A primer to getting published at Oconee Politics
Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to read my web log. This entry is an attempt at facilitating some better understanding on my guidelines for the publishing of comments, or reactions to what I have written. Generally writing, I will publish any dissenting viewpoint as long as it refrains from most personal attacks.
In other words, it would be fine to write "I do not agree with the post for reasons X, Y and Z." When questions of a person's intellect or lack there of, persona, religious belief, heritage, family, pets, vehicles, et cetera, it is almost always destined for the rejected pile.
I attempt to tell you this in order for you to not waste any of my precious time or yours in asking, for example, how ignorant I may be of the ways of the local Republican party. I profess near complete ignorance to the inner workings of the members of the Republican party. I believe I have been to one meeting in the last several years and it was when my favorite University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock was speaking, and I wrote an article about it for the Athens Banner-Herald's Oconee Living section, possibly even before it was renamed the Oconee Living section (anyone else remember the "O" section?)
I am a student of political science and always will be. It was an elected Republican friend of mine here in Oconee County who first mentioned the letters "G.B.I." in connection with the Jim Ivey shenanigans with the Veterans Memorial Fund.
Far be it from me to offer any advice or opinion for the local G.O.P. in how to handle their own affairs from the corruption of the self-professed "Mr. G.O.P." but the for a while it seemed like the local Republicans were digging their own grave faster than I could post reactions to it. I would reiterate that the process needs to be a whole lot more transparent than it has been so far.
Other elected members of the Board of Commissioners have confided in me their disgust and contempt for the entire process and procedure of the Veterans Memorial fiasco long before the tendrils of Iveygate began to drag down the highest elected Republicans both here in and the statehouse.
I have been around here long enough to see the political pendulum swing to the far right after having been on the left for a number of decades. I realize it has been very fashionable and trendy to be a Republican here since the latter half of the Reagan admininstration.
I know Cathy Cox, Mark Taylor, Michael Thurmond, Carlotta Harrell and Tommy Irvin are making it socially acceptable to be a Democrat proudly again in Georgia. I look to Mark Warner, Tom Vilsack, Harold Ford, Jr., Evan Bayh, Wesley Clark, John Edwards and others for the national leadership. I grew up with leaders like Jimmy Carter, Morris Udall, Fred Harris, Harold Hughes, Tom Harkin and others.
Not everything the Democratic leadership says or does is automatically what I believe in or act upon. I have long ago tried to publish an accounting of what the local Democratic committee believes in, and I will refresh the account again.
It was originally a letter to the editor after Jim Ivey and I exchanged editorial letters about how much of a failure President Bush is in his lack of reaction to the Hurricane Katrina disasters.
Dear Editor of the Oconee Enterprise:
It seems my original response to Mr. Ivey's editorial applauding the efforts of our President in the initial days after Hurricane Katrina has ignited a small storm of replies both personally attacking me and the Democratic Party.
Here is an email from our list-serve ()offering up positive solutions a better future for Oconee County:
Oconee County Democratic Committee supports re-routing the 441 By-Pass around Bishop so as to not disturb farmlands, as per the
petition being forwarded by Russ Page and the Oconee Partnership for
Farmland Protection. We also support his efforts for a Riverwalk on the south end of the county.
The Oconee County Democratic Committee supports more sidewalks, bike
paths and alternate means of transportation here in Northeast Georgia, but especially in Watkinsville, hopefully someday connecting Commerce to Athens to Oconee County to Madison.
The Oconee County Democratic Committee supports Citizens for Oconee's
Future and all other grass-roots organizations concerned with the
uncontrolled growth and paving of our pristine forests and farmlands.
We support holding our elected officials accountable for the
decisions they make regarding Master Planned Developments and other
spot zoning negatively impacting residential and agricultural life in
Oconee County.
We support smart growth to combat sprawl. We encourage community
involvement in all planning decisions, not just the developers. We demand a better diversity on the planning commission than homebuilders, developers and realtors.
We support Historic Preservation and the efforts of the Oconee County
Historical Society.
We support the Blue Hat Ladies, our senior citizens, better pay for
police officers and teachers, better pay and safer equipment for our
troops in combat (body armor), and complete transparency in all
governmental hearings, motions and meetings. Insurance and a home for all Oconee County residents is something else we support.
We support the safety of our children and schools. We proudly support our schools and a more open process of academic hiring's and firings.
