SWGA Politics

[UPDATED] Rome News-Tribune: Karen Handel a Conspiracy Theorist

I knew about this issue from twitter, but admittedly I’m a bit late on getting all the details. But trust the boys from Peach Pundit to avoid this one like the plague – it makes their girl look like… well, a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

Here’s what has happened:

Apparently, John Oxendine told the Rome Chamber of Commerce that he “fully supports” a highway most people here in South Ga have never heard of and probably never would hear of, but is a major agenda item of this group. It is the proposed “411 Connector” that basically extends US 411 from US 41 to connect to I-75 at Ga-20. (Roughly 5-10 miles or so across northern Cartersville.) Ox said “I am going to build that road if I am elected governor”. (Which brings up an interesting side question: How is Ox going to have time to personally build a road if he is trying to manage a State and go on fancy hunting and awards show trips every year?)

About a week later -and timed to coincide with a major ad campaign against this road from a maxed-out contributor to her campaign – Karen Handel questioned this road’s value and route, in language very similar to the ad from the major contributor.

Much has been said about the conflict between Lynn Westmoreland and John Oxendine, but this issue is showing some fracture lines between US Rep Phil Gingrey and Karen, with Gingrey telling the Rome News-Tribune this:
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The Edge of Chaos

Of the self organizing behaviors, two are of particular interest to the study of evolution. One is adaptation. We see it everywhere. Corporations adapt to the marketplace, brain cells adapt to signal traffic, the immune system adapts to infection, animals adapt to their food supply. We have come to think that the ability to adapt is characteristic of complex systems – and may be one reason why evolution seems to lead toward more complex organisms.

But even more important is the way complex systems seem to strike a balance between the need for order and the imperative to change. Complex systems tend to locate themselves at a place we call ‘the edge of chaos’. We imagine the edge of chaos as a place where there is enough innovation to keep a living system vibrant, and enough stability to keep it from collapsing into anarchy. It is a zone of conflict and upheaval, where the old and the new are constantly at war. Finding the balance point must be a delicate matter – if a living system drifts too close, it risks falling over into incoherence and dissolution; but if the system moves too far away from the edge, it becomes rigid, frozen, totalitarian. Both conditions lead to extinction. Too much change is as destructive as too little. Only at the edge of chaos can complex systems flourish.

And, by implication, extinction is the inevitable result of one or the other strategy – too much change, or too little.

Wait a second! Science on a political blog? Yes, once again I intend to use science to make a point about politics, much as I did a couple of months ago with a more basic concept (pendulums).

Where am I going with this? Find out below the fold.
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Libertarian Enters State School Superintendent Race

Full disclosure up front: I am actively working with the Kira Willis for State Superintendent of Schools campaign.

Kira Willis, a 17 year veteran classroom teacher from Roswell, has entered the State School Superintendent race and is seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party of Georgia.

Kira is running on what she calls the “ABCs of Education”: Accountability, Budget, and Community.

As a classroom teacher, Kira knows that accountability cannot just mean more regulations on teachers and schools, but that each stakeholder in education should be held accountable for their own products. These stakeholders are students, parents, teachers, schools, and communities.

From her website:

What was once a partnership between the school and home has become a disenfranchised blame game. Parents have been disregarded by the schools and the state as irrelevant to their children’s education. All parents have both a right and a responsibility to their children’s schooling. I can’t think of any parent who does not want his child to succeed. As State School Superintendent, I want to help mend the bridge between the school and the home. This means having parents accountable for their children coming to school ready to learn. It means that parents must help the school in teaching their young people.

Kira wants to eliminate to as much a degree as possible positions that have little to no contact with students. This means minimizing the bureaucracy of the State Department of Education and making it a servant of the local schools rather than a tyrant over them. She will also work to encourage local school systems to follow her lead and eliminate much of the central office bureaucracy that serves as little more than patronage and cronyism. This will help ease Georgia out of its budget crisis as well as help local school systems avoid having to furlough teachers.

Finally, Kira stresses community. Again, from her website:

We need to give the schools back to their communities! What’s best for students in Atlanta may not be best for students in Rome or Valdosta. Our job as educators is to ensure that we are teaching students to reach a specific standard of learning, not to ensure that we teach them exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Who knows better how to teach students: the state or the teachers within community itself? Taking away the community school was a disservice to the students and to the school community.

Gerry Purcell Coming to Albany Tomorrow Night

Gerry Purcell, a GOP candidate for Insurance Commissioner, will be at Sunset Grill in the Albany Mall at 6:30 tomorrow night.

