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 . . . → Read More: 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:

A few commenters on Galloway’s blog are already calling this a publicity stunt. It could be, and it could be that Carol truly is seriously considering this. I’ve yet to meet the Porters, so I honestly don’t know. But as a publicity stunt, it sure is a good one, almost guaranteed to bring increased media exposure to DuBose’s campaign – something that any candidate with his lack of name recognition needs almost more than money.

But my honest first reaction to this news? Maybe I’m being a bit pessimistic, maybe my x-ray vision is out of focus again, but I honestly think this could be something else entirely. The classic way for a David to defeat a Goliath is misdirection and distraction. Make your opponent see one thing while doing something completely different.

No candidate officially files for the office as far as actually putting their name on a ballot until the last week of April – around April 24 or so. With this news, people are expecting a filing for Lt Governor with the Porter name on it.

Make your opponent see one thing while doing something completely different.

I think we will see a Porter filing to be placed on the ballot in the Lt Governor’s race – but I think it may well be DuBose Porter.

The issues in the two races are very much the same, and with the rumors of sexual misconduct on the part of Casey Cagle, DuBose’s already established themes could play well. I’ve heard of rumblings from my (few, unfortunately) sources in the Democratic Party to have DuBose run for Lt Governor, and I think he would be a good fit there. From my perspective as a watcher, I’d like someone in that office with legislative experience, and DuBose has nearly 30 years of service in the House of Representatives, including a few years now as Minority Leader.

Casey Cagle would absolutely eat Carol Porter alive in that matchup – as dynamic and charismatic as she may be, I just don’t see someone with no public office experience of her own being qualified to take the top elected legislative position in the State, particularly against a man of Cagle’s influence and political skill.

Match up Cagle against DuBose Porter though, and I think Porter stands a fair shot at pulling out the W.

Besides, I just don’t think Georgians will go for a Governor and Lt Governor who are literally in bed with each other – married or not.

From the report:

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel on Tuesday said the culture of “sex, lies and lobbyists” at the Gold Dome has to end, but said . . . → Read More: Karen Handel: Pot, meet Kettle]]> Yesterday, Karen Handel had what has been described as a very successful event with more than 500 women in attendance (it was a “Women for Handel” event).

From the report:

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel on Tuesday said the culture of “sex, lies and lobbyists” at the Gold Dome has to end, but said the men running against her can’t clean it up because they “created the mess.”

In a speech to more than 300 women at a fund-raiser at the Westin Atlanta North, Handel said the atmosphere at the Capitol is one “where legislation passes or fails based on the size of the contribution, the lavish dinner, luxury trip. This is not public service.”

“If we are going to end this cycle of abuse and corruption … if we’re going to get real progress on the issues our state is facing, it’s going to take radical change and reform,” said Handel

…

Handel campaign spokesman Dan McLagan would not identify the person who told her to hire a “hottie” as a legislative aide, but said Handel has a clear record of fighting for tighter ethics rules whether as a member of the Fulton County Commission or as secretary of state.

There’s several issues here though, and I’ll tackle them in no particular order:

Handel decries the “culture of corruption” under the Gold Dome, painting the entire Gold Dome as corrupt – yet her office is directly across the hall from the Governor’s office, on the first floor of the Gold Dome. Doesn’t that mean she is part of the “culture of corruption” under the Dome?

Furthermore, she proudly lists a State Senator and two State Representatives as people who have publicly endorsed her on her endorsements page on her website. Yet, according to her, the entire Gold Dome is corrupt, including these men. So if corrupt men endorse you, doesn’t that mean that you are possibly corrupt as well? If these men are corrupt, why would you list them on your own endorsement page, thereby endorsing their behavior?

If 2009 is any indication, Karen Handel is just as guilty as anyone else under the Gold Dome when it comes to the lavish dinners in particular, with two lobbyists having shared the cost of a $900 meal with her not even two months ago! How many Georgia families could have eaten for a week – or even a MONTH – on that $900 you spent on a single meal, Karen?

It is also interesting that she pointed to lavish trips, and that her spokesman said she was fighting for tougher ethics rules back in 2005 when she was on the Fulton County Commission. It is interesting because on October 15, 2005, Karen Handel went to a Rolling Stones concert in Atlanta on a lobbyist’s dime – to the tune of more than $300. (In comparison, Dubose Porter was treated to a swank golf resort in the North Ga Mountains by a lobbyist in 2008 for a mere $200.) So she was fighting for tougher ethics rules with one hand while having the other hand out begging for Rolling Stones tickets?

