- Our email address has changed to athenspolitics@gmail.com
- You can now rap to us and give us any news you might have via AIM. Our AIM screen name is AthPoPublius, and you can guess who you’ll be talking to. Per Hillary, you may also rap to us via Google Talk.
- Speaking of HilLary, the final year-end summary of Panty Watch ’05 is finally up. If you’re a fan of panties and the New York Times, and the hilarity that naturally ensues when the two meet, you’ll love this feature.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Housekeeping, inside blog baseball
Just a couple of housekeeping/site change thingies to note.
Hey Ralph Hudgins! Redistrict this!
We were going to post something on the Jane Kidd/State Senate redistricting story in the ABH, but JMac’s got you covered. Get your fix on that story over at his joint. We commented; you should too.
65%
As promised, here’s part two of our discussion of the doings under the Gold Dome yesterday, wherein we ramble on about the 65% Solution.
There are a few arguments in favor of a measure like this. First of all, 64% of Georgia public school districts spend less than 65% of their dollars in the classroom. So it isn’t as though we’re talking about a handful of offenders here. You should know that Clarke County is one of the most egregious offenders, spending only 59.04% of its money on instruction. That 5.96% gap may not seem like much, until you crunch the numbers, which we are more than happy to do for you. CCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway’s proposed 2005 – 2006 budget amounts to some $98.1 million (source here). 5.96% of that $98.1 million budget amounts to some $5,846,760.00, almost $6 million, for those of you whose eyes just glazed over, that would be spent in the classrooms under the 65% solution.
By the way, if you’re not living in ACC, here are some other local numbers. The OC spends 66.66% in the classroom, Barrow spends 65.29%, Jackson spends 60.44%, and Madison County spends 65.38%. So there’s a definite need to spend more money in the classroom.
That was the good part, now here’s why maybe we shouldn’t do it. To give everyone’s eyes a rest (especially if you just waded through the previous post on the Voter ID Law, I’m going to switch over to bullet points.
Are administrator salaries and administrative overhead the big issues? We think so. Fact is, we’ve got administrators right here in ACC who, in our opinion, are overpaid. (We’re not naming names, you know who we mean.) How about this for a mandate that might do some good? Mandatory independent audits of every public school district in Georgia, starting in September 2006, and occurring every two years thereafter. Maybe that will indicate the fat that needs to be trimmed. We would also refer you to this post for more of our Hilary-angering ideas on education.
There are a few arguments in favor of a measure like this. First of all, 64% of Georgia public school districts spend less than 65% of their dollars in the classroom. So it isn’t as though we’re talking about a handful of offenders here. You should know that Clarke County is one of the most egregious offenders, spending only 59.04% of its money on instruction. That 5.96% gap may not seem like much, until you crunch the numbers, which we are more than happy to do for you. CCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway’s proposed 2005 – 2006 budget amounts to some $98.1 million (source here). 5.96% of that $98.1 million budget amounts to some $5,846,760.00, almost $6 million, for those of you whose eyes just glazed over, that would be spent in the classrooms under the 65% solution.
By the way, if you’re not living in ACC, here are some other local numbers. The OC spends 66.66% in the classroom, Barrow spends 65.29%, Jackson spends 60.44%, and Madison County spends 65.38%. So there’s a definite need to spend more money in the classroom.
That was the good part, now here’s why maybe we shouldn’t do it. To give everyone’s eyes a rest (especially if you just waded through the previous post on the Voter ID Law, I’m going to switch over to bullet points.
- Instructional time is important. So are school buses that run properly, metal detectors (sadly enough), nurses, guidance counselors, special education, library books, and a host of other things. The important thing to note is that while it may seem that the “wasted money” not going into the classroom is all padding the back pockets of lazy administrators, that’s far too simplistic a view.
- Every school is different, every school district is different. Put another way, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Republicans (and to be fair, some Democrats) rant and rave about local control of schools. Just like the case with No Child Left Behind, you can’t have non-local mandates and local control. The truth is someplace in between local control and non-local guidelines, but in any event, school districts should remain flexible. Is the flexibility threshold 65%? Maybe it is; we’re not education specialists, we flat don’t know.
- It’s just far too simple a solution for a complex problem.
- The problem is not necessarily the percentage of money being spent, but how much there is to be spent. The ABH addresses this part of it in an editorial today. To analogize the situation, let’s say that your rent (at the cheapest place that meets your needs) takes up 65% of your paycheck every month, and you make $2,000.00 per month, meaning you spend $1,300.00 on rent every month. Now, if the sum of your other expenses, such as gas, groceries, bills, etc adds up to another $1,000.00 per month, then you’re short $300.00 each month. Is the problem the amount of money you’re forced to spend on rent? Or is it the amount of money you bring home each month? Dawg Corleone would say that you’re a loser and should get a better job. We’ll just let the numerical analogy speak for itself.
Are administrator salaries and administrative overhead the big issues? We think so. Fact is, we’ve got administrators right here in ACC who, in our opinion, are overpaid. (We’re not naming names, you know who we mean.) How about this for a mandate that might do some good? Mandatory independent audits of every public school district in Georgia, starting in September 2006, and occurring every two years thereafter. Maybe that will indicate the fat that needs to be trimmed. We would also refer you to this post for more of our Hilary-angering ideas on education.
Gold Dome, Day 1, Part 1
So the 2006 Legislative Session kicked off in Atlanta yesterday, and by all accounts we’ve been seeing and hearing over the last few months, it’s going to be a relatively quiet session. For what it’s worth, the GOP seems to want to get the dirty work over with as soon as possible, so that the voters don’t notice, and so that the legislators of both parties can get back home to raise money for re-election.