Yes, I know this is an extremely short post, but I wanted to get that information out to you. Look for more detailed posts on other subjects (Lee County School System, Lee County Board of Commissioners, area General Assembly members’ fundraising to date, and a new State School Superintendent candidate) later today and tomorrow morning. For now, I’m off to lunch with my wife and inlaws.

I leave you with the video of Gerry speaking exclusively to SWGAPolitics.com last November at the Tifton Gubernatorial Forum:

As always, if you know of a statewide candidate coming to the area, please let me know and I’ll do what I can to alert the public via this site and social media.

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Dr. Sandra Cannon Scott of Augusta is the most recent Democrat to enter the contest for State School Superintendent.

Dr. Scott only two months ago finished a campaign for State Senate District 22, where she placed dead last behind two fellow Democrats and the Libertarian, Taylor Bryant. Barely three weeks later, she filed to run for State School Superintendent.

I have not been able to find out much about her so far – the vast majority of what I have is from the sporadic press coverage she received in her SD-22 bid. Perhaps the most detailed coverage of Scott is on this page, where she and the other candidates in SD-22 answer several questions about that race.
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You’re Right About One Thing, Ox

We do see it coming – which is why you continue to fall in polls. 90% of the people of this state know who you are, and yet the latest polling indicates that only 25% of them would vote for you – and last summer, you were bragging about 35%!

For those that don’t know, Austin Scott dropped a nuclear bomb on The Ox yesterday during a hearing on his bill that would make some of Ox’s known actions a felony – specifically his taking donations from insurance executives while Commissioner of Insurance. (That $120K in allegedly illegal donations he accepted last year would be included here.)

Galloway has the details here and here, but here are Ox’s direct words:

“Because [elected insurance commissioners] are different. We are a pain in the butt. We are very high maintenance. We’re politicians. I am not a professional regulator, I am a politician.”
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New Republican Candidate for State School Superintendent

There is a new Republican challenger to State School Superintendent Kathy Cox in her bid for the GOP nomination for reelection.

Dr. John Barge started out as an English teacher at Cass High School in Bartow County nearly 20 years ago. Since then, he has been an assistant principal, a Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education program director, a principal, the State Director for Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education at the State Board of Education, and now serves as the Director of Secondary Education in Bartow County. He is also an adjunct professor at Berry College.

According to his website, his main issues appear to be with the new math curriculum that Georgia started about 5 years ago and the change to single-track education that occurred a couple of years later.
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Aren’t We Trying to Get AWAY From Sex Under the Gold Dome?

Well, at least this would be a married (to each other) couple, if it happens.

Yesterday, Jim Galloway reported on speculation that Carol Porter -the wife of DuBose Porter, who is a Democratic candidate for Governor- is considering a run for Lt Governor. Steve and Dustin over at Ga Liberal both readily jumped behind the idea.

Apparently, this speculation started after Carol spoke for DuBose at a National Federation of Independent Businesses event and from all accounts did a superb job. See for yourself here:

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Austin Scott Introduces Bill Making John Oxendine a Felon

In this country, we have protection from ex post facto laws – laws that make an action a crime after the action has been done. So the bill Austin Scott introduced yesterday, HB 1166, wouldn’t apply to the thousands of dollars John Oxendine has already raked in from insurance companies – but it would apply to any future contributions to Ox, so long as he is the Commissioner of Insurance.

The bill would also make State Senators Ralph Hudgens (the Chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee who is running for Commissioner of Insurance) and Seth Harp (who is also running for Commissioner of Insurance) felons, and possibly a few others in their race.

This bill is a complete political stunt by Scott to make a point both in his campaign for Governor as well as the allegations flying in the Insurance Commissioner’s race, and because Hudgens in particular would be caught up in it, it has absolutely no chance of becoming law in its current form. IF it actually manages to become law, it will be heavily modified and a shell of its current version.
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Press Release: Valerie Meyers Pledges Congressional Pay Cut

Meyers calls for Congressional pay cuts, pledges fiscal responsibility

Valerie Meyers, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 8th District Congressional seat, has announced that she will commit to a self-imposed pay cut if elected to replace Jim Marshall. Meyers, a Bonaire resident who announced her candidacy in November, says she believes a salary of $52,000 – roughly the median income of citizens of the 8th district – should be the salary of anyone willing to take the office.

“Jim Marshall and his Congressional colleagues have displayed irresponsible spending habits; the most effective way to curb reckless spending is to start sweeping around one’s own doorstep. That means cutting salaries of elected officials, starting right here in middle Georgia,”
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