Finally, the whole “lies” thing. Per the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals,

Accordingly, since Georgia has failed to preclear the charges made in Morales v Handel], we find it to have committed a technical violation of Section 5 [of the Voting Rights Act]. Though the Secretary has not conceded that she should have sought preclearance for these changes, we note that the State has filed for preclearance of its new procedures in response to an 8 October 2008 letter from the Department of Justice as well as the initiation of this suit .

Yet according to at least one friend in the media, when Handel is asked point blank whether she has violated VRA Section 5, she continues to this day to deny it! SOMEBODY is lieing here. When it comes to matters of law, I tend to give deference to the lawyers and the courts absent clear proof that they are wrong. (Anticipating that Handel will try to blame the “Obama” courts, let me just point out that the 11th Circuit decision above was written in October 2008 – a week BEFORE Barack Obama was even elected, much less officially President! The original DOJ injunction similarly came from a GEORGE W BUSH Department of Justice. In other words, even her own Party said she had violated VRA Section 5!)

Karen Handel has been in the very midst of the culture of corruption, both enabling it by her silence while under the Gold Dome, and by actively participating in it.

Karen Handel calling anyone out as being guilty of participating it is the height of hypocrisy.

It truly is the pot calling the kettle black.

Thurbert Baker: No statement yet. Understandable, given that he is . . . → Read More: Glenn Richardson and the GAGOV Race]]> Obviously, when the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives is accused of threatening to beat his (ex)wife, it becomes an issue for Governor candidates. So let’s look at each of them in regards to this issue (in strict alphabetical order by last name):

Thurbert Baker: No statement yet. Understandable, given that he is currently the top lawyer in the State and this could turn into a criminal case.

Roy Barnes: No statement yet. As a former Governor, he should have a bit of insight here, though he also has to contend with the King Roy image that his opponents would be sure to bring up in response to any statement he issued.

Carl Camon: No statement yet. As someone WELL below the radar, he could have made a name for himself – possibly – by being the first to come out calling for Richardson’s resignation.

Jeff Chapman: No statement yet. Has a record of bucking the GOP establishment which could help him weather this issue – could even improve his chances, given the rest of the GOP field.

Nathan Deal: No statement yet. Faces corruption charges of his own, has been listed as one of the 15 most corrupt Congressmen. Also had a multi-million dollar scandal of his own surface this year that began when he was still in the General Assembly. Scandals anywhere within the GOP become fodder for reminding people of these things, which is not good for him. Futhermore, Richardson -along with Speaker Pro-Tem Mark Burkhalter and Majority Leader Jerry Keen – is a maxed-out donor to Deal, meaning that Deal is clearly the chosen candidate of Richardson.

Karen Handel: Wants people to believe she was the first to call for Richardson’s resignation, but she wasn’t – Austin Scott was, which we’ll see in a moment. Also seen by many as Governor Sonny Purdue’s hand-picked successor, and Gov Purdue was the architect of the sweetheart backroom deal that allowed Richardson to remain in power long enough for Speaker Pro-Tem Mark Burkhalter to solidify his own grip on the Speakership, rather than having an open election. Wants to be seen as a “leader”, yet waited until after the deal was done to come forward calling for Richardson’s resignation – even though she had nothing to lose and everything to gain from coming forward sooner.

Eric Johnson: Chaired the Ethics Committee that first probed Richardson’s affair allegations. As he has noted, at the time there were no threats alleged and no abuse of power allegations, as well as no proof offered of the affair. Still, his connection then could cost him now, as many will still consider him dirty due to the ethics commission’s inaction – even though it was the proper action.

Ray McBerry: Tries to portray himself as a man of honor, yet has yet to issue a statement about Richardson – a man who is accused of threatening to beat his wife. Also an extremely fundamentalist Christian, which could play a role there. As the only GOP GAGOV candidate who is not currently in office nor has ever been in office, he had the single most to gain here, and squandered it.

John Monds: No statement yet. As a member of the Libertarian Party, he neither has to worry about the current scandals involving the Republican Party nor the past history of the Democratic Party – meaning he could benefit from the two halves of the Big Government Party attacking each other.

John Oxendine: Defended Richardson. Enough said there, though there is also this post from earlier this week.

DuBose Porter: Was the first GAGOV candidate -and ONLY Democratic candidate thus far – to speak out about this, but didn’t call for Richardson’s resignation. As House Minority Leader, he also did not field a candidate for Speaker to oppose Richardson this past term – which was politically smart at the time, but could now come back to bite him.

David Poythress: No statement yet. Yet another candidate with nothing to lose and everything to gain who squandered the opportunity. Instead, he attacks the current Revenue Commissioner while Rome is burning.

