Barnes says he is "Fed Up"!

Roy Barnes, Democratic nominee for Georgia governor and former Georgia head-of-state met in Thomasville Monday with sheriffs from South and Middle Georgia who endorse his candidacy.

“Roy’s tough on crime,” said Ben Hill County Sheriff Bobby McLemore, sheriff’s spokesman at the Barnes press conference at the Plaza Restaurant.

He augmented the criminal justice system with crime labs and got tough on sex offenders, drunk drivers and domestic violence and child abuse offenders, McLemore said.

The Ben Hill sheriff said he was endorsing Barnes “after eight years of budget cuts and shrinking resources.”

“Georgia needs Roy Barnes,” McLemore said.

When asked why he is running for governor again, Barnes said, “I’m fed up.”

U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Atlanta Monday morning for a speaking engagement and a Democratic fund-raiser. The president was not greeted by Barnes, but by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue.

“I’m not governor yet,” Barnes said.

The Democratic nominee said he is not distancing himself from the president, that he agrees with the chief executive on some matters and disagrees on others.

“I’m not running for governor of Washington, D.C.,” he said.

The former governor said the most important thing for Georgia is to keep citizens safe.

Georgia crime labs have decreased in numbers in recent years, a move Barnes said should be reversed.

The Moultrie crime lab closed, and discussions are under way about closing the Columbus crime lab. Barnes said he is a proponent of building crime labs rather than fish ponds.

More than 7,000 state prisoners are “backed up” in Georgia’s local jails, Barnes said, adding that the state juvenile justice, behavioral health and corrections system are on the brink of being taken over by the federal government.