There are two big issues that you’ll be hearing about that we wanted to briefly address today. The first is the Voter ID law. As you’ll see from reading in just about any newspaper of record in the state, the GOP hustled a bill through committee to make some changes to the Voter ID law, including authorizing county Boards of Elections to issue the mandatory IDs, and – in a shocking development for the GOP – actually appropriating money to buy the necessary equipment for the local BOEs.
Here at AthPo, we’ve been opposed to this law from Day 1, but we’ll be the first to admit that this is a good change. Still, we have to wonder why the GOP are still beating this particular dead horse, given the major Constitutional issues involved. Face it, the law is going to be thrown out in the Courts. (Read here for more information about our problems with the law, including the Constitutional issues.) In any event, while we’re about 95% sure that no self-respecting court would uphold the law, even with the changes just submitted, we’re glad that the GOP has made those changes.
The other bill you’ll be hearing about is the so-called 65% Solution. The ABH disses it today, but frankly we’re not completely decided on the whole thing. We did a post on it sometime ago – find it here. If you’re too wrapped up in reading our rambling to check on the background, here’s the gist of the thing. The Gubner wants to pass a bill that requires all of Georgia’s 180 school districts to spend at least 65% of all of their income in the classroom. We’ll get into the 65% Solution in a later post that we’re typing up now.
There are two big issues that you’ll be hearing about that we wanted to briefly address today. The first is the Voter ID law. As you’ll see from reading in just about any newspaper of record in the state, the GOP hustled a bill through committee to make some changes to the Voter ID law, including authorizing county Boards of Elections to issue the mandatory IDs, and – in a shocking development for the GOP – actually appropriating money to buy the necessary equipment for the local BOEs.
Here at AthPo, we’ve been opposed to this law from Day 1, but we’ll be the first to admit that this is a good change. Still, we have to wonder why the GOP are still beating this particular dead horse, given the major Constitutional issues involved. Face it, the law is going to be thrown out in the Courts. (Read here for more information about our problems with the law, including the Constitutional issues.) In any event, while we’re about 95% sure that no self-respecting court would uphold the law, even with the changes just submitted, we’re glad that the GOP has made those changes.
The other bill you’ll be hearing about is the so-called 65% Solution. The ABH disses it today, but frankly we’re not completely decided on the whole thing. We did a post on it sometime ago – find it here. If you’re too wrapped up in reading our rambling to check on the background, here’s the gist of the thing. The Gubner wants to pass a bill that requires all of Georgia’s 180 school districts to spend at least 65% of all of their income in the classroom. We’ll get into the 65% Solution in a later post that we’re typing up now.
The Great Dodson Misquote of 2006, continuing coverage
As mentioned in an earlier post, District 10 Commissioner Elton Dodson (we’re bringing back the cape and tights jokes, because he’s a good sport about the whole thing) has a letter in the ABH addressing certain, er…shall we say discrepancies, in the story the ABH published last Friday.
We took advantage of our correspondence with the Commish to pin him down a little on poverty issues, specifically in reference to the causes of poverty and what the local government can do about the whole thing. Sez Dodson:
“I believe the root cause is a lack of empowerment. Everything else is just
a symptom. The reasons for that lack of empowerment go deep, and represent
the most classic struggles between different ideas of government and social
values. On the local level, I believe we can do our part by taking
government to the people that are most alienated (or at least feel
alienated) by it. That is why I will be strongly advocating some fairly
serious changes to the way we do things in our government. Because of the
Mayor's work, there will now be a formal process for airing these policy
initiatives.”
Obviously, we are champing at the bit to know exactly what “policy initiatives” and “serious changes” Dodson is mulling over. Rather than exchange another round of emails with him however, we’ll leave the gigantic question mark hanging for now, in hopes that the Commish will clue us in right here on the blog.
We took advantage of our correspondence with the Commish to pin him down a little on poverty issues, specifically in reference to the causes of poverty and what the local government can do about the whole thing. Sez Dodson:
“I believe the root cause is a lack of empowerment. Everything else is just
a symptom. The reasons for that lack of empowerment go deep, and represent
the most classic struggles between different ideas of government and social
values. On the local level, I believe we can do our part by taking
government to the people that are most alienated (or at least feel
alienated) by it. That is why I will be strongly advocating some fairly
serious changes to the way we do things in our government. Because of the
Mayor's work, there will now be a formal process for airing these policy
initiatives.”
Obviously, we are champing at the bit to know exactly what “policy initiatives” and “serious changes” Dodson is mulling over. Rather than exchange another round of emails with him however, we’ll leave the gigantic question mark hanging for now, in hopes that the Commish will clue us in right here on the blog.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
What was all the hubbub, bub?
Blake tells us today about how, after having portions of the rental regulation ordinances ruled unconstitutional and others preempted by state law, it appears that the sky has not fallen and our neighborhoods have not burnt to the ground. Despite appearances to the contrary, it actually seems that, for the most part, students (even more than 2 unrelated ones) can live in relative harmony with family homeowners in our subdivisions and neighborhoods. This is not really news to your AthPo editors, both of which have lived on each side of that white picket fence.
This startling revelation leads me to ask the question: was there ever really a problem? Don't get me wrong, I can be as ornery as the next person when a neighbor's house looks like a travelling carnival gone horribly wrong. And I certainly have no problem believing that students have been the culprits in some of these scenarios. But was the problem beyond the enforcement reach of existing ordinances? If so, why aren't the Cedar Creek sticks-in-the-mud screaming their heads off now? It is because they're too busy opposing LPDS? Or have students suddenly gotten the message and straightened up their act? Is it because UGA is no longer a top 10 party school, and students are actually studying now (my anecdotal evidence would certainly not support this theory)?
Fact is, other than a few bad apples, there never really was a problem to be solved. It was a made up issue to score political points at the expense of students. And why not? They're politically expendable.
