In order to more fully comprehend the political circus that played-out on Friday, February 21 in the Georgia State House and the news media with HB 1033, we need to look back in time a few years…back to the legislative session of 2009-2010.

In February of 2009, State Rep. Wendell Willard, along with State Rep Edward Lindsey (both of them, by the way, lawyers, who know what legal language means), filed a bill (HB 582) that appeared to be designed solely to legalize child-prostitution. No other purpose could be interpreted from the language of that bill other than to qualify that “prostitution” could only have occurred if someone exchanged money for sex with someone aged 18 years old or older.

It had a First Reader on 2/26/2009 and a Second Reader on 3/3/2009. It got assigned to the Judiciary-Non-Civil Committee, chaired by Rich Golick.

Here’s a question: Did Wendell Willard and Ed Lindsey get publicly chastised by fellow members in the House well for that bill? Nope. Not one bit. And, THAT bill would have directly done more harm to children by allowing them to continue to work in the sex industry for pimps who were forcing them into a life of prostitution.

HB 582 died quietly in committee in 2010 after testimony from activists who recognized it for what the bill was. Let me repeat that a little more in detail so you’ll understand more about what really happened to Rep. Sam Moore over the last few days: HB 582 made it to a committee, where testimony from the chief sponsor, Wendell Willard, was presented to the committee, and there was opposing speakers to the bill heard in committee…and the bill died in Golick’s committee.
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HD 2 – Election Recap

In the Special Election for HD 2 held on January 7, 2014 there were 3 candidates (Florence, Tarvin, Woodruff), and a total of 2,811 votes cast.

In the run-off on February 4th between Tarvin & Florence, a total of 3,574 votes were cast…763 more votes than the original race…with Steve Tarvin coming out ahead with 54% of the vote.

It is very unusual for run-off elections to generate higher turnouts than their original race.

What do you suppose may have been different about these two races that caused more people to turnout? Based on info-gathering from HD 2, it seems that the opponent of Steve Tarvin’s went as dirty as possible.

In HD 2, in actually the “technical primary” (held on January 7th), State Senator Jeff Mullis was calling the entire district imploring them to vote for anyone but Steve Tarvin.

When that failed, and Tarvin got into the run-off, Mullis then got help from Speaker Ralston’s influence (via fundraising from House members), and Governor Deal’s people to help call the district to add to the Mullis-Mass of throwing political weight all around HD 2 to push Florence and stomp-on Tarvin.

Guess what? Senator Jeff Mullis looks like sh*t now…and Deal ain’t looking much better. They don’t like candidates they cannot control, buy or extort, thus the reason why they so opposed Tarvin.

All this negative crap and “government overlords” trying to direct people who to vote for just resulted in driving MORE voters out to vote against Florence because they didn’t care for the tactics.

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, Political Vine

RE: HB 290 (aka “Obama’s Wet Dream for Georgia“)

If that above link does not work, copy this link and paste it into your URL slot: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20132014/HB/290

================================================================

Ladies & Gentlemen who sponsored HB 290,
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Let’s see, so far in this run-off for a Special Election for the HD 22 there have been the following incidents directly connected to the Meagan Biello Campaign:

1) A direct, economic threat made to a business who dared to have a pro-Sam Moore campaign sign in front of their location.

2) Four (4) separate emails written by a Cherokee County School District employee promoting the election of Meagan Biello, thus violating state laws (and, potentially, federal laws) that specifically prohibit the use of government resources in elections.

3) A candidate (Biello) refusing to file campaign disclosures as required by state law…thus hiding where she is getting her campaign money and how she is spending it.

4) At least one reported theft of a Sam Moore yard sign sitting on private property by two individuals associated with the Biello campaign.

5) Endorsement of Meagan Biello, who, herself, claims to be “the conservative candidate,” by the Chairwoman of the Cherokee County Democratic Party.

6) Falsehoods claimed by Biello about Sam Moore’s strong stances on the right to life in a mailpiece sent over the weekend.

So…let’s go over these incidents by the Dirty Rat Campaign:

Dirty Trick #1) Michael Sinco is a strong supporter of Biello (and may actually be her campaign manager…though, with a candidate who is deceptive in not filing required campaign disclosures, anything I claim here will be omitted on a campaign disclosure of any crooked candidate).

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Prelude

Over in DeKalb County, in the indictment process of former county CEO Burrell Ellis, some intriguing developments have made their way to the public eye via this article.

What is of significance to this post is the following statement made by Don Geary, DeKalb County’s former chief assistant district attorney, in response to the question to him while he was on the witness stand of why he resigned from the DeKalb DA’s office: “Because I didn’t want to be arrested.”

I know nothing about Mr. Geary…but, I conclude from a statement like this that he felt something was very wrong and illegal about the investigation by the DeKalb DA’s office into Burrell Ellis…enough to actually have the courage to resign. It is too bad that this state does not have enough public servants like Mr. Geary working at all levels of government in this state.