We do not support more billboards, landfills and pollution in Oconee County. We encourage people to walk and ride bikes as soon as it is safe and feasible outside of your subdivisions to do so around here.
Our national sovereignty and the fight against radical Islamic
fundamentalism is compromised by our dependence on foreign oil, particularly
Middle Eastern oil. We see it as the patriotic thing to do
here at home is to demand that growth in Oconee County be carried out in a
way that makes us less dependent on foreign oil. We don't want to take folks
cars and SUVs away from them. We just want to design our county in a way
that folks aren't forced to use cars to get everywhere.
We are the Oconee County Democratic Committee and proud to make our
future a better place for all of us. I know we are much more inclusive and tolerant than a lot of the Neo-Conservative Republicans. We have had Republican visitors to our meetings and office holders join our list-serve. Joe Walter is a registered Republican (who came) to our November meeting running for City Council in a non-partisan race in November (and won by a 3-to-1 margin). I look forward to hearing what he has to say about Watkinsville in the near future. Come on along and have a listen. 7 pm Thursday, November 3rd in the Board of Commissioners chambers of the Oconee County Courthouse. Thank you very much for reading this letter.
I would like to add that we will not tell you how to be born, how to live and how to die. The current administration continues to cut taxes for the super wealthy and compiles a massive deficit for our grandchildren to suffer.
We are the party of tolerance, individual freedom, fiscal responsibility and liberty. Any fair comparison of the economic results of Bush vs. Clinton terms will prove my point. I will gladly debate Mr. Ivey or anyone else about the issues effecting Oconee County any day. We invite Republicans to come to our Thursday, Jan. 5th meeting to try and establish an equally effective dialogue to solve some of the problems.
We are very blessed to live a fine life here in Oconee County that Democrats, Republicans and Independents have all contributed to, and we wish to keep it that way. We see some adverse effects on neighborhoods by cramming strip malls in every other farm pasture. We support the environment, animals and farmers.
We offer better protection for cattle and farmers than the Republicans do. We always have, we always will.
I can not possibly solve the problems of Oconee County and the world in one letter, but what I do offer is an option to start solving problems and less hatred of our neighbors. I know the people of Oconee County will listen to love instead of name calling.
Dan Matthews, chair of the Oconee County Democratic Committee
In other words, it would be fine to write "I do not agree with the post for reasons X, Y and Z." When questions of a person's intellect or lack there of, persona, religious belief, heritage, family, pets, vehicles, et cetera, it is almost always destined for the rejected pile.
I attempt to tell you this in order for you to not waste any of my precious time or yours in asking, for example, how ignorant I may be of the ways of the local Republican party. I profess near complete ignorance to the inner workings of the members of the Republican party. I believe I have been to one meeting in the last several years and it was when my favorite University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock was speaking, and I wrote an article about it for the Athens Banner-Herald's Oconee Living section, possibly even before it was renamed the Oconee Living section (anyone else remember the "O" section?)
I am a student of political science and always will be. It was an elected Republican friend of mine here in Oconee County who first mentioned the letters "G.B.I." in connection with the Jim Ivey shenanigans with the Veterans Memorial Fund.
Far be it from me to offer any advice or opinion for the local G.O.P. in how to handle their own affairs from the corruption of the self-professed "Mr. G.O.P." but the for a while it seemed like the local Republicans were digging their own grave faster than I could post reactions to it. I would reiterate that the process needs to be a whole lot more transparent than it has been so far.
Other elected members of the Board of Commissioners have confided in me their disgust and contempt for the entire process and procedure of the Veterans Memorial fiasco long before the tendrils of Iveygate began to drag down the highest elected Republicans both here in and the statehouse.
I have been around here long enough to see the political pendulum swing to the far right after having been on the left for a number of decades. I realize it has been very fashionable and trendy to be a Republican here since the latter half of the Reagan admininstration.
I know Cathy Cox, Mark Taylor, Michael Thurmond, Carlotta Harrell and Tommy Irvin are making it socially acceptable to be a Democrat proudly again in Georgia. I look to Mark Warner, Tom Vilsack, Harold Ford, Jr., Evan Bayh, Wesley Clark, John Edwards and others for the national leadership. I grew up with leaders like Jimmy Carter, Morris Udall, Fred Harris, Harold Hughes, Tom Harkin and others.
