Fresh Loaf

Could Fulton County have chosen a worse time to propose $275 million in new spending?

On the plus side, it’s for a worthy cause: the $275 million, in the form of bonds, would pay for eight new library branches, expand two existing branches and spruce up 24 others. As for minuses, there’s the lousy economy that’s already put the squeeze on local homeowners and the fact that at least $85 million of the bond money would go toward replacing the Central Library.

The Central Library part of the plan was a last-minute add-on and is accordingly half-baked, calling vaguely for the library system to find a new downtown site, sell the old building and build a spectacular new edifice. Bond funds would cover only half the estimated cost of the new facility; the difference would somehow be made up with private donations, according to County Commissioner Robb Pitts, the idea’s main proponent. Given the current state of the economy and the large number of competing civic projects — civil rights museum, symphony hall, Beltline, etc. — tapping into huge amounts of private money seems a pipe dream.

Atlanta taxpayers should also be aware that six of the proposed new branches would be located in the far north and south ends of the county. Fulton hasn’t had a library bond for more than 20 years, so it’s especially regrettable that mission creep was allowed to bloat this referendum to more than a quarter of a billion dollars. If the referendum’s rejected, perhaps next time the county will come back with a more reasonable proposal.

Check out CL’s 2008 Voter’s Guide and add your comments to races you care about. It continues to be updated. On Oct. 21, come back to find a handy cheat-sheet to your voting both.

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Just six months after being appointed to the bench, Fulton County State Court Judge Susan Edlein faces two opponents in the General Election: Clayton County Senior Assistant District Attorney Anece Baxter White and former Fulton County Juvenile Judge Wanda L. Dallas. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the votes, a runoff will be held Dec. 2.

Edlein, who left a job with Holland and Knight, a big civil-lawsuit firm, to accept the bench position, is backed by some of the city’s biggest politicos, including Mayor Shirley Franklin, state Senators David Adelman and Kasim Reed, and state representatives Stacy Abrams, Kathy Ashe, and Ed Lindsey. The court hears criminal cases below the grade of felony, as well as civil actions.

Edlein says her experience in a private law firm and work with businesses and commercial litigation has helped her preside over the similar cases in State Court.

Baxter White, a former army lawyer, serves in the Clayton County District Attorney’s office. She says she’s the sole candidate who’s argued before the state Supreme Court, and says she’s never had a case overturned on appeal.

Dallas is a former trial lawyer and judge who also taught civil and criminal litigation at Georgia State University. She says the court must process misdemeanors effectively to help maintain public safety and the quality of life for residents — think marijuana possession and DUIs. She also wants to implement an electronic filing system to cut costs and streamline operations.

Check out CL’s 2008 Voter’s Guide and add your comments to races you care about. It continues to be updated, and on Oct. 21, come back to find a handy cheat-sheet to guide to the voting booth.

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Judicial races are usually bland affairs.

Because candidates aren’t supposed to tip off how they’d rule on particular cases — or even types of cases — they normally don’t talk about anything other than qualifications. And usually, all the candidates — at least on the face of it — are “qualified.”

But Fulton County voters have two true Superior Court contests this year: One between seven candidates, and the other in which controversial incumbent T. Jackson Bedford faces a challenger, Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has support from neighborhood activists. (more…)

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See our complete — and constantly updated — Voter’s Guide here.

Historically, the Fulton County sheriff’s race is won in the Democratic primary, with the general election a mere footnote. There’s little reason to think that won’t also be the case this year.

Democratic nominee Theodore Jackson, a retired career FBI agent and former interim sheriff, is both qualified and capable of running the troubled department with a professionalism and effectiveness that was beyond the reach of soon-to-be-ex-Sheriff Myron Freeman.

Jackson’s opponent, Republican Michael Rary, also has a strong resume; as Fulton’s former chief marshal, Rary headed a department that provided security to the county’s lower courts and served magistrate warrants. (more…)

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Two recent elections — 2002, when Republicans captured the state Senate, and 2004, when they took control of the House — brought sweeping changes to the state Legislature.

Don’t expect any such drama this year, especially when it comes to the incumbent-friendly state legislative districts in Fulton County. Politicians have gotten very good at tweaking district lines to create seats that are solidly Republican or Democratic; that’s particularly true in Fulton, where there’s a clear divide between relatively upscale suburbs and more economically diverse urban areas.

For instance, state Sen. Dan Moody, R-Alpharetta, may have built an unimpressive record that includes sponsoring Gov. Perdue’s toxic bill to allow private developers to condemn private land. But his Democratic opponent, Pakistan-born businessman Akhtar Sadiq, who’s run several times in recent years, represents a meager threat in North Fulton’s District 56.

Likewise, in Alpharetta’s House District 47, that city’s former mayor, Republican state Rep. Chuck Martin, likely has little to fear from his Democratic challenger, businessman Tony Patel.

Despite their lack of political experience, we’d urge you to vote for the Democrat in either of those races. Before you think that’s unduly partisan, consider two things: 1) Neither Sadiq nor Patel stands a chance at winning, but we as voters can help ourselves by letting elected officials know that they might someday be vulnerable — particularly if there’s a message we want to send them; 2) Both Martin and Moody need to be sent a message. They’ve largely followed the state’s Republican leadership in failing to come up with serious solutions to Georgia’s mounting transportation, environmental, fiscal and educational problems.

