HB 476 is the mimic of Obama Care at the federal level for Georgians to come under. One of our sharp-eyed readers took a close look at HB 476 and discovered a “poison pill” hidden in it, and notified us.

NOTE: “Poison pill”, in this application, means poisonous to Georgians.

On Lines 118-120 of HB 476, there is this statement in this bill:

“In the adoption of bylaws, regulations, policies, and procedures or in the exercise of any regulatory power, the authority shall be exempt from the requirements of Chapter 13 of Title 50, the ‘Georgia Administrative Procedure Act’;”

What is Chapter 13 of Title 50, the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act? Well, to put it in layman’s terms, it is the section of Georgia Code that provides a legal construct for how state boards, authorities, and commissions are to operate.

And, specific to what you, the average Georgia citizen, needs to know is if this new insurance authority is exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act, they will be allowed, by law, to do ANYTHING they damn well please when it comes to your rights. In fact, you will have no rights.

You will have no rights to due process, you will have no rights to “Rules of Evidence”, you will have no rights to any type of “fairness” of treatment by this new board OR its members.

This type of exclusion to the Georgia Administrative Procedures Act smacks of a desire by the writers and conceivers of this bill to shrug their shoulders and say to you (Georgia citizen) “Go eat cake. Go pound sand. Go to Hades. We don’t care about your rights because the Legislature saw fit to exempt us from caring about your rights.”

They will be able to set their OWN rules without following Georgia’s Administrative Act requirements on how they are to develop rules. Just as a glimpse of what we’re talking about here, OCGA 50-13-3 states the following with regards to rules developed by a state authority/board:

“50-13-3. Adoption of rules of organization and practice; public inspection and validity of rules, policies, orders, decisions, and opinions

(b) No agency rule, order, or decision shall be valid or effective against any person or party nor may it be invoked by the agency for any purpose until it has been published or made available for public inspection as required in this Code section. This provision is not applicable in favor of any person or party who has actual knowledge thereof.”

If this new Insurance Authority is allowed to pass rules without making them available for public inspection, well, all of a sudden, we will likely have a case of a Secret Insurance Police formed to enforce such rules that are made in secret.

There are many other parts of the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act that were originally written to protect Georgians from the rule of having heavy-handed, capricious acts committed by Georgia boards against Georgia legal persons.

And, you know what the most sickening part of this poison pill issue is? To us, and ANY true liberty/conservative-minded individual? That the Georgia Administrative Procedure Act was developed and passed by Democrats when they ran Georgia government from top to bottom.

And now, we have Republican legislators intent upon dismantling these protections that Democrats thought would be a good idea to codify to ensure Georgia citizens could be protected by a capricious-acting state-authorized board, authority, or commission.

Representative Richard Smith is lead sponsor of HB 476, and he is a Republican from Columbus, Georgia. The co-sponsor of this bill is John Meadows, a Republican rep from Calhoun, Georgia.

This exemption has a criminal mind behind it. Because, in order to specifically insert this exemption language, you have to have the forethought of believing that this board SHOULD have the authority to trample on your rights without a care in the world, and, be allowed by law to effect that trampling of the protections afforded by state law that now apply to all other state boards/authorities.

These are very dangerous times, Ladies and Gentleman. It is only through sharp-eyed activism by many people concerned with the ever-marching onslaught from the State to totally takeover your lives and freedoms afforded by laws currently in place that this type of intended legislation was uncovered.

Feel free to forward this on to whomever you wish, and to hammer your legislators to ensure this exemption is REMOVED from this bill, however this bill gets revised.

AND…to you legislators who think this exemption should be in this bill, and who intend to make sure it remains in the bill, you will be identified to be the corrupt-minded, Obama-loving legislator that you are. Because it is Obama whom we now know to be a Marxist. And, it is someone of the mindset of Obama who would think it would be a “good idea” to take away a citizen’s right to fair, transparent, and the “open government” so many of our legislators claim they are in favor of, but really, they are not.

