13 JUL 08: GINGER SNAPPING
Today's trivia to tell your friends: "Ginger" is the only Spice Girl to be named after an actual spice. And if that group goes on another reunion tour in 20 years, it ought to be sponsored by Old Spice.
This vital piece of information came to mind, as a blog reader directed me to the Ginger Lake web site. It apparently was set up to protest developments between Weems Road and Whittlesey Boulevard - but it's now turned into a site protesting Columbus city tax exemptions. Some people want city giveaways restricted to smoke detectors and bicycle helmets.
The web site is upset with the Columbus Development Authority, which it calls "shadow government." The authority has seven members appointed by Columbus Council -- and the most familiar name is former City Manager Carmen Cavezza. He's been so busy in his "retirement" that school superintendent John Phillips's return this fall seems downright ordinary.
Ginger Lake lists about $200 million worth of tax exemptions, which the Columbus Development Authority has issued in the last ten years. They've been provided for everything from Columbus Park Crossing to an apartment complex near Victory Drive. Without them, homeless people never would have visited the A.C. Moore store before it closed.
But the web site is troubled by certain people who seem to benefit from the tax exemptions. Two of them totaling $122 million went to Aflac - and Columbus Councilor Gary Allen is listed as an Aflac executive. But does Allen have time to influence the Columbus Development Authority? Based on what I found online, he's too concerned about lobbying lawmakers in Oklahoma.
Ginger Lake also claims Councilor Glenn Davis has received more than ten million dollars in tax exemptions, concerning the Hilton Garden Inn. At least that hotel probably has been housing something else that's tax-exempt - people attending the Jehovah's Witnesses' convention.
The point of the posting is clearly to oppose the one-percent sales tax question on Tuesday's ballot. It estimates $790 million in city tax exemptions "would provide about 26,300 + police salaries." But it also claims Columbus officials have decided to "institute a police state." Wouldn't 26,000 more police officers make that even worse?
Ginger Lake claims the city is trying raise taxes on "small businesses and the poor," while giving tax exemptions to wealthy people. It apparently wants corporate executives to make much larger donations, when telemarketers call from the Fraternal Order of Police.
Ginger Lake also has a message board, where someone wrote last week: "If LOST passes, those who have tax exemptions will pay no tax...." This is startling to me. Why would Gary Allen and Glenn Davis do their grocery shopping in Harris County or Phenix City, to avoid city sales taxes?
So who's behind Ginger Lake? An online check found it's the activist who set up the short-lived "All About Columbus" Yahoo group, and has threatened recall campaigns against everyone from Muscogee County School Board members to the mayor. I would name this person -- but to protect that person from what they call "The Columbus Mob," I won't.
A different issue was raised in the sales tax fight Saturday. The "Be Smart Vote No" committee challenged a 500-dollar donation to "Yes for Public Safety" by Tom Buck -- two months after he died. At least the No side could review the Yes side's donor list. The No side still hasn't filed any spending reports in Atlanta.
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E-MAIL UPDATE: We may as well start calling this the "Op-Ed" section - as it's been filled with messages from opponents of Ed Harbison:
Richard,
I really thought I was finished with this on the last e-mail I sent you. But since then I received two mailers from Senator Harbison (did I mention I live in State Senate District 15) urging his re-election. I think you live in SS 15 too, but just in case you didn't get them I have scanned and attached them to this e-mail. A detailed analysis follows:
I have reviewed the two Harbison mailers.
The first one, captioned Ed Harbison: Bringing More Jobs to Georgia says that Senator Harbison "fought" to create the Made in Georgia Program.
The Made in Georgia program was SB 359, introduced by Senator Tim Golden of Valdosta. It was
Sponsored By
· (1) Golden,Tim 8th
· (2) Pearson,Chip 51st
· (3) Stoner,Doug 6th
· (4) Mullis,Jeff 53rd
· (5) Thomas,Don 54th
· (6) Meyer von Bremen,Michael 12th
Notice a name missing from that list, yep Ed Harbison. He "fought" for it I guess by voting yes when it came up in the Senate. The vote by the way was unanimous with 42 voting yes and the other 14 senators either not present or excused from the vote (Senate Vote #566).
And what exactly does the "Made in Georgia" program do? Well it is supposed to advertise products made in Georgia to Georgians. There is no amount specified to fund the program and it is not clear anything has been done to launch the program since it was signed into law May 12.
So in summary, Senator Harbison did not sponsor this legislation, he did vote for it but it is not clear that it has done anything to bring new manufacturing jobs to Georgia or Columbus.
