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Political Insider

Behind S.B. 200 and the e-mail of outrage

12:04 am April 4, 2009, by jgalloway

The strangest interlude in a night of strange interludes in the state Capitol came during debate over S.B. 200, the bill to strip power from the board that governs the state Department of Transportation, and divide that power between the governor and the Legislature.

State Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) rose to discuss a topic “probably more important than anything else that I have addressed from the well of the Senate.”

Smith spoke of the arrogance of the DOT board. “How many times have road projects been tabled in front of you by board members who act as though they are kings of their own taxpayer-funded fiefdom?”

The senator spoke of a six-mile transportation project in Bartow County, within his district, that would connect U.S. 411 to I-75. For three decades, he said, that has “held the dubious distinction of being the longest unfunded road project in Georgia.”

Smith called it the single most important project in his Senate district. The senator then told of a 12:58 p.m. text message he had received from David Doss, the DOT board member for the 11th congressional district.

Smith had that message flashed on the video screens that hang at the front of the chamber. Wrote Doss:

I need you to help kill SB 200. I have US411 where it can be under contract in 12 months from now. If SB200 is passed, 411 is dead! Forget politics. Help! D. Doss.

Pretty damning stuff. Smith declared himself “outraged” at the “bare-knuckle” attempt to influence his vote. “In my view it is immoral, unethical, and it is quite probably illegal. It is offensive beyond words,” Smith said.

He urged his colleagues to vote for S.B. 200 “exactly because you are under threat if you don’t.”

It was a thunderous speech, and provoked wild applause from Republican senators in the chamber.

That caused state Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Powder Springs), to rise in defense of Doss, a family friend. Thompson persuaded Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle to give him two minutes in the well. “I don’t think you would want for the integrity of a good man to be attacked without having his side told,” Thompson said.

Once there, the Powder Springs senator pulled out hand-copied versions of more e-mail communication, between Doss and Senate President pro tem Tommie Williams (R-Lyons). Thompson first read an e-mail from Doss to Williams sent at 5:50 p.m.:

Here is the text I sent to Preston: If SB 200 passes, we will lose the 411 project because the Gov. is tight with the Rollins [family]. If you think I did something illegal, please call the GBI and report me.

(Reached by his cell phone as midnight approached, Doss said that Gov. Sonny Perdue “has been meeting privately over the last two years” with members of the Rollins family, one of the wealthiest in Atlanta — known for its diverse holdings, including Orkin, the pest control company. The Rollins family has land affected by the U.S. 411/I-75 connection, and has opposed it, Doss said.)

Thompson continued, reading Williams’ e-mailed answer to Doss at 5:52 p.m.:

I have the text.

And Doss’ reply back to Williams at 5:55 p.m.:

Do you need the [GBI] number?

And Williams to Doss at 5:57 p.m.:

I don’t need a number. I just do not want my senators threatened.

And from Doss to Williams at 5:59 p.m.:

It was not a threat in any way. This project is critical to Rome & we will lose it if SB 200 passes because Sonny has a close relationship with [the] Rollins.

Thompson finished by reading an e-mail from Doss to Smith, sent at 6:34 p.m.:

Let me be clear. My text in no way a threat. It’s as simple as 200. We’ll lose it because of Sonny’s relationship with Gary Rollins.

“I think you ought to tell the whole story,” Thompson finished.

Cagle chastised the Powder Springs senator for revealing the private conversations of other senators. “We’ve never gone there in the Senate, and we’re not going to start,” he said.

A spokesman for Perdue declined comment.

After the episode on the floor, Thompson said that he has heard many threats during his career in politics. But he’d never heard one end with the plea of “Help!”

S.B. 200, by the way, passed by a partisan vote of 33-22.

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32 comments Add your comment

Keith

April 4th, 2009
12:10 am

David Doss is a loose cannon and should have already been sacked by the 11th district delegation.

Ken F.

April 4th, 2009
1:17 am

David Doss is simply defending the DOT Board. This unconstitutional power grab( SB 200) will not stand up to judicial scrutiny.

Will Jones - Atlanta

April 4th, 2009
7:27 am

Thanks Jim for giving those ignorant of the personalities involved, like me, a look at the “nuts and bolts” of politics outside of Atlanta.

If the people of Rome and Floyd County want to improve their access to I-75 and the backers of George Bush will feel “pinched,” it’s a “no-brainer.”

