Oconee County, GA Politics

Even though I may not agree with their politics, I like to go and introduce myself to most candidates who won't try to punch my pick-up truck. So last night I saw a relatively youthful looking Dr. Paul Broun in a red polo shirt and straw hat, age 61, at the Athens Academy spring scrimmage football game and BBQ. We argued and turned heads in the relatively small and predominantly Republican crowd about the possibility of a Democrat winning. Dr. Broun told me that Democrats have no chance, and I told him that Democrats do have a chance, especially if 35 Americans a week are getting slaughtered in Iraq through next month. He kind of ushered me away from the paltry crowd so as not to scorch the ears of the nearby Republican elite faithful. To his credit, Dr. Broun was very forthright, honest and compelling in his discussion, claiming various Democrats are going to vote for him. I am sure there are more than a handful of lifelong Democrats in the over 60 crowd locally that remembers ...

Go to Original The Goods on Goodling and the Keys to the Kingdom By Greg Palast BradBlog.com Thursday 24 May 2007 And the no longer "missing" Rove emails revealing the cagey scheme to steal 2008... This Monica revealed something hotter - much hotter - than a stained blue dress. In her opening testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, Monica Goodling, the blonde-ling underling to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Department of Justice Liaison to the White House, dropped The Big One.... And the Committee members didn't even know it. Goodling testified that Gonzales' Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson, perjured himself, lying to the committee in earlier testimony. The lie: Sampson denied Monica had told him about Tim Griffin's "involvement in 'caging' voters" in 2004. Huh?? Tim Griffin? "Caging"??? The perplexed committee members hadn't a clue - and asked no substantive questions abou...

This story is too funny for me to even comment on yet, but suffice to say, it speaks volumes about Republican ethics and how they treat each other.

I went to the Oconee County Board of Commissioners public input forum in Courtroom #1 Tuesday evening and was generally appalled at the scare tactics employed by the opponents to having glasses of beer and wine at restaurants outside of Watkinsville. The vast majority of the people in the back seemed to back the ordinance allowing beer and wine to served with meals at restaurants such as DePalma's and possibly a Loco's. People need to realize that it is expressly against the code of the state of Georgia to have a referendum on beer and wine in restaurants. Beer and wine have been served in Watkinsville for five months with no major problems yet. Yes someone will die from alcohol, whether it is served in Oglethorpe, Oconee or Clarke counties. Yes alcohol is evil, but so are taxes, which are necessary under our current form of government. Development is here, and we have to do the most we can to control it. Beer and wine will pass 3-2 sometime around August is my prediction.

Dear Tenth Congressional District Democrat, The DPG (Democratic Party of Georgia) will conduct phone bank training for Tenth Congressional District Democrats on Thursday, May 24, in the conference room of the Butler Building on Milledge Avenue across from the entrance to Clarke Central High School. If you can, please plan on attending this training after you attend the meeting of the Clarke County Democrats fronm 6-7 p. m. in the Clarke County Courthouse (Grand Jury Room, fourth floor) where DPG Chairperson Jane Kidd is scheduled to be our featured speaker. Hope to see you this Thursday evening. Sincerely, Karen Solheim CCDC Corresponding Secretary

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Please help with James Marlow's campaign this Saturday. If you can help, please plan on meeting at the Butler Building (337 S. Milledge Ave, across the street from Clarke Central High School) on Saturday morning (5/19) at 10:00. We will be canvassing over in the Boulevard and Cobbham areas during the day on Saturday and should be done between 3:30 and 4:00. Anyone interested should call us at (706) 506-6394 or send us an email at payton.bradford@gmail.com

Extra Extra Read all about it: Wednesday 7 pm at Community Center on VFW Dr. in Watkinsville AGENDA CITY OF WATKINSVILLE May 9, 2007 CALL TO ORDER QUORUM CHECK PRESENTATION OF THE WATKINSVILLE BEAUTIFUL YARD AWARD MINUTES 1. April 11, 2007 APPEARANCES 1. Mary McCall – business license – Caterpillar Wings – 33 Harden Hill Road 2. Nicole Hale – business license – glo Salon – 10B Barnett Shoals Road 3. Dan Ryll – business license – Ryll Equipment Company – 395 Jerry Smith Drive, Suite C 4. Tom Jackson – building permit – add bathroom to existing garage/studio – 48 S. Main St. 5. Oconee State Bank – building permit – renovate existing building – 35 N. Main St. 6. David Branch – building permit – construct a 110’ x 30’ building at 72 ½ N. Main Street 7. Four Pillars, LLC – preliminary plat – consider setback variance – 131 Whitehall Road 8. Cissy Watson – Wisteria Ridge Apartment Complex Update ADMINISTRATION March, 2007 Reconciliation Report MAYOR’S REPORT CITIZEN’S COMMENTS OLD ...

