Your morning jolt: The mixed message on toll roads

Lure voters with a petition issue, then sell them the candidate. That seems to be the new trend in political campaigning.

Karen Handel, the Republican candidate for governor, is doing that with her states’ rights campaign. GOP rival John Oxendine is doing the same with President Barack Obama and health care. Kasim Reed, the Atlanta mayoral candidate, has held a petition drive on crime.

Now John Albers, running to replace Dan Moody (R-Roswell) in the state Senate, is doing it with tolls on Georgia 400.

“When it was built, the state promised it would only operate the tolls until the road was paid for, yet it remains in place today. Transportation leaders across the state should be embarrassed by this failure to live up to their end of the bargain,” Albers says at his Web site, teardownthetoll.com.

But life is full of ironies. Oxendine wants his east Atlanta connector _ basically an extension of Georgia 400 to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport _ funded with tolls.

And my AJC colleague Ariel Hart writes today that the dearth of transportation funding has forced planners to look at even more pay-to-drive solutions:

New toll lanes would run above or alongside all the major highways of metro Atlanta, if state officials adopt a proposal by the state Department of Transportation’s staff.

But there are still plenty of questions to answer.

Among the potentially controversial parts of the plan: On the Downtown Connector and part of I-20 inside the Perimeter, the state would take an existing regular lane of traffic — in addition to any HOV lanes they would toll — and put a toll on it, because it’s too expensive to build more lanes in those places.

Media Matters, a liberal organization that monitors the conservative dialogue, thinks it has caught U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Marietta) in an insensitive chuckle in a discussion about the 14,000 Americans who lose their health insurance ever day.

But in truth, this sounds more like a despairing guffaw. Roll tape:

Steve Pagliuca, co-owner of the Boston Celtics, announced Thursday that he’s in the race to succeed U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

The ad below began airing this morning. We include it because the man in charge of Pagliuca’s TV image is Howard Mead, the former Roy Barnes aide _ whom we hadn’t heard from since his unsuccessful run in 2004 for a seat on the state Court of Appeals. Again, roll tape:

While you ponder the above, consider these items found while perusing this morning’s ajc.com:

Soldier from Peachtree City killed in Afghanistan.

UGA’s Adams atop short list as next NCAA president.

Sandy Springs planning board says no to Scientology church.

Grady dialysis patients may not get care in other states.

Atlanta mayoral hopefuls talk with Airport Area Chamber.

Gov. Perdue to state: Don’t do business with ACORN.

Some opinion:

Jim Wooten wonders whether ACORN did work in Afghanistan.

Sports homage hurts students.

Nuclear agency needs independent appointees.

From elsewhere in Georgia:

Macon Telegraph: Houston County attorney nominated to be new U.S. attorney.

ABC: UGA geneticist gets $2M in stimulus funding.

And beyond:

WP: Housing agency’s cash reserves will drop below requirement.

NYT: New missile shield strategy scales back Reagan’s vision.

WSJ: Bankers face sweeping curbs on pay.

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