State Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan Should Definitely Run For State School Superintendent in 2014

State Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan (D-Austell) can and should run for State School Superintendent. It's no secret that Georgia's Educational System is not up to par compared to other states. Morgan support for Charter Schools has her at odds with some of her own democratic colleagues as well as Georgia Federation of Teachers. It's nice to see a democrat go against the special interest of her party..Kudos Rep. Morgan

But Morgan only wants the best for Georgia's Students so why display so much opposition to a possible candidacy for State School Superintendent by Morgan? If you listen to some black leaders or politicos, Charter Schools..even Vouchers will cause grater inequality in education and increased segregation in our public schools.....HELLO we already have that already in some cases. Believe it or not but there are many families, especially black families who support parental choice, charter schools and magnet schools.

The education of our children should be a top priority of this state and the nation. Our schools need to provide a safe learning environment with the most modern technology and the best teachers whether it's public, charter, private or magnet schools. In this state sending your child to a charter, private school should be a choice, not a necessity, that's why parents should be able to have other choices if the current school his or her child is currently is not living up to its standards. Rep. Morgan authored Georgia's Law Empowering parents to access more options within the public school system and was a co-sponsor allowing the state to authorize charter schools. 

Carter Announces Bid For Georgia Governor

Earlier Today State Senator Jason Carter announced his entry into Georgia's Governor's Race next year.

Carter, 38 is the grandson of Former President and one time Georgia Governor James E. "Jimmy" Carter of Plains, Ga. Carter, was elected to the Georgia Senate in 2010. In his professional career, Jason is an attorney at the business litigation firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP. In addition to his business practice, he has received numerous awards for his pro-bono efforts and leadership within the bar. He also served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Lochiel, South Africa. He received his law degree 
summa cum laude from the University of Georgia, and received his undergraduate degree from Duke University. Jason and his wife Kate have two young sons. They live in DeKalb County.''

Carter is pledging to build a coalition of urban and rural with a focus on education and the economy. This is crucial for him as well as Michelle Nunn. The last time democrats had that coalition, they were more successful at the polls.

Carter's entry gives Democrats two top tier prospects going into 2014. Connie Stokes who first announced her run for governor will now instead seek the Lt. Governor post, which is held by Casey Cagle.

I'll have more on this later

Austin Scott and the 8th Congressional Distict

Back in 2010, Austin Scott switched from running for governor to challenging Conservative Democrat Jim Marshall for the 8th CD. That turned out to be a wise move on Scott's part as he rode the anti-Pelosi, anti-Government Tea Party wave election of 2010 in unseating Marshall to become the new congressman of the 8th Congressional District. And as a result the 8th was redrawn to re-assure his re-election by removing democratic Bibb County and placing it into the 2nd CD, currently represented by Sanford Bishop, thus the 8th has become strictly a rural-dominated congressional district with Houston County being the population center of the district.

So since then, what has Congressman Scott done since being elected. Well he's sponsored, or co-sponsored a few bills such as H.R. 972 to protect individual privacy against unwarranted governmental intrusion through the use of drones to introducing a bill to end furloughs and ensure civilian workers are paid. Those are nice gestures, but since arriving in congress, Scott has been a reliable party line soldier for the GOP. The National Journal back in February named Scott the second most conservative lawmaker in the House in 2012. He was named Class President for the 112th Congress after arriving.

Someone asked me without the Tea Party wave of 2010, do I think he could have still managed to unseat Marshall? My answer was no! Without it, he probably would have come close, but not enough to unseat the Bluedog Democrat.

Scott ran unopposed in 2012, will he go unopposed next year? Who knows. I doubt it will come from the GOP side, if it comes from the Democratic side, it will have to be from someone who's background fits the rural congressional district and someone who is not afraid to show their differences with the National Democrats and President Obama.

Oglethorpe Mayor Seeks Democratic Nomination for U.S. Senate Seat

Oglethorpe Mayor Gerald Beckum, elected in 1983 has announced his decision to seek the U.S. Senate seat that is being vacated by U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss. He sees himself as a conservative Democrat who can bring “common sense” to government. Beckum, 68, said he realizes that it will be a tough fight because of the money usually spent on these type of campaigns and because it is difficult to get elected in Georgia if you live south of Atlanta. People from South Georgia are entitled to representation, and he believes it is important to make the effort to show that it is possible to run and be elected without megabucks.

