SWGA Politics

An Interesting Scenario[ July 16, 2009 – 6:45 pm]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns

Keeping track of the day’s political news, I came across this article from Jim Galloway over at the AJC’s Political Insider.

The particularly interesting tidbit, particularly considering some of the things he mentions in it and some things I just discussed when analyzing Nathan Deal’s disclosure, is this, regarding a potential Special Session of the General Assembly and fundraising:

Candidates for governor who hold state office — including Republicans Eric Johnson, Karen Handel, John Oxendine and Austin Scott — would be barred from raising money.

But U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, the choice of House Republican leaders, would not be prohibited — because his current office is federal.

[Why is this interesting?]

Nathan Deal: Power Brokers and Gainesville[ July 16, 2009 – 5:29 pm]by Jeff Posted in » 2010 Campaigns

Time now for our nightly analysis of the disclosure reports, this time from US Congressman Nathan Deal (R-9th).

Rep Deal reports a total of $1,230,290 raised. Of that, $250,000 was from a loan and only $5,605 was in ‘working man’ unitemized contributions. Of the remaining $974,685, only $6,100 from two donors was for a potential primary runoff, and $23,950 was for the general election. Deal also had one of the highest out-of-state totals I’ve seen so far – $99,650, or just over 10% of his total itemized contributions. So while the percentage is lower than Ray McBerry, the number, due to Deal’s far superior overall fundraising, is far higher. The highest concentration of these out of state donations? New York City.
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Health care competition[ July 16, 2009 – 12:45 pm]by Tom Posted in » Editorial, National

With the unveiling finally of the Democrats health care reform package, we now can finally see exactly what we will have to deal with. The most annoying, to me anyways, is the idea that the 1,300 or so insurance companies in this nation apparently aren’t enough to ensure fair competition, so we’re going to add another one: Uncle Sam.

It’s being argued by Democrats, both at the White House and on the Hill, that this new plan will compete with health insurance companies and force them to be honest, but is it a level playing field? Read More …

Good news, Bad News[ July 16, 2009 – 8:00 am]by Tom Posted in » Albany Dougherty County, Editorial

We have a little good news, bad news going here in Albany. The bad news is that Rod Jolivette, no longer an Assistant Fire Chief, is back on the job as a lieutenant. The good news is that as a lieutenant, he’s in a position that is less likely to result in the abuse of authority that led to his initial termination…that same termination that City Manager Al Lott overturned without explaining to anyone why he wasn’t out on his butt.

And really, this is just another symptom of the deeper problems in this town. Read More …