Rumors have it that the World Famous Toxic Lobbyist Himself Ralph Reed has been making calls on behalf of his pick for Governor, Karen Handel.

PV received confirmation of this via e-mail from one of Ralph’s former top lieutenants in the Christian Coalition. Ralph has been burning-up the phone lines calling his entire list of Christian activists to get them onboard the Handel campaign.

Why would he be doing this? Because he’s trying to worm himself back-in to be a player in Georgia GOP politics ever since his defeat in the 2006 GOP primary against Casey Cagle.

PV’s Response: Wow. Ralph Reed. The KING of unethical behavior in the political business. Recall if you will, Jack Abramoff (now serving time somewhere for “gimme-five” schemes galore), and all that e-mail evidence linking Ralph to all sides of a deal to either get paid to promote the granting of licenses for Indian casinos in several states, or get paid to fight them under the auspice of being “anti-gambling” and working with churches.

Yeah. And Handel is pounding a podium somewhere in Georgia touting her “ethics.” Something slimey this way slithers…and it bears the name Ralph Reed for Karen Handel. Not good for Georgia on ANY day.

What kind of deal has been cut there??? One can only tighten the gut to keep from throwing-up at merely the thought of Ralphie’s brand of deal-making with Handel.

Rumors have it that Karen Handel has dispatched Fred Cooper to call Eric Johnson and promise Eric the position of Chief Operating Officer of the State of Georgia under her administration if EJ refrains from endorsing Nathan Deal.

PV Sighs: Geez, Karen, presumptuous much? And, have you heard about this guy named Rod Blagojevich up in Illinois? Anything similar come to your mind? Offering a position for campaign contributions isn’t really that much different than offering a position in your administration to receive something of value by a quid pro quo offer from Fred Cooper to EJ that if he does not endorse Deal, you will reward him by giving him a political job?

The PV Legal Department of Research has been busy researching both Georgia laws and federal laws on bribery to bring you this story. So far, we’ve discovered that all it takes for bribery to occur is that someone must make an offer of quo (“the offer”), whether or not it is actually agreed to, AND regardless of whether EJ would take the position. All that matters is whether the offer was made.

AND…this would be prosecuted under the Attorney General’s office, NOT the politically-infused State Ethics Commission.

SO…conceivably…Handel could be prosecuted as Blago was. Oh-boy. More corruption in this state than you can shake a Varsity hotdog at.

Trial transcripts show that Senator Preston Smith wasn’t just a cheating bast**d who slept around with multiple women while being married to the Christian mother of his 4 children, but that he treated Michelle Smith with the cold, callous nature of being someone who does not possess one ounce of compassion, or concern, for ANYONE else but himself, and his needs.

There are 5 PDF files here which, if you wish to download and read for yourself (links provided below), we encourage you to, but we will provide a synopsis as well:

SMITH1
SMITH2
SMITH3
SMITH4
SMITH5

These files are not from their divorce proceedings, but from the proceedings Michelle Smith had to sue Preston Smith over to get her monthly stipend of a measly $500 per month to spend on groceries and field trips for herself and her 4 kids raised to something in the neighborhood of $2000 per month.

Granted, Preston was paying for the mortgage on the house, as well as related home expenses (phone, cable, utilities, etc.), all totaling about $3800 in “beneficial payment” of Ms. Smith to have roof over her head and that of her 4 kids. (Read Pages 1-8 of SMITH2.PDF for an understanding of what “beneficial payment” means. It means she never saw the money or touched the money herself.)

At the time of this legal proceeding, Preston earned $200,000 per year. For quick number calculations, divide that by 12, and you get $16,667 per month. Take 75% of that to get to a net value of $12,500 in take home pay. Subtract the $3800 he was paying for her mortgages and gas and utilities to support 4 children and herself, and you get $8,700.

From $8700, take away around $2300 per month he was spending to live on his own, and you get $6400. Subtract $500 from that for his kindness (sic) in giving Michelle $500 to feed the kids and buy clothes for them, take herself to the beauty parlor, or whatever (See SMITH1, Pages 23-25), and Preston was left with $5900 per month of “play around money” for Preston’s exclusive use. Exclusive use like, say, buy a $5500 Harley Davidson motorcycle for himself to look “coooooool.”

