Roy Barnes: ‘I’d rather be with these folks’
Forsyth, Ga. – In politics, it is a fine thing to be able to tell a voter that you prefer his company to that of the president of the United States.
Democratic nominee for governor Roy Barnes with Georgia sheriffs.
This is the line that peach, pecan and row crop farmers from Houston County heard this morning during a private meet-and-greet breakfast with Democratic nominee for governor Roy Barnes.
It’s what the former governor said as he stood in front of two dozen or so middle Georgia sheriffs at a morning news conference here at the Monroe County courthouse.
“I’d rather be with these folks, if you want to know the truth,” Barnes said. “I’m not running for governor of Washington D.C. I’m running for governor of Georgia.”
He’ll be able to say the same thing in front of voters in Bainbridge and Thomasville this afternoon, and finally to workers at a peanut-shelling facility in Donalsonville.
And President Barack Obama – who was speaking in Atlanta as Barnes chatted up the sheriffs – was okay with the situation, the Democratic nominee said. Obama called after Barnes won the nomination on July 20, and raised the topic of his Atlanta visit.
“I told him that I already had a date planned, and he said, ‘I understand,’” Barnes said.
Though he and his staff portrayed the conflict as a mere clash of calendars, the disparity in location allowed Barnes to trumpet his independence to rural swing voters who will be crucial in November.
“I agree with some things that President Bush did, and I disagreed with others. I agree with some things President Obama did, and I’ve disagreed with others. I’ve always been a pretty independent type,” Barnes said – pointing to former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn.
At the conference with sheriffs, Barnes very carefully read out each of the 28 serving and retired sheriffs who had signed up as supporters.
Though billed as a meeting of middle Georgia sheriffs, among those attending was Thomas Brown of DeKalb County – a close friend of Thurbert Baker and a supporter during the attorney general’s campaign for governor. Brown could surely have obtained an invitation to see Obama — if he’d wanted.
The sheriffs did not dispute the underlying assumption that their support would be more important come November than any president’s.
“The sheriff has more contact with voters than any other county politician. The tax commissioner – nobody likes him,” laughed Gene Pope, sheriff of Butts County – and president of the Georgia Sheriffs Association. “I’ve had people come to me. They’re running for office, and they say, ‘I’ve been told that if I want to get votes, I’ve got to go see the sheriff first.’”
Pope said Barnes is the only candidate for governor who’s paid him that courtesy.
Sheriff John Carry Bittick of Monroe County agreed: “We’re closer to the public than any other elected official – especially in the South or the West.”
In front of his sheriffs, Barnes criticized the closing of regional GBI crime labs that forced deputies to make long drives to Atlanta to deliver evidence. He singled out sex-offender registries as one of the many unfunded mandates heaped upon sheriffs.
“We require these sheriffs to check on all these folks. Good thing – to make sure we know where they are. But we have not provided funding, nor have we provided assistance to them,” Barnes said.
Barnes also criticized the closing of work camps that he had established for medium-security inmates during his four-year term:
“This administration has closed almost all of those work camps, which I think is unfortunate. I think we should look at going back to those work camps [as a place for] soft offenders. There are people that need to be locked up – but not forever.
“Particularly young folks. It’s remarkable what a six-month sentence can do to get some attention into young folks. We need places to do that. And people who commit non-violent crime – we need to use their labor.”
Barnes also declared that the state was periously close to a federal court takeover of its prison system – something that has already happened once, in the 1970s:
“We are defaulting. Everybody in the race talks about [cussing] the federal government. I believe in cussing the federal government from time to time. It’s a constitutional right, and I recommend it.
“However, we have three departments that are about to be under the control of the federal courts. One is Juvenile Justice. The other is Behavioral Health. They just filed suit recently. The third one that’s coming soon is Corrections.
“We know the parameters that have been set by the court. It’s the state’s responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Updated at 3:15 p.m.: Scheree Moore, spokeswoman for the Department of Juvenile Justice, called to say that Barnes was mistaken on one point. Said Moore:
“The United States Department of Justice ended its monitoring of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice in April 2009, therefore, dismissing the case with prejudice.
The monitors had a favorable report at the end of our federal oversight, citing DJJ’s major service improvements in the areas of education, medical, mental health, protection from harm and quality assurance.”
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100 comments Add your comment
Valarie
August 2nd, 2010
3:39 pm
Roy you shunned my president and I will shun you in November.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
3:39 pm
@Mary D
@SWEAR
You STILL can’t get it through your heads that this isn’t about racism! I wouldn’t care if he was the whitest of white: if he espoused the same views and beliefs, took the same actions as Obama and was destroying this country as Obama is, I would oppose him with the same energy.
