Fresh Loaf

Are you a U.S. Congressman who’s careless with your spending? Gov. Sonny Perdue understands and he wants to help. But if you’re a city or county, well, in that case, you were reckless and had it coming.

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun recently made the news thanks to a congressional report that says the Republican congressman’s office had blown more than 80 percent of its annual budget, mostly on mailings to his constituents. (Broun blamed the spree on a former chief of staff.) Enter normally fiscal-minded Perdue, who’s agreed to attend an fundraiser tomorrow for the cash-strapped representative.

But Perdue’s not so forgiving when it comes to local governments. The governor raised the ire of many — Decatur in particular was aflame on the webz last week — when he criticized them for overspending in light of the state’s estimated $1.6 billion shortfall.

While the state is making spending cuts, Perdue said local governments “have never approached it from the standpoint that they have to tighten their belts.”

Congressman overspending = rest your head on my shoulder. Local governments “overspending” = you should know better.

Does Perdue have time on his schedule to host a bake sale for the estimated 661 county and city governments in Georgia?

(Hat tip to Peach Pundit and Decatur Metro for links, inspiration)

There’s an interesting conversation taking place on Peach Pundit about what exactly the Democrats want in an energy plan now that 70 percent of Americans are in favor of drilling off the coast and in protected lands in Alaska.

Wait, wha?!? Seven out of 10 voters want increased drilling? Even if it won’t lower gas prices in the short-term? Even if those people take into account that oil is a global commodity and whatever is found isn’t necessarily ours to keep? Even with all the risks associated with these projects at a time when hurricanes are predicted to become more frequent and powerful?

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Matt Towery of InsiderAdvantage is convinced that operatives with the Obama presidential campaign helped scuttle Vernon Jones’ Senate bid by sending out mailers that focused on Jones’ boasts that he voted twice for George W. Bush. The rumor has been picked up by Political Insider, Peach Pundit and other local blogs.

A certain Kenneth Walker, a Jones strategist, claims that he knows “for a fact…that there was a meeting in Sen. Harry Reid’s office with David Axelrod from Obama’s campaign, and there was an agreement Obama’s campaign would help Jim Martin with the direct mail linking Vernon and George Bush.”

That’s strange. We thought Vernon and Barrack were supposed to be tight.

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Just an update: Matthew Cardinale, who broke the story about blogger Andre Walker’s payments from U.S. Rep. David Scott, responded late last night to my inquiry about Walker’s own response to his story.

Walker argued yesterday that Atlanta Progressive News, where Cardinale is news editor, was being hypocritical because APN took campaign ad money from three candidates it endorsed.

Here’s Cardinale’s response:

Dear Ken,

… These were all ad purchases. Creative Loafing sells ads too, right?

The difference is our readers can see exactly who is advertising when the ads run and if they feel ads affect content they can take that into consideration.

To insinuate ads affect endorsements, our recent slate of endorsements laid out a number of principled issue positions with which we made our decisions.

Also, Atlanta Housing Authority can advertise on our website if they want to (really, we’ll take their money), but we’re not going to all of a sudden stop investigating them. David Scott can advertise too and he’s still a corporate centrist.

(He’s referring to AHA and Scott because APN’s written critically about both of them.)

I pretty much agree with Cardinale — though you could accuse me (as one commenter to my last post basically did) of saying so because we take ads. Just as Matthew said about APN, ads don’t affect what we write in our articles — though what we report has occasionally affected advertising. Around this whole conflict of interest standpoint, ads at least have the benefit of being right out there for everyone to see, so they can judge for themselves if they feel as if a story matches a special interest; payments from political candidates might be disclosed on campaign reports, but how many people pour over them?

‘NOTHER UPDATE: Andre Walker posted a mea culpa of sorts on Georgia Politics Unfiltered this morning. I apologize that this is coming so late. As noted elsewhere, we had awful Internet problems today in the office, which kinda hampered things.

The Atlanta blogger who got in hot water this morning for taking money from politicians is accusing his accusers of doing much the same thing.

“This just another case of the pot calling the kettle black,” Georgia Politics Unfiltered’s Andre Walker said in an e-mail about Atlanta Progressive News.

