Republicans to Live Stream Opening Session of Congress on Facebook

Later today you'll be able to keep up with what's happening in DC via Facebook. House Republicans are going to live stream the opening session on the Pledge to America Facebook page... So far I like most of what I've heard from 'our' guys. I wasn't exactly impressed with their actions during the lame duck session. I think there was a lot of typical game playing going on, I think they used it as cover to make compromises they wanted but knew they wouldn't be able to get away with in the new session.

It's always hard to judge motivation and reason for their actions from way down here in Fayette County, away from the games, away from all the insider trading that goes on. I always wonder who got what in exchange for their vote.When I think of what goes on behind the scenes my lip automatically curls. Bleh, it can't be good.

I was talking with someone yesterday about the Tea Party, other efforts to make some REAL change in Washington. I'm 100% behind efforts to clean things up, clean out the chaff, make big changes. But I also realize that the reality is we're battling a system that's taken a long, long time to perfect. The institutionalization of favor swapping, covering each others backs, knowing how to get things done, compromise, political power protection and all the rest of the behind the scenes stuff is going to be tough to change. It's like trying to clean up mercury (isn't that the stuff that beads up, separates, slides around?). I'm picturing it -- you go to touch that blob of silver to clean it up and it splits up, slithers around, attaches and hides in another little blob over to the side. Hazmat needed.

We can shine the light on one area of corruption or wrongness and they'll move into the shadows for a time or  find a way to do it differently. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that it's all bad or that everyone up there is rotten. There are good people in Washington and I know compromise is needed at times given the number of divergent opinions and beliefs.

I guess the only way to really make the change is to be there. I understand it's difficult once you're there though unless you're a strongly principled individual, someone who can't be co-opted. Of course, then the system works to boot you out so they can keep their status quo. Heck, we get mad at some of those principled people when they step on an area we support. Tough situation, going to be tough to make a long-term difference.

However, there's a new awareness, a new caring, a new involvement from the general public. I think the guys in DC are going to find that we'll keep shining the light on them. It's not the 'good old days' of 3 networks feeding the party line to the masses. With the Internet, blogging, Facebook, Twitter and numerous other ways to communicate, we're able to get together and voice our concerns, affect some change. Ha, just thought of the old saying "Power to the People". Different meaning when it was said, but heck, I'm all for the current kind of power to the people!

Wow, did I get off track. I started out simply to share the following bit from John Boehner (rec'd yesterday, tweeted yesterday, @readmylipstick, but didn't have time to blog) about the new way Republicans are sharing. I think it's cool. You can probably watch it on CSPAN also, but this allows you to be at work and keep up, too.

Republicans to Live Stream Opening Session of Congress on Facebook

Tomorrow House Republicans will live stream the opening session of the 112th Congress - including the swearing-in ceremony and remarks by Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-OH) - on the Pledge to America Facebook Page. The House will convene and the stream will go live at 12:00 p.m. ET.

This is the first time an opening session of Congress has been broadcast live on Facebook where visitors can interact and discuss the event with others, and offer feedback directly to elected representatives.

The new Republican majority has pledged to change the way Congress works – to lead by listening to and reflecting the will of the American people. Together with new rules demanding new levels of online disclosure and transparency (including requirements that all bills online at least three days before a vote and committees broadcast their hearings online), this event is another example of the new majority’s commitment to making Congress more open and accountable, and to finding new ways to connect with citizens online and off.

Click to “Like” the Pledge on Facebook. And be sure to tune in tomorrow at noon and join the conversation.

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BTW, if you're tweeting we have a number of Twitter accounts:

@readmylipstick is my political opinion, rabble rousing account
@FayetteFP is the Fayette Front Page
@GAFrontPage is Georgia news and politics
@artsacrossgeorgia is all about Georgia arts

We have more... personal one for my Hummingbird Hollow Pottery, then more Fayette Front Page / Georgia Front Page accounts: one for readers, a business Twitter account with business news, a music focus account, gardening, food and restaurants, history, plus there are some I handle for local charities. If you'd like the rest, let me know. TweetDeck, Seesmic and Hootsuite are great tools if you have multiple Twitter accounts, allows you to post from one account to the other, line them all up side by side, have a reply column so you can see who's answering. Lots of benefits to using one of those free platforms even if you only have one account. It sure makes Twitter easier and a bit more logical looking .

