Oconee County, GA Politics

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Johnathan McGinty < johnathan@frontporchconsulting.org > Date: Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 5:17 PM Subject: Statement from Sherry Jackson on State Budget Shortfall To: sherryjackson4senate@yahoo.com Statement From Sherry Jackson On The State's $600 Million Shortfall   "I'd say it was shocking to see that our state is more than $600 million in the red this year, but after the inaction and infighting the past two years I'm not terribly shocked by much coming out from under the Gold Dome anymore. Our economy is struggling and our citizens are hurting, and the inability of the Republican leadership to recognize how these troubles would impact our overall economic situation is disappointing and distressing. We've just completed yet another session without the appropriate investments in education, without the appropriate tax reform we need to help our citizens and without the appropriate fiscal discipline we...

Dan Matthews, Jr. ( danjmatt@bellsouth.net ) has forwarded an email to you as a web page. To view click on or copy this link into your browsers address bar http://www.Swiftpage5.com/PCPOWERUSER.Bobby/C080718083500/SpeAsAPage.aspx?Addr=danjmatt@bellsouth.net The original email was a message from Bobby@BobbySaxon.com. If you do not want forwards of future e-mails from this list, copy to your browser or click on this link to Opt-Out. http://www.Swiftpage5.com/SpeSupIt.aspx?Org=&Group=&Page=PCPOWERUSER.Bobby&Addr=oconeedemo.crat@blogger.com

Dear Friends, I've posted a few thoughts on the Tuesday election. It isn't possible to know exactly what the results mean in terms of sentiments of the voters. The beauty of our system is that voting is a private matter. But I've offered a few interpretations that I hope are worth considering. Details, as usual, are at http://www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ Lee

The Oconee County Democratic Committee needs to step up to the plate and do much more than bike rides and ice cream socials if they have any hope of electing any Democratic candidates this fall. Pat Priest has gone above and beyond the call of duty in doing a huge variety of projects and goals with next to no help from anyone in the committee. It is time to register voters for November. It is time to drop of voter registration forms at churches and schools. It is long beyond time to let people know it is OK to be a Democratic party member again in Oconee County. Minutes Oconee County Democratic Committee meeting July 15, 2008 Oconee County Courthouse, Watkinsville , Georgia     Vice-Chair Jonathan Veit called the meeting to order at 7:33 pm , as Chair Becky Vaughn was going to be late.   A quorum was declared present.   Minutes :  The minutes from the June 5, 2008 meeting were approved unanimously after a motion by Diana Jeffreys and...

I am just as flabbergasted at some of the results as the rest of you. The air was sucked out of the big upstairs courtroom last night as the final votes were tallied in the chair race. Sarah Bell ran a good race and emerged out of nowhere to challenge chairman Davis to the very end. I guess this means despite the perceived anti-incumbency fervor fanned by everything from Jim Ivey to secret meetings to courthouse moving rumors, Oconee County residents are reluctant to change leadership by a very slim margin. Looks like Oconee County voters rewarded John Daniell for his patience and smacked down Don Norris because of his suggestions about moving the courthouse. It also appears that there are more favorable memories of former fifth grade students of Kim Argo than there were people who actually voted for Ashley Hood. Hood knocked on many different doors in almost every subdivision in the county, but did not prevail despite an amazing collection of people helping her out. I really hope A...

Charlie says it best for what I am feeling right now. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Citizens By now you may have seen the election results.  I will write my analysis of the results in a day or so after time to reflect.   I was pleased to see that Horton, Hale and Daniell won.  Pritchett narrowly lost to Luke by 207 votes.  I was disappointed that Sarah lost.  She lost by only 100 votes.  Who says that our votes do not count?  I am sure there are folks who failed to vote for various reasons who are kicking themselves right now.  Sarah came from nowhere to take on an  entrenched incumbent and came within 100 votes out of over 6000 cast.  That in itself is a victory.  For the next 4 years Mr. Chairman will know that he is in that position by the thinnest of margins.  I hope you will let Sarah know of your appreciation for her super effort.  It is good to know we have leaders who are willing to take ...

Six votes separated incumbent G. Melvin Davis and challenger Sarah Bell going into the final section to be tallied. But Davis pulled away for the 100 vote win in the race for the chair of the Board of Commissioners for Oconee County. This is Davis's third consecutive term for the chair post. Other winners in the evening include Davis's former opponent in John Daniell, who defeated incumbent Don Norris. Incumbents Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton won by surprisingly comfortable margins, Hale 3-to-1 over Esther Porter, and Horton by 500+ votes over grader Mike Maxey. The Board of Education races were surprising to some, as Ashley Hood was defeated by Kim Argo in every precinct. Chuck Toney was defeated by Mike Hunter. Mack Guest was re-elected by a wide margin in the only returning regular Board member. Tom Breedlove won with little publicity over Kyle Martin. Breedlove will take on Rich Clark in November. Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone for a race well run. C...

