Comments on: A fact check on taxes and the Atlanta mayoral race

By: Mary Norwood campaign gets down and very dirty | Fresh Loaf

Mary Norwood campaign gets down and very dirty | Fresh Loaf — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:55:04 +0000

[...] though the AJC’s Jim Galloway offered a self-described “fact check on taxes” that thoroughly rebutted Norwood’s claims: My AJC colleague Cameron McWhirter and other reporters spent weeks vetting the major mayoral [...]

By: Mayor’s race tidbits for Monday — Updated | Fresh Loaf

Mayor’s race tidbits for Monday — Updated | Fresh Loaf — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:01:43 +0000

[...] to the press. But the AJC’s top investigative reporter has already seen the docs and decided there was nothing to the charge. Reed said there was no truth to the [...]

By: IdaHere

IdaHere — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:36:33 +0000

Kasim Reed is the best candidate to run our forward-moving city. When you compare his record of accomplishments for the City of Atlanta as a State Representative and State Senator with Mary Norwood’s record of accomplishments as a City-wide council woman for the past eight years, there’s no question as to which candidate has a grasp of policies, procedures and needed favorable contacts to do a great job for our city.

His supporters represent all Atlantans, Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Latinos. The fact that his endorsements come from a cross-section of elected officials on both the city and state levels, speaks volumes as to his leadership for progress. We Atlantans are proud of the great legacy that Maynard Jackson left for the city of Atlanta,”a city to busy to hate.” Jackson brought Atlanta from a slow moving southern town to a well-respected international city that hosted the Olympics in 1996. We need progressive leadership to continue this great legacy!

Do your due dilligence and look up the records of both candidates for yourself and you will not be persuaded by all the hoopla and opinions of other bloggers.

Reed is the only candidate who mentions taking positive measures on behalf of our youth. By making the recreation centers “cities of hope”, our youth will be on the right path to becoming productive civic leaders. Reed sponsored legislation to end child prostitution in Atlanta.and has a handle on how to deal with gangs to make our neighborhoods and business communities more safe. He sponsored and passed State Legislation to cut senior citizens’ taxes by increasing the City of Atlanta’s exemption for seniors from $15,000.00 to $25,000, as well as implemented a tax freeze for seniors all over Fulton County.

Reed is a member of Leadership Georgia and received the “Statesman of the Year” award from the East Point American Legion in 2004. As our State Senator, Reed was always accessible, listened to what we needed and delivered. He is very humble, knowledgeable, approachable and knows how to work across party-lines to get results to benefit the people!

As an educator, I was particularly impressed when Reed voted for substantial education reform legislation that requires stricter discipline provisions in schools and bonds to build 5,000 new classrooms and related facilities to reduce pupil-teacher ratio. Thanks Reed for delivering for teachers!

Reed is the best person to represent Atlanta not only locally but on a state, national and international basis. He is well educated, articulate, knows, and believes in Atlanta. Yes, I can envision his skill set taking him further and further as a great servant leader!

Reed for NOW, Reed for the future of Atlanta-Georgia-USA!

By: @confused and poltical oracle

@confused and poltical oracle — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:49:47 +0000

reed is more of the same don’t u get it he is a product of his enviornment and that enviornment is the machine. he has been mentored by the best the black contract driven airport no bidding elite and he has not gotten down and dirty in the trenches with the commnon folk such as mary i really don’t know what to think when it comes to these poiliticans sometimes i feel i’m voting for the less of two evils. I met reed … interesting then i met mary … engaging sincere and ozzing with optimisim reed is definetly the poloticain when i look at him that is all i see is a politician… basically more of the same… machine!!!!

By: Your morning jolt: Ground and air attacks in the ATL race for mayor | Political Insider

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:00:18 +0000

[...] Those claims don’t match with an AJC inquiry into Reed’s taxes, a summary of which can be found here. [...]

By: Randy Rogers, Lenox Heights

Randy Rogers, Lenox Heights — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:05:06 +0000

The real issue here is paying of taxes on time and is that important.

While it does appear that reed did pay them, it troubles me that he has a track record, year after year, of not paying ontime and thus paying the big penalties. Frankly, that’s not good sound personal (or business) financial management as the fees are so high in Fulton.

This does not reflect well for Reed. It’s important to have one’s personal house in order before wanting to help others.

By: Confused

Confused — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:19:24 +0000

Why is Kasim seen as corrupt?

The claims against Mary are that she cannot manage the city and does not have the fortitude to be a mayor of an international city (or just big city if you prefer). However, with Kasim, the argument is always that he’s corrupt, unethical, and apart of this black political machine that runs the city. All these things either have not been shown or cannot be shown. The partly ficticious and partly real political machine will never be evidenced to be real or not since some think any black politician is apart of some larger black political machine (i mean how else could they get in office; certainly not fairly). Then there is all this corruption and unethical talk. Kasim is a state congressman and an attorney at a large law firm. He would be fired rather quickly if any real ethical issues came up and he would be sanctioned surely by those kind, diverse gentlemen in congress.

If he is corrupt, I just want to know its for more than being black and being endorsed by black people.

By: Where’s Mary, indeed — Norwood is strangely out of sight | Fresh Loaf

Where’s Mary, indeed — Norwood is strangely out of sight | Fresh Loaf — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:55:34 +0000

[...] The next day, the AJC’s Jim Galloway did a long blog post explaining that his publication hadn’t overlooked Reed’s taxes. In fact, he explained, investigative reporter Cam McWhirter had spent quite a while looking [...]

By: MC W

MC W — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:08:20 +0000

^I can be pretty specific about what harm a machine works: allegiances. It’s certainly less fantastic to assume that Kasim would be beholden to certain vending monopolies at the airport, for instance, than it is to assume that Mary would replace phones with automated answering machines in City Hall. I can’t say my life is in shambles, as an Atlantan, because of a little less-than-competitive bidding over airport contracts, but we in Norwood’s base believe that such *corruption* has to stop.

That’s not it, though. He acts like he has this whole thing wrapped up, even when asked how to appeal to the disenfranchised: “I think they’ll come around”. Even his radio ad implied that he was “next in line” and deserved to “have the torch passed on” to him. That’s clearly evocative of a “machine” that produces a line of tepid mayorship.

Question for all Atlantans: do we want to style ourselves a monarchy or a democracy?

By: Eukayote

Eukayote — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:18:10 +0000

Someone please tell me what’s so bad about the “Jackson machine.” Be specific. I ask because I am absolutely terrified of a “Norwood machine.” What would it do? Make every city department heavily reliant on robocalls and automated call systems, or shell out contracts to Mary’s cabal of help desk industry buddies?
She would probably try to make sure that Reed doesn’t carry out his promise to get real live people to answer the phones at city departments, Mary runs a robocall company, so it should some as no surprise that her supporters/workers have ridiculed Reed’s insistence on human customer service.