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Happy new year! Hope each and every one of you has a good year, one that makes you and those around you happy. Stay healthy, take care of yourself and keep up the good fight.

Reading "Going Rogue"

I'm partway through reading Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue. My husband bought it for me for Christmas, but got tired of hearing me talk about reading it (I knew he'd bought it for me) and finally broke down, gave it to me early .

Even though I have pages to go, I had to share a few thoughts on it.

With all the negative, with all the horrific things going on in the economy, with terrorism, with the choices being made in D.C., with the health care debacle, cap and tax... it is SO refreshing to read her book. It's like a breath of common sense fresh air. I find that I long for someone like her to take over the helm in Washington and across the country.

She just seems to have the ability to cut through the muck and get to the core of issues. I love her approach, her way of reasoning and how grounded she is in so many areas.

I hear the David Letterman's and others who trash her as they look down their noses and know that there was a time in my life when I would have been "on their side". I wouldn't have liked their nastiness, their belittling ways, their snobbery, but if I'd continued down the path I was on earlier in my life, I'd be over on that general side. Thank goodness I put my feet onto a different path!

I find it fascinating that all these people with millions of dollars, all these people who are so insulated from the real world, can judge someone based on their arbitrary criteria.

Ah well, not much I can do about their mean spirited-ness. It seems to me that those at the top end of the economic scale, those at the very bottom, and those with deep insecurities always have to find someone to look down upon. For those at the top I think it may be a combination of guilt, lack of purpose, a need to justify their existence in their own mind and a need to fit in with their friends.

I think if anyone reads Going Rogue with an open mind, without negative preconceived notions etched in stone, they will find a true American spirit inside the pages. Oh that our elected officials had a tenth of her convictions, patriotism, values, honesty and common sense.

Catalogue of FY 2010 Earmarks

Found the following list of earmarks being requested by our elected officials via a post on JasonPye.com. Very, very interesting...

Washington Watch Blog:
Posted by Jim Harper, April 12, 2009 at 4:11 pm
(Updated July 19, 2009 to include Senate reforms and links)
In March, the House Appropriations Committee announced reforms to the earmark process, which members of Congress use to designate federal funds for projects in their districts.
The reform requires members to post their earmark requests online, including the proposed recipient, the address of the recipient, the amount of the request, and an explanation of the purpose of the earmark and why it is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds. The Senate has done the same.
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/blog/2009/04/12/catalogue-of-fy-2010-earmarks/

In case you're wondering (but I bet you're not if you follow my blog), I don't like earmarks, want to see them scrapped and think it's great that Lynn Westmoreland, Tom Price and others won't touch 'em.

Toomey isn't going to take on Arlen Specter

Yesterday at the Fayette County (GA) Republican Convention a friend and I were discussing Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter's defection from the Republican Party and conservative values. It seems he's going to have a tough election next year and he'll be depending on true conservative Republican's to come out and support him. Well, if he votes for the stimulus, I think he can kiss what's left of that support goodbye.

If a good solid conservative Republican runs against him, I'm going to send a donation and do whatever I can to help him or her unseat Specter.

My friend, Jane, mentioned that Pat Toomey had run against Specter in the last election and probably would have won if not for the Party's support of their friend.

I think with Michael Steele at the helm of the RNC we'll see less "good old boy's club" politics and more support for those who walk the walk.

I took a look this morning to see if Toomey might be willing to try again. Seems he's going to run for Governor and won't be trying to unseat Specter. I'm going to keep my eye on Specter's race.

The Republican Party is making strides to get back on track. I think it took this recent election to really shake things up and make some realize they'd strayed from the principles that the Party is built upon. I also think that the grassroots needs to be more involved in all critical elections, not just those in our neck of the woods.

