Gwinnett Buzz

With nearly all precincts reporting, Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and District 3 Commissioner Mike Beaudreau have easily won reelection.  In school board races, District 1 board member Carol Boyce and District 3 board member Mary Kay Murphy both won fairly easy victories.  In School Board District 5 things appear to be a bit closer, but Louse Radloff appears headed to victory over Democrat challenger Ravindra Kuma.  Tom Lawler will hold onto his position as Superior Court Clerk.

However, not all incumbents fared well.  In a poor move by Gwinnett voters, Richard Winegarden will fall to Karen Beyers, a candidate who had no judicial experience coming into this election.

In the SPLOST vote, Gwinnett voters extended the 1-cent sales taxes by nearly 20,000 votes.

On a state level, Saxby Chambliss thankfully was relected to the United States Senate.  This was important to keeping enough Republicans in the Senate to maintain the threat of a filibuster against any extremely liberal legislation from Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their ilk.  Congressman John Linder, who represents a large portion of the county, defeated Doug Heckman handily. All three Georgia constitutional amendments appear likely to pass, though Amendments 2 and 3 are a little tight with about 10% of the precincts still out.  I supported, with some concerns, Amendments 2 and 3 and am glad to see them gain approval.  However, I am disappointed to see Amendment 1 pass with its promise of placing additional funding responsibility for local schools on taxpayers throughout the state.  Amendment 2 was very important to providing the funding needed for the TADs that Gwinnett voters approved in the primary in July.

Thus, overall, a positive night for Gwinnett amidst a sad night for America overall.  Hopefully, as Republican conservatives seek to take back our national party and win back the voters that the big spending GOP of the last six years have allowed to flock to Barack Obama, Gwinnett and it’s strong conservative base can play a role in this effort.  Winning back the wayward center right voters is so critical to protecting the freedoms and values that America holds dear and that are sure to be threatened by the liberal Democrats starting in January.

The Gwinnett commission races in the general election are really not all that exciting.  Despite shifts in the county’s demographics in recent years, Gwinnett is still a primarily Republican county.  Thus, I do not expect the two Republican incumbents to have much trouble regaining their seats.  Nevertheless, the Buzz is a blog that takes a stand, whether popular or not, so I would like to make formal endorsements in both the Commission Chairman and District 3 Commissioner races.

Commission Chairman

The Gwinnett Buzz endorses Republican Chairman Charles Bannister to retain his seat as head of the Gwinnett County Commission. The Buzz was a supporter of Chairman Bannister during this summer’s primaries and nothing has happened to weaken this backing.  Mr. Bannister has done an adequate job as Chairman these last fours years and has earned the chance to continue in this role.  He has placed an emphasis on tax cuts, a position that will be welcome as we face the risk of the increased federal taxation in the coming years.

Commission District 3

The Gwinnett Buzz endorses Republican Commissioner Mike Beaudreau to retain his seat on the Gwinnett County Commission. Now, if you are a long time reader of the Buzz and followed the often intense primary campaign in July, you know that I was a strong supporter of challenger Doug Stacks.  As such, you may be stunned to see me endorsing the very candidate about whom I wrote several harsh critiques.  If so, neither you nor my friends in the Stacks campaign should worry.  I would still back Doug  today if he were in the race.  My positions on land use and property rights have wavered not at all.  However, our time to defeat Mike was in July.

The District 3 voters spoke loud and clear that they preferred Beaudreau to Stacks.  I don’t like that, but I can accept that.  I endorse Commission Beaudreau out of political practicality. First, Mike is a known quantity.  Whether we agree with him or not, we know where he stands and we know what to expect.  Democrat challenger Earn Herndon of Dacula is quite the opposite - an unknown.  Given the track record of the Democrat Party, I would expect that Herndon’s positions on land use and property rights are likely similar to those held by Beaudreau, if no worse!  Second, Mr. Beaudreau is a good person.  Setting politics aside, he is active in his church and community.  Having spoke with him in the past, I can attest that has an approachable personality.  In this day and age of self-serving, arrogant politicians in a sea of political bitterness, such traits count for something.  Finally, there is the practical reality that we do not want to allow the Democrats to gain even a single seat on the Gwinnett County Commission.  We need to stave off massive increases both in our property taxes and in the size of county government as long as possible.

