October 12 2010

Fulton County Commission candidates Steve Broadbent and Lori Henry are in position to pull-off major upsets in their no-holds barred quest to strip control from county Democrats. Both incumbents -- County Chairman John Eaves (D) and At-Large Commissioner Robb Pitts (D) -- are vulnerable to the GOP voter tidal wave about to hit the nation. But they have a few obstacles to overcome first. Oddly enough, they’re with some of their own Republican Party faithful in North Fulton. We’ll coin it the "Milton County Mafia."

The "Milton County Mafia" is basically headquartered in Johns Creek, but their legions roam all of North Fulton. It's compromised of mostly municipal elected offi cials and other North Fulton Republican operatives who are obsessed with creating Milton County from a carved up Fulton.

Never mind that they don’t have the two-thirds majority votes in either chamber of the Georgia state house. Forget about the fact that it couldn’t even get to a floor vote in the last two sessions when they had their best chance ever to get the constitutional amendment on the ballot. Now with it's legendary "Godfather" Mark Burkhalter removed from the political scene, it has no chance of garnering anywhere near the necessary votes for passage. 

Absent Burkhalter, stick a fork in it, its cooked.

Obsessions often morph into delusions. This one is delusional obsession.

Here is the political dilemma of the "Milton County Mafia:" if Broadbent and Henry actually win, they will likely reform the county. They'll undoubtedly clean house, and get the government working efficiently again. And if Fulton County's inept government is no longer their political bogeyman, their dream of a re-created Milton County dies with it. No matter that the goal is to fix the shattered county government. The "Milton County Mafia" wants complete control of their "new" county government and the political spoils that go with it. They got a taste of what's it like to have total power in Sandy Springs, Johns Creek and Milton, and they want to expand that model to the next level. Save Sandy Springs, with their valiant and courageous mayor Eva Galambos, the other two new cities -- Milton and Johns Creek -- broke their promise of forming a "new government model" by using outsourced private contractors, and instead have accumulated immense power by building a useless bureaucracy of government workers who's lives they control and who can't get downsized or fired.

Case in point: Johns Creek has three full-time executives that spend their entire days spinning out silly press-releases and public relations dribble so elected officials that control their economic destiny look good. Who pays for that nonsense? We do. The promise was "less government and more local control." But once elected, they gave us more government and less control. Stand up to them and they’ll squash you like a bug. 

They spun the hasty ousting of their outsource company, CH2M-Hill by saying their contract was non-transparent and they paid too much. Fair enough. So get new contract bids, or hire independent contractors that work when they need to. Nope. They instead hired salaried employees who now have protected jobs for life, just like the elected officials who spawned them. Now Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker is reportedly in the midst of seeking to replace another private outsource company while adding more public employee jobs to the city's expanding taxpayer funded bloated payroll. 

That's what accumulated government power is all about. We voted for one thing -- and got another. Sound familiar?

So the "Milton County Mafia" doesn’t want to "reform" Fulton. They have one goal: create their own county government and build another taxpayer funded power base, with seven new commissioners and hundreds of government workers and lawyers needed. They need Fulton County to fail to make their now delusion a dream come true.

The original concept of creating a new Milton County was bold, cutting edge, conservative and futuristic. But that was then and this is now. House Speaker Pro-Tem Jan Jones (R-Milton) can't do this alone. She's one person. She’s got an entire state in financial disarray she has to focus on next session.

Jones and her "Fab-Five" North Fulton House contingent are visionary leaders who are in the public arena for all the right reasons. They are not the issue. The best thing for Jones in the 2011 session is for Fulton County to get cleaned up -- and fast. She has bigger fish to fry in the state of Georgia. If Fulton fails to function efficiently, then she is left with no choice but to expend precious political capital on reviving Milton County again.

Government is government. Once you create a new one, it takes on a life of its own, and grows uncontrollably, like the classic 1958 movie: "The Blob." BTW, they never actually killed "The Blob." They simply froze it, and dumped it in the Artic. So like Sigourney Weaver says in the "Alien" movies, "You have to take away its reason for living -- and kill it before it’s born." Once given life, a government never dies. Doubt me? Take a look at your HOA rules, and try planting a fl ower where it can’t go. Or attempt to fl y the U.S. Flag in the "restricted" area, like your driveway. You’ll endure the wrath of hell.

FULTON COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY’S $1 MILLION ENDOWMENT

At issue in this election is a $1 million endowment the Fulton County GOP had bestowed to them a few cycles ago by a longtime donor. The Fulton County Republican Party’s operating committee controls the money. Their policy has been to keep the principle intact, while using the interest for miniscule candidate funding and ongoing operating expenses. But why not dip into some of it now? What good does it do just sitting in some fund making 1.5 percent interest when you actually have a shot at electing somebody? What are we waiting for? 

Some insiders in the local GOP are saying just that. The money was endowed to help elect Fulton County Republicans. What better time then now to take some of it -- maybe $150,000 – and spend it to elect Broadbent and Henry? An influx of campaign cash like that in the final weeks could go a long way in making their victory a reality and Republicans could take control of the county.

But a majority of the FCGOP operating committee is against it. And it's anathema to the "Milton County Mafia" because they want to make a case for half the cash when they get their new county -- to fund their new party – "The Milton County Republican Party." So the dough sits in the bank at a time when 15 percent of it could turn the election around. This makes little sense.