Toomey not taking on Specter

Allentown Morning Call's Josh Drobnyk has the scoop that Club for Growth president Pat Toomey is exploring a run for governor of Pennsylvania, and has decided against taking on Sen. Arlen Specter in a GOP primary:

Former Lehigh Valley Congressman Pat Toomey has begun formally exploring a run for governor, setting up a meeting with area GOP donors as he assesses his potential candidacy in 2010.

Toomey, president of the anti-tax group The Club for Growth, is scheduled to sit down with several influential and deep-pocketed Lehigh Valley Republicans in early February to “discuss his thinking of a possible gubernatorial run,” according to an e-mail invitation sent out Friday on behalf of Arcadia Properties founder Richard Thulin.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0109/Toomey_not_taking_on_Specter.html

Financial Crisis, Politics, and Stuff

I listened to bits and pieces of the debate in D.C. about the so-called Bush bailout today. I listened to some more pundits discussing the merits and /or negatives on the issue. It seems to be boiling down to "we have to do something and this is all we have on the table".

I don't like it. I agree with many others that this is another step in the wrong direction for our country. I haven't a clue what else they could do though. They (whoever 'they' may be) are going to do everything in their power to keep the country rolling.

There's a lot of finger-pointing and backward looking, which is good for future lessons only if we're ever going to go down the same path. We've already made the good and bad decisions, and ignored good and bad suggestions along the way.

Regardless of what we do now, someday some bright minds will look back and see we could have chosen a better path, and they'll use it as part of their election rhetoric if they're running for office and it matters at the time.

Our politicians are being inundated with calls saying NOT to vote yes on the bail out. Newt Gingrich is encouraging John McCain to vote no. Barack Obama has already said he's going to vote yes, but that doesn't mean he'll do it by the time this thing comes up for a vote.

Everyone is grandstanding and it's fairly clear that many of our elected officials are simply trying to make sure they're on the right side with those who will vote them back into office.

If it weren't so difficult at the moment it would almost be funny. Think about it. If those in office vote yes, they're going to be bucking the will of a majority of voters. If they vote no and the economy collapses then they're going to be in even bigger trouble as their constituents will say "why didn't you do something?". They can't win.

It could be even worse if they vote yes and things still fail. Money down the drain.

And what about all these foreign countries that are sorting through the dregs to see what they can pick up? How much more of our country is going to be owned or owed to other countries?

Our politicians have also decided to punt on the issue of drilling saying this issue is too big and they can't deal with it at the moment. Do you really think every minute of their day is caught up with studying the books or trying to figure out how to vote on this issue?

I think they don't want it used as a bargaining tool. Everyone is trying to look the best they possibly can during this difficult time and they all want to come out smelling like... not a rose, but at least not smelling rotten. If drilling is on the table at the same time there will be some humongous deals cut. "We'll vote yes on this aspect if you'll add this to the bailout bill." So they took it off the table.

At least that's my take on it.

Unfortunately that just delays something else of importance that could make us feel better about all that's happening. Maybe they're holding it out as something to make us feel better down the road when things are more bleak? Hope that's not the game plan!

Did anyone notice that oil went up? Gee, you think there's a bit of manipulation going on? Kick 'em while they're down?

OK, 'nuff on this one. They're going to do what they're going to do and we're going to deal with it somehow.

By the way, I heard that McCain's numbers are on the rise again. Wonder what that's about?

Oh, and just another quick aside, has anyone been following Joe Biden's foot-in-mouth troubles? I actually like the guy and kinda feel sorry for him. I definitely wouldn't want him as President though after watching his difficulties with knowing when to speak and what to say. It would give the Saturday Night Live crew something better to joke about than incest though.

(Did anyone hear about the despicable SNL skit where they spoofed about Todd Palin and incest? That is lower than low. Can you imagine the uproar if they'd spoofed Obama or Biden or Hillary on that topic? There is nothing, nothing, funny about incest. )

Guess I've introduced enough subjects in this one blog! If you want to know more go check out http://readmylipsticknetwork.blogspot.com and wander through the listing of member blogs on the side bar. They're covering all the political news in a fun way!

