Oconee County, GA Politics

State Representative Bob Smith of Watkinsville has recently floated an idea to take over the operations of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport from that of the current amalgamation of Clayton County and the City of Atlanta, of which it currently stands. While I am not an Air Traffic Controller nor experienced in the day to day running of an airport, I can vouch for the State of Georgia's ability to try to cope with the traffic in metro Atlanta and can give them a grade for their efforts so far: F as in failing. It is funny how the Republican majority here in Georgia seems to be very anxious to yank control of the State Department of Transportation or the Airport at any given chance, but when it comes to funding those infrastructure improvements so desperately needed, the transportation issue is seemingly always last in line. For years an idea of an alternative airport has been kicked around for Jackson County and elsewhere, and this is no where near getting ready to taxi on th...

Once again outstanding analysis from Lee Becker: Dear Friends, I've done some precinct analyses of the July 15 election results that suggest that incumbency played a significant role in explaining the vote in the Board of Commissioners races and that the beer and wine issue probably did not. Incumbency in this time of rapid development in the county probably is a surrogate for concerns about development. My analysis also suggests that while order on the ballot may explain some of the votes in the Board of Education races, it clearly was not the key factor. The August 5 BOC meeting shows that development, particularly in the south of the county, is likely to be an issue the new board will face when it takes office in January. Go to http://www.oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/ for details. I also posted an analysis earlier in the week of the coroner race. It is at http://oconeecountyobservations.blogspot.com/2008/08/oconee-coroner-runoff-outcome-not.html Lee

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...