The only people making this issue racial are, for the most part, black people. The Obama strategist decided before his campaign even began to identify all his opposition as ‘racial’ in nature. With the help of NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN and liberal newspapers, they successfully thwarted opposition identifying his detractors as ‘racists’. The very same tactic is being used today and those of you spouting this crap are merely unwitting tools of the democrat machine.
If you have no mind of your own, continue to be used by other people. It should at least give you an appreciation of prostitution.
MiltonMan
August 2nd, 2010
3:42 pm
I would like to know what policies of Obozos that Barnes supports. Barnes is nothing more than a fool trying to make everyone happy but as I have heard before “if you try to make everyone happy, in the end you make no one happy.”
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
3:42 pm
@Q
What’s the matter? Can’t find a job anywhere out of the south? I’d be glad to see you go!
MiltonMan
August 2nd, 2010
3:44 pm
People playing the race card = FOOLS!
You can dislike someone regardless of their skin color. BTW: I thought that Obozo was 1/2 white. So given the elementary logic these clowns use, if I dislike Obama it is because I hate whites & blacks.
extremerightwing
August 2nd, 2010
3:44 pm
CHICKEN!
kkong
August 2nd, 2010
3:45 pm
Barnes, you jerk. You just lost two votes. Me and and my wife.
MiltonMan
August 2nd, 2010
3:45 pm
Q = Is a Detriot reject who is pissed because he works in a non-union shop.
GA Ed.
August 2nd, 2010
3:46 pm
BJP – I rest my case.
GA Ed.
August 2nd, 2010
3:48 pm
MiltonMan – you make my case…
john
August 2nd, 2010
3:49 pm
As a veteran, Obama disgusts me with his and his party’s two faced performance. He is down here using our tax money to raise money for the Democrats at an affair held right after his veterans meeting. If you want to speak For the military, JOIN the military-Something you’ll never see an extreme left wing fascist (he is not a socialist) do.
I Bet
August 2nd, 2010
3:54 pm
The people on here writing these negative comments about the President want the Bush Tax Cuts renewed even though they will not benefit you. They will benefit the top 1-2% of the billionaires in this country. If Warren Buffett makes a statement that his secretary and his dry cleaner owner pay more in taxes than he does, doesn’t that say something to Bo Daisy and Luke Duke? Doesn’t that say the tax cut expiration will make these top wage earners pay their fair share in taxes. You people kill me voting against your own self-interest trying to prove something about Pres. Obama. I’ll tell you this, ObamaCares, I just wish Replicans did.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
3:56 pm
@john
You are absolutely right. I doubt that you would find many of the left-wing liberals who post here joining the military.
Thank you for your service to our country.
I think we need to re-institute the draft!
I Bet
August 2nd, 2010
3:57 pm
Correction:
ObamaCares, I just wish Republicans did. All of a sudden everything wrong with the country should be corrected by the sitting President. No one forced Bush to deal with illegal immigrants but suddenly it HAS TO BE DONE NOW. Well, whoop de doo! Why wasn’t it that important during the last 8 years? Please respond, I’ll wait.
SWEAR
August 2nd, 2010
3:58 pm
SCREW A “RACE CARD” YA’LL KILL ME TALKING ABOUT A MEASLEY CARD WHEN YOU ALL HAVE HAD THE WHOLE DECK FOR OVER 400 YEARS…IT IS ABOUT RACE! OUR WHOLE COUNTRY WAS BUILT ON THE BACKS OF THE FREE LABORERS FROM AFRICA THAT WERE ENSLAVED BASED ON THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN. PLEASE SPARE ME THIS WHOLE “RACE CARD” NONSENSE. BLACKS WERE ONLY CONSIDERED 3/5 OF A HUMAN BEING WHEN THIS COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED. WE JUST EARNED THE RIGHT TO VOTE LESS THAN 50 YEARS AGO AND IT’S SOME OF YA’LL THAT ARE STILL ANGRY ABOUT THAT. NO OTHER PRESIDENT HAS BEEN THIS DISRESPECTED IN HIS OWN COUNTRY, AND ITS ALL BECAUSE HE IS BLACK. IT’S NOT ALL WHITE PEOPLE, JUST THOSE WHO I CONSIDER TO BE THE WHITE SUPREMACIST, CAPITALIST, PATRIARCHAL LOSERS THAT I MENTIONED EARLIER. TELL THE TRUTH…..
lmno
August 2nd, 2010
3:59 pm
We are in this economic crisis because of 30 years of deregulation.
