About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2013)
COMMENTARY Why Pay More? 678.413.0104 Peachtree C REMATION Family Owned www.peachtreecremation.com Simple Cremation s 995 Before you buy or sell a car, call us! 5-star Reviews from Cars.com ★★★★★ Terrific Experience! -Webb in Atlanta ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Finally a car business who stands by their word - Chris in Madison Merlin AUTO GROUP Experience the Best www.merlinautogroup.com | 770-457-2699 Wilkinson letter unfair To the editor: As a longtime journalist who covered state Rep. Joe Wilkinson and who later went into the private sector and moved to Sandy Springs, as well as someone who has worked with his campaigns, I am deeply offended by Don McAdams letter (Sandy Springs Reporter, Nov. 1-14) in sinuating that our representative is some how dishonest. McAdam, ironically, is the dishon est one by citing a Wilkinson quote that there hasn’t been “a single shred of evi dence of wrongdoing against any legisla tor.” The letter writer went on to charge that the chairman of the House of Rep resentatives Ethics Committee is “simulta neously wrong and contemptibly mislead ing” because state Sen. Don Balfour has been indicted. Yet what McAdam didn’t tell readers is that