“Someone familiar with this kind of race told me, ‘If you don’t have a million dollars of your own money or backers with millions of dollars, you might as well forget it’. I don’t have either, and this will be a real ‘grass roots’movement. I plan to visit every city and county in Georgia during this campaign,” he said. Saxby Chambliss from the Moultrie area “probably could have been reelected, but it is harder and harder for someone south of Macon to get elected. There is such a preponderance of population in the 10 counties around Atlanta and Fulton County that we find it impossible for someone south of Macon to be elected statewide, Beckum said.

People in this country are frustrated, he said. And he lists the frustrations. “One of the greatest frustrations at the moment is the inability of our government to function. We have too many politicians –Democrat and Republican – trying to make themselves look good and make the other side look bad, to care about what’s good for the country.

“A second frustration is that due to the inability to govern, most people feel that their tax dollars are wasted. They are living from paycheck to paycheck, if they have a job, while our government officials act like school children on the playground instead of responsible adults.

“A third area of frustration in the country is that for the last 12 years we have been a nation building and democratizing the world all the while we have wasted young lives, maimed many more, and failed to take proper care of the very young people who put their lives on the line for the United States. While we were doing all of that, we have let the infrastructure of this country start to crumble and deteriorate and have wasted billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars, on countries who hate our guts. This policy makes no sense and we need to take a fresh look at our foreign policy.

“Health care is another issue of extreme frustration for most of us. No matter what side of the current debate you are on, we can all agree that we cannot continue down the path we have been on for the past 10 to 20 years. There is no doubt that our health care will soon be unaffordable for all of us. Premiums continue to climb at 20 percent or more rates, the deductibles higher and higher, the benefits get lower and lower. We are all beginning to wonder if we should drop our insurance and take our chances. I fully believe if the insurance of Congress, the president and government hierarchy were suspended and we insisted that they must come up with a plan for us as well as for them, it would surprise us how quickly they might act.”

Other issues that should be resolved are real tax reform, immigration, abortion, defense spending, the economy and schools and education are on his list. Beckum has been mayor of Oglethorpe, a small town of 1,274 population, and he says that position “has been an honor and a privilege.” “Some days I was in Atlanta with the governor and legislators and back home the next day in the trenches and ditches
with my workers.

I think being mayor of a small town may be the toughest and most rewarding job on earth. One of the most important lessons I have learned has been that most politicians spend way too much time talking and not enough time listening to the needs of people,” he said. He was always a full time mayor and a full time business man. He describes himself as “a conservative Democrat with a heart for the needs of people. I grew up with Herman Talmadge, Richard Russell, Sam Nunn and Richard Ray, among others as my role models. Of the governors that I have known, I think that I am closer to Governor George Busbee’s definition of himself: ‘I am a work horse, not a show horse.’ I have worked closely with Jim Marshall, Larry Walker, and George Hooks during the last 32 years and consider them role models as well as friends.”

He spent 42 years as a small businessman in agribusiness. “I have been in the nursery business, the irrigation business, and lawn maintenance business. I have farmed pecans and timber. I know what it is like to make payroll week after week, to handle finance and personnel problems, but mostly I know how to work with people,” he said. Beckum worked in the Macon County High School System for six years, teaching math, science and coaching football, basketball and baseball at the high school.

He completed high school at Louisville Academy, a public school, in Louisville, Georgia. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in science education from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro in 1962 and took advanced courses at Auburn University and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A family man, he was married to his wife, Linda, for 44 years. She died of cancer in early 2012. The Beckums have two daughters.

So far the democratic field includes Michelle Nunn, Todd Robinson, Branko Radulovacki and Steen Miles

Why Black Voters Are More Forgiving Of Scandalized Politicians?

African American support for tainted politicians comes from the same ethic that has allowed Democrats to maintain black support despite poll after poll showing black attitudes on abortion, religion and, until recently, gay marriage line up more closely with the GOP’s positions.  In a perfect world, one might prefer a governor who addresses your interests and doesn’t sleep with prostitutes. In the imperfect, racially and economically stratified world we actually live in, the former takes precedence over the latter—especially in communities where political attention can be a life and death issue.