Recognize.
bushwacker
August 2nd, 2010
4:02 pm
I wish some one would have asked the lying President about the tax cut 95 % Americans got,I’M STILL WAITING ON MINE and I don’t know anyone who has recieved the payroll tax deduction.
All lies just like everything he says.
Fortunately for Obama, most Americans are too stupid to even know whwre to look on their paystub for payroll tax deductions!
I had to show one dem voter at work how much the fed and state take out of his paycheck, his eraction was, they take that much of my paycheck, and I told him, YEP EVERY 2 WEEKS!!!
Valarie
August 2nd, 2010
4:06 pm
Roy Barnes should appease the South Georgia Whites, because we all know that is where all of the Ph.Ds are, no trailer parks, everyone there has a 3.9 gpa and speaks proper English. Who wants to be seen with someone as illiterate, ignorant, ugly and fat as that Black Guy Obama?!?!?
bushwacker
August 2nd, 2010
4:07 pm
SWEAR , IF YOU KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT HISTORY,YOU WOULD KNOW THE INDUSTRIAL REVEOLUTION AND SWEAT SHOPS OF THE LATE 1800′S AND EARLY 1900′S WHICH IS WHEN THE FORTUNES WERE MADE, WERE DONE SO ON THE BACKS OF IMMIGRANTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD,GERMANS, ITILIANS,IRISH,CHINESE, JAPNESE,EASTERN EUROPE,EVERYONE HAS ANCESTORS WHO WERE ABUSED.
Desiree
August 2nd, 2010
4:08 pm
“Oh well; looks like we’ll have another Republican for Gov.!” Roy Barnes you messed up by shunning The President of the United States, Barack Obama. By the way; POTUS will be re-elected without your help. He didn’t need Georgia to win anyway. McCain carried the south, but Obama carried the rest of the country.
Eraserhead
August 2nd, 2010
4:11 pm
Obama is a sinking ship.
Jeremy
August 2nd, 2010
4:20 pm
Racism is a word used when logic fails. I don’t like Obama because he is destoying the middle class in an effort to prop up the poor. Those people who refuse to help themselves should have to lay in the bed that they make. We shouldn’t sacrifice the greatness of this country to pacify the least of us.
Jeremy
August 2nd, 2010
4:24 pm
Swear,
NO OTHER PRESIDENT HAS BEEN THIS DISRESPECTED IN HIS OWN COUNTRY
Are you kidding me? Do you not remember the vile things that were said about Bush less than 4 years ago.
GaDawg
August 2nd, 2010
4:27 pm
To Q: your comments about your job is the only thing keeping you in Georgia? Please note that I-75 & I-85 also have northbound lanes
GaDawg
August 2nd, 2010
4:31 pm
Roy went to South Georgia looking for John Edwards endorsement since he gave Edwards his back in 08
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
4:31 pm
@SWEAR
“FREE LABORERS FROM AFRICA THAT WERE ENSLAVED BASED ON THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN.”
Well, let’s just check to see what you know about slavery. Where did the blacks come from that were enslaved? Who captured and sold them?
You’re at bat, SWEAR. Show us your stuff!
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
4:34 pm
@Valarie
Obama makes your little heart go pitter-patter, does he?
Where did you receive your Piled High and Deeper from?
SWEAR
August 2nd, 2010
4:35 pm
Are you kidding????? So how was America built prior to the early 1900’s late 1800’s? You don’t think that wealth was created during slavery and that that wealth spawned the industrial revolution. Get a grip. Immigrants had a choice to come here whereas black people did not have a choice in the matter; by the way, blacks were never paid for the work that that they did, immigrants were. Also, white immigrants could easily assimilate whereas take one look at President Obama and guess what you know he’s BLACK. Say what you want…deep down you know the truth. America has spent 500 years building up the argument to treat blacks & native americans this way. 50 years and the first black president cannot erase the deep rooted sentiments that this great country was built on. I am a patriot and I LOVE AMERICA (& Georgia for that matter), I just tell the truth!
Have a fantastic day!
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
4:40 pm
@Desiree
The only way Obama will be re-elected is if he can station enough Black Panthers at every voting site in the U.S. to intimidate people, and even then I don’t believe he will be successful. Maybe they can “steal” the election: democrats have been known to do so.
Nope, you can color Obama “Gone” in 2012.
It shouldn’t take more than 30-40 years to undo the damage he has done.
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
4:43 pm
@SWEAR
You mean you’re going to leave without answering my questions? Oh, I see: you’re just going to look for a history text to search out the answers!
Just me
August 2nd, 2010
4:43 pm
“I wish some one would have asked the lying President about the tax cut 95 % Americans got”
You received a $1,200 tax cut courtesy of President Obama. That tax cut was spread over 7 months in 2009 (when it was passed) and over 12 months in 2010. The amount is the same. It just looks smaller because it is divided over 12 months instead of 7.
