Equal ballot access is the number one issue on SWGAPolitics.com’s 2010 Legislative Agenda, and this bill is a solid step in that direction. The bill basically says that . . . → Read More: Ballot Access Bill Introduced]]> Last week, State Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) introduced a bill he calls the Voter Choice and Ballot Access Act, which is officially known as SB 359.

Equal ballot access is the number one issue on SWGAPolitics.com’s 2010 Legislative Agenda, and this bill is a solid step in that direction. The bill basically says that once a political organization has met the required hurdles to gain state wide ballot access, it would also be able to run candidates in all partisan races in this State – not just state wide. Currently, the Libertarian Party of Georgia is the only “third” party to do this, which means that under this bill Tom, Tim, myself, or any other Libertarian in the area could run for County Commission or even State Rep, if we so desired. Under current law, we could not without getting petition signatures from 5% of the registered voters in our district – and in one local election recently, the winner of the election only got 4.8% of the registered voters in the district to vote for him!

This bill also allows for a form of electoral fusion, whereby a political body (such as the Libertarian Party) could co-nominate candidates for offices along with an official “party” (such as the Democrats and Republicans). In other words, the Libertarian Party could co-nominate a candidate for State Rep with either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, if such candidate was acceptable to the LP.

The final thing this bill does is change the wording on the POTUS requirements for official “party” status to allow for 20% of the voters in the State of Georgia to satisfy this requirement. Under current law, even if the Libertarian Party’s Presidential nominee got 100% of the vote in Georgia, if that nominee only came out with 19.5% of the vote nationally, the Libertarian Party of Georgia would not have met the 20% requirement to attain full “party” status.

This bill does almost nothing for independent candidates, as their signature requirements are not touched in any way. Because of this, the bill is not perfect. With that said, however, this bill IS a solid step in the right direction, and at this point we need a victory to start some momentum going in the right direction. Going over to my football analogy again, I agree that we don’t score on this play. But this play is absolutely one that at a bare minimum will get us the three yards we need, may even get us a first down on this play, and could potentially open up the opposing defense so that the next play is far larger. Because of this, it is absolutely the right play to call at the moment.

The General Assembly needs to pass this bill to allow fairer ballot access in this State. I fully endorse it, and I urge Secretary of State Brian Kemp and all of his potential opponents this November to endorse this proposal as well. I also urge each and every candidate in every statewide race to endorse this bill as a signal to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Secretary of State that this is absolutely something we are all concerned about. Democratic Party of Georgia State Committee member Andre Walker has already endorsed this bill, as has Jason Pye.

Secretary of State Appointment Places Politics Before Georgia Citizens

Poll-after-poll and trend-after-trend shows Georgians are increasingly cynical about politics and resentful of government. The latest partisan . . . → Read More: Michael Mills Responds to Kemp Appointment as SoS]]> As usual, if we get a press release on a recent issue, we will post it… This one is from Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Michael Mills.

Secretary of State Appointment Places Politics Before Georgia Citizens

Poll-after-poll and trend-after-trend shows Georgians are increasingly cynical about politics and resentful of government. The latest partisan power grab that was the appointment of a new Georgia Secretary of State will only reinforce these disturbing trends. Citizens must take the power back and make their voices heard – at the ballot box in 2010 and every day in-between.

While an abdication of her sworn responsibility, Secretary of State Karen Handel’s decision to resign to better serve the office being vacated and her campaign for governor seemed innocent enough. At face-value, we could support the decision because it ensured Georgians had someone in the Secretary of State’s office fighting for their rights instead of advancing personal and partisan agendas. But scratch the surface, and it smacks of politics.

Handel – a close ally of Governor Sonny Perdue – resigned, leaving him to appoint a successor. This presented the governor an opportunity to do the right thing by selecting someone to do the people’s work, and not use the situation as a launching pad for the Republican Party or his selection’s own campaign. Governor Perdue selected Jim Cole, his House Floor Leader, to fill the term. Cole immediately announced his intentions to accept the nomination and run in 2010. Oddly, something changed during the weekend and Cole declined the appointment. Governor Perdue scrambled to pick a replacement, settling on Brian Kemp, a Republican already in the race.

