Henry County Democrats in the Press...

Richard comes out with the better quotes on this one... I wish the whole interview I gave was posted online or something... I had some better one-liners... sigh.

Published: Thursday, August 21, 2008
Henry Dems say 2008 is year of change

By Johnny Jackson

jjackson@henryherald.com

Local Democrats are optimistic about the upcoming November elections, saying increased interest in national politics will mean increased local political interest.

"I think that this is the year of the Democratic Party," said Richard Ray, a long-time member of the Henry County Democratic Committee, which underwent a sort of revival and reorganization in March.

Ray is also a super delegate for the Democratic Party. On Saturday, he will head to Denver, Colo., to represent the state of Georgia in the Democratic National Committee Convention, which will decide the party's next candidate for the presidency.

Ray said he believes a push for change in the national government will spur similar sentiments locally. "We don't have a lot of local candidates running in November under the Democratic banner," he said. "But those we have, we are hoping that they are going to do well in Henry County."

Energy policy and the economy are big concerns for Americans on the national level, he said. "The American people are seeing the middle class shrink, jobs go overseas ... people want better. People want change."

Issues are not much different, he said, on the local front. He said he believes that transportation, health care and education are the leading issues among Henry County residents.

"Certainly, the cost of gasoline is the No. 1 issue," he said. "Everybody is hurting with the cost of gasoline in terms of getting to and from work and getting their kids to and from school functions. And they want it fixed."

The Democratic Party presence is growing in Henry County as well. More than 5,600 ballots were cast in the July 15 Democratic Primary Election for U.S. Senate.

"Demographics are improving in favor of the Democratic Party," Ray said. "This election cycle, you are going to see more and more people qualifying for local elections as Democrats."

More local Democratic influence, he said, should encourage more debate on transportation issues, like the controversial Atlanta-to-Macon commuter rail idea. "The rail extension for Atlanta to Macon - I think the people are ready for that and the business community in Henry County is pushing for that," he added. "There's going to have to be something done, because the traffic is going to continue to increase."

Such controversial issues have fueled debate in Henry County for years. As gas prices have increased by more than a dollar per gallon over the past year, the debate is more heated now than ever.

"Democrats are really excited this year," said Jim Nichols, chairman of the Henry County Democratic Committee. "People have really been inspired to get back into politics. I think after eight years of Bush, people are starting to step up to the plate and say, 'enough is enough.'"

Several have joined the restructured Henry County Democratic Committee already, throwing their support behind Democratic candidate for Henry County Sheriff, Joe Mack Eckler. In November, Eckler will face Republican candidate, Maj. Keith McBrayer, of the Henry County Sheriff's Office.

"I think he's really going to run a fantastic campaign," Nichols said. "His goal is to bring change to the local level with gang issues and education."

He said he believes November will tell the story of what he believes is a political revival for Henry County's Democrats. "People are asking, 'How can I help bring back a government I can believe in?" he said. "People are ready for change, and the focus is on the issues, especially the transportation issue."

The Henry County Democratic Committee currently has about 25 core members and about 150 active volunteers. "We're growing, and we really have a core group that's active and energized," he added. "We have a revived party, locally in Henry."

The committee meets at the Henry County Government Annex on the fourth Tuesday of every month. The next meeting will be held Aug. 26, at 7:30 p.m.

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Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com

Live blogging from Board of Elections Henry County

I'm at the board of elections here in Henry County GA; the Democratic Party gets one observer along with all of the candidates.

They have a set up with 4 laptops.. So i'm on a laptop thought'd I'd be posting tomorrow.

Hope we get out early... I have to be at work at 3:30am!!! sigh...

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Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com

predictions...

AJC is reporting, and everyone I'm talking to locally on the ground, are saying turnout is low. Here are my predictions... this hurts Rand Knight and Vernon Jones in the US senate race (Rand Knights target voters are new voters and liberal voters who are not blue dogs... Vernon Jones has high name ID with low turnout populations...)

In Henry County I think this low turnout hurts Fred Auletta in the Chairman of County Commission race, and Steve Davis in district 109 House race (Fred's honest and realistic approach to transportation is in opposition to Republican activists who tend to be conservative and tend to stray from strong market based approaches to the economy and fixate on a theoretical view of how the economy should work. Trea Pipken is helped because the Republican establishment here in Henry oppose Steve Davis.

For what its worth those are my early predictions.
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Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com

Go Vote--it matters

My first yard sign and its for a Republican... go figure

Its election day. Please go out and vote. I agree with all your complaints about the political system... I agree with your contentions about corruption...

