August 2009
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South Georgia Counties and Transparency

By Jeff, on August 2nd, 2009%

Sunshine Review’s look at Georgia counties regarding transparency revealed some disturbing – but not overly surprising – pieces of information.

For example, of the 44 counties it lists with no website, 26 of them – 59% – are in South GA (at least as I define it as PSC District 1, the area I represent for the Libertarian Party of Georgia). Of those, two of them are in the nine county area we define as SWGA here on this site and in LP-SWGA: Calhoun and Baker. The full list of counties without websites can be found here.

For the counties that DID have websites, Sunshine Review looked at 10 areas (Budget, Meetings, Elected Officials, Administrative Officials, Permits/Zoning, Audits, Contracts, Lobbying, Public Records, and Taxes) and noted whether the information was provided, not provided, or partially provided. (Note: In our chart below, P = Provided, NP = Not Provided, and PP = Partially Provided)

Below is the chart for the 7 counties we cover directly here on this site that had a website, and you can look here for the full list.
[See the Chart and Rankings]

7 comments   Local    

Response to Bob Langstaff

By Publius, on August 2nd, 2009%

In a post on his own blog, Albany City Commissioner Bob Langstaff relayed information that basically said that Tim Coley’s accusations of the City’s outside attorney mucked with planning commission minutes wasn’t quite up to snuff. His entire block post can be seen here.

Coley claims he’s been trying to respond on Commissioner Langstaff’s blog and been unable to post a comment. This also seems to have been reported by at least two other people in regards to Commissioner Langstaff’s blog. Here’s is Coley’s rebuttal to Langstaff’s blog. Continue reading Response to Bob Langstaff

4 comments   Albany Dougherty County   ,  

The Crux Of The Problem

By Jeff, on August 2nd, 2009%

is that too many people think that it is perfectly acceptable for government to do things which it has no Constitutional basis doing.

For example, in yesterday’s Albany Herald, the Editorial Board says “Once you get past the argument of whether the government should even be doing this sort of thing, it makes sense.”

The problem is, government exists for certain extremely limited situations, and nothing more. Those situations are things that the individual CANNOT do for himself. Things like a court system for redress of grievances against a neighbor or other party, national defense from foreign invasion, even things like roads to connect places with other places.

But the Herald’s editorial board isn’t talking about any of those issues, or even similar ones such as water and libraries.

The Herald is talking about ‘Cash for Clunkers’, the Federal program that gives people $4500 to trade in their old ‘clunker’ for a newer, more ‘efficient’ model. They could just as well be talking about government-forced insurance, killing the elderly or infirm because saving them doesn’t meet the threshold of some cost/benefit analysis, killing the unborn or recently born over population control concerns, PATRIOT Act, No Child Left Behind, or any number of other programs that are NOT government’s concern.

After all, “Once you get past the argument of whether the government should even be doing this sort of thing, [any of the above] makes sense.”

Quite simply, we here at SWGAPolitics.com will NEVER get past the argument of whether government should even be doing something it should not be doing, and if the Libertarian Party ever gets past that argument, I will leave that Party just as fast as I left the GOP when I finally realized THEY had gotten past that argument.

One comment   Local, National