Andy was right the other night when he called the Commission out on this. But what's the solution? The practical truth is that each individual student is only here for a short time (an even shorter time now that people are actually graduating in 4 years), and it is difficult for them to form their local political roots in that time. As a result, the students as a political body rarely demand that their voice be heard, and those in power don't strain themselves to listen.
Any thoughts on changing this, or on whether it needs to be changed?
This startling revelation leads me to ask the question: was there ever really a problem? Don't get me wrong, I can be as ornery as the next person when a neighbor's house looks like a travelling carnival gone horribly wrong. And I certainly have no problem believing that students have been the culprits in some of these scenarios. But was the problem beyond the enforcement reach of existing ordinances? If so, why aren't the Cedar Creek sticks-in-the-mud screaming their heads off now? It is because they're too busy opposing LPDS? Or have students suddenly gotten the message and straightened up their act? Is it because UGA is no longer a top 10 party school, and students are actually studying now (my anecdotal evidence would certainly not support this theory)?
Fact is, other than a few bad apples, there never really was a problem to be solved. It was a made up issue to score political points at the expense of students. And why not? They're politically expendable.
Andy was right the other night when he called the Commission out on this. But what's the solution? The practical truth is that each individual student is only here for a short time (an even shorter time now that people are actually graduating in 4 years), and it is difficult for them to form their local political roots in that time. As a result, the students as a political body rarely demand that their voice be heard, and those in power don't strain themselves to listen.
Any thoughts on changing this, or on whether it needs to be changed?
Elton Dodson was misquoted.
As expected and halfway predicted in our previous post, we got a reasonably angry denial from Elton Dodson. Expect to see a letter to this effect in the ABH this week from the Commissioner.
For what it’s worth, Dodson says he was misquoted by the ABH and implies that his quote was somewhat parsed out by Blake Aued. He further affirms that he is 100% supportive of the Mayor and the poverty task force. The statement with respect to lip service, according to Dodson, was with respect to any possible other Mayor, if Davison doesn’t run or doesn’t win.
For what it’s worth, Dodson says he was misquoted by the ABH and implies that his quote was somewhat parsed out by Blake Aued. He further affirms that he is 100% supportive of the Mayor and the poverty task force. The statement with respect to lip service, according to Dodson, was with respect to any possible other Mayor, if Davison doesn’t run or doesn’t win.
Dodson and poverty
Just wanted to shamelessly plug a post I have up on the blogger version of AthensWorld concerning this story in the Athens Banner-Herald. In the interests of creating more content, here’s a few more thoughts on the issue.
There was obviously a lot of discussion at Andy Rusk’s shindig last night with respect to the poverty task force issue and the two Athens Banner-Herald articles that ensued. For what it’s worth, no one we’ve talked to has hit on this one big angle.
Consider this quote:
"This is what we've been looking for from Heidi for some time - this kind of leadership," [District 10 Commissioner Elton] Dodson said. "We just need to monitor it and make sure it's not lip service."
Hold on, hold on, hold on. Now this is interesting stuff. For whatever reason, Dodson’s comments struck me as being remarkable. The first thing that stood out is the kind of overall impression of the Commissioner kind of having his nose out of joint for whatever reason. (More on that in a sec.) There’s also the last sentence, which seems to indicate that Dodson has already set this thing up to fail in his own mind. Then you’ve got Dodson referring to the Mayor by her given name. Now, Heidi is not one to be hung up on titles, but that’s interesting, nonetheless. Finally, you’ve got Dodson, who is usually an ally of the Mayor’s, questioning her leadership publicly. All in all, this is remarkable (as in “worthy of being remarked upon.”)
What does it all mean? Here’s a few suggestions just for you guys to chew on.
There was obviously a lot of discussion at Andy Rusk’s shindig last night with respect to the poverty task force issue and the two Athens Banner-Herald articles that ensued. For what it’s worth, no one we’ve talked to has hit on this one big angle.
Consider this quote:
"This is what we've been looking for from Heidi for some time - this kind of leadership," [District 10 Commissioner Elton] Dodson said. "We just need to monitor it and make sure it's not lip service."
Hold on, hold on, hold on. Now this is interesting stuff. For whatever reason, Dodson’s comments struck me as being remarkable. The first thing that stood out is the kind of overall impression of the Commissioner kind of having his nose out of joint for whatever reason. (More on that in a sec.) There’s also the last sentence, which seems to indicate that Dodson has already set this thing up to fail in his own mind. Then you’ve got Dodson referring to the Mayor by her given name. Now, Heidi is not one to be hung up on titles, but that’s interesting, nonetheless. Finally, you’ve got Dodson, who is usually an ally of the Mayor’s, questioning her leadership publicly. All in all, this is remarkable (as in “worthy of being remarked upon.”)
What does it all mean? Here’s a few suggestions just for you guys to chew on.
- Dodson’s got his nose out of joint because he staked out poverty as an issue some months ago, a position for which we lauded him on the blog. (It should be noted that we actually began what might have been a fruitful email correspondence with the Commissioner at that time, but he stopped responding to emails.) It’s a possibility, but if Dodson is a dedicated to fighting poverty as he says he is – and we have no reason to doubt his dedication to the cause – then wouldn’t his comment have been more supportive?
- Dodson got misquoted or the ABH only used part of his quote. It happens, but don’t be too quick to point the finger at the ABH. First, “I was badly quoted,” is the first line of defense for anyone who ends up looking asinine in print, and second, the ABH and Blake Aued don’t have any kind of vested interest in stirring up a hornet’s nest between Heidi and Elton. It’s inside baseball, and since the ABH has apparently cancelled In the Loop, they don’t even have a forum for political gossip like that.
