The Political Vine

Editor's Note: For far too long the PV has been told by Gwinnettians (yeah, it's a word) that Gwinnett County politics are so much more interesting than the regular Cobb GOP stuff we've seen fit to cover for the past 3 years. Well, this year is the year we take the plunge into Gwinnett County coverage (besides that, we're really pretty ASHed-out, aren't you?).

Perhaps Lorraine Green Needs to Re-Examine That P.E. License She Holds

Rumors have it that at last night's United Ebony Society of Gwinnett's public forum of commission candidates, District One candidate Lorraine Green railed against her opponent, George Thorndyke, and his record of "evil development" in Gwinnett County.

PV's Response:For the record, Thorndyke answered her "charge" that he had developed a whopping total of two shopping centers over the past 20 years, both anchored by Publix Supermarkets. Not hearing a protest from Green, we can safely assume that Thorndyke speaks the truth on this matter.

Then, Green mumbled something about Thorndyke developing and promoting "bars" and "pawn shops." Yeah, a place called Digger's in one of the Publix shopping centers serves alcohol (along with some damn fine chili).

Oooh...someone had better call Pat Robertson and Judi Quigley and close that place down! Alcohol! Imagine! In Gwinnett! Other places in the world have to contend with car bombs, but Lorraine Green is most concerned with alcohol being served in a restaurant in a shopping center. (Yeah, buddy! What clown is advising her on this strategy? Oh yeahh...we know which one...the same one that lost Clint Day his 1998 Lt. Governor's bid...THAT one)

Then, in her closing statement, Green had this to say about Thorndyke: "Yeah, my opponent claims to have built only 2 shopping centers, but he didn't tell you about the project he has planned for this summer when he's going to convert an R-12 development into a high-intensity commercial development in Snellville!"

Ummm...(PV raises his hand)...Ms. Planning Commissioner? What exactly is a "high-intensity" development? Have you been snorting catnip again?

Now, just to explain to the rest of the semi-rational world (Green and her minions are excluded from this world by default), Lorraine Green earns her living as a registered professional engineer (P.E.) who specializes in soil testing...for...for...who?...who needs soil testers?...hmm...let us think...hmmm...ah...DEVELOPERS! Developers who are interested in building something new or re-doing a piece of property, or something like that.

In fact, the only way Ms. Green earns a living is to test the soils of any new development, or revitalization of an existing development. So, for Green to continue to point her fat fingers at Thorndyke and try to paint him as some kind of "evil developer," while she has to rely on other developers (like Democrat scumbag Wayne Mason and his cronies) to throw business her way is not only hypocritical, but it just makes absolutely ZERO sense.

As a graduate of the fine institution of Georgia Tech (as the PV editor is), and as a holder of a P.E. license (as our editor once did, but is now retired from that), Lorraine Green is the saddest example of a logical-thinking engineer that we've seen in at least 10 years...."Yeah, my opponent is a developer, and developers suck...yeah, I make my living providing engineering consulting services to developers...yeah, 90% of my contributions come from developers, builders, and real estate closing attorneys...yeah, what's your point?"

Just Wait Until You Guys See Me In My Grandpappy's KKK Outfit...

Rumors have it that at the same forum where Lorraine Green displayed her political IQ, Commission Chairman Wayne Hill had this to say in response to an inquiry about "diversity" in Gwinnett: "My granddaddy would be rolling over in his grave if he saw the eleven families of diversity that go to my church in Sugar Hill."

PV Sez: When this yahoo throwback to the days of the KKK and moonshine gets defeated this year, his send-off should include stuffing him into one of those orange-and-white highway barrels and rolling him down Sugarloaf Parkway for a mile or two. What a buffoon!

Speaking Of All Other Things Gwinnett...

Rumors have it that one of the candidates to replace Wayne Hill didn't even bother to show-up for last night's forum: Marcia Neaton.

Curious as well was the absence of Marcia's ex-husband, Bob Griggs. Griggs, you see, writes a bit of a "news" (cough! cough!) column for the Gwinnett region. Bob is a bit of a conspiratorial nut (which, based on the slew of other characters we will be introducing you to from Gwinnett, may indicate that there's something definitely in the water...and, Lorraine Green probably poured it in there), and he thinks everyone but a few allies (and female dancing partners) are up to no good in his home turf of Gwinnett.

Rumors have it that instead of participating in public discussion forums, Griggs and Neaton were reenacting Bob's little incident from his days at the Covington Police Department, complete with handcuffs and stout women dancing and shaking their groove thing at Bob.