What is HB 476? Basically, it is for the establishment of yet another government “authority” to run your lives. But, the writers and sponsors of this bill wrote it just sweet enough to lull you into thinking this is really a swell idea.

HB 476 will set-up a government authority to basically build an insurance “swap meet” for healthcare coverage. The bill contains such sugary-sweet language like:

Begin CITE:

c) The advisory committee shall base the options and recommendations developed pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section on the following guiding principles:

(1) Increasing number of Georgians with quality health care coverage; [PV Sez: Of course…why that’s enumerated right there in the Constitu—, wait, no, it isn’t.]

(2) Supporting provider viability; [PV Sez: Right, right…’cause it’s the responsibility of government to support private businesses…we discovered that with the $21 million to private colleges]

(3) Building real competition in the insurance market; [PV Sez: Wait. Stop. Please. Please stop thinking government can do ANYTHING but eff-up competition in the marketplace of any industry with their meddling.]

(4) Making Georgia small business friendly; [PV Sez: Somewhere in this legislation should be the statutory definition of what constitutes a “small business” and what constitutes “friendly.”]

(5) Promoting keeping all family members together on the same plan; [PV Sez: Hey, here’s an original thought: if that is good for the marketplace, the marketplace will develop that solution on its own]

(6) Promoting customer service and the importance of brokers and navigators; [PV Sez: Ooooohhhhhh…good thing we gots our guvment around to teach us all about the importance of businesses to display and demonstrate “customer service”]

(7) Seeking solutions that are sustainable and best for Georgians whether specifically part of the federal act or not. [PV Sez: Oh, goody. If we don’t like the Federal version, our fearless state leaders on this new Authority will create their own version. Maybe they’ll call it “OxyCare” in celebration of John Oxendine’s brilliant maneuver to get a state insurance license without having to take exams. Maybe The Ox has actually been working on this legislative idea for several months before he left office…]

(d) The authority shall provide staff and consultants as necessary to support to the work of the advisory committee upon the approval of the executive director. [PV Sez: Of course. Where would we be if government wasn’t busy creating more and more government jobs?]

End CITE

PV’s Conclusion: If you have a backbone, you’ll recognize this crap for what it is (more Mommy Government), and vote against it.

$12 Million in Tax Dollars To Bail-Out A Private College, But No Soup For You!

Rumors have it that HB 77 (the Supplemental Budget bill from Appropriations) sailed out of the House Chamber today with overwhelming support…even though it contained quite the odd, last-minute insertion of a line-item that, on any other day, would have raised an outcry from alert fiscal conservatives.

Based on the Daily Report issued by the House Legislative Network for this 25th Legislative Day, HB 77 bill is now considered to be passed and on its way to Governor Deal’s desk due to the following legislative process as excerpted from the Daily Report:

A “Motion to Agree as Amended” sent this bill back to the Senate for consideration. The Senate has agreed to the House’s position, which represents Final Passage of this bill.

PV Answers The Question of “So What?”: Ahhh…so glad you asked. Because, contained within this Supplemental Budget is a special line item added by House Appropriations Chair Terry England at the very last minute that grants privately-funded Morehouse College a $12,000,000 “bailout” gift from the Legislature with absolutely NO strings attached at all.

NO loan repayment, because it is NOT a loan. NO requirement to demonstrate how this money will be used. It is a gift, plain and simple. A gift, in times of supposedly “tight budgets” and “uncomfortable times” and “cutting to the bone” a slew of other government activities, including those of publicly-funded colleges, HOPE Scholarship yammer out the yin-yang, and sundry other claims from this Session of the Georgia General Assembly about how “tight” the budget is going to be.

PV asks these simple questions of the Georgia House & Georgia Senate:

1) Why is the State of Georgia bailing-out a privately-funded college?

2) Why is the State of Georgia giving $12 Million with absolutely NO requirement of a paying back to the State of this money?

3) Where did Terry England “find” this money to cram-in and gift-it to Morehouse? There was, apparently, $0 dollars in the state’s reserves.

4) Why couldn’t a private college raise tuition to help itself?