Instead, what we have is a bunch of “go alongs to get alongs” in public service. Whether in the state legislature, state government, county government, city government, higher (sic) education, or, as this story will be mostly focused on, the Georgia State Attorney General’s office…what we have are a majority of people who don’t give a rat’s ass about right and wrong, illegal or legal. All this majority cares about is their own self-promotion and their own self-interests.

Introduction

OCGA Section 16-4-2 specifies why the Georgia General Assembly is so concerned with “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations” (“RICO”) as follows:

“a) The General Assembly finds that a severe problem is posed in this state by the increasing sophistication of various criminal elements and the increasing extent to which the state and its citizens are harmed as a result of the activities of these elements.

(b) The General Assembly declares that the intent of this chapter is to impose sanctions against those who violate this chapter and to provide compensation to persons injured or aggrieved by such violations. It is not the intent of the General Assembly that isolated incidents of misdemeanor conduct or acts of civil disobedience be prosecuted under this chapter. It is the intent of the General Assembly, however, that this chapter apply to an interrelated pattern of criminal activity motivated by or the effect of which is pecuniary gain or economic or physical threat or injury. This chapter shall be liberally construed to effectuate the remedial purposes embodied in its operative provisions.”

You should pay particular attention to the concept of “Corrupt Organizations”…a “corrupt organization” does not exclusively mean a “business enterprise” of people engaged in drug distribution, human trafficking, car theft, or whatever. A “corrupt organization” could, conceivably, entail an organization of a government department, or individuals who are employed in one government organization who are engaged in violations of the law.

OCGA 16-14-3 has a lengthy list of definitions and specified acts that the General Assembly has determined to be illegal under RICO. A couple of definitions are in order to ensure that the readers of this article understand that I’m not discussing what my opinion is…but what the law states:

OCGA 16-14-3(6-7): (6) “Enterprise” means any person, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, business trust, union chartered under the laws of this state, or other legal entity; or any unchartered union, association, or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity; and it includes illicit as well as licit enterprises and governmental as well as other entities.

(7) “Investigative agency” means the Department of Law or the office of any district attorney.

For clarification to some of the readers, the “Department of Law” is the State Attorney General’s Office (“SAG”). So, what happens when the SAG itself is engaging in corrupt RICO acts? Well…it says right there in state law that it is the “office of any district attorney” that is the entity designated to investigate.

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My copy of the 3rd edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language (published in 1992…yeah, a “real book” to you digitally-connected upstarts) defines “courage” according to the following definition: “The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution.”

With this definition, I do not have to bother ‘qualifying’ the type of courage I am going to discuss with regards to people in the political arena because the word “courage” describes a state of mind, not a type of action.

Whether a person faces fear due to physical danger to life and limb on a battlefield of war, or they face fear of losing one’s livelihood or way of life by decisions they make, the “fear” of what might happen if you do “X”, “Y”, or “Z” is, in most cases, considered before every single act is taken.

To overcome any fear requires “self-possession, confidence, and resolution.”

To overcome fear requires the ability to silence all the negative thoughts in your head of the unknown “What-if this…and what-if that…and So-and-so might not like me anymore…and I won’t be invited to whatever”…and so on. That takes a significant degree of wisdom and self-awareness.

Courage in Georgia Politics

When Sonny Perdue switched parties back in 1998, I think that (regardless of his actual governorship in the 2000s) we can honestly recognize that that took courage for him to personally make that decision, and then take that act.

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Are you familiar with the expression “comparing apples to oranges?” (If not, phone a friend.)

Because, the arguments I’ve heard regarding the pro-side for allowing students to carry concealed guns on campus to defend themselves, and the anti-side to this right are, literally, apples and oranges.

I am shocked and dismayed to learn that legislators who claim to be all “2nd Amendment” believers, and “I own and shoot guns” kind of folks are actually…kinda ignorant about the relevant components of the actual subject matter.

In a poll released yesterday by Insider Advantage/FOX 5/GAPundit.com, the survey asked 2,613 registered voters how they felt about the Georgia Legislature allowing guns to be carried by students and some other designated individuals on college campuses.  These are those results:

a) Favor 31%
b) Oppose 56%
c) No opinion/ Undecided 13%

Now, I am not here to attempt to educate the voting population, but I am here to bring a few facts to light that I know will have a direct impact and relevance on this discussion amongst Republican legislators that, a lot of them, are simply not aware of for some reason.

The Facts About Current Georgia Weapon Permit Laws

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“Olens could not be reached for comment about why he attended the private meeting.”

Rumors have it that, in a top-secret meeting held last Tuesday between representatives of John Williams, et al. (for his Cobb County Riverwalk project, which is seeking multi-millions of dollars in tax exemptions/abatement from the Cobb County School District), members of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, members of the Cobb Development Authority, members of the Cobb School Board, State Senator Lindsey Tippins, Cobb School Board attorney Clem Doyle…and, Roy Barnes & Attorney General Sam Olens, that Sam “Napoleon Bonaparte” Olens issued the following threat to Senator Tippins: “You can forget about getting ANY of your legislation passed this session!”