- Here’s the most suggestive suggestion. Elton is going to run, or is at least thinking about running, for Mayor. No one knows if Heidi is going to run or not (and honestly, our opinion changes daily as well), but if she does, then it wouldn’t hurt Elton as a potential candidate to start differentiating himself from her. If she doesn’t run, he’s still got the poverty issue and can still use it as a point against the current government. Is he thinking about running? Well, that’s one of those “gotcha” questions that politicos hate. Of course he’s thought about running for Mayor. The real question is: how seriously has he thought about it, and has he made a decision? Unclear. I’d like to think that within a few minutes of putting this post up, I’ll get an angry denial from Dodson in the AthPo inbox, but as mentioned before, he stopped emailing us. (Probably the SuperCommissioner/cape and tights jokes.) Anyway, it’s too soon to tell, and Dodson may well not be running for Mayor, but that sounded an awful lot like political positioning to me.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
After the Rusk Kickoff Party
Hi everyone.
Didn’t make it to Andy Rusk’s kickoff party last night? It’s cool. We were there, and here’s what we think you need to know.
But all of that is more or less irrelevant, really. Here’s what you really, really need to know. Andy Rusk is a serious candidate. We were of two minds on Andy Rusk 24 hours ago. From the standpoint of our work putting this blog out, we liked him. He’s entertaining, and not afraid to say what he thinks. But we weren’t terribly sure that he wasn’t just a vanity candidate. To be honest, we kind of thought that he was running for Mayor as some sort of joke.
We were wrong.
Andy Rusk knows his stuff. He’s smart, personable, and, based on a long conversation with him and some other members of the Athens New Media Collective, he has studied the issues, and indeed, probably knows more about things than some of our Commissioners do. As voters, we’re not locked into Andy Rusk yet; it’s still far too early. But know this – the guy is serious, convincing, passionate, and he’s got a vision for Athens. As he puts it, he’s not running for Mayor as much as he’s applying for a job. A job that he thinks he can do damn well.
We’re not so sure he’s wrong about that.
Didn’t make it to Andy Rusk’s kickoff party last night? It’s cool. We were there, and here’s what we think you need to know.
- Attendance was good; we’d say upwards of 50 or 60 folks.
- Heidi Davison was there. Awkward! Or at least it could have been, given that most of Andy’s platform is based on criticism of the current local government. We give Andy props for sticking to his guns and his platform, and not getting rattled with the Mayor sitting some ten feet away. We also give the Mayor props for showing up. That’s about all we’re going to say on that front, given that Mayor Davison’s presence will probably be the big story when the ABH gets around to writing this up.
- Best Rusk line of the night: “Lewis Holloway [member of the Poverty Task Force and local school superintendent] is quoted in the paper as saying, ‘We don't know what it's like to not have a car.’ Well, it sucks.”
- Andy was good at criticizing Davison’s government, but he didn’t come out swinging as hard against Tom Chasteen as we would have liked.
- The phrase “barnyard epithet” is becoming as ubiquitous in our local political discourse as “hanging chad” was about five years ago on the national scene. For what it’s worth, Andy kept the cussin’ to a minimum, and only said “bullshit” once, in reference to the smoking ban.
But all of that is more or less irrelevant, really. Here’s what you really, really need to know. Andy Rusk is a serious candidate. We were of two minds on Andy Rusk 24 hours ago. From the standpoint of our work putting this blog out, we liked him. He’s entertaining, and not afraid to say what he thinks. But we weren’t terribly sure that he wasn’t just a vanity candidate. To be honest, we kind of thought that he was running for Mayor as some sort of joke.
We were wrong.
Andy Rusk knows his stuff. He’s smart, personable, and, based on a long conversation with him and some other members of the Athens New Media Collective, he has studied the issues, and indeed, probably knows more about things than some of our Commissioners do. As voters, we’re not locked into Andy Rusk yet; it’s still far too early. But know this – the guy is serious, convincing, passionate, and he’s got a vision for Athens. As he puts it, he’s not running for Mayor as much as he’s applying for a job. A job that he thinks he can do damn well.
We’re not so sure he’s wrong about that.
LPDS...again
Oh heavens. Just when we’re up to our ass in political blogging between the Poverty Task Force, candidates for Mayor, and all this other stuff going on, we’ve got a La Puerta del Sol update today as well.
Here’s the ABH’s story.
Now if you’ve been following LPDS on our blog and others, you already know that the Planning Commission unanimously approved the previous plans for the site last fall. We thought that was pretty accommodating, actually. This time around, it appears that the Planning Commission did everything short of bending over backward to demonstrate their approval of the proposed development.
The thing is, it’s not going to make a bit of difference. The people who oppose LPDS have their minds made up, and there is nothing that Bruno Rubio can do to mollify Cedar Creek. The major problem is that those folks in Cedar Creek exert a far greater amount of control over the Commission that Rubio, who cares far less about politics than he does about operating successful businesses and producing good food. As we mentioned in an earlier post, the ACC Commission vote is probably a forgone conclusion at this point, and that’s a shame.
Seriously, we have got to find some way in this community for people to get passionate about issues and involved in local government without polarizing the community. LPDS has created as much bad blood as we’ve seen for a while, probably since the early days of rental registration.
Here’s the ABH’s story.
Now if you’ve been following LPDS on our blog and others, you already know that the Planning Commission unanimously approved the previous plans for the site last fall. We thought that was pretty accommodating, actually. This time around, it appears that the Planning Commission did everything short of bending over backward to demonstrate their approval of the proposed development.
The thing is, it’s not going to make a bit of difference. The people who oppose LPDS have their minds made up, and there is nothing that Bruno Rubio can do to mollify Cedar Creek. The major problem is that those folks in Cedar Creek exert a far greater amount of control over the Commission that Rubio, who cares far less about politics than he does about operating successful businesses and producing good food. As we mentioned in an earlier post, the ACC Commission vote is probably a forgone conclusion at this point, and that’s a shame.
Seriously, we have got to find some way in this community for people to get passionate about issues and involved in local government without polarizing the community. LPDS has created as much bad blood as we’ve seen for a while, probably since the early days of rental registration.