5) How is it the responsibility of the State of Georgia to bail-out a private university or private college, or…a private ANYTHING? Especially, when there are tuition woes up and down this state in every other public college/university, etc.?

6) When the State of Georgia is working on new ways to tax its citizens MORE, how could bailing-out a private university be justified in any fashion?

These are questions that need to be addressed, and, considered by Governor Deal before he signs such a bill that includes public funding of a private institution such as Morehouse College.

C’mon, Folks…a $12 million pork rind can buy a LOT of other public needs rather than giving it to a privately-funded interest, don’t ya think?

Deception #4: Just like in the movie Charade, no one is ever telling you the whole story…

Here’s the “rest of the story:” Within the next 15 months, Cobb County voters will be asked to vote on 2 additional 1% SPLOSTs completely unrelated to this 1% Cobb County SPLOST vote on March 15th.

One of those 1% elections will be to renew or decline the renewal of the first 1% on our 6% sales tax rate: The School Board SPLOST.

The OTHER 1% SPLOST vote will be what’s called the “T-SPLOST.” This is a vote that will include the 10-county region of the metro-Atlanta area.

A “T-SPLOST” stands for a “Transportation SPLOST.” The purpose of this tax is to raise money to deal with regional transportation issues. Everyone in the 10 county region will be asked to vote to add 1% to all of their county sales tax rates. Cobb County is one of those counties in the 10-county mix.

PV is dubbing this 2012 T-SPLOST as the Regional Atlanta Transportation SPLOST…or, R.A.T.S. for short.

Now, here’s the kicker for anyone who is a supporter of the passage of RATS: If you want RATS to have the BEST chance of passing, you will hope that votes like this Cobb SPLOST vote on March 15th fails.

Because there ain’t no freaking way that if this March 15th SPLOST passes AND the county raises the millage rates anyway (as PV predicts with 99.9999% certainty they will have to do) that Cobb County’s voters are going to vote in favor of RATS.

AND…the voters in the surrounding counties will also see what happened in Cobb when the commission promised one thing, but had to raise millage rates anyway, and they will vote against RATS as well.

Deception #3: “If SPLOST doesn’t pass, your property taxes will go up.”

The deception in this claim is that even IF this SPLOST passes, your property taxes WILL likely be going up. There is a 99.9999% chance of property taxes going up.

How does PV know this? By reading tea leaves that few other people read. AND…there are people in the county’s government that also KNOW the property taxes are going to go up whether this SPLOST passes or not.

Not sure if Tim Lee knows this himself, but there are several people involved in the pro-SPLOST group who know it for a fact because they know what has been happening to this county’s Tax Digest.

That is, the base of asset values has plummeted. The number of people requesting reassessments of their homes has increased dramatically, and will continue to be requested all the way up to April 1.

Another strong indicator of our county’s financial strength is the number of active businesses currently registered with the Business License Department. Here are some interesting facts regarding the number of actively licensed businesses in Cobb County Unincorporated:

2009 Business Count: 34,552
2010 Business Count: 20,074
2011 Business Count: 18,821

In 2 short years (2009 to 2011), the strength of the business community has plunged by nearly 50%. That means the amount of economic activity has likely been cut by more than half. When businesses close, employees are laid-off, business owners go broke, stop producing goods and services, stop investing, and a lot of those business owners are individual residents of Cobb County who are under water in their homes and, under water in their personal cash flow to meet obligations of all sorts.

AND, when business owners who are residents who are also homeowners have to file for bankruptcy and their homes are foreclosed on, the value of those assets dives. And, when you accumulate all those foreclosures into a big pile, that will be reflected in the substantial decrease of value in the county Tax Digest.

This decrease in the Tax Digest valuations will NOT be able to be made-up via sales tax revenues. The millage rates will have to be increased.

The reality of this SPLOST is a) everyone that still owns a piece of property in Cobb are going to have taxes raised, or fees added by the county commission…whether this SPLOST passes or not, and 2) IF this SPLOST passes, it will be a massive tax redistribution from the poor to middle-class in this county straight into the pockets of the already very well-off Cobb County business owners who will get the lion’s share of project money for these “wants” that the county, and the 6 cities, think they deserve to take from your pocket.

