Fresh Loaf

Former Georgia lawmaker Mary Squires says she’s running for insurance commissioner in 2010.

Squires served several terms in the state House of Representatives and Senate. In 2004, she made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate as a Democrat. The Atlanta resident now heads the Georgia Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, Inc., a self-insured health care trade association. She’s also director and CEO of the Olive Industry Association, a national agriculture research and trade association.

“I am excited to be the first candidate in the race for insurance commissioner,” Squires said in a press release. “It is a very important position. The insurance commissioner impacts the quality of life for every day Georgians more than any other race in 2010.”

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Gold Dome sentinel Dick Pettys of InsiderAdvantage provides an excellent rundown of 2008’s state political stories, complete with links that give you a rare glimpse behind the online news service’s subscription firewall. If you want a good take on what happened this year, it’s all right there.

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During my late-night search through FiveThirtyEight’s comments, I came across a link to Frontloading HQ, a blog edited by a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Georgia named Josh Putnam.

If you’re looking for a Georgia blog that likes to crunch the numbers and data, it’s the place.

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Something to keep in mind when you go into the voting booth. The pro-conservation nonprofit organization gives its seal of approval to the following candidates:

UPDATE: An eagle-eyed viewer reminds me via e-mail that Jacobs is no longer a Democrat.

Senate
District 6 – Doug Stoner (D)
District 29 – Seth Harp (R)
District 42 – David Adelman (D)
District 46 – Bill Cowsert (R)

Public Service Commission
District 4 – Jim Powell (D)

House
District 8 – Charles Jenkins (D)
District 11 – Barbara Massey Reece (D)
District 13 – Katie Dempsey (R)
District 28 – Jeannette Jamieson (D)
District 34 – Rich Golick (D)
District 44 – Sheila Jones (D)
District 80 – Mike Jacobs (D) (R)
District 81 – Jill Chambers (R)
District 85 – Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D)
District 177 – Mark Hatfield (R)

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Don’t count on Georgia’s candidates for Congressional and state offices to tell you what they think on the issues.

That’s what Project Vote Smart, a national research organization founded by Newt Gingrich, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and numerous other political leaders of all parties, concluded in its regular survey of the bunch.

According to the organization, only 30 percent of Georgia’s Congressional candidates and 13 percent of state legislative candidates were willing to give their views on such issues as budget, taxes, environment and energy, health care, immigration and foreign policy. (Keep reading to find out who’s among them.)

A 10-year study conducted by the organization shows candidates and incumbents have been less likely to respond to the test.  Why are those who want to remain in office or get there so apprehensive? Says Project Vote Smart:

Since 2000, Project Vote Smart has found that party leaders and consultants from both major parties are advising candidates not to respond to the Test for two primary reasons: it will limit the candidates’ ability to control their campaign messages, and it will expose them to opposition research.

Richard Kimball, president of Project Vote Smart responds to this cynical attitude. “While Project Vote Smart doesn’t need the candidates’ cooperation to get the goods on them, the public is always interested in finding out which of their candidates have enough courage to expose themselves to their opponents in order to help voters. One campaign consultant told us, ‘Our campaign only answers issue questions if they come with a campaign contribution or endorsement.’”

After the jump, view the names of and download the attachments to see where your elected official stands.

(more…)

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Andre Walker at Georgia Politics Unfiltered reports that three former opponents of Ralph Long, the Democrat who won the state representative district that includes Atlanta, have filed a residency challenge against him with Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. Long does not face a Republican challenger in the general election and is therefore the presumptive state Representative-elect.

Paul Lockhart, Tony McCann, and Keisha Waites –who came in 5th, 6th and 2nd in the July 15th Democratic primary respectively [Source: Georgia Secretary of State, Georgia Election Results, July 22, 2008]– claim that Ralph Long “will not have met the Constitutional and Statutory residency requirements for the office of State Representative” and that by claiming to live in the 61st district, Long “intentionally deceived and defrauded the voters of the 61st District.”

The residency challenge also alleges that Long never claimed homestead exemption for his residence and that he did not reside in Georgia for one year prior to his candidacy. The challenge says that based on utility bills, Long was actually living in an apartment in Washington, D.C.