Whither now, In the Loop?
It’s Saturday here at Athens Politics Global HQ, and we’ve got a little extra free time to post. As such, here’s something that’s been kind of bugging us lately that we’d like to vent about.
What the hell happened to the ABH’s In the Loop?
Rumors abound that the column was axed in the wake of the Chamber of Commerce/Ralph Reed fundraising deal that the Chamber alleges the ABH got wrong. If so, that would be bullshit.
Journalists get things wrong, especially when they’re overworked and underpaid, as most of the folks at the ABH are. And, for what it’s worth, we believe that there’s a lot more to the Chamber/Reed fundraising story than you might think.
In any event, we liked In the Loop, and we’re hoping that the column just disappeared for a few weeks for the holidays. For political gossip junkies, which we are, it was a good source of things to blog about. And, we’d mention that Blake got it right a lot more often than he got it wrong.
Hey ABH, if you’re reading this (and we suspect you might be), bring back In the Loop. Seriously.
What the hell happened to the ABH’s In the Loop?
Rumors abound that the column was axed in the wake of the Chamber of Commerce/Ralph Reed fundraising deal that the Chamber alleges the ABH got wrong. If so, that would be bullshit.
Journalists get things wrong, especially when they’re overworked and underpaid, as most of the folks at the ABH are. And, for what it’s worth, we believe that there’s a lot more to the Chamber/Reed fundraising story than you might think.
In any event, we liked In the Loop, and we’re hoping that the column just disappeared for a few weeks for the holidays. For political gossip junkies, which we are, it was a good source of things to blog about. And, we’d mention that Blake got it right a lot more often than he got it wrong.
Hey ABH, if you’re reading this (and we suspect you might be), bring back In the Loop. Seriously.
Friday, January 06, 2006
A little Rusk, no Harrell at all, and more JMac than you can shake a stick at
Hi kids.
Just a few things to note. First of all, don’t forget Andy Rusk’s hootenanny this evening at Tasty World.
Second, we didn’t make it to see Carlotta Harrell speak last night. (I, for one, was having a drink at the Mercury Lounge, and chasing down a rumor about a potential candidate in the 10th District Congressional race.) If you were there, send us an email, and let us know how it went.
Third, in the spirit of good ol’ fashioned navel gazing, JMac has a very good piece up on his blog about the influence of Athens blogs on the local political process. For what it’s worth, we know that we’re never going to compete with the ABH or Flagpole as far as being a news outlet goes, but we’d be awfully happy if we could break the stranglehold the Clarke County Democratic Party has on local Democratic politics. Anyhoo, read what JMac has to say about things, because it’s a really good post.
More later, perhaps. See everyone tonight at Tasty World.
Just a few things to note. First of all, don’t forget Andy Rusk’s hootenanny this evening at Tasty World.
Second, we didn’t make it to see Carlotta Harrell speak last night. (I, for one, was having a drink at the Mercury Lounge, and chasing down a rumor about a potential candidate in the 10th District Congressional race.) If you were there, send us an email, and let us know how it went.
Third, in the spirit of good ol’ fashioned navel gazing, JMac has a very good piece up on his blog about the influence of Athens blogs on the local political process. For what it’s worth, we know that we’re never going to compete with the ABH or Flagpole as far as being a news outlet goes, but we’d be awfully happy if we could break the stranglehold the Clarke County Democratic Party has on local Democratic politics. Anyhoo, read what JMac has to say about things, because it’s a really good post.
More later, perhaps. See everyone tonight at Tasty World.
Tidbits
LPDS was on the agenda at the Planning Commission meeting last night. Although I haven't officially heard, I presume it's coming out with unanimous approval again. It'll be interesting to see what happens next month. Barring some profound change, I agree with my co-editor's assessment of the probable result.
Also in Commission news, Commissioner Kinman was elected Mayor pro tem for 2006 on Tuesday night.
Don't forget Andy's thing tonight, if you're in to that kind of thing (and we are).
Happy New Year, bitches.
Also in Commission news, Commissioner Kinman was elected Mayor pro tem for 2006 on Tuesday night.
Don't forget Andy's thing tonight, if you're in to that kind of thing (and we are).
Happy New Year, bitches.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
McCarter
By the way, the ABH has coverage on a story we broke last year. (Well, technically, it was the last day of last year, but still almost a week ago.)
The story, of course, is States McCarter’s decision to stay in his seat rather than resign early. The ABH story is worth a read, since Blake actually went to the trouble to call States and get a comment.
According to the ABH: “The District 8 commissioner said he reconsidered after County Attorney Bill Berryman and Elections Supervisor Gail Schrader told him that, to avoid a costly special election solely to select his replacement, he would have to resign by Aug. 4, leaving his seat empty for nearly five months before his successor took office. ‘I take my obligation very seriously, so I just couldn't allow that to happen,’ he said.”
Right. Or perhaps he just decided that he wanted to stay on the Commission. There’s nothing wrong with that either.
The ABH also quotes McCarter as saying, “’I have no inclination to run for another term,’ he said. ‘Am I going to change my mind? Highly unlikely.’”
Yeah, because States never changes his mind. Unless it’s about running for office.
The story, of course, is States McCarter’s decision to stay in his seat rather than resign early. The ABH story is worth a read, since Blake actually went to the trouble to call States and get a comment.
According to the ABH: “The District 8 commissioner said he reconsidered after County Attorney Bill Berryman and Elections Supervisor Gail Schrader told him that, to avoid a costly special election solely to select his replacement, he would have to resign by Aug. 4, leaving his seat empty for nearly five months before his successor took office. ‘I take my obligation very seriously, so I just couldn't allow that to happen,’ he said.”
Right. Or perhaps he just decided that he wanted to stay on the Commission. There’s nothing wrong with that either.
