Fresh Loaf

Gov. Sonny Perdue sat down with Georgia’s Congressional delegation today to discuss how the state will iron out a water-sharing deal with Alabama and Florida now that a federal judge has ruled metro Atlanta’s use of Lake Lanier for drinking water is illegal.

While governors of the three states check their day planners, the Peach State’s congressmen will weigh whether they want to make the issue a national one or keep the focus on Lake Lanier.

At an Aug. 14 panel discussion with business leaders and other elected officials, Isakson said his office has discovered more than 45 federal reservoirs might be in the same predicament as Lake Lanier — essentially, they were never intended to be used for drinking water, but somewhere along the way local governments started dipping in straws.

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U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., visited the Atlanta Press Club today and spoke about rail, water woes and the nation’s standstill economy. (He said it might take five years for the nation to recover.) Isakson also said the closing of the Hapeville Ford Plant might have hurt the region’s chances for the Atlanta-Lovejoy rail line.

Maria Saporta and the AJC’s Kristi Swartz wrote great summaries of his speech. Grayson Daughters also produced a video of Isakson’s talk.

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In light of the questions about special mortgage deals Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., received from embattled Countrywide Financial Corp., Politico has surveyed the lawmakers’ colleagues to inquire about their mortgages. Of those surveyed, 23 senators have yet to respond.

Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, however, did.

Chambliss says he took out a mortgage 15 years ago through a banker at Bank of America. No special terms were included in the deal. Isakson obtained his through a real estate associate at HomeBank. The mortgage was subsequently sold to Synovus and then Chase. It was paid June 1.

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