If the challenge to Ralph Long’s residency is successful, it’s expected that a special Democratic primary will be held to fill the vacancy on the Democratic ticket.

To view the residency challenge, click here.

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One of the other less-publicized fights amidst all the November election brouhaha has been between Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and Michelle Conlon, an independent candidate for state House District 80. In late July, the secretary threw out a petition Conlon circulated to be considered eligible to face Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-DeKalb, the incumbent. Conlon then appealed Handel’s decision in Fulton County Superior Court.

And now, according to her press release, she’s won. You’ll see her name on the ballot come November against Jacobs.

From a campaign release:

Michelle Conlon, Candidate for House District 80, has prevailed in her lawsuit to compel the Secretary of State to place Ms. Conlon on the ballot in November.

“This is exciting news not only for me but for the voters in the district who deserve a choice on the ballot. I am looking forward to moving past this distraction,” said Conlon.

…“It is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get the Secretary of State to abide by her statutory responsibility to review the petition, but we are pleased with the result,” said Ms. Conlon. “I look forward to campaigning on the issues that matter to residents of House District 80.”

Conlon will be listed on the ballot as an Independent Candidate; however, she plans to officially announce her victory at an Obama Acceptance Speech event Thursday evening at Galla’s Pizza. Conlon hopes her message will appeal to Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike.

“Mike Jacobs needs to be fired. This is not the guy we elected. And he has not given us the representation that we were promised. He switched parties’ mid-term, voted for predatory lending, to cut public education funds and for guns on MARTA. When your representative cannot decide who he is or want he wants, he is ineffective in representing you,” said Conlon.

Now that she is on the ballot, Conlon is optimistic regarding her chances in November. She notes: “More people signed my petition than voted for my opponent in his July Primary.”

Click here to visit her campaign website. The full release from the Conlon campaign is pasted after the jump.

(more…)

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Dick Pettys of InsiderAdvantage brings news that Sen. Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, has confirmed that he’ll run for lieutenant governor in 2010 — but only if Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle decides he won’t seek another term in office.

Johnson’s a champion for education — that was one of his pet projects during the last legislative session. Pettys says it looks like universal school choice might be a big part of his ‘10 platform and his strategy in January as well.

He’s also one of the more colorful characters under the Gold Dome. When Gov. George Pataki of New York pulled down Georgia’s old flag in its statehouse because it incorporated the stars and bars, Johnson climbed on the ledge of the third floor in the Capitol to pull down the Empire State’s colors. He’s always good for a quote, was/is an awesome blogger, and underwent one of the coolest extreme makeovers a lawmaker has ever attempted since Joe Lieberman became a Republican. (Come on, you know he is, he’s just too lazy to change the letterhead.)

But he’s also a lawmaker who’ll actually address your questions without trailing off into some “let’s-move-forward-with-solutions” nonsense speech laden with soundbites and canned phrases. You may or may not agree with him all the time, but at least he’s direct. Of course, that’s gotten him into some trouble before.

Plus, he says he reads Fresh Loaf, so we gotta show some love to a reader.

(The senator from the Garden of Good and Evil says he’s a Led Zeppelin fan, hence the rare photo posted to the right. Johnson stood in for Robert Plant during a tour after the famous singer suffered a panther attack.)

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God, I love our Legislature.

State Rep. Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, moonlights as a romantic suspense writer who scribes under the nom de plume of Selena Montgomery. (She’s also a deserved winner of our illustrious Arnie Awards.) Her new novel, Reckless, recently hit stores.

Here’s the plot:

Atlanta attorney Kell Jameson has just won yet another acquittal for a famous, if guilty, client. Then one frantic phone call wrenches her back Hallden, Georgia, a place she’s spent years trying to escape. The head of her childhood orphanage has been accused of murder, and Kell is her only hope for freedom. Unfortunately for Kell, she is forced to work with Sheriff Luke Calder to prove her client’s innocence – but perhaps at the cost of revealing a secret Kell has worked a lifetime to keep hidden. And a secret a murderer will kill to protect.

The book’s garnered rave reviews and is sure to include thinly veiled references to xenophobic, money-hungry and asphalt-lovin’ state lawmakers.

To read excerpts or purchase the novel, click here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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