The ABH also quotes McCarter as saying, “’I have no inclination to run for another term,’ he said. ‘Am I going to change my mind? Highly unlikely.’”
Yeah, because States never changes his mind. Unless it’s about running for office.
Political Calendar
Two events to remind everyone about.
Tonight, January 5: the Oconee Democrats host candidate for State School Superintendant Carlotta Harrell. The fun starts at 7:00 pm in the Board of Commissioners chamber in the Oconee County Courthouse. Questions? Email Dan Matthews.
Tomorrow, January 6: Andy Rusk’s campaign kickoff at Tasty World. Fun starts at about 8 pm. Be there or suck.
Tonight, January 5: the Oconee Democrats host candidate for State School Superintendant Carlotta Harrell. The fun starts at 7:00 pm in the Board of Commissioners chamber in the Oconee County Courthouse. Questions? Email Dan Matthews.
Tomorrow, January 6: Andy Rusk’s campaign kickoff at Tasty World. Fun starts at about 8 pm. Be there or suck.
Predictions
Here’s a kind of open-thready thing to keep you kids busy. We noticed that our piece on 2006 political predictions was well-read and responses came in at a decent rate. However, most of your comments were just trashing our predictions. That’s cool, but you’re more creative than that.
So put your predictions where your mouths are, bitches. Well, actually, keep your mouths where they are, and put your predictions in the comments below.
So put your predictions where your mouths are, bitches. Well, actually, keep your mouths where they are, and put your predictions in the comments below.
Poverty Task Force
Well, we’re heartened today to note that one of our New Year’s predictions has sort of already come true, in that a public-private poverty task force is forming up. We’re awfully glad to see someone doing something about this.
Of course, we wouldn’t be AthPo if we didn’t have our knickers in a twist (as one of our commenters has said) about something, so, while we’re excited about seeing some movement on poverty and we hope that good will come of this, we’d like to point out a few things that make us a little nervous.
Again, though, don’t get us wrong. This is a huge step, and a very positive step, and we couldn’t be more excited about having someone like Judge Steve Jones (who, if his middle name isn’t Common Sense, well, it should be) in charge of this hootenanny. By the way, anyone involved in this thing who knows how your humble editors (in their role as citizens of ACC) can help out, feel free to shoot us an email at athenspolitics@hotmail.com. Seriously.
Go Task Force!
Of course, we wouldn’t be AthPo if we didn’t have our knickers in a twist (as one of our commenters has said) about something, so, while we’re excited about seeing some movement on poverty and we hope that good will come of this, we’d like to point out a few things that make us a little nervous.
- Appointed Excuse-Maker-in-Chief Lewis Holloway is on the executive board. While we’ve said loudly and often that education is key in fighting poverty, we just don’t have a tremendous amount of respect for Holloway as an educator or administrator, and we question whether he’s got the gumption to come up with the bold ideas we need to fight poverty.
- The whole task force idea kind of bums us out. To us, task force sounds like a think tank, and we’d much prefer to see some hard core action, such as raising money and bringing some grant-writing skills to bear on keeping the homeless shelter open. We’d rather see the ACC Team Action Force: Poverty Edition take the stage, but we’ll take what we can get.
- Finally, we’d note that there are no actual poor people on the task force, which seems sort of counterintuitive. Who knows better how to alleviate poverty in ACC? A $75,000 a year professor or a $14,000 a year single mom? The professors have their place too, don’t get us wrong. But we’d like to see some of the folks actually affected by poverty get a seat at the table.
Again, though, don’t get us wrong. This is a huge step, and a very positive step, and we couldn’t be more excited about having someone like Judge Steve Jones (who, if his middle name isn’t Common Sense, well, it should be) in charge of this hootenanny. By the way, anyone involved in this thing who knows how your humble editors (in their role as citizens of ACC) can help out, feel free to shoot us an email at athenspolitics@hotmail.com. Seriously.
Go Task Force!
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Been around the town and I, I, I...I can't find my baby
So I was thinking about Commission districts and such the other day, and for some reason I began to wonder exactly how many districts I've lived in. While I've been registered at the same address since I first registered to vote (my Mom's address, where I was living at the time because I was 18 and in high school; it's in District 6), I've actually lived all over this trailer while I was a student, both undergrad and law school.
Upon investigation, it turns out I've lived in locations that are currently located in 8 out of the 10 districts (counting 9 and 10; I've lived in both super-districts). I didn't go so far as to retroactively determine which district each place was in at the time I lived there. The only current districts I have not lived in are 1 and 7; and for each of those I've lived within a few yards of them.
They say some people's faces have a "map of the world" on it. I guess mine has a map of ACC on it.
I'd like to say that as a result I have a broad perspective of the needs, wants, problems faced, etc. by all Athenians. I don't know if that's true, really, but I do think I have a greater love for ACC, all of it, as a result, and a desire to see it succeed.
Upon investigation, it turns out I've lived in locations that are currently located in 8 out of the 10 districts (counting 9 and 10; I've lived in both super-districts). I didn't go so far as to retroactively determine which district each place was in at the time I lived there. The only current districts I have not lived in are 1 and 7; and for each of those I've lived within a few yards of them.
They say some people's faces have a "map of the world" on it. I guess mine has a map of ACC on it.
I'd like to say that as a result I have a broad perspective of the needs, wants, problems faced, etc. by all Athenians. I don't know if that's true, really, but I do think I have a greater love for ACC, all of it, as a result, and a desire to see it succeed.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
Wha?
Ok, we weren’t going to post today, given the amount of football begging to be watched and the recovery the crack editorial staff’s alcohol-besotted bodies are desperately crying out for, but this one almost made me spew my Diet Coke (with Splenda) out onto the keyboard.
The ABH is editorializing about the big issues of 2006 on a local level. Issue number one is education. We’d agree with that, or maybe number two after the rampant poverty in ACC, but that’s academic, and we believe the two go hand-in-hand.
