Your morning jolt: One-third of early voters supported TSPLOST, says poll
Only a third of early metro Atlanta voters supported the transportation sales tax, according to the firm that conducted a general poll for Channel 2 Action News last week.
Rosetta Stone Communications, a GOP-oriented political service firm, last night polled 656 randomly selected early voters in the 10-county TSPLOST district. Support was measured at 32 percent.
As of last Thursday, 123,870 early votes had been cast – we should have updated numbers that include Friday’s ballots by sometime this morning.
Last week, Kevin Ross and Paul Benacke, Strategists for the Untie Atlanta campaign said that, while discouraging, recent polls don’t measure the new voters their campaign has driven to the polls. Wrote the pair:
The campaign sampled 5,991 out of the 33,551 absentee voters and we are winning 57 percent to 43 percent; furthermore, the campaign sampled 5,681 out of the 71,298 early voters and we are winning 53 percent to 47 percent.
The Rosetta Stone findings would appear to contradict that.
“The math is simple, and the results are clear” said John Garst of Rosetta Stone. “The TSPLOST was badly defeated in the early voting period.”
Margin of error for the automated Rosetta Stone poll was placed at +/- 3.8 percentage points.
In an AJC survey released Sunday, 51 percent of likely voters said they would reject the 1 percent sales tax.
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No doubt the timing of this piece of news below is aimed at Tuesday balloting. From Jim Burress and WABE (90.1FM):
In a letter addressed to Attorney General Eric Holder, Ga NAACP chapter president Edward DuBose says the Georgia Department of Transportation engages in “willful” acts of discrimination against African-American and other minority-owned businesses.
DuBose says G-DOT’s own internal audit confirms the charges, and asks for the Department of Justice to investigate.
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Then again, the Newnan Times-Herald brings word of an opposing position: The group 100 Black Men of Atlanta has endorsed the TSPLOST.
***
You know that this is a “have-to” – not a “want to” for the White House. From the New York Times:
Former President Bill Clinton is set to play a central part in the Democratic convention, aides said, and will formally place President Obama’s name into nomination by delivering a prime-time speech designed to present a forceful economic argument for why Mr. Obama deserves to win a second term.
***
In additional excerpts released by ABC News from its overseas interview with Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential candidate was unable to say whether he ever paid a lower tax rate than the 13.9 percent he paid in 2010. Via the Los Angeles Times:
“I haven’t calculated that. I’m happy to go back and look, but my view is I’ve paid all the taxes required by law,” Romney [said].
Romney’s 13.9% rate falls far below rates typically applied to those with incomes approaching the $20.1 million he made in 2010.
“I know that I pay a very substantial amount of taxes, and every year since the beginning of my career so far as I can recall,” he later added.
***
Voters in northeast Georgia today will find this message from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on their home answering machines:
”If you agree that it’s time our elected officials stop talking at us and start listening to us, then I hope you’ll join me in supporting Martha Zoller for Congress. Martha’s running against the establishment, but with all of our support, she can win. Martha has been fighting for conservative causes for years. In addition to being pro-life and a firm defender of our Constitution, including our second amendment rights, Martha is a strong fiscal conservative…..”
Now, maybe it’s not a big deal, but in her message, Palin mispronounces the 9th District candidate’s name. The former radio talk show host’s name rhymes with “collar.” Palin pronounced it “Z-owe-ller.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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234 comments Add your comment
Mike
July 30th, 2012
10:15 am
Curly Copple: do you know of any mass transit operations which are not heavily subsidized by taxpayers? And please don’t try to make worn out argument that MARTA takes riders off the road so it’s appropriate to subsidize it. If mass transit as practiced in Atlanta is such a good thing, why doesn’t it pay for itself? I have to pay for my gas, maintenance, etc.
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:16 am
You all don’t care enough to even read the law before voting on it. Shameful. That reminds me of Nancy Pelosi with Obamacare. Something you all have such an issue with.
Byte me
July 30th, 2012
10:16 am
VOTE YES, I DON’T TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO HANDLE THE MONEY! VOTE HELL NO!
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:17 am
@allen981, it has more accountability than any law out there. READ IT.
