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A down-on-his-luck actor from Houston County, Ga. will be a special guest at the Macon Film Festival tomorrow night, sending a clear message to struggling thespians everywhere that hard work and dedication can make all your dreams come true.

George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue, who’s struggled for years seeking fame in Hollywood, will be recognized at the event alongside a small-town football coach.

Upon his arrival in Macon, Mr. Perdue will be greeted by Mayor Robert Reichert.

From a press release from the city:

(Macon, Ga.) Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue will attend Opening Night of the 4th Annual Macon Film & Video Festival (MAGA) at the Grand Opera House on Wednesday, February 18. Governor Perdue will join Executive Producer pass-holders at the private Meet & Greet at 5 pm with UGA coaching legend Vince Dooley prior to the screening of the film, “Vince Dooley: The Other Side of Football.”

Perdue spends most of his time in a Fulton County bungalow. CL, a tireless supporter of the arts, is very proud of Mr. Perdue and his acceptance by decadent filmmakers. May he go on to star in a reality show or enjoy a serene retirement near Oaky Woods.

(I couldn’t resist a chance to post a blingee of Sonny.)

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Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson today announced their appointments to the group that will play a vital role in determining just how much water the state has and how to best manage the resource.

We’re still going through the list, which we’ve posted after the jump. If you know any of these men and women, feel free to give ‘em a shout out.

(more…)

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Travis Fain, one of The Macon Telegraph’s best muckrakers who also blogs at the hilarious Lucid Idiocy, has parachuted into Atlanta for the legislative session. Fain ran into some Houston County bigwigs and asked why they think Perdue took out a $21 million loan last September.

Today I spoke to one man who I consider just about as plugged into the business establishment in the Warner Robins area as you can be. And he said he’s talked to everyone he can think of, and can’t get a whisper of fact about what that loan was for.

Since taking office, the governor has both managed the state and his two agribusinesses. Last month, the AJC reported Perdue secured the loan for his two agribusinesses on pretty extraordinary circumstances just as credit markets were tanking. He’s declined to tell the public why he took out the loan or how he plans to repay it.

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Remember the AJC’s story about Gov. Sonny Perdue’s $21 million loan? He borrowed the cash from a small bank in Perry, Ga., for his two agricultural businesses, which, unlike previous governors, he’s opted to continue running while he also manages a state of 9 MILLION PEOPLE. Repayment of the loan, the article said, is due in March.

Perdue’s office told the AJC that he wouldn’t disclose the specifics of the loan. The Athens Banner-Herald’s editorial board has laid down the funk on Perdue for his tightlipped behavior.

Retrospective, you say? I love retrospectives!

(more…)

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Gov. Sonny Perdue on President Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony:

“Today’s inauguration of President Obama marks yet another peaceful transition of power in our nation’s great history. Mary and I were honored to attend today’s ceremony and our prayers are with President and Mrs. Obama as they take on this awesome responsibility. Georgia looks forward to continuing to work closely with the incoming administration as we address our softening economy and the impact it is having on our citizens. I also want to thank President Bush for his service to our country and for his support and friendship during his time in the White House.”

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SPARE $2 BILLION? Perdue delivers bad budget news to lawmakers

It’s a shame Gov. Sonny Perdue’s penchant for prayer doesn’t work as well for deficits as it did for drought. If that were the case, Georgia would literally be swimming in greenbacks.

With revenues plummeting in an economic landscape akin to Mad Max, the state is currently facing a $2 billion shortfall, the deepest hole anyone at the Gold Dome says they’ve ever seen. In response last week, Perdue delivered a cost-cutting whack, slashing nearly all state agencies and programs — many of which state Democrats say help the most vulnerable of Georgians in this most precarious of times.

