Political Vine: The Insider's Source on Georgia Politics

After winning reelection for Governor, Lt. Governor, state house seats and state senate seats last November, did the elected members of the Republican Party close their eyes and gleefully clap their hands and think to themselves “Oh-boy!..Oh-boy!..Oh-boy!…Oh-boy! NOW we can triple the size of Georgia government like I always wanted to do!!!”? Because THAT is […]

Prelude Did you know that in the State of Georgia, there is no state law requiring anyone who is either running for office, or who is a sitting elected official (state legislator, Governor, AG, county commissioner, mayor, city council members, etc.) OR even an appointee to a commission or board (…or development authority or CID […]

To re-cap what was discussed in Part 1 of this series of ‘Legislative Boxers’ ( (if you missed the previous edition,it is here), this is the essence of the basic logical thought process for legislation as defined by how HB-1 has wended its way thru the 2015 Legislature:  “Legalizing the use of X in these specific cases will […]

Legislative Boxers How are the following bills interrelated? HB-1, HB-56, HB-196, SB-45, SB-98, SB-99, SB-159 One bill deals with cannabis oil…three bills deal with judges making prejudicial remarks during a trial…and three bills deal with no-knock search warrants. In any other environment, these 7 bills might appear to involve completely independent subject matter.  However, from […]

Prelude Now, just, for a moment, picture the scenario we have in this state with regards to our public school education system: We still rank somewhere in the bottom 10-percentile (46th, 47th, 48th, 49th or 50th) where we have been for, likely, at least 50 years. Every budget year, we hear cries and lobbying for […]

Rumors have it that the Georgia State Senate is set to pass a bill that will turnover thousands of years of societal and legal precedent in this country (if not, perhaps, the entire world and/or universe) that will officially award “person” status to the species of animal known as the canine. State Senator Jeff Mullis […]

Prelude According to the DawsonNews.com website, Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Wooten has been “cleared” of any wrongdoing in his arrest of Nydia Tisdale on August 23rd at Burt’s Pumpkin Farm (and also the secret location of The Clint Bearden Official Training Camp for Former Law Partners of David Ralston on How To Batter Women), located in […]

SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE MEMO TO the following Ga State Reps: (1) Dempsey, Katie 13th HD (RS)* (2) Benton, Tommy 31st (RS)* (3) Clark, Valerie 101st (RS)* (4) Brockway, Buzz 102nd (RS)* (5) Kaiser, Margaret 59th (DS)* (6) Powell, Jay 171st (RS)* CC: Governor Nathan Deal CC: Ga Economic Development Department CC: Everyone Else From: Bill Simon, […]

Just an update to the story on Sunday, the Bill# passed that did establish the multi-million dollar, taxpayer funded, unconstitutional “venture capital fund” was HB 318. Here is a link to the Bill: http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/135871.pdf Here are the State Representatives who voted for, against, or who were excused or did not vote on this unconstitutional bill:  http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/en-US/vote.aspx?VoteID=11103 […]

There’s a little bitty story in this week’s edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle that caught my eye. For the 2nd legislative session in a row (the first being in 2012), there was an attempt to pass a bill and fund a taxpayer-seeded “venture capital fund.” I recall arguing against this in 2012, but thanks […]

So, according to today’s Political Insider over at the AJC, Jim Galloway reports on what the agenda will be for the Senate Democrats. The most striking one to PV is Senator Jason Carter’s proposal to reduce the GPA eligibility requirement from a 3.0 GPA down to a 2.0 GPA in order to be granted a […]

Georgia State Senate Passes Resolution to Limit Lobbyist Gifts ATLANTA (January 14, 2013) – The Georgia State Senate boldly passed a resolution on the first day of the 2013 legislative session that will amend the Senate Rules and cap gifts from any registered lobbyist or group of registered lobbyists at $100 per item, event or […]