Anyway, your humble author was glancing over the editorial, and generally liking what I read. The ABH decries that lack of parental involvement while pointing out that it’s not likely to get any better, and calling for the community at large to take up the slack. Good stuff, there. The editorial makes a few pointed comments about how district administrators are better at creating excuses than results. No argument here. Then we get to this beverage-spewing passage:
“We'd also suggest that school officials consider some radical approaches to instilling discipline in students, including implementation of a strict district-wide school uniform policy. Beyond that, it might be wise for the district to consider single-sex classrooms, or even single-sex schools, as a way of removing social distractions that can keep older students from focusing on their studies.”
Huh? Hang on. Students are failing because they’re too busy checking out the cheerleader in the next row to concentrate on the Hawley-Smoot Tariff? Hoo boy.
Ok, we’ll admit that there’s room to argue on the uniform thing. Uniform policies have spawned good results in other schools across the nation. We don’t agree with mandatory uniforms, personally, because we’re all about letting students express their individuality (within reason), but we’re not going to out-and-out dismiss the notion. We’re convincible.
We are not, however, convincible on the single-sex classroom notion, or even worse, single-sex schools, for several reasons. First of all, if you want your kid to go to an all-girls school or an all-boys school, you’ve got that right, if you can shell out the bread to do so. To organize the public schools in that way kind of smacks of segregation, and creates a slippery slope that we’re not super comfortable with.
Also, every time there’s a good idea, somebody brings up the budget, which we are happy to do now. We don’t know what the transition costs on a program like this would be, but it’s too expensive. The money could be better used for other purposes, like hiring more teachers, for instance.
Finally, there’s this. In our opinion, public schools are about more than reading, writing, math, and history. They’re about socialization, teaching kids to thrive in a society where not everyone looks like you, acts like you, talks like you, or goes to the same church as you. Whether that should be the case or not is academic; it is what it is, and the XX’s and the XY’s should learn together.
Hey, we’re all in favor of radical solutions to the mess that is the Clarke County School District. Remember this post? But radical solutions also have to be solutions that will solve old problems, rather than create new ones.
We would also mention, based on our past experiences as teenagers that not looking at girls is not going to stop teenage boys from being distracted by them.
Finally, let’s take a look at reality. This is a silly suggestion floated out by the local newspaper’s editorial board on a slow news day. These suggestions won’t become reality, especially given the CCSD’s slavish devotion to the status quo. But still. Hoo boy, those are bad ideas.
While we’re on the topic of the ABH editorial, we would mention briefly that TDRs are not going to be happening anytime soon, and we’re slightly irked by the ABH’s promotion of censorship for ACC Commission meetings. We believe that it is the job of our local elected officials to listen to their constituents and be damn glad that our community is still small enough that they can. It’s their job. You don’t want to sit through five hours of listening to the community? Don’t run for office. Guess what? Sometimes we don’t like listening to our bosses either.
Oh, and while we’re at it, we couldn’t agree more with what they said about downtown Athens and ordinances.
The ABH is editorializing about the big issues of 2006 on a local level. Issue number one is education. We’d agree with that, or maybe number two after the rampant poverty in ACC, but that’s academic, and we believe the two go hand-in-hand.
Anyway, your humble author was glancing over the editorial, and generally liking what I read. The ABH decries that lack of parental involvement while pointing out that it’s not likely to get any better, and calling for the community at large to take up the slack. Good stuff, there. The editorial makes a few pointed comments about how district administrators are better at creating excuses than results. No argument here. Then we get to this beverage-spewing passage:
“We'd also suggest that school officials consider some radical approaches to instilling discipline in students, including implementation of a strict district-wide school uniform policy. Beyond that, it might be wise for the district to consider single-sex classrooms, or even single-sex schools, as a way of removing social distractions that can keep older students from focusing on their studies.”
Huh? Hang on. Students are failing because they’re too busy checking out the cheerleader in the next row to concentrate on the Hawley-Smoot Tariff? Hoo boy.
Ok, we’ll admit that there’s room to argue on the uniform thing. Uniform policies have spawned good results in other schools across the nation. We don’t agree with mandatory uniforms, personally, because we’re all about letting students express their individuality (within reason), but we’re not going to out-and-out dismiss the notion. We’re convincible.
We are not, however, convincible on the single-sex classroom notion, or even worse, single-sex schools, for several reasons. First of all, if you want your kid to go to an all-girls school or an all-boys school, you’ve got that right, if you can shell out the bread to do so. To organize the public schools in that way kind of smacks of segregation, and creates a slippery slope that we’re not super comfortable with.
Also, every time there’s a good idea, somebody brings up the budget, which we are happy to do now. We don’t know what the transition costs on a program like this would be, but it’s too expensive. The money could be better used for other purposes, like hiring more teachers, for instance.
Finally, there’s this. In our opinion, public schools are about more than reading, writing, math, and history. They’re about socialization, teaching kids to thrive in a society where not everyone looks like you, acts like you, talks like you, or goes to the same church as you. Whether that should be the case or not is academic; it is what it is, and the XX’s and the XY’s should learn together.
Hey, we’re all in favor of radical solutions to the mess that is the Clarke County School District. Remember this post? But radical solutions also have to be solutions that will solve old problems, rather than create new ones.
We would also mention, based on our past experiences as teenagers that not looking at girls is not going to stop teenage boys from being distracted by them.
Finally, let’s take a look at reality. This is a silly suggestion floated out by the local newspaper’s editorial board on a slow news day. These suggestions won’t become reality, especially given the CCSD’s slavish devotion to the status quo. But still. Hoo boy, those are bad ideas.
