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A MARTA bus driver was suspended over an incident last week in which he insisted passengers hold hands while he led them in prayer.

In the complaint, the passenger told MARTA officials the Route 125 Avondale/Northlake bus was traveling northbound on Nov. 3 when it stopped around 7:30 p.m. at the corner of Northlake Parkway and Lavista Road.

As the passenger, whose name was not released, approached the front of the bus, Matthews, who has been with MARTA six years,  stood from his seat and asked everyone to hold hands for a brief word of prayer.

The prayer lasted  four to five minutes.

What they prayed for or about is unclear, said Harris.

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How kooky is today’s GOP? It’s off the deep end — and swimming for open sea.

What other conclusion are we to draw from U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal’s decision last week to solidify his Republican bona fides by casting his lot with the birthers?

Deal has long been the most level-headed of Georgia’s GOP congressmen. But these days, rational behavior and reasonable positions don’t win Republican primaries — just ask Dierdre Scozzafava of New York’s House District 23. If you want to compete with the likes of John Oxendine — Deal’s opponent for governor — you best be prepared to board the crazy train.

As the Tea Parties prove, this is a national phenomenon, but it’s doubly disturbing in a red state like Georgia, where most of the top elected officials are Republicans who now feel pressure to act like loons. (And then there’s Rep. Paul Broun, who really is a loon.)

In other words the GOP’s “big tent” is being reduced to a padded cell.

Lest you think this is more liberal whining, the purpose of this post is to draw your attention to an interesting blog item on the increasingly conservative Peach Pundit:

The real news here is that Deal has done what no other candidate in this race has been able to do thus far: He has taken a position so “out there” that Ox has been able to take a stance that makes him seem sensible and sane.

However, the comments suggest that not everyone on the right sees sanity the same way.

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John Oxendine

GOP gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine sent an e-mail blast to supporters last week targeted at African-American voters that hit on every fear they could imagine, starting with his opening line: “The family is under attack, and in Washington D.C. this weekend, so is the President.”

Who is attacking our families?  And who attacked the President?!  Ah yes, those pesky gays.

Oxendine used the occasion of last weekend’s National Equality March to take to task the LGBT community for daring to hold their President accountable for his campaign promises.  The march was about many issues, including job discrimination and serving in the military, issues of which the African-American community surely knows nothing about.  But another of those issues was marriage equality, and that’s the one Oxendine wanted to home in on:

One of the most important issues to conservative voters is the institution of marriage.  But not just white voters.  Many minority voters are very traditional in this area and they tell me they resent the gay lobby ‘hijacking’ the civil rights movement for something besides skin color or gender.

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Few neighborhood groups have been as vocally opposed to Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine’s proposal of a “parallel downtown connector” than the Inman Park Neighborhood Association. Since Oxendine’s proposal to “talk” about an east-of-Atlanta interstate that could help motorists avoid driving through the city received attention late last week, the neighborhood’s message board has been filled with discussions about the candidate’s pie-in-the-sky idea.

Many of its members still remember the bitter battle over Stone Mountain Freeway/I-485, the proposed interstate that would’ve converted Inman Park and nearby vibrant hamlets, at the least, into “exits” rather than “neighborhoods.” Through an intense showing of community engagement and opposition, residents helped kill that proposal.

And if Oxendine’s proposed road were to ever be built, it could potentially displace many of the intown  residents and impact their quality of life. It would also cost the state an arm and a leg.

Inman Park Neighborhood Association President Lisa Burnette has sent a letter to Oxendine demanding that he retract his statement. The missive is beautiful in a scathing type of way — she gives him an Inman Park history lesson and takes him to task for his “build-more-roads” strategy. She leaves the candidate with this warning:

These Atlanta neighborhoods, including Inman Park, most soundly defeated this highway proposal decades ago, at a time when they had little organization and little resources. Today, we are highly organized and closely networked. We have neighbors and friends in many high places, and we have a lot of money, set aside specifically to protect ourselves against these kinds of proposals.

Burnette’s full letter after the jump.

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Good morning, John Oxendine, Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate. What bad ideas do you have for us this morning? Oh, you think we should talk about building a “parallel downtown connector” that could plow through most of East Atlanta! OK. Lemme just first clean up all this coffee I spit all over my desk.

Oxendine pitches the idea — along with a Western Bypass, a new Northern Arc, and a couple of other projects that will most likely never get built — in this campaign video.

Building a massive asphalt artery through some of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods isn’t going to win Oxendine any support inside the perimeter.