The County should do the responsible thing and admit this to you now. Because, if the SPLOST fails, we will be saving 16.7% of our sales taxes in this county. That is money the County can get when they squeeze us on raising the property and auto tag taxes. You’re going to want that extra 16.7% savings you get to use to pay for the millage increases.

Deception #2: All Projects Are “Necessary/Needs”

The pro-SPLOST folks would be sitting on MUCH firmer ground had this list of projects NOT included two (2) special “transportation studies” buried deep in the list of projects they wanted funded.

Each of these studies will cost taxpayers (whether they are Cobb County taxpayers or state of Georgia taxpayers) $20 million dollars each, for a total of $40,000,000. In the Cobb SPLOST Booklet, these two studies appear on Page 24 of 64 and they are listed as follows:

Project: Transit
Description: Alternative Analysis/Implementation Plan
From: Cumberland Mall
To: Perimeter Mall
Estimated Project Cost: $20,000,000

Project: Transit
Description: Alternative Analysis/Implementation Plan
From: Town Center Mall
To: Atlanta
Estimated Project Cost: $20,000,000

These two projects, Ladies & Gentlemen, are what would constitute “pork” if money came from the State of Georgia for these two “studies”, and if they came from the Federal Government, they would be designated as “earmarks.”

Instead, someone extremely crafty in the getting-to-other-people’s-money game either inserted these two projects in this SPLOST themselves OR they paid someone to get it accomplished.

These studies are the way for some Cobb DOT-related contractors and engineers to be well-employed for 8 some-odd years while they burn-up billable time working on “studies” that do nothing to help Cobb County in the next 4 years…as the county commission has CLAIMED that this list of projects is needed for.

PV was a bit curious as to whether anyone at the federal level (i.e., elected folks) had any kind of keen interest in seeing this SPLOST pass due to these two projects. PV inquired of Senator Isakson’s office, as well as talking with a representative of Representative Phil Gingrey’s office if either of these members of Congress were promoting the passage of this SPLOST.

Senator Isakson’s office relayed to PV that Senator Isakson “has not engaged in the debate nor lent his name to the promotion of the Cobb SPLOST.”

Congressman Gingrey’s representative essentially stated the same thing that Gingrey has not publicly taken a position on this vote nor given his permission for anyone to use his name as a way to promote the passage.

PV has not had time to contact Congressman Price’s office or Senator Chambliss’s office to verify whether they are pro- or con- on this SPLOST.

The fact is, these two projects are not “needs.” They are unnecessary “wants.” And, while they are likely badly wanted by someone, no one should be allowed to use the vehicle of the public trough to line their pockets with money that COULD be better used by either a) the taxpayers themselves, or b) SOME necessary Cobb County project like that 911 service upgrade you folks claim we need so badly.

Deception #1: “It’s just a penny…you can spare a penny to help everyone else, right?”

To make sure we are ALL on the same page here about sales taxes in Cobb County, it is important that everyone get on the same page. In order to do that, let us break down for you what our current 6% sales tax is composed of:

6% = 4% + 1% + 1%

4% of this goes directly to the state of Georgia. Every single county and sales tax jurisdiction in Georgia has, as its base, a 4% sales tax that goes to the state.

1% of this 6% is the Cobb County Education SPLOST Tax. That 1% is NOT on this March 15, 2011 vote. Anyone who tells you that is wrong. That 1% goes only to projects directly relating to the school system. That SPLOST stays intact regardless of the outcome of this March 15th vote.

The last 1% of this county’s sales tax is the SPLOST matter we are addressing here.

SO, to the argument that this SPLOST is “just a penny,” it is not a matter of just being a “penny.” It is a percentage point. 1.0% of every taxable transaction in this county.

BIG difference when it comes to the actual math involved. BIG difference when it comes to your own wallet.

