Nathan Deal protects Ga. families, or at least his own
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal says he did nothing wrong when he interfered with an attempt by state officials to reform Georgia’s salvaged-auto inspection system.
Sure, Deal co-owns a Gainesville salvage-inspection firm that profits handsomely from the current system. In effect, that system grants Deal’s company a regional monopoly on the business of inspecting rebuilt cars for safety.
But Deal’s intervention was intended to protect the people of Georgia, not the company that puts $150,000 a year into his pocket. Or so he says.
“The implication that I intervened with state officials to benefit myself is completely false, outrageous and nothing more than a back-alley, in-the-shadows attempt by one of my political opponents to damage my good name and reputation with a cheap political shot,” Deal said in response to a story by Aaron Gould Sheinin and James Salzer of the AJC. “Because I have extensive knowledge of the processes and regulations involved in inspecting vehicles, and based on my concern that safety standards could be affected, it was incumbent upon me to meet with various public officials to make sure such policy changes would not be harmful to Georgia families.”
That’s why Deal used his influence to arrange three face-to-face, closed-door meetings with state Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham, who proposed the changes. That’s why his congressional chief of staff, a man paid with federal tax dollars, helped to set up those meetings.
It’s also why Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a political ally of Deal, summoned Graham to the meetings and attended two himself. And it’s why Deal’s chief of staff — again, a federal employee — intervened in legislative budget deliberations to successfully preserve the current system.
They did it for Georgia families.
Deal says he did not intend to intimidate Graham by arranging the high-level meetings. But as a former state senator, he knows how such things work. He knows exactly what message those meetings would have communicated to someone in Graham’s position.
Legislators do not supervise department heads; their power to influence agency decisions lies in their control over the budget. Ideally, that power is used to keep agencies responsive to the public, but in practice it is often used to wring political benefit for legislators or their allies.
Take, for example, the case of Rich Thompson, executive secretary of the state Ethics Commission. In that role, Thompson had initiated spot checks of campaign disclosure forms, including those of legislators. He also issued an advisory opinion that candidates who accept flights on corporate jets, and lobbyists who arrange such flights, must disclose them.
Both steps are eminently reasonable. But they apparently didn’t go over well in certain quarters. The ruling on corporate jets, for example, came after House Speaker Glenn Richardson was criticized for accepting a ride on a private jet to a conference in Las Vegas. The jet was provided by a payday-loan company trying to block regulation of their industry. The company had also offered its private jet so that House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart could fly in the style he deserves to a meeting in Dallas.
If such flights didn’t have to be reported, the odds of such embarrassing disclosures would drop to nil.
Still, it was no doubt mere coincidence that earlier this year, the House tried to slash the budget of the already underfunded Ethics Commission by more than $1 million, or well over half its budget. In the final budget the agency’s budget was cut by 30 percent, substantially more than what most agencies suffered.
And last month, Thompson submitted his resignation, effective October. As Dick Pettys of InsiderAdvantage reported last week, conjecture under the Gold Dome is that Thompson was forced out by legislators resentful at how he did his job.
Myself, I’m thinking they did it to protect Georgia families.
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266 comments Add your comment
jconservative
September 1st, 2009
11:26 am
And I appreciate Nathan taking care of me. I have been arguing for years that the role of government is to take care of the people. And I have been successful. Look, 98 million people on medicare/medicaid & SCHIP. Millions more will be taken care of when you baby boomers retire.
And not to mention Social Security – naw – I can’t claim that, happened before I was born. But even little small things like making sure that car I buy is OK (I kick the tires & slam the door) but the government can do it better.
Folks we need to keep good Democrats like Nathan in office to help take care of us.
From cradle to grave – that’s what I always said.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator :-) You Whine :-(
September 1st, 2009
11:28 am
Yeah, Obozo has never used the power of his office to intimidate GM in to firing their CEO, Chrysler to sell itself to the Unions, to threaten the health care industry, etc, etc, etc.
joe matarotz
September 1st, 2009
11:29 am
Jay, I still don’t understand how you can be so spot-on with Georgia politics, and yet so clueless or naive with national politics. Do you have a twin?
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
11:30 am
Well, what good is influence if you don’t use it? It just reaffirms what poor citizens we are for electing this type to represent us. Ethics? I’ve come to the conclusion we all have our price.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
11:35 am
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator
You Whine 
September 1st, 2009
11:28 am
Didn’t George Will basically lay out my strategy? Are you now saying it was a mistake to introduce ground troops?
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:36 am
USinUK
Sorry to topic jump here, but . . .