Any Georgian actually paying attention to the process would need a tour guide and scoreboard to keep up. This appointment process fails to pass the smell test, coming off as a partisan power grab in an election year – ensuring the Republicans have an incumbent on the ballot. And at best, it looks mishandled. Georgians will be further disenchanted with government and its leaders when this fiasco is combined with the recent scandals that came to light during the replacement search for former House Speaker Glenn Richardson.

I’ve heard first-hand, as a candidate traveling statewide, how families are suffering in a poor economy where jobs are scarce and their futures are uncertain. I’ve listened to eligible voters afraid of losing their rights because of partisan attempts to limit ballot access (see federal lawsuit Handel v. Morales). I’ve talked with small business owners who are outraged that Georgia government is doing little to support their efforts to create jobs at a time they are so sorely-needed. And I’ve consoled consumers who lost their life savings or were ripped off by fraudulent business practices.

These are the issues covered by the Georgia Secretary of State’s five divisions (Archives, Elections, Corporations, Securities and Licensing). And they are the issues Georgians care about. Its time our leaders move beyond rhetoric and partisan power grabs to instead focus on protecting voter rights, making government more effective and supporting job creation, which will lift us out of recession.

Governor Perdue had a chance to place the interests of Georgia citizens – and our futures – first. He rejected that obligation and opportunity. Accordingly, it’s time Georgia voters take back the power and elect leaders who rise each day to ensure our individual and collective futures are brighter than our past. Or we can settle on leaders more interested in personal gain and politics than creating forward looking policies that will stave off the efforts of neighboring states like North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, who are stealing our moniker – “Engine of the New South.” Our future is too precarious to remain silent and on the sidelines.

Mills is a candidate for Georgia Secretary of State and author of the book “Battling Democracy’s Decline”

Here we go . . . → Read More: Gary Horlacher Responds to Brian Kemp’s Appointment as SoS]]> The following statement was issued by Gary Horlacher in response to Governor Perdue’s announcement today that he was appointing Brian Kemp to be the interim Secretary of State. If any candidate has a press release about any issue, make sure it gets in my hands and I’ll get it up here.

Here we go again!

Karen Handel backs out of the remainder of her term-of-office as Secretary of State, so that she can focus on her race for Governor, continue raising money, and oh yea, not inject partisan politics into a race that she is involved in, while she is conducting the fundamental role of the Secretary’s office, fair and nonpartisan election oversight. But do Governor Perdue and Brian Kemp agree with her. Clearly NO!

Brian Kemp has now been granted, from the Governor, with an incumbent’s crown. Funny Sonny, didn’t you use to be passionately opposed to a Governor conducting himself as a self-anointed, arrogant dictator, who would use the power’s of his office for his own political and personal benefit. But now choosing to crown one of your own, who happens to be involved in a spirited primary, is not hypocritical in any way.

This is yet another very stark illustration of how the Gold Dome is being run. In this instance, The heck with letting the Republican electorate voluntarily and independently choose their nominee.
“I, Sonny Perdue, think this is the one. So shut up and sit down Republican voters”.

I pledged from the first day of kicking off my campaign. To remove the partisan shananigans that have tainted this office over the last three years. Unlike some candidates and incumbent officeholders, this person is speaking the truth and will not back down from that pledge.

Earlier this week, Governor Perdue gave a belated Christmas gift to Doug Macginnitie and Brian Kemp when he announced that he . . . → Read More: A Belated Christmas Gift to Doug Macginnitie and Brian Kemp]]> One issue I haven’t discussed yet has been the speculation and subsequent actual selection of who the new Secretary of State would be, to fulfill the remainder of the term Karen Handel abandoned.

