Let’s be honest: Chip Rogers is being paid to go away
Can we at least be honest about this?
Sen. Chip Rogers had become an embarrassment to the Georgia Senate that he served as majority leader, to the Georgia Republican Party and to the entire state of Georgia. His strange obsessions, from a ban on involuntary chip implantation to conspiracy theories about Agenda 21, made him a laughingstock nationwide. His long-concealed history in the sports gambling business and ethical questions, including efforts to wriggle out of responsibility for a defaulted bank loan, compounded the embarrassment.
But most importantly, as majority leader, Rogers helped to preside over a state Senate that had become dysfunctional. He needed to be gone. After voters in his north Georgia district were given the chance to do so but failed, other means had to be arranged.
So last month, Rogers was informed that if he sought another term as majority leader he would lose. At the same time, he was also quietly offered a nice, cushy little job, arranged by the governor, at Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Put bluntly, he is being paid to go away, using state money and a make-work job as the carrot. In fact, the job in question is so new and amorphous that no one in state government even knows what it will pay.
Here’s a portion of the GPB press release, in which is it is announced that Rogers is being hired to create a “new programming initiative that will examine current economic development trends and spotlight job-creating companies throughout the state”:
“GPB has a long history of serving Georgians with programming that is relevant to career and consumer issues, said Nancy Zintak, vice president of marketing and communications of GPB. “We have long wanted to create a forum for our communities to learn about jobs in Georgia and areas of growth around the state.”
Right. With all the budget problems faced by Georgia, this is the state’s most pressing need, the place where we need to put new money. And in saying that GPB had “long wanted” to create such programming, “long wanted” should be understood to mean ever since the governor’s office contacted the agency and told them to put Rogers on the payroll.
Your tax dollars, at work.
– Jay Bookman
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216 comments Add your comment
Brosephus™
December 5th, 2012
10:52 am
Acutally it’s the bullet that kills the person
Wrong. Depending on the projectile used, a ball round will likely produce an entry and exit wound. If no vital organs are hit, it’s likely the person can survive the wound. If a hollow point round is used, then the damage to the body is what kills the person.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 5th, 2012
10:52 am
appleseed:
“Ballistic expert,you make it sound so simple.”
It is ……….. never point a weapon at someone you don’t intend to shoot.
And if you ever do kill someone that way you didn’t “intend” to kill them.
You merely:
“Rendered them incapable of continuing the act which prompted you to shoot.”
Just trying to be helpful.
Tom
December 5th, 2012
10:53 am
Chip Rodgers is going to give his analysis on economic development and job-creating. This from a guy who stuck the tax payers a bank with a multi-millon dollar loan loss on a run down motel.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 5th, 2012
10:55 am
Brosephus:
Kind of like a physics professor I once had who said that due to molecular sub-atomic structure that no two objects actually ever touched ………….. but for purposes of sex and hand grenades it was close enough.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 5th, 2012
10:55 am
P.S.
My 10:52 of course means the “legal” use of a firearm for self-defense.
Brosephus™
December 5th, 2012
11:00 am
Scout
I’m saving that 10:55
gette
December 5th, 2012
11:38 am
How ironic, because this is exactly the kind of payout that Amendment 1 would provide Principals of the newly annointed Charter Schools dictated by the new State CMTE that we don’t need. And who manipulated that? THE CHIPSTER!
GT
December 5th, 2012
11:57 am
Spending more than we bring in. We should not be in the market for war material or even mapping any events of war if this is our agenda. A fugal family does not plan an elaborate Christmas party, they just op out that they cannot afford this nonsense. Don’t have the party then tell your neighbors you cannot afford to buy Girl Scout cookies it is not in your budget. Be one way or the other not what is convenient to your agenda.
Jo Livingston
December 5th, 2012
1:18 pm
I read this story and it is all opinion. I guess we all know what they say about opinions, “They are like ——–, everybody’s got one.”
Patrick Thompson
December 5th, 2012
1:29 pm
He’ll be broadcasting about Education and Business? two subjects he knows little about, but, then again, he’ll just be reading scripts. Please don’t let this gambler near the GPB high school sports reports…
Small Town Writer
December 5th, 2012
3:12 pm
Gosh, this time GPB and the Governor aren’t even being subtle. So Chip will be infecting public broadcasting with HIS “take” on economic development in Georgia. A nice bit of free statewide advertising for the Deal – no pun intended – Administration.
James
December 5th, 2012
10:51 pm
I can’t imagine that the honorable Gov. Deal (R) would do something so shady. This article implies that the good Gov. ORDERED a state agency to create a position to hire this guy. Surly the new position was posted publicly and Chip was hired only after an intensive round of interviews. It goes without saying that Chip was selected as the best candidate for the job after going through the same process as anyone else in this great State. To imply that Chip got the job on a direct order from the Governor is beyond the pale. No one is going to convince me that our righteous Republican Governor would ever do such a thing.
IamAlwaysRight
December 6th, 2012
10:41 am
So he was a spokesperson for a sports betting company before State Senator. Was that a criminal or unethical act? I don’t see it. Is that what all you crazy people have a problem with?
Or he held a meeting on Agenda 21, which is nothing more that high density urban planning. Boring stuff to most of us, but important for future land use of Metro Atlanta. Is that the problem? Again, I don’t see it.
I apologize for not jumping on the Chip punching bag bandwagon. All you’re really doing is trying to guess why he resigned. Why attack him? Why is corruption assumed? It would make sense to assume corruption or unethical acts if he was Mayor of Atlanta. There’s a long history of that. But this guy is a decent guy and a pretty good statesman.
Its ironic, half the negative statements about Chip were for his view on “theories”. Yet, the comments are all theories as to why he resigned. You all bore me.
catlady
December 6th, 2012
11:30 am
Yeah, we have plenty of money to pay this joker for a non-essential job while kids are not even getting a full year of instruction. Kind of a Go Fish!, Nathan Deal version.
Hilarious
December 6th, 2012
5:08 pm
Thank God this state is run by Republicans, otherwise this guy would be handed a new job through crony corruption!
Why do Democrats hate America and children?
Rick G Woodstock
December 7th, 2012
1:00 am
Was it last year that Chip and the Boys chopped down the Hope Scholarship? Despite that this state has the money to give him a parachute? Why don’t we take that money and put 5 kids who deserve it through College?