But this pie-in-the-sky idea, which will most likely never happen, could win the gubernatorial hopeful points with the North Fulton crowd, a tried and true Republican enclave that’s thought to most likely favor Karen Handel. The Ox says that people who live in the Ga. 400 and I-85 corridors — unlike potential voters in Cobb County — don’t have the luxury of bypassing the city.

But anything to get Georgia out of gridlock, right?

(H/T to Jim Galloway)

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Over the weekend, Congressman Nathan Deal, R-Gainesville, became the second major GOP candidate for governor to be dinged by an AJC investigative piece.

The first, of course, was John Oxendine, when the paper revealed back in May that our state insurance commissioner had accepted $120,000 in arguably illegal campaign contributions from dummy PACs controlled by an insurance company CEO whom Oxendine had repeatedly appointed to an influential industry board.

That didn’t look too good for Oxendine, a politician who’s long been dogged by whispered allegations of influence-peddling.

Deal, on the other hand, is a former judge who’s enjoyed a pretty clean reputation. But his free ride may have ended Sunday. Here’s the lead from the AJC piece:

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, personally intervened with Georgia leaders to preserve an obscure state program that earns his company nearly $300,000 a year.

The article goes on to describe how Deal seemed to be using his office and that of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — his fellow Gainesvillian — to intimidate state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham from altering a program through which Deal’s auto-salvage business had enjoyed two decades’ worth of no-bid state patronage.

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A scant 10 months out from next year’s GOP primary, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is touting a new Rasmussen poll that shows him with a “commanding lead over all other Republican gubernatorial hopefuls.”

Here’s what Rasmussen says:

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Georgia shows Oxendine with 31% support among those likely to vote in the state’s open Republican Primary. That gives him a (sic) 18-point advantage over his closest competitors. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and Congressman Nathan Deal each attract 13% of the vote.

And here’s what the Ox’s team makes of it:

“John is humbled by these results and he will continue to work very hard to earn the trust and support of Georgia,” said (campaign manager Tim) Echols.

Hmm, perhaps they didn’t read the next paragraph, in which Rasmussen concludes:

However, it’s clearly a very open field. Thirty-one percent (31%) of potential voters are not sure which candidate they prefer.

Well, so much for the Ox’s “commanding lead.”

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1. Beltline proposal near Piedmont Park prompts concerns about density (How dense is too dense at 10th and Monroe?)

2. Thoughts on passing of Atlanta LGBT rights leader Allen Thornell (Beloved activist, 38, dies after suffering a stroke.)

3. Letter to editor about Georgia reservoirs hilariously suburban (Second only to CL, the Marietta Daily Journal has some of the best letters to the editor.)

4. Oxendine attacks Obama on behalf of big donors (The Ox has to look out for his base — which, is, of course, big insurance companies.)

5. MARTA service cuts start Aug. 15 (Bus route 23 — which runs along Peachtree, linking Midtown to Buckhead — gets the axe.)

(Photo courtesy Atlanta Beltline Inc.)

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Kyle Constable of Leesburg, Ga., is a model Young Republican. The 15-year-old was elected sophomore class president at Lee County High School and unanimously chosen to be treasurer for the Georgia Teen Republicans at the statewide convention in June. He has volunteered for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is on the school debate team and maintains his own blog. Not surprisingly, when he grows up, he’d like to be involved in politics.

But yesterday, young Kyle ended a posting with this hard-earned observation:

Well I guess I’m finally starting to experience the “dirty politics” I’ve been told about.

What happened to shake this fresh-faced junior GOPer’s faith in the democratic process?

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What possible interest could the Ox, a Georgia state elected official, have in whether Obama succeeds in passing national health-care reform?

Well, for starters, as a candidate for governor, he’s got to make it through the merciless GOP primary, so any swipe at a Democratic president is a smart move. But, more importantly, as state insurance commissioner, he’s got to look out for his base — which, is, of course, big insurance companies.

That’s why, just a couple of hours ago, John Oxendine launched www.youcanstopobama.com, a new website intended to “let the voices of real Americans be heard in the political process.” Here’s the pitch:

With your help, we can stand up to President Obama and the power grabbing, free market destroying Congress. From centralized control of banking, automaking, and now healthcare, Obama’s and Congress’ plan for America is a prescription for disaster.

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Don't worry, bears. John Oxendine hears you!

No, not those bears! (Update – Or even these bears.)

Back in May, we posted a video in which Republican gubernatorial candidate John “I have enough guns in my house to take over a small Caribbean country” Oxendine said, if elected, he’d run Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers out of the state. Go and watch the clip, it’s nice and creepy.