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“No Bill”

Do you know what the legal term No Bill means?

No Bill is a legal term associated with a grand jury’s determination  that communicates several messages, not the least of which is “There is no evidence to support a prosecution of this person for what she is accused of doing.”

No Bill was the result handed down December 12, 2013 by the Henry County Grand Jury that heard the charges and evidence leveled against Sahar Hekmati.  (Here is a link to the recent CBS Atlanta News Story on it)

No Bill means the jury thought the case claimed by the police officer was a crock of crap.  No Bill means that, at minimum, someone lied to the cops about Sahar.

And, why would they do that? Well..because there was a 4-way mayoral race going on for the City of Stockbridge at the time.  A very heated race (yeah, I know, what political race isn’t heated?).

And, the campaigns who opposed Mayor Mark Alarcon for his reelection knew Sahar was a friend of his.  And, they took an opportunity of happenstance to fabricate a story about her to communicate to a Stockbridge police detective to get her to arrest her and make Mayor Alarcon gain a lot of negative press by association.  Mark Alrcon did lose his race for reelection.

Now…in order to get a clue that something is way off-base on this entire incident, there were conflicting stories broadcast by two local media outlets at the time.  The first story is this link below to FOX 5:

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SPECIAL NOTE: The following story was originally part of an emailed edition of the Political Vine sent out on April 27, 2012 (so, any reference you might read where I refer to “today” or similar, those time references are relative to the 4/27/2012 date, not the date in 2014 in which this story is published).

This story was a part of a larger story dealing with the 13th CD Convention, but this story provides a succinct history of the reasons why people have a negative impression of my friend Sahar Hekmati…and how much and how intricate the lies are that people, a lot of whom have NEVER met her, tell about her because they thrive on gossip in their pea-sized brains.

To those of you in disbelief about there being a “conspiracy” against her that would be so far-flung across this state and in other national organizations of Republican Women groups, this story below, backed-up by linked evidence, will fill-in all the blanks. All it takes to destroy someone’s reputation is a very few lying apples, even so few as just one in the case of Ali Gelineau, to spoil the whole bunch. Anyone involved in politics should know that.

Sahar vs. Henry County GOP Thugs

Back in April-May timeframe of 2010, through a series of Facebook conversations I had been having with Sam Fleet of the Republican Women of Henry County, I was invited down to attend one of their meetings one night. I got introduced personally to Sam, then to Vicki Temple, and Jennie Mae Hill, and some other women. Through that time I spent with them that evening, I learned of their problems with a woman named “Sahar.” And, I listened and felt, quite frankly, that they were telling me the truth about Sahar, and about how “evil” she was and all the bad things they claimed she did.

A week or so after that evening, I recall Sam Fleet sending me an email that had a “criminal history report” contained in it, supposedly of Sahar’s history of living in Houston and being charged with several crimes, etc.

Because I have a background in political research, I asked Sam where she got this information that she emailed me? Sam told me it was via one of those online “background report” service websites.

I told her “Sam, as much as this report may appear to be accurate about Sahar, it might not be.” I knew as a political researcher that “it might not have been accurate” because those online research services compile huge sets of data taken from sources that may or not be correct in their sources of data.

In any case, some time later during that year, Sahar introduced herself to me via asking me to be her Facebook friend. And, as I recall, I accepted, and started observing what she did and what she said on Facebook, always with the cautious thought in the back of my mind that this woman, Sahar, was a “bad person.”

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In case you missed the broadcast on WSB-TV last evening regarding the Braves’ stadium financing issue, here is a link to that broadcast: Curveball thrown on the Braves’ financing issue.

Now…to those of you who live beyond Cobb County, and this matter appears to be too localized for you, it really isn’t…because, conceivably, the same “taxing” concepts could be applied in your county if the knuckleheads at the Cobb County Commission get away with what they are trying to get away with.

To make this semi-more amusing to follow, we’ve developed an online dialogue of what must be taking place behind the Iron Curtain of the Cobb Commission between Legal Counsel Deborah Dance and County Commission Chairman Tim Lee.

Mimicing the 1950s show Leave it To Beaver here, Tim “Timmy” Lee is taking on the role of The Beaver, and Deborah “Debby” Dance is assuming the role of Wally, the ever-patient older, wiser sibling.

This is the pilot episode of Leave It To Timmy…hope you enjoy:

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Rumors have it that the Cobb County Commission is operating under the assumption that they have the sole power and the authority to create a Special District out of thin air, assess a tax on that district, and collect it…all without getting permission from any other entity, whether it is the voters, or the Georgia General Assembly.

AND…they believe they have this power as a result of the county legal department, headed-up by Deborah Dance.
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