John Linder announces retirement from Congress
U.S. Rep. John Linder was first elected to Congress in 1992/AJC file.
U.S. Rep. John Linder, the Republican from Gwinnett County, this morning announced that he would retire from Congress after 18 years.
Linder made the announcement at the dedication of a new Gwinnett County GOP headquarters. Linder aide Derick Corbett confirmed the congressman’s decision. “He will not seek re-election,” Corbett said.
The announcement, made at the tail end of a brief speech by Linder, caught attendees off-guard. “Nobody knew it was coming,” said David Hancock, District 2 manager for the Gwinnett GOP.
Linder was one of Newt Gingrich’s top lieutenants when he was U.S. House speaker, and most recently has been an advocate (paired with radio commentator Neal Boortz) for a sales tax to replace the federal income tax.
His retirement will set off a rush for his seat, which is solidly Republican. Among the likely contenders is Don Balfour, the state Senate rules chairman.
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195 comments Add your comment
TnGelding
February 27th, 2010
6:33 pm
If ever there was a fish out of water… His father-in-law must have died.
Vote for the Democrat.
TnGelding
February 27th, 2010
6:34 pm
With tax revenues being so low, if we’re ever going to switch to a consumption tax this is the time.
TnGelding
February 27th, 2010
6:38 pm
A change-up: How does Congressman John Smoltz sound?
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/02/27/a-change-up-how-does-congressman-john-smoltz-sound/
Farsider
February 27th, 2010
6:52 pm
Linder’s district is tea party central. The choice will be between a regular garden variety far right wing republican or a tea bag republican. Just wonderful.
jconservative
February 27th, 2010
7:01 pm
Linder helped create the “surplus”. You remember the surplus don’t you?
Then Linder helped destroy the “surplus”. Apparently he much preferred cutting taxes and increasing spending – you know, deficits.
He will not be missed.
Don
February 27th, 2010
7:08 pm
I’d like to think that this North Georgia district will elect someone reasonable, but I think it’s another extension of Georgia Red Neck Central.
Please check out this site/movement, which might well be a reasoned, civil alternative to the tea party:
http://coffeepartyusa.org/
ga female
February 27th, 2010
7:27 pm
Wow! The dumbing down of Georgia by the Republican party is in full bloom on this blog. The party of “No” must be voted out or retire like Linder. Wake up Bush and the greedy Republicans put us into this economic crisis. The corporate titans have outsourced all of the jobs either to other countries or to illegal alliens all to increase share holder profits or really Wall Street Bonuses. Manufacturing must be done in this country we can not continue to export our jobs and import cheap trinkets. Constuction jobs must be done by legal workers and Citizens. The Contractors, Developers and Owners who keep employing the illegal immigrants are the real problem. E-verify needs to be used, and those who don’t comply need to be fined and jailed. These are the Republican base, the businessmen who benfit from the cheap labor. But then who pays the cost of all the illegal kids and anchor babies in our schools. Look at the ESOL costs and free lunch, Medicaid, Peach care. If the Republican business owner’s would not continue to hire the illegals we would not have this problem. It is a two way street.
stands for decibels
February 27th, 2010
7:41 pm
Wow. So–what is it now, three terms after he swore he would retire, he’s retiring?
May your dotage be painful and short. Lying, POS, corrupt little pig.
Anonymous
February 27th, 2010
7:43 pm
How much did he stand up for the unborn? I can’t seem to find any record of him adopting unwanted children.
Oh wait – you meant he stood up for his Dark Ages belief system. Did he happen to stone any adulterers while he was at it?
hello
February 27th, 2010
9:14 pm
This might be the most illiterate group of comments I have ever read in one place.
richtfan
February 27th, 2010
9:36 pm
hey uga grad………please stop typing idiotic comments. with every word you are confirming your lunacy even further.
john linder is a great man and has been a wonderful representative. the Fair Tax will help ALL people in so many ways. it will bring investment back to the usa where it belongs. the economy will be revitalized with it. nobody loses with it.
Madison's mom's k -hunt
February 27th, 2010
10:10 pm
I shat Madison out into this world- sorry!
Tore is a khunt
February 27th, 2010
10:12 pm
Tore- please tell me why the tax on a mocrowave should be more for a succesful person than an underachiever like you. Huh?
Vanessa
February 27th, 2010
11:12 pm
Nice piece on Linder’s career – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/27/841404/-John-Linder-GA-7-retires
Bill Orvis White
February 27th, 2010
11:30 pm
FAIRTax NOW! Or NOTax NOW! Vote Tea Party! Dissolve the unions! Fire the Democrat-Socialists! Voucherize! Deregulate! Now, that’s hopey changey I believe in.
