for 24 JUN 08: JIM AND SILENT BOB

It's a rare day when a politician refuses to comment on an issue - and even rarer when a former politician refuses to do it. After all, the former official is less likely to be sued for not fulfilling a promise....

BLOG EXCLUSIVE: "I will not answer that. I will not answer that." Those were the stunning words of former Columbus mayor Bob Poydasheff Monday, when your blog asked if he supports the one-percent city sales tax question. It's not like we asked him to pick the winner of the Miss Georgia pageant.

It seemed like a simple, almost softball question - does the former mayor back the LOST question? Yet Bob Poydasheff's decision not to answer that question actually raises more. For instance, is he practicing neutrality for an upcoming vacation in Switzerland?

Bob Poydasheff explained his silence by saying it's his policy NOT to comment on the actions of a sitting mayor. Well, OK - but I thought the entire Columbus Council approved the LOST issue. Maybe I should have asked if he agrees with Mimi Woodson's statements about it.

If this question had been put to Bob Poydasheff's predecessor in the mayor's office, the answer would have quite different. Bobby Peters endorsed a proposal along the lines of the 2004 LOST question -- and Peters went on to win a testy race for Superior Court Judge. But then again, I guess we expect Judge Peters to be unbiased and neutral now....

Could memories of the November 2004 LOST issue explain why Bob Poydasheff is so quiet now? That 60-percent vote against that one-percent sales tax happened while Poydasheff was mayor, and surprised a lot of people. Perhaps he's a student of history - and knows how it can repeat itself.

On the other hand, maybe Bob Poydasheff is laying low on purpose. Mayor Jim Wetherington could be waiting for a dramatic moment to bring him out of hiding, for a statement of endorsement. If it worked for Barack Obama during the Presidential primaries....

As for the people actually speaking out about the LOST, "Yes for Public Safety" put its first commercial on TV Monday. It's a ten-second appeal from Mayor Jim Wetherington - but the camera was so shaky, you have to wonder if a little of the sales tax money can be used to buy a tripod.

The "Yes for Public Safety" web site is now fully loaded. One page answers a puzzle we mentioned here Monday - explaining Georgia law exempts hotels, motels and car dealers from local option sales taxes. So if the LOST passes, busloads of people could come here from Macon to shop at the Jay Auto Mall.

While the "Yes for Public Safety" billboards feature a police officer and a firefighter, the web site is dominated by pictures of Mayor Jim Wetherington. His political reputation certainly is on the line three weeks from today - but can you really become a lame-duck mayor, in the second year of a four-year term?

The opponents of the LOST expressed their view on WRBL Monday afternoon -- but Paul Olson had so much to say, Phil Scoggins couldn't even ask him a second question. And then Olson considers politicians fast talkers?!

If I understood Paul Olson correctly, he said two local sales tax should be allowed to expire this year -- and the effect would be a $72 million "economic stimulus" for Columbus. As if all those additional pennies are going to fill our piggy banks next January....

Paul Olson also warned part of the street improvements under the one-percent sales tax question will remove rail lines downtown. Olson says we'll need those rail lines "if we have a depression." Yeow - we're not even officially in a recession yet, and Olson sounds like he's rooting for $200 oil.

E-MAIL UPDATE: We actually called Bob Poydasheff Monday about a completely different topic - one brought up by a blog reader:

Richard, In yesterday's blog [20 Jun] you mentioned "keys to the city" which reminded me of something I overheard at the Grand Opening of the new USO last Saturday at the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel on Victory Drive.

I happened to overhear former Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff tell someone that he had recently given a "key to the city" to the Atlanta developer of the hotel because he thought he deserved one. My question is : Does a former mayor have the authority to continue giving keys to the city of Columbus? By the way the current mayor was not in attendance at the ceremony. Do you know if Mayor Wetherington was invited, did he decline an invitation or did he have another commitment? Eavesdropper

Bob Poydasheff says yes, he can do what he did. He told me there's no "specific protocol" on keys to the city, and he took several keys with his name on them when he left the mayor's office. Uh-oh - I hope this doesn't lead to a police raid across Second Avenue, toward his law office.

Bob Poydasheff says the key to the city for the developer of the Victory Drive hotel was the first he's awarded since leaving office. So at least he's handling these keys responsibly. Former Marshal Ken Suddeth seemed to spread honorary badges from coast to coast.

Bob Poydasheff says that key to the city was awarded at the opening of the USO office on Victory Drive 14 June. A woman in Jim Wetherington's office told us Monday that opening was NOT on the mayor's schedule. So we don't know if he was invited, or if the invitation got lost amid all those federal stimulus checks.

We broke a very different story about Bob Poydasheff last year, when he was hospitalized for a broken hip [14 Aug 07]. Poydasheff assured me Monday he's much better now, and is walking around without a cane. What he's using instead to prevent downtown carjackers, he didn't say.