Sharing a little humor... Australian Interview w/ Senator Collins

(Note: turns out this is a joke, but it's going around on the Internet as a serious interview)

Scattered thoughts on politics

How do newspapers and other media avoid duplicate headlines?

Have you ever wondered about news headlines? Do the newspapers check to avoid duplicate headlines? Think about the number of newspaper, radio, bloggers, television and other types of reporters following around the presidential candidates.

There are reporters from almost every country in the world following the candidates on their trek around the country for votes.

They all see the same thing, then have to file a story back home wherever that may be. So how do they avoid duplicating headlines? How many ways are there to say "He won, she lost"?

If I really cared enough I'd look into it, maybe do a search on the Internet popping in the title or the question. It's not high on my list of things to do, but I have wondered. Maybe someone out there in the web-world will read this and let me know!

How do the candidates manage to keep up?

I've heard them talking about their schedules. As a media member I get some of their appearance schedules. They are moving 20 hours a day for days on end. They go from campaign event to campaign event, to interview, to bus, to airplane, to event, to shake hands, to eat... and eat and eat and ear... did anyone else noticed that Huckabee looked like he was gaining a few pounds again for a while?

I can't go through the day without at least 5 hours of sleep and I really need more. I can live on the 5 hours a day for a few days, but then I have to sleep long or I start talking gibberish. The candidates have to be on their toes for Letterman, Leno, Fox News, debates and events 24/7. They're all older than I am and they run circles around me.

No wonder they all look ten years older by the time the race is over!

What happens to all the stuff the candidates are given?

I saw a clip of Romney last night holding a big box of Krispy Kreme donuts. He was offering them around to the crowd. Betcha he doesn't eat 'em. I've heard he's rather picky about what he puts in his body. I imagine the candidates are given a ton of things from supporters and they have to find a way to graciously decline the offer or act like they love whatever it is. Some votes are lost by something so simple.

So what happens to all the little knicknacks, food, gifts, Bibles, resumes , and other things that are given to the candidates? Do they offer then to their supporters? Hold a bonfire when the campaign ends without a win? Pack them up and give them to charity?

I have a whole list of things I wonder about when it comes to candidates. Mostly I wonder how truthful they're being, whether they'll be the best person to run our country and who I'll finally end up voting for in February these days.

Skewed Polls

Happened to see what I thought was a link to presidential poll results while wandering around on the Internet. It turned out to be a poll on how you'd vote by Polling Point. I had a minute or two, was curious, so I took the poll.

They gave a lot of scenario: If this Democrat were pitted against this Republican who would you vote for? Are you conservative, moderate, liberal? Democrat or Republican? Lots of questions related to politics plus some demographic questions.

All fine and dandy, pretty clear cut questions until it got to one where they asked which Democrat you would vote for if that were your only choices.

Now keep in mind that in every other question involving voting for candidates there was the option of "not sure" or "would not vote."

In the question regarding which Democrat would you vote for they listed all the potential candidates and then additional option "Not Sure".

So, I was forced to say "not sure" or pick one of the Democrats if I wanted to continue with the poll.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone who reads my columns regularly that I vote Republican. My answer would have been, if given the choice, "would not vote."

That question was completely out of whack with all the rest of the questions. Any answer would make it appear that as a voting Republican I would vote for a Democratic candidate.

How many people opted for "not sure" and how many just decided to pick what they considered the one they felt would do the least damage? Accurate results? Nah. No way.

There was a place for comment at the end, so, of course Ms. Opinionated Me left a comment. The group that put that poll out there are professional pollsters. They knew exactly what they were doing. I wasn't telling them anything they didn't already know. I'll know when I hear some media type hyping the fact that some number of Republicans would vote for Richardson or Biden or Obama that they tricked them into the answer. So will you.

I'm heading over to http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html. I'm going to do their Candidate Calculator to see which candidate they think lines up most closely with my views.