Lesser of two evils matters... why? Participation by citizens is a check on corruption and apathy. Red, Blue, Green, and whatever color the libertarians are... I don't care. Vote--it matters.

schip--vetoed... millions of kids don't have health insurance today because the president and Republican leadership said "its too expensive" $20 dollars of my money a year is too expensive? In what world? I would love to buy health insurance but I can't afford it... I can't go to the doctor cause I don't have the money. We rank 37th in the world according to the World Health organization. Its time for change. Its time to join the rest of the industrialized world and have some form of Universal Helath care... Vote: It matters...

Iraq--I have nothing else to say on that one... but I will; 40% of our troops are coming home needing long term physical or mental health care. WE are NOT budgeting for this. Even worse conservatives like John McCain voted against the New GI Bill which would get our soldiers the money to pay for school... he said it would give people incentive to leave after one tour of duty! Some of us think that when young men and women sacrifice for our nation you say thank you rather than forcing them to stay in the military because of stop-loss, or the fact that poor planning and presidential leadership that fails to ask all americans to sacrifice--to cut taxes during a time of war is unheard of. We are failing our troops... we are sending kids off to die... breaking apart families... and people like lynn westmorland would rather pay private contractors who cost far more than letting the military do those jobs themselves--why not give our troops a pay raise rather than increase shareholder profits? Go vote: It matters.

Locally, When you add all the state taxes, county taxes, and local fees the state of GA ranks dead last in taxation. But on every politicians lip you hear talk of the oppressive tax burden. If our kids don't have books in the schools and class size is reaching levels that make educating impossible.. if we are stuck in traffic because we lack infrastructure and public transportation... if we are so far behind in mental health care that the FEDs might take it over because we are killing people... and we would need to double the money we put into the system just to catch up to other states... these are all signs we lack revenue rather than have too much. Vote: it matters

Imagine a world where politicians had the guts to tell people the hard truth... you have to spend money to make money. Vote: it matters.

Here are my recommendations if you live in Henry County. I voted on the Republican ballot because there are some important races so I'll start with that

Chair of County Commision Fred Auletta. He is the only candidate that recognizes failing to fund basic infrastructure in transportation will never resolve the problem. Its unfortunate that republicans and conservative have been blocking efforts to address this issue for years...

State house race district 109: Trea Pipkin. Steve Davis have pushed the conservative agenda to such levels that the Republican establishment here in Henry even rejects his policy. He promotes the conservative policy that promotes the idea of individual responsibility--every man for themselves--rather than a more coherent policy that recognizes we're all in this together and getting people the infrastructure they need protects our economy and empowers people to thrive.

Sheriff: Keith McBrayer. He is the best of the 3 options in the primary; though I look forward to working to beat him in the general election... : )

Rick Williams in district 73--parts of Henry County included. I know Rick very well... he is a political moderate who has the right ideas and vision for where we need to be going.

On the Democratic side: Rand Knight for US senate
Jim Powell for Public Service Commission
State Senate district 44 (parts of Henry) Gail Buckner

I have spoken with every single one of these candidates and I certainly agree with some positions they may hold I believe they are competant and prepared take us in the best direction of those running.

Thats all... go vote... go vote--it matters.





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Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com

grin

Had a nice lecture on Sartre in the afternoon. Came home for quick dinner and trip to buy food for our camping trip this weekend. Then headed to henry county NAACP meeting, followed that by hitting Henry County Young Democrats meeting. Then to buy last minute camping supplies. COme home to pack for the trip--pack weigh in at 64 lbs. Bed by 11:30... alarm off and 1:30 and drag myself up by 1:46am. Now I'm off to go throw 60 lbs boxes on trucks.

Can't help but think of what henry rollins sang: "get some, get some, get some, get some--go again"

I love this life... and I'm serious as a heartbeat... its an unbelievable privilege--and amazingly beautiful and fun to boot!
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Jim Nichols
A Speculative Fiction
www.JimNichols4.com

Phones been ringing off the hook today

Tomorrows picnic www.henrydems.org looks to be a success already.

volunteers have made over 500 phone calls
in newspaper
8 candidates from US Senate to county sheriff will be attending!

local politics... please come and and show your support...

Political pandering... or negative hyperbole?

My dad pointed out that the by-line(?) of our recent press release on McCain's gas-tax holiday for the Henry County Democratic party was a possibly antagonistic.

Jim Nichols, Chair of the Democratic Party in Henry County, responded today to John McCain's political pandering in a recent economic speech by the Republican nominee. In the speech, McCain called for a gas tax holiday.

For more on the issue you can go to a post I did on the Henry County Democrats site.

My dads comments were

The opening sentence of the Release referred to John McCain's "political pandering". Right off the bat that puts off those that may not yet have formed an opinion on McCain - whether they be Dems or Repubs. To me, use of that phrase - outside of your quote - immediately discounts the rest of the Release - it's clearly one-sided and shrill. Can I really glean anything useful from it? (that's my reaction).


