Board of Commissioner Races
Charlie Baugh lets you know what he thinks about the developer gang: Porter, Maxey, Luke, Norris and Davis. I would not recommend voting for any of this ethically challenged candidates.
Citizens
Following this message is a message from Lee Becker with a link to his blog . He has just posted 3 articles with information that every voter should have before making a decision in the Board of Commission races.
Mike Maxey a grading contractor running against Chuck Horton for post 4 talks a lot about his ethics but I think Maxey hasn't a clue what the word means for public officials. Sitting on the Planning Commission, he voted to rezone property for a hotel being developed by Chairman Melvin Davis's campaign manager. Later he took the contract to do the grading on the hotel project. Not only that, Maxey plans to vote on rezone applications and then seek the grading work on the projects. At least he is up front about it. If you vote for him you know what you will be getting. Maxey has also stated that he thinks it takes too long to get property rezoned and he will seek to speed up the process. How would you like to be in a neighborhood contesting a bad rezone application and be facing a board made up of Mr. Maxey, Don Norris who has seen few rezone requests he did not like and whose bank has the opportunity for more loans each time property is rezoned, Jim Luke who operates hardware stores and profits from more building and Ester Porter,(should she defeat Margaret Hale) who sells building products? All four could profit directly or indirectly from their votes. Which do you think would take precedence, money or neighborhood protection? We need to keep a balanced board.
Speaking of neighborhood protection, how would you like to have an industrial rezone for a garbage transfer station dropped next to your neighborhood? That was proposed 2 years ago and Mike Maxey voted for it. Fortunately it was not approved by the Board of Commissioners thanks to Chuck Horton and Margaret Hale. The rezone applicant subsequently sued the county but withdrew the suit. That party is now a major backer of Maxey. There are several other instances where Maxey voted for rezones that were not in the best interest of nearby neighborhoods. Maxey is campaigning on republican principles. These are not the republican principles that I vote for.
Melvin Davis, Don Norris and Jim Luke blather about wise spending and keeping taxes low. I call it blather because there is so much difference in what they say and what they do. They voted to commit the county to a $345,000,000 reservoir project in Walton County. The Oconee portion is about $100,000,000 plus debt service and could be the entire project if Walton is unable to pay its part. Although the promise was made that water customers would pay for it the only funds committed are property taxes. Commissioners Horton and Hale voted against that project. They wanted our money spent in this county. Has anyone had a tax decrease in the past 4 years? Just compare your tax bill of 4 years ago to your 2007 bill.
I encourage you to go to Lee's blog and read his latest posts. He also has an archive of all his posts which should be helpful to voters.g
Charles Baugh
Dear Friends,
I've just posted two reports on my blog, one covering the recently filed > Campaign Contribution Disclosure Reports for the Oconee County Board of > Commissioners races and the other listing sources of information about the > campaigns.
The first report shows the dominance of incumbents in raising and and > spending money. The exception is challenger Mike Maxey, who has loaned his > campaign a significant sum and spent heavily on advertising. Incumbent BOC > Chairman Melvin Davis has raised the most money, spent the most money, and > has the most available to spend.
The second report gives links to printed reports and audio and video files > relating to the campaign.
Go to http://www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ for the two blogs > filed today.
Lee
Woven brightly, 
Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Citizens
Following this message is a message from Lee Becker with a link to his blog . He has just posted 3 articles with information that every voter should have before making a decision in the Board of Commission races.
Mike Maxey a grading contractor running against Chuck Horton for post 4 talks a lot about his ethics but I think Maxey hasn't a clue what the word means for public officials. Sitting on the Planning Commission, he voted to rezone property for a hotel being developed by Chairman Melvin Davis's campaign manager. Later he took the contract to do the grading on the hotel project. Not only that, Maxey plans to vote on rezone applications and then seek the grading work on the projects. At least he is up front about it. If you vote for him you know what you will be getting. Maxey has also stated that he thinks it takes too long to get property rezoned and he will seek to speed up the process. How would you like to be in a neighborhood contesting a bad rezone application and be facing a board made up of Mr. Maxey, Don Norris who has seen few rezone requests he did not like and whose bank has the opportunity for more loans each time property is rezoned, Jim Luke who operates hardware stores and profits from more building and Ester Porter,(should she defeat Margaret Hale) who sells building products? All four could profit directly or indirectly from their votes. Which do you think would take precedence, money or neighborhood protection? We need to keep a balanced board.
Speaking of neighborhood protection, how would you like to have an industrial rezone for a garbage transfer station dropped next to your neighborhood? That was proposed 2 years ago and Mike Maxey voted for it. Fortunately it was not approved by the Board of Commissioners thanks to Chuck Horton and Margaret Hale. The rezone applicant subsequently sued the county but withdrew the suit. That party is now a major backer of Maxey. There are several other instances where Maxey voted for rezones that were not in the best interest of nearby neighborhoods. Maxey is campaigning on republican principles. These are not the republican principles that I vote for.
Melvin Davis, Don Norris and Jim Luke blather about wise spending and keeping taxes low. I call it blather because there is so much difference in what they say and what they do. They voted to commit the county to a $345,000,000 reservoir project in Walton County. The Oconee portion is about $100,000,000 plus debt service and could be the entire project if Walton is unable to pay its part. Although the promise was made that water customers would pay for it the only funds committed are property taxes. Commissioners Horton and Hale voted against that project. They wanted our money spent in this county. Has anyone had a tax decrease in the past 4 years? Just compare your tax bill of 4 years ago to your 2007 bill.
I encourage you to go to Lee's blog and read his latest posts. He also has an archive of all his posts which should be helpful to voters.g
Charles Baugh
Dear Friends,
I've just posted two reports on my blog, one covering the recently filed > Campaign Contribution Disclosure Reports for the Oconee County Board of > Commissioners races and the other listing sources of information about the > campaigns.
The first report shows the dominance of incumbents in raising and and > spending money. The exception is challenger Mike Maxey, who has loaned his > campaign a significant sum and spent heavily on advertising. Incumbent BOC > Chairman Melvin Davis has raised the most money, spent the most money, and > has the most available to spend.
The second report gives links to printed reports and audio and video files > relating to the campaign.
Go to http://www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ for the two blogs > filed today.
Lee
Comments
I think he is the better candidate and not just another politician.