Your morning jolt: DuBose Porter declares it possible to be both a Christian and a Democrat

The Sandy Springs gathering of the Georgia Christian Alliance on Saturday featured appearances by nearly every Republican candidate of note – and one Democrat in particular.

House Speaker David Ralston of Blue Ridge, whose colorful predecessor was known for crossing certain moral boundaries, issued the mandatory mea culpa for the Legislature:

“I think that it’s time that conservatives act like conservatives in every phase of public office….We’re not going to blow it like the other party has in this state.”

Speaker pro tem Jan Jones dropped some policy hints, ruling out the use the cigarette tax or any another increased levy on sin to close the budget gap. Jones also had some disappointing news about the governor’s transportation plan:

“I think it’s going to be roads more than transit. Transit may be a small part of it. But people still like to get into their cars and go.”

More on that topic later.

It was House Minority Leader DuBose Porter who attracted the most curiosity from Christian conservative attendees. They inspected the Democratic candidate for cloven hooves and a tail. None were in sight.

In his opening statement during a forum for eight (!) candidates for governor, Porter said:

“I am tired of people saying that you can’t be a Christian and a Democrat. Because I am. My faith is important to me, it’s important to my family. I’m a Christian, my wife is a Christian. I was raised in the church. She was a well. We have raised our four boys in the church.

“I’ve been on the administrative board of the First United Methodist Church in Dublin. My wife is on the board now. She teaches Sunday school, she was head of Bible school. She was head of missions for our church. I was an Eagle Scout. Our four sons are Eagle Scouts….”

And so on. It was a good day for Porter, whose legislative efforts to go after sales tax scofflaws were endorsed by many of his GOP rivals. Porter even drew the only heckler of the afternoon, who was quickly escorted out.

Porter went back to religion in his closing remarks:

“If you’re not going to vote for me, I do want to ask you to do this: Pray for me. And pray that God’s will be done in this election. I believe that to my very core.”

During that debate among gubernatorial candidates, moderator Dick Williams pressed the octet on transportation:

–U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, the Republican from Gainesville, said he agreed that the state has lacked serious transportation planning, and embraced light rail and more roads. He called Gov. Sonny Perdue’s regional SPLOST proposal a step in the right direction, but favors an earlier vote. Perdue wants a statewide referendum in 2012.

– State Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) said he’s already on record favoring a 2010 vote, but added this: “I quite honestly don’t think that the public’s going to vote to give us a one-cent sales tax.” He decried the shift from small road contractors to large “supersized” ones. “We’re going to put those projects out in smaller increments so smaller businesses can get them,” Scott said.

– Williams made reference to Republican Karen Handel’s previous service as Perdue’s deputy chief of staff. Why didn’t you pound on the governor’s desk, and urge him to address the transportation issue? Williams asked her. “Don’t you think I did? I drive down 400 every day,” Handel replied. She called for a 30 to 40 year transportation plan, and suggested dedicating a four percent sales tax on gasoline – proceeds from which now go to the general fund – toward transportation projects.

– Eric Johnson, the former state Senate president pro tem, said he preferred leaving the issue of a statewide referendum on a transportation sales tax until 2012. “Voters are not in the mood to tax themselves, even if it’s going to improve transportation. They just don’t have the money,” the former lawmaker from Savannah said.

– Porter emphasized the need to place a statewide referendum on a transportation sales tax on the November ballot. “We have got to go to 2010. If you wait til 2012, you’re waiting until 2014 until projects get on the ground,” he said.

– But Republican John Oxendine disagreed. “Right now there’s not an environment to do an additional tax and we need to start working with what we have. We have to understand that roads equal jobs,” he said.

– Ray McBerry, the Republican states’ rightist, declared that Georgia should stay well away from mass transit. “We do not need Georgia to go into the rail business. The people who would not be using rail are the ones who would be paying for it,” he declared.

– And state Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) declared himself against any further taxes for transportation. “The transportation department needs a good overhaul. I think the last think we need to do is dump eight to 10 billion on them,” Chapman said. The senator said he could put things in order by the end of his first term.

One final note on the gubernatorial forum: McBerry, while declaring the state’s income tax to be Marxist, also urged voters to discover more about his positions.

“Find out why all the tea party groups and patriot groups across the state have found their candidate for governor,” McBerry said.

That prompted a quick note from one of the state’s tea party organizers, who explained that the movement in Georgia doesn’t intend to make any endorsements in the race for governor.

I was in no position to take notes, being the moderator of the session, but the Christian Alliance forum featuring candidates for secretary of state featured one of the few one-on-one direct attacks of the day.

Republican incumbent Brian Kemp, recently appointed to the position by the governor, accused Republican Doug MacGinnitie of spreading falsehoods through the assembly via his campaign literature.

MacGinnitie denied it, and accused Kemp of accepting funding from special interests. (Libertarian David Chastain was the third candidate on the panel.)

As stated above, the Christian Alliance meeting was held at Riverwood High School, within the city limits of Sandy Springs. And MacGinnitie is a Sandys Springs councilman.

So this press released from the Kemp campaign, sent out just before the event, might have had something to do with the hard feelings:

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s campaign announced today that it has received endorsements from prominent Sandy Springs leaders, including Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos, Councilwoman Ashley Jenkins, and Councilman Chip Collins. These elected leaders join hundreds of other state and local officials from across the state endorsing Kemp.

While in the State Senate, Kemp supported legislation allowing the referendum to create the city of Sandy Springs. Kemp’s primary opponent, Doug MacGinnitie, failed to vote in the referendum to create the city or in the first election for its municipal leaders. His first electoral participation in Sandy Springs came when he voted for himself in the special election to serve out the remainder of an unexpired term on the City Council.

On another topic: The AJC had this Sunday piece on the fact that Oxendine’s resilient campaign for governor is making many GOP leaders nervous. Other Georgia newspapers made use of this Associated Press article, also on Oxendine:

State Insurance Department staffers raised questions about an investigation into an Iowa-based insurer and noted Commissioner John Oxendine’s “personal interest” in the complaint against the company filed by a doctor who later became a major campaign donor, according to e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

Dr. Jeffrey Gallups of Atlanta filed the complaint against Indianapolis Life Insurance Co. in February 2006. State records show that he and his wife, Nancy, later donated $50,000 to Oxendine who is now running for governor in the Republican primary.

A few months after the complaint was filed with the insurance department, some staffers questioned the merits of pursuing the matter, according to the e-mails obtained under Georgia’s open records act.

In one e-mail, department investigator Charlie Parr noted Gallups was pursuing a separate legal claim against Indianapolis Life, alleging the company made false promises about the policies he purchased. Court documents show Gallups was seeking to recoup premiums worth $2.1 million plus interest, taxes and penalties.

“(W)e typically stay out of cases involving attorneys and lawsuits, but this case is different because of Commissioner Oxendine’s personal interest,” Parr wrote in the April 7, 2006, e-mail.

Parr also noted Oxendine was “staying close on this one.”

The department initially pursued mediation with Indianapolis Life but eventually opened a market conduct probe, which could result in hefty fines. Department spokesman Glenn Allen said the probe is ongoing. He declined comment on the staff e-mails. Oxendine, through Allen, also declined comment.

Months after the department’s investigation began, contributions began pouring in from Gallups to Oxendine. Gallups and his wife Nancy have contributed $50,000 to Oxendine since 2006. Gallups also bankrolled a 2007 trip by the insurance commissioner and his wife to the Oscars in Los Angeles. Oxendine has said he reimbursed Gallups for the Oscar trip but declined to provide proof.

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