It may be cold outside, but Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker is feeling the heat inside his plush city hall confines.

As a result, Bodker is hosting his first town hall meeting. It’s set for 7 p.m. on December 16 at Perimeter Church in Johns Creek. The city's vaunted tax-payer funded public relations propaganda machine has coined it: "Conversations with the Community."

The promo says the meeting will focus on "priorities within the community, challenges in the current economy and the upcoming legislative session. However, all subjects are welcome."

I like the "all subjects are welcome" part best.

For the record, this newspaper did not get the memo. Apparently, we have finally made Bodker's infamous Nixonian like "enemies list." This is a prestigious honor. We're proud of it. It took real reporting to land on that list. Do we get a plaque? Nope, but we'lll take our punishment like grown men: we got axed from the city's official e-mail blast list and the mayor refuses to answer our questions.

We're officially banished. Not welcome. Exiled. Ousted. Booted. We're cut off. We have no choice now but to go underground. We'll need disguises and wigs to sneak into official meetings.

But not to worry, a bevy of our readers (thank you!) are keeping us informed by forwarding everything they get from the Johns Creek PR spin machine. Even better, most of these emails come with insightful citizen commentary, which serve as our weekly Johns Creek political satire highlight wheel.

Regardless, the timing of this hastily called "Town Hall Meeting" -- with only three days notice and held a week before Christmas -- foretells Bodker's growing problems. He's just come off a stinging voter rebuke of his candidate for city council -- former Planning Commissioner Tim Jennette was routed by newcomer Kelly Stewart -- in a December run-off election.

Now sources inside Johns Creek government say Bodker has recently lost the support of a majority of his colleagues on city council, which is contributing to his current political free-fall.

This is exemplified by the fact that the council voted to appoint one of their own, Councilman Dan McCabe, to oversee the all important contract negotiations with their government services out-source company, CH2M-Hill, in lieu of the mayor.

COVERT CITY "CHARTER CHANGERS"

Several North Fulton lawmakers acknowledge that Bodker is covertly pushing for a change in the city’s governing charter in the 2011 General Assembly session. Any alteration to the city’s charter must be approved under the Gold Dome. One official says the mayor wants the state legislature to change the charter to make it easier to raise property taxes or issue bonds, should the city wish to do so.

The Johns Creek city charter, authored by former Ga. House Speaker Mark Burkhalter, states that a "majority of Johns Creek registered voters" must approve any tax hike or bond proposal as a ballot amendment. But Bodker and his city manager John Kachmar want to change the language to allow for simple majority of those who actually vote to make it law. They assert that having to get a majority of registered voters to approve bonds or increased taxes is next to impossible.

Well, of course it is. That was Burkhalter's point when he crafted it. The sage conservative former House leader wrote that stringent language into the city's charter for a reason: to guard against future unchecked growth of government by local politicians.

  The "JC Charter Changers" say they need to make it easier to issue bonds for good initiatives, like fixing roads. One elected official said it would take $3 million per year for 15 years to repair all the city’s roads. The lawmaker suggests that issuing bonds could potentially solve that.

But opponents to city debt ask this question: why not just gut the city's operating budget by $3 million per year instead of borrowing $45 million? You can start with the plethora of paid staff that work to spin out needless press releases all day, then go right to the 70 new cops the city now employees. Remember, for 100 years Johns Creek had two cops. Now it's got 70. Do the math.

Changing the city's charter to get easier access to revenue for the city's coffers, whether it's higher taxes or taking on debt, is a bad idea. Once you give municipal politicians the power to take more of your money, they'll find a way to do it. Hiring more cops who write tickets is one way. Increasing fees, taxes, fines and borrowing money is another.

Bodker should be careful what he wishes for. Changing the charter could also mean stripping the mayor of some of his power.

Frankly, that’s one charter change we could live with.

EMORY IS LIBERAL! TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW

CampusReform.org completed an in-depth profile of the political climate at Emory University as part of an ongoing project to research the nation’s top 100 universities. The research shows liberal political bias at Emory University based on the school's faculty, student organizations, and administrative policies.

Liberal student groups at Emory outnumber conservative groups by 11 to three.

The political leanings of university professors are similarly biased. Specifically, the school's faculty and staff gave 90 percent of their political donations to Democratic candidates in the 2008 presidential election.

"America’s colleges and universities are dominated by liberals, and Emory University is no different," said Morton Blackwell, president of the Leadership Institute and founder of CampusReform.org. "Too often, the campus left uses its power to indoctrinate the next generation."

DEAL: OBAMACARE RULING BODES WELL FOR GEORGIA

Georgia’s Gov.-elect Nathan Deal said that the federal court ruling against Obamacare's mandates bodes well for Georgia’s litigation against the law.

"I am encouraged by this ruling," Deal said. "The people of Georgia can rest assured we will continue to fight as we move forward to ensure that Georgians don’t lose their constitutional rights when it comes to choosing their health care. I look forward to working with Attorney Gen.-elect Sam Olens to see that our state continues to fight for the individual rights of Georgians. Our case is partnered with the state of Florida, so today's ruling doesn’t directly affect our states case, but it suggests that our argument is gaining steam in the court system. I do believe our position will win the day when one of these cases reaches the U.S. Supreme Court."

As the ranking member on the subcommittee on health in the U.S. House, Deal was the first member of Congress to publicly say the individual mandate was unconstitutional. Deal says the ruling backs up his assessment of the legislation’s serious flaws.

"The fight against Obamacare in the courts is based on the constitutional rights of Americans," Deal said. "As the next governor of Georgia, I’m not only concerned about the law’s encroachment on our rights but also about the crippling cost that this law will place on Georgia taxpayers. We’re struggling every day to pay our current bills and keep our schools running efficiently. Adding billions in new health care costs to the state will crunch every priority in state government. We need serious changes to this law. The consequences to Georgia are too severe."

ISAKSON GETS IN THE ACT, TOO

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) also praised the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson that the centerpiece of President Obama’s new health care law -- a requirement that all Americans must buy health insurance or pay a fine -- is unconstitutional.

"I commend the judge on his ruling that it is unconstitutional to force Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine for failing to do so. This unconstitutional provision is just one of the many problems with this terribly flawed health care law that is bad for Georgia, bad for families, bad for our seniors and bad for the American economy. I will continue to fight it every single day," Isakson said.