Please heed Charles Baugh's advice and participate in your local government by casting your vote in the GOP primary. Time to seize control of our future. Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Citizens It is time to vote.  Polls close tonight at 7:00 PM.   Whether you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican or Independent , if you want to impact the  direction of our county government  you must choose the Republican ballot. Enjoy voting, it is a right that should not be taken for granted and must be exercised at every opportunity.  Charles Baugh

Vote for Bell, Pritchett, Horton, Daniell, Hale in the BOC. Vote Guest, Hood, Toney and Martin in the BOE. Vote Quillian-Carr in coroner. Polls are open until 7 pm. Thanks! Oconee County Precincts Precinct Precinct Number Location Senate District House District Cong. District Judicial District Annex 1 Oconee Gov't Annex 1291 Greensboro Hwy 46 113 10 46 Colham Ferry 2 Colham Ferry Elementary School 190 Colham Ferry Road 46 113 10 46 Antioch 3 Antioch Christian Church 1100 Antioch Church Road 46 113 10 46 Farmington ...

More fodder for your primary grist or wind mill - thanks Steve Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr. Doug Everett vs   Rick Collum   http://www.moultrie observer. com/homepage/ local_story_ 124220955. html   I like Rick Collum.  He recognizes that renewables can be a good part of a balanced energy plan. His opponent still seems tied to the natural gas/coal/nuclear mindset.  BTW, if you think nuclear is a solution lets remove all subsidies and public insurance and see if nuclear is still cheaper than renewables.  Even the playing field and let's see what happens.   Pam Davidson vs Lauren McDonald   I prefer Pam. From Creative Loafing "Davidson's real big on renewable energy — specifically juice generated from the wind, sun and biomass, which is cleaner and considered the state's next natural gold mine. McDonald says renewable energy is good but shouldn't be mandated. He says he prefe...

Good stuff from Tony and Brian among others. VOTE TOMORROW Woven brightly, Daniel J. Matthews, Jr.  From: aglenn@uga.edu  To: aglenn@uga.edu  Subject: FW: Scorecard  Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:15:13 -0400    For those that have not taken a look at Lee's blog and his most recent  "scorecard" posting, I encourage you to do so. Forward this to your  friends, family, neighbors, homeowners association, etc.  http://www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/      You may also be interested in reading Brian Brodrick's blog post on  tomorrow's elections. Brian is member of the Watkinsville City Council.  http://oconeepolitics.blogspot.com/2008/07/upcoming-elections.html      Regards,  Tony Glenn      -----Original Message-----  From: Lee Becker [mailto:lbbecker@mindspring.com]  Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 4:00 PM  Subject: Scorecard    Dear Friends,   ...

If anyone cares to argue why we should (or should not) continue arbitrarily attaching political parties to the campaigns for the Board of Education and Board of Commissioners, then they should attend the Oconee County Democratic Committee meeting this Primary Tuesday evening at the Board of Commissioners chambers on the second floor of the Oconee County Courthouse. Of course down on the first floor and more than likely across the street at the Board of Elections headquarters votes will be furiously tallied from the G.O.P. primary. There will surely be some cell phones ringing and texting totals Tuesday in the courthouse and elsewhere. Come celebrate the dawning of a new consensus in Oconee County Tuesday evening with an open door to all interested individuals regardless of affiliation or geographic area of residence. Oconee Democrats Regular Monthly Meeting Date: Tuesday July 15, 2008 Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Location: Oconee County Courthouse Phone: 706-354-8861 or 770...

Dear Friends, I probably don't need to remind you to vote on Tuesday. It is quite possible several of the races will be decided by small numbers of votes. In 2004, Chuck Horton defeated W.E. Wilkes for Post #4 on the Board of Commissioners by 62 votes, and Jim Luke defeated Johnny Pritchett by 135 votes in the Post 1 contest. In the August runoff, Don Norris defeated Liz Headley for Post #2 by 130 votes. The final voting choices each of us makes in an election can be the outcome of a complex weighting of assessments of the candidates and their stands on issues. My list of important issues is not likely to be exactly the same as yours. And my assessment of the better candidate on any give issue is not likely to be exactly the same as yours either. With that in mind, I've created a summary scorecard of actual votes of the candidates for the Board of Commissioners with voting records on issues that I have been involved with over the last several years. Many of the issues are relat...

What, no love for this blog (or Brian Brodrick's or Steve Holzman's)? Come on Charlie, share the glory. Adam Thompson has done a good job of covering Oconee County from the daily desk, while my old editor Wayne Ford has completely forgotten about running any real local news in the weekly supplement no longer sent to all the mailboxes. He will clone the coverage Adam writes for the Daily, sometimes even adding letters and articles before the 50 cent a day newspaper gets sold. I looked up the statutes for changing a county's legal organ in the state code, but since the Leader has no paid subscriptions, yet alone the mandated three-quarters paid subscriptions, they are not in the running yet to remove that plum from the Enterprise. Maybe if Rob Peecher, Sr. can pay the retainer of a large law firm, then maybe they can finagle them away after two years of hemorhagging legal fees on both sides. You have to get a Probate Judge, the Sheriff and a Grand Jury involved in changing L...