Monthly Archive for January, 2008

Karen Handel, Georgia Secretary of State: Elections, Contractors and Scams!

Published
by
Wilson
on January 27, 2008
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Karen Handel has been in office just over a year. With more than 700,000 corporations registered in Georgia, her office is always busy. In her first year, there were over 300,000 corporations that were delinquent in paying their annual registration fees. In trying to update the list of active corporations, all of them had to be contacted and told to pay up or go away. The result, Karen’s office collected over $2 million in delinquent fees.

As SOS, Karen’s office covers a lot of territory: Archives, Elections, Corporations, Professional Licensure Boards, Securities, Vital Records. You can find a lot of quick links on the Home Page.

Karen warns of a scam making the rounds in Georgia. A lot of people have received documents from a corporation by the name of “Georgia Corporate Compliance” offering to prepare documents and provide services under the pretense they are required by the law. The information may look official, but it is not. IT IS A SCAM and you should notify the Secretary of State’s office. Karen has asked the Attorney General’s office to investigate further.

For more information on what is going on in the SOS office, check out the Newsroom.

Between now and July 1, 2008 a lot of effort is being directed at licensing tens of thousands of general contractors in the State. Georgia was one of the last states to regulate contractors, both commercial and residential. The new requirements provide minimum standards regarding proof of competency and financial responsibility. Anyone dealing with a general contractor should definitely read the Rules applicable to contractors.

And then, of course, there are the elections, beginning with the Presidential Primary on February 5, 2008. There has been a lot of controversy about the electronic voting machines and paper ballot verification. Georgia won’t have paper ballot verification any time soon, but Karen offers a lot of assurance that the machines and processes used in Georgia will give us an accurate vote.

A lot of the problems with electronic voting machines are the result of human error. Some states simply don’t go to the expense of providing the manpower and training to insure that machines operate properly. Karen will have the manpower on election day to be able to have a representative of her office in any precinct in the state within an hour of any report of a problem. There will also be monitoring of absentee ballots.

As for the paper ballot, you may recall there was a pilot project in the 2006 general election. You can read the official report on this project. Because of the enormous expense and changes in technology, most of the states are not going forward with any plans to implement paper ballot verification. You can find out more about this issue nationwide at electionline.org.

Not only that, but everyone expects the federal government to enact minimum federal standards for voting machines and paper verification. There is no need to guess what those standards will be and purchase expensive techonology that may not end up being what is required. Karen also advised that there is a bill in Congress to change voting processes by the November 2008 elections. Karen thinks this would be impossible to accomplish in such a short period of time and irresponsible in even attempting to do so. For more information on verified voting, check out VoteTrustUSA.

By the way, Karen wants to make sure that everyone brings their Photo ID to the voting precinct.

 
 Karen Handel, Georgia Secretary of State [27:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (89)

Numbers USA: Traditional Immigration! What Is It?

Published
by
Wilson
on January 26, 2008
in Blog
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Numbers USA is an organization dedicated to educating the public to the facts concerning immigration, both legal and illegal. Its stated goals are: (1) To examine numerical levels of annual legal and illegal immigration. (2) To educate the public about the immigration-reduction recommendations from two national commissions of the 1990s: The bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform and The President’s Council on Sustainable Development.

Now, if you think you know something about immigration and you haven’t heard from Roy Beck, I suggest you take a few minutes and listen.

Jekyll Island Showdown: Chapman, Egan, Langford, Garvey

Published
by
Wilson
on January 25, 2008
in Podcast
. 11 Comments

The Jekyll Island development controversy gains new clarity in this interview with four of the primary participants. (1) Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-3) plans to introduce a resolution which would effectively prevent new development on the beach. (2) David Egan, Founder of the Initiative to Protect Jekyll Island, wants the Jekyll Island Authority to listen to what the people want. (3) Jim Langford is the Project Manager of Linger Longer, the Revitalization Partner selected by the JIA in a bid process that is currently in litigation. (4) Eric Garvy is the Senior Director of Marketing and Business Development for the Jekyll Island Authority and firmly defends its actions and decisions.