“For years, SPLOST proponents and County officials have argued that the tax is a “good deal” for Cobb taxpayers because “non-resident spending accounts for approximately 30% of sales tax revenue.” The claim was repeated many times by Rose Wing, chair of Citizens for Cobb’s Future in Wednesday’s debate with Lance Lamberton of the Cobb County Taxpayers’ Association.”

Craig Kootsillas is doing an outstanding job of bringing out facts that expose the misdirections by the Pro-SLUSH FUND crowd in Cobb County:

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Cobb SPLOST: who pays what? – Atlanta Homeowners | Examiner.com

One other great article by Craig about the Cobb County SPLOST was this one: “Do you think we’re stupid?”

More irresponsible money management by Cobb County: Spending an additional $400,000 on this Special Election that could be held in November when the municipal elections are held…and money has to be expended on them.

Many people sometimes have a very challenging time grasping what a SPLOST is. They look at the “word” and are puzzled as to what it means.

SO…here at the Political Vine, our crack team of political research “scientists” (’cause, you know, the study of “politics” is such a “science” (sic) ) has developed a very easy-to-understand technique to both pronouncing and understanding what a SPLOST is.

If you pronounce it as “SLUSH FUND“, you will find an easier time of pronouncing it, understanding it, and communicating to others as to what it truly is for the elected officials who want it to be passed, as well as any chamber of commerce member who wants it passed.

It is, simply, a SLUSH Fund that uses the force of government to rob the people of money to divert into the pockets of already VERY wealthy people.

More on this to come in an e-mailed issue of PV. Make sure you sign-up to the list using the “Subscribe To Our Newsletters” link to the left side of this page.

Rumors have it that the organization formed to promote the upcoming Cobb County SPLOST vote on March 15th is going to engage in communicating messages that are deliberately misleading as to the truth about what this SPLOST contains.

For those of you sitting at home in your comfy chair in any other county, you can interpret “deliberately misleading” to be the same as “lying, conning, flim-flamming, grifting” or any other number of terms you wish to come-up with to describe the mule manure that the group Citizens for Cobb’s Future is going to be directly sending out to the Cobb County voters to try and con them into voting for this SPLOST.

PV Provides The Facts: During last night’s debate forum at the Commission’s headquarters, an auto-call poll was dialing numbers of Cobb County voting households. The homes in which the poll was delivered received a few questions, all of which contained the word “SPLOST” and the phrase “911 Services.”

The questions in the poll were a fishing expedition to try and see if they could get a reasonably positive response from voters on how they would feel if the message for voting in favor of the SPLOST was phrased as something of the order of “If you knew that the SPLOST contained crucial funds to support Cobb’s 911 emergency system, would you vote for or against the SPLOST?”

Here’s where the deception comes in: In this SPLOST, the county is hoping for a total of $492 million in tax collections over 4 years. (You can view a shrunk-down version of the SPLOST package proposed by going to this Website and choosing the “4-Year SPLOST Booklet” PDF version (2nd one down)

And, of that $492 million total, what is the amount designated to be used for 911 system upgrades? On page 38 of 64 of that Booklet PDF, it states $1.3 million…a teeny-tiny percentage of 0.26% of the total.

So, by phrasing their messages in the way they will, they are hoping voters will interpret the messages to mean: “911. Emergency services. Very important. We must support 911 and provide funds for it at any cost. I love my county. They are great. I will support them and pay because I am a gullible moron.”

If the only way the county of Cobb can find $1.3 million over 4 years to upgrade the parts of the 911 service that will need to be upgraded is to fabricate a SPLOST stuffed full of projects valued at $490.7 million of other crap, then we must have the most incompetent county government ANYWHERE in metro-Atlanta!

And, when we say “ANYWHERE” in metro-Atlanta, that means Cobb County must be more incompetent than DeKalb County. Cobb County’s incompetence will brighten DeKalb County to the point that they might want to get a plaque carved for them that states “We’re Not The Suckiest County Anymore!” and hang that on their Commission wall to boost county morale.