>> Our poker adventures now have a blog of their own. Visit the all-new "On the Flop!" <<

BLOG UPDATE: To bring this all full-circle, one of Bob Poydasheff's opponents in the 2006 mayoral race is running for office again. LOST opponent Bert Coker filed qualifying papers for Columbus Council Monday. So he won't be a write-in candidate this time, as he was in 2006 - and supporters won't have to worry about that "e or u" question.

Bert "Cowboy" Coker isn't settling for one of the smaller districts in Columbus. He filed for District 10 - the citywide at-large seat held by Skip Henderson. So it's Skip and Bert, eh? They sound like they could be executive chefs at Waffle House.

Bert Coker wasn't the only outsider to file documents for Columbus Council Monday. David Yarbrough will challenge Red McDaniel in District 8, on a platform of revitalizing midtown. If that's his goal, Yarbrough needs a nickname like "Greenspace."

Another interesting filing moment occurred when Norene Marvets qualified for the school board seat Joseph Roberson is giving up. Marvets's husband filed the papers in her behalf, because she was starting a three-week road trip to Utah. This will have to change if Marvets is elected - because only the school superintendent takes odd-looking vacations like that.

Norene Marvets has gained the backing of former school board member Owen Ditchfield. This must mean Ditchfield will not try to regain the seat he lost four years ago - and he can stick to the Fort Benning schools where he's worked for years.

A news release promoting Norene Marvets notes she serves on the school district's "Sex Education Advisory Committee." She also teaches "religious education" each morning to high school students -- which indicates she takes the idea of penance seriously.

Enough politics already - let's see if anything else made news Monday:

+ Phenix City Mayor Jeff Hardin admitted the "streetscape" project on Broad Street is $600,000 over budget, and will NOT be finished as planned by the end of September. This cannot be what Hardin had in mind - to have that construction work staring at drivers, as they head to the city election in August.

+ Muscogee County Schools Transportation Director Russell Curry warned high fuel prices may mean fewer "fan buses" going to events next term. Car pooling worked when I was in high school -- and sometimes the mothers even drove our debate team to tournaments.

+ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution rated the highest-paid executives in Georgia. Aflac's Dan Amos placed fifth this year - so the shareholders hopefully won't mind another vote on compensation next spring.

+ WLTZ reported the Columbus Catfish have rescheduled the rained-out "Bark in the Park Night" for 12 July. If rain falls then, I suppose the team could have Three Dog Nights....

+ Georgia edged Fresno State 7-6 in the first game of the College World Series finals. Georgia is 4-0 in the tournament, and has only played four games in ten days. Wow - even the National Basketball Association settles four-game sweeps faster than this.

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: The jokes for today have concluded, but you're welcome to keep reading for thoughts about one more Monday news item.)

BUT SERIOUSLY: It was sad to hear Monday morning about the death of George Carlin. He had some funny jokes over the years - but if you wonder if he was an inspiration for this blog, I'd have to say no.

The reason involves the very things George Carlin will most be remembered for - the "seven dirty words" he dared to say during performances and in albums. To this day, I don't know what those seven words are. And I don't want to know them. I don't need dirty language to carry on a conversation, or even write a blog -- not even the "four-letter words" TV has permitted for decades.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but we all seem to have personal boundary lines when it comes to the words we use. Only minutes before I learned about George Carlin's death, I heard Dr. Laura Schlessinger on WDAK prod at a caller for referring to "the birds and the bees." "Can you say sex?" she asked -- proving even some conservatives have their own version of politically correct speech.

George Carlin openly admitted he felt it was his duty as a comedian to find those boundary lines, and go through them. In doing that, he pointed out a basic difference between liberal and conservative views about life. The former want to test and break through barriers. The latter want to build up and protect them.

As George Carlin admitted in a comedy bit I heard Monday on NPR, there are millions of clean words in English you can say - but seven you supposedly can't. Yet some people are not satisfied with the millions, including some they've probably never even tried to use. It's like the classmates of mine in school, who said they took other languages merely to learn the "swear words."

From time to time we've posted above our title a quote from Groucho Marx: "If you have to be dirty to be a comedian, you're not a comedian." George Carlin could be funny without being dirty -- but many times, he chose to be dirty anyway. And in doing so, he inspired more than the Chris Rock style of comedy. I fear he also inspired dirty-talking "radio stars" such as Howard Stern and the Greaseman.

I write this as someone who grew up hearing "blue language" on a regular basis from one parent, and occasionally from the other. I resolved in my youth NOT to use words like that, and I still don't today. Call me old-fashioned and out of touch if you wish -- but consider George Carlin's legacy as you do. Do YOU want to be remembered for generations to come by the dirty words you said?

Part of today's entry was the result of a blog reader's tip. To offer a story tip, make a PayPal donation, advertise to our readers or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

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