Because all 5 of us were on the phone at the same time, I scheduled this interview for an hour. While this may be long, it is well worth the effort. My previous interviews with Chapman, Egan, Langford, and Garvey provide a lot of background, but it took this interview for me to truly appreciate the real bottom line in this controversy: Will Jekyll Island be preserved or developed?

A little history. Jekyll was purchased by the State in the late 40s. The State still owns all the land and simply leases it to homeowners, motel and business owners to generate the income necessary to maintain the roads and other infrastructure, as well as other projects such as restoration of the historic district and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

In 2007 the legislature declared Jekyll to be Georgia’s Jewel, but it is on the verge of being a multimillion dollar jewel in the hat of developers if the current 63-acre development project proposed by Linger Longer and selected by the JIA goes forward.

The law that created the JIA contained a specific directive for the income generated on Jekyll Island:

All income and revenues arising out of the operation of Jekyll Island State Park, and all gifts, grants, appropriations, or bond or loan proceeds made specifically for Jekyll Island State Park, shall be used by the authority for the sole purpose of beautifying, improving, developing, enlarging, maintaining, administering, managing, and promoting Jekyll Island State Park at the lowest rates reasonable and possible for the benefit of the people of the State of Georgia.

While it is the responsibility of the JIA to manage Jekyll in a manner that generates sufficient income, it seems obvious, at least to me, that in 1950 the legislature envisioned something other than a fully developed resort type recreation area. This interview explores in depth several issues which arise from the manner in which the JIA seeks to fulfill its responsibility to Jekyll and to the people of Georgia.

This is clearly not a dispute about revitalization of the existing motels and convention facility. Everyone agrees this is necessary, and in fact, several facilities either have been or are in the process of major renovation or complete rebuilding. When all are back online the increased capacity and higher room rates will result in more annual income for the JIA.

The controversy focuses on two basic issues: (1) Is the propsed 63 acres of new development necessary to meet the reasonable income needs of the JIA? (2) Should any development be allowed on the prime stretch of beach (approximately 9000 ft.) that is, without question, unique, both in the quality of the beach and length.

IS THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT NECESSARY? The answer depends on your choice of goals. Langford of Linger Longer contends it will generate $100 million in income for the JIA over 10 or more years. It is hard to argue against such a project if your goal is to make as much money as possible. Not only that, but this project is just the first that the JIA is contemplating. Presumably, the JIA wants even more in income. The question is why? The answer to that question is not written in some brochure or noted on the JIA website. The motives of the JIA can only be judged in the context of the its actions and conduct regarding the development and promotion of the project.

While I am sure Linger Longer and the JIA will disagree, that judgment is not flattering to an entity like the JIA which is charged with a public trust. Rather, the JIA has made a mockery of the idea that it acts as a Trustee for the people of this State. It undertook this project without any apparent attempt to determine its actual income needs. The JIA cannot answer this question: Will the existing faciliities, once they are renovated, generate enough income to meet the operational needs of Jekyll? Even with the old motels, Jekyll operated in the black every year but one, and that was when the renovations may well have affected the number of rooms available.

Another breach of the public trust by the JIA is its apparent total lack of concern, bordering on scorn, for public opinion and input. It dreamed up this project, it issued a request for developers to submit proposals, and it gave its approval to Linger Longer without ever undertaking to find out first what the residents of Jekyll or what the people of the State of Georgia wanted. Like most bureaucratic entities, the JIA assumes it knows best in all things and the people that actually live on or visit Jekyll know nothing.

In this interview, Langford and Garvey suggest that the JIA and Linger Longer are willing to scrap this project if the people don’t want it or if someone has a better idea. The actions of the JIA in this entire process raise serious doubts as to whether or not this is anything other than mere lip service. It is rare to see a state agency or authority decide on a course of action and voluntarily yield to public pressure to change direction. While it can happen, it is not easy for the public to force the change without the assistance of a big stick. That big stick just might be the pending litigation or, in this election year, it might be public outcry.

