If you have other election-related questions, or need information about where to vote on Tuesday, follow this link to find your County voter registration and elections office.

In Lafayette, Georgia, the local board of elections recognized the demographics of off-year elections and moved the polling location for municipal races from City Hall to the Senior Center.

Here’s some 90s music appropriate to the weather.

More SPLOST votes

Gilmer County voters will decide on Tuesday whether to approve a six-year extension of the current SPLOST. In May of this year, members of the County Commission warned that without passage of the SPLOST, they will be forced to raise property taxes to cover payments on bonds the county sold.

Rome/Floyd County voters will pass on a $65 million, 5-year SPLOST and a separate $46.5 million E-SPLOST, which is a penny sales tax for schools. Local opponents of the SPLOST raised more money to oppose it than proponents raised to urge passage.

“Having money is not always a measure of success,” said Freeman, chairwoman of the pro-SPLOST committee.

Citizens Against SPLOST — which opposes a proposed $65 million, 5-year special purpose, local option sales tax — has raised $22,600 in contributions, campaign disclosures state. That’s almost three times as much as the $7,678.58 Freeman said the penny-tax advocates have raised.

I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of an anti-SPLOST group raising more money before.

The Savannah Tea Party has published a list of 15 reasons to vote against the SPLOST in their area.

Ware County ballots feature a SPLOST estimated to raise $45 million over six years, and touted as raising 45% of that revenue from non-County residents.

Coffee County has an E-SPLOST for schools on the ballot.

The Clayton County Schools E-SPLOST includes funding for textbooks, mobile devices and construction.

Dodge County has a SPLOST on the ballot, which will raise $13 million over 5 years.

Greene County voters will decide on a SPLOST for five years and will also vote in referenda for Sunday package and on-premise sales of alcohol.

In Wayne County, the E-SPLOST will pay for school construction and new buses and technology.

Non-SPLOST vote in Marietta

Voters in Marietta are being asked to approve the issuance by the City of $68 million in bonds backed by a 2-mill property tax rate increase.

Voters will tell the city on Tuesday if they are willing to see their property taxes raised by 2 mills, an increase of about $160 per year on a $200,000 home and $320 on a $400,000 home. It’s all part of a plan to purchase and then raze nine or 10 aging apartment complexes on Franklin Road, then sell the vacant land to private developers who would be expected to redevelop the sites.

Americans for Prosperity of Georgia opposes the Marietta bond, calling it “a wasteful, poorly conceived boondoggle that threatens the economic freedom of Cobb County residents and will put taxpayers on the line to bail out property owners on Franklin Road and raise property taxes by up to 50%!”

“If you like your plan, you can keep it”

Unless you’re one of the estimated 400,000 in Georgia alone who will lose existing healthcare plans because of ObamaCare. That’s the estimate by Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens. Presumably, that’s one of the effects of ObamaCare that Hudgens was trying to help Georgia families avoid when he said he was resisting ObamaCare.

But it’s okay, President Obama says you can “just shop around” on a website that doesn’t work for coverage you may not be able to afford.

A Supreme Keynote

Former United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will give the keynote address at a University of Georgia law school conference discussing the decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, which set the framework for modern jurisprudence under the First Amendment in libel cases.

“It was really the beginning of the Court thinking about the role the press plays and individuals play in our public debate.  There had been very little commentary from the Court, prior to Sullivan,” said Sonja West, an associate professor of law at UGA.

The Sullivan case established a very high burden of proof for public figures who accuse journalists of libel.  They have to prove reporters not only published wrong information, but did it with malicious intent.

President Gerald Ford appointed Stevens to the Supreme Court in 1975.

He stepped down from the bench in 2010, and is still well-admired by his colleagues.

“Recently in an interview that Justice (Antonin) Scalia gave, he was asked about which justice he most respected and enjoyed sparring with and he said Justice Stevens.  Because, much like Justice Scalia, who also will say what he thinks, Justice Stevens had a similar approach although often on the other side of the case,” says West.

If you are a political professional, activist or elected official, it might be worth your while to learn a little bit about the law regarding libel, slander, and defamation. In fact, someone should write a how-to guide on the topic.