Newspaper Page Text
The Champion, Thursday, June 25 - July 1, 2015
OPINION
Page 5A
District 5’s decision matters
District 5 residents final
ly got what they have begged
for: a special election. And
when they went to the polls
June 16 to select a new com
missioner, they had plenty
of choices.
There were five female
and five males running for
the position. Among them
were a police officer and
pastor, an educational con
sultant and entrepreneur, a
company CEO, a library me
dia specialist/writer, a man
agement executive, a tech
nology consultant, a retired
MARTA superintendent, a
community and economic
development consultant and
two attorneys.
However despite such a
Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
Managing Editor
@AndrewChampNews
rich field of choices and so
much controversy about the
lack of representation for
the district for so long, voter
turnout was pathetic. Ap
proximately 5.1 percent, or
4,557, of the district’s 82,742
registered voters participat
ed in the special election to
fill the seat, which officially
became vacant May 8 when
Lee May resigned after near
ly two years of being the in
terim DeKalb County CEO.
In the special election
Mereda Davis Johnson, an
attorney and wife of Con
gressman Hank Johnson,
received 27.21 percent of the
votes while George Turner,
a District 5 Community
Council president and a
retired MARTA manager,
received 15.94 percent.
What is common be
tween Johnson and Turner
is that both have put them
selves before the community
as possible future elected
leaders.
District 5 needs an in
dependent thinker—some
one who will represent the
people, not someone who
simply will join a voting bloc
on the board of commis
sioners. District 5 needs an
advocate who will seek the
welfare of his or her com
munity and not seek self-
aggrandizement. District 5
needs a representative who
remembers that he or she
was elected to represent the
constituents and not himself
or herself.
There is still time to get
it right, District 5 residents.
Whether you voted on June
16 or not, make it a priority
to be part of choosing your
next representative during
the runoff that will be held
on Tuesday, July 14, with
early voting beginning on
June 29 at the Registration
& Elections office. The early
voting poll will be closed
July 3.
Don’t squander the op
portunity to be part of the
process of deciding who will
give voice to your concerns
and fight for what is in the
best interest of your com
munity. Those who don’t
vote are turning their backs
on their district.
District 5 matters.
DeKalb County matters.
And the choice that District
5 makes matters.
ONE MAN'S OPINION
Everything in the spin again
“ Waste neither time nor
money, but make the best
use of both. Without industry
and frugality, nothing will
do, and with them every
thing. ’’-author, publisher,
inventor and statesman
Beniamin Franklin (1706-
1790).
Being a man of middle
age, I have a much greater
appreciation for getting a
good night’s sleep and the
comfort of a good mattress
and bed. I’m hopeful that
the days of crashing on
couches, roll-away beds and
sleeping on the floor are
largely behind me.
Beginning during the
earlier GOP Congressional
takeover in 1994, a modest
group of young freshmen,
many with young families
back home, made the con
scious and frugal choice
not to lease or purchase an
apartment or townhome on
Capitol Hill but instead to
crash in their congressional
office suites, often on the
floor or a couch atop a roll
up or air mattress.
U. S. House member
offices in the Capitol as
well as a series of buildings
flanking both sides of Capi
tol Hill are historic, some
times charming and quaint,
but generally cramped, cer
tainly compared to the more
opulent and larger digs re-
Bill Crane
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Columnist
served for the 100 members
of the U. S. Senate. Leader
ship offices are larger, but
office assignments, as well
as individual pieces of fur
niture (some well more than
a century old), are among
the perks of seniority, as
well as being in the major
ity. When majority shifts
occur, the moving days and
long weekends before a new
Congress is sworn in are
viewed as almost comical.
But after nearly three
decades of primarily young
er members of the larger
chamber of Congress using
their offices periodically as
“crash pads” along comes
a new spin from a longtime
columnist at Roll Call, a re
spected and venerated D.C.
media outlet heavily read
by other reporters, politi
cal wags and staffers on the
Hill.
The “crash pad” trend,
started for reasons of thrift,
and not getting “too com
fortable” in a second D.C.
home is now being viewed
through a different prism.
Roll Call columnist Da
vid Hawkins pointed out
that while Congress may
have frozen its own pay
for the past seven years,
the “sleepers” pay no rent,
receive no utility bills, and
pay nothing for daily clean
ing and sanitation services.
Within Georgia’s con
gressional delegation, for
mer Congressman Jack
Kingston (R-Savannah)
was a longtime practitio
ner, and currently Georgia
GOP Reps. Buddy Carter
(Savannah), Doug Col
lins (Gainesville), Tom
Graves (Ranger) and Jody
Hice (Walton County) are
all members of the current
“Dream Team” sleeping free
on the Hill.
I will mention though
that although a few Con
gressional offices have mi
crowaves, mini-fridges and
occasionally a sink or toilet
within their suite virtually
none have showers or full
bathrooms.
The members of Con
gress who “office camp”
are often seen racing early
to the Capitol gym, which
opens at 5:30 a.m.
This “frequent guest”
program offers no points, no
free breakfast, no mints or
turn down service-but does
offer the pleasure of virtu
ally your entire staff and
the occasional constituent
not only knowing your full
“bed head” look, but really
having an understanding
of whether or not you are a
morning person.
Though former U.S.
House Speaker Jim Wright
(D-Texas) forbade the
practice as being “demean
ing to the institution of the
House,” it appears at least
under the current GOP lead
ership, the congressional
camping practice is here to
stay.
Washington, D.C., re
mains far from being afford
able in terms of housing.
Rent for a one-bedroom,
“walk-up” in nearby Capitol
Hill tends to start at $2,000
per month, plus utilities.
Even on a Congress
man’s salary (currently
$174,000), if you have a
family and are not indepen
dently wealthy, that second
residence for three to four
nights per week, which pro
duces no income, sounds
like a pretty bad investment
decision. Some members of
Congress pool resources and
bunk together, others rent
rooms in townhomes owned
by more senior members.
But pulling a Clark
Howard in buildings that
taxpayers already own, and
already maintain is hardly
“stealing” another benefit
from U.S. taxpayers.
Though going by a few
of the air mattresses I’ve
seen in use, the Capitol Hill
YMCA might start looking
pretty good.
Even UGA interns now
have a large residence on
the Hill called The Delta
House (thanks to the gener
osity of the airline, not some
Greek organization). Maybe
along with the occasional
pair of Dawgs tickets, some
in our delegation could
just go crash at the interns’
house.
No-probably a bad
idea-President Clinton
already tried that. It didn’t
turn out too well.
Bill Crane also serves
as a political analyst and
commentator for Channel
2’s Action News, WSB-AM
News/Talk 750 and now 95.5
FM, as well as a columnist
for The Champion, Cham
pion Free Press and Georgia
Trend. Crane is a DeKalb
native and business owner,
living in Scottdale. You can
reach him or comment on
a column at bill.csicrane@
gmail.com.