But, here are the facts that will not be covered in ANY news story: Michelle Smith WORKED at whatever job she could find to earn enough money to put the sniveling POS named Preston Smith through law school…and then once he obtains the degree, and gets elected to the Georgia State Senate, he plays around on her and has multiple affairs down at the Capitol while he is supposedly “working on the people’s business.”

Here is the testimony of Mr. “Christian Conservative” Preston Smith as he testifies to his attempts at reconciliation with Michelle after a) getting personally caught in the act of screwing a girl by Michelle in 2004, and 2) having numerous affairs with different younger, single women, culminating in getting his butt tossed-off the Senate Floor on the 2008 night of Sine Die because he and 2 female interns were drunk and giggling in the back of the Senate Chamber while the Senate was still in session (Reference: SMITH3, Page 16, Line 6):

Mr. Medlin (Attorney for Mrs. Smith addressing Preston on the witness stand): “Your attorney [Mr. Jones] had asked my client about her asking you to leave the bedroom. That was after the relationships with Ms. Michael and Ms. Deaton, wasn’t it?”

Preston Smith: “No, we actually had difficulties for several years. And there have been – there’s a lot of contention and acrimony in the home. There have been situations where she’s thrown things at me and broken things, driven the car at me—–” (Skip to Line 22 on Page 16)
——“It was during those times when she was throwing things at me, breaking furniture in the house, driving the car at me, that we really just hit a point where it didn’t seem reconcilable.”

This guy has on his campaign Website for Attorney General the following catch-phrase:

“As a consistent conservative, Preston Smith has always been a champion for Individual Liberty and Personal Responsibility.”

Apparently, Preston Smith feels that it is HIS “individual liberty” to partake in whatever act (or whoever he wishes to hook-up with) whenever he damn well pleases. That’s what “Individual Liberty” means to him.

And, of course, the ever important “Personal Responsibility” part of the GOP red-meat crowd.

PV’s Analysis: People are going to ask “So what? So, he sleeps around, he’s unfaithful, that’s his personal life and doesn’t affect what he will do for us of he gets elected.”

Yeah. Here’s one really strong possibility: He is a sexual addict who might…say…see someone who is REALLY attractive on the opposition’s legal counsel team on some case…and screw her brains out for his personal enjoyment, and then compromise the State of Georgia on some pretty significant item we (the People of Georgia) were angling to obtain.

Folks…this is not the person deserving of our vote to become Georgia’s next Attorney General. No way. No how.

Here’s another list of the links to the PDF transcripts.

SMITH1
SMITH2
SMITH3
SMITH4
SMITH5

Here’s the link to the AJC’s Polifact story on Erick Erickson’s “abortion” claims about Nathan Deal:

Erick Erickson Identified to Be Disingenuous Liar

FOREWORD

“Guilt by association” and “Honor by association” are probably the two worst fallacies used in political races this season. And, we at PV are just fed-up with observing self-proclaimed “conservative thinking Republicans” partake in no more rational thinking other than velcro-ing (H/T to T.P. for that phrase) their thinking processes to one or both of these fallacies when deciding who to support.

In the Insurance commissioner’s race, Ralph Hudgens and his side is attempting to paint Maria Sheffield by using guilt by association with phrases such as “She worked for Oxendine…” AND “She is a lawyer/lobbyist…”

Hudgens is attempting to paint himself in a positive light with the “honor by association” phrase of “small businessman.”

All of these types of “associations” by the Hudgens camp are a crock of bull in this race. And, we have the documented proof. So, brace yourselves…

Hudgens vs. Sheffield: Occupations

Ralph Hudgens

Hudgens describes himself as a “small businessman.” That’s not quite what his own financial disclosure says. That document (which his campaign submitted to the State Ethics Commission) describes him with the occupation of “Investor.”

What does Hudgens invest in? Mostly land, but some businesses.

What does Hudgens earn as a self-identified investor? Let’s look at his 2009 total income:

$308,727.00 = Other Income
$15,047.96 = Salaries, wages & commissions
$92,055.75 = Net income from Rents, Royalties, & Dividends
$1,872.80 = Income from dividends & interests

Net Worth of Senator Hudgens: $8.504 Million

Maria Sheffield

Maria Sheffield categorizes herself as an “Attorney” in her Financial Disclosure. She works at Burr, Forman, a 100+ year-old law firm.