APN reported early this morning that Walker received payments from U.S. Rep. David Scott’s campaign (apparently for designing a website) and also ran favorable coverage of Scott. Decaturguy blogged last year that Walker had set up a website for Vernon Jones and also covered Jones’ Senate campaign.

But Walker sent campaign disclosure reports to CL showing that APN received a total of $575 for ads from politicians whom the website endorsed: Angela Moore for Georgia secretary of state in 2006, Able Mable Thomas for the fifth congressional district this year, and Donzella James, who ran against Scott in the 13th congressional district this year. (more…)

SEE UPDATE here.

A leading Georgia political blogger is being accused of conflicts of interest for doing work for politicians and failing to disclose it. The issue raises a couple of broader questions about ethical standards for political bloggers.

Atlanta Progressive News released an investigative article early this morning that details work done by Georgia Politics Unfiltered’s Andre Walker for U.S. Senate candidate Vernon Jones and incumbent Congressman David Scott, as well as a long list of favorable posts on Scott.

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For an organization with such a large recycle center on site, DFM should make reusable bags easy to use. This might require a change to the way things have always been done in the past, either with a Costco-style receipt checker or designated types of bags that can be taken into the store…just thinking out loud here.

— Nicholas at DecaturMetro makes a case for the DeKalb Farmer’s Market to ease its at-times stringent bag policy so shoppers can bring their own.

Of the fourteen paid staff positions listed on the state Democratic Party’s website, four are held by women and none of the female staffers hold any of the “director” positions (i.e., executive director, communications director, field director, finance director, canvass director, or call center director).

— Andre at PeachPundit says the state Democratic Party staff is underrepresented by women and African Americans.

Nobody listens to flackattack. Yes, suspending the tax is a no-brainer, but going through this routine every freaking year is getting a bit tiresome.

— FlackAttack at TondeesTavern bangs his head against the computer about Gov. Sonny Perdue’s suspension of the state gas tax increase. Click on the link above to read how he thinks it should be altered and annual suspensions like this avoided.

On May 28, the Democratic Party of Georgia challenged Georgia’s voter ID in Fulton County Superior Court. State Republicans say a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling settled the voter ID issue in their favor. State Democrats say the opposite is true.

“We think there are close to half a million people who are registered voters but won’t be able to vote.”

-Emmet Bondurant, lawyer for the Democratic Party of Georgia, as quoted in the Fulton County Daily Report on May 28.

On Friday, May 23, millions of Georgians were busy planning their Memorial Day weekends, writing letters and making phone calls to loved ones serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, and remembering family members and friends who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. That same day, the Democratic Party of Georgia (DPG) was busy on a different matter: filing a fourth lawsuit against the State attacking the voter ID law.

-Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, responding to the suit in a letter appearing on the Peach Pundit blog May 29.

(Nutjob photo by Joeff Davis)

Macon City Council member, RedState.com editor and Peach Pundit Poobah Erick Erickson is collecting cyberscorn for comments he made at the recent CPAC conservative political convention.

Erickson suggested the success of progressive bloggers relative to their conservative counterparts is because progressives have more free time. Conservatives “have families because we don’t abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism,” he said.

Contributors at AtlantaIndignationCouncil.com Blog for Democracy followed DailyKos‘ lead and pounced on Erickson:

“He seriously thinks progressives don’t have families OR jobs?”

“Right wing nutjobs are icky.”

“People like him often need to be knocked off their high horses, but so often aren’t.”

I spoke to Erickson this afternoon and he confirmed something that should have been perfectly obvious to anyone who’s ever read Peach Pundit or spoken to him in person.

He was being sarcastic.

“I was joking,” he said. “I was laughing when I said it. Other people were laughing.”

The only person who didn’t realize he was joking, he said, was the person who posted the comments without noting it was a joke.

I wonder how many minutes will pass before the Indignation Council jumps on me for defending a “right wing nutjob.” My guess is 60-90. At most.

Twice in recent days, I’ve left comments on Peach Pundit comparing the blog’s loudest “liberal” contributor to Fox News’ “liberal” personality Alan Colmes. Both are ineffectual foils whose tone and personalities discredit liberal viewpoints in front of largely conservative audiences.

Alan Colmes apparently reads Peach Pundit because last night he e-mailed me twice.