It should be fun, but... who's the one that decides what the candidates will actually do or how they feel about the subjects I'm going to see on the calculator? After I run through the drill, I may pop back over here and write another blog. Or I might save it for another day... it's a Saturday night and there's a presidential candidate debate in one hour... oh boy, four whole hours of listening to candidates try to steer clear of making a gaff. What better way to spend a Saturday night?

Walking the fence on illegal immigration, border security

I have a hard time understanding how anyone could think that tightening up our border security isn't a good idea. Whether you want a tighter immigration policy, like the way it stands now, want to allow more people to come into the country, want to send everyone home or any combination, it just makes sense to me that we'd want to know WHO was coming into the country.

I don't purport to know all the ins and outs on illegal immigration. I read, I listen, I hear both sides. I don't think it's fair that people can break in line and come across our borders illegally.

It's no different to me than standing in line at a grocery store. When someone cuts in line we get irritated. If you're not a mouse, most will usually say something to the bore who tries to circumvent the line.

None of us like those who ride down the emergency lane to cut in front of us during heavy traffic.

It's the same principal with immigration. Policies are negotiated with other countries. We allow a set number of individuals to come into the country each year. Open the borders and pretty soon we won't be the same country.

A poor analogy that pops into my mind on that one is growth in our county. No supporting infrastructure and pretty soon we're that county we moved away from because traffic was untenable. Keep building without roads, lights, schools, emergency support and we're just another overcrowded, poorly managed dot on the map. Slow it down, do it right and we'll stay the best county in the state.

Immigration is a huge problem, a much larger problem than little old me sitting in front of my computer can begin to solve.

I think a double fence along the Mexican border is a good start. We make it safer for our immigration enforcement. We make it more difficult for drugs to get across the border. We may even stop a terrorist or two from doing some dastardly deed. If you've ever traveled to some of the border towns it's pretty nasty. It's been many, many years since I was down in that neck of the woods, but my friends tell tales that will keep me from ever going back.

I'm posting a YouTube video of Duncan Hunter talking with Glenn Beck on CNN about funding for the fence. What is it with our elected officials, Republican and Democrat, that keeps them from wanting to tighten up security along the border? Why are they walking the fence on this issue?

Tancredo dropping out

Well, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time on this one. I like a lot of what Tancredo has to say. However, he just never caught on. Although I agreed with him, I just couldn't see him as President.

I wonder sometimes (but not often) about the type person who decides to toss their hat into the presidential ring. They have to have an ego, a lot of confidence in their abilities and a strong conviction that what they have to say is similar enough to a majority of people to catapult them into office.

They also must wear bullet proof armour. And have a past that holds up to the ultimate scrutiny (or at least have a believable explanation for every perceived misstep).

Tancredo hesitated when he spoke. It made him sound as though he wasn't sure of himself. One thing people look for in a President is strength.

Ever since the advent of television we have chosen our President and most of our elected officials to some degree at least based on physical attributes. On impressions. On whether they "look like a President".

I'd like to say that I'm immune, but I'm not. Tancredo didn't come across on TV like my idea of a President. Based on what I know of his stands, he'd probably have made a great President.

Well, I'm rambling. All I really needed to say was that Tancredo was going to be dropping out according to sources close to his campaign.

Teeny, tiny turnout...

I know it was a special election at a strange time. I know it's the Christmas holidays. I know the length of the campaign was super truncated.

But only 3,608 people voted.

There are 21 precincts in District 72. If I'm reading the numbers correctly, there are 32,344 registered voters who could have voted today. The percentage who chose to vote is in the 11 - 12 percent range.

The lone Democrat in the race, Kevin Madden, garnered close to 16% of the vote.
Steve Brown's total was just under 25%.
Heidi Becker Vaisvil took slightly over 6% in her first foray into politics.
Matt Ramsey, all along the favorite to win, took the election without a run off with 53.35 percent of the vote.

I talked to people off and on over the past few weeks trying to get a feel for who was likely to vote. I was amazed at how many people simply didn't know there was an election.

There were signs all over the place, unusual at this time of year. Some had noted the signs but they didn't register, or they thought it must be for an election at some distant point.

