Oconee County, GA Politics

By Ruth Bracewell June 1, 2006 Anybody remember the “Contract With America”? This was the brainchild political strategy engineered in 1994 by Newt Gingrich which resulted in the Republican takeover of the U. S. House of Representatives. Over 300 Republican congressmen or congressional candidates, including our congressman, Charlie Norwood, signed this “contract” with the American public, promising what they would do if they were elected. One important section was entitled the Citizen Legislature Act, which stated that all congressmen would serve a maximum of 12 years in Congress and then return home to allow other “citizen” legislators to take their places, thereby ridding Congress of what appeared to be “lifetime appoint-ments” for career politicians. Those 12 years expire this year. According to the contract which all those Republicans literally signed in 1994, we should be seeing a mass retirement of Republican congress-men this year, with hundreds of new names and faces run-ning t...

Herman Cain exemplifies the septic partisan infection that is resulting in the slow decay of all that is civil about our society. Herman Cain is disingenuous. Herman Cain, the former CEO of a deflated pizza company that is now only a shadow of the business it once was, referred to members of the Democratic Party as “Hezbocrats” in his last column. The basis for this childish name-calling is simply because he disagrees with their policies and approaches. In Herman Cain’s mind, those who disagree with his views are relegated to the ranks of terrorists. It’s no wonder that he is a “former” CEO of a corporation, as well as a failed politician and statesman. Herman Cain should step up the podium and acknowledge the real reasoning behind his attack on Democratic Party members. While Herman Cain attempted to chastise some Democrats for their criticism of Wal-Mart and its employment practices, he should have acknowledged his own role in this debate. Herman Cain is a member of a hired a...

Goergia Republican Congressman Charlie Norwood told an audience at the Greene County Farm Bureau meeting last week that "Democrats should be taken out behind the barn and shot." Norwood's statement concerns me on any number of levels, the least of which is his sanity or why he is not immediately incarcerated (or at least indicted). This type of dangerous and reckless statement deserves censure on the floor of the US House of Representatives. Norwood not only does'ot deserve re-election, but he needs to be servesd scorn and ridicule on every measure, Republican and Democrat. Let's see how big a media storm this comment can cause, because surely in this day and age advocating political assasination is still a crime and evidence of a cruel and despicable despot in Congress. The dentist needs to be retired. Let's elect someone we can be proud of in R. Terry Holley.

Congressional candidate R. Terry Holley will be attending the regularly scheduled monthly Oconee County Democratic committee meeting 7 pm Thursday, September 7 in the Board of Commissioners chambers of the Oconee County Courthouse at 23 N. Main Street in Watkinsville, offering positive alternatives for Northeast Georgia from the usual Republican negativity, cronyism, corruption and balderdash. 23-year-old Georgia Democratic Party committee members Tahir Duckett will be attending as well, as will State Senate candidate Jane Kidd and State Representative candidate Becky Vaughn. All are welcome to attend regardless of affiliation or geographic residency. For more information, please contact Dan Matthews at 706-769-1131 or check out http://www.oconeedemocrats.org

Contact: Martin Matheny 706-461-0439 press@macrawson.com Rawson to hold campaign rally and barbecue Barnes to join State Senate Candidate in Winterville Winterville, GA – Mac Rawson, Democratic candidate for State Senate in the 47th District will be hosting an “ol’ Fashioned Rally and Barbecue” at Pittard Park, near the Winterville depot on Thursday, September 14. Rawson will be joined by former Governor Roy Barnes and other local and state political figures. The rally and barbecue begins at 6:00 pm and features food from Zeb’s barbecue in Madison County. The event will be family friendly, and everyone is encouraged to attend. Admission is $10.00, which includes the barbecue. “This is a great opportunity to get out and take my message directly to the voters,” Rawson said. “I think we’re all going to have a great time, and I promise that we’ll keep the speeches short.” For more information, contact the Rawson for State Senate campaign at 706-543-...

Founders James Carville DEMOCRACY CORPS CARVILLE ♦ GREENBERG 10 G STREET, NE ♦ SUITE 400 ♦ WASHINGTON, DC 20002 202-478-8330 (TEL) ♦ 202-289-8648 (FAX) WWW.DEMOCRACYCORPS.COM Date: August 10, 2006 To: Friends of Democracy Corps From: Stan Greenberg James Carville Amy Gershkoff RE: BATTLING FOR WHITE RURAL AMERICA Denying Republicans Their Base A recent Democracy Corps poll1 shows that white rural America—one of the cornerstones of the Republican base—is up for grabs. Disenchanted with Bush, squeezed by rising costs and stagnant incomes, and embittered by the on-going conflict in Iraq, white rural voters are ready to vote for change. Democrats poll even with or ahead of Republicans in key swing districts and states, and the Republican thermometer reading continues to fall. Democrats are in a position to make big strides in the American heartland if they define the election principally in terms of showing their commitment to family and a new direction in Iraq. Thus a candidate who pledge...

Borrowed from another blog: Athens Banner-Herald 7-13-03 …….A public hearing Monday on the environmental impacts of a proposed passenger rail line between Athens and Atlanta might seem like an empty exercise, now that Gov. Sonny Perdue has axed funding for it…. The contents of the Perdue ads are no better than the messenger. Trying to tap into the National frustration with Immigration by saying “Sonny did…” something about it was just too much overreaching and I tuned it out after the first one. The “bragging” about improvements to education just antagonizes teachers and others who know the real facts. Moving from 50th on SAT scores to 46th is noteworthy but hardly anything giving any special credit to Sonny Perdue. Perdue has come to Oconee County several times and that is good. However, his spokesman was Jim Ivey of the Veterans Funds notoriety. This year, I tried to find a contact for the Perdue Campaign and was directed to Perdue Campaign Oconee County Chairman Tom Littl...

Citizens for Oconee's Future, Inc. P. O. Box 1301 Watkinsville, GA 30677 Following is the text of an e mail follow up by Lee Becker, Friends of Barber Creek with additional information about the Rocky Branch/Barber Creek waste water treatment plant. If you have not done so already Please follow up with a letter to the Georgia EPD requesting a public hearing. Charles Baugh President Dear Friends, We still need letters sent to the state Environment Protection Division if we are going to get a public hearing on the County's request to begin dumping treated wastewater from the Rocky Branch Waste Treatment Plant into Barber Creek. Here's another reason to want that hearing: The Rocky Branch Waste Treatment Plant will treat INDUSTRIAL waste as well as residential waste. In July the pharmaceutical company Novartis announced that it was bypassing Georgia and building its influenza vaccine plant in North Carolina instead. The Georgia location that Novartis was considering was at G...