Debbie
February 28th, 2010
6:08 am
The Muslims are responsible for this. They are slowly driving smart, reliable Republicans away so they can take over our government. writedebbie@gmail.com
John Brown
February 28th, 2010
8:34 am
A lot of sales go untaxed, e.g. flea markets, yard sales, auto auctions, equipment auctions, casual sales of all kinds of things like autos, equipment, drugs etc. etc. And UGA GRAD, did they teach you to spell over there in Athens?
deegee
February 28th, 2010
9:03 am
Do any of the FAIR tax advocates understand the reason states and local governments are millions and billions in the red? Here’s a clue, sales tax revenue is way down. While unemployment is running at the rate of 10%, that means that 90% of the eligible workforce is working. You can forecast how much income tax they will pay. You can’t forecast how much sales tax they will pay. Now that the Great Recession has shown us what a bad idea a national sales tax is, I guess it’s time that John Linder pick up his marbles and go home.
MAC
February 28th, 2010
9:27 am
John Linder was one of the few good honest people in Congress. He represented his constituents with integrity, response and open communication. His retirement is a big loss for his district.
Pee-Wee
February 28th, 2010
10:02 am
If you’re interested in learning more about the fraud called – “The Fair Tax,” google the following – “The Book,The Crook,The Followers,” especially the 5th chapter in this article!
Wee-wee
February 28th, 2010
10:43 am
Only if you’re interested in lunatic rambling rants.
______________________________________
If you’re interested in learning more about the fraud called – “The Fair Tax,” google the following – “The Book,The Crook,The Followers,” especially the 5th chapter in this article!
Brownbagger
February 28th, 2010
11:07 am
Let Freedom Ring, it’s “‘you’re” not “your”. Since you’re without a civil argument, learn to spell. It will help with your name calling.
Mary Wilhite
February 28th, 2010
11:21 am
John is a great man and I wish him well with his retirement.
Beck boy
February 28th, 2010
11:47 am
Yep, it is the Democrats fault that lending wasn’t better regulated. When Bush and the Republican majority in the House and Senate wanted to regulate lending, 2 Dem Senators (Frank and Dodd) totally ran over the entire Republican Party in Washington. Bush, Cheney, Rove, Congress, all of them were totally run over by 2 Democratic Senators. Therefore it is simple, the economy going to heck because of unregulated lending is the fault of the Democrats. If we had some intelligent Republicans with some guts back then we wouldn’t be in this economic situation. Thank goodness we have now some good Republican leadership: Palin, Beck, Limbaugh. Wow, can’t wait for more tax cuts for the wealthy and more outsourcing so corporate profits can climb even more. My stock will go up, whoopee! Wait a minute, you don’t have any more stock? Must be part of the dumb middle class. Gotta go now and sign some more petitions against health care reform. Can you imagine passing anything into law that could possibly hurt profits of the insurance industry? Darn, they fund most of our politicians, can’t hurt them. People will lose their homes due to catastrophic illness? Heck with them, they can join the military. We gotta get back in the White House, Haliburton is starting to hurt. Undeniable intelligence has it that Peru has WMDs. We gotta attack them and get our economy back on track. With the help of Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin, we can convince folks that attack on the US is eminent. I am so excited I think I will go out and load up on more Haliburton stock. Come on elections.
Pee-Wee
February 28th, 2010
11:51 am
Mary W.
I don’t know if you can call Linder a “great man!” Great men don’t lie to their fellow citizens as boldly as Linder did!
” In early in 1993,John Linder said,”Congress is overwhemingly controlled by a small group of people who are insulated from politivcal damage. If we had term limits,which I support, they wouldn’t have such a vested interest in staying there the rest of their lives. They would start thinking of some of the things that they have passed that they are going to have to live under when they leave in 12 years.”
Not long before,Linder said to USA Today, “I will come home after 12 years.”
In 1995, John Linder voted in support of a propsed constituntional ammendment for 12 year term limits on lawmakers in the house and Senate.
So as you can see Mary W. Linders not a honest man in any sense of the term! His only excuse would be that he can’t count higher than 12!
Wee-Wee
That’s exactly what “The Fair Tax”is, ramblings and rants of a lunatic – Neal Boortz!
MB
February 28th, 2010
11:53 am
Spent a decade in Georgia, and really enjoyed some of it. But won’t miss the sheer stupidity and militant ignorance that’s on display here. Christ. Why don’t you twits just go ahead and secede again. I’ll even throw in for a border fence. Then you can learn all about the gap between your whining about “socialism” and the reality of how much you rely on the rest of the country.
tc
February 28th, 2010
12:06 pm
at least we are getting some intelligent comments now…..by the way where is ole Dave today?
PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » Another Congressional Retirement
February 28th, 2010
12:45 pm
[...] The AJC’s Jim Galloway reports: John Linder announces retirement from Congress. [...]
Wee-wee
February 28th, 2010
1:04 pm
Unbelievable. Only a complete loser and blind partisan like Pee-wee would characterize Linder as a liar because he quit in 18 years instead of 12.
Get a life, man.