Thus, all of these reasons points to a single logical conclusion.  Endorse the Republican and support the party.  That does not mean that you nor the Buzz should not remain vigilant and hold Commissioner Beaudreau accountable for his votes in the upcoming term.  This does not mean that you nor the Buzz, if Beaudreau does not change his positions, should not strongly consider any primary opponents in 2012 should Mike run again.  However, if on no other day than November 4, 2008, Mike Beaudreau deserves your vote and the Buzz urges you to support the incumbent Republcan commissioner.

Since the primary runoffs wrapped up last week, I have not been actively updating the Buzz.  I think I subconciously needed a bit of a break and my attention was distracted by other things like debating on TalkGwinnett! (which is very quiet the last couple of days as well!) and discussing Georgia Tech football on The Hive.  As such, you may be some dated articles, but there were a few things on which I wanted to make some quick comments.

First public school for girls inducts first class
Ivy Preparatory Academy is the first state charter school to open in Gwinnett County.  I applaud Ivy for providing school choice to Gwinnett parents who may not be able to afford the higher costs of many private schools.  I firmly believe that competition drives organizations to excellence, so I hope that schools such as Ivy will ultimately improve the quality of Gwinnett County Public Schools as well.  I note that Ivy is all-girls school.  I have no issue with this, whatsoever.  I just hope that the inevitable opponents will keep this mind if an all-boys academy is started in Gwinnett at some point.

Hot discussion expected on crematory’s impact
Expect more political gamesmanship tonight as the Snellville City Council hears about possible environmental impacts of the controversial crematory.  Given the lack of expertise of Snellville councilmembers on this subject , I expect this to be little more than a continuation of the effort by some members of the board to cover their political backsides from irate residents.  Let’s just hope that crematory owner Chris Nuzum, who has complied with the law, does not become a casualty in this political battle.

Ethics panel probing Bannister
Apparently, the state has some questions about Commission Chairman Charles Bannister’s use and reporting of campaign contributions.  Interestingly, the ethics complaint that resulted in these questions was originally filed by TalkGwinnett! contributor Paul Allen.  Allen’s complaint raised questions about Bannister relationship to political activist Joe Newton who has been a vocal critic of former Commission chair candidate Lorraine Green.

Central Gwinnett football star released after pot arrest
It seems that Central Gwinnett Black Knights star running back Diante Drake has found himself in trouble with the law for marijuana possession for the second time in less than nine months.  Drake’s latest arrest came last week.  I understand and strongly advocate the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.”  I want to emphasize that Drake has not been convicted of either charge and, compared to many other crimes, marijuana possession is fairly minor.  However, this quote caught my attention:

Drake…is expected to have a strong senior season.

Not if I were head coach at Central Gwinnett.  If I were in charge of Black Knight football, Drake would be off the team until this matter was cleared up, I don’t care if he were the star running back or a third team guy that only gets in during mop-up time.  I am a Central grad and have said since high school, “Once a Black Knight, always a Black Knight!”  I would love to see Central have a great football season.  But high school football has a purity and innocence that college lacks.  These are kids.  If first year Central coach Ed Stokes wants to set an example early on for his new team, Drake should be suspended until this matter is resolved.  If it turns out that he is convicted, he should not be allowed to return to the team.  If he is cleared, then let him play what is left of the season.

Playing a high school sport is a privilege and such an action by Stokes would reinforce this.  We routinely see college athletes who are out of control and wind up being coddled by coaches and boosters who are more interested in winning than teaching players life lessons about character and doing the right thing.  In fact, coddling athletes who break the rules teach the wrong lesson!  Let’s not let this culture creep in and ruin high school sports.  C’mon, Coach Stokes!  Do the Central Gwinnett family proud and help teach a life lesson to young Mr. Drake much more valuable than any high school football win.