I think it's more powerful for that phrase to be in your quote. Something like: "This is simply political pandering by John McCain" That's legit for you to say that - but not for the text of the release to say that. The text of the Release should set you up, in a neutral way - not do your work.


For what it's worth...

Part of me thinks he is probably right. I intended to point out that it is a questionable policy move, be a very astute political move. My point was that it won't help the market fundmentals. The goals should be to lower gas prices.

And while people like the idea of lowering their taxation for understandable reasons the impacts of lost revenue that would be going into fixing roads and other infrastucture needs seems like a higher social priority; espcially when most economists feel that since supply is fixed (oil producers claim they are churning out the product as quickly as they can) the only possible change in the price can come from demand going down.

The likelyhood of demand going down during the summer when people go on vacation and travel of lot seems a bit far-fetched. Are people going to walk their kids to summer camp?

So maybe I ought to start saying "putting votes before good policy," or "prioritizing votes before market fundamentals."? Nothing seems to roll off the tongue very well.

here is some stuff I found on political pandering...

definition of pander --

Pronunciation: \ˈpan-dər\
Function: intransitive verb Date: 1523
: to act as a pander; especially : to provide gratification for others' desires

Economist Russ Roberts speech on Political pandering


Economist Arnold Kling on the economics blog Econlog post in response to Roberts speech

What Roberts calls pandering, I call fear-mongering. I think that both parties do it. For those of us who believe in free markets, I believe that the Republican exaggerate not only their own commitment to free markets but also the extent to which Democrats threaten free markets.

I think that stem-cell research and Global Warming both are issues that are heavy on pandering and fear-mongering. The Bush Administration has not outlawed stem-cell research. It has only stopped Federal government funding for certain types of stem-cell research. On the other hand allowing embryonic stem-cell research would not mean the end of respect for human life.

On Global Warming, the main thing that believers do is get angry with skeptics. What sort of legislation are we seeing proposed? Anyone? Bueller?

On health care, the Left is excited about single-payer health care, and the Right fears single-payer health care. Again, where are the specific proposals for single-payer health care in terms of legislation or the platforms of leading Presidential candidates?

A reasonable theory of modern politics is that it is all melodrama. People take government less and less seriously, which makes politicians shout louder and louder to get our attention. Whenever a story breaks in the media, whether it be Terry Schiavo or the Virginia Tech killings, politicians rush to get in front of the camera to take advantage of it. That, I would suggest, is a sign of their desperation.

John McCain's Tax Pandering on economics by Kevin Drum

Now that's a shocking development, isn't it? A Republican presidential candidate prating endlessly about helping the regular guy and then offering up a tax plan that even Donald Trump would be embarrassed to ask for directly. The only thing missing was the usual sad song about some mythical Midwest striver who had to sell the family farm to pay his "death taxes."

But at least someone is noticing the two-face act this time around — though that's mostly because McCain is turning out to be unusually clumsy at this kind of stuff. In an odd way, this almost speaks well for him. The pandering he's doing is so plain and so odious that I suspect he's having a hard time making it sound like he really believes this stuff. George Bush never had that difficulty.

please feel free to comment... I'm not sure where I'm at on my Dad's point.

live blogging S.R. 796

go here...
Richardson is on the floor speaking about his tax proposal. 2:36

...he's talking about this being an opportunity to do something good.

...to let the people of GA vote.

"There is no middle ground"

"We aren't going to vote by section... vote one time and one time only."

2:37

"You let GA say... as a policy decsion. We are not going to tax cars..."

2:38

"329 million tax cut" first year

context

2:40
"We can watch out pennies..." is why we can afford it. Aren't are schools already broke? Isn't peach care already on the rocks?


2:41pm
"We're going to freeze property taxes on 2008 values"

"can go up 2% on residential 3% on nonresidential"

"some certainty on property taxes"

"Cap rate of increase at Governmental inflation rate..."

"using governmental price index..."

"5 year average of that is 5.05%.... in other words will be telling local jurisdiction... you may not increase rev. on property taxes by no more than 5.05% plus growth plus other revenues that come in

"how many of your consitituents get 5% pay increase every year? nobody? so how can you be against it?

"we're going to put a safe gaurd...

"citizens say... they want more services...

"all the people (in that county) that want to increase taxes will vote at county level... if they want to provide some ballfeild... or other service that put it to vote

2:46
"your going to get one chance to do something of trauma care... 10 dollars on each car

"do we trust Georgians enough... to be part of biggest tax cut in GA history...


2:50
Hatefield.... pg 5 of bill line 30 and 31. How will bill effect local property tax freezes... will it superceede those freezes?