In a fundraiser for the historic female high school combined Athens Academy-North Oconee-Oconee County HS girls rugby team going to Nationals in Milwaukee, WI May 18-19-20, Sweet Retreat is giving away snowcones at the store in Town Center. Stop by and support your home girls and $how them your $upport.

Look, 10th district Congressional candidate Jim Whitehead can joke all he wants about blowing up UGA to rid the academic world of supposed leftists, but when he contends that Democrats are registering members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network to vote, dumb ass redneck now-ex member of the State Senate District 24 has gone WAY too far. Nice attempt at scare or terror tactics, Whitehead. You may have just guaranteed Dr. Paul Broun will beat your ass even before a run-off. Here is what he said to Tom Crawford via Capitol Impact in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today: The language used in the debate over illegal immigration is getting pretty rough out there. Tom Crawford of capitolimpact.com has a piece, available at Atlanta Magazine, in which 10th District congressional candidate Jim Whitehead of Evans, a Republican, explains why he’s leaning on illegal immigration as an issue, rather than the war in the Middle East. Writes Crawford: “Iraq has not been a big thing in our district,” sai...

From Charles Baugh and Citizens for Oconee's Future: Just a quick note to let you know the Board of Commissioners denied the request to rezone a parcel along Daniells Bridge Road. The vote was 3 to 0 with Norris recusing himself. Issue was lack of adequate road infrastructure in the area. The citizens in the area did an outstanding job of organizing and presenting the issues in opposition to the proposal. Was more than just the adjacent neighborhoods. This is an excellent example of what can be accomplished when larger numbers of neighborhoods join to support each other. Petitions with over 400 signatures were presented to the Board. Will send further information later. Charles Baugh

I tried to pin down Melvin Davis about what date the Oconee County Board of Commissioners would have beer and wine in restaurants on the agenda, and it appears July is the date in question. Don Nelson does a good job of writing about it here.

More explanation here and here . The following is a letter from Terry Holley to Georgia State Democratic chair Jane Kidd. Dear Jane, This morning I had tried to send an email concerning qualifying, but my email was not cooperating. To bring you up to date, I waited until late yesterday to see how many people had qualified and decided that with three candidates running, it was not in the best interest of the Party or myself to enter this race. We had a window of opportunity immediately after Mr. Norwood’s passing and we blew it. Now, with some county committee’s endorsing a particular candidate, I have serious concerns as to why these counties are violating our bylaws and why our DPG officials have been waiting to give an interpretation on this. I certainly have informed our county chairs that I believe that this is a violation of our state party bylaws. I believe that you and I discussed this issue very early on which is why the state party would not give an endorsement. Competi...

For Immediate Release April 26, 2007 FFI Contact: Sylvia Wygoda Executive Director Georgia Commission on the Holocaust 404-433-4167 Secretary Handel Closes Qualifying for 10th Congressional District Special Election ATLANTA—Secretary of State Karen Handel closed qualifying for the 10th Congressional District today at noon. Ten candidates qualified and paid the qualifying fee of $4,950 for the special election to be held on Tuesday, June 19. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a run-off election will be held Tuesday, July 17. The following candidates qualified and will be placed on the ballot in alphabetical order: Paul Broun 1221 Knob Creek Dr. Athens, GA 30606 Party Affiliation: Republican Denise Freeman 1056 Freeman-Starks Dr. Tignall, GA 30668 Party Affiliation: Democrat Bill Greene 2431 Sahale Falls Ct. Braselton, GA 30517 Party Affiliation: Republican James Marlow 1153 Apalachee Dr. Lincolnton, GA 30817 Party Affiliation: Democrat Mark Myers 6419 Centerville ...

Looks like some candidates could not find the money to run. We still have 10 candidates to choose from on both sides of the political spectrum. Wonder what happened to Terry Holley?