Fresh Loaf

Former Rep. Jeanette Jamieson, D-Toccoa

You remember state Rep. Jeanette Jamieson, D-Toccoa: She’s the veteran lawmaker who finally lost her 12th bid for reelection to a Republican challenger last year after it was revealed that she owed more than $45,000 in back state taxes. Did we mention that her day job is as an accountant and tax preparer?

Well, apparently, Attorney General Thurbert Baker didn’t think Jamieson’s gaffe was as funny as we did. According to Dick Pettys at Insider Advantage, Baker has charged his former House colleague with two counts of evading state income taxes.

Reports Pettys:

According to the announcement, count 1 alleges that in calendar year 2006, Jamieson had at least $127,000 in adjusted gross income, including income from her tax return preparation business and over $14,000 in income from her service in the Legislature, but had only $61.68 withheld from her income for state purposes and failed to file a state income tax return for the year.

Count 2 charges that during calendar year 2007, she had at least $61,000 in adjusted gross income but had only $85.08 withheld for state income tax purposes and failed to file a state return for calendar year 2007.

If convicted, she could face a possible sentence of one to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000 on each count.

The Georgia Department of Revenue has long been such a toothless, bumbling agency that’s a wonder anyone bothers to pay his state taxes. And I can’t remember the last time I heard of someone facing hard time for evasion of state income taxes. Which leads me to wonder if this high-profile indictment is intended to burnish Baker’s credibility among swing voters as a crusader for law and order — similar to his vigorous prosecution of Genarlow Wilson.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This week seems to have gone by in a whirl, so let’s recap recent developments in various state political races, shall we?

The week began with buzz over an AJC article suggesting that former Gov. Roy Barnes is weighing a bid to reclaim his old office. Certainly, Barnes, a Marietta Democrat with a thriving private law practice, has been dropping hints in recent weeks that he’s eyeing the race. But doubters, who include many Democrats, guess he’d be unlikely to get back into a contest he lost so badly eight years ago, despite an overwhelming financial advantage. One theory has it that Barnes is pulling a Mario Cuomo – enjoying the attention that his Hamlet act is bringing, but will ultimately stay out.

That feeling was reinforced for some with the surprise announcement Thursday that Democratic state Attorney General Thurbert Baker is planning a run for governor. Some political observers believe Baker wouldn’t have entered the race without first clearing the move with Barnes. (more…)

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Genarlow Wilson will attend Morehouse College on a full-scholarship paid for by the Tom Joyner Foundation. Details are after the jump.

(more…)

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Maybe Nader just needs one big group hug to validate his role in American politics. After the hug, maybe someone should also slap him on the back of the head and ask “WTF??”

– Bernita on Blog for Democracy, reacting to a Washington Post article stating that Ralphie Boy is suing the Democratic National Committee for challenging his ballot status in 2004. Oh, and apparently Nader hasn’t ruled out a 2008 run.

Yep…today is Halloween; the day where kids dress up in costumes and beg their neighbors for candy. Today also marks the day when actors John Candy & Michael Landon, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Lowe, CBS reporter Dan Rather, and myself were born.

– Andre, the true blue (dog) Democrat at Georgia Politics Unfiltered, who, upon realizing he has something in common with Mr. CEO, asks, “Are you scared yet?”

Wilson and Craig, both have a new-found appreciation for the power of sex crime laws to reach out and touch you in ways you never imagined (no pun intended). Both have an understanding of how important judges and their discretion are in dispensing justice. Both wanted a second chance. One won. One lost–or at least so far.

– OK, so What is Goin’ On actually posted this earlier this week, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spotlight a post titled “What Do Larry Craig and Genarlow Wilson Have in Common?”

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When the Genarlow Wilson decision came down, on that clear day of justice and rectitude, certain leaders in the Republican Party and their personal harpies in the media chose not quiet restraint but instead opted for fakery and obfuscation.

— GriftDrift gives Sen. Eric Johnson, and others like him, a piece of his mind.

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I am now listening intently, and I hope that we can curb any future instances of this egregious behavior. All my love… I miss you and hope you come out with something new for me soon.

Love you forever,
duane

— From “dear Cardigans,” Duane Moody’s open love letter to the Swedish pop band the Cardigans.

