Beaudreau to seek reelection

District 3 Commissioner Mike Beaudreau announced Friday that he would seek reelection for a third term to the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners.  Beaudreau is last remaining commisioner from Gwinnett's fiscal debacle in 2009 as well as the socialized garbage fiasco.  (Though Shirley Lasseter joined the board in January 2009 after her election in November 2008, many decisions had largely been made that would result in the budget deficit.  As such, I cannot hold her as accountable as the remainder of the board members of that time.)  The other commissioners at that point - aside from Lasseter - either resigned or did not stand for reelection, thus denying voters the opportunity to fire them for a job poorly done.  Beaudreau is the last chance for voters to hold the Bannister board accountable at the polls.

Beaudreau, like any good politician, will attempt to spin away any responsibility he had in those messes and, for socialized garbage, attempt to defend his primary role in trampling on your economic freedom.  And, to be fair, at least for the fiscal issues, Commissioner Beaudreau often did have a more fiscally responsible voice than did his fellow board members.  He also had a more open-minded view of the economic opportunities for revamping Briscoe Field for commercial aviation.  However, his staunch support for socialized garbage is, alone, "grounds for termination."  Couple this position with a record that was routinely hostile to private property rights as he played favorites to certain categories of landowners. Taken altogether, the time has come for the voters in District 3 to kindly advise Mr. Beaudreau to focus on his sales career.  As you hear the spin from the Beaudreau campaign, I would urge you to review my commentary on his tenure for a refresher on the real record of Commissioner Mike Beaudreau.

The question now turns to who will stand up to our next District 3 commissioner?  We need a candidate who will stand up and defend property rights for all Gwinnettians, not just special interests that align themselves with an elected official.  We need a commissioner who will continue to be open-minded regarding opportunities for Briscoe Field.  We need a candidate who, even if he or she cannot reverse the indefensible socialized garbage contract, will sincerely promise residents that he or she will never disrespect our economic freedom of choice by supporting such an arrangement.  In other words, we need a true conservative to replace Mike Beaudreau.  I am optimistic that, so long as District 3 voters remember the recent track record of the Bannister commission, that, like Barack Obama, Mike Beaudreau will face an uphill slog to retain his seat.

Mike Beaudreau Press Release

Beaudreau to run for Re-Election

Mike Beaudreau announced today that he would run for a third term as Gwinnett County Commissioner in District 3. 

“The last few years have been very difficult for the county and many of its residents,” Beaudreau said.  “Because of the economic downturn, the Board of Commissioners was forced to make difficult decisions about spending and taxes.  My conservative leadership and opposition to tax increases helped get us to where we are today, with our top credit rating intact, and with the lowest unemployment rate of metro Atlanta’s core counties.  Now that we see signs of improvement on the horizon, I want to continue to help move the county in the right direction.”

If he is reelected, Commissioner Beaudreau will continue to promote economic development efforts to grow the county’s tax base and will continue his record of tight fiscal management of the county budget.  He also hopes to build on his seven year track record of expanding transparency in county government.

Mike Beaudreau was elected in 2004 as Gwinnett’s youngest County Commissioner.  During his tenure, he has worked tirelessly on issues important to residents; he remains committed to improving the quality of life by passing stricter development regulations, making government more transparent by promoting ethics reform, and making government more efficient by focusing on key county services while keeping property taxes as low as possible.

Due to reapportionment, District 3 boundaries have changed a bit.  It now includes portions of the Braselton and Chateau Elan areas in the northern part of the county, and still includes Centerville, Snellville, Grayson, Loganville and Dacula.

Lasseter moves to postpone airport proposals

In her first meeting as acting chairman of the Gwinnett County Commission, Shirley Lasseter moved that the board postpone announcing companies qualified to submit proposals to privatize Gwinnett County Airport-Briscoe Field.  This announcement is now expected to happen in January once the two new commissioners to be elected in November take their seats.

This is a reasonable decision and I applaud Lasseter's sense of fairness and diligence to the citizens of Gwinnett.  While I generally support the idea of commercial aviation at Briscoe Field, I also recognize that this is a major decision that impacts the entire county.  As such, all residents deserve to have their voices considered via their elected representatives.

Lasseter said "we are taking the time to be thorough, accurate and correct."  Whether she is still in charge of the board when the time comes to ultimately decide on the question of privatization, I hope that the board does undertake this process in such a manner.  Being thorough, accurate and correct entails sincerely listening to and considering the points against commercial aviation in Gwinnett.  At the same time, this approach also entails not dismissing this opportunity merely because some residents oppose this type of progress without sound reasons why this initiative should be killed.