And, yes, to the organization called Citizen’s For Cobb’s Future, with their lengthy list of people who are members and supporters of it…if your organization sends out any mail, any TV, any auto-calls, anything at all as misleading and as deceptive as stating/implying/inferring, etc. that IF this SPLOST does not pass, all of our lives will be in danger because the county cannot find $1.3 million to use to upgrade the parts of the 911 system that need to be upgraded, then every single one of you on that list will have your personal integrity and name questioned.

It’d be one thing, you see, if you didn’t know this deception was going to be attempted. Then you could reasonably and reliably claim that you didn’t know, and you’re sorry and blah-blah-blah…

Well, PV is giving you a heads-up right now. This, or something like this, is what your organization is going to engage in to attempt to con Cobb voters into voting for the SPLOST.

Most of you individual members are mere political pawns in this organization. The ones in true control (i.e., the public affairs firm and political consultants involved) don’t…actually…care…about the real truth. They are out to win at all costs and they will try to convince you that this is “acceptable” in the world of political communications.

“Sure, it is acceptable”, they will argue. “There’s no law against it. If it was really bad, why, someone would have surely written a law and passed it prohibiting it, right?”

No, not right. Deception and misleading is wrong, regardless of whether there is a law written to prohibit it or not.

And, one final thought: If deception is what is required to drive someone to make a decision to have their money taken from them and turned over to what must be the most incompetently-run county in metro-Atlanta, then you folks on that committee whom we know to be Republicans should not EVER criticize Obama or ANY other Democrat for being a “Socialist” again. You will have ZERO moral standing to do so.

AUSTELL, Georgia – The Cobb County Taxpayers Association (CCTA), which opposes the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and Citizens for Cobb’s Future, which supports it, have agreed to have a public debate on the issue. The Cobb County Commissioners voted to put the measure on the ballot for March 15, 2011.

The debate will take place on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 7:00 pm at 100 Cherokee Street in Marietta, GA. It will be cablecast on Cobb County’s public affairs channel 23. Representing the opposing position will be CCTA president, Lance Lamberton. The pro position will be represented by Rose Wing, Chair of Citizen’s for Cobb’s Future. Each side will have a five minute opening statement and a three minute closing statement. Questions will be submitted in writing from the audience and from the moderator. The debate is being sponsored by The League of Women Voters.

CCTA initiated the request for a debate. In a letter to Citizens for Cobb’s Future Lamberton wrote: “I am writing to invite your group to participate in a forum to help Cobb voters make as informed a decision as possible when deciding whether to support or oppose this year’s SPLOST. I believe having such a forum is in keeping with a statement made by your group in a press release that you plan to “run an aggressive informational campaign throughout Cobb County.” I can think of few better ways to inform the voters of the arguments, both pro and con concerning the SPLOST, than to hold a debate where we can articulate a candid exchange of viewpoints.”

Lamberton is a long-time taxpayer activist going back to the late 1970s where he worked in Washington, D.C. for the National Taxpayers Union and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He then went on to serve as the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Policy Information under President Reagan. In that role he authored the administration’s position paper in support of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He has been a resident of Cobb County since 2001, where he lives with his wife, Cheryl Lamberton.

Lamberton will also be appearing as a guest on the Denny Schafer [sp?] show to discuss the SPLOST on Wednesday, February 9, 2011, with the interview to begin airing at 9:30 pm. Denny’s show can be heard on talk radio 920 AM.

If the SPLOST is defeated, Cobb County’s sales tax would decline to 5%, making it the lowest sales tax in the state. Most counties in the Atlanta metro area have a sales tax rate of 7%. “This significantly reduced tax rate would be a boon to Cobb County residents and businesses, saving consumers hundreds, if not thousands of dollars over a four year period,” Lamberton said.

CCTA was formed in 2005 to oppose passage of that year’s SPLOST, which won approval by the slimmest of margins; 114 votes out of over 40,000 cast. The closeness of that vote was accomplished despite hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by SPLOST proponents.

Check http://www.votenomarch15.com/ for updated information about the SPLOST.