This morning, Oxendine went even more public with his vow. He echoed his pledge to run abortion providers out of Georgia. He signed the Right to Life pledge. He’s been doing all the right things. But he’s not editing!

“If elected, I will use the power of the Governor’s office to create an environment where abortion providers will not want to do business in Georgia any longer,” said Oxendine, now the proud dad of a new baby boy. “The Oxendine Administration will enforce existing laws and use the state Constitution to put Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers out of their grizzly business.”

Planned Parenthood, you’ve been exposed as the bear-smuggling heathens we all knew you were. For shame.

(H/T to Dash Riptide at Peach Pundit for the catch, Bears photo courtesy Wikipedia)

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The Georgia GOP gubernatorial primary is still a year away, but gubernatorial candidate and Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine is ahead of the pack when it comes to kissing up to conservatives.

“I am running to protect the business community in Georgia from Roy Barnes and his anti-business friends. I am running to protect Georgia farmers from Roy Barnes and his environmentalist wacko regulators. I am running to protect the traditional values Georgia holds dear from Roy Barnes and the liberals in Atlanta. … I am going to run a positive campaign. “

— Oxendine plays defense against current candidate and former Gov. Roy Barnes in a June 24 fundraising pitch to supporters. The Democratic nomination is still more than a year away.

“[If elected governor, I'll] make it so uncomfortable that Planned Parenthood is not going to be able to operate in this state. They’re going to start losing money, and we’re going to make it economically difficult for them. … Yes, they will be out of business in Georgia. They will leave the state of Georgia.”

— Oxendine in a YouTube video uploaded May 12

“When I see this and my other three kids, it reminds me of why it’s important that I run for governor, and why it’s important that we transform government.”

— A campaign video posted hours after the July 8 birth of Oxendine’s son, showing the candidate with his wife, who’s cradling their newborn in a hospital recovery room

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When Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle announced on April 15 that he decided to drop his bid for governor, rumors started flying that the reason he gave — complicated back surgery — was a white lie, and that Cagle had actually been confronted with damaging evidence that would’ve hurt his campaign.

People pointed fingers at Cagle’s opponent for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner John Oxendine. Others whispered it was Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, another challenger. Some said it was those pesky Democrats, kicking up dirt and slinging mud. But these rumors were never reported by the press because they were just rumors.

Around that time, I searched Oxendine’s campaign reports to see if there were any odd expenses. I noticed one for Investigative Consultants International, an Alpharetta-based private eye firm. Its founder, T.J. Ward, rose to the national spotlight for his involvement with the search for Natalee Holloway, the coed who disappeared during a spring break trip in Aruba.

Jim Galloway yesterday morning reported that James Salzer and Cam McWhirter contacted the Oxendine campaign for clarification about the item. All Tim Echols, the commissioner’s campaign manager would tell the reporters was “campaigns routinely hire investigators.”

That might be all Echols, who took on the role of campaign manager two weeks ago, will say. But Jeff Breedlove, Oxendine’s chief strategist, was a bit more open with CL a few months ago.

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Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine took to the Twitterverse earlier to announce he’d raised about $420,000 in his quest to become the GOP gubernatorial nominee. His campaign says he’s raised a total of $1.45 million to date and has “slightly over one million” cash on hand.

“John Oxendine’s positive message offering real solutions for the issues facing Georgia is clearly resonating with people all across the state,” said Tim Echols, campaign manager. “John Oxendine’s Contract with Georgia offers specific policy solutions the people of Georgia are looking for from a leader.”

Hmmm. Positive messages.

Last Thursday, Oxendine’s supporters heard a little bit of that positivity. In an email to fellow members of the Ox Army, the candidate asked supporters to scrounge up whatever coins they had in their couches, seal them in an email, and fax them to his campaign. The deadline for fund-raising reports was drawing near, Oxendine wrote, and he wanted to frighten his fellow elephants fighting for the nomination.

Sure, Oxendine touted the “Contract with Georgia” you’ll be hearing a lot about. But he also looked into the future, saw that former Gov. Roy Barnes had won the Democrat nomination, and decided it was time for some scare tactics!

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Erick Erickson, editor of Peach Pundit and RedState, has gotten all Lawnmower Man up in this and rappelled into the darkest depths of the Internet to do some good-ole fashioned sleuthing.

Erick Erickson

For several days, Erickson’s had a sneaking suspicion that someone close to state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has been vandalizing Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel’s Wikipedia entry. Handel and Oxendine are considered front runners in the race that’s still more than a year away.

A few readers — some of whom it’s safe to assume are supporters of Das Ox — questioned Erickson’s motives. (It’s worth noting that he’s a fan of Handel.) But now he’s uncovered some more evidence.