Bob Griggs opines on aftermath of grand jury probe

Longtime Gwinnett political insider Bob Griggs has posted on his blog an interesting analysis of the aftermath of the ongoing grand jury probe into Gwinnett land deals .  He expects both former Chairman Charles Bannister and District 4 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly to be indicted as a result of the probe.  In such a scenario, the resulting falling dominoes would make for a very interesting period for Gwinnett politics:

[District 1 Commissioner Mike] Beaudreau, as the Chairman Pro Tem, will lead a three-member Commission until January. John Heard and Lynette Howard will win in the general election, take office in January and will vote, subsequently, to hold a special election for Chairman. Heard will then announce that he intends to seek the Chairman’s seat. He has reportedly told associates that it was always his plan to run for Chairman in two years. He risks a 2012 loss if someone else is given two years in the seat to build goodwill.

Beaudreau will not run for Chairman; he is gainfully employed in a career job and won’t give it up for more headaches and a pay cut. I expect several– the usual suspects and a few newbies– to run, however.

Seems plausible given that Bannister resigned this morning.  While we do not yet know what connection that resignation has to the grand jury investigation, the timing is suspicious to say the least.  I would disagree on his prediction that Mike Beaudreau would not run for Commission Chairman.  While Beaudreau may well have a career job, I have always thought he had career politician written all over him and I would have been stunned had he not run for Chairman or some other higher office at the end of the his current commission term in 2012.  While I certainly do not have the connections that Griggs has, to think that Beaudreau's political aspirations end at commissioner does not resonate with me.

One prediction that really encourages me is that John Heard, who I expect to win Kenerly's seat next month, would resign to run for Chairman.  This would open the door for another bid by Tommy Hunter.  While John Heard was certainly preferable to apparent Beaudreau-clone Tim Sullivan, Hunter was far and away the best choice in District 4.  Tommy barely missed the runoff so another chance for him to get on the Commissiongreatly excites me.

One thing is for sure - things look to get very interesting in Gwinnett political circles in the coming weeks and months.

Commission unanimously approves socialized garbage

The Gwinnett County Commission has completed the process of ignoring their constituents.  The board consisting of five RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) has voted to usurp your economic freedom by approving socialized garbage yet again.  Despite great public protest against the first solid waste ordinance, they moved forward and thumbed their collective noses at the citizens of Gwinnett and passed a new ordinance that is virtually identical to the first ordinance.  The only substantive difference appears to be the elimination of the "garbage police."  While this is laudable, that hardly makes the rest of the ordinance acceptable.  I thought at least Shirley Lasseter might not be in favor of this unAmerican measure, but she joined with the rest of the board in inserting the government into your personal business.

Several people addressed the board at the meeting today.  They made the point several times that the board was ignoring the people of Gwinnett.  Debbie Dooley of Gwinnett FreedomWorks promoted a protest on a date to be determined in the parking lot - and this is ironic - of Gwinnett Taxpayers Stadium (aka Coolray Field) in the near future.  Another speaker threatened a recall.  Yet another promised that should any of the existing commissioners run for "dogcatcher" they would be expected to have an answer for the voters as to why they supported socialized garbage.  Apparently, the board either does not get it or they just don't care about you, the citizen of Gwinnett.

That leaves you with one recourse for those commissioners that want to serve in elected office in the future - VOTE THEM OUT.  Any politician that so blatantly ignores the voters has no business holding public office. I urge you to keep this in mind whenever you attend a campaign event for any of the commissioners or vote in a race in which they are running.  They had a chance to remedy what was a huge mistake when they adopted socialized garbage the first time.  They did not.  Now, they should be rewarded by being removed from their office at the earliest opportunity.

The Gwinnett Commission has completely ignored you!

EDIT (2 March 10): I stated below that the audience could not address the commission during the meeting.  I am watching the meeting right now and the audience does have the opportunity to address the board.  The first two speakers are grilling the commissioners - way to go!

Just when you thought it was safe to take your garbage to the curb, there stands the Gwinnett County Commission waiting at the end of your driveway to "help" you take out your garbage.  That's right - socialized garbage is back. Tomorrow, the board will consider a new version of the ordinance that looks almost identical to the old version.  What does that tell us?  The Gwinnett County Commission did not listen to a word that was said to them - loudly and clearly - at the various meetings and hearings in the last 15 months.  They have effectively brushed you aside and will do exactly what they intended to do all along - micromanage your life!

The most substantial difference between the previous ordinance and the current iteration is of little real importance to the average citizen: Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful will not be administering the program.  Whew!  That makes me feel so much better knowing that someone else will deny my economic freedom and tell me I am not capable of handing my own affairs.  At the end of the day, the county will still mandate that you must have garbage service.  The county will still tell you what company you must have as your garbage hauler.  They will still bill you for the service as part of your tax bill.  The only substantive item that appears to be different is that recycling is not mandatory.  Exactly how is this different than the socialistic program the board attempted to foist upon us last year?  In a nutshell- IT'S NOT!