DannyX
July 30th, 2012
10:17 am
“Citizen Review Panel”
LOL!
That will be as effective as the “Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.”
In other words, a total farce!
DD
July 30th, 2012
10:17 am
@VOTEYES, I grew up in the Detroit area and the regions failings have nothing to do with transportation. In fact, they have one of the most commuter friendly cities with multiple interstates connecting the city with the suburbs and outlying regions. They have thoroughfares with few stops going between the city and suburgs and around the suburban area and has not changed the demise of the City of Detroit.
PMC
July 30th, 2012
10:18 am
how is commuter rail antiquated Allen? It absolutely is in Atlanta but not everywhere else. A train every 20 minutes is not efficient. A train every 5 is. We just won’t pay for it.
Byte me
July 30th, 2012
10:18 am
I have read it. Will vote NO
td
July 30th, 2012
10:18 am
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:06 am
In the interest of fairness. Do you work for the DOT, Chamber of Commerce or CW Matthews?
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:18 am
48-8-250.
Not later than December 15 of each year, the state revenue commissioner shall publish, on the website created pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Code Section 48-8-245, a simple, nontechnical report which shows for each project in the investment list approved by the director the original estimated cost, the current estimated cost if it is not the original estimated cost, amounts expended in prior years, and amounts expended in the current year with respect to each such project. The report shall also include a statement of what corrective action the commissioner of transportation and the executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority intend to implement with respect to each project which is underfunded or behind schedule and a statement of any surplus funds which have not been expended for a project.
Breez
July 30th, 2012
10:18 am
If people moved closer to their jobs, there would not be a traffic problem. I live 5 mins from my job and get to work in 10 minutes. “just move”
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:19 am
@td. Absolutely not.
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:19 am
@Breez…really, you make it seem like selling a house is so easy right now.
Hmmmmmm
July 30th, 2012
10:20 am
@td
Do you really expect a truthful answer…?
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:21 am
@hmmmmmm do you work for the chamber of commerce for Charlotte, Houston, Memphis, Denver, Nashville, or Tampa?
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:22 am
Because they would LOVE for this to fail.
Byte me
July 30th, 2012
10:23 am
Yea I bet they would. What a joke. How much money has already been spent trying to sell this crap?
pearl
July 30th, 2012
10:24 am
I’m one of those early voters who voted AGAINST TSPLOST. I fervently HOPE it fails. Raising our sales taxes one penny (in some counties, 2 pennies) is waaay too much money for the small benefits we would receive from the approval of this plan. Yes, bus and rail services are badly needed in some counties, but the way to fund that is NOT to stick already struggling taxpayers with higher food and clothing prices for the next 10 years, which is what an increased sales tax would do. Let the State come up with the money for bus and road services. Nathan Deal wasted too much money that he got from the federal government giving breaks to corporations which DID NOT NEED THEM. Put the pressure where it belongs — in the hands of the STATE to meet the needs of the people of Georgia. We will NOT be robbed to pay for responsibilities that belong to the State and counties. Let them find ANOTHER WAY.
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:24 am
Again, if this fails the fuel tax will be increased. You will be sending MORE money to the government you don’t trust with less oversight than TSPLOST has. Please tell me how that makes sense?
Hmmmmmm
July 30th, 2012
10:24 am
@vote yes….
LOL, no, I am just a taxpaying American citizen who is FED up with politicians… You sir are either delusional or some how affiliated with a group trying to hood wink the tax payers of Georgia… Please get some help!
oldfart
July 30th, 2012
10:25 am
Actually the average voter is only expected to read the honeyed language on the ballot by its supporters. When you read the actual bill it is obvious to even a non-legal mind that this thing is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
The only entities set aside by the State Constitution to levy taxes are the state itself, counties and cities. No mention of “special districts” where other counties can decide your county’s fate.
jackie
July 30th, 2012
10:25 am
Public meetings? You mean the get togethers where the politicians and bureaucrats told everyone what they wanted and basically ignored the input from ordinary citizens? Sure, that is why the belt line and whiz bang express buses in their dedicated lanes. (Are these dedicated lanes going to be created like the HOT lanes or will the pavement just magically fall down from the sky and connect Marietta and downtown Atlanta?)
the cat
July 30th, 2012
10:25 am
All the money spent on commercials, signs, arm twisting could probably have given all the school teachers the raise they deserve.