What did she earn in 2009 as an “Attorney?” Let’s see:

$150,000 = Salaries & Wages
$ 12,000 = Net income from Rents, Royalties, & Dividends
$ 1,000 = Other Income
$ 500 = Income from Dividends & Interest

Net Worth of Maria Sheffield: $609,000

What did she earn as a “lobbyist?” ZERO. In fact…contrary to the lies coming out of the mouths of supporters of Ralph Hudgens, Sheffield has not worked as a lobbyist in the State of Georgia since 2006.

AND…in checking the lobbyist expenditures for Maria Sheffield in 2005 through 2010…she has ZERO expenditures as a lobbyist trying to influence legislators. And…has not been registered as a lobbyist since the end of 2006.
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Rumors have it that the Karen Handel Campaign is defending Karen Handel’s vote in favor of awarding Planned Parenthood a 3-year renewable contract with Fulton County in 2005 because they say the contract went to paying for “women’s health services,” and not directly to pay for abortions.

One interesting fact that has come to light since our story a few days ago is that her vote in favor of this contract actually included a year-long contract with two optional, 1-year renewal contracts at the $425,000 some-odd value per year. That’s right: $1,276,704 total of taxpayer dollars given to Planned Parenthood. Here is a link to a copy of the contract renewal in 2006 that refers to the original March 25 vote, and that this 2006 renewal is the 2nd optional contract.

PV Provides Some Analysis: Hypothetically, if the terrorist group Hamas applied to a Georgia county for a contract to teach fire safety to school children, would it be okay with you folks if that contract was awarded to them? You know…’cause they do have a lot of experience in causing fires to happen, so, they would likely BE a good teacher to kids in getting them to learn about fire safety, right?

This hypothetical is eerily similar to the facts regarding the approval of the Planned Parenthood contract award by Karen Handel in 2005. Money awarded in any government contract is used to keep lights on, salaries paid, new computers, etc., in the organization. Whatever Hamas…ehhh….Planned Parenthood charged on their books for a cervical cancer exam, there was a fixed cost included in that charge on the books in order to keep their lights on and their facilities staffed.

At that time in 2005, while it was not legal of Planned Parenthood (“PP”) of Georgia to perform abortions themselves (but now, in 2010, we hear it is currently provided), nothing stopped PP workers from providing verbal referrals to abortion clinics in Georgia, did it? Nope!

AND…by allowing PP of Georgia to operate with that $1.3 million from 2005-2007, Handel voted in favor of keeping them “alive”, so to speak, until they got to a point financially of now being able to perform abortions. Actions always have consequences. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about business (as Handel claims she does) would know that money paid to PP of Georgia would actually help further their cause to abort pregnancies, right?

Furthermore…the Handel campaign has also made a claim that this money was “authorized by Congress & the Bush White House in 2004-2005 to be used by Planned Parenthood”…so, who was Karen Handel to vote against them federal people, huh?

Well…here’s a question…a really simple one: If she’s pro-life (as she has claimed she is, for as long as she has claimed she is), AND she is not willing to vote against something as moronic as federal taxpayer money being used to help fund an anti-pro-life organization, how the heck is she going to be able to “fight Obama” were she to get elected Governor? This vote in 2005 while she was on the Fulton County Board of Commission shows that she’ll be making deals right and left with the Obama folks behind closed doors and nobody will ever know the difference.

The fact is that HAD she voted against the contract, it would have passed anyway, 6-1. But, at least we would all have a demonstration of her integrity. Saying you’re “pro-life” and demonstrating you are pro-life are two entirely separate things. Integrity matters. Or, it still does with some of us voters.

Practically speaking, she’s a political wuss when it comes to demonstrating that she is who she says she is. She bitches a lot about the “Good ‘Ole Boys”…well, we can see that she is nothing but a “Go Along to Get Along Girl” who will vote a certain way when she doesn’t think anyone is looking over her shoulder.

Thanks, but no thanks, to Karen Handel. We’re not interested in having a charlatan as our GOP nominee. Had enough of those already to last a lifetime!

The Political Vine has a copy of the March 16, 2005 Meeting Minutes of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners Meeting. Look to Page 12, Item 2 for the item listing the Planned Parenthood contract, and on Page 13 is where the motion is proposed and voted unanimously in favor of granting the contract to Planned Parenthood.

What does Planned Parenthood do? The exact opposite of their name. Their plan is to STOP parenthood from ever occurring by aborting fetuses in any and every trimester of a pregnancy.

Rumors have it that Karen Handel has been caught breaking the law by taking higher contributions than the Ethics Law allows.