The Department of Labor, the state agency that’s been the first stop for pink-slipped residents? Nearly 13 percent cut. The Public Defender Standards Council, the arm of government that provides indigent defense attorneys in an attempt to ensure justice for both defendant and victims? Almost 11 percent cut. The departments of Education, Community Health and Human Resources? Cut, cut, and cut. State employees’ salaries? Frozen — and vacant positions eliminated.

Add to that the $350 million slashed from K-12 educational funding, and you’re left with a budget that has little wiggle room. From lobbyists to lawmakers, behind-the-scenes staffers to Gold Dome shoeshine men, everyone we queried agrees: The 2009 legislative session will be about money, and what little of it the state has.

(more…)

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It’s not just the state’s $2.3 billion budget deficit that’s giving Gov. Sonny Perdue a headache.

The AJC’s Alan Judd reports that the clock is ticking for the governor to repay a $21 million loan given to him last September by a small bank in Perry, Ga. Perdue borrowed the money for his two agricultural businesses. (Since taking office in 2002, the governor has differed from his predecessors in that he still operates his businesses rather than placing them in a blind trust. The strategy seems to have paid off — according to Judd, Perdue’s financial holdings have risen in value since he took office.)

But…(cue ominous tone)

… public records and interviews suggest the governor got the loan under remarkable circumstances.

The lender — a farm credit bank based in Perry — allowed Perdue to put up collateral worth less than 20 percent of the loan’s value, according to a security deed filed in Houston County Superior Court. Commercial lenders typically insist on a far greater level of collateral, and the federal agency that regulates farm banks requires strict underwriting standards to guarantee loan repayment.

The bank, AgGeorgia Farm Credit, focuses on real estate lending and carries just $55 million in business loans on its books, according to its latest quarterly report. Now a large proportion of that portfolio is devoted to the governor, who is a familiar figure to AgGeorgia’s leaders: Eight of the bank’s 23 directors contributed to Perdue’s re-election campaign in 2006.

Oh, and what was the loan for? Perdue won’t say.

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Gary Reese, one of the pixel-stained wretches at InsiderAdvantage, pulls back the curtain on a piece he’s researching about the state Department of Transportation’s vote to kill a Ga. 400 project. He says it’s a “blockbuster” and one to watch.

Reese offers a lengthy 1,551-word teaser. Essentially: There’s a bigger story behind the DOT board’s decision late last year to kill a deal proposed for the “Hospitality Highway.”

He says there are a bunch of e-mails and potentially ghostwritten press releases, too. CL readers might recall a story I wrote last year about Gov. Sonny Perdue’s trip to Spain, and rumors that the jaunt would include a sit-down with executives from Cintra, everyone’s favorite private toll road company. (Perdue did indeed sit down with the firm.) Reese says Cintra — along with some other big names in finance and transportation — will play a role in his story, as well.

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In the long-ago days of my youth, I thought the two safest investments during a terrible economic time would be booze and newspapers. Everyone wanted to find a job (classifieds!) and everyone wanted to numb the pain when they couldn’t find one (Booze!). Turns out I was half right — the newspapers are hurting, but alcohol is doing great!

And state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, says he’s got an idea to help get the state out of the red and its citizens closer to rehab. The lawmaker told the Associated Press yesterday he will re-introduce legislation that would allow Georgians to buy spirits on the Sabbath and the state to earn some extra tax revenue on the spirits.

Which means it’s time for more political theater.

(more…)

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“Bass fishing’s crown jewel” has been confirmed for Lake Lanier in 2010.

From Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office:

Governor Sonny Perdue joined FLW Outdoors Chairman Irwin Jacobs and other state and local officials this afternoon to announce Lake Lanier and Atlanta as the site of the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol. This championship fishing tournament, which is scheduled for August 5 – 8, 2010, will draw the top bass anglers in the country as they compete for a $2.5 million purse. The tournament will be staged out of the Go Fish Georgia mega-ramp currently under construction at Laurel Park on Lake Lanier. The weigh-ins are slated for the Georgia Dome, and the Family Fun Zone and Outdoor Show will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center.