I thought I would finally weigh in with some thoughts on the outcome of the GOP runoff Tuesday night.  I am thoroughly thrilled that Chairman Charles Bannister defeated Commissioner Lorraine Green.  I view this as a victory, if only symbolically, for private property rights in Gwinnett.  While I don’t think most voters really think carefully about property rights, I do think that, as chairman, Green would have be less of a threat to specific zoning cases as opposed to her term in District 1.  However, with her poor record on property rights and apparent preference for more government, I am glad that such positions were not rewarded with a higher seat.  Charles Bannister may not be the perfect candidate or Chairman, but he has done an adequate job for four years and I feel much more comfortable with him in the center chair.

I did hate to see Bruce LeVell fail to defeat Shirley Lasseter in District 1.  Bruce ran, in my opinion, by far the cleanest, most positive campaign in Gwinnett this year.  Hopefully, this will not be the last time we see his name in local politics.  As for Lasseter, she was not my first choice, but I am pleased to see her as take over Lorraine Green’s seat instead of Carol Hassell.  I am cautiously optimistic about Lasseter’s stance on property rights.  I think she is likely to be a definite improvement over the previous two District 1 commissioners.  Of course the last two wound up running for Chairman, which brings us to some very early predictions for 2012.

I think there is a definite chance that Charles Bannister will call it a career in 2012.  He would be 73 in four years.  If he does hang up it, I fully expect Mike Beaudreau to throw his hat into the Chairman’s ring.  Mike is young, has “politician good looks” and has a history of organization leadership roles including the Clemson College Republicans.  I have to believe he has higher political aspirations than just being a district commissioner.  I would not be entirely shocked if Lorraine Green made another go for it given how close she came, but after four years of not having to deal with the political grind, she may not want the hassle all over again.  I also have to speculate whether  Lasseter will be groomed by Bannister to run for Chairman.  I have read on Gwinnett political message boards that Bannister and she are “allies.”  If that were to happen, races for both the District 1 and 3 seats would be thrown wide open to new faces.  Could Bruce LeVell have another go?  Would Doug Stacks return?  While 2012 poses some interesting potential scenarios, we cannot forget that Districts 2 and 4 will be contested in 2010.

This next election for those seats could pose an enormous sea change in Gwinnett politics.  The AJC published an article today on Gwinnett becoming a majority-minority county.  I found the following analysis very pertinent to these projections:

The changes in Gwinnett’s racial and ethnic makeup will also affect the ballot box eventually.

State Sen. Curt Thompson (D-Norcross) represents one of the most diverse districts in the metro area. He has said he has to campaign in Spanish, Korean, Hindi, Vietnamese and Mandarin to keep his seat.

Could 2010 be the year we see the Democrats gain a seat on the commission for the first time in decades?  Bert Nasuti’s District 2 is comprised of Norcross and Lilburn, two areas that have experienced a significant demographic shift.  I don’t know if we would see a Democratic commissioner in 2010, especially if Nasuti runs for reelection, but I think this will be the first district to fall to the Democrats.  I seem to recall that current District 4 commissioner Kevin Kenerly said during his last campaign that this would be his last term.   Even without an incumbent should Kenerly not run, District 4 is likely fairly safe for the GOP as there is a significant portion of the district north of Lawrenceville going toward Sugar Hill and Braselton.

While we cannot know what will happen in the next four years, I think the one thing we can expect is a definite change in the composition of the Board of Commissioners.  While we saw a very bitter and contention chairman’s race this summer, the differences between Charles Bannister and Lorrine Green will likely pale in comparison to what we could expect from the Democrats if they manage to get their hands on the three of the five commission votes.  That could well make even the most ardent opponent of Lorraine Green and Mike Beaudreau, embrace them!  Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, this ride is bound to very interesting and maybe even a bit bumpy.

