SWGA Politics

SWGAPolitics.com Endorsements

July 1. Nearly three weeks after the inaugural SWGAPolitics.com Candidate Forum attended by more than 25 candidates at all levels from all Parties. Polls will close on the 2010 Primaries in about 19 and a half days. Many of you – including at least one SWGAPolitics.com writer – have already voted. Many more (hopefully) will vote in the coming days.

SWGAPolitics.com has decided to endorse candidates in both Parties’ primaries, though the actual decisions of who to endorse were not easy. These endorsements are for the Primary ONLY, as to us, they represent a “best of the worst” scenario. They were also not always unanimous votes for these particular candidates, so no one author should be construed as endorsing any particular candidate mentioned below. In particular, Tom Knighton explicitly stayed out of the voting on the endorsement of the 2nd Congressional District US House race due to another project he is working.

With all of that as intro, here are our picks and a general reasoning:

Governor:
Democrat: General David Poythress. While we are not saying we agree with any of his policy issues, his pledge to not take a salary as Governor until unemployment drops below 7% is impressive to us. He has also been the single Governor candidate most visible in Southwest Georgia, and that means quite a bit to us as well. He is a true man of honor and integrity in our dealings with him, and we look forward to seeing more from him.

Republican: No One. That’s right, we urge you to skip this race in the first ballot. There is absolutely not a single Republican candidate for Governor we can in good conscience endorse. All have numerous issues, some more prevalent than others -potentially illegal campaign contributions, sweetheart deals set in place using the influence of a prior position, and potentially treasonous rhetoric if not overt action among them. If you absolutely must vote for someone in this race, Jeff Chapman, Karen Handel, and Eric Johnson are the least bad here in our opinion, and each has made at least a couple of trips to Southwest Georgia.

Lt Governor:
Democrat: Carol Porter. Honestly, this one comes down mostly to the fact that we’ve actually heard ANYTHING out of her campaign – whereas the campaign of her competitor appears non-existent. She has made some good points against Casey Cagle of late, but by and large she will win this particular campaign more because her opponent doesn’t appear to be campaigning than any other single factor.

Republican: No One. No Republican had the stones to stand up to Casey Cagle and Primary him -and that, to us, is one of the strongest reasons to condemn the Georgia Republican Party. Cagle should have been Primaried, and he should have lost that Primary battle.

US Senate:
Democrat: RJ Hadley. Mr. Hadley has been campaigning for this office long before the Democratic Party of Georgia ever considered it in play this cycle. He attended both the Darton Forum in April and the SWGAPolitics.com Forum last month, and he has been in SWGA numerous times throughout his campaign. He has genuinely impressed us with his dedication and work ethic, and that has earned him this endorsement.

Republican: No One. Johnny Isakson is another Republican who should have been Primaried and defeated in that Primary. He has voted for every bloated budget to be put in front of him, as well as supporting the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have done nothing but cost American lives on sand thousands of miles from home. We can’t wait to get to vote for Chuck Donovan, a former Marine Fighter Pilot, over Isakson in November, but for now we can do nothing but urge you to not vote for Isakson in the Republican Party Primary and instead intentionally leave that race blank.

Attorney General:
Democrat: Rob Teilhet. Wait… someone in SWGA doesn’t like Ken Hodges? Not exactly what his campaign would have you believe, now is it? Ken’s problem is that we here in SWGA know him all too well, and we will never vote for him for DOGCATCHER because of it. Mr. Teilhet gives us pause at times with his disregard for privacy and civil liberties, but next to Ken Hodges, Rob Teilhet looks like Saint Peter himself!

Republican: Preston Smith. Preston seriously impressed us with his impassioned speech against the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act on the floor of the State Senate in 2009. Meanwhile, we know next to nothing about one of his competitors (Max Wood) except that some of his most vocal supporters have absolutely no qualms about forcing their religion down our throats. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith’s other competitor has been a strong proponent of religious liberty in at least one instance, but video has been shown to us regarding some comments he made before the Atlanta Regional Commission where he seemed to think it proper that government dictate where people live. Given these three options, we’re giving the nod to the man who quotes Orwell in public.

Secretary of State:
Democrat: Michael Mills. This race in particular has been very low-key on our radars. While Angela Moore has been in Albany on at least a couple of occasions – the Darton Forum was one – we feel that Mr. Mills’ recent idea of giving the third Party with the most votes in the previous General Election a voting spot on the State Elections Board is a VERY positive move, and for that reason alone we urge you to vote for Mr. Mills for Secretary of State in the Democratic Party Primary.

Republican: Doug MacGinnitie. Yes, there are a ton of MacGinnitie signs in Lee County. However, to our knowledge Mr. MacGinnitie has never been to Lee County himself, though Mr. Kemp has. While we would be tempted to lean towards Mr. Kemp, ultimately we decided to endorse Mr. MacGinnitie due to the way Mr. Kemp assumed power, essentially at the vote of a single voter – lame duck Governor Sonny Perdue. In order to send a message to future Governors to let the voters decide between contestants in a Primary, we urge you to vote for Mr. MacGinnitie.

