Fresh Loaf

Ken Wright is literally putting his money where his mouth is, both as the first mayor of Dunwoody and as a supporter of the arts. President of health care software company eHealthcareIT, Wright has pledged to donate his first year mayoral salary of $16,000 to Stage Door Players, a small, 24-year-old professional playhouse. Artistic director Robert Egizio says “It will go into a general operating fund to be used as needed. His backing has jump-started a new and profound interest in Stage Door.” (more…)

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— Andre Walker at Georgia Politics Unfiltered gives a rather tepid apology for failing to disclose he was working for the campaign of U.S. Rep David Scott, D-Atlanta, even as he was blogging about Scott’s race. Should he have made that disclosure from the beginning? Probably so, says Walker. But “probably” isn’t good enough. Isn’t his blog called Georgia Politics Unfiltered? Taking money under the table from a candidate you’re covering means the news is being filtered. And tainted.

— Uh-oh, he’s doing it again. Amy Morton at Georgia Women Vote says U.S. Senate candidate Vernon Jones has sent out another flier picturing him with Barack Obama. This one also includes photos of  former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun and U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke III, D-Mass., who happens to be the former paramour of Barbara Walters. Obama wasn’t very happy the last time Jones tried to grab on to his coat-tails; this flier probably doesn’t remind voters of that.

— Speaking of the U.S. Senate, Blog For Democracy incumbent Saxby Chambliss received $10,000 in campaign contributions from U.S. Ted Stevens, D-AK, who, oops, is under federal indictment for corruption. Will Chambliss return the money?

— Jason Pye discusses Eric Johnson’s decision to end his tenure as the president pro tem of the state Senate so that he can run for lieutenant governor in 2010.

— At Tondee’s Tavern, Adrian posts predictions for Tuesday’s run-off and sees Jim Martin easily defeating Jones. What? You mean those Obama pics aren’t working?

— With Dunwoody creating a new city from scratch, there’s a move afoot to make it as green as possible. Sustainable Dunwoody says there’s already a shortage of public park space.

— Christa, one of the fine ladies at Pecanne Log, pokes some fun at the AJC for its awkward foray into Facebook.

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— Al Gore gives a speech that says we need to wean ourselves off petroleum in the next 10 years, and ATLMalcontent is skeptical. He thinks Gore is being rather hysterical.

— Gore is definitely against new off-shore oil drilling. But our governor, Sonny Perdue, thinks it’s a swell idea. Reporter-Cub gives us a reality check: The last time the U.S. had an energy crisis, the oil companies explored off the coast of Georgia and discovered that there’s no black gold/Texas tea out there.

— Folks in Dunwoody are pleased as punch to be Georgia’s newest city. At Heneghan’s Dunwoody Blog, John reports that 29 people turned out for a candidates training forum with the intention of running for mayor or city council. Leaders have also come up with a proposed vision statement for the new city.

— Doug Richards at Live Apartment Fire veers away from his customary posts on television news to talk about why the AJC still matters.

— Only 21 percent of Clayton County’s registered voters bothered to go to the polls last week, and Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered wonders WTF? Look for Thomas Wheatley’s insightful cover story on Clayton County in this week’s Loaf.

— Speaking of young Mr. Wheatley, the sirens at Pecanne Log can’t get enough of him. Another new post at Pecanne Log means another opportunity for a gratuitous shout-out to Wheatley. This time, they’ve found a personals site that features ads from wealthy men, including a group of of sugar daddies from Tucker. They’re already fighting over the one with the boat.

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RUNSOFF: Jim Martin and Vernon Jones will face off in a runoff Aug. 5 to determine who faces Saxby Chambliss in November; Burrell Ellis and Stan Watson will also have a runoff in the DeKalb CEO race; the Fulton County sheriff’s race will be running off to decide whether incumbent Myron Freeman or retired FBI agent Ted Jackson will face Republican Michael Rary in November.

INCUMBENTS: U.S Reps. John Lewis, John Barrow and Paul Broun all fended off their challengers to retain their seats in Congress.

CITI TREND: Dunwoody becomes the latest north Atlanta community to catch city fever.

GWINNETTIANS: Less opposed to MARTA than they used to be.

ALL-STAR GAME: American League wins its 12th straight in the longest All-Star Game in major-league history.

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The DeKalb Commission is dealing this morning with a resolution to use legal action to block the proposed city of Dunwoody. I pointed out in a blog yesterday that, because of recent legal precedents, such an effort would be doomed to failure. But that depends on what you’re trying to achieve.

Reader John Heneghan has pointed out that the legislation, put forward by Commissioner Lee May, is likely not intended to affect the Dunwoody referendum, but rather the primary election for CEO, which takes place the same day, July 15.
As he explains on the Dunwoody North Civic Association blog:

This matter is politically charged and was probably placed on the agenda not because (Vernon) Jones wants to take expensive legal action against the State of Georgia for the City of Dunwoody’s creation, but because it could be used as a wedge issue dividing the County in half. If that is the case, it will probably be played as North DeKalb vs. South DeKalb, and sadly probably also along racial lines too.

Although Heneghan doesn’t say it explicitly, I’ll extrapolate that the measure was perhaps intended to force Commissioner Burrell Ellis, a CEO candidate who’s been no friend to Jones, to take a public stand on the controversial issue of Dunwoody cityhood. If he votes for the resolution, he loses Dunwoody votes. If he votes against it – the more likely scenario – he may lose South DeKalb votes. Or so the thinking goes.

Anyway, TotH to Heneghan for sharing his analysis. (That’s blogspeak for Tip of the Hat – I just learned that!)

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The Spanish-born philosopher Santayana is best known for coining the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s a maxim unlikely to go out of style because there’s always an example to give it currency. Which brings us to DeKalb.

At tomorrow morning’s county board meeting, Commissioner Lee May will introduce a resolution calling for DeKalb to initiate legal action to block the formation of a city of Dunwoody.

Now, to anyone who’s been paying attention over the last three years, this action will spur a sense of deja vu. The Fulton County Commission did the exact same thing in May 2005, a little more than a month before a scheduled referendum for the city of Sandy Springs. It took less than 10 days for the U.S Department of Justice to summarily reject the county’s argument as so much sour-grapes whining.

In DeKalb’s case, there’s only a week left before the July 15 referendum. Not only does May seem ignorant of recent legal precedent regarding local incorporation votes, but he also appears to lack a calendar. Here’s the official description of his measure:

The Governing Authority supports a legal challenge to the Incorporation of the City of Dunwoody by the County Attorney given Senate Bill 82 inclusion of the Perimeter Community Improvement District (CID). Senate Bill 82 (Incorporating the City of Dunwoody) would not be in the best interest of the citizens of the County, including those of the area of Dunwoody. Furthermore, the legislation would exclude from the referendum many citizens of unincorporated DeKalb County.

(more…)

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