While we’re on the topic of the ABH editorial, we would mention briefly that TDRs are not going to be happening anytime soon, and we’re slightly irked by the ABH’s promotion of censorship for ACC Commission meetings. We believe that it is the job of our local elected officials to listen to their constituents and be damn glad that our community is still small enough that they can. It’s their job. You don’t want to sit through five hours of listening to the community? Don’t run for office. Guess what? Sometimes we don’t like listening to our bosses either.
Oh, and while we’re at it, we couldn’t agree more with what they said about downtown Athens and ordinances.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
AthPo Presents: The de Rigeur New Year's Predictions
With the New Year just around the corner, we thought it would be a nice touch for your peerless political prognosticators to produce a few pointed pieces of partisan predictions and punditry. Without further ado, here goes:
Mayoral Stuff
Your predictions below.
Mayoral Stuff
- Incumbent Mayor Heidi Davison will not run for a second term. Why? Well, we only know what we hear around town, and word on the street is that Heidi’s not going to throw her hat in the ring this time around. Every day that passes without a yea or nay from Her Honor indicates to us that she’s really sweating this decision, and in our experience, the more people think about these things, the less likely they are to decide to submit themselves to a grueling campaign, not to mention the ensuing four years of service if they win.
- Mayoral candidate Keith Johnson will also drop out of the race early in 2006.
- With Heidi out of the race, Tom Chasteen will emerge as the heir apparent, due mostly to the massive (for Athens) sums of money he will raise.
- Also, with Heidi out of the race, her supporters will search long and hard for someone to carry the progressive banner. They will try to gang up on David Lynn and convince him to run. They probably won’t succeed, and Chasteen will win the election in a runoff against Charlie Maddox. Andy Rusk will poll a not-so-distant third.
- States McCarter stays on the Commission (see the post below), and continues to peddle his crazy all over City Hall. He never again says the words "vivacious honky," and the Athens blog community is deeply saddened.
- In Commission election action, James Garland will surprise folks in District 1, George Maxwell, Kathy Hoard, and David Lynn will easily win re-election, and Jim Ponsoldt will win Tom Chasteen’s District 9 seat.
- In Commission agenda action, the smoking ban stays, rental registration will continue to be chipped away in the courts, and, after being the butt of many jokes, potty parity will be wiped off the agenda.
- Many people will continue to make fun of Carl Jordan’s light ordinance, while secretly thinking it’s kind of a good idea. Your crack editorial staff will be the poster children for that position.
- La Puerta del Sol will come back in the opening months of 2006, but the variance will be voted down. Commissioners voting against will be: Sims, Maxwell, Kinman, McCarter, Chasteen, and Dodson. Kathy Hoard will continue to ask many questions. Charles Carter will continue to sound like Foghorn Leghorn. George Maxwell will continue to complain, and David Lynn will continue to look on, an impenetrable mass of silent disapproval.
- The ACC Commission’s war on ACC will continue, with other sketchy “quality of life” ordinances being bandied about.
- Mass transit will be better funded, but not completely funded.
- Prince Avenue will continue to have four lanes. Bike Athens will continue to be very angry.
- The Commission will consider at least one or two more community art projects along the lines of the downtown bulldogs or the artsy-fartsy bus shelters. Meanwhile, community centers and parks in inner-city areas will continue to fight for the budgetary leftovers.
- A business/community/government initiative will raise money and re-open the homeless shelter. Major players will be: members of the ACC Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, numerous private citizens, and the Interfaith Hospitality Network will lead the effort. (Hey, we can dream, can’t we?)
- The Voter ID Law will be struck down in the courts. Republicans will be forced to find less overt forms of legislative racism. Sue Burmiester will never be allowed to sponsor a bill, or even speak publicly, again.
- Numerous bills will be passed to make life harder for gays, blacks, Latinos, and the poor. Democrats in the State Legislature will hunt for political cover, will find none, and many will unltimately join the GOP in passing these bills.
- State Senators Vincent Fort and Sam Zamarripa will emerge as the new leaders of the Democratic Party in Atlanta and will work as hard as they can to marshal support against Eric Johnson and the GOP agenda. The Legislative Black Caucus will continue to
- Cathy Cox will win the Democratic Primary for Governor, but will lose in a tight race to the Gubner.
- Ralph Reed will lose the Republican Primary for Lieutenant Governor. Republican Casey Cagle will beat Democrat Greg Hecht in a closer-than-expected general election.
- Republicans will win elections for Superintendant of Schools and Secretary of State, Democrats will hold on to the Attorney General’s office and Commissioner of Labor. Brian Kemp will win the Republican primary for Agriculture Commissioner but will be beaten like a borrowed mule in the general by Tommy Irvin. The Democratic primary for Secretary of State will be a free-for-all and a lot of fun to watch, but not many people will watch, because no one really cares.
- Locally, Democrats will hold on to Jane Kidd’s State House seat, and Doug McKillip will prove to be a typical apologetic Democrat once he takes office. Keith Heard will not run in 2006, but Democrats will hold on to the seat. Jane Kidd will lose to Bill Cowsert in the race for State Senate.
- The Republican/Democrat ratio in the State House and State Senate will not change much.
- Pressure will mount for Bobby Kahn to step down as head of the Democratic Party of Georgia. He won’t. Democrats will continue to lose.
- Charlie Norwood will win in a walk over whichever sacrificial lamb the Democrats put up against him.
- John Barrow will run even farther to the right in an effort to avoid frightening rural conservatives. His liberal base will get even angrier with him than they are now, but it won’t matter because they don’t live in his district. Savannah’s large gay community will protest loudly against Barrow. Inexplicably, Pete McCommons will continue to support Barrow. In the end, Barrow loses narrowly, and spends some time mulling over a run against Saxby Chambliss in 2008 before deciding to go to work for a DC-based law firm.
- The Democratic Party of Georgia won’t be any closer to finding a reputable candidate to run against Chambliss than they are now.
Your predictions below.
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