So why does it seem that many black voters rally behind corrupt or disgraced political figures and in many cases still cast votes in their favor? Well for starters, many other black elected officials, represents districts that suffer from relentlessly poor economic prospects. Once elected, these professional politicians seem to abandon all sense of judgment as they seek to enrich themselves and expand their influence, all while doing little to improve lives for their voters.  Look at former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Washington D.C. former Mayor Marion Barry as examples of corrupt politicos who still won despite mounting proof of their corruption.


The above cases illustrate a profoundly misguided tendency of Black Voters rallying to the side of an embattled politician because he or she is “one of their own.” Even before President Obama was elected, black voting patterns were, or are nearly monolithic -virtually any Democrat could win black votes; and indeed, most have. Black voters have developed a dismaying habit of remaining fiercely loyal to their public servants. This is built largely on the idea,  perpetuated by many Democrats, black and white, that the political system is stacked against black interests.

So long as entrenched black politicians continue to cultivate myths of victimhood within their electorates, corrupt politicians will forever win elections whether they deserve to or not. Many of these public servants exist in cosseted worlds where the needs of their voters don’t affect them, and they stopped attending those concerns long ago.

The Left Exaggerate Republican Gerrymandering of 2011 in Shutdown Role

Gerrymandering is among the weak spots in our constitutional system of government. Although it wasn’t intended or foreseen by the Framers of the Constitution, it popped up pretty early.

Anyway, skipping ahead two centuries, Democrats are understandably annoyed that despite the fact that Dem House candidates nationally received more aggregate votes than Repub candidates, the Republicans maintained a solid 234-201 majority.

Successful Republican gerrymandering had something to do with it, but gerrymandering  alone is not only or primarily in producing that result is often overstated.

During the current shutdown mess, some liberals have embraced a second, related theory suggesting that not only did the Republican gerrymandering manage to cobble together a majority of House seats out of a minority of House votes, but they also managed to create a large number of safe red districts packed with voters who are so far right that they produce congressmen who are either right-wing hardliners or have to act like they are to fend off a Tea Party primary challenge.

The goal of gerrymandering is to maximize the number of districts that are barely safe enough by packing as many of your opponents' voters as you can into a small number of extremely partisan districts while safely distributing the rest throughout your own districts. In this way, gerrymandering may actually increase the number of moderate Republicans.

So there's a problem in believing that gerrymandering inflated the number of House Republicans, while also thinking that gerrymandering increased the number of ultraconservative, Tea Party Republicans. That may seem surprising, but it shouldn’t be. In many respects, the GOP’s divide between relative moderates and ultraconservatives also cuts across geographic and partisan lines. In the fiscal cliff, for instance, northern, blue state Republicans were far more likely to vote for the Senate compromise than their red state, Southern counterparts. And the number of northern Republicans has been meaningfully inflated by GOP-led redistricting efforts in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Ohio. Without GOP-led redistricting in those blue or purple states, the inevitably conservative Republicans in red states, locked into ultraconservative districts by (let's call it like it is) racial polarization and the Voting Rights Act, would constitute an even larger share of a somewhat smaller GOP caucus, making it even more difficult to reach compromises like the fiscal cliff deal for instance. It would be more difficult to resolve the government shutdown or debt ceiling debacle.

Porter Elected as Chair of the Georgia Democratic Party

On Saturday in Newnan, Democrats elected Former House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) as its next Chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party, replacing Mike Berlon who resigned a few months. Porter defeated Former State Sen. Doug Stoner & current Georgia Democratic Party Vice-Chairman RJ Hadley. Over 200 plus members gathered at Wadsworth Auditorium in Coweta Couty, the birthplace of Ellis Arnall who served as governor from 1943-47 & was one of Georgia's first Progressive Democrats.

I was mildly surprised that Porter won, my money was on Doug Stoner because he had strong backing from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, ex-Governor Roy Barnes, State Sen. Jason Carter, grandson of former president James E. "Jimmy" Carter.

Porter's connections to Rural Georgia will be critical for democrats as they begin to rebuild the once-dominant party from the ashes. With all the talk about fundraising, which is a must, candidate recruitment is also vital and it has to start on the local whether its County Commissioner or State Senator. The next move will be who will Porter name as executive director of the Georgia Democratic Party, which is the next critical move for the party.