Open Apology to Don Weigel, House Democratic Caucus Director from Peanut Politics

I want to send a (sincere) open apology to House Caucus Director Don Weigel for a post I wrote a couple days ago regarding his "inaction" concerning House Races for democrats, specifically rural democrats. (The post was titled "Don Weigel & Jane Kidd both get "F's" for Bad Performances 9/15")

Don is working very, very hard in trying to get rural democrats elected to the General Assembly, as well as metro democrats. He has taken heat from all sides of the democratic party for the perception that he's ignoring candidates pleas for help, or not showing interest in getting democrats elected to the General Assembly.

The post I wrote regarding both he & Kidd (Jane) deserving to be fired for a bad performance thus far was regrettable & for that I want to apologize to Don Weigel for my blog post & the damage that it may have caused to his efforts.

For the record, Weigel & Co are working extremely hard right now to get more Dem's elected to the General Assembly.

Financially majority of the democratic candidates have not gotten money.........YET!

Races that are very high on the House Caucus list are (not in alphabetical order):

John Tibbetts, HD 153
Chris Irvin, HD 28
Maryline Blackburn,HD 34
Fenika Miller, HD 145
Marjean Boyd, HD 172
Will Avery, HD 19
Sandy Murray, HD 80
David Gault, HD 125
Audrey Stewart, HD 179
Quentin Howell, HD 141
Steffini Bethea, HD 106

and others as well.

As y'all know I'm passionate about Rural Georgia & would like to see democrats make a comeback here in this part of the state that for so long democrats have dominated for over 100+ years.

I should have called Don Weigel before I did that post to get a more clearer & accurate picture before proceeding on with my rant about his job performance as Caucus Director. Don & myself talked for about 20-25 minutes last night, in which I offered a apology to Don, (which he accepted by the way) after appearing at conference call with Communications Director Eric Gray of the DPG & I can rest assure all dems running or defending their seats that Don is working extremely hard at helping get more democrats elected this november.


I know this is a tough job & he is doing the very best he can with the resources he have at the moment, so I just ask for all democrats, either running for seats held by a incumbent republican, or the ones who are defending their seats against GOP challengers to cut Don some slack, be patient, given we have over 40 or so days remaining until the Nov 2 elections. Don & the Caucus have y'all's best interest at hand & just like me, I hope y'all would ease up on Don & let him do his job.

Don Weigel & Jane Kidd both get "F"s for bad performances thus far! Is it time to give them their pink slip?

I say YES!!!!

I once was high on Jane Kidd. Not anymore!

I had high hopes for Don Weigel as House Caucus Director. Not anymore!

The Georgia Democratic Party, once a party of strength, dominance rich with tradition is on the verge of blowing one of the biggest opportunities to make gains in this state since the GOP takeover in 2002.

Lead by Jane Kidd who beat out the likes of Mike Berlon, former State Senator Carol Jackson & others, the party has been unable to make any significant gains in the state since she took over as chairwoman of the party.

Don Weigel, who is the House Caucus Director of the Democrats who is in charge of determining which candidates would get support & resources from the House Caucus in his of bid for State Rep or State Senator has been awful in that capacity as he has left democratic candidates hanging out to dry against republicans who no doubt will get support from their own caucus members as well as the State GOP.

Weigel you sir has failed & its time for you to be shown the door. You're Fired!!!

Jane Kidd who came into the job promising a 159 county strategy has failed at her job at creating a strong, vibrant democratic party that will lead the next generation of democrats in this state, failed to deliver on that 159 county strategy she promised when she was elected chairman of the DPG & has been a lackluster fundraiser for the party.

Kidd you ma'am has failed & its time for you to be shown the door> You're Fired!!!

Right now both get a "F"- for the awful job each has done in leading the party back to competing for the GOP for the right to govern the state in a effective manner.

Regardless of the outcome in November, both need to be fired from their perspective positions & be replaced by a new slate of leaders who have a clear vision for the party with new ideas & the ability to rebuild the democratic bench, which after this election will be non-existent.

There are 9-12 House Seats that are very winnable for the democrats & 3-4 State Senate Seats that are winnable as well but with the party not having its act together to aid these strong democratic challengers, it'll be a lost cause. It getting late with more that a month remaining until the Nov 2 elections & it is clear to me that our leadership does not have the ability to lead the democratic party now & in future elections.

Bad Strategy, weak fundraising, misguided information are some of the major factors that democrats in this state are in such a bad shape now. Getting involved in races like the non=partisan Atlanta Race that close to $100,000 was wasted on & the involvement of primary races which I thought the DPG didn't get involved in, but boy was I wrong. Hypocrites!

Its very possible that democrats will not hold one single statewide office after the elections take place, which is a shame given the silver platter of issues that the GOP have given democrats to run on, but like I said, the folks at Spring Street doesn't have their act together, never had & never will.

Calvin Smyre, the long time State Rep out of Columbus spends more time going to Golfing Tournaments, Black-Tie galas & mingling with the D.C. crowd than working to help elect democrats here on the local & statewide level. One would think being the second highest ranking democrat in the house, with all of his deep connections across the country that he could help pull in some cash to help fund some of these local & statewide candidates, but no, Calvin Smyre is looking out for Calvin Smyre.

Robert Brown, who is looking to run for mayor of Macon in 2011 hasn't shown interest in leading the democrats in the senate, despite being the minority leader, nor hasn't shown a willingness to go out & campaign for & raise money for State Senate candidates for office.

DuBose hasn't been involved in that aspect since giving all of his responsibilities to Weigel & the other members of the democratic caucus to run for governor & now helping Carol Porter, his wife run for Lt. Governor.

I mentioned this before, there are some democrats who are sitting on money going as high as six figures while not being challenged by a single republican. But they will not contribute a single cent towards a democratic candidate running for office.


Lt. Colonel (Ret.) & ex-Milledgeville Mayor Floyd Griffin, who is running for SD 25, (a seat that is winnable) he represented for 6 years before giving it up to run for Lt. Governor in 1998 told me last night in a phone conversation that he haven't heard from anyone in regards to his race, which is occupied by Johnny Grant (R), as well as other candidates who are running this year.

Where is this coordinated campaign they promised they were going to run? Haven't seen it! Were all of the promises to help candidates for office year a big fat lie? At the moment it sure looks like it!


One thing they did this week is announced the opening of field offices all over Georgia for the 2010 elections, which is a good thing, but should have opened one in Vidalia to reach out to voters over in East central Georgia.

The democratic party need to return to its roots: The People, the folks on the ground, Georgia Oriented. The State Party has always been more conservative than their National Counterparts & as a result was successful in getting democrats elected to offices over & over again despite other states in the south falling victim to the republican dominance that started in the late 1960s.

What Im trying to say is that its time to clean house at the Georgia Democratic Party. Except for the communications director Eric Gray, every single high-level official at the state party needs to be shown the door, or FIRED!

Just found out this a.m that the DNC has sent a $350,000 check to the DPG to ensuring that local affiliates have the money necessary to run turnout operations for critical contests, plus Roy Barnes got a $350,000 infusion as well. That's small in comparison to other states. Like Andre Walker at Georgia Politics Unfiltered ask: what will Georgia Democrats do will all that money? We'll find out the answer to that question in the next few weeks.

Its time for someone to hold the leadership accountable for the lack of structure & organization of the democratic party, but Peanut Politics will. Regardless of the outcome this november, its time to overhaul the Georgia Democratic Party as well as the leadership in the democratic caucus of both chambers.