The $3,500.00 tax credit was included in HB 1246, again not sponsored by Senator Harbison. I guess again fighting for something is equivalent to a simple "yes" vote. And again not exactly controversial (46-3) (Senate Vote #1031).
Finally, the sales tax exemptions Senator Harbison "fought" for were included in HB 237, again a bill he did not sponsor (although Calvin Smyre was one of the House sponsors). The exemptions won't be in force until 2009. Again it is unclear how any of this is going to create jobs in Columbus. This was a bit more controversial (38-6) (Senate Vote #882).
--------------------------
The second mailer touts Senator Harbison's Vietnam service.
The HEROES bill that the mailer touts was contained in SB 60, a bill Senator Harbison sponsored but which did not pass in 2005 (Referred to Committee 1/26/05).
I already covered the Made in Georgia program above, which is also touted in this mailer. How Made in Georgia will lead to good jobs is still a mystery, but how Senator Harbison knows those good jobs will have good health benefits is really quite bizarre.
The Georgia Rx bill which was touted as reducing drug prices and helping families afford healthcare was indeed a bill Harbison sponsored, SB 85 which also went nowhere (did not pass) in 2005. (Referred to Committee 1/28/05)
Finally he claims to have fought to create the HOPE scholarship. It is hard to know exactly what Harbison did here. The lottery passed in November 1992, before he was sworn in as a State Senator. The implementing legislation was passed sometime between November 1992 and August 1993--but his claim of creating the HOPE scholarship seems tenuous since Gov. Miller had campaigned for an "education" lottery and what exactly would a freshman State Senator have done to create this program?
Both mailers seem to be puffery at best, deceitful at worst.
Regards,
Josh
Let the record show we have received NO mail (postal or electronic) from the Ed Harbison campaign. We also have received nothing from the Reginald Pugh campaign, even though his office is within walking distance of my home - and even though I believe he's the candidate challenging Harbison Tuesday, not Josh McKoon.
Candidates can "fight" for legislation in all sorts of ways. For all we know, Ed Harbison may have promoted the bill during his Tuesday talks on "Magic 101.3" - and what if he picked up his office phone in Atlanta, and made a phone call?
So the "Made in Georgia" law was signed May 12 - but if I'm not mistaken, wouldn't that bill have been signed by a Republican Governor? Maybe Muscogee County's Republican Chair should ask him why that museum money for Fort Benning wasn't moved over to it.
As for the Georgia Lottery: all sorts of Georgia residents "fought" to make that a reality. After all, it had to be approved by voters in a referendum....
Assuming this is really the final e-mail before the State Senate primary, this series of messages has shown us several things:
1. Josh McKoon occasionally breaks his promises - so he'd better not think about running for political office himself.
2. When no local Republicans are campaigning in a primary, Columbus G.O.P. leaders become bored - and feel they HAVE to get involved in a race, even if it's not their own.
3. Reginald Pugh doesn't need local blogs anymore. Two years ago, his campaign practically pleaded for us to interview him. This year, it may have hired a surrogate.
Now to another race -- and we've heard twice more from Muscogee County's write-in candidate for Sheriff, Mark LaJoye:
My question is why Ralph Johnsons son given preferential treatment by local law enforcement. The word on the streets is that shortly after he struck the child in his automobile, he was caught in a drug house by our very own metro narcotics unit. Did I miss that issue of the Ledger Enquirer, or maybe it was WTVM that ran the story. I am extremely angry about the cover ups of some of our elected officials, and by god you should be too. I for one am tired of seeing lives in this city wrecked over minor possession, while these scumbags seem to get away with flaunting their dirty laundrey in our face. Are we brain dead or what? We seem to be the idiots that keep returning them to office. Do they or one of their family members have to kill one of our family members before we finally wise up!!!!!!....
One of your readers wrote that we need to watch out for an investigation into our family's background. All I can say is bring it on! I don't have anything to hide! As for one of your readers responding to the call 911 call for service, I guess it's been awhile since you called 911, unless there is threat of life situation it could take up to 45 minutes for an officer to show up or in some cases not at all. Check out the crime statistics is gotten worse around here lately, everyday were reading about one of our fine citizens getting shot or robbed in our city, Columbus City Government needs to work on a comprehensive pay proposal that addresses not only the raise in pay, but the compression of pay issue that no one wants to talk about. This is the only way that we will get quality recruits join our law enforcement agencies in order to stem the flow of violence that's occurring in our city.