Taxes are lower now than they were under Reagan, Bush, Clinton or Bush II.
You’re welcome.
Fergie
August 2nd, 2010
4:50 pm
Roy Barnes. You will regret your disrespect for President Obama in November. Don’t think your two-faced ass can win without Black votes. We don’t like the statement you made. You closet racist.
Desiree
August 2nd, 2010
4:52 pm
Well Billy Joe, you know the old saying; ” It takes one to know one!” You seem so wise, I’m sure you’ll figure this out. Peace out my brother.
Hmmmmmmm
August 2nd, 2010
5:09 pm
Fergie
Who cares what color Obama’s skin is? He is an idiot either way….. Your an idiot for voting for someone based on the color of their skin…..
Billy Joe Poteet
August 2nd, 2010
5:12 pm
@Desiree
“Peace out my brother.”
I would reply in kind but frankly HATE standing in line for anything!
Tena Willingham
August 2nd, 2010
5:21 pm
Georgia is an embarrassment to the U.S. Grown men acting like children.
President Obama had to be sent by God! I’ve never seen a man so smart and humble. I would never vote for a hater or haters.Thank you President
Obama for representing these U.S. They hated Jesus.
I hate both sides
August 2nd, 2010
5:22 pm
I wonder if the people whining about being called racists for merely disagreeing with President Obama’s policies were the same folks calling people unpatriotic for merely disagreeing with President Bush’s policies.
Political Savage
August 2nd, 2010
5:27 pm
Too many times people Blame President Obama for mistakes made before he even got into office. To add to that Do you really think that the Economy recieved the fatal blow in the last 2 years? Well I don’t. So say what you want to say, but I thought you republicans were smarter than that. besides we Obama people can have a good time without the people who throw the rocks but then hide their hands.
eqjustice
August 2nd, 2010
5:42 pm
Houston & Cobb Counties, the seats of Air Force Bases, homes of recent governors and politicians. Without them would Georgia have any political direction at all? Good for Barnes. Surely, a wise Obama encouraged Barnes to campaign in Houston instead.
Backwards State
August 2nd, 2010
5:46 pm
If I had children to raise again, I’d leave the narrow ideaology of this state. Who says we all have to think the same thing and vote the same way. There’s way too much of “we’re right and everybody else is wrong” thinking in Georgia. Thank goodness my children are independent thinkers with diverse and varied groups of friends.
Political Savage
August 2nd, 2010
5:46 pm
What’s the deal with the Obama haters, you never had nothing to say about Bush spending millions trying to find Osama Bin Laden, which have turned to trillions looking for one guy, so is one guy is smarter than the Whole U.S Millitary? The whole thing was a set up from the jump, I mess it up and let you the first minority president take the blame, yea, everyone wants the glory but can no one wants the blame. Obama I thank you for taking on the whole problem and I have faith that if it can be fixed you are the right man for the job! To some of you Obama bashers, I have plane tickets to Pakistan, So go fetch Osama!
Tuckerman
August 2nd, 2010
5:51 pm
Funny, not one person has said what Governor Barnes did wrong in office? He mandated lower class sizes, only to see them reversed by Sonny. He laid the ground work for commuter rail, only to see it halted by Sonny. He increased education funding, while limiting teacher tenure, only to see education decimated by Sonny. Check the record folks. “King Roy” is only a mindless label the Republicans have taught you to say with nothing to back it up. The man was a sensible governor that made things run well. That’s hard to come by these days.
Cissy
August 2nd, 2010
6:07 pm
I may vote for Roy Barnes in Nov., but I am still working on his decision to kiss up to the teachers’ unions he so rightly defied in his efforts to pull Georgia’s education system into the 20th (much less the 21st) system. Roy, you did the right thing! Don’t undo it by cozying up to these neanderthalian nay-sayers! You lost your last election because of the flag. The rest of us respected your decision to go around the teachers’ unions, which are everywhere trying to block efforts to improve our country’s public education system.
Margaret
August 2nd, 2010
6:25 pm
I’m a democrat, and I may not vote for governor in November because of Roy’s disingenious effort to try and distance himself from our leader. What a bum! President O’Bama has set a good example for our country, and worn out politicians shouldn’t try and shum him just because they think it’s not popular in their area. We know Roy endorsed John Edwards; apparently that’s the type of leader he wants. If Roy’s so adverse to President O’Bama, he should leave the party. I get madder and madder each time I think about. And what about all the black people. How do they feel about Roy trying to shun our president. Those folks he’s trying to impress aren’t going to vote for him anyway, and I guess he’s taking all the traditional democrat base for granted. And Nathan Deal has a commercial that he’s not worried about the liberals. He can bet the liberals aren’t worried about him, either, because he’s ineffective — he was in Washington long before O’Bama, and he didn’t do anything to try and solve the immigration problem — now he’s trying to say it’s all the democrats fault; people aren’t stupid, you idiot. Deal certainly is not an honorable person, and that’s the kindest thing I can say about him.
