It’s about danged time there was a good challenger race going on around here.

Currently, the Fulton County GOP’s position is held by Mike Dvorscak, and he is running for re-election this March.

However, there is a newcomer to the Fulton County GOP who has rather remarkable credentials. Shawn Hanley worked in Iraq for awhile, helping them set-up their “democracy” via explaining and teaching things like campaigning, voting processes, etc.

He has a very strong resume, and platform in which to challenge Dvorscak; this should be quite the exciting race. Check him out at:

Shawn Hanley

The 4 years of Anthony-Scott Hobbs’ “leadership” (sic) of the Cobb County Republican Party has served no one well except for the ego of Hobbs himself.

But, looking toward the future, a new, fresh-smelling breeze is about to blow across the plains and clear the air in Cobb County…which has had an atmosphere of acidic, dank gloom for far too many years.

Two new leaders, Scott Johnson and Bob Koncerak (KON-SUR-AK), have set-up a Website to promote their leadership team for a new, positive direction for the Cobb GOP. Check it out at:

CobbGOP2007

Rumors have it that Chairman Bobby Kahn’s designated “hatchet-man”, Emil Runge had quite the problem two weeks ago when he was directed by Kahn to deliver the complaint against Speaker Richardson.

Runge reportedly delivered a copy to the House Ethics Committee Chairman, Rep. Joe Wilkinson. Wilkinson patiently informed Runge that his committee wasn’t the “Joint-Legislative Committee on Ethics” but the “Ethics Committee” for legislation.

Runge reportedly dropped copies in nearly every office he could find open, including the State Ethics Commission (which does not hold jurisdiction over “conflicts of interest” matters) and then, finally, Runge managed to deliver a copy to Senator Eric Johnson’s office. Johnson is co-chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethics (“JLCE”).

Now, rumors are that the Committee will consider the allegations claimed by Kahn and the DPG. This includes the possibility of issuing subpoenas for depositions and such.

HOWEVER, according to what has been reported about the contents of the complaint, it offers no proof at all to back-up the allegation(s).

So, the onus on the JLCE will be to set some standards now on exactly what types of allegations they will investigate.

I know from my experience with filing complaints with the Ethics Commission, you cannot just “allege” a violation of the law…you have to back it up with a cite of the specific law, along with some kind of proof that the law has been violated.

If the JLCE decides that a complaint written by any Tom, Dick, Harry, and/or Bobby could just allege something without any kind of proof contained within the complaint, then the JLCE will open the door to its wide-open position for all kinds of complaints to be written and thrown to the committee to get involved in.

It’s one thing to use the State Ethics Commission for political vindictiveness or gain over an opposing party, but even the most insidious complaints filed must have some proof to back up an allegation, even if the allegation turns out to be inaccurate.

The Democratic Party of Georgia will elect a new State Chair on January 27 in Atlanta.

Mike Berlon, Gwinnett County Chair, has been running for months. Two other candidates, Jane Kidd, and the Rev. Jim Nelson, have been joined by a recent third, Carol Jackson.

All four candidates spoke at a large Democratic meeting held in Gainesville on Saturday morning. Large is not meant to describe the room. At least 75 people attended, mostly voting members of the State Committee from 22 counties. Very impressive for Gainesville, a Saturday morning, and an event without free food or booze.

All four candidates for chair appeared and made the usual speeches along with 9 other candidates or their representatives.

Given the turnout for an unpaid position with little power, rumors have been flying. The most nasty rumor seems to be that Mike Berlon and his county party are not in compliance with the State By-laws.

Rumors are that Mike Berlon has been delaying that election while cobbling together a coalition of the YDG, Labor, and ex-insiders. Not only has Mike the Candidate not held the election, he hasn’t held any monthly meetings, either.

No one asked him about this on Saturday, but given Mike’s public statements about grassroots, importance of each county, and his take on the Party’s alleged Atlanta First, Last, and Only Policy, who can take him seriously?

Currently Mike Berlon has a website that lists over 80 active supporters.

How many of those supporters will vote for Berlon when they learn he is squashing an entire county organization, thumbing his nose at rules, and daring someone to at the State level to confront him?