One other point. The JIA clearly seems determined to develop Jekyll Island to the fullest extent possible. Why? That goal is not in the legislative directive which created the JIA. Since 1950 the JIA has never promoted development, first and foremost, above all other considerations. Why the change? Why now? It could be that the recent appointments by Governor Perdue to the JIA have a new idea for what should be done to Jekyll. But the real answer is money, plain and simple. If you ever have a question about why government does something, follow the money. If Linger Longer’s proposed project goes through, it will make tens of millions of dollars. The JIA’s plans for further development will put hundreds of millions of dollars of pure profit into the hands of Linger Longer or some other developer.

Why development? Because we can is the JIA’s position. Why not! Earn millions, spend milliions, put millions into the hands of people like Mercer Reynolds, the owner of Linger Longer, who gives big, big money to governors and presidents.

IS IT NECESSARY TO BUILD ON A BEACH THAT HAS BEEN UNOBSTRUCTED FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS? The JIA’s position on this simple issue reveals the simple truth: The JIA isn’t interested in earning enough income to provide accommodations at the lowest rates reasonable and possible for the benefit of the people of the State of Georgia. It’s interest is to suck just as much money out of Jekyll as it can, the beach be damned. That’s it, spread the love, baby!

Without a doubt, whatever project JIA and Linger Longer propose to build could be built somewhere else on Jekyll. So why not satisfy the people and just move the project to another location and leave the unobstructed beach unobstructed? The answer, money! As Langford said at the beginning of the interview, the present goal of the project is to create an “economic engine.” As Sen. Chapman points out, there is nothing to suggest that the legislature or the people of Georgia bought Jekyll Island for the purpose of creating an economic engine. That was not and is not Georgia’s intent for Jekyll. The problem is the JIA has forgotten or ignored that it holds Jekyll in trust for the rest of us. The JIA thinks it owns the place.

There are only two ways to deal with a state agency which has become arrogant, that won’t listen to anyone, that is intoxicated with its own power. One option involves violence, is clearly illegal, and therefore not one that I can recommend. The other option is legislative action which is exactly what Sen. Chapman proposes to do. His proposal would prohibit development on the beach so that the view we all grew up with would be there for our grandchildren. It would also insure that whatever leadership failures future members of the JIA exhibit, it won’t threaten the beach and the view.

Now, the question is whether or not that Republican majority in the legislature will exhibit some leadership on this issue. And that is a big question!

 
 Jekyll Island and Development [59:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (215)

A Penny for Your Thoughts: The Writer’s Bottom Line!

Published
by
Wilson
on January 24, 2008
in Podcast
. 1 Comment

Mama always said it was important to write well. I am sure the 12,000 members of the Writers’ Guild of America know that better than most of us.

I was in New York recently to attend my favorite TV show,The Daily Show, and while I was standing in line, there was a line of strikers standing a few feet away. Naturally, I lined up an interview. I was surprised to find out that I could interview someone in Georgia about the WGA efforts to negotiate a new contract. In this interview with Phil Nutman and Jason Dolan, Co-Captains for the WGA in Georgia, I find out that the essence of this dispute is over something less than a penny!

That’s right. Less than a penny! Since the last WGA Minimum Basic Agreement was negotiated in 1988, things have changed. Now we have DVDs, the internet and naturally corporate America exploits these new sources of revenue just as much as they can. The writers want their fair share. And what is that fair share: an increase in royalties from 1/3 of a penny to a penny.

Talk about corporate greed! This is a good example of why unions became powerful at the beginning of the century. Sure, unions ended up abusing their power (doesn’t everyone) and as a result the fell out of favor beginning in the 80s. Even so, the Writers Strike is proof positive of the fact that in this world of greedy multi-national corporations the ordinary working doesn’t have a chance against billion dollar corporations unless they are unionized. Not only do we need to appreciate what unions have done, we need to appreciate what they can do and encourage more employees to seek union organization. I wish we could come up with some way to have a Consumer’s Union to give all us some way to effectively fight the bastards. But what do I know, I just work for a living.