Vote yes-you are looking foolish and obviously stand to make $$$$ foff this.
Middle of the Road
July 30th, 2012
10:29 am
“You folks in Cherokee, Cobb, Henry, Gwinnett have your heads up your proverbial rear.”
I live AND WORK north up 575. I work 8 miles from my house. I live in an area wher I can have a great yard, where the schools are good (not APS), and where I can leave my front door open without concern about a home invasion. If more businesses would leave the city of Atlanta, there would not be this congestion problem.
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:29 am
@hmmmmmm. So because I have a differing opinion than you I am either delusional or work for someone that benefits from this???
How egotistical and pompous of you. Please get some help!
JB
July 30th, 2012
10:30 am
@luangtom @9:45, you said: “Law dictates that they receive no new money for maintenance or current infrastructure, yet their own list of projects include these. C’mon voters, say NO to giving funds to the MARTA to no-where. Why do only 3.6% of all commuters use MARTA now if it is such a good idea? Vote NO…..”
Actually, the law says MARTA can’t use the tax money for OPERATIONS, not maintenance or capital expenditures. And the reason only 3.6% of commuters use MARTA is because it has been so underfunded over the past decades that it has tilted all the incentives in this town towards driving. Who can rely on MARTA when bus/rail only comes every 20 minutes? That’s not MARTA’s fault, that the fault of a backwards, spiteful State legislature that controls MARTA’s purse while contributing nothing to it, and ignorant suburbanites constantly railing against MARTA while they pull in the pork for their bloated and ever-congested roads.
DC and SF got the same federal rail investment in the 1970s as Atlanta. Look how they cared for and grew their system in comparison. GA squandered a great opportunity because of outdated, spiteful policies and politics.
td
July 30th, 2012
10:30 am
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:16 am
You all don’t care enough to even read the law before voting on it. Shameful. That reminds me of Nancy Pelosi with Obamacare. Something you all have such an issue with.
I read the bill, I am a conservative and I am against the bill.
If you drive from Acworth (down 75) or from Sugar Hill (Down 85) to downtown every morning and it now takes you an average of 1:15 minutes each way. If we vote “YES” on this bill then tell us how much the commute will lessen?
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:31 am
@the cat, the only fool here is the one that thinks people with a different opinion or somehow being paid to think that way.
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:31 am
*are
Byte me
July 30th, 2012
10:32 am
By time they build it your commute will be the same.
Don't think so
July 30th, 2012
10:33 am
Howl much money is the DOT mismanaging already? Let’s give them billions more – NOT. “Vote Yes” I agree with “the cat”, and thank you for letting us know to watch for a gas tax increase. Let’s vote them out of office.
td
July 30th, 2012
10:34 am
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:24 am
“Again, if this fails the fuel tax will be increased. ”
And you know this for a fact how? What is to say the politicians do not get the message of TEA (Taxed enough already) and figure out another way?
oldfart
July 30th, 2012
10:36 am
Yeah I’ve read the bill and can quote from it too.
Smaller counties grouped with a larger populated county have no control over their own destiny if the larger one passes the TIA but to pay the tax. But in the event they vote for the TIA and the larger one does not then their individual counties are still penalized by having to pay a higher match on any local maintenance and improvement grants (these typically utilize 15-20% of the state’s motor fuel tax revenues today). From HB277:
“(d) In the event a special district sales and use tax election is held and the voters in a special district do not approve the levy of the special district transportation sales and use tax, the local governments in such special district shall be required to provide a 30 percent match for any local maintenance and improvement grants by the Department of Transportation for transportation projects and programs for at least 24 months and until such time as a special district sales and use tax is approved.
In the event the voters in a special district approve the levy of the special district transportation sales and use tax, the local governments in such special district shall be required to provide a 10 percent match for any local maintenance and improvement grants by the Department of Transportation for transportation projects and programs for the duration of the levy of the special district transportation sales and use tax.”