The Gwinnett County Police Department have released a report report noting that 2008 crime stats in Gwinnett are improved.  I find this ironic given Lorraine Green’s runoff mailer.  She takes an inflammatory headline - “Drug wars, kidnapping move into Gwinnett” - and says “After Four Years, We Are Not Safer.”  However, even if 2008 is worse than 2005, you cannot blame the first three years on Charles Bannister without giving him the credit for last year. Lorraine, you can’t have it both ways.  So which is it?  If crime is Charles’ fault, then he deserves credit for the improvements of the past year.  If you do not want to give him credit for the improvements, then you cannot lay all the problems at his feet at the same time.

(In reality, I question just have much a single Gwinnett comissioner impacts this either way short of gutting a police department.  Yet, politicians love to accept credit for decreases in crime and point fingers for increases in crime.

I am waiting for Mike Beaudreau’s endorsement of Commission Chairman Charles Bannister to be announced any minute.  I have received two mailers during the runoff period, both from Lorraine Green, both with the same headline that is little more than an effort to smear Bannister and finger him as the root cause of crime in Gwinnett:

Drug wars, kidnappings move into Gwinnett

I know, all the Lorraine Green supporters will dismiss this as little more than “comparison” campaigning.  After all, according to the crowd at TalkGwinnet!, we all know that Bannister sat around playing his fiddle while Gwinnett was consumed with crime.  In addition, the mailer claims that Bannister attempted to block 287g.  Whatever the details of that vote, Green acknowledges - and even states - that Charles voted to “table it” which she immediately characterizes a s meaning “block it.”  Anyone who does not regularly pay attention to government hearings (sadly, most people) might not realize that this is highly misleading.  Tabling is not blocking.  Tabling is tabling.  Voting no is blocking.  There are many legitimate reasons to table a matter. I bet even Lorraine has tabled some issues from District 1 in the last four years.

So we have here two instances of Lorraine being negative in her mailer, after she made a pledge, in response to Mike Beaudreau, to run a clean campaign.

Mike, I am anxiously awaiting a video of your press conference to endorse Charles Bannister to appear on YouTube. I am also eager to get confirmation of the thousands of voters you will bringing with you to defeat Lorraine Green next week.  When can we expect your press conference?

Yeah, I know.  Don’t hold my breath.  However, won’t it be interesting to see how he justifies endorsing Green if that is what winds up happening?

Mike Beaudreau wants Charles Bannister and Lorraine Green to play nice in campaigning for the commission chairman runoff race.

Dispatching an e-mail to both incumbent Commission Chairman Charles Bannister and fellow Commissioner Lorraine Green, who faces Bannister in a runoff, Beaudreau asked the opponents to sign a “clean campaign pledge.” He asked that they focus their campaign from now till the Aug. 5 runoff on “their vision for the county.”

During his campaign, Beaudreau says he talked to “people who were just disgusted by the volume of negativity and the lies.”

“Kettle?”

“Yes, this is Kettle.”

“Hey, this is Pot.  You’re black.”

Does Beaudreau really want to talk about politicians engaging in negativity?  As I type I am looking at a mailer from Beaudreau.  He accuses his opponent, Doug Stacks, as having plans that are “out of step with homeowner interests” and that Stacks could not even “talk about his real agenda.”  No negativity there.  On the reverse, Beaudreau attempts to smear Doug’s legitimate profession as a real estate broker, listing Doug’s profession in comparison to Mike’s “stand” on development.  I guess this is supposed to positive.  The mailer, listing the AJC as a source, says that Doug Stacks is a “high-density growth advocate.”  I have not seen anything in the AJC, including a June 16 article that Beaudreau prominently references on the mailer, that suggests that this is anything but spin at best.

I am not trying to refight a race that is over.  Beaudreau won by a very large margin and I accept that.  However, Beaudreau accusing other candidates of negative campaigning rings a bit hollow given that he has used similar tactics.  I have said that, so long as it campaigning is grounded in truth and offers sources, I do not have a problem with so-called negative campaigning.  However, I get very irritated when politicians say one thing and do something else, whether it be implicitly as Mike did with the campaign donations or explicitly as with negative campaigning.