Our commissioners are thumbing their noses at us.  They are saying we listened and we ignored virtually everything you told us.  Why?  Because we are politcians and we know how to live your life better than you do!  And these are supposed to be five REPUBLICANS, one of whom may want to go to Washington as a Congressman!

Unfortunately, this will ordinance will pass because this commission is not accountable to you.  Two members of the board, District 2 Commissioner Bert Nasuti and District 4 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly, are not running for reelection.  They can vote for the ordinance and not have to worry about facing the music from the voters.  That means there only needs to be one other vote to pass socialized garbage.  If Commission Chairman Charles Bannister has already decided not to seek a third term in 2012, he would be just as unaccountable as Nasuti and Kenerly.  I suspect he will not run again, but only he knows for sure.  The other likely source for the third vote is Mike Beaudreau.  Whether he runs for Congress or not, Beaudreau will likely run for a higher office in 2012 given that his interest in Congressman John Linder's congressional seat confirms my suspicions that Beaudreau is aiming politically higher than the county commission.  Granted, running for any office from within Gwinnett would force him to face voters in some way should he vote for socialized garbage. However, if his next race is for a different office, that would provide some insulation from voter angst over socialized garbage.  That leaves Shirley Lasseter who likely will run for relection in 2012.  With a third vote coming from Bannister or Beaudreau, Lasseter would be afforded political cover by being able to vote against the ordinance knowing that it will still pass.  (To be fair to Lasseter, the original socialized garbage ordinance was passed before she joined the Commission.  Thus, she may truly be opposed to the measure.)

The board will vote on this unAmerican ordinance tomorrow.  Conveniently, these sessions do not allow the public to address the commission, so you will not have the opportunity to remind the board that their support of socialized garbage is unacceptable.  Ironically, that is very appropriate given that they chose to ignore you when you did have the opportunity to speak.  Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans like this bunch?

High-rise condos coming to Gwinnett Place

This is another story that has been sitting in my queue for a few weeks, but I thought it was important to highlight not just the exciting development news but primarily to point out what a breath of fresh air new Commissioner Shirley Lasseter has been.  Last month, the Gwinnett County Commission approved the "construction of twin residential highrises on the south side of [Gwinnett Place] mall."  I think this is an excellent project that could potentially spur revitalization in the decaying Gwinnett Place area.  For this reason, I cannot understand why Sears Roebuck opposed these towers.  The company would have apparently preferred the area to remain strictly zoned for businesses.  In fact, I would think that such a development would be beneficial to Sears by increasing potential customer traffic in the vicinity as well as making the overall mall area more attractive to shoppers that may now opt for Perimeter Mall or Mall of Georgia.  Regardless, I feel the company's opposition holds little merit as I fail to see a negative material impact on the retailer.  However, the biggest takeaway from this story is the job that Shirley Lasseter is doing.

You may recall that Lasseter's predecessor, Lorraine Green, had opposed a similar - if not the same - high-rise project in 2007.  Green, in her typical unfriendly position on private property rights, said at the time:

"We realize that [the area] has to have a little work done," Commissioner Lorraine Green said. "But ... if we let everybody come in and do hodgepodge developments with every 3 or 4 acres, we won't be better off."

Contrast this to the more reasonable (and common-sense) approach taken by Commissioner Lasseter:

District 1 Commissioner Shirley Lasseter said she backed the project “in hopes that this will bring a new start to that mall and to the CID and to Gwinnett County.”

Lasseter's view was echoed by Gwinnett Place CID executive director, Joe Allen.

What a refreshing change in District 1!  Commssioner Lasseter is thusfar showing courage in her decisions along with a definite appreciation for property rights along.  Her judgment in the high-rise proposal shows that she brings a healthy dose of common sense to boot!  To date, she has been a significant upgrade over Lorraine Green.  Keep up the good work, Shirley!

Condolences to Commissioners Kenerly and Lasseter

The Gwinnett Buzz extends its condolences and prayers to Commissioner Kevin Kenerly and Commissioner Shirley Lasseter.  Kenerly's father, Daniel, passed away two weeks.  Lasseter's husband, Joe, died Tuesday.  His funeral was held today.

The Buzz welcomes Shirley Lasseter to the BoC

Shirley Lasseter was sworn in Tuesday as the new District 1 commissioner.  The Buzz welcomes her to the board and is optimistic about what she will bring to the table.  While I did not support her in the election, I do think that she is a significant upgrade over former commissioner Lorraine Green.

I also noted that Jim Nash was appointed to the planning commission by Chairman Charles Bannister.  I met Jim at an election night party this summer and I am very pleased to learn of his appointment.  I am confident that Jim will be fair and equitable to all parties involved in planning issues and won't be merely a puppet of Gwinnett's homeowners associations.