This was published in the AJC this weekend.:
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/main-proposals-now-before-122572.html
It outlines the proposals in front of our lawmakers. In every proposal, the basis in the mandatory purchase of health insurance by everyone that is not currently on state assistance. i.e., if you aren’t on welfare, you will be required to buy your own health insurance.
The working poor simply cannot afford to buy food for their children and most are above the minimal income level for assistance.
PLEASE drop the terms that the Democrats keep throwing out there. This is not Universal Health Insurance nor is it Free Health Insurance. It is forcing Americans to spend money that they don’t have in this horrible economy.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
11:38 am
jconservative
September 1st, 2009
11:26 am
“John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American politician, a member of the Republican Party, and has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing the 9th congressional district of Georgia. The district, which was numbered as the 10th District from 2003 to 2005, includes most of the north Georgia mountains. It runs along the entire border with Tennessee, part of the border with North Carolina and extends southward to the fringes of the Atlanta metropolitan area.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Deal
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
September 1st, 2009
11:41 am
Well, if you can’t use your political office to get a few favors I don’t know what good it does to get elected. It don’t pay that good. Sure, there’s a few politicans that enter office without two nickels to rub together and they end up with big mansions and private jets and all that stuff, but that’s just what happens when you work hard. On the side, I mean. Ain’t nothing wrong with getting rich. These people that go to work overseeing things for the state might start out trying to do what the book says to do, but the smart ones learn better. They don’t have to quit after they’ve crossed a few politicans.
Have a good lunch everybody. Specially mike. I know he’s a big fan of what I write.
jconservative
September 1st, 2009
11:41 am
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
11:38 am
Really?
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2009
11:42 am
So…what WERE the changes, and would they in fact have adversely impacted his business?
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:43 am
Mrs. Godzilla
Your post said that only businesses that make over $400,000 a year would be penalized.
Sorry to tell you, but if it is a real business and not an internet business that hires no one, it is almost impossible to have employees and make less than $400.000.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
11:44 am
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:36 am
I’m not sure I disagree with you, but food stamps are available:
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10101.html
H.R. 3200 does raise the income limits to qualify for Medicaid.
USinUK
September 1st, 2009
11:46 am
NiF -
“PLEASE drop the terms that the Democrats keep throwing out there. This is not Universal Health Insurance nor is it Free Health Insurance”
sorry I was unclear – I wasn’t saying that’s what the bill does, I was saying that’s what *I’M* for.
Whiner –
has Obama personally enriched himself with any of his decisions in office??? ah. no. nice try, but serious epic flail.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
11:48 am
jconservative
September 1st, 2009
11:41 am
Are you saying he’s a RINO?
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:49 am
TnGelding
I would rather the government allow small businesses to grow and hire more people than to put more people on food stamps. I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with that, but the cost of health insurance for a family of four, even with the 30% discount predicted for government health care is far more than most lower middle class families can afford.
They will be able to recoup some of that money at the end of the year, but that is small relief during the year when they need to feed and cloth and send their children to school.
jt
September 1st, 2009
11:49 am
Just like President Obama,
Americans deserve who they vote for.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator :-) You Whine :-(
September 1st, 2009
11:50 am
TN- George Will is outlining what Bush did for seven years.
No one can say Afghanistan is better now, after Obozo went and inflamed the situation, creating new terrorists, slaughtering innocent women and children, blowing up babies, oh dear, how many more horrors will he perpetrate?
USinUK
September 1st, 2009
11:51 am
NiF –
11:49 –
and that is why single payer is the way to go
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:53 am
USinUK
But you do see that this scam being pushed on the American public will decimate the working poor’s budget don’t you?
I believe that you have Universal Health Care in the UK. Most conservatives are using that as an example of what doesn’t work.
I don’t know what the answer is, other than the government focusing on getting this economy going again, and producing laws which will punish businesses for going offshore with many of their services. NAFTA (Proposed by Bush, Passed by Clinton and a Democratically controlled Congress) probably did more to hurt us than anything.
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:55 am
USinUK
**and that is why single payer is the way to go**
but single payer will only give the people on welfare free insurance. Everyone else will be forced to buy something they can’t afford. Did you read the AJC article?
Brad Steel
September 1st, 2009
11:55 am
I hope he continues his tireless work for Georgia families in the junk car inspection business.
Certainly, he will be canonized with a tiny little statue placed of him place on the dashboard of every car his family inspects.
What a turd.