The FCGOP operating committee is meeting in secret session tonight to consider taking a paltry $25,000 out to help local candidates. $25,000? Why bother. Robb Pitts has $218,000 cash on hand. 

The Fulton County GOP brass is playing "politics as usual" while the nation's voters are listening to a different beat. As for the "Milton County Mafia:" they just don't get it. There is not going to be a Milton County in the foreseeable future, so why not fix what we have?

FULTON COUNTY’S NEW SCANDAL: "VIDEO TAPE-GATE"

One thing about our Fulton County government: they sure are consistent in wasting money -- regardless of the venue or the department.

During Wednesday’s Broadbent-Henry- Liz Hausmann led press conference on the steps of the downtown county offices, where the Republicans called for an independent Federal investigation of the alleged $183,000 bogus invoice robbery, county officials first told Broadbent to get off the property, because "you can’t campaign on county property." But Broadbent fired back, and reminded the official that this was not a campaign event -- it was a press conference.

The county leadership, holed up in their downtown suites, made it a point not to venture outside to hear what Broadbent and company had to say. However, evidently curiosity got the best of them. So they dispatched their county government video camera team downstairs to film the whole event.

Problem is, the videographer was using county government TV cameras and is paid by the taxpayers to do one thing: film the County Commission and other government meetings to be shown on government access television, like Comcast Channel 25 or Charter Channel 23 in parts of Roswell. They are not intended nor permitted to be used for political purposes, like seeing what Broadbent, Henry and Hausmann had to say and then breaking down the film, like a football coach. Is Broadbent's press conference being aired on Comcast Government Access Channel 25 in Fulton County? Not a chance. So the County mantra continues: we pay, they play.

FULTON'S JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS A MESS, TOO

21 Fulton County Judges have been forced out of office in the last two years by scandals that range from sleeping on the job to sleeping with their courtroom public defenders. Now we've got a candidate for Fulton County Superior Court Judge -- Kelly Amanda Lee -- who has two convicted D.U.I.'s running in November. Lee says she’s off the sauce now, but others say she’s been seen out and about with a cocktail or two for some time. Ever have to go to court down there? If you have, you get the picture. It's a Kangaroo court system if there ever was one. Maybe that's why upstart Fulton Superior Court Judge candidate Chloe Dallaire has jumped out to a big lead in a recent independent poll taken. Lee has run before, and she has all the big name North Fulton politico endorsements on her website. So she's like the establishment candidate. Dallaire's biggest asset: she's a fresh face, and a voice for change. Poll results by the Washington Political Group on candidates vying for the open Superior Court Judge Seat in Fulton County, conducted September 16 – 18 are as follows:

Chloe Dallaire:                                    33%

Clarence Johnson:                              26%

Kalrise Grier:                                       16%

Shalethia Robertson:                          16%

Kelly Amanda Lee:                              11%

Dallaire also came in first in a poll amongst her peers by the Atlanta Bar Association, with 430 ABA members rating candidates as "Best Qualified."

Chloe Dallaire: Best qualified:                    142

Kelly Amanda Lee: Best qualified:              102

Karlise Grier: Best qualified:                         30

Clarence Johnson Jr: Best qualified:            18 

Shelitha Robinson: Best qualified:                 2

Plus Dallaire just got the backing of North Fulton business icon, owner of the Olde Blind Dog Pub in Milton and Alpharetta renowned cop Ron Wallace. That’s good enough for me to predict this race: Dallaire wins in a runoff, and it’s "lights out" for Lee, another victim of voter unrest with "establishment" candidates with shoddy histories.

Although, according to the pictures of Lee, it appears she has locked up the "mud-wrestling" vote.

MORE MONSON FOLLIES

Opponents are now questioning Alpharetta city council candidate Johnny Monson for his alleged role in a city contract. According to records, the city of Alpharetta was entering negotiations with vendors in 2008 for a Public Safety 9-11 and CAD Management System. The vendor recommended by staff was OSSI, a division of Sun-Guard. It’s company President and Account Executive, Joe Beasley were present during several presentations to the city on their company's ability to perform. Prior to the fi nal vote, his boss told Beasley that then Alpharetta Councilman Monson had contacted him directly looking for a sales and marketing job with the firm. Beasley was instructed to let city officials know about the phone call, which he did. The calls came prior to the council vote. Although not illegal, it's highly irregular.

BEST POLITICAL MAILER SO FAR- "INVISI-TATE"

The funniest and most creative political mailer so far this season goes to Republican candidate for state senate D-38 candidate Beth Beskin, an upstart lawyer from Buckhead. The political newbie to trying to unseat 12-year entrenched Democrat incumbent Horacena Tate, who hasn’t had a GOP challenger in five campaign cycles. Dubbed "Invisi-Tate" by this newspaper for her inaccessibility to the press and others, Beskin is making it one of her key campaign themes against Tate. Her campaign just put out a mailer with Tate's photo on a milk carton, under the header: "Have You Seen Me." It’s hilarious -- and dangerously effective. Beskin has mobilized an army of motivated volunteers across the District and she is giving Tate the run of her life. Her candidacy is still rated a long shot, but she has a very legitimate chance nonetheless. Beskin may pull off the biggest upset in Georgia of the night. We tried to contact Tate for a comment, but we couldn't find her, either.