Now, interestingly enough, there is also a rumor going around that the Atlanta Journal & Constitution recently served Griggs with a cease-or-pay-us-$50-for-every-article-you-have-stolen-from-us letter. See, Griggs thought he was soooooo cute to swipe 20 articles from the AJC Stacks and post them on his new anti-John Dunn Website. Dunn is running for District Three of Gwinnett County Commission.

Perhaps Griggs forgot about the rules of using AJC's copyrighted material. See, the AJC requires that if anyone wishes to use their articles in full, they must pay $50 per article in order to do so.

Hmmm...has he come up with the $1000 or has he taken the articles down?

But, Some Truly, Truly Good News About Gwinnett Politics...

Rumors have it that at the U.S. Senate debate held on May 1 in Gwinnett, a total of 650 people packed the room at the Gwinnett Civic and Cultural Center. Kudos to Gwinnett GOP Vice-Chairman Julianne Thompson for a fine, and well-attended, show.

PV Muses: Curious, isn't it? Isn't it curious how Mrs. Thompson can put together an event attended by all 3 GOP candidates for U.S. Senate, pack a room full of 650 people, and have great success while the nimrods who run the Cobb County GOP and Cobb County YR clubs end-up with less than 75 people attending their U.S. Senate debate?

What could be the difference? Could it be that when people like Julianne Thompson decide to host a debate that she first calls every candidate to see what dates are good for them, and she makes these calls 2 months in advance to coordinate all schedules?

Contrast that with what Nimrod #2 of the Cobb GOP (i.e., Anthony-Scott Hobbs) does and what Nimrod #3 of the Cobb County YRs (i.e., Edwin Nelson) does when they simply send an e-mail to a candidate like Johnny Isakson a few weeks in advance telling the Isakson campaign of WHEN the debate will be and that he better show-up or else.

The fact is that, unlike the Cain campaign and the Collins campaign, Isakson's schedule is probably very full several months in advance of an event, and they cannot just drop everything to attend a debate hosted by such "VIPs."

And, perhaps the difference between the debates held in Cobb and in Gwinnett is that people like Julianne Thompson possess more integrity in her little pinky finger than people like Hobbs and Nelson possess in total.

News From The Forsyth GOP...Who Are Starting To Look Suspiciously Like The Cobb GOP...

Rumors have it that at last night's scheduled U.S. Senate debate in Forsyth County, U.S. Senate Candidate/Current 6th District Congressman Johnny Isakson was a no-show.

Rumors are that the Forsyth County GOP spokesman, Gray Smith announced to the crowd that "Yeah, after Johnny's people promised me he would be here, his campaign called to cancel 20 minutes before the debate."

Facts have it that the Isakson campaign had informed Gray and the Forsyth GOP weeks ago that there was a Congressional vote scheduled on Thursday and he might not be able to attend the debate. As it turned out, the scheduled vote did occur, but Isakson was still unable to get to the debate on time due to meeting with constituents.

The campaign had attempted to reach Smith twice yesterday, and, on the 2nd time, left a message around 4:30 pm that Isakson was not going to be able to make it. So, for Smith to claim that "Oh, these guys just called to cancel 20 minutes ago" is a crock of bull and reminds us of the standard antics of people like Marilyn Gilhuly (who, if you're still wondering if we misspelled the count of nimrods in the previous article, stop wondering. Gilhuly is Nimrod #1 in Cobb County) and Nimrod #2.

What's ironic to us is that Herman Cain is always accusing Isakson of just being a "politician." Yeah, well, hate to break the news to the Cain crowd, but, Isakson is an elected politician, and has duties like, you know, meeting with constituents. These things tend to take priority over debates for higher offices.

We bet that had Isakson told his constituents to stuff it because he had a U.S. Senate debate to run back to in Forsyth County, Cain would then accuse him of dereliction of duty for ignoring his duties as a Congressman.

Mac Collins was, reportedly, able to make it to the debate after Thursday's voting responsibilities. Perhaps the reason why Collins is able to make it to the debates without having constituent meetings is because no one is interested in meeting with someone who is currently running for the 2006 gubernatorial nomination, ya think?

Last But Never Least...

A big, Big, BIG, BIG kudos to Ms. Stacey Gregory for winning the national championship in gymnastics competition...oops!...wrong story...wait...(rummaging around)...wait...(sound of paper being riffled through)...Ah, here it is! Okay...

A big, Big, BIG, BIG kudos to Ms. Stacey Gregory of the North Fulton Young Republicans for hosting the biggest Bush birthday party last week. Out of 5,300 such parties nationwide, Stacey and her co-host, Josh Shorr, had the most attendees, topping out at 157! Whoo-hoo!