Is Mike Berlon the next iteration of Bobby Kahn and his Atlanta Cabal?

PV Note: The aforementioned info was sent to us from our pal Deep Throat. To us, it sounds like the heads of the Mike Berlon and the GOP’s Anthony-Scott Hobbs could be switched with each other, and no one would ever be the wiser. 😉

I had a good laugh reading today’s METRO section of the AJC about Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin discussing how much money she needed for her new budget and how she was looking towards the state and federal government for help.

My laugh started with THIS tidbit: “[Franklin] suggested state and federal support…”

“State and federal support???” Yeah, right. Say, Shirley, call-up State Rep. Edward Lindsey and see if he’ll give you any help this year. Start the conversation off with a chuckle about the firehoses and the dogs you talked about in the commercial for John Eaves.

If ANY Republican gives Franklin and any of her lobbyist minions the time of day in THIS Session to propose financial help, let me know and I’ll dig-up the radio commercial she recorded and send it to them for a reminder that this mayor deserves $0 from the State of Georgia….this is not the year for handouts to race-baiters like Franklin.

Whoo-hoo! 2007 is here!

Rumors have it that Tom Mishou, Georgia’s only Boxing Commissioner for the past 25 years will be retiring as of December 31 of this year.

You may not have ever heard of Tom, or even less well known, the “Boxing Commission.” The Boxing Commission comes under the purview of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and is responsible for sanctioning any boxing match that takes place inside Georgia.

I got to know Tom Mishou because as the Republican political activist I am, I have filed many Open Records Requests for the past 5 some-odd years and Mishou was the SoS’s designated “open records officer.” Though he is a Democrat, I quickly discovered that he was an honest person and was all business when it came to responding to my filed requests and obtaining the records. We developed a good working relationship, as well as a personal friendship.

Anyway, I hope the incoming Secretary of State, Karen Handel, is able to find someone as good and knowledgeable for the open records info as Tom was. (As far as the “boxing commission” goes, I’m wondering if that will even stay a position}

Anyway, I wish Tom Godspeed in his new endeavors.

Technorati Tags: Tom Mishou

PSC Commissioner Stan Wise (R-GA) lost his strongest ally last night: Democrat David Burgess lost to Republican Challenger Chuck Eaton.

Wise had Burgess all tucked into his fold and could deliver any vote the utilities wanted delivered…in fact, I hear that Wise used to refer to Burgess as his “Precious”…

Well, not anymore! Chuck Eaton will be a PSC commissioner who can think for himself now. Must be Stan Wise’s (and, the utility companies’ lobbyists) worst nightmare….

On another thread on this blog, Donald proposed that state Republican legislators should look at reducing the state income tax as one of the primary initiatives for our controlling majority to accomplish:

“As a topic for general PV discussion, I’d like to suggest that we consider, and promote, an across-the-board cut in the Georgia state income tax’s top rate of 6% to, say, 5% or lower, along with significant reductions in lower tax brackets. I would also suggest the income level at which the top rate takes effect be raised from 20k to 40K in additional to indexing the standard deduction and personal exemptions for inflation in the same manner as the federal income tax. In an ideal tax reform bill, I would like to see a much flatter rate structure with two tax rates of 2 and 4%.

At the very least, if Republicans aren’t promoting cutting taxes and constraining the growth of bloated government in Georgia, what good are we?”

Who wants to go first on Donald’s tax-cut idea?

I am going through a little process right now to upgrade some of the plug-ins that help manage parts of this site.

One of them is how people can “Subscribe-To” threads to be notified of when a thread is updated. That was upgraded tonight, but I have no idea as to whether any of your previous settings to notify you were carried over in the upgrade. So, if you know you were subscribing to a thread, please check that thread to see if it still displays your e-mail address.

Also, with this new upgrade, I don’t believe you can stick a false e-mail address in there…there was something mentioned in the documentation regarding that. (But, I’m sure someone will try.)

Anyway, let me know via e-mail to PoliticalVine@aol.com if there are any problems going on…you will not be able to use the “Contact Form” right now because that is one problem I DO know about, and am trying to get fixed.

Thanks!