Wrap-up of December Commission public hearing

The big news that came from last week's Gwinnett County Commission December public hearing was the strong citizen opposition to socialized garbage. However, there were other items on the agenda as well.  Unfortunately, because of computer issues (I lost power and did not have immediate access to a power outlet!), I did get to watch all of the hearing.  Thus, for two of the items below, I can only rely on news reports.

Waste transfer station vote delayed - I did get to watch the hearing on the waste transfer station that is slated to be built near Shackelford and Beaver Ruin Roads.  You can read my commentary on my Twitter feed.  Because outgoing District 1 Commissioner Lorraine Green did not attend the meeting, District 4 Commissioner Kevin Kenerly was covering this agenda item.  I was undecided on this case.  While I am a staunch advocate for private property rights, there could well be a negative material impact on neighboring property owners.  However, from a practical perspective, the zoning of surrounding properties was not entirely inappropriate for a waste transfer station.  Given the history of the commission of erring on the side of voters when faced with a controversial choice, I expected Kenerly to recommend denial for the application.  I was absolutely slack-jawed when he moved to approve the station despite the very large contingent who had turned out in opposition.  If I understood correctly (this was about the time my battery was advising me that it was about to call it a night), the vote on Kenerly's motion was split 2-2.  At that point Mike Beaudreau suggested holding off until District 1 Commissioner-elect Shirley Lasseter could take office and weigh in.  This was an entirely reasonable proposal by Commissioner Beaudreau and was exactly the action the board took.

Vote on proposed TADs delayed until March - Three TADs were recently proposed under the TAD laws and consitutional amendment approved during the last election cycle.  Though the TAD leaders wanted to have the districts approved by year-end so they could begin collecting tax revenue in 2009, the delay of the vote until March would result in the districts, if approved, not being able to collect revenue until 2010.

No vote on loan guarantee for Collins Hill (formerly Springbrook) golf course - The Springbrook Golf Commission was seeking to have the county guarantee a $250,000 loan without which the golf course may be forced to close by yearend.  While my natural instinct is to favor immediate denial for a government "bailout" of a now-private entity, the fact that the course owes the county over $3 million and that the county has already backed an additional $1.7 million loan for the course argues for a careful examination of the request.  While the county is certainly in no position to be wasting money, especially on something like a golf course that is one of many in Gwinnett, the fact that the county could be on the hook for $1.7 million if the course shuts down makes a quarter-million dollar cash infusion seems like a reasonable investment.  Of course, there is the wisdom against throwing good money after bad.  I think the commission did the right thing by proceeding cautiously on this request.

I would like to note how impressed I am with Mike Beaudreau's reportedly "heated words" in response to the request:

“It’s my opinion that until this board learns to tell people ‘no’, we’re going to continue having folks coming here like a gravy train,” Beaudreau said. “These are extraordinarily difficult times financially, and the point has got to be reinforced by this board when it comes to votes that we cannot continue to say ‘yes’ all the time to everything and expect folks to bring different types of things to our plate.”

I need to be sure to watch the archived video online to see this statement!  Such a position should be the default outlook our elected officials take even in good economic times. I applaud Mike for his stand and hope that we see this as commonplace for the commissioners as opposed to supporting programs like socialized garbage.

Sobering realization for Gwinnett: Democrats are more formidable

While the GOP swept all county government races yesterday, I must wonder if this is the last election we will see such a result?  Yesterday showed that the Democrats are gaining power in Gwinnett.  Are the days where Gwinnett races are over at the end of the Republican primary coming to a close?  How much of this Democrat strength was due to the very long coattails of Barack Obama and how much of it was from a shifting demographic empowering Gwinnett Democrats?  I agree with Gwinnett GOP chairman Gregory Howard that this is a wake-up call for Gwinnett Republicans.  All of us in Gwinnett must get active, involved and aware of our local government.  This is important to protect our property rights as the County Commission decides various issues, but it is even more important in strengthening the party to fight the battles that are likely coming down the road.  As I discussed in my general election endorsement of Mike Beaudreau, we may have issues with the GOP primary winners, but at the end of the day I trust that Charles Bannister, Shirley Lasseter, Bert Nasuti, Mike Beaudreau, and Kevin Kenerly will make more "right" decisions than a Democrat in their seats.

I plan to promote conservative ideals for Gwinnett County in this blog.  However, I would like to do more and would hope my readers would as well.  I know this blog is read by active members of the Gwinnett GOP and I would ask that you respond to this post with suggestions for what myself and others can do as we head into possibly tougher races in 2010.  Whether you approve of his record or not, Barack Obama showed what can happen if people pull together.  We are at the stage in the history of Gwinnett County where we need to pull together and work hard to ensure that Gwinnett remains great and remains a county we want to call home.  If we do not, we may suffer the consequences of Democrat chairman Mike Berlon's hopes for our county:

If the Democratic party can improve its methods of fundraising, Berlon said, Gwinnett can look forward to a more balanced local government.