Now now - let's not blur our news stories here. We called the Metro Narcotics Task Force about Adam Johnson Friday, and a sergeant there knew nothing about finding him in a "drug house." His 2005 collision followed a trip to CVS, but I think that's a bit different.
(We had to leave a message with Sheriff Ralph Johnson's secretary about Mark LaJoye's claim, and we had no response as of Saturday night. Of course, he might be surprised to find accusations like this are being made in July - when the vote isn't until November.)
Is Mark LaJoye implying Adam Johnson's troubles with the law have been covered up? We've mentioned him several times here -- from a 20-day jail term and a treatment center visit [28 Aug 05] to his trip to boot camp for marijuana possession [25 Feb 05]. They do the paparazzi telescopic lens stuff in Hollywood, not Columbus.
And which of our readers warned Mark LaJoye that his family might face a background check? We've received two e-mail responses to his campaign so far [9 Jul/4 Jul], and neither one mentioned any such thing. This is why we recommend everyone make our blog a separate Internet "favorite" from the newspaper's Sound Off column.
Instant Message to John Darr: You're welcome to join this discussion. After all, you're running for Sheriff as well. Or are you waiting until September to bring out the overstuffed dossier?
So is everyone in east Alabama happy? Why, of course not....
Sir Richard:
"Tis said - "Do not judge a person; until you have walked in their moccasins for a fortnight!" I dare say that a certain "journalist" hasn't spent nearly that much time researching the situation in "Hurt'sboro! Yet, he promotes a negative view of what's happening there!
This fellow works for the newspaper who's editor told me- "Don't come back here; until you can bring me good news from Hurtsboro." Suffice it to say I've had little or no reason to darken their door!
This "Senior" writer refers to a small disgruntled group - little does he know that a petition of over 150 signatures was hand delivered to Governor Riley -with no response. He is also ignorant of the fact - that the public cried out against the on premise sale of alcohol in "Hurt'sboro and they went unheard! He has also overlooked the rapes, the murders, the drive-by shooting, and the bank robbery that are accepted as part of everyday life He's probably forgotten the write-up in his own journal - where the citizens cleaned the streets while city workers lolled nearby!
I'm nauseated by the drivel about the past; no one can go back in time. It's time to sweep off the porch and give birth to a better future! Until then - I invite this "journalist" to move to "Hurt'sboro, not for a fortnight - but just for a week. I bet the tone of his next article would be entirely different!
Constable R.J. Schweiger
I haven't read the Phenix Citizen-News lately, to see what's being written about Hurtsboro. May I assume the staff editorial was against the drive to dissolve the town?!
But I can't completely blame the newspaper's staff for demanding some good news from Hurtsboro. One man commented to me recently about the news media in general: "I can go out every day and find somebody complaining about something, and put it on the news." Sad to say, his complaint didn't make it to the newspaper or TV.
Here's the last call for primary-related e-mails - get them to us by midday TODAY. In the meantime, other things are making news....
+ A Friday afternoon storm left property damage in Ladonia, and dumped so much rain on downtown Columbus that the pools at Heritage Park had slight flooding at midday Saturday. Someone should have collected that water, and stored it for the next drought declaration.
+ A sign was posted on the door of Millie's Market, indicating shooting survivor Walter Marrero will return to work Monday. Considering he was shot in the face, that's very good news. But please don't rub it in, by asking for blood sausage.
+ A woman complained to WRBL about how the Russell County Coroner handled a deceased loved one. Arthur Sumbry Jr. put the body in the bed of a black pickup truck, which has a specially-made lid. He could have used one of those hearses-turned-stretch limousines, I guess....
(Arthur Sumbry Jr.'s campaign nickname was "Pee Wee." So this dispute is over Pee Wee's pickup truck?! If Pee Wee Herman ever makes another movie, it should put him in rural Alabama.)
+ Country music stars "Big and Rich" performed at the groundbreaking of a Fort Benning memorial, for the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Somehow, this doesn't seem right to me. Isn't there an old Army song that says, "You'll never get rich"?
+ Phenix City plumber Curtis Williams claimed a million-dollar prize, in the Georgia Lottery's "$500 Million Club" game. Since he's a plumber, he should know how to keep that money from being drained by his relatives.
+ Warm Springs hosted the U.S. disabled championships in bocce ball. I'm a bit surprised none of the Columbus Catfish showed up for this. After all, aren't they moving to Bowling Green next year?
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