The “Big Money” backers of George Bush, and all that his treasonous, deviant faction has done to America, must, by the hand of The People, be forestalled from doing any more damage. In 1776 we took their lands and burned them out. Most were quick enough to move to Canada or back to England.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The corrupt, misguided rich, and their hirelings in Congress and in Georgia politics fronting for fascist plutocracy, must be made to pay a great price for what they have permitted to be visited upon The People…or Freedom and the American Dream shall disappear.

Tyranny and oppression by ruling elites had been the norm in human history until America was founded. Only here, by design, is The People sovereign.

Recently a TV personality suggested on CNN that Bush and his extended family should be forced to forfeit all their wealth because of what he did to Our Country. I believe he should forfeit his life, as well, for committing 9/11.

Where is the “line” drawn? He had help. Sonny Perdue lacked the Grace to know what evil he was promoting or to hinder it, or he was in on it. Same with the Republican donors of the Rollins family.

If your own dog nips you and you do nothing about it, who’s to blame when it takes a bite out of you?

Chris Broe

April 4th, 2009
8:09 am

Well, Will, it is a dog eat Alpo world, my friend. Be Kibbles. Be Bits. But don’t expect any scraps from the tabled issues at the assembly.

I don’t know what that means. Now I’m frightened.

Will Jones - Atlanta

April 4th, 2009
9:15 am

True Americans believe in, and are obedient to, The Creed: “E Pluribus Unum” says each of us is a sovereign individual, not a “kibble,” or “bit” to be gnawed upon by others. When the “others” is an organized faction usurping The People it is noxious and abhorrent and must be removed. “Annuit Coeptis” says that removal shall be guided by Truth and Justice. Righteousness must lead Our Nation. This is why we shall prosper once more.

The Truty wiill Rise

April 4th, 2009
9:39 am

Preston Smiht is disgusting! For a man who was asked to leave the Senate floor on the last night of the 2008 Session for being drunk and having alcohol in a cup on the Senate floor to call anyone unethical is beyond comprehension! Ask Sen. Eric Johnson of Savannah about this little issue. Preston is the one who passed tort reform and now works as Vice President of a large medical malpractice insurance company. Talk about quid pro quo!! he is one who should be looking at jail, not David Doss. Sen. Steve Thompson is a hero also standing up for a man who was wrongly done and Casey Cagle is a disgusting for chastising him. This republican bunch are the biggest hyprocrites ever and have governed to the disgrace and embarassment of Georgia! Oh, Preston, how is your little girlfriend in the Senate Budget office that you were seeing while married and Youth Pastor of a church here in Rome? still seeing her? I won’t use her name, she is innoccent in all this. Preston Smith was and is a buffoon. Just FYI….I am a Floyd County resident and know both men.

juanita driggs

April 4th, 2009
10:09 am

More proof positive that seriously dumbed-down Georgia voters(those who actually do vote) get exactly what they deserve. It’s simply a microcosm of what goes on in Washington every day. We, the citizens, are the ones to blame. No one else!

Jim Callihan

April 4th, 2009
10:13 am

Hey Mr Senate President!
QUOTE:Cagle chastised the Powder Springs senator for revealing the private conversations of other senators. “We’ve never gone there in the Senate, and we’re not going to start,” he said.:::END QUOTE:::

This is why all of politics is so #W$%$, uhhh, “messed” up. How about putting some integrity into representation? I could not imagine the hell you would unleash if several of your EMPLOYEES were plotting what to do with YOUR company resources…APART FROM YOUR INPUT…OR WORSE…INSUBORDINATION!!! Hello, Mr Senate President, et al “Georgia Servants” – NEWSFLASH!!! That whole “not going to start” comment just cost many of you a re-election loss. Attitudes such as that are UNFIT to work for ANY employer, let alone…and especially, THE PUBLIC. BYE!

Daedalus

April 4th, 2009
10:52 am

Hey Y’all, Enjoy Your Car because you will now be stuck in treaffic for at least another 10 years courtesy of the Georgia GOP.

Maybe get some books on tape. Improve your mind. Once your IQ gets above 75 you either have to move inside 285 or out of state — because outside the perimeter, its Idiotsville.

Anyone know the quickest way to Alabama from Little 5 Points?

20 miles in any direction. Once you are outside 285 its all Alabama.

Jack McMillan

April 4th, 2009
11:14 am

I’m a life long Republican BUT I am sickened by the actions of State Senators and Representatives
at the state capitol. They are acting just as the Republicans in Washington did when they were in charge.
Are they so dumb and short sighted that they can’t see how they are acting in the same manner?
Do they not care about doing what is right for Georgia as a whole and not what is just right for
Mercer Reynolds, the Rollins family and Sonny Perdue? (and Sonny, I wish you would take your
sorry azz back to the democrat party where you belong).