Richardson (Rich)... you decide on the local area... provision by local legislative act


2:51
Setzler... true.. pg 6 adval rev. cap just a cap on ad valorum revunue?

Rich: only ad valurm taxes capped at gov. rate
wanted to use consumer price index. But decided Gov. Price Index...
the index already incorrorates unforseen events... also allowing for growth.


Rep Smith 113: how does it effect local controL?

Rich: can imagine more local control?

Rep. Smith: state won't have same rules as local level?

Rich: the sum of the parts exceeds the whole... we've lost touch. State government is reocognized in US constitutions. County,cities, schools... creatures of the state... local officals have exceeded the ability of themselves to pay

2:57

Rep Mills: first year 329 million dollar cut
second 672 million...

3:00
Rep Rich... my own city doesn't collect property taxes... we should learn from them.

Rep. Manning: When will this be on ballot...

Rich: this november 8th

Rich: calls for vote.. isn't it time to do something really good. You mean to tell me you that bunch in Atl gave us the right to vote on paying taxes on cars or not?

Rep Burkaulter: This is an exceptional day in the house of rep. They don't happen very often. This past year a lot have stressed over this discussion. Has been a healthy year. If GA's are watching and hearing whats going on. I think its a good thing.


JIm: I don't... this is a sad day... we have too many needs in this state to to have deficits in 2011!!!


Rep. Burkaulter... Richardsons crusade... is an opportunity to pass on signifigant tax cuts to the people we represent. We have tax relief. Harness the control and growth, harness the unpredicatability of local government spending... eliminates the most onerous tax on the state of GA that is collected on the day of your birth. A tax that 20 other states don't bother to collect. WIll benifit 93% of GA's and their households.

3:07
Rep. Burkaulter : this will eliminate a tax will benift more average ga's than rich ga's more low income Georgians... we don't work on polls... but if you want to look at the polls and they'll rate them for you. But ad val tax on personal vehichile. 87%(?)

Rep. Burk: Luther Colber... everywhere Luther went... he was minority whip. Everywhere he went he carried a copy of the state constitution. He envoked it everywhere he went. He new the importance of it... and importance of when you amend it. Can imagine the those who wrote the constitution in GA. Can't imagine those who wrote or made laws ever intended for your personal vehicle to have government finger prints.

3:13


GBPI: A $672 million hole in the state budget is the equivalent of:
100 percent of the PeachCare budget and 27 percent of the Medicaid budget; or
8 percent of K-12 education; or
29 percent of the Board of Regents budget; or
56 percent of the Department of Corrections budget.

Rep. Burk: some will claim we can't afford this... sure we can... if we want to.

3:15

Rep. ONeil: vote yes as quick as possible... want to talk about intangible aspects
keep hereing the term stability... why government likes the stability than roperty.

No more stable tax than property taxes... yes every level of gov. sees ad val as stable.

Predictability.. yes you have a very predictable revenue flow... to put it in banking terminlogy want 1 dollar put up 100 dollar cd. What about the tax payer? What about its predictable in this state alone of 20% increase? How predictable you think they think ad val. taxes are?

3:20
Rep. ONeil: give Georgians opportunity today to cast your vote on single largest tax cut in history of this state.

3:21
Rep. Roberts : the people are ready for tax reform

3:49
Ringing for vote on bill...

yeas: 110
nos: 62

bill fails to get constitutional majority! Call your Rep. ask them how they voted and thank them for voting no. If they vote yes, let them no about your disapproval.

Its an Obama piece!

Obama showing in Henry spurs local Democrats

She didn't even ask me about the Presidential race! I didn't see that coming....

So yeah at the very least I'm involved door-to-door because Republicans lack leadership!

Things that make you go... "ehh?"

So I spoke with a reporter from the Henry Daily Herald today asking me questions about the Henry County Democratic Party. For those who don’t know we are in the process of reorganizing the party–our Chair stepped down for personal reasons and we are trying to use this opportunity to expand the party structure so that we can grow to meet the needs of the growing County.

It seemed to go over well. She was very nice and I hope I was able to help her in some way with her article. Its supposed to be out tomorrow. Since I’m a nobody in local politics I can’t have given her very much context. I mean gee what do you say? I’m a Neighborhood Leader for the DNC! Yeah... we knock on doors and throw house parties to get Democrats organized and motivated. I'm a blogger! Yeah we write posts that connect readers to articles by people who know what they are talking about... and point out those who don't!

In the back of my mind I’m waiting for a hit piece... or somehow my “uhh....’‘s And ‘ummm’’s to come out in some manner that is fodder for the tell-all among local conservatives. Heck, probably won’t even make the piece. But at least people are asking around about what Democrats are doing! For too long in this state Republicans have had strong holds in communities that are natural Democratic voters.

Maybe this is a sign of better things to come!