SWGA Politics

Eric Johnson: Impressive Numbers?[ July 13, 2009 – 9:16 pm]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns

Continuing to look at the disclosures from last week, I decided next to look at the other man I’ve already interviewed for this site, State Senator Eric Johnson (R-Savannah).

Johnson’s $962,773.40 total haul sounds pretty dang impressive. Looking at the non-itemized (‘working people’, as I tend to see them) contributions though, we see only $5,177 of Johnson’s money was from donations of $100 or less from a single source.

That said, the remaining $957,597 in itemized contributions came from 752 separate donations, averaging out to almost $1275 per donation. Both that amount and the sheer number of contributions are actually somewhat impressive – in general.
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Web of Suspicion[ July 13, 2009 – 12:00 pm]by Tom Posted in » 2010 Campaigns, Albany Dougherty County

There are few things worse in a politicians life than the appearance of impropriety. It can be a killer for the campaign and potentially the career. Any campaigner worth their salt goes to great lengths to hide anything that may look untoward to the voter and journalists that keep those politicians in check. Unless, of course, you’re Ken Hodges. Read More …

Phil Cannon: Hero of the day[ July 13, 2009 – 8:00 am]by Tom Posted in » Albany Dougherty County

Phil Cannon has been a local attorney, a downtown driving force, a member of the ADICA board, and now he’s been given a new title by a large number of folks in the city. Hero. All because of him exposing the allegations against Don Buie and launching a GBI investigation of the downtown manager.

However, the story has all the intrigue of an Ian Flemming novel with a healthy dose of principle thrown in, something rarely seen in local government around these parts. Read More …

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde–Sanford Bishop[ July 13, 2009 – 12:02 am]by Bill Waller Posted in » Editorial, National

I received an e-mail over the weekend from a friend. She was excited because of a story that had run in the Albany Herald saying that Sanford Bishop was siding with the Blue Dog Democrats, and he is opposing the Universal Healthcare plan as it currently stands. His biggest concern is that the bill needs to be deficit neutral and not add to the national debt. I find that interesting since that was never a concern when he voted for the stimulus package and brought home more pork than any other lawmaker in Georgia. The deficit wasn’t a concern when he voted for the War Supplemental Appropriation bill that had $108 billion going to the International Monetary Fund. Why care about the deficit now? The treasury ought to adopt the tag line of the famous potato chip commercials, “Spend all you want, we’ll print more.”
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