One thing that is worth pointing out is various pledges commissioners and candidates are making.   Beaudreau made a couple of promises in his email:

“[Beaudreau agreed] to stay out of the race if both candidates agree to the pledge and keep their word.

If not, he would endorse the one who will — “and bring a few thousand Gwinnett residents with me.”

Lorraine Green’s response to Beaudreau was that she “heartily agreed and would absolutely agree to make such a pledge.”  Bannister has not formerly responded but his campaign manager said the chairman would ” run an honest, issue-based campaign.”

Let’s see if these politicians keep their pledges.  I think the one most likey not to keep his pledge is Beaudreau.  I do not anticipate there being an ounce of difference in the next two weeks to what we saw from Bannister and Green leading up to the primary election.  As I said above, this is fine and does not necessarily violate a “clean campaign” pledge.  However, I expect that within a week or so Beaudreau will wade into the waters of the chairman race again waving a big green flag (pun intended) finding some way to claim that Bannister is not running a clean campaign.  In fact, this would be a brilliant campaign tactic in favor of the Green camp as it would allow Mike to endorse Green, something given his and Green’s views on government regulation in land use, I suspect Beaudreau is just itching to do.  Furthermore, it would garner press coverage of a commissioner just off a sizable victory accusing Bannister of running a dirty campaign.  If this is what happens, this tactic hopefully will not be enormously successful as the thousands of voters Beaudreau promises to bringare likely already full-fledged Green supporters.

Unfortunately, Glenn Pirkle has decided to endorse Lorraine Green.  I do not know what Green told him during their recent meeting, but he appreantly believes that she is the better choice to achieve his objectives for Gwinnett.  I hope his supporters will further consider their runoff vote, however, and not simply follow Mr. Pirkle’s suggestion.

Reading thorugh Pirkle’s website, I tend to agree with many of the views he expresses.  He is obviously not a fan of big government.  In response to the socialized garbage program that the current commission is foisting upon Gwinnett residents, he asks “Is the next step to tell the people of Gwinnett County where they will buy groceries and gas?”  If his supporters have a similar limited government viewpoint, Lorraine Green is absolutely the wrong choice for them in the runoff.  Even if they are not completely sold on Charles Bannister, the incumbent chairman offers a much better chance to limit the reach of government and, as such, deserves the votes of Pirkle backers.

I would like to say I agree with Pirkle’s observation about parents dropping kids off at school and the traffic that engenders.  This was not really an issue for the Board of Commissioner, but I would like to see someone push the school board on this matter.  I am not sure a fee is feasible or even legal, but there should be some way to encourage greater usage of the transportation services that the school system makes available.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the mailbox, campaigning will resume in the Republican race for two Gwinnett commission positions. And some candidates say the coming weeks will be even busier than those preceding Tuesday’s primary.

Oh boy.  I just cannot contain my excitement.  Maybe we should just write “REFUSED” on these things and let the campaigns take care of them.

Who will Glenn Pirkle endorse?  Will his voters follow that endorsement or will they vote even bother to vote in the runoff they were disatisfied with both Bannister or Green?  I find it ironic that Lorraine Green talks about how Pirkle’s supporters were against the status quo and how that favors her.  Last time I checked, she was a member of that same “status quo” commission and had one vote just like Charles Bannister.  She is hardly an outsider which would really represent a break from the status quo.

As it appeared last night, there will be two Gwinnett County Commission runoffs on August 5.  Charles Bannister did not win 50% of the votes in the Chairman’s race and will face Lorraine Green in the runoff.  Also, the Gwinnett Daily Post is reporting that Bruce LeVell will be certified by Friday in second place in District 1 by a mere 17 votes.  Due to the thin margin, Hassell is entitled to ask for a recount, an option she reportedly is considering.

Hopefully, the recount will only confirm the existing order and Bruce LeVell will stay alive in the race for District 1.  Even if Lasseter goes on to win, she is a better choice than Carol Hassell.  As such, despite the Beaudreau win yesterday and with the threat of a Lorraine Green administration still hanging over the county like a dark cloud, there is a ray of light for at least one area of Gwinnett County.