…

The Forrest Wood Cup is bass fishing’s crown jewel and the richest tournament in competitive fishing with a total purse of $2.5 million and offers $1 million to the winner. The 78 pro anglers competing for the title qualify through the Walmart FLW Tour, Walmart FLW Series, Stren Series, and includes the champions of the Walmart Bass Fishing League and the National Guard FLW College Series.

(Photo courtesy of Pat Dollard)

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Watch out, Athens residents — ya done gone made Gov. Sonny Perdue all angry-like with your opposition to the $450 million National Bio- and Agro Defense lab that was proposed near the state’s epicenter of music and binge drinking.

And now that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has ostensibly chosen Kansas to be the site where scientists will research common maladies such as hog chlorea and Nipah virus, Perdue’s unleashed the verbal venom and started pointing fingers. You cost him “jobs!”

From a Perdue press release on Friday:

“This morning, I spoke with Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Jay Cohen about Georgia’s bid for the National Bio- and Agro- Defense Facility. He made it clear that we had a strong technical proposal that met the criteria DHS laid out for this facility. However, I was extremely disappointed to learn that despite strong support from UGA and our elected officials, a small activist minority of the local community has effectively taken away a great opportunity for the Athens area. As the Centers for Disease Control has shown, the addition of NBAF would have meant stable, high-paying jobs and significant investment for our state. When I specifically asked Under Secretary Cohen about the qualifications for the facility, he quickly pointed out that opposition by a tiny contingent was the definitive reason Athens was not selected.”

Patrick Fox of the AJC reports that members of For Athens Quality-of-Life, a group that opposed the facility, say they’re happy to take the blame, but don’t deserve all the credit. According to the Associated Press, Kansas may have won out because Perdue didn’t kick in enough financial incentives to woo the feds.

[Says Kathy Prescott of the group:] “I don’t think [the governor] wants people to believe that one of the reasons that Georgia lost was because he didn’t pony up enough money.”

Judging that these incentive packages rarely bring about any good, it may have been a good move by Perdue, who’s surely looking forward to a long legislative session where the $2.5-billion budget shortfall will be of great concern.

(Photo illustration courtesy of Republican Rebel)

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In September, Gov. Perdue asked state agencies to give him three prospective budget plans for their departments — reflecting a 6-percent, 8-percent and 10-percent decrease in appropriations — so that he’d be prepared to deliver a state budget early next year that best reflects the current economic conditions.

Well, according to InsiderAdvantage’s Dick Pettys, Sonny has already dashed the hopes of optimists who had hoped Georgia could skate through the recession with minimal belt-tightening.

Gov. Sonny Perdue said Wednesday that upcoming state budget cuts may be nearer the 8 percent mark next year than the 6 percent he’s been holding back from state agencies.

(more…)

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Gov. Sonny Perdue’s plan for fixing a hemorrhaging state budget would cost Georgia homeowners upward of an extra 200 bucks a year — but it could end up costing Republicans even more.

With revenue collections now clogging the toilet, Perdue announced earlier this month that projections were indicating a $1.6 billion (yes, that’s a “B”) shortfall in the $20 billion current-year state budget. Part of his proposed remedy – eliminating the state Homeowner Tax Relief Grant – can be viewed as an affront to hardworking Georgia families struggling to make financial ends meet.

Or, if you’re a Democratic strategist, you can dance a jig and thank your nondenominational deity for yet another in a string of priceless political gimmes from a state Republican Party that seems determined to shoot itself in the foot with an AK-47.

But let’s back up a moment for a remedial course on Georgia taxes. The tax-relief grant in question was an initiative passed 10 years ago by then-Gov. Roy Barnes, under which the state reimburses cities, counties and school systems for a large chunk of local property-tax bills. The program has much the same effect as a homestead exemption, saving the typical taxpayer between $200 and $300 a year.

Read the rest if this article here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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