So while I realize the Oxendine supporters will use this as a forum to go after me again for daring to speculate based on the circumstantial evidence at the time, as the Oxendine campaign seems intent on doing, the Oxendine campaign is not out of the woods by a long shot.

I now have the IP address from which RomneyGingrich12 made the changes to Karen Handel’s biography.

That IP address is a State of Georgia IP address that, I understand, connects from the Sloppy Floyd building. Unfortunately, it is also my understanding that it is pretty difficult to tell from there which computer, in fact, uses that particular IP address or it may rotate.

Read a list of more clues over at Peach Pundit.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Poythress says a recent Rasmussen poll that both former Governor Roy Barnes and state Insurance Commissioner John “PAC Man” Oxendine enjoy strong leads in the 2010 governor’s race was kind of quirky.

In an email blast to supporters today, Poythress basically says the poll’s sample size wasn’t large enough and that chicks dig him. Oh, and that Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, one of Poythress’ Democratic opponents, either lost a lot of support since the last poll was conducted or never had any to begin with.

1. The sample was only 247 respondents. Most legitimate statewide polls require no less than 400-600 respondents to get an accurate gauge on public opinion;

2. The crosstabs show that all of the respondents supporting me were all female. While I believe I have strong support across the state among women, the fact that not a single male supported me suggests a badly skewed sampling process;

3. Another poll released last week showed Thurbert Baker at 30%, in this poll he was at 8%. I seriously doubt that the Attorney General has dropped 22% in the span of a week. Clearly one of these polls is way off base!

We’re not pollsters, but maybe Poythress is right about the first gripe. And women do like a man in uniform. On the last point…well, maybe it’s only THE OX that’s immune to front-page stories about campaign contributions. (UPDATE: Yes, yes, we know the Rasmussen poll was conducted on June 17, prior to the AJC’s story about Baker’s allegedly questionable campaign contributions. Just some snark and a poke at the AJC-hates-Oxendine contingent, folks.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Actually, with bags under his eyes, the former governor didn’t look all that rested at his afternoon press conference today. Nor did he look like he’d been getting a lot of sun lately (although InsiderAdvantage chief Matt Towery, who was in the audience, was tan enough for everybody).

But Roy certainly seemed ready. Smiling, surrounded by his family, taking questions, cracking jokes — here was a guy who makes political campaigning look like fun. And the press corps was eating it up. Because now we’ve really got a race to cover.

Barnes’ entrance into the guv’s race will shake things up in a big way. Not immediately, mind you. All three announced Democratic candidates — state Attorney General Thurbert Baker, state House Minority Leader DuBose Porter and former this-and-that David Poythress — quickly sent out terse announcements saying they weren’t stepping aside. But come on. For months now, polls have shown that the front-runner’s slot was Barnes’ if he wanted it.

Now, after all the waiting, we know he wants it.

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Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton

Remember how sad it was to watch Sen. John McCain grovel for right-wing votes during the presidential race, such as when he made nice with Jerry “Agent of Intolerance” Falwell? Well, get ready for more of the same here in the State that Time Forgot. Georgia is so far behind the political curve that Republicans running for statewide office feel they’ve got to act like the ink is still drying on the Contract for America in order to make it through the GOP primary alive.

And maybe they do, but it’s still sad to watch. Take Secretary of State Karen Handel. She apparently felt as if her responsible, reasonable stint as Fulton County Commission Chairwoman didn’t effectively position her to compete with fellow Republicans for higher office, so she’s behaved like a partisan harpy ever since — trying to kick Democrats off the ballot, attempting a wholesale voter purge in clear violation of the Voting Rights Act, publicly reassuring Republicans that a surge in Obama-friendly voters was “a myth, ya’ll.” Yow.

The latest GOP soul-seller is Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, another gubernatorial hopeful who reminded attendees of the state GOP convention this past weekend that he was the one who caused the big ruckus the last week of the General Assembly by blocking a resolution by black Democrats to make Pres. Obama an “honorary lifetime member of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus.” Said Scott:

In the House, I was proud to lead the charge to kill the Obama Resolution that proclaimed him as a man of unimpeachable character. We are still one nation under God and no Resolution saying the president has unimpeachable character is going to pass as long as I have anything to say about it. In this race our party must be the party that offers the next generation of voters a governor that they believe in.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue last week irked many fellow Republicans when he vetoed a bill that would have slashed the state capital gains tax. Critics warned the bill would have cost the cash-strapped state between $340 million and $1 billion in lost revenues.

“I’m scratching my head…If I were the governor, I would have said, ‘Where is that? Let me get my pen.’”