State School Superintendent:
Democrat: Brian Westlake. Mr. Westlake and one of his competitors both came to the SWGAPolitics.com Candidate Forum, but we felt that Mr. Westlake made the best case for himself. He is soft spoken, but he comes to this race honestly trying to make a difference and not just capitalize on his Party connections. We may not agree with everything this Social Studies teacher proposes – little of it, in fact – but dang, talk about a civics lesson he can use next year!

Republican: Richard Woods. Mr. Woods has made fairly frequent trips to Albany and Lee County – as well he should, given its relative close proximity to his home near Tifton, and he is genuinely impressive. Like Mr. Westlake, Mr. Woods got into this race in a fairly low key manner last summer, with no political connections and no prior campaign experience. He has a wide body of experience at the local level, and we’re interested to see how this will translate to a Statewide position.

Agriculture Commissioner:
Democrat: JB Powell. He’s the only person in this particular race, and nothing we have seen yet makes him someone we simply cannot endorse, so he gets it by default.

Republican: Darwin Carter. Mr. Carter was personally at the SWGAPolitics.com Forum (his competitor sent a campaign representative), and while some of us have seen his competitor in person at the 2nd Congressional District GOP BBQ, honestly we like the fire in Mr. Carter’s belly. While the other guy may be more polished, this is the man we can trust to tell us what he thinks, whether we agree or not. That is something we can respect.

Insurance Commissioner:
Democrat: Mary Squires. Like Mr. Powell above, Ms. Squires is the only candidate in this race, and she hasn’t done anything we’ve seen to make her absolutely unconscionable for the Democratic Party Primary, so she also gets the endorsement by default.

Republican: Maria Sheffield. This was the single hardest decision we made. We have great relationships with several of the candidates, and more of the candidates in this race came to the SWGAPolitics.com Candidate Forum than any other. Ultimately, we went with Sheffield in spite of her stance on some national issues and because we feel that she is best positioned by her experience as an insurance-industry lawyer to tackle the hard issues that the office is about to face.

For those wondering, Gerry Purcell is a great guy, we simply could not give him the endorsement due to his support of interstate sales of insurance, which we feel would give Congress the outright power to enforce Obamacare through the current understanding of the Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution. The only way to prevent this would be a ruling by the US Supreme Court, which would be far from a certainty.

Labor Commissioner:
Democrat: Terry Coleman. As a former Speaker of the Georgia House (between the legendary Tom Murphy’s reign and the Republicans taking control), Mr. Coleman is familiar with the highest levels of power in this State. He also brings quite a bit of political knowledge into the game, and when we’re talking about a Statist-style Labor Commissioner, that is certainly a benefit, per that way of thinking. Clearly, Mr. Coleman is the better of the two Democrats in this race for this reason.

Republican: Melvin Everson. Mr. Everson is a former City Councilman and State Representative, and he has actively campaigned in SWGA and across the State. He was the only Labor Commissioner candidate on a July ballot to attend the SWGAPolitics.com Forum, and he made a strong case there and in other appearances in the region – though like Ms. Sheffield, we strongly disagree with him on many of his stances on national issues that he will have little direct influence on if he wins. De to Mr. Everson’s commitment to campaigning across the State – is the other guy even campaigning at all? – we’re comfortable that he won’t forget the SWGA area and its high unemployment, and we’re comfortable endorsing him in the Republican Party Primary.

PSC 2:
Democrat: Keith Moffett. Like a couple of other Democrats, no one else is running in this race. Apparently this guy is barely campaigning at all – IF at all. Might we suggest actually campaigning if you want to stand a chance in November, Mr. Moffett?

Republican: No one. Three of the four competitors for this spot spoke at the SWGAPolitics.com Forum, and all three supported allowing Georgia Power to circumvent the PSC at will – meaning all three shirked the duties they now claim to want. If you insist on voting for someone here, Jeff May is the least bad and comes very recommended by several friends of this site.

2nd District Congress:
Democrat: No One. Sanford Bishop also needed to be Primaried and defeated in that Primary. He isn’t, and we’re not about to endorse someone who so blatantly and unapologetically supports further Big Government encroachments.

Republican: Rick Allen. Of the three competitors in this race, Allen is best positioned to fight Obamacare due to already working in the healthcare industry as a medical wholesaler. Allen was the last entrant into the race, but he is also the only credible candidate who is running without having sought the blessing of the National Republican Congressional Committee (ie, the Establishment). He has actively worked to build support in all sectors, including some fairly innovative outreach methods – such as standing in a Home Depot parking lot in June offering free tea. He is the man the GOP Establishment wants to lose, and that is a pretty strong indicator to us that he is ultimately the better man for the job.