FOX 5 News has the scoop here!

PV’s Commentary: Karen Handel claims “Oh, it was just an accounting error.” Yeah. Funny…that’s what some other candidates claim and she just rips them apart as being “unethical.”

No, Karen Handel is a LIAR & a HYPOCRITE. So…Scorched-Earth Politics is what she’s been playing…and, people are pretty fed-up with her tactics, and her lies. As a campaign consultant advised me this morning: “Burn every blade of grass you can find.”

A few weeks ago, I opined on this blog that I thought JoAnn Birrell would not be a very good choice for our Cobb County District 3 commission seat. I detailed all that here.

Since then, The Marietta Daily Journal ran a little piece regarding the PV issue/post that addressed my issue of District 3 candidate for commissioner JoAnn Birrell. Here is a link to the online MDJ article.

In that article, Birrell addressed the PV comments in this fashion: “…most of the statements are just downright false. And it’s a shame they have sunk to that level.”

Then…that same Friday (June 25, 2010), there was a luncheon at the monthly meeting of the Cobb County Republican Women’s Club where there was a debate held for the three District 3 commission candidates. AND…everything was hunky-dory until Birrell got to the end of the forum, and decided to attack the statements made by the PV that were printed in the MDJ article. This is what she said to the room (and to the MDJ reporter in the room)

“My opponents or politicians that are printing false accusations I guess have nothing else to talk about, so they’re talking about me, and it’s really quite flattering, even if it’s negative. But you all know me, and you know my history, and you know my track record. I’ve been involved in this community and with this organization alone for the past six years, so I think they’re just desperate attacks, and there’s no truth in the statements, so thank you for bringing it to my attention.”

Huh…so, there’s “no truth in the statements…”, eh?

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Rumors have it that at least two complaints have been filed with the United States Office of Special Counsel (“OSC”) in Washington, D.C., alleging violations of the Hatch Act by Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, as well as Chief Deputy Lynda Coker.

PV Provides Background: The Hatch Act was originally enacted in 1939. It is a federal law that governs political activities by federal employees. Its purpose was to prohibit federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity by using federal resources and dollars to do so. The provisions of the Hatch Act were expanded and amended in 1940 to impose statutory restrictions on certain state and local governmental employees whose principal employment was in connection with a federally funded activity.

What is a “federally funded activity?” Oh…something like this Cobb County Domestic Violence Unit which was created with a federal grant in 1997…and…something like 287(g), which provides federal resources to train deputies in learning how to investigate whether or not Cobb County jail inmates are illegal aliens.

According to OSC, the functions of the state or local employee covered by the Hatch Act do not need to involve the administration, distribution of, or control over federal funds, but need only be connected with an activity that is in whole or in part funded with federal dollars.

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[Editor’s Note: There is an expanded version of this post that was sent-out early this morning via our e-mailed newsletter. A link to that is available here. If you want to keep more up-to-date with political news, sign-up for our e-mailed newsletters here.]

The truth about Karen Handel is not only that she did join the Log Cabin Republicans (“LCR”) back in the 2002-2003 era (not that I am claiming anything was wrong with that), but that she CONTINUES to LIE about doing so, even when the truth is laying there in the freaking room. Nobody cares that she joined them for the then-political reason of garnering their support, but that she continues to LIE and DENY that she ever joined them. That is the issue here. Nothing else.

A couple of weeks ago, I covered the story about the check Handel wrote via this article here. Since that time, the Handel campaign has attempted to lie their way out of this check by telling to different people these different lies:

1) Simon created that check in PhotoShop.
2) Handel wrote that check to pay for the opportunity to speak in front of the LCR.
3) Karen and Steve never lived at that address on the check, therefore this check is a fabrication.
4) $75.00 was NOT the dues back then

And…I’m sure there will be some others I’ve missed (…or, that Dan McLagan will dream-up on the fly).

Let’s cover 1, 2, and 3 right now:

1) Bill Simon created this check in PhotoShop. Umm…I’m not THAT good or talented at PhotoShop. Maybe Ron Butler…or Fred Davis are folks who have this talent, but not me.

2) Handel paid $75.00 to speak in front of the LCR group. Not true because the individual in Georgia who actually invented the concept of charging candidates for the opportunity to speak in front of a Republican organization was former chair of the Cobb County GOP Anthony-Scott Hobbs, and he didn’t invent that until several months after he won the chairmanship in March 2003.