Even though there are no unions at Turner Broadcasting and CNN located in Atlanta, Atlanta is a media center and there are writers and TV shows produced in Georgia. The WGA can’t picket, but they can hold rallies to increase public awareness and support for the writer’s cause.

The Directors Guild (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have contracts that will be up in June and they are supporting the WGA, while trying to negotiate their own new contracts. SAG members, the movie and TV stars, won’t go on TV shows like Jay Leno because of the writers’ strike. They will appear on David Letterman because his production company, WorldWide Pants, owns his show (not the networks) and has negotiated its own agreement with the WGA and its writers have returned to work.

Because SAG members would not cross the picket lines and attend the Golden Globes they were cancelled. The networks had to return hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenues. If the Oscars are cancelled in a few weeks, they will lose hundreds of millions more. All over less than a penny.

I understand that the writers and studios are resuming talks to try and end the strike.

For more information, you can check out United Hollywood.

Never give up!

 
 Phil Nutman and Jason Dolan, Writer's Guild of America [29:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (108)

The Great Tax Plan Targets Education!

Published
by
Wilson
on January 17, 2008
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If you don’t know about Glenn Richardson’s plan to eliminate ad valorem taxes in Georgia, you must be dead–just like his Great Plan. Speaker Richardson supposedly toured the state telling everyone about his proposal to do away with property taxes, but he only told people bits and pieces and would entertain no public discussion. The city and county governments jumped on him. Casey Cagle and most everyone else in the Georgia Senate expressed grave concern about such a proposal and essentially said it would not pass the Senate. For whatever reason, his plan has now morphed into a plan to eliminate the school tax portion of the property tax.

My question: Why schools? Why education? If it won’t work for city and county governments, what makes it good for schools? In this interview Jeff Hubbard, President of the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), explains what this proposal means for education.

There are a lot of problems with this misconceived plan to take away local control of the education budget, but regardless of the shear power grab by the legislature, I don’t understand why we would want the quality of our education to depend on how much money people spend on goods and services, particularly with an economy that may be going downhill. If teachers get paid out of sales tax revenues and the economy goes in the tank, revenues go down and school districts have to scramble from month to month to make ends meet.

If you talk to these guys in charge of our state budget, like the Governor, they just love to tell you that they put more and more money into education every year. That may be true, but as Jeff points out, the fact that we spend more does not mean we are improving the quality of the education our kids receive. Georgia is one of the fastest growing states in the nation and a lot of the increase in education funding is due to this increase in the population of the state. More money does not translate into more money for classroom instruction. There may be more money for more buildings to house more students, but the money to improve the quality of instruction doesn’t increase.

There are about 1.6 million school age kids in Georgia. About half of them qualify for free lunches, which means they are generally from lower income families. About 57% of the state budget goes for education. And yet, we have never fully funded education according to the formulas set up 23 years ago in the Quality Basic Education Act.

Speaker Richardson and anyone who supports his efforts to transfer the cost of funding public education from the property owners (many of them wealthy) to the working families of Georgia (through the sales tax) is not seeking to improve education in this state. They are seeking power. They are manipulating the people of this state by promising the elimination of a significant portion of their property taxes without explaining the dangerous consequences for our struggling, underfunded educational system.

One of these days!

 
 Jeff Hubbard, Georgia Association of Educators [27:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (89)

Politics: Drifting With the Grift!

Published
by
Wilson
on January 16, 2008
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Talk about gambling, predicting the outcome of presidential politics is pure fantasy, but also fun. James Williams always gives me hope that someday I will understand something–anything about politics, that is. Which is a lot more than I can say about those TV pundits who take the insignificant, blow it up, out of proportion and not only predict winners and losers, but cast eternal judgment (condemnation) upon the poor candidate who happens to be in their sights at the moment. And 4 hours later, they completely reverse their predictions and damnations. James, you are a breath of fresh air.

I wish I could do this interview justice, but I am afraid I am still pressed for time, so if you want to hear two guys chew the fat, this is a good listen. The first half focuses on the presidential race, who we like, whose up and whose down and whether that means anything. The last half jumps into Georgia politics and the hot items at this legislative session like property tax reform.