— House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, in the May 11 AJC

“Cutting capital gains taxes would have encouraged more investment into the state. It is a sad day when this type of legislation gets vetoed by a Republican governor.”

— State Insurance Commissioner and GOP gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine in a May 11 press release

“If Governor Perdue vetoes it, I hope legislators will consider overturning his veto. The JOBS Act could do a lot of good for Georgia.”

— David Raynor of the Georgia chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business

“Republicans I talked to in the legislature are angry and demoralized.”

— Pro-growth, anti-tax Wall Street Journal columnist Stephen Moore, writing about Perdue’s veto

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John Oxendine likes the Twitterz. He loves the insurance moniez (but gives it back). And he hates the abortionz.

A video uploaded to YouTube three days ago — but filled with heady rhetoric from 2002 — shows the GOP gubernatorial candidate addressing people in what appears to be a subdivision clubhouse. Or maybe it’s a Rooms To Go showroom. Regardless, it’s creepy.

In the video, Oxendine says if elected governor he’ll “make it so uncomfortable that Planned Parenthood is not going to be able to operate in this state and they’re going to start losing money, and we’re going to make it economically difficult for them…Yes, they will be out of business in Georgia. They will leave the State of Georgia.” He then says Planned Parenthood is a business and “they’re in it to make money. Cue the “they don’t mind killing babies” shortly thereafter. (3:45 in the video)

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Well, let’s see what’s on the ole Twitter, eh? Oh, what’s this? John Oxendine for Governor? Why, “The Ox” is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to lead the great state of Georgia! What did he do this weekend?

(Turns Twitter off, commences to weep)

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State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, a 2010 Republican candidate for governor, sat down with Fox5’s Paul Yates in one of the station’s series of interviews with gubernatorial hopefuls. The commenters at Peach Pundit are debating Oxendine’s position that the government is responsible for providing water to its citizenry.

But it was “The Ox’s” comment that cash-strapped MARTA needs to be “reworked” — and that the state should examine the pros and cons of privatizing the system — that caught my eye.

(Hat tip to Jim Galloway and Jason Shepard at Peach Pundit)

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Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has announced he will drop out of the 2010 governor’s race for health reasons.

“Often times we’re dealt certain cards we have to face,” Cagle told reporters today at a press conference at the Capitol before choking up and leaving the rotunda.

“It is a degenerative spinal condition and treatment will entail significant recovery,” spokesperson Jaillene Hunter later told reporters. She did not elaborate on the name of the condition or the course of its treatment.

In other words, the treatment — which involves surgery — would likely require Cagle to stay off the campaign trail.

Dick Pettys reports Cagle told members of the Senate Republican Caucus that he would run for another term as lieutenant governor in 2010. If so, he’ll face Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth, and Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah — assuming they remain in the race following this news.

Cagle, a Gainesville Republican, was considered the front-runner to become the GOP nominee for governor. Remaining Republican candidates now include Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, state Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, and Ray McBerry. Possible candidates include Cobb County Chairman Sam Olens, whom Jim Galloway reports is expected to make an announcement on Friday.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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Save your energy, gents — the 2010 governor’s race is going to be a long and tiresome slog.

From the AJC’s Gold Dome Live:

In a post-General Assembly session interview with the AJC this week, Oxendine, who holds a law degree, took some pointed shots at the way Cagle, who doesn’t have a college degree, thinks.

“The Legislature and the presiding officers, and more so with Cagle, would rather have the status quo than have somebody else get their way,” Oxendine said. “If change means somebody else’s idea, he (Cagle) would rather have the status quo.

“The status quo is the easy way to govern. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking, it’s not brain surgery. To do things differently requires intellectual thought and sometimes he may prefer the easy way out. I think sometimes he just prefers the easy way out, of saying, ‘I’ll stick with the status quo, that way I don’t have to think hard.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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That lovable gnome of a legislator, state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, has finally decided which statewide office he’ll pursue in 2010. We’d heard last week that he was considering the attorney general’s post after current AG Thurbert Baker announced he would run for governor, but Harp has now told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that he’ll shoot for insurance commissioner.

“I want to make sure the people of Georgia are protected from unscrupulous companies and I want to make sure the good companies are also protected,” Harp said.

Harp has been one of our favorite state lawmakers because he rarely seems to give much thought to partisan point-scoring. During the just-ended 2009 General Assembly, for instance, he fearlessly advocated for Sunday alcohol sales while his GOP colleagues were hiding in the bathroom, getting lost on the way to committee meetings and finding any excuse to avoid voting on the issue. His efforts earned him a coveted Arnie Award this year.

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