Pee-Wee
February 28th, 2010
1:32 pm
Wee-Wee,
How would the Regressive Right describe a democrat retiring under these same circumstances – talking one thing ,but doing just the opposite?
Come-on Wee-Wee, hit it out of the park!
hmmathis
February 28th, 2010
2:12 pm
Does anyone here know the specific reason(s) why Lindner is retiring.
The sparse reports I’ve read say that it was “unexpected.”
oldfart
February 28th, 2010
3:08 pm
In the ways of the modern day Congress he will now get paid. D or R, same difference.
Board membership here, consulting there, followed by a few speaking engagements.
Leo
February 28th, 2010
4:36 pm
I think we should abolish his district. Linder did nothing at all for the past 30 years.
tc
February 28th, 2010
4:38 pm
looks like he ate the fairtax
UnFair Tax
February 28th, 2010
10:47 pm
Hopefully the morons pushing the “fair tax” will now drop this stupid idea—it was designed for the wealthy to pay much less tax, nothing more.
Bill Orvis White
March 1st, 2010
7:36 am
The FAIRTax will never die. It makes total sense because we all pay the same rate based on consumption. You September 10th Secular Progressives don’t get it. The FAIRTax will strengthen this once-great nation. I love Neal and John for fighting for this idea.
@Leo How did Linder do nothing for his district? Just check out his website which showcases his many accomplishments. You far lefties are just shouting out a bunch of hot air because you’re “stuck on stupid” with no good arguments.
John and many patriots stood up to the left-wing media, Congress and Hussein Obama’s White House. They are dedicated to keeping taxe$ low and fight for a culture of life, freedom of religion and strong military.
On Linder’s retirement and legislative redistricting | Kyle Wingfield
March 1st, 2010
10:09 am
[...] John Linder surprised everyone over the weekend with the news that he won’t run for re-election this fall. The Republican from Gwinnett County was first elected to the U.S. House in [...]
John K
March 1st, 2010
10:28 am
Normally I would be happy he’s leaving, but I’m worried what sort of nutjob we’ll get in his place. Will he be worse than Linder? This is Georgia, of course he’ll be worse than Linder.
John Linder Gives Not One Progressive Vote | That’s My Congress
March 1st, 2010
10:40 am
[...] The trouble with the right wing narrative is that plenty of Republicans are deciding to retire as well, and most of them are not at all moderates. This weekend, for example, Representative John Linder, a Republican sitting in Congress for the 7th district in Georgia, announced that he will not be running for re-election. [...]
wayne mattila
March 1st, 2010
1:23 pm
as a child growing up in northern minn. with rep linder, i can only say that he worked very hard to get where he is today. in summers he worked on our farm every day. while going to school,he did manual labor on the alaska pipeline. he also worked in the woods as a lumber jack earning most of his own college tuition. i may not agree with all of his philosiphies or ideals, but he has my utmost respect as a human being. his parents were of middle class hard working folks, his father a car salesman and his mom a homemaker. to begrudge him of his wealthy status is to be very narrow minded. i only wish him the very best in his future endeavors.
wayne mattila
March 1st, 2010
1:23 pm
Enter your comments here
NoGovNoTax
March 2nd, 2010
3:57 pm
I’m all about purging lifers out of the Senate and House. After a while, the Dem’s become progressives and the Repub’s become Dem’s. Cleanse and Purge. Hit the reset button.
I think he is making the right decision according to my view, even if he’s doing this for a different reason.
Just because Linder is a so-called Republican doesn’t mean the fair tax is a so-called republican agenda. Many of them don’t like it themselves. Regardless to what political affiliation the creator is from, you know he’ll be damned for being it.
The reason the so-called dem’s don’t like it is because that party is filled with so-called progressivism. And one reason the so-called repub’s don’t like it because they think of prebate as a hand out to the poor when everyone get’s the same handout across the board. Both so-called parties don’t like it for different reasons all together. But a fair tax advocate has a rebuttal to practically every argument and to my experience it stops the argument. I am for the so-called fair tax.
No one can give a good solid reason why it’s worse than what we have now- because it will be better. And my reason for thinking it’s going to be better is simply the transfer of how taxes are received. And I’m tired of these so-called writers who like to label it as the “so-called fair tax”. It is the Fair Tax.
Linder Announces Retirement: We Lose A FairTax Crusader
March 3rd, 2010
9:35 am
[...] John Linder announces retirement from Congress Posted in Uncategorized [...]
maddhattah13
March 4th, 2010
11:23 am
The future is bleak when indviduals like Linder retire. I do not begrudge their decision because of the service to this wonderful country. My hope is the initiative on tax reform does not lose steam because of his decision.
Grazing at the public trough
March 14th, 2010
6:59 am
I don’t support FairTax and here’s why.
As someone who makes $200,000 per year and owns two homes, I benefit from the greatest government handout there is: mortgage interest tax deduction.