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2009
11:57 am
“I would rather the government allow small businesses to grow and hire more people”
Here’s the problem with that: the government is not stopping business from hiring anyone, but a business can’t afford to hire people if their sales and revenue are down. And sales and revenue are down, because unamployment is up. As sales and revenue fall, businesses need FEWER people, so they have to let some go. Which means fewer people earning a paycheck, which means fewer people buying goods and services, which means sales and revenue go down. Need I continue?
Healthcare costs are WAY down on the list of why businesses don’t do more hiring. If the sales were there, the revenue would be there, and businesses would be more than happy to pay the insurance costs needed to hire good people.
You DO know what the terms “viscious circle” and “downward spiral” mean, don’t you?
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2009
11:58 am
“but single payer will only give the people on welfare free insurance. Everyone else will be forced to buy something they can’t afford.”
That is only 1 version of single payer…it’s not the ONLY viable option for single payer.
USinUK
September 1st, 2009
11:59 am
NiF –
NAFTA was a reality that couldn’t be fought, only delayed. Even now, the people in Mexico and Central America are seeing their jobs going to China and Thailand. Plus, setting aside manufacturing, NAFTA had nothing to do with the call center jobs that went to India or the IT jobs that went to the Ukraine. it may be convenient to blame Clinton, but the nature of global businesses mean that it was going to happen whoever was in office.
“I believe that you have Universal Health Care in the UK. Most conservatives are using that as an example of what doesn’t work”
what conservatives think of the NHS – feh. I’ll not go into a long schpiel that most everyone here has heard umpteen times. suffice it to say that the NHS isn’t perfect, but I’ll still take it over the US system because I know that, if the worst should befall us healthwise, we won’t lose our house – and if the worst should befall us with our jobs, we won’t lose our healthcare.
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
12:00 pm
I just heard that many of the people that bought cars under the cash for clunkers program can’t get the titles because the car dealers still haven’t been paid.
Can someone please explain why we want to enact a program that forces the working poor to spend money they don’t have to support a system set up by the same people that enacted a failed car buying scheme?
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:05 pm
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:49 am
Yeah, I don’t like the mandates on businesses or individuals. We simply have to make it cheaper to run a business in this country. But the tax penalties proposed would be less than the insurance premiums most businesses pay for thie employees.
Food stamps are for the benefit of the farmers and agribusiness.
What really galls me is small businesspeople are working from dawn to dusk to pay for us retired folks health care but can’t afford any for themselves. Ditto for minimum wage workers. Also all the government workers that we support with our taxes have excellent insurance coverage. Has anyone computed what it would cost to provide the same coverage Congress has to every citizen?
USinUK
September 1st, 2009
12:06 pm
“Can someone please explain why we want to enact a program that forces the working poor to spend money they don’t have to support a system set up by the same people that enacted a failed car buying scheme?”
wow. I missed where anyone was FORCED to buy anything with C4C
and, please learn what a true single-payer system is. a true single-payer system covers everyone from the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor.
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
12:06 pm
USinUK
Yes, we need to fix the system. But without health care, this year our deficit has tripled. That means that we pay enormous amounts in interest on the money we have to borrow. I would rather not give China hundreds of millions a week in interest. These aren’t Chinese banks, this is the Chinese government.
We need to figure something out, but this is not the way to go. It is the worst of your system and the worst of ours. We will still be forced to pay and our health system is going to stink.
People may be able to keep their home unless they are part of the working poor that was never able to buy a home in the first place.
jt
September 1st, 2009
12:07 pm
“Can someone please explain why we want to enact a program that forces the working poor to spend money they don’t have to support a system set up by the same people that enacted a failed car buying scheme?”
AIG, Goldman Sachs, Power, and Money.
You poor people SHALL pay the insurance giants.
And you’ll like it.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:07 pm
jt
September 1st, 2009
11:49 am
Give the rookie a chance. I’m thinking he’s going to be okay.
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
12:08 pm
USinUK
**and, please learn what a true single-payer system is. a true single-payer system covers everyone from the richest of the rich to the poorest of the poor.**
I know how your system works and unfortunately, what is being proposed is nothing like your system.
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
12:10 pm
jt
If single payer goes through, they will just end up paying the government, and we all know how efficient they are.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:10 pm
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator
You Whine 
September 1st, 2009
11:50 am
7 years? Wouldn’t success have ended it before now? Yes, Obo inflamed it, but let’s see if he can put out the fire. I’m sure you’re aware I didn’t support it from the very beginning. But you’re only fooling yourself to say that is what Bush did. We all know better.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:11 pm
USinUK
September 1st, 2009
11:51 am
I agree, but who do you tax and how much to pay for it?