If officeholders ever have earned a protest vote, it’s the partisan foot soldiers who have marched this state into swamp filled with mosquitoes.

Check out CL’s 2008 Voters’ Guide and add your comments to races you care about. On Oct. 21, come back to find a handy cheat-sheet to guide you — especially on the obscure races.

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A lot of Fulton County residents may want to throw the bums out of Congress. Just not their bums.
Eighty-three percent of Americans say the country’s headed in the wrong direction, and Congress regularly gets lower approval ratings than President Bush.

But Georgia’s districts are so well gerrymandered to protect incumbents from one party or the other that our congressmen only face the risk of losing in their party’s primary. And in July each of the state’s 13 incumbent U.S. House members won their nomination.

That’s why — barring a strike of lightning between now and January — Republican Tom Price, who represents North Fulton; Democrat John Lewis, who represents the county’s midsection, including Atlanta; and Democrat David Scott, who represents South Fulton, are certain to return to Congress. (more…)

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By popular demand, I’m gonna live blog tonight’s debate. If you clap your hands, maybe Thomas will join us. Either way, you should join the scintillating conversation on the last debate of the 2008 campaign right here at 9 p.m.

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The Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition plans to protest the appearance of Oliver North at a fundraiser today for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

The protest rally will be held at 5:30 today at Hammond Drive and Ashford Dunwoody Road (across from Perimeter Mall) — outside the Crown Plaza Hotel, where North is appearing.

Chambliss is now locked in a tight race with Democrat Jim Martin. So North — who was convicted for a felony but got off on a technicality — seems like problematic guy for the Republican incumbent to associate himself in right now. Why get tangled up with a controversial, hard-right Republican icon, when you need to convince voters you’re something more than a partisan hack?

As an aide to President Reagan in the mid-to-late 1980s, North put together the Iran-Contra scam, an in which he and other White House aides sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to arm Nicaraguan “Contra” rebels. He admitted to lying to Congress and was convicted violating a ban on funding the Contras, but got off on a technicality because he’d received a grant of immunity before testifying on the matter. He’s not the brightest bulb in the chandelier (the Iran-Contra scandal was a foreign policy disaster), but he’s become something of hero on the right-wing talk circuit.

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1. AJC dining critic flouts conflict of interest By Ken Edelstein

2. “The ‘Real’ ‘Housewives’ of ‘Atlanta’” By Helen Herbst

3. Sarah Palin playing Tina Fey?!! By Curt Holman

4. Player’s Club: de Blob review and Little Big Planet preview By Garrett Martin

5. Troy Davis and Georgia’s dysfunctional death penalty By Mara Shalhoup

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How’s this for a silver lining? The coming bad times could help a lot of us get over our addiction to “things” and at the same time move us toward solving the environmental crisis. That’s basically what Lisa Wise, executive director of the Center for a New American Dream in Washington, told me as I researched an article last week about how hard times are hitting Atlanta.

It’s provocative even to suggest that bad economic times could be good for your psyche and for nature. People think you’re living in a dream world, or that you want to punish them.

But I think there’s something to the idea that we don’t all need to wear the latest fashions, drive late-model cars and live in 3,000-square-foot houses. (This coming from a guy who’s trying to get going on a big addition to my house.) (more…)

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Pollster.com today switched Georgia’s U.S. Senate contest to yellow, signifying that it could go either way in the Nov. 4 election. Looks like Saxby Chambliss vote for the Wall Street bailout isn’t doing him much good.

Just last night, I reported that pollster.com — which derives its rankings from a running average of surveys from legitimate polling companies — had switched the seat now held by Republican Chambliss from red to pink, meaning it still leaned Republican.

But today the average is 46.3 for Chambliss versus 42.5  for  Martin, which pollster.com considers a tossup. Four of the last five polls placed Martin within 3 percent of Chambliss.

Although the incumbent Republican still has to be considered the favorite — particularly with all the money he can use to inundate the airwaves with late negative ads — but 46.3 percent
is a very dangerous number for Chambliss. Any time the incumbent falls that far below 50 percent he’s in the danger zone.

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After appearing as a safe Republican seat for most of the campaign season, Georgia’s U.S. Senate race has joined a list of three other contests that lean Republican but could be vulnerable to a Democratic upset, according to pollster.com.

The switch comes on the heals of today’s Rasmussen poll, which found Democrat Jim Martin trailing incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss by just 6 percentage points. A running average on pollster.com now places Chambliss at 48.3 percent and Martin at 41.7 percent, well within striking difference if Democratic turnout is a lot stronger than the GOP’s.

Pollster.com now projects Democrats to hold at least 54 seats in the next Congress, while also caucusing with two independents. Races in Alaska, Minnesota and Oregon are considered tossups. If those seats went Democratic, the party would need an upset in any of the four Republican leaning (or “pink”) contests to gain a filibuster-proof, 60-member majority. Those contests are in Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas and Georgia.

You can view the Senate projections by using the “Map Chooser” dropdown menu on the pollster.com page.

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