Earlier this week, Governor Perdue gave a belated Christmas gift to Doug Macginnitie and Brian Kemp when he announced that he had selected his former Floor Leader State Rep Jim Cole (R-Forsyth) as the interim Secretary of State, and Cole announced that he would seek election to the full term of the post this November.

I honestly know nothing about Cole, so I went to the source I always go to for information about a current member of the General Assembly – LEGIS.

There, I looked at the bills he sponsored so far this term, with particular emphasis on the bills he authored himself. It is these bills, the ones he authored himself (or at least takes official credit for doing so), that I want to point out to you:

The first bill he authored was one ratifying an Executive Order from the Governor regarding temporary motor fuel tax suspensions in 2008. That one was good – it cut taxes, at least temporarily.

But the second one he authored was the infamous “Super Speeder” law that in addition to charging you $200 (in addition to any fines the local court orders) for driving 75mph on any two lane road in the State or 85mph on any four lane road in the State – including Interstates – also increases a number of other taxes (called “fees” in the law) anywhere from 33-400%.

The third bill he authored directly raises your healthcare costs! It does this by charging hospitals – and “care management organizations” – a windfall tax on profit from patients – which, as any business does, will be passed straight to you, the consumer. Oh, and the kicker? This fee is imposed with the explicit instructions that the money raised is to be used to get MORE Federal regulations on your healthcare in this State by begging for MORE money from the Federal government. So not only are you going to get the price you pay at the hospital jacked up, you’re going to see more of your money stripped via taxes as well – all because of a bill Jim Cole WROTE! Fortunately for us, this bill is sitting in the House Appropriations committee and hasn’t yet made it out of committee from what I can see on LEGIS.

The fourth bill Jim Cole wrote limits the ability of private organizations to give scholarships to private schools and limits how much of a scholarship they can give to the amount a public school would receive for a student. It also forces any school that receives a student who is using one of these scholarships to participate in “a nationally norm-referenced test approved by the State Board of Education”. In Cole’s defense, it also appears to open up schools qualified to receive students receiving these scholarships to ANY accredited school in the State, not just private schools. In other words, private organizations would now be allowed to award scholarships such that the money follows the student to any school the student selects – even a better public school. This bill is currently sitting in the House Ways and Means Committee, where it has been since Feb 17, 2009.

The fifth bill Jim Cole wrote in 2009 would mandate that you submit to inspections regarding use of dyed motor fuel by agents of the State Revenue Commission – Georgia’s version of the IRS. Most of us don’t use dyed motor fuels, but this is an issue for farmers and others who use non-highway based heavy equipment – and it is an issue for ALL of us in that it is the State mandating they be allowed to inspect a person’s private property absent a court order. This bill is also currently sitting in the House Ways and Means committee, where it has been since Feb 24, 2009.

The last bill Jim Cole authored recreates the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Authority with 9 members, 5 of which are appointed by the Governor and 2 of which are appointed by the President of the Senate (Lt Governor) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In other words, the Governor would essentially control this Authority under this bill, rather than having a more balanced appointment authority of 3 members each from the Governor, President of the Senate (Lt Governor), and Speaker of the House. But hey, what do you really expect from the Governor’s mole in the House? This bill is sitting in the House Economic Development and Tourism committee, where it has been since March 10, 2009.

I don’t know anything about Jim Cole prior to the 2009 session of the General Assembly, and I’ve really got more pressing matters than looking into his past. His present is bad enough, with the Governor hand-picking him to circumvent the GOP primary (eerily reminiscent of what has happened in the Attorney General’s office for nearly 70 years) and these bills he has written himself.

In 2009 alone, Jim Cole wrote bills that raised our taxes; attempted to raise the price of our healthcare; attempted to bring MORE Federal government intervention into Georgia; attempted to force private schools to submit to the Georgia Department of Education; attempted to force government inspections of private property without regard to presumption of innocence, probable cause, and warrants; and were a blatant power grab for the Governor on what is truly an unnecessary State program to begin with.