Also worth checking out, Duane’s paean to Guitar Hero III, which probably breaks some sort of blogging record for the most un-ironic exclamation marks typed by a grown man.

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Her perceived inevitably is particularly bothersome, as is the assumption that she’s the most experienced candidate (sorry Joe Biden, but a one-term senator who rode her husband’s cum-stained coattails to office is clearly more qualified than you).

— ATLMalcontent on Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton.

“Cum-stained coattails”?

Is that what they mean when they call him the “Comeback Kid”?

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ESPN magazine published a long feature story in January by Wright Thompson on the Genarlow Wilson case. If you want to know the history of the case, it’s a good place to go.

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Within heartbeats of the Georgia Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision releasing Genarlow Wilson, the statements from officials began hitting the in-boxes.

Thurbert Baker, the state’s lackluster attorney general, quickly whipped out this CYA missive: “I have received and reviewed the decision by the Georgia Supreme Court in this matter, and I respectfully acknowledge the Court’s authority to grant the relief that they have crafted in this case. As the Supreme Court found, the habeas court’s order resentencing Mr. Wilson, however well-meaning, was unauthorized under Georgia law. It was for this reason that I appealed, in order to insure a fair and consistent application of the law not just to Mr. Wilson, but to others similarly situated. I hope the Court’s decision will also put an end to this issue as a matter of contention in the hearts and minds of concerned Georgians and others across the country who have taken such a strong interest in this case.”

Interpreted, that’s a big “Oh, shit!” The first bit of obfuscation basically says the Supreme Court has the authority to be the Supreme Court.

After a judge had ruled that Wilson’s 10-year sentence — recall that while undoubtedly behaving badly, this was a case of teen consensual sex — was cruel and unusual punishment. That ruling was self-evident, but Baker, a black Democrat who does little to protect Georgians but will do anything to appease the neo-Confederate Republicans, quickly appealed the ruling. Wilson spent more time in jail.

The next news release came from Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson, one of those aforementioned Republican neo-Confederates who long for the days of white sheets and all-white juries.

(more…)

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The Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled Genarlow Wilson’s 10-year sentence “cruel and unusual” and ordered his release from prison.

Here’s the press release announcing the ruling, and here’s the official prison release order.

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House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island) said the Michael Vick case could give new life to efforts to shut down dog-fighting in Georgia.

— AJC.com’s Political Insider on possible legislative push in Georgia to restrict dogfighting

Maybe if Michael Vick got involved in demolition derby, the Legislature might get enthused about mass transit.

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Supremes to hear Wilson case today. And you can watch it live by clicking here.

— Buzz Brockway points Peach Pundit readers to a video feed from the state Supreme Court, which might be releasing Genarlow Wilson soon. The action starts at 10 a.m.

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No matter how hard we stomp on its neck it just won’t die.

— Flackattack at Tondee’s Tavern, on the possible return of the Northern Arc

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Georgia’s infamous inmate of the moment, teen sex offender Genarlow Wilson, could soon be heading home to Douglas County, say some local legal eagles.

That prediction is based on the fact that the Georgia Supreme Court recently took the unusual move of reversing its own June decision not to hear an appeal of Wilson’s denial of bond. As originally scheduled, the high court wouldn’t have heard Wilson’s case until October, meaning he would likely have spent the rest of the year in prison. Instead, the justices will hear oral arguments this Friday at 10 a.m.

To some court watchers, that can likely mean one thing: Wilson should pack his bags.
“My guess is, the justices would not have granted the expedited appeal unless they were interested in finding the legal means to correct an injustice,” says J. Tom Morgan, former district attorney for DeKalb County.

That injustice, of course, is that Wilson remains in prison months after the law that put him there was repealed. In June, a Monroe County judge tossed out Wilson’s 10-year sentence for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. But a Douglas judge ordered that Wilson should stay behind bars while state Attorney General Thurbert Baker appealed the first judge’s ruling.
Initially, the Georgia Supremes saw no reason to fast-track a hearing for Wilson’s bond appeal. Then they changed their minds. Could it have been the fact that the Peach State has become, once again, the laughingstock of the nation?