So the fate of your own Constitutional tax district, the county, rests in the hands of an invented tax district that is not mentioned in the State Constitution. They’ve been glorifying the carrots all over the media and even flower it up on the ballot with no mention of the stick that will be applied until your unconstitutional district by God votes for the SPLOST every two years in perpetuity. Your county will have to pay a 30% match rather than a 10% one as it is today to access tax money you have paid outside of the purview of the SPLOST in motor fuel taxes. This is extortion, plain and simple.
allen981
July 30th, 2012
10:36 am
If rail is not antiquated, why did all the trolleys and streetcars disappear from Atlanta 50 years ago???? We had both, as well as local rail to places like Macon, LaGrange, Athens, Columbus, and Rome. BUT IT DIED because it was slow, inefficient, and didn’t meet the needs of the public.
Folks, we don’t live in Paris, London, or New York. We live in a city that thrived first as a rail hub – with more trains than any other city its size. Those trains went away – why? – because cars, like it or not, offer more mobility, freedom, convenience, and efficiency.
When I do go to an office, it’s a 40-mile ride. Takes me about 45 minutes. On a train, or even a bus, the time for that type of trip would double. How effective is that?
We are a city of roads and automobiles. You can’t change that now, and shouldn’t waste untold billions of taxpayer dollars trying.
Look at Atlanta’s history – trains don’t work!
JB
July 30th, 2012
10:37 am
Mike @10:15: “If mass transit as practiced in Atlanta is such a good thing, why doesn’t it pay for itself? I have to pay for my gas, maintenance, etc.”
And where do you think all those highways come from, the highway fairy? Why aren’t THOSE paying for themselves? And that’s exactly it – wouldn’t it be NICE not to HAVE to have a car and all the associated expenses that come with it? If transit were adequately available, it would reduce your personal costs – taxes may go up, but those would not cost nearly the amount per person that it costs to pay for gas, car maintenance, tolls etc. And what about people who can’t drive? The elderly, young, blind, disabled? They are supposed to be shut out of the economy b/c they can’t get anwhere? And then you’ll rail against those lazy entitlement queens that don’t work, right? UGH, Americans = so dumb, can’t connect the dots at all. Congrats to Republicans for gutting the education system, they’ve got just the voters they wanted.
DD
July 30th, 2012
10:37 am
The TSPLOST was supposed to be about reducing traffic congestion.
The Atlanta Regional Commission has conceded that the TSPLOST projects list will do little to reduce regional commute times. The ARC says they are defining “alleviating traffic congestion” as meaning increasing the number of people who can reach a point in the region within 45 minutes. The ARC has conceded that this has nothing to do with improving the flow of traffic, and that it will have an insignificant impact on reducing commute times. The reason that so many state legislators are now opposing the TSPLOST is that the projects list became a massive bait-and-switch. Most of the money, billions of dollars, is going to projects that will do little or nothing to improve the flow of traffic.
In public presentations on both July 12 and July 13, TSPLOST proponents said
* Light rail has NOTHING to do with reducing traffic congestion, and
* Light rail has NOTHING to do with moving people.
* Cities build light rail to promote economic development.
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation recently concluded that the TSPLOST projects list has “massive boondoggles that will put this state at a disadvantage for decades,“ and that “it would commit the region to wasteful spending on questionable projects for long past the 10-year sales tax.”
They also point out that rail transit is appropriate in places with very high population density. However Atlanta has the lowest population density of any major city in the world.
Express bus is the form of transit that can best meet the needs of a city that has low population density and widely dispersed employment centers.
Light rail will likely wind up being at least 50 times more expensive to implement than express bus, and light rail is also drastically more expensive to operate and maintain. The TSPLOST will obligate a huge amount of future transportation dollars for purposes that have nothing to do with improving traffic flow on our roads.
hiram
July 30th, 2012
10:37 am
The main issue is that Georgia is currently recognized as having the most corrupt government in the country, and given the opportunity to rectify that, by limiting their booty from lobbyists, they thumbed their noses at the citizens – they are too important to fail. The citizens shouldn’t contribute another dime in taxes until the entire state government it purged of the current politicians, both those elected and appointed.