Austin Scott: Had the single most to lose of any GAGOV candidate due to his position within the Georgia House of Representatives, yet was one of the first two Committee Chairs to come out calling for Richardson’s ouster – and was thus the first GAGOV candidate to do so, despite what Karen Handel wants everyone to think. Has a record of challenging Richardson, which once cost him another committee chairmanship. Has said (at the Tifton Forum) he is in the race DESPITE Richardson, not because of him.

But I ran into . . . → Read More: Are GA Leaders Costing Georgians Jobs?]]> Georgia leaders like to talk about how they are bringing jobs to Georgia, especially under this economic climate. DuBose Porter has one plan and Republicans in the General Assembly consistently talk about how proud they are of their own efforts this past session with the passage of the JOBS Act.

But I ran into a dirty little secret over the past few days, one which State Rep Jeff Mays was kind enough to point out to me was part of Georgia Law.

You see, I like to do most of my Christmas shopping online. Quite frankly, I’m not such a fan of the crowds on Black Friday or pretty much any day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and most stores offer the same deals online as you get in the physical store. So I get the same price with nowhere NEAR the hassle. As an added bonus, if I shop online I don’t have to pay sales tax. But that is where the dirty little secret comes in.

You see, OCGA 48-8-2, subsection 3 part E states that a “dealer” in the State of GA can be defined as anyone who “Maintains or has within this state, indirectly or by a subsidiary, an office, distribution center, salesroom or sales office, warehouse, service enterprise, or any other place of business”.

What this means is that any store that has pretty much any physical presence in Georgia must charge Georgia sales tax on its sales – whether from a brick and mortar store or from online sales. There may be some caveats within there, but none that I saw in about 20 minutes of searching.

This gives a competitive advantage to some sites, such as Amazon.com, which is who got my business after I learned that my preferred store, BestBuy.com, had the exact same deals as Amazon.com but had to charge me sales tax due to this law, while Amazon.com did not.

This also costs Georgians jobs, because retailers who get a significant amount of business from online sales are not going to want to have any form of physical presence in Georgia – not even so much as a two-person office. For example, a major retailer – Cabela’s Outdoors – was actively working to build a new store in Adairsville, GA barely 5 miles from the school I graduated HS from just a few years ago. I’m now told that the primary reason they did NOT build was directly because of this law. That was to be a combined retail/warehouse site, and would have meant something along the lines of 100-200 jobs at a bare minimum, not to mention the economic impact on an area of Bartow County that could really use the money. For those that are unaware, one of Cabela’s biggest competitors -and one who I’m told Cabela’s physical stores are most similar to – is Bass Pro Shops. This Cabela’s would have been the only one in a 3 state radius – the next closest store would have been outside Baton Rouge! The physical store alone would have generated a LOT of sales tax money for the State and the County, but our leaders got greedy with this code section above, and we lost out on potentially hundreds of jobs just from this one retailer.

Furthermore, let’s look at the border cities issues, which are major areas of concern in areas such as extreme northwest GA, Columbus, Valdosta, Augusta, Savannah, Rome, and even in South GA along the FL and AL lines. Assuming our border states do not have similar clauses in their own laws, this means that a company – whether it be a mom-and-pop operation that employs a handful of people or an operation such as Cabela’s that employs a few hundred people per site – could locate just across the border in any of these areas and utilize the Georgia population to drive its profit from the physical store while still enjoying its tax-free online sales due to the other state’s tax laws! In other words, more jobs and tax revenue LOST because of Georgia lawmakers!

A final note on this topic, for now: One person tried to call me a “tax dodger” on Facebook over this issue. He said that I could take advantage of in-store pickup from a store located in Georgia, and thus this made up for the additional unnecessary tax burden. But Best Buy was the store in question, and the closest physical store they have to Albany is roughly 100 miles away. Even at my parents’ house in Cartersville, the closest Best Buy store is about 25 miles away, and I own a full-size pickup truck and a small SUV right now. This means that either way, if I go to Best Buy physically – even just to pickup an item I ordered online – I’m going to spend a minimum of roughly $5 in gas to get that item – in addition to paying the sales tax! Meanwhile, I can go to Amazon.com, but that exact same item and have it delivered to my door with NO sales tax! As a consumer, why would I want to pay more for the same item??? This is just one example – as we all know, there are quite a few stores that fall into this same problem for us here in Southwest Georgia!

This next session, Georgia lawmakers including both Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson and many State Representatives and a few State Senators have said that jobs and the economy are one of the top – if not THE top – priority they have. I have a potential solution I’d like them to consider:

Repeal OCGA 48-8-2, subsection 3 part E.

The event will be Sept 29 at 6p at the Thomasville Municipal Auditorium and will be hosted by the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.

Apparently, the Times-Enterprise has some advance coverage of the three participants planned, starting with Rep Porter . . . → Read More: Monds, Handel, and Porter To Debate In Thomasville]]> John Monds, Karen Handel, and DuBose Porter will have a debate in Thomasville three weeks from tonight.