I don’t know who I will be supporting in the 2010 GOP Primary for Secretary of State, but I can tell you one thing:

It won’t be Jim Cole, unless the other candidates do something STUPENDOUSLY stupid.

“We commend Secretary of State Karen Handel’s decision to resign her current office to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Georgia. Elected officials must begin to place the interest of our citizens . . . → Read More: Another Democratic Secretary of State Candidate Responds to Handel’s Resignation]]> The following is the press release we received today from Michael Mills, another Democratic candidate in the Secretary of State race.

“We commend Secretary of State Karen Handel’s decision to resign her current office to seek the Republican nomination for Governor of Georgia. Elected officials must begin to place the interest of our citizens first, and not their own, at a time of mounting deficits, growing unemployment and uncertain futures.

The decision also calls to an end one of the most partisan and draconian Secretary of State administrations in the history of Georgia, twice rebuked by the United States Justice Department for illegally blocking access to the ballot box for eligible citizens.

My campaign is based upon the notion of “a new way forward in Georgia,” which means exciting and empowering citizens to participate in the civic process while creating a government that works for them. The next Secretary of State must understand the role and power of an office that touches every facet of our lives. And live up to the expectations of Georgians by creating an administration that:

1. Delivers fair, accurate and secure elections devoid of unnecessary barriers for eligible citizens
2. Operates “Government 2.0,” which leverages the power of the Corporations Division to create jobs, cut red tape for businesses and coordinate with other offices to provide the necessary resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners
3. Protects citizens and businesses from fraud through the Securities and Professional Licensing Divisions

?

It is with this spirit and commitment to moving Georgia forward in mind, that we call upon Governor Sonny Perdue to put people, and not politics first. The citizens of Georgia are watching and hoping that their leaders will get beyond rhetoric and partisanship, focusing instead on voters and the myriad issues they face. The governor must appoint someone who will remove partisanship from elections and balance the interests of consumers and businesses through the various divisions within the office.

Congratulations Karen Handel! This is the . . . → Read More: Democratic SOS Candidate Response to Karen Handel Resignation]]> We just received the following release from Gary Horlacher, a Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, in response to Karen Handel’s announcement this afternoon that she is resigning her post as Secretary of State. Jeff will write his own thoughts later this evening or tomorrow morning.

Congratulations Karen Handel!
This is the first correct action you have taken since entering this office.

Ms. Handel’s mishandling of the Secretary of State’s office has gone way beyond incompetence. She crossed the misconduct line by inappropriately using this office to both foster her own political ambitions and to use her authority in the elections oversight process for her party’s political benefit. By stepping down, she not only provides herself with the much needed “flexibility” to continue raising campaign contributions for her gubernatorial campaign during the upcoming Legislative Session, but she also “ducks and dodges” any needs to be totally nonpartisan while conducting fair, objective and competent election oversight duties.

You want some objective analysis of her conduct of the functions of this office?

• She was slapped down three times by the courts, including a unanimous decision by the State Supreme Court, for wrongly attempting to remove a Democratic candidate from the 2008 ballot.
• She was slammed by both the Bush and Obama Justice Departments for attempting to purge voters from being eligible to vote by using voter registration flagging tactics, which unfairly targeted “certain demographics”.
• During the 2009 legislative session, she was even rebuked by a member of the State Election Board (who also happened to be the Republican Party legal counsel) for going too far in her support of S.B. 86, a bill designed to institute unfair “proof of citizenship” requirements and thereby thwart, yet again, the registration efforts of voters belonging to “certain demographics”.
• And let’s not forget, she broke the central pledge of her 2006 campaign, to immediately install a verifiable paper trail for the electronic voting machines.

Goodbye Ms. Palin……ah Ms. Handel.

We will continue to post candidate reactions as we get them.

