Archive for the ‘Georgia Public Broadcasting’ Category

Eight Republican candidates for governor enter the final four months before the July primary ready to throw nearly $7.3 million at the contest, according to financial disclosure reports filed with the State Ethics Commission.

The GOP candidates with the most cash on hand: state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, with $2.03 million; newcomer Ray Boyd with $2 million; and Eric Johnson with $1.7 million.

While finishing second in a recent statewide poll, former Secretary of State Karen Handel has less ready money for spending ($573,610) than former congressman Nathan Deal ($796,312).

Oxendine, state Sen. Jeff Chapman of Brunswick ($17,655 COH) and state Rep. Austin Scott of Tifton ($87,550 COH) have been barred from fund-raising since the Legislature has been in session.

Moreover, economic uncertainty played havoc with fund-raising for all candidates, and Oxendine Johnson was able to claim $701,100 raised in the last three months – the most of any GOP candidate. But that …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Finances and the race for governor »

Georgia Public Broadcasting is out to prove that it has a sense of humor.

On Saturday, the state network will tape a performance of the Capitol Steps, a political satire troupe usually found on public radio only, at the old Rialto theater in downtown Atlanta.

The program will be aired later on GPB, and marketed to other PBS stations as well. We’re looking forward to “Ebony and Ovaries,” a musical duet between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Levi Johnson is also likely to make an appearance.

An 8 p.m. performance is sold out.

An anti-tax group will gather in Roswell on Saturday morning where members will be encouraged to burn their AARP cards in protest of that organization’s support of Democratic efforts at health care reform.

The 10 a.m. event is sponsored by Americans For Prosperity. U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) is to be there, as will some area physicians. Location is the Roswell Country Club. Other details can be found here.

The event is clearly a sign that …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Georgia Public Broadcasting ventures into political humor »

Lobbyists and lawmakers hung around the state Capitol late Thursday afternoon, hoping to see House Speaker David Ralston’s list of committee chairman. It didn’t happen.

Instead, Ralston released two statements within minutes of each other. The first rescinded the appointment of all “hawks” – lawmakers who carried the authority to join any committee at any time in order to push a particular vote.

“While this system was initiated to enable House committees to more readily meet their quorum requirements, it has become a tool used strictly for partisan purposes,” Ralston said. “Under my leadership, I am committed to working across the aisle and ensuring an equal voice to all House members no matter their party affiliation.”

The news came as no surprise to House Republicans. Ralston had told them he would do it at a caucus meeting earlier in the week. It was one of the points of his brief campaign for the speaker’s job.

One assumes this will be followed up with a change …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: House speaker eliminates ‘hawk’ positions »

When it comes to property taxes, the Atlanta race for mayor is a concern limited to the several hundred thousand people who call themselves residents.

Mention “commuter tax,” and suddenly your listening audience expands to several million.

Six mayoral candidates participated in an hourlong debate Sunday night, broadcast on GPTV and sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club.

If you listened carefully, you know there’s a good chance that driving into Atlanta might cost extra after this election.

The question is who — or what — will be taxed.

First up on the topic was Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who appeared to endorse an indirect commuter tax filtered through the state:

“We already subject our commuters to a tremendous amount of traffic to come into our city. So what I propose is a regional equalization plan so that any city in the state of Georgia that has a net inflow of citizens throughout the state coming in for employment, would have a different level of funding from the …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Paying more to work in Atlanta »

Because life is unfair and cruel and at its heart a veil of tears, you are not allowed to read press releases with headlines like this every day:

“Georgia Congressman Jim Marshall publicly attacks ghost hunting and those who participate.”

An explanation will come, but later. This morning, the Macon Telegraph reports this:

Paul Rish, until a few days ago chairman of the Bibb County Republican Party, will challenge U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall in the 8th Congressional District, he said Monday. Rish, who will be 30 next week, is making his first bid for political office.

He is president and CEO of his own voice and data network business, Rish Telecommunications, and was head of the local GOP until resigning Sept. 30 to make this congressional run. The Republican Party has tried to take down Marshall, a Democrat, for several years now, making Middle Georgia’s 8th District a national priority.

Rish has been an active participant in the Tea Party movement. PeachPundit has more …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Jim Marshall loses the ghost-hunter vote in Macon »

One of the key unknowns today is the approach that President Barack Obama will take with tonight’s attempt to reboot the debate over health care reform.

The Wall Street Journal thinks Obama will stick to his guns. The New York Times says to watch for signals that the president is willing to compromise on the public option.

As for himself, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss says he wants to see a president who is at least chastened by the roars from August town hall meetings.

Talking Points Memo, the liberal blog site, is passing around this Fox News clip from Tuesday:

Said Chambliss:

I think what you’re looking at is folks on my side anxious to see what the president has to say tomorrow night. I think he’s going to have to express some humility based on what we’ve seen around the country during August, and that’s not his inclination.

Please note that Chambliss did not use the “U” word.

In an op-ed in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Sarah Palin, the former governor …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Chambliss wants Obama to show ‘humility’ »

Early this spring, Gov. Sonny Perdue made a quiet stir in the state Capitol with his selection of former CNN executive Teya Ryan as the head of Georgia Public Broadcasting.

The governor broke two unspoken rules along the way. First, the five previous people in charge of bringing Ken Burns or Clifford the Big Red Dog into your home had been state bureaucrats.

Teya Ryan, president and executive director of Georgia Public Broadcasting

The idea of putting an experienced broadcaster in charge of a state-owned network of nine public TV stations, 18 radio stations, an educational video arm and a web site actually qualifies, by Georgia standards, as revolutionary.

But it was the second violation that left Republican lawmakers, in particular, irate. Perdue passed over several GOP-credentialed nominees pushed by GPB’s board of directors — which has the formal authority to make the appointment — to get to Ryan.

Resentment was exacerbated by the fact that, in a world bisected by Fox …

Continue reading Sonny Perdue puts a CNN veteran in charge of Georgia Public Broadcasting »