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:13 pm
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:53 am
The working poor should qualify for an expanded Medicaid. Many do now but will not apply.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator :-) You Whine :-(
September 1st, 2009
12:14 pm
TN- As long as Pakistan is unable to control it’s own borders, Obozo will do no better than Bush did no matter what he does.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:16 pm
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
11:53 am
Yeah, and NAFTA was supposed to keep the Mexicans at home. The president needs to appeal to the patriotism of big business to keep us working. We’ve proven we can consume all we can produce if we are.
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
12:16 pm
TnGelding
Medicaid
eeeesh.
I always think of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest when I hear that term.
Gotta run. Have a good day.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:18 pm
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2009
11:57 am
They need customers, not tax cuts.
jt
September 1st, 2009
12:19 pm
jt
“If single payer goes through, they will just end up paying the government, and we all know how efficient they are”
VIA the demonized “middle man” insurance execs.
And they’ll call it “reform”.
Done under the spirit of non-partisonship.
God save us(and my money) from nonpartisonship.
Kamchak
September 1st, 2009
12:21 pm
…they will just end up paying the government, and we all know how efficient they are.
I sent two identical packages from the west coast to Atlanta.
UPS—$14.50 and nine days to deliver.
U.S. Postal Service $4.50 five days to deliver
It seems the government did it in half the time and at less than a third of the cost. So yes, I am one of those who has first hand experience at government efficiency.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:21 pm
Nothing is Free
September 1st, 2009
12:00 pm
It hasn’t failed. It was complicated to protect against fraud and the demand overwhelmed them. Everyone will eventually get paid and get their title. Just look at what short notice they had to get the program up and running. It takes time under the best circumstances with the best people.
@@
September 1st, 2009
12:25 pm
Like I said at Wooten’s once, I’d have a difficult time supporting any politician whose last name was “Deal”.
Deal won his first election on the dem ticket in 1992 and again in 1994. He switched parties in ‘96 and has held the office ever since.
Your petty little piece downstairs?
The 27-year-old teacher at a Baltimore charter school, who has already penned two books, will serve as a once-a-month contributor on topics such as education, Jim Bell, the show’s executive producer, told the wire.
He said the show decided to give Hager a spin after she’d come off as a “natural presence” in two previous appearances on “Today” to promote her book for young adults, “Ana’s Story,” about a young woman born with HIV/AIDS the former president’s daughter met while working as a UNICEF intern in Latin America.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26596.html#ixzz0Psk3XAOj
Gawd forbid she should be invited to talk about things that matter to her. Who does she think she is?
Whoever it was that posted about The King Dynasty exhibited the most blatant assault on affirmative action by children who should know better.
Barack Obama is no better. Through some messianic miracle he was able to shove himself back into his mother’s uterus so he could claim to have been conceived as a result of Bloody Sunday in Selma — using MLK’s legacy to propel himself to the highest office in the land.
He took the low road to get there, IMHO.
…and to make matters worse, he delivered his Selma address in jive. How insulting can this man be?
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:26 pm
jt
September 1st, 2009
12:19 pm
Yeah, the insurance companies have to be eliminated. They can provide secondary coverage for those that desire it.
Kamchak
September 1st, 2009
12:27 pm
The President needs to appeal to the patriotism of big business to keep us working.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
(Whew!) That was funny.
Joey
September 1st, 2009
12:27 pm
When is Jenna’s first scheduled appearance on the Today show?
Doggone/GA
September 1st, 2009
12:27 pm
“They need customers, not tax cuts”
That’s right. That’s why “trickle down” is not, and never will be, a viable “stimulus.” Because the rich can’t possibly buy enough to offset the millions of “little people” who CAN’T buy.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 1st, 2009
12:29 pm
TN Gelding @ 11:38
When Nathan Deal first ran to replace the retiring Ed Jenkins (D) he was a Democrat. In 1995, early in his second term, he switched to the Republican Party.
Disclaimer: Deal is my Congressman and I wouldn’t take him to a dog fight if I knew he’d win.
TnGelding
September 1st, 2009
12:33 pm
Kamchak
September 1st, 2009
12:27 pm
May be, but it never hurts to try. What are they thinking? Paying out huge severance packages they’ll probably never recoup. Where would the economy be if they hadn’t layed off 8 million workers in the last 20 months?
Zip
September 1st, 2009
12:33 pm
The salvaged auto inspection racket in this state is such a huge scam. It requires that people who are already in a bind because their car has been totaled by their useless, scumbag auto insurance company pay out the wazoo to have it “Certified” by these mobsters so they can get a tag after it’s been fixed. Yes, I am still bitter 2 years after having been hosed by these Salvage dirtbags and the state corruptocrats that protect and employ them…..