In the first e-mail, he asked me how often I watch Fox’s “Hannity & Colmes” or listen to his radio show. I replied that I don’t listen to his radio show, but I do watch “Hannity & Colmes” frequently, not regularly.

A second e-mail from Colmes arrived minutes after he was on-air speaking to Karl Rove. It said simply:

If you were more familiar with my work you probably would have written more favorably.

“Like Maynard, Hillary believes in creating possibilities for all Americans. For 35 years, she’s fought to turn possibilities into realities. From civil rights to universal healthcare, Hillary Clinton has always been on our side.”

— Valerie Jackson, widow of former Mayor Maynard Jackson and host of WABE-FM (90.1)’s book-themed “Between the Lines,” endorses Sen. Hillary Clinton for president.

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“Because Obama speaks our language: aspirational humanism. We believe that words of hope change things; similar words are spoken from UU pulpits each Sunday.”

— Making Chutney on support for Sen. Barack Obama among Unitarian Universalist bloggers

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“There surely has to be a Republican more competent, able to keep his pants on around female lobbyists, and more mature than the present Speaker of the House . . . Glenn Richardson has proven he cannot be trusted with the power of his office. He uses it for too many small minded purposes. And small minded leaders are dangerous creatures.”

— Erick at Peach Pundit expresses more-than-mild displeasure at fellow Republican, Speaker Glenn Richardson. The inspiration for Erick’s verbal assault: Richardson reportedly stripped Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, of an important House leadership position and made him move his office out of the Capitol because Graves voted to re-elect Georgia DOT Chairman Mike Evans.

It also makes you wonder, if they were looking for a viable excuse to get rid of the festival in the first place, and the drought made for the perfect scapegoat?

— Duane Moody wonders if the mayor’s decision to keep Pride out of Piedmont Park this year because of the drought might simply be a convenient excuse to thwart the GLBT community’s biggest annual party.

Duane may be on to something.

The mayor also told the Dogwood Festival people that they couldn’t have their festival in Piedmont Park. What color are Dogwood blossoms? WHITE! Think about it.

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The Speaker claims the Senate “shirked” its responsibilities today. I say we did exactly what we were sent here to do – to carefully and thoughtfully decide which actions benefit the people of Georgia.

— Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, blogging for Peach Pundit, calls B.S. on fellow Republican Speaker Glenn Richardson.

Long story short, the House voted yesterday to override 12 of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s vetoes from last year. The Senate is constitutionally required to “immediately consider” the House vetoes. Speaker Richardson is claiming “immediately consider” means vote now. Sen. Johnson says “immediately consider” means start reviewing it carefully.

CL’s Scott Henry explains more here.

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I think that shows the difference between Clinton and Obama. Bill & Hillary Clinton have displayed an interest in civil rights as well as the larger African-American community even when they weren’t running for office. Obama on the other hand, well…he needs the black vote…enough said.

— Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered thinks Clintonic interest in civil rights and African-Americans is sincere, but Obamanian interest is just political.

I wonder if he laughed when he wrote that, because I laughed when I read it.

. . . rich homeowners will be able to have swimming pools because they can afford the well water or out of state water to fill up their pools. Middle income and lower income families will not be able to do so.

— Erick at Peach Pundit expresses empathy for a hitherto underrepresented group of Georgians — poor people with backyard swimming pools.

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Hey Doom…

You are driving away your fanbase through the abuse of your mask!

— David at Ohmpark on the local blogtroversy surrounding MF Doom’s December 2007 performance at Masquerade. Ohmpark reprints photographic evidence allegedly showing that the performer on stage that evening was actually a masked imposter. There’s a reason they call it Masquerade, I suppose.

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The killer blow to Underground was when the World of Coca Cola museum adjacent to it closed to reopen in a new facility near the aquarium. With no major tourist attraction to draw people to Underground, it became just another run down collection of knick-knack shops and empty storefronts. Business dropped off so dramatically that the artists I had working there could no longer make enough to justify the time they spent. No artists, no operation. On December 31st we drew our last caricature at Underground.

The end of an era. It was a good run.

— Tom Richmond on the recent closure of Underground Atlanta’s caricature stand. Richmond operated the business for 18 years. Even if you have no interest in caricature art, his description of Underground over the years is worth a read.