The Future of Left on Lanier

Yeah, so the site hasn’t updated in a while. Sorry ’bout that.

Something is going to happen with LOL. Either it will accumulate a few new lefty folks to keep the fire burning, or will transform into a larger and more statewide blog, or it will die an unexpected death where suddenly the URL stops working.

It’s unclear which one will happen.

Just so everyone knows- the previous columnists are all living and working just fine, thank you very much 🙂

 

 

Down with Deal

 

In Rare Defense of Saxby Chambliss

And finally the hammer dropped on the gay-slur-guy:

Chambliss: “The office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms has concluded its investigation, and I responded to that report immediately with the removal of a member of my staff. I commend the Sergeant at Arms, Terrance Gainer, and his staff for their very thorough and professional work.

“I have called Mr. Jervis, the blog’s author, and apologized to him personally, and I am sorry for the hurt this incident has caused. Regardless of one’s position on issues and policies, such comments are simply unacceptable, are not befitting those who work in the U.S. Senate, and I will not tolerate them from my staff.”

The owner of the blog Joe.My.God who initially discovered the slur had this to say:

“(Saxby) said, ‘There’s been a lot of criticism about why it’s taken so long to bring this to a resolution. But this is something that’s going to dramatically affect someone’s life, and we had to make sure we got it exactly right.’”

Saxby Chambliss has been openly hostile to LGBT issues and he drug his feet on this investigation. But in the end, he did what was right, apologized for bone-headed staff, and corrected the problem.

Props to Saxby. Wish he could be level-headed more often.

 

Casey Cagle Property Values

From Georgia Politico:

Of the five properties we have records for, Cagle’s disclosure values them at $1,210,000. Tax Records value them at approximately $745,100. It APPEARS Cagle has over-estimated his property values by nearly half a million dollars.

The reason I bring this up is twofold.

First, property value has become a big deal in these races. Nathan Deal is manipulating his for obvious reasons – Why is Cagle significantly overestimating his?

Second, I am by no means an expert of property taxes, but it seems like the school system could use that money. In Gainesville, Cagle paid roughly 1% of his property’s value in tax. If his property is actually worth the extra $500,000, he should pay 1% ($5,000) to his local school board. I am sure they could use the money.

 

Blogroll Alert

In the effort to foster some bloggin’ up in ‘dem dere hills, Sleepless in Habersham is now on the blogroll. Also Georgia Liberal has now been changed to Georgia Politico on the sidebar.

 

Paul Wayne Godfrey

…is running for Hall County Commission and has a citizen input session on “Ways to bring civility back to Hall County Government”.  Visit Spout Spring Library tomorrow (Thursday, Sept 30) from 6-8pm and let Paul Godfrey know what you’re thinking…

 

Deal. Again?

Nathan Deal does something squirrelly? You don’t say!

The head of the state Ethics Commission, Stacey Kalberman, said Monday that candidates are required to use the assessed value set by county tax officials. Deal’s camp used a higher appraised value, which they said was set by a bank evaluating the property.

Last week, Deal listed his half ownership in a Metter, Ga.-based property owned by his Gainesville auto salvage business at $300,000, saying the entire 37.7-acre property in Candler County was worth $600,000. But local tax records show the overall property was valued by county officials at about $304,000.

 

The Deal Dilemma

It’d be nice to stop posting about Nathan Deal. Truly, it would.

This area has several Democratic challengers taking on entrenched Republican incumbents. We just completed a special election in Flowery Branch. There’s an interesting race for US Congress in Gwinnett.

But none of them serve up the daily dose of intrigue that spills from the Deal campaign on a daily basis. The Deal Diarrhea of Deceit never ends, like a rough night after an evening of bad clams.

Remember the movie Groundhog Day? It’s become like Bill Murray- every day. We wake up and search for the latest Nathan Deal scandal, and then shake our heads at the improbability of it all, and then have to bang out a post about it at work unexpectedly when the boss is at lunch. At first, it was interesting. Now, it’s just unbelievable.

I tried to compile a comprehensive list of all the shady stuff, and I couldn’t remember everything.

Seriously, this campaign is the worst in Georgia’s recent history. The campaign already re-assigned one spokesman earlier this year; they oughta fire this one too. The ex-chief-of-staff/campaign manager is entwined into the Congressman’s finances like a spouse; he needs to stop sucking off the government teat, ditch the bromance and find a legit job.

The question that remains: why would Deal run for office with all of the scandals revolving around him? Hell, he had this congressional job for life if he wanted it, and NO CHALLENGER EVER DUG THIS STUFF UP. Why risk it?

Seriously, why would Deal risk it?

Finally- we’ll try to write about some other stuff. Casey Cagle has some fertile ground to explore, and we can punch on some of the other politicos in Georgia when time permits (Jason Pye? Phil Kent? I’m game).

But if Deal can’t get it together, it looks like five weeks of webpage views all revolving around the horrible GOP candidate that might assume the governor’s office in almost five weeks.

 

Deal Airplane Scandal

It never ends…

Nathan Deal’s campaign for governor has paid a company in which the Republican nominee is a part owner more than $135,000 to lease aircraft…State ethics laws bar candidates from using campaign money for personal benefit.

Key details include:

1. Nathan Deal owns an aircraft company that doesn’t own any aircraft.
2. Nathan Deal’s aircraft company rents out aircraft from two separate companies.
3. Those two companies are based out of his campaign manager’s home.
4. His campaign manager is the pilot.

 

Nathan Deal Facebook Status

 

Deal Circle-of-Donations

From the Gainesville Times:

The new report filed with the state Ethics Commission on Thursday also notes that Deal’s campaign manager and former congressional Chief of Staff Chris Riley owes Deal $120,000 for the purchase of 14 acres of land adjoining Deal’s property. Riley purchased the property from his boss in two separate transactions in 2003 and 2008. Instead of taking out a loan for the $175,000 cost, Riley said he is paying Deal back directly at 6 percent  interest.

 

Another Day, Another Deal Deceit

Deal restates his ethics filings (second time in a week!) and reveals:

• The $2.5 million dollar loan for “business expansion” and “to create jobs” according to last week’s statements, were actually for loan consolidation and day-to-day operations. The loan didn’t create a single job, apparently.
• Which contradicts last week’s statement by the Deal campaign that they created ten jobs due to the loan.
• Last week’s statement that the 2009 loan was used to buy a second salvage yard in Metter has been discredited, as the Metter property was purchased in 2004. OOPSIE! says the Deal Campaign.

Bonus! The Gainesville Times reports that the new updated ethics filings show that Deal’s campaign manager owes $120,000 to the Congressman for purchasing 14 acres of land adjoining Deal’s property. Instead of taking out a $175K loan, the campaign manager is just paying Deal directly.

• The new revised disclosures show that Deal has 38% more assets than a few days ago. Keep revising these statements, fellas, at this rate he’ll be Bill-Gates-rich by Election Day.

 

Amanda Swafford Wins Flowery Branch City Council

From the Gainesville Times:

Amanda Swafford has won election to the Post 1 seat on the Flowery Branch City Council.

Swafford received 194 votes, or 66.2 percent, while her opponent, Chris Strickland, got 99 votes, or 33.8 percent. Fewer than 10 percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots at City Hall.

Swafford has little time to rest on her laurels. She is set to be sworn in at Thursday’s council meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.

Congrats Amanda!