Over the past month or so, three other candidates have filed paperwork with the State Ethics Committee to run for the office as a . . . → Read More: Gary Horlacher Has Some Competition for Democratic Nomination for Secretary of State]]> A couple of months ago, I wrote about a guy named Gary Horlacher and his bid for the Democratic Party of Georgia’s nomination for the office of Secretary of State.

Over the past month or so, three other candidates have filed paperwork with the State Ethics Committee to run for the office as a Democrat, two of them with websites – and one of them a current officeholder.

In chronological order according to when the Declaration of Intent was filed, the three new candidates are:

Darryl Hicks of Fayetteville, who filed on July 21.

Michael Mills of Atlanta, who filed on Aug 4.

And Gail Buckner of East Point, who filed on Aug 12. Buckner is the current State Senator from the 44th District and was the Democratic nominee for the office in 2006.

Needless to say, many would say Mr. Horlacher no longer stands a chance – IF he ever stood one to begin with. Me, I say the race just got quite a bit more interesting, though realistically even I expect Senator Buckner to once again be the nominee.

Regardless, we’ll know the winner – or at least who will be in any potential runoff – in 328 days.

I wrote a decent amount on this topic in June, when it was first breaking. Back then, I used the actual DOJ and court documents to show exactly where MS. Handel erred in this situation, and those posts can be found here, here, here, and here for more details on the particulars of the issue.

The basics are this:

Ms. Handel has claimed that this is an issue with the “Obama Department of Justice”, yet it was a Bush Administration court that gave the initial order 9 days before the November 2008 elections and nearly three full months before Barack Obama was sworn in as President – and even longer before he actually had placed anyone in the Department of Justice or Court system.

This “common sense” program Ms. Handel created has been shown to be so flawed that 60% of the people it labeled as “non-citizens” were, in fact, citizens.

Regarding the “petition” itself, it is nothing more than a campaign ploy. A valid petition would have an actual petition statement available for you to read before signing, all Ms. Handel’s “petition” has is a place for your name and email information. It is designed to build her campaign database and NOTHING more.

Here is the email Karen Handel sent out Friday:

Karen Handel Calls on Obama Justice Department to Reverse Position on Non-Citizen’s Voting

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel today sent a formal request to the Obama Justice Department to reverse course on its prohibition against the state confirming U.S. citizenship for people registering to vote.

The common sense program enacted by Karen’s office in 2008 used data from the Department of Driver’s Services and the Social Security Administration to make sure newly registered voters were actually U.S. citizens.

Last May the Justice Department banned Georgia from conducting citizenship checks – opening the doors to organizations like ACORN to register non-citizens and encourage them to cast ballots.

Following this move, Karen launched an online petition allowing Georgians to express their opposition to the Obama Administration’s move. More than 25,000 Americans signed that petition.

Today’s letter is the next step in a legal process to protect Georgia’s right to conduct its own elections and to ensure that all Georgia voters are actually citizens of this country.

“Citizenship verification worked in 2008, plain and simple,” Karen said. “Historic numbers of people of all ethnic backgrounds voted without difficulty and no qualified voter was kept from casting a ballot.”

To show your support for Karen’s fight against the Obama Administration and for citizenship verification of voters, please sign the petition today.

Pro-Amnesty MALDEF denounces voter check appeal to DOJ

Not only is Karen taking on the Obama Administration to ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections, she is also fighting other liberal groups such as the ACLU and MALDEF. It was no surprise this week when MALDEF attacked Karen for her efforts.

Karen announced the appeal on Wednesday, and according to yesterday’s article by the Associated Press, “the Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund is denouncing Georgia’s appeal of the Justice Department’s rejection of a voter check plan.” The article also cites Elise Shore, regional counsel for MALDEF, calling Karen’s voting reforms a “flawed, unreliable system that creates barriers to voting.”

Karen is going to continue standing up against these groups to fight for sensible voting reforms. To read the entire article, follow this link.