Laughing so hard it hurts
July 30th, 2012
10:37 am
The TSPLOST supporters trying to make themselves look good thru the polling. The sad part of all this is really the Republicans in the Gold Dome how they worded it on the ballot and no one seems to be up in arms over that. That’s a disgrace and shame how the conservatives in this state got the measure on the ballot in the first place.
No one is denying the fact that more needs to be done to reduce congestion in urban and rural areas that have become clogged up. The DOT should have thought about that before they mismanaged money and that is a fact. When you don’t know where some 565 million dollars of money is that’s a big problem and the State Attorney Generals have failed to do their job by auditing them in a serious manner. Georgia is a joke…..
lol
July 30th, 2012
10:37 am
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Hmmmmmm
July 30th, 2012
10:38 am
@ vote yes,
LOL, your funny… your rhetoric borders on the absurd… I am egotistical and pompous for pointing out the obvious … Ok, I’ll be egotistical and pompous, but I still want fiscal responsible politicians in office spending our tax dollars… I will not vote for another state tax increase until the day comes when politicians don’t think of me as a unlimited source of income… But hey, you go ahead and vote yes for more of the same corrupt madness… I’ll take any help I can get….
Middle of the Road
July 30th, 2012
10:38 am
“Again, if this fails the fuel tax will be increased.”
And who has told you this? Even if it were true, I would rather that happen than a sales tax. If I don’t drive 50 miles one-way to work (which I don’t), I don’t have to pay gas tax. I would still have to pay sales tax to support all the other people.
DannyX
July 30th, 2012
10:39 am
TSPLOST is going to lose by a wide margin tomorrow.
It is obvious that our state politicians are totally out of touch with the people of this state. TSPLOST, ethics reform, and the new Falcons stadium are just a few examples of the disconnect.
A new poll shows 67% against using taxpayer money for a new stadium, only 23% back the plan. Unlike TSPLOST the stadium will not be put up for a vote and is just about a done deal.
Say what
July 30th, 2012
10:40 am
Laughing so hard it hurts.. funny you mention conservatives, but Mayor Reed is leading the pimping of this project and he is hardly a conservative.
JB
July 30th, 2012
10:41 am
allen981 @10:36: “Those trains went away – why? – because cars, like it or not, offer more mobility, freedom, convenience, and efficiency.”
No, it was because rail companies were private and had to acquire their own ROW and lay their own tracks. Highways and car companies were heavily subsidized by the government in the form of taxpayer-funded road building, without which cars would not have been able to offer “mobility, freedom, convenience, and efficiency.” Rail lines could not compete with a heavily subsidized competitor. It was NOT the free market at work; quite the opposite.
PMC
July 30th, 2012
10:41 am
Ok I understand your argument now Allen. Thanks for clarifying.
Middle of the Road
July 30th, 2012
10:41 am
“And where do you think all those highways come from, the highway fairy? Why aren’t THOSE paying for themselves?”
Who says they AREN’T paying for themselves? They come from State and Federal GAS TAXES – levied on those that use them, not on everyone like sales taxes are.
Dazed and Confused
July 30th, 2012
10:43 am
Only in America…would people fail to support a President who is actively trying to lower taxes for the middle class, yet willing accept a new tax at the state level.
Kramer
July 30th, 2012
10:43 am
First off, I am voting yes for TSPLOST only because it COULD benefit the company I work for from a business standpoint. Second, for those who wonder why Clinton will be at the Dem convention. Do you really think that Bill or Hillary like the Obama’s? Oh hell no! Obama’s people blew smoke up Bill’s Pelosi and threw in some perks to get him to speak. Face it, he is more respected in the liberal circles the BO ever will be and a faaaar better President.
Steve
July 30th, 2012
10:43 am
The article should have read: TWO THIRDS OF VOTERS DO NOT SUPPORT THE T SPLOST. But, being the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation what would you expect. This left leaning piece of garbage just will not tell you the truth as it happens.
VOTE YES!!!
July 30th, 2012
10:43 am
@middle of the road. Do your research. Even the TEA party people have this in their Plan B. You can control your sales tax a lot easier than fuel. Buy things online.