I was surprised at how many people said they didn't read the local newspapers.

I know we had it on the Fayette Front Page, but it was down in the Political section so I'm not sure how many people pay attention to that section. Politics has a tendency to turn a lot of people off completely. Can't say that I blame them. There are times when I wish I didn't know as much as I do!

Every election I lament how few come out to vote. I think our focus is backwards. When there's a presidential election the turnout is overwhelming. When there is a state-wide election the turn out is fairly decent if not great (depends on which races are in play).

Get down to the local election and turnout decreases. Sometimes it falls into the pathetic range.

I've harped on this one before. The low turnout in this highly involved and educated county doesn't make a lot of sense.

Almost every bit of information we get about national and state elections is filtered through the media. Some of us take the time to go to political events where we might meet the candidates. But the vast majority of voters watch the candidates on TV, check them out on the Internet, or read about them in the paper. We see what they want us to see, what their opponents want us to see and what the media wants us to see.

Not so with local candidates. They sit next to you at church. Their children go to school with your children. You can drive five minutes to see them at a local event. You can find them in the local phone book. It's easy to find someone who knows the candidate. It's easy to find the candidate and ask them questions.

Local elected officials make decisions that affect us directly every day. Their decisions have a tremendous impact on our daily lives and our future.

It's important to vote in ALL elections.

In this particular election, all of District 72 is within Fayette County. It encompasses a large portion of the county. The person who represents us from this District can make a big difference in the future of our county.

I happen to think that Matt Ramsey will do a great job. I also think he'll be with us as a Representative until the point he decides to move on or step up to another elected position. He's responsive, knows the ropes and genuinely seems to be a good guy.

But I sure wish more people cared enough to take ten minutes from their day to vote.

County Redistricting 101

We’ve learned that one of our county Commissioners is following the steps in the little known top-secret manual, “Simple Ways to Take Care of Political Opponents” as he stealthily works to eliminate potential political opponents for he and his buds on the Board… Shhhh, don’t tell anyone that we found a copy of the manual… Here are a few pointers from the first chapter, “Redistricting 101”:

First, find out where all your potential opponents live.

Second, draw a map putting all of your potential opponents in someone else’s district.
Note: If you’d like to curry favors and goodwill from your political allies, try to take care of their potential opponents, too! Remember, you need to keep your allies happy! It’s in YOUR best interest also as you definitely don’t want to have any of your potential opponents win any seat… your goal is to attempt to shut them down completely! To do it right, be sure to put your potential opponents in the district of someone you don’t like and /or put them in the district of someone none of them would want to run against.

Third, try to find a way to make it look like it’s something you’re doing for the “good of the people.” If you can’t figure out a way to do that, then make it look like you’re being pushed by outside forces to do the redistricting. You already have a devious nature or you wouldn’t be reading this manual, thus it’s not necessary for us to provide numerous ideas for cloaking your true intentions.

Fourth, if at all possible, do a sneaky-pete and try to slip it through without a public hearing. If caught, pull a “huh-duh, didn’t know that we had to”. Then, instead of doing the public hearing at a time when the public can actually have some input, stick it in a meeting during a weekday when everyone is working.

Unfortunately, he must have stopped reading before he read the last chapter, “Avoiding Pitfalls”. There are too many pitfalls in the chapter to begin to cover in this short blog, but we’ll touch on two that pertain directly to the issue at hand.

Before you can redistrict those potential opponents out of your life, you have to be absolutely sure they aren’t planning to move any time in the near future. No one, but no one, will believe you if you try to change the map a second time.

Second, the manual states over and over, chapter after chapter (but it’s emphasized in Avoiding Pitfalls) that you cannot ever, ever tell anyone what you’re doing. Anyone. You’d be surprised at how people like to share secrets, even when you’re just doing something to try and help them out.

I can’t keep up…

You’re probably wondering why so many of my blogs are focusing on the Fayette County Commission… or maybe you’re just reading and not thinking that at all! Either way I’m gonna ‘splain…

My number one focus when working on the Fayette Front Page is to try to do my small part to make our wonderful county just a little bit better. Or at least try to help keep it the way it is. I love this county. I want to stay here, retire here, spend my last days here.