And, the Log Cabin Republicans would not have charged her for that opportunity anyway because, as you can see by this e-mail between Handel and then-LCR chair Marc Yeager, Yeager admired and adored Karen Handel back then for her “hard work in making a positive difference in Fulton County” and would not have charged her any money to speak in front of the LCR.

3) Karen and Steve never lived at that address on the check, therefore this check is a fabrication. A red herring. The address on the check is NOT a residence. It is the address of a (now) UPS mailbox store. Back then, it was likely called “Mailboxes, Etc” before UPS bought-out the chain and re-branded the stores. The Handels used a mailbox to set-up this checking account.

Here is the address of that UPS store and you will note that its “suite” is “G”, which corresponds to the “G357” on this check.

NOW…let’s turn our attention to #4: “$75.00 was NOT the dues back then for the Log Cabin Republicans.” Ahhh…BUT, what if it was? AND…what if there was proof available that showed it was $75.00 back then?

Before I get to the proof, I have confirmed with some former members of the LCR that this “$75.00” were the total dues to join LCR in the early 2000’s. “Total dues” as in, back then, $40.00 was sent to the national LCR organization, and the local organization kept $35.00. Sometime after 2004, it appears the national LCR organization decided no dues were required to join LCR, and dues of $75.00 stopped being required to be paid to join.

SO…thanks to the Internet Archive…we have proof that $75.00 were the dues back then for the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans. Here are two instances of their archived, online Membership Applications:

December 8, 2000 Snapshot of Membership Application.

June 4, 2004 Snapshot of Membership Application.

You can see the very first choice on both of these membership application versions of the application is “New member or renewal, $75.00 annual dues* (Includes membership in the National Log Cabin Republicans.)”

$75.00 dues. Exactly the amount this check was written and signed by Karen Handel for.

By the way, if you ever wonder why I take the time to go through THIS much detail for these things, it is not because I enjoy it. It is because when one deals with pathological lying political crooks, you have to be extremely thorough in proving they are lying, otherwise they will lie their way out of it again and again and again…all without batting an eye.

In case the Handel Campaign was waiting for the other shoe to drop, please allow the PV the privilege of dropping that 5 kilo-ton shoe.

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the jousting from Handel’s $10,000 per month Court Jester Dan McLagan over the past week or so, here’s a link to the online story regarding the Former Chair of the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans in the 2002-2003 era (Marc Yeager) releasing several e-mails from back then showing the conversations he had with Handel, along with his statement regarding the fact that he received a check from Karen Handel for membership dues. Back then, in 2002, Handel was a candidate for Fulton County Commissioner. McLagan continues the propagate the continued lies of Karen Handel, one of which she firmly denies ever being a dues-paid member of the Log Cabin Republicans: PolitiFact Georgia.

As we’ve said before, PV’s beef is not the fact of the positions Karen Handel may have taken way back then on gay-focused issues, BUT that she continues to LIE about ever having taken those positions. And, she continues to lie about ever being a member of the Log Cabin Republicans.

And, as you have read from that PolitiFact article, McLagan thinks that if he muddies the water by accusing Southern Voice of being a “gay tabloid” and Marc Yeager of, basically, being a liar, every heterosexual Republican primary voter will throw-out the introduced evidence from Yeager and the old articles from Southern Voice and believe every word Handel claims.

Ladies & Gentleman, you might recall a certain “blue dress” from the 1998 era of Bill Clinton’s presidency being the death knell to Clinton’s story that he “…did not have sex with that woman…Monica Lewinsky.”

Well, contained in a plain white envelope that arrived at the headquarters of Political Vine on the afternoon of Thursday, June 17, 2010 was a copy of Karen Handel’s own “blue dress.” It was a copy of the check written and signed by Karen Handel to the Log Cabin Republicans for $75.00 sometime way back when she did join the Log Cabin Republicans.

We scanned this into a file which you will be able to view shortly. Along with a copy of this check is another file…a copy of SOS Karen Handel’s electronic signature from the approval of some company’s articles of incorporation from 2008 so you will be able to compare the signature on the check to her official signature as Secretary of State. Hint: It matches.

Here’s the Copy of the Check
Here’s the comparative signature

One ever so slight thing with this check is that there was no date written on it. But, as anyone well knows, a bank will take a deposit without a date on a check. This is no forged check. This is no fabricated check. The check clearly shows the following information in the upper-left of the check:

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