JustSayin
August 2nd, 2010
6:28 pm
To bushwacker: You are about one ignat, no spelling gentleman. If you haven’t seen a reduction in your taxes then you are either rich are you are you can’t read!
JustSayin
August 2nd, 2010
6:35 pm
Hey Little Bo Peep,(Billy Joe Poteet )
I need some of that you’re smoking man! That must be some good stuff!
shirley
August 2nd, 2010
7:25 pm
Roy Barnes, my personal view is that you should not whimp out. Georgia is a republican state. Even if you a democrat is elected as governor we would still have more republicans in power. I am a republican very, very conservative but I am unhappy with the new republicans in our state. The financial melt down is not the doing of any president of either party. Our financial melt down is the doing of greed and unethical in the trenches at the county and state level. Our police chief gets his money and resigns. only one example. Mortgage fraud. We have one of the highest mortgage fraud. Have you mentioned that our representatives passed a bill making state departments accountable for the money they spend but our republican governor vetoed it. Why. because he is going to veto anything he does not like because he is leaving office. I would rather go down fighting
shirley
August 2nd, 2010
8:05 pm
People who do not pay any taxes would not get a tax cut. I would like Roy Barnes show his charactor. I do not care what original race he is. I have very good friends of all races and from every country but I do not like the crooked arrogance and unfair practise of any company or person. If Roy Barnes is going to be our governor he does need to do all his research and address all the financial melt down problem of the real estate industry. Letting Obama or bush take blame for what we did is called coward I think. The republicans running for governor are worse they know what this state is like. Definitely do not vote for anyone blaming any president for what the local and state allowed. Fraud should have been looked at by every prosecutor. Barnes needs to tell us what he will do better than previous. What will he do to keep Washington informed. I want honesty and transparency. I want communication on facts and substance. I do not want a sales pitch. I want the problem on the table. Our state will have to decrease spending because the federal money to the state is the only thing that is keeping the budget out of the red. the federal money that the republicans did not want. We may not get any next year. If we do not sound more intelligent and address the problem we will not be able to get out side investment money to cut our unemployment. Roy you are not a stupid man. You know we need outside investment money. Did you see all our pvc communities and abandoned strip malls. You know people fear the unknown. We are Americans we can help deal with the problems layed on the table but everyone blaming a president whether it be Obama or Bush scares me.
calvinb
August 3rd, 2010
2:48 pm
Ole KillJoy Roy. You made your bed, now lay in it.
You are practicing southern politics of yesteryear. That is when you had Politicians from the Metro Area going down to rural areas of the south making deals with sherrffs and judges to depress the black votes and if they managed to curry a few votes in the metro areas — it meant — victory for them. It w as called the Unit Vote or something like that.
Michal Thurmond for Senator. He is the best candidate for progressive and forward thinking people to vote for in November. We have far too many “Conservatives” in power doing nothing — but BLOCKIONG, STALLING AND LYING!!!
Now, to the gentleman who said that Pres. Obama was trying to destroy the Middle Class, obviously you should leave the bottle alone, for where it not for this Pres. and these Democrats in power, we all would be in the poorhouse messing around with those pitiful Republica-ANTS. They only want to beg the rich and powerful for their 16 pieces of silver while they sell the rest of America out.
No to Unemployment Benefits, No to the Jobs Bill, No to Health Care, No to FinReg. They always manage an excuse to try to stick it to the Pres. no matter WHAT the costs.
Come this November– We Promise to vote in Great Numbers, and with Enthusiasm. For those of you who missed it yesterday when the President of the United States Came to town. You missed a great show.
All the Veterans in attendance communion and fellowshiped with our great leader!!! We appreciate him, we love him and may god bless him in his great work to bring America back up, and he will be successful!!!! And, to top it off we put a little something in his pocket on the way out of town.
Now sheriffs simply don’t have that kind of power anymore. As I said, its yesteryear politics. Goes to show you that when KillJoy had a chance to lead.
Lead like Governor Purdue who met the POTUS at the airport was kind and displayed great Southern Hospitality and class to him, and went on his merry way.
BTT
August 3rd, 2010
2:59 pm
Raise your hand if you read the headline and then commented without reading the rest of the article.