I’m a Georgia native. However, we were military (Air Force) and a few months after birth we moved to California, then England, then back to the states. I lived in Savannah, then moved to East Point and then to Morrow where I graduated from High School. I watched what happened to East Point. I watched what happened to Morrow. My grandparents moved from Ben Hill to Tyrone. I saw what happened to their old neighborhood and county.

I married, moved to North Carolina and then New York. When I divorced, I came home to Morrow. Long story, but around 25 years ago I moved to Fayette County. My son went to grade school, middle school and high school here. I drove Highway 74 to Atlanta when it was a two lane, and later a four lane. I used to hate getting stuck behind the guy on the tractor who’d chug along most mornings with a long line of cars behind him. On more than one occasion I sat waiting not so very patiently in the car while someone tried to figure out how to get the escaped cow to get up from the middle of the road so the growing backup of vehicles could get moving.

I’ve watched as Hwy. 74 changed and changes in almost the same way as Old National changed many years back.

I’ve watched the county change over the years. Many good changes. Some not so good. We’ve been very, very lucky to have, for the most part, Commissioners in office who have given much of their talents to keeping the county on the right track. I told my husband many times that I felt like he and his fellow commissioners were like the little Dutch boy who put his finger in the dyke to hold back the water. Keeping the land use plan intact and making sure not to give an inch so developers wouldn’t take a mile. Having a strong sign ordinance that allowed businesses to advertise yet kept us from looking like some of the other sign-heavy counties. Planning for the future, putting money aside, building water reservoirs and so on and so on.

Lots of strong fingers are needed to keep the water from rushing through many holes. It takes a lot more than most think to protect the treasure that is Fayette County.

Being a Commissioner is often being like Solomon in the Bible. Hard choices, some right on both sides in many cases and sometimes some wrong on both sides. The one thing that should always, always be in the forefront of a Commissioner’s mind with every decision they make is the wellbeing of the taxpayers and citizens of the county they are serving.

Their purpose is not to compromise their values to accommodate other commissioners or constitutional officers. Their purpose is not to take care of their own political future. Their job is not to take care of their buddies. Sometimes their job is not to push the agenda they like at the expense of what is right for the county. Their job is not to act out personal vendettas. Their job is not to feather their own nest or that of their friends.

Their job is to safeguard the future of the county and to take care of the citizens (all of them, not just a select few). They need to be able to see the big picture and to see what the repercussions of their current actions will be 5, 10 and fifty years in the future. They need to be able to set aside the influence of their friends.

This Commission is raising taxes. This Commission is making what I feel are some serious, serious mistakes that are and will detrimentally affect the future of the county. This Commission is on the verge of messing up so badly a new group of Commissioner won’t be able to fix the mess. I’m seeing shades of East Point, Clayton County, and Ben Hill.

I tried to cut them some slack. They were new for the most part. Even though I wasn’t thrilled with the election results (to say the least!), I still felt like there was a good chance this Commission would act in the best interests of the citizens. I knew up front they were going to make a few decisions I wouldn’t like. However, after sitting through meeting after meeting and seeing the Commissions in action it’s clear I was wrong.

I’ve had a problem from day one with the way the Commissioners aren’t disclosing things to the public that should be disclosed. I don’t like sneaky. You don’t hide in the dark if you’re doing what is right. Not putting issues on the agenda, voting on things when not all of the Commissioners have been informed, popping up with issues without public notification are not just wrong, they are horribly wrong. It’s shady, sneaky and deceitful. It’s breaking the public trust.

You can go back and read some of my blogs and read some of the articles on the Fayette Front Page for a limited chronicle of votes. Very limited. I could write all day, every day and not keep up with all the things that the public, that you the taxpayer, need to know about the actions of this County Commission. You need to be watching. You need to get involved. It’s your future, it’s your county. It’s worth an hour or two a month to safeguard your home.

“A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.” - Tacitus