Ken Hodges and Sam Olens on boredom and the AG’s race

The campaign of Democratic nominee for attorney general Ken Hodges on Thursday sent out a YouTube clip quoting Republican Sam Olens as saying that he was running for AG because “I was getting bored.”

Said Hodges, a former Dougherty County district attorney:

“The comment by my opponent that he is running because he was ‘bored’ with his current political job simply highlights what we already knew – Sam Olens is a career politician more interested in moving up in the political hierarchy than he is in keeping Georgia safe.”

But the context was worth chasing down. The quote came from a conference call Olens had with members of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The interview was originally posted on the chamber’s web site – but a glitch prevented access until today.

You can listen to the entire 17-minute session here.

The comment from Olens came during his closing remarks, when he was recapping his accomplishments as chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners and the Atlanta Regional Commission:

“I’ve proven that I can work within a managed budget, and in fact I had surpluses every single year. In fact the main reason that I seriously considered running for attorney general rather than staying head of the ARC and Cobb County was that I was getting bored. It was not a challenge any more. The attorney general’s position provides a great opportunity and a dream come true for any trial lawyer. The ability to mix 27 years of civil litigation with 12 years of public service, to take on issues such as the water litigation that seems to go on ad nauseam, to be involved in redistricting….”

Hodges’ interview with the chamber can also be found here.

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