Austin Rhodes

April 4th, 2009
12:19 pm

Smith is the same guy who deep sixed the Death Penalty improvements…screw him and the horse he rode in on.

Driver8

April 4th, 2009
12:32 pm

Commuter rail, MARTA and other non-road programs were just set back also. Wait until gas gets back to $4 a gallon.

The Email of the Day — Peach Pundit

April 4th, 2009
12:50 pm

[...] Geez. There are days I think we ought to blow it all up and start over — metaphorically of course. And I think we did last night. [...]

James

April 4th, 2009
1:49 pm

Hey, Will – there are medications out there to help you.

Just Nasty & Mean

April 4th, 2009
5:08 pm

Just ’cause Sonny is a teetotaler and the other politicians don’t smoke, doesn’t mean the people’s business is not conducted in “smoke filled back rooms”.

Don’t think Tom Murphy and the other DemocRats weren’t worse. If the legislators and politically-connected didn’t suck up to the point he felt you should–your azz was grass. Many ‘o politicians have had their districts gerrymandered out of existence for crossing Murphy.

I will say this: The more I learn about Cagle, the more I get turned off. He comes across as the quintessential back-room flim-flam man.

Ann Nelson

April 4th, 2009
5:57 pm

Casey Cagle is toast! this guy didn’t have what it takes to even graduate from college and now he shows he doesn’t have what it takes to govern the state Senate. According the newspaper, he gave all rights by the State Senate to have an equal voice in the issue over this Planning Director for the Ga DOT. Hey, casey? when you are Governor you gonna give the inheritance to Alabama? This guy along with that hypocrite named Preston Smith should pack up and move to Ala, Chicago, Uganda, Siberia, anywhere! Just leave Georgia and let us work to find honest, ethical leadership. Preston Smith is just pathetic. Good thing the other Senator showed him for what he was, a liar and hypocrite.

Cooter

April 4th, 2009
6:01 pm

I think the truth did rise last night. To respond by lashing out at the person bringing the truth is simply proof that Sen. Smith hit the mark. If he has skeletons that doesnt’ matter with regard to this issue. Let’s focus on the issue! Fix transportation! It’s broken. I’m GLAD to say that I DON’T live in Floyd County! Steve Thompson is no hero, by the way. He’s a friendly but strange gent who doesn’t know when to keep his seat in the Senate.

The Truth Will Rise

April 4th, 2009
6:20 pm

Dear Cooter, did you not read the full content of those emails? Preston Smith is a liar and and hypocrite and everyone from lobbyists and legislators to memebers of the media know what went on the last night of the 2008 Session. For him to call into question anyone’s ethics is absurd. Preston took one portion of the email and tried to make David Doss look like he threatened him. Well, Cooter, read all the emails. JUST FYI……don’t be protecting Preston too much, there is more. There are other emails…….ones Sonny and Preston would rather the press never get a copy of. Why is Preston and Sonny protecting the Rollins family? Did you know that Hwy 411 was #1 on the Presient’s list of transportation projects (Pres. Bush that is)? Why don’t you call Phil Gringrey’s office and ask them why Gena Evans, Sonny and Preston have been trying to stop that road? Oh, Cooter, I would quiet right now. There is some very damning evidence out there on this issue and this is one time, thank God, Steve Thompson did not keep his seat!

GoOx

April 4th, 2009
7:01 pm

Now it’s time for the true leader to take over, my man Ox.

KarendaBomb

April 4th, 2009
7:10 pm

There is only one person in the race who has shown that they have the capability to move Georgia forward.

That is Karen Handel.

She has done an awesome job as SoS, and a great job in Fulton County. She has proven that she can build coalitions and get the job done.

The Senate has been leaderless for the last three sessions. If Cagle can’t lead the senate how can he lead the state. During the course of the session, I watched both Cagle and the Speaker run their respective operations.no contest, the speaker was in control.

i didn’t watch last night, but according to news reports the house was done early, and the speaker was waiting on Cagle, because Cagle could not get the job done.

Cooter

April 4th, 2009
7:48 pm

Now you’re attacking ME? Weird! I guess that’s just a liberal tactic. If there’s so much information and evil intent, GET SPECIFIC! Quit tip toeing around, weirdo! Let’s see it! It’s always odd trying to listen to crazies that have no life and type on blogs, but I’m willing to listen. Go ahead. Type away. I’m sure you have nothing else to do on a Saturday night!