“The justices are as cognizant as the rest of us that this case is an embarrassment to the state,” Morgan says.

Morgan also suggests that Douglas District Attorney David McDade should have known better than to hand out videotapes showing Wilson taking part in the sex acts that landed him in prison. Although McDade claims he was only following the state’s open-records laws, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias says the prosecutor may have violated federal child-pornography laws.

Notes Morgan: “The law makes clear the exemptions (to kiddie-porn statutes), and giving tapes to legislators so they won’t change a law isn’t one of them.”

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Jim Marshall and John Barrow voted against the House’s resolution to surrender in Iraq.

— Erick at Peach Pundit on yesterday’s House vote to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by April 1, 2008. Marshall and Barrow are two of only 10 Democrats to vote against the bill.

If opposing President Bush’s war policy is surrender, I wonder what word he’d choose to describe years of congressional support for White House decisions that have unleashed chaos in Iraq while failing to weaken al-Qaeda or reduce the overall threat of terrorism.

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If it were up to me, I’d arrest and prosecute David McDade for a violation of O.C.G.A. 16-12-100, distribution of child pornography. And then guess what? He’d fall under O.C.G.A. 42-1-12 and have to register as a sex offender.

— Audacity criticizes Douglas County prosecutor David McDade’s distribution of a video depicting then-17-year-old Genarlow Wilson having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. On Wednesday, the federal prosecutors’ office in Atlanta called the tape child pornography and McDade’s distribution of it illegal.

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Having’s not holding but an open hand . . .

— Atlanta Poets Group celebrates Friday the 13th with a poem by English poet John Clare, who was born on July 13, 1793.

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Looking at my stat counter for the day I see that at almost 3:00am I’ve reached my normal daily total of unique visitors.Why?Because there are that many people out there searching for the keywords “Genarlow Wilson Sex Tape”.

— GriftDrift at Drifting Through The Grift on the prurient interest generated by discussion of the Genarlow Wilson sex tape.

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Personally, I really don’t get offended when I hear it used in a hateful tone, and if one of the homies says it, whatever. Tupac Shakur redefined the word for my generation (N.I.G.G.A., Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished). I think we can give words power by reacting, or over reacting. Sure most people think of slavery, oppression, and nooses, when it’s used that way as a hate word, but say what you want. I know who I am. Even so, RIP.

— My Urban Report reflects on this week’s symbolic burial of the word ‘nigger.’

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Was Huey Lewis not available? Or Mister Mister?

— CB at Rowland’s Office on the choice of musicians to entertain the MLB All-Star Game crowd.

Please click on the link, if only to see the picture.

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Last week at a Douglas County rally, the Rev. Al Sharpton compared the circumstances of Genarlow Wilson, who’s serving a 10-year prison sentence for an underage blowjob, with that of former White House staffer Scooter Libby, who was spared lockup by President Bush. In citing the legal double-standard, could Sharpton have been thinking about conservative AJC columnist Jim Wooten?

“Wilson chose to reject a plea bargain, gambling that he could beat the rap. Wilson was determined to set himself apart from the law. …”
– Wooten on his “Thinking Right” blog, June 12

“Libby … drew 30 months in the slammer today. He was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation. He should serve precisely zero time in jail.”
– Wooten, June 5

“These are ‘Profiles in Courage’ days for Georgia’s Attorney General Thurbert Baker, who’s been given the bum’s rush to ignore the law as written in the Wilson case.”
– Wooten, June 29

“On the serious matter of Scooter Libby’s ‘excessive’ sentence … my preference would have been for a pardon now.”
– Wooten, July 4

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Genarlow Wilson

[I]f it had been my daughter, he wouldn’t have made it to jail. Bigger problems would have awaited other than the judge and jury. But almost certainly the girls didn’t have fathers at home to guide them in their teen years. Another casualty of the welfare system.

— Posted on the JasonPye.com blog by District 17 Sen. John Douglas concerning the Genarlow Wilson case after a judge overturned Wilson’s 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17

She did not want any of this to happen … she was friends with all of them.

— Veda Cannon to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on her daughter’s reaction to the judge’s decision

As Attorney General, it is my responsibility to follow the laws of Georgia as they are written, not how some may wish they were written.

— Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, on his decision to appeal the judge’s decision to overturn the sentence and free Wilson

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Why was a D.A. giving evidence to a state legislator who would almost certainly participate in debate on amending a law which would affect one of said D.A.’s high profile convictions?

-GriftDrift wonders if a county district attorney violated ethics codes by sharing evidence in the Genarlow Wilson case with a state senator.

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As we travel around Georgia and continue to hear from our constituents, the message from a majority of Georgians is that they have no trust that the United States Government will enforce the laws contained in this new legislation and secure the border first.

-Buzz Brockway at Peach Pundit, quoting a letter to the president by U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson of Georgia about the proposed immigration bill stalled in the Senate.

The only reason it’s news that Georgia’s senators are publicly disagreeing with the president is because from 2001-2006, the Republicans in Congress said yes to every stupid thing the president asked for.

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Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman from Chabad Intown has his own blog. How cool is that? But if I find out he’s on MySpace cruising for chicks too, then he has some explaining to do.

-I Saw It On Ponce on the upside and potential downside of a Ponce De Leon Avenue-based rabbi blogger.

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On Monday, a judge ordered Genarlow Wilson — the man who was imprisoned for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17 — to be freed. But hours later, state Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed an appeal.

Wilson still sits in jail.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, prison officials won’t release Wilson until they get the go-ahead from the attorney general’s office or the original Douglas County Court, which sentenced him to 10 years for aggravated child molestation.

Matt Towery, who authored the law in 1995 that put Wilson in jail, told the AJC: “This has been just an absolute nightmare to see young people such as Genarlow go to jail — compounded by prosecutors and people lobbying — using videotapes and everything in the world — to try to keep him in jail.”

But Baker won’t budge. In an editorial he wrote: “[I]t is my responsibility to follow the laws of Georgia as they are written, not how some may wish they were written.”

Seems like Baker is holding the line to try to eviscerate any Republicans in the next election who might say he’s soft on crime.

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Earlier today, a judge threw out Genarlow Wilson’s sentence of 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.

The judge also amended his conviction to a misdemeanor, not a felony, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

To read more about Wilson’s case, click here.

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A Douglas County teen who was convicted of aggravated child molestation — for having consensual oral sex when he was 17 with a 15-year-old girl — goes to court today to try to get his conviction dismissed.

Genarlow Wilson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his 10-year prison sentence without parole is too harsh for a poor decision he made as a teen. “Just being a teenager, you know, you got to make a lot of mistakes but you have to learn from them,” he said. “I don’t feel like one mistake should cost me ten years in prison and a lifetime on the sex offender registry. I want to be able to go to school and have kids.”

Wilson’s case has nabbed national headlines and caught the attention of state lawmakers. In 2005 the General Assembly changed the “Romeo and Juliet” law to make consensual sex between two teens close in age a misdemeanor. And former President Jimmy Carter wrote a letter to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker and called Wilson’s punishment of “disproportionate nature.”

It’s even caught the attention of hundreds of college students. On Facebook, a popular social-networking website, 3,791 individuals have joined a group called “Why is Genarlow Wilson in prison?” Here are a couple of posts from people in the group:

This is ridiculous. I am from North Carolina and the Duke lacross case just ended. Wow the Georgia judicial system needs to take a look at that case. There are so many parallels this guy is abviously inocent. Georgia needs to learn the phrase “spirit of the law”.

The D.A. is in between a rock and a hard place. Had he not sought a conviction he would’ve been accussed of not prosecuting black on black allegations of sexual abuse as severely. With that being said, let’s not cast aspersions upon Genarlow. These young women were just as culpable in this case as were the young men. They whole episode smacks of idioticy and bad judgement. The kid made a mistake, one that many people older than he was at the time make, which is mixing alcohol, sex, young women, and liquor. Nothing good ever comes out of those scenarios.

The Genarlow Wilson case demonstrates just how bad a situation can get when judicial discretion is removed and bad laws which fail to account for the situation take its place. Sonny Perdue should have this on his conscience for the rest of his life if he fails to issue a full pardon.

It’ll be interesting to see how Wilson’s request plays out.

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