The event will be Sept 29 at 6p at the Thomasville Municipal Auditorium and will be hosted by the Thomasville Times-Enterprise.

Apparently, the Times-Enterprise has some advance coverage of the three participants planned, starting with Rep Porter this coming Sunday, Sept 13.

I can’t be there due to other commitments that night, but I look forward to seeing any media coverage I can find of the event – or any first hand accounts, if any of y’all decide to go!

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.

Now, what makes this interesting is that per Article 5, Section 2, Paragraph 7(b) of the Constitution of Georgia, the General Assembly CAN convene itself in Special Session. All it takes is a written certification from three-fifths of each chamber of the Assembly. In other words, 108 Representatives and 34 Senators would be needed, meaning it would have to be at least slightly bipartisan. But while only two Democrats – DuBose Porter and Thurbert Baker – would thus be banned from fundraising during this Special Session, all but two Republicans would be banned – Nathan Deal and Ray McBerry.

And Nathan Deal already has the monetary support of the top three officials in the House, and two very influential Senators.

Do I honestly see this situation happening for this reason – even if it is only acknowledged behind closed doors, if ever? Not really. But it is certainly a possibility, and given what I’ve come to know and understand about the highest levels of politics in this State over the past several months, I certainly wouldn’t completely discount it either.

I tend to look at these numbers in particular as one way to determine actual support among the every day Georgian. To me, these numbers represent the people who can’t afford to give $6,100 (the current maximum), $5,000, $1,000, $500, or even $105 because even $105 might mean their entire family goes hungry that week. But they don’t mind sacrificing lunch one day themselves, so they give that $5 they would have spent on their own lunch one day that week. Or maybe they give the $25/$50 they would have put in their car in gas that week and find another way to get to work. Or, let’s be honest, maybe they’re just cheap and could afford to give the $5,000, but choose to only give $100 – but that’s the only $100 they’re giving to ANY candidate.

Regardless, those numbers mean something to me, and since this blog is my creation, let’s look at them, shall we?

Note: For this analysis and any other I do, I am looking strictly at money raised between Jan 1, 2009 and June 30, 2009.

*Poythress total includes $185,000 in loans.
**Monds total includes $7,500 in loans.
***Deal total includes $250,000 in loans.
****Baker total includes at least $274,000 received after June 30.

This gives us the following ranking:
McBerry: 26.27%
Monds: 20.99%
Scott: 8.83%
Poythress: 6.82%
Handel: 6.79%
Oxendine: 1.64%
Baker: 1.28%
Porter: 0.8%
Johnson: 0.53%
Deal: 0.45%
Barnes: 0%

Interestingly, this ranking almost inverts the list of the candidates’ chances according to popular wisdom.

What does this mean?

Pretty much what I and a few others have been saying for quite a while: Impressive totals or polls mean next to nothing right now, because everything at this stage is by and large name recognition and inside baseball. This race really is anyone’s to win – or lose.

Overall: Nathan Deal ($1,230,290.00) includes loans of $250,000 Eric . . . → Read More: Governor Rankings by Total Contributions Reported This Cycle]]> I’ll be doing various analyses on campaign disclosures over the next couple of weeks, but based solely on total contributions reported this reporting period (line 5 of the Summary Report on the Campaign Disclosure Reports), this is how the Governor’s race stacks up thus far:

Overall:
Nathan Deal ($1,230,290.00) includes loans of $250,000
Eric Johnson ($962,773.40)
Thurbert Baker ($704,331.00)
Karen Handel ($431,178.57)
John Oxendine ($416,580.35)
David Poythress ($304,045.00) includes loans of $185,000
DuBose Porter ($231,250.00)
Austin Scott ($180,620.00) includes loans of $9,225
Ray McBerry ($18,596.44)
John Monds ($11,157.15)
Roy Barnes ($0.00)

Democrats:
Thurbert Baker ($704,331.00)
David Poythress ($304,045.00) includes loans of $185,000
DuBose Porter ($231,250.00)
Roy Barnes ($0.00)

Libertarian:
John Monds ($11,157.15)

Republicans:
Nathan Deal ($1,230,290.00) includes loans of $250,000
Eric Johnson ($962,773.40)
Karen Handel ($431,178.57)
John Oxendine ($416,580.35)
Austin Scott ($180,620.00) includes loans of $9,225
Ray McBerry ($18,596.44)

The biggest thing that I will note here is that apparently, Roy Barnes refused to accept a single donation in the month between announcing his candidacy and the due date of this report. I would fully expect him to be at least competitive with Baker on the next report, possibly even closer to or surpassing Deal and Johnson’s current numbers.