The Truth Will Rise

April 4th, 2009
9:37 pm

Dear Cooter, I wasn’t attacking you just hated to see you defend Preston Smith when he doesn’t deserve it. I am not tiptoeing around the issue. All the evidence will definitely surface in the near future but right now, not putting it all in print to give Sonny and Preston and advantage. Unfortunately for them, information is never really deleted in cyber space. Agree transportation is broken and needs to be addressed. However, the Governor’s bill to overhaul DOT was not handled in a thoughtful manner examining all aspects of impact prior to passage. Just look at Jim Galloway’s latest postings on the consequences of the bill. Should there be change, yes. The way in which this one was handled was not about change but rather about the Gov wanting to shut some of the Board members up who were not supporting his girl Gena. This whole DOT overhaul was about a vendetta. That never makes for good policy.

GRITS

April 5th, 2009
1:00 pm

Dear Cooter, You are right … she (the truty wiill rise) is a weirdo that can’t spell. Obviously she is one the Doss cheerleaders he was parading around the Capitol on the 40th Day as unregistered lobbyists. That should be evidence enough that she has no life. Senator Smith did the right thing and that is why he is now being attacked personally. They can’t defend the outright threat in the text so they try to change the discussion by throwing mud. Rock on Governor and Senator Smith.

Jim Callihan

April 5th, 2009
1:01 pm

Whoa NELLIE! Did I not read the name “Karen Handel” as “the one person in the race who has shown the capability to move Georgia Forward”?

Question – what is her current position? And did she not campaign on the promise to provide honest elections by way of “traceable paper voting machine receipts”? How’s that going, Karen? Looks like the “nataional machine” got to you on that one and pre-programmable Diebold computers still tally our votes, no?

Anyone ignorant as to how this works, there are numerous videos on C-Span and YouTube with none-other than the very software engineer from Altamonte Springs Florida who testified before Congress on the machine’s ability to rig elections. Karen is fully aware of this and that’s why her promises were made about “paper receipts”. Many states have just such a system – where precinct results are printed BEFORE the drives are removed and turned into county election supervisors.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

KarendaBomb

April 5th, 2009
2:06 pm

Jim Callihan,
So who killed JFK? Nothing like a good conspiracy theory.

Will Jones - Atlanta

April 5th, 2009
3:00 pm

Richard Nixon, George Herbert Walker Bush, and the Knight of Malta-led Roman Catholic CIA killed John Kennedy. Re: Jury Judgment U.S. Federal District Court of Southern Florida ‘Hunt v. Liberty Lobby.’ See “Plausible Denial,” Mark Lane.

Any who don’t “know” this, don’t want to know it…or approve.

Jeffersonian Exegesis http://theamericanfundament.blogspot.com

Doss Sux

April 5th, 2009
4:10 pm

David Doss is now, and always has been, only out for his buddy buddy road builders, and no one else. If Sen. Steve Thompson thinks a slimeball like Doss has integrity, then I question Thompson’s own integrity.

The Truth Will Rise

April 5th, 2009
4:24 pm

I am a male and live in Floyd County. This makes me laugh that Grits and others must think I am someone else. If it is female as implied, I only hope she is good looking. I am afraid I am not, I own a mirror. Sen. Thompson read the whole email chain according to the Political Insider and that in and of itself, showed there was not threat. The truth is that Sonny has never wanted us to have Hwy 411 due to his relationship with the Rollins family. Well, eventually, we will have our road and he will be thankfully back in Bonaire.

GRITS

April 7th, 2009
12:14 pm

A threat is a threat even if you backpeddle all day and night. Be a man, own your threats. BTW, “good looking” to you would be what the rest of us call “trailer park trash”.

Jim Callihan

April 9th, 2009
7:10 am

“Conspiracy: When two or more people conspire to commit a crime.”
How silly to think that EVER HAPPENS in government?

KarendaDumb: Who were the last three winners of American Idol?

Jim Callihan

April 9th, 2009
5:12 pm

Meanwhile, back to the subject of failing to keep campaign promises – here is what KH knew, took a pledge to defend, but did just the opposite: http://cpsr.org/act/contest/4vote1/ thereby exposing voters in GA to potential fraud and rigged elections. I can certainly understand why a politician would want this sort of thing postponed, especially when seeking the states highest office.

affiliatefreeprogramaholic

August 31st, 2009
10:48 am

Excuse me, I think such a blog is really my dream blog, do you need a partner?