The problem for Ms. Handel is that she is blatantly wrong here. At a minimum, according to my own understand of the law (and remember, I am NOT a lawyer), she is guilty of violating Federal law by making a change in the voting procedure in Georgia without explicit approval from the US Department of Justice. The particular Federal law in question is one that I personally feel is unconstitutional to begin with, but it has never been repealed or stricken by the courts, and therefore remains law, and that is Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (reauthorized within the last couple of years for 25 more years). For those who are unaware, Section 5 of VRA basically says that in Georgia, several other states, and a few cities/counties in other states that aren’t wholly covered, to make ANY change to the elections process and/or procedure, you must get the US Department of Justice to approve your change BEFORE you implement it.

In the situation in question, Ms. Handel believed she was bringing the State into compliance with a Federal law called the Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA) by tieing drivers’ license data into a way for the Secretary of State’s Office to verify citizenship. Nevermind the fact that – again, according to my own understanding here – the drivers’ license data was never meant to provide any indication of citizenship, since we want even illegals and other non-citizens to at least have the minimal competencies to drive on our roadways that a drivers’ license is proof of.

Of course, at least one of the candidates for her current job, Brian Kemp, said recently via twitter that “I support Sec. Handel’s defense of our elections”, which says to me that it is possible Mr. Kemp would follow in Ms. Handel’s fallacious footsteps.

Finally, a couple of very important points that I recently made on PeachPundit and feel should be repeated here:

I never said Voter ID was a bad thing – in fact, I think it is a very GOOD thing.

My contentions here are simple, and again, relate directly to HOW this was done, not WHAT (as far as general principle) was done:

1) Like it or not, Section 5 of VRA is Federal law. By implementing a change in voting procedure without getting explicit USDOJ approval beforehand, Karen Handel in her duties as Secretary of State violated that law. This is one of those situations where even *I* would more than likely play it EXTREMELY safe rather than sorry.

2) The process she implemented to achieve the noble goal of Voter Verification (NO ONE wants people voting who are not legally eligible) was so flawed that 60% of the people it labeled as ‘noncitizens’ were, in fact, citizens. In other words, it only labeled 40% of the people correctly! Back when I was in school, you had to get 70% of the stuff correct to pass the class!

$6,100 for a Primary Election
$3,600 for a Primary Election Runoff
$6,100 for a General Election
$3,600 for a General Election Runoff

However, looking at Kemp’s financial disclosure report, I saw the following donations, each at the $6,100 limit:

Stacy Leebern of Columbus, GA
Donald Leebern III of Columbus, GA (twice!)
Donald Leebern Jr of McDonough, GA
Mrs Donald Leebern Jr of Columbus GA

Integrated Power Solutions of Covington, GA (twice!)
J. Clay Newman of Covington, GA (Chairman of Integrated Power Solutions) (twice!)
Judy Newman of Covington, GA (same address as J. Clay Newman, Court Reporter for Alcovy Judicial Circuit) (twice!)

Note that the total for all ‘Leebern’ last names – that appear to be a man, his son, and their wives – is $30,500 and the total for all that appear to be connected to Integrated Power Solutions is $36,600.

The Leeberns themselves account for just over 11% of Kemp’s total contributions so far, and the total for those that appear to be directly connected to Integrated Power Solutions is nearly 14% – meaning that the two groups together – and I am NOT suggesting these two groups know each other nor am I suggesting they are coordinating their contributions, I am SIMPLY noting the math here – combine for roughly 25% of Kemp’s contributions thus far.

I spoke with Mr. Kemp about a previous angle of this post before I knew that $6,100 was the actual current limit, and he assured me that his legal team had verified to him that all of these contributions were perfectly legal. I have no reason to doubt him at all there, and I am NOT accusing Mr. Kemp of any illegal acts whatsoever.

All I am saying is that these contributions from the Leeberns and Integrated Power Solutions stink, on the order of the John Oxendine Contribution Scandal – possibly even worse.