By John Fredericks

The top five Republican candidates for Georgia Governor are getting ready to rumble in The Beacon’s Big 5 GOP debate on Thursday night at the Metropolitan Club on Windward Parkway in Alpharetta. Participating candidates are Nathan Deal, Karen Handel, Eric Johnson, John Oxendine and Austin Scott. The event kicks off at 6:00 p.m. with a cocktail reception where all attendees can meet the candidates before the fireworks start. Tickets are going fast, so be sure to reserve you seat now at beaconcast.com.

For those who can’t make it, the debate will be carried live on beaconcast.com pay-per-view beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The debate has taken on a life of its own, as our press-credentialed colleagues who are covering it for their respective media outlets span the state. The format is designed to allow each candidate sufficient time to engage in specific policy and issues discourse. As this is the first event with the big five on the same stage at the same time, the stakes are high. The event promises to be quite lively.

BEACH BLOCKBUSTER FUNDRAISER AT JOHN SMOLTZ HOUSE

District 56 state senate candidate Brandon Beach is raising money like nobody’s tomorrow. He leads his two opponents — Roswell businessman John Albers and Alpharetta Councilman David Belle Isle — in the fundraising sweepstakes by a huge margin as it is, and now he’s ramping it up with the “big guns.” Beach’s campaign juggernaut has enlisted the help of former Atlanta Braves pitching ace and certain Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who is hosting an event for him at his home on Thursday evening, prior to the big debate. Headlining the bash is former House Speaker Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), a political icon in North Fulton. Burkhalter’s fundraising prowess is legendary. He raised more money for Mitt Romney’s failed presidential campaign in 2008 than the entire Mormon Church. Beach is on a roll right now and in so doing has become the prohibitive favorite to capture the state senate seat of the retiring Dan Moody. He’s got the big “Mo.”

RALPH ELLIS MEETS THE “BECKSTER”

Poor Ralph Ellis. He’s the veteran and noted AJC journalist who covers North Fulton these days. Ralph is an excellent reporter, and has a sterling reputation in the industry. He got his first taste of attempting to elicit a coherent quote or comment from beleaguered and hapless Roswell Councilwoman Becky Wynn, a card carrying member of the “East Roswell Political Cartel (ERPC).” Apparently Ellis attempted to contact Wynn, who is the council’s transportation liaison, to complete a story he was doing. But low and behold, Wynn didn’t respond to his call, so he acquiesced and emailed her for a response, close to deadline. But the “Beckster” would have none of it. She finally emailed Ellis back and said she couldn’t answer his query, even via email, due to a “headache.” Ellis printed the exchange several weeks ago. Welcome to the Ros-Vegas beat, Ralph.

PERDUE: GO FISH

Quick! Close your eyes and identify Ga. Gov. Sonny Perdue’s legacy after eight years as the state’s chief executive — six of which he enjoyed a majority in both the House and Senate. Here’s all I could think of: we’re the fishing state!

Perdue, a notorious control freak who never saw a tax decrease he liked, loves to play kingmaker. Last month he got himself involved in the Republican primary for Secretary of State by naming Brian Kemp to the post after Karen Handel resigned on January 1 to campaign full time for governor. Now we have no issue with Kemp, he’s a great guy, and naturally he willingly accepted the appointment. But the problem is there are two candidates vying the GOP nomination for that statewide position — and both of them have campaigned for over a year. One is former Sandy Springs Councilman Doug MacGinnitie, and the other is none other than Kemp himself. So basically Perdue injected himself in the race by choosing Kemp — and spat in MacGinnitie’s eye in the process. But MacGinnitie tells us he’s not deterred and he’s fighting on “because it’s the right thing to do.” We’ll see how much clout Perdue has come the July 20 primary. If MacGinnitie wins, it’s a personal rebuff to Perdue even though he’s term limited out of a job. So here’s a potential outlet: if you’re fed up with Perdue, you can send him a message in the July primary. That one factor alone puts MacGinnitie back in the race.

PERDUE VS. GDOT

The real chicken bone that sticks in Perdue’s throat these days is the Georgia Department of Transportation board of directors. He’s been miffed since day one that he can’t take control of the state’s transportation dollars. So once again he’s meddling in their business, only this time it’s with wild accusations of “Enron type accounting” practices. The issue is whether or not DOT can begin a multi –year contract on a road project before all of the funds are in the DOT bank. For example, if DOT has a three-year highway improvement project that costs $90 million, and the funding is guaranteed over three years by the federal government and the state, DOT wants to start the construction immediately and pay for it over the three years as the allocated money comes in. But Perdue says no, you have to wait the three years until the entire $90 million is accounted for before you can start, thus delaying much needed road improvements. The governor claims its “cash” accounting, which he prefers, VS. “accrual accounting,” which has been standard practice at DOT for years, until Perdue’s failed commissioner, Gena Evans, changed it last year. The DOT Board subsequently fired Evans.

Now the factions are at a logger jam. So the DOT board has appealed to Ga. Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a Democratic candidate for governor, to rule on the matter. We believer Baker will rule very shortly in favor of DOT’s position. The next time you’re sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic around North Fulton and wondering why nobody’s moving dirt and barrels, think about fishing. At least it will take your mind off the relentless traffic snarls.

THE INVISIBLE MAN CALLED KEEN

Has anyone seen or heard from Republican House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons) lately?

Keen, part of former House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s key GOP House leadership team, has seen his political capital decrease dramatically since Richardson’s total political implosion last December. Keen, who is serving a two-year term as Majority Leader, was not up for reelection to the post this year. But many House colleagues, fed up with the culture they believed Keen nursed along, wanted him out. So they gathered enough signatures on a petition that would have forced him to stand for re-election this January. Sources say he would have lost the post by a wide-margin. But incoming House Speaker David Ralston wanted none of it, and quietly squashed the drive to oust Keen. Sources in the Dome say that Ralston wanted to put the whole house cleaning effort behind the Republicans, so they could get on with business. The petition got put in a drawer. So Keen serves out his term in name only, another promising political aspirant turned carcass by the “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest” House reign of King Glenn I.