Gotta go!

 
 James Williams, GriftDrift Blogger [29:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (110)

Year End Greetings from the Big Apple: Doug Monroe!

Published
by
Wilson
on January 4, 2008
in Podcast
. 2 Comments

My apologies to Doug for not posting this interview last year (last week), but I am afraid my mind took the holiday break more seriously than usual. (When is the next long weekend!) I hope everyone had a safe and great time during the holidays, both Christmas and New Year’s.

Even though Doug has moved to the Big Apple, he is still a fifth generation Atlantan and keeps in touch on Georgia issues. After all, Sonny praying for water made the The Times.

In this end of the year conversation we cover Atlanta, New York, Iowa, the nation and the world. All in less than 30 minutes!

Looking to the issues the Georgia legislature will have to deal with in 2008, Doug bemoans the failure of leadership to deal with some of the serioius problems now facing the state, water and transportation being close to the top of the list. He notes that Roy Barnes and Tom Murphy made an effort (but not enough of one) to address water issues several years ago. And then, there was Zell who put a developer in charge of transportation in the state. Not a good move for the future of public mass transit.

Unfortunately, Doug did not get a dime of the billion dollar bonuses they gave out on Wall Street in December. He is as amazed, as am I, that anyone can “earn” a billion dollar bonus, particularly when their companies, in many cases, lost billions on the subprime mortgage market. This isn’t the American Dream we grew up with.

As might be expected, Doug is still disappointed in Democratic leadership and candidates. He wonders if they aren’t already dead in Georgia elections for 2008.

In the national contest for president, he favors John Edwards, who is the only Democratic candidate even attempting to talk about the issues that concern most Americans: wages in particular, the economy in general and the growing divide between the wealthy and the rest of us. (As you know by now, Edwards came in second. Not bad for a lawyer who is publically financed, not by lobbyists!)

On the Republican side, Doug thinks Rudy is on the slippery downhill slope to irrelevancy. I hope so. He is the one Republican candidate that I simply do not trust. According to Doug, people in New York don’t trust him either. Many think he is rather sleazy, even misrepresenting his role in 9-11. While he is still leading in NY, Doug thinks he is vulnerable.

By the way, Doug’s teacher’s union endorsed Hillary. I wonder if Iowa will change that.

Doug notes, with some seriousness, that a lot of people in New York are convinced that Bush and Cheney were responsible for 9-11. While you may think otherwise, New Yorkers point to the fact that the Twin Towers were heavily insured and apparently sold just before the attack. They wonder if the destroyed video tapes of the interrogation of the terrorists contain any information that would shed light on who was responsible for 9-11. You may not want to hear this, but will someone look at the video of the collapse of Building #7 (not the Towers) and tell me it was not the result of a controlled demolition! (There go my syndication chances.)

As for Saxby Chambliss’ re-election, Doug doesn’t think he has much competition. He wasn’t impressed with any of the candidates based on what he followed in “Drifting Through the Grift” about the recent senatorial debate. Doug sees the Iraq War as a big issue in the 2008 election and doesn’t understand Dale Cardwell’s position on the war. Doug thinks it sounds more like a Republican. (The problem is that it may be the position it takes to get elected in this state.)

And then we get into the news media, its’ faults and shortcomings, its failure to do what it should do: investigate and tell us the truth. On the whole, American has lost faith in the media. Doug relates some of the problem to the consolidation of media under the control of a few corporations. For example, the Cox organization owns the AJC and WSB in Atlanta, in addition to other local radio stations. The AJC lost 9% of its circulation in 6 months to become the fasting shrinking major American newspaper.

Doug points out that small, independent newspapers are doing fine, while the giants are having trouble making a profit. The problem seems to be that more and more people are turning to the internet for their news and no one has discovered a way to make money with news online.

Doug’s disdain for the crap that airs as either news or legitimate commentary is palpable. He doesn’t hold high opinions of Michael Savage or Neal Boortz on WSB. Bigots both!

It is always good to talk with Doug.

 
 Doug Monroe, Writer and Commentator [29:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (165)