Not everything the Democratic leadership says or does is automatically what I believe in or act upon. I have long ago tried to publish an accounting of what the local Democratic committee believes in, and I will refresh the account again.
It was originally a letter to the editor after Jim Ivey and I exchanged editorial letters about how much of a failure President Bush is in his lack of reaction to the Hurricane Katrina disasters.
Dear Editor of the Oconee Enterprise:
It seems my original response to Mr. Ivey's editorial applauding the efforts of our President in the initial days after Hurricane Katrina has ignited a small storm of replies both personally attacking me and the Democratic Party.
Here is an email from our list-serve (
Oconee County Democratic Committee supports re-routing the 441 By-Pass around Bishop so as to not disturb farmlands, as per the
petition being forwarded by Russ Page and the Oconee Partnership for
Farmland Protection. We also support his efforts for a Riverwalk on the south end of the county.
The Oconee County Democratic Committee supports more sidewalks, bike
paths and alternate means of transportation here in Northeast Georgia, but especially in Watkinsville, hopefully someday connecting Commerce to Athens to Oconee County to Madison.
The Oconee County Democratic Committee supports Citizens for Oconee's
Future and all other grass-roots organizations concerned with the
uncontrolled growth and paving of our pristine forests and farmlands.
We support holding our elected officials accountable for the
decisions they make regarding Master Planned Developments and other
spot zoning negatively impacting residential and agricultural life in
Oconee County.
We support smart growth to combat sprawl. We encourage community
involvement in all planning decisions, not just the developers. We demand a better diversity on the planning commission than homebuilders, developers and realtors.
We support Historic Preservation and the efforts of the Oconee County
Historical Society.
We support the Blue Hat Ladies, our senior citizens, better pay for
police officers and teachers, better pay and safer equipment for our
troops in combat (body armor), and complete transparency in all
governmental hearings, motions and meetings. Insurance and a home for all Oconee County residents is something else we support.
We support the safety of our children and schools. We proudly support our schools and a more open process of academic hiring's and firings.
We do not support more billboards, landfills and pollution in Oconee County. We encourage people to walk and ride bikes as soon as it is safe and feasible outside of your subdivisions to do so around here.
Our national sovereignty and the fight against radical Islamic
fundamentalism is compromised by our dependence on foreign oil, particularly
Middle Eastern oil. We see it as the patriotic thing to do
here at home is to demand that growth in Oconee County be carried out in a
way that makes us less dependent on foreign oil. We don't want to take folks
cars and SUVs away from them. We just want to design our county in a way
that folks aren't forced to use cars to get everywhere.
We are the Oconee County Democratic Committee and proud to make our
future a better place for all of us. I know we are much more inclusive and tolerant than a lot of the Neo-Conservative Republicans. We have had Republican visitors to our meetings and office holders join our list-serve. Joe Walter is a registered Republican (who came) to our November meeting running for City Council in a non-partisan race in November (and won by a 3-to-1 margin). I look forward to hearing what he has to say about Watkinsville in the near future. Come on along and have a listen. 7 pm Thursday, November 3rd in the Board of Commissioners chambers of the Oconee County Courthouse. Thank you very much for reading this letter.
I would like to add that we will not tell you how to be born, how to live and how to die. The current administration continues to cut taxes for the super wealthy and compiles a massive deficit for our grandchildren to suffer.
We are the party of tolerance, individual freedom, fiscal responsibility and liberty. Any fair comparison of the economic results of Bush vs. Clinton terms will prove my point. I will gladly debate Mr. Ivey or anyone else about the issues effecting Oconee County any day. We invite Republicans to come to our Thursday, Jan. 5th meeting to try and establish an equally effective dialogue to solve some of the problems.
We are very blessed to live a fine life here in Oconee County that Democrats, Republicans and Independents have all contributed to, and we wish to keep it that way. We see some adverse effects on neighborhoods by cramming strip malls in every other farm pasture. We support the environment, animals and farmers.
We offer better protection for cattle and farmers than the Republicans do. We always have, we always will.
I can not possibly solve the problems of Oconee County and the world in one letter, but what I do offer is an option to start solving problems and less hatred of our neighbors. I know the people of Oconee County will listen to love instead of name calling.
Dan Matthews, chair of the Oconee County Democratic Committee
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