Georgia’s Next Secretary of State
by Bill Simon
These are the responsibilities of Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office: This is a multi-department agency charged with maintaining corporation filings, securities registration, professional licensure of a wide range of disciplines, elections and voter files, and archives of the State of Georgia.
Let’s look at the qualifications of the two leading Republicans for Secretary of State, Bill Stephens and Karen Handel:
Bill Stephens (from www.BillStephens.com)
Bill served as Director of Communications and spokesperson for Governor Zell Miller from 1989 to 1991. He was first elected to the Georgia State Senate in 1998 in an election for an open seat against two other Republicans and one Democrat. He went right to work in the Senate. In his freshman term he took on the status quo by creating the “Georgia Stuck Pig Award,†given annually to highlight wasteful government spending. He also earned former Governor Roy Barnes’ designation as “number 56 of 56″ in the Senate on the Barnes loyalty scale.
At the beginning of his second term, his colleagues elected him Chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus. From that post, he and a small group of Senators, including then Senator Sonny Perdue, laid out a strategy and campaign that in part was responsible for the historic results of the 2002 elections and the present GOP Majority in the Georgia State Senate.
On the Friday following the November 2002 elections, then Governor-Elect Perdue named him Senate Administration Floor Leader. Bill also served on Governor Perdue’s Transition Team, even acting as spokesperson for the Transition for a number of weeks. As Administration Floor Leader, Senator Stephens, along with Senator Dan Lee of Lagrange, was responsible for successfully guiding Governor Perdue’s legislative package through the Senate during the 2002 legislative session.
His colleagues elected him as Senate Majority Leader in a 2003 special election to succeed Senator Tom Price, who successfully won his bid for Johnny Isakson’s Congressional seat. Earning an even deeper respect from his colleagues, Bill successfully managed his increased legislative responsibilities and was re-elected to a second term as Majority Leader for the 2005 Legislative Session.
As Senate Majority Leader, Bill was responsible for Caucus fundraising, issues development, messaging, recruiting, and all other responsibilities that go with maintaining a GOP majority in the Senate. In addition to all of this, he was charged with managing the day-to-day Senate operations in partnership with Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson of Savannah. Bill has announced that he is a candidate for Secretary of State in the 2006 general election.
Karen Handel (from www.KarenHandel.com)
Before joining Governor Perdue’s staff and running for public office, Karen Handel served as the President and CEO of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.
As the CEO of one of the state’s largest Chambers of Commerce, Karen put her financial and management skills to work to lead the organization from the brink of bankruptcy to a position of stability with a growing membership base.
Additionally, Karen was directly responsible for working with state and local leaders, as well as national and international corporations, to bring job growth to the North Fulton area. Karen’s efforts helped lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs for Georgia citizens.
Karen Handel has also served as a business executive for several Fortune 500 companies, managing international communications and holding several other management positions with the global eye care company CIBA Vision. Karen also managed government and community relations for KPMG and worked in government affairs for the Hallmark Company.
NOW, who can tell me which of these two candidates has demonstrated ANY hands-on experience in the kind of atmosphere and working environment that is required of the Secretary of State’s office???
Bill Stephens may be great at managing other senators. He can work on “message.†He can fundraise. He can write press releases. ALL activities that might mean he is good for the Senate, but do not qualify him one iota for taking on the managment of the Secretary of State’s office.
Hands down, the only choice is Karen Handel.
April 9th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Funny Stephens leaves Health Master off his bio. you may want to take a look at what he did there.
April 11th, 2006 at 6:48 am
Did you notice the illegal contribution in his disclosure. According to his disclosure he received money in Feb.
April 24th, 2006 at 9:04 am
You will find that Angela Moore will be the next Secretary of State. She has strong and proven business leadership skills, ability to think outside of the box and innovative technological capabilities, coupled with the passion for she has for public service.
July 7th, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Wow James..way to cut and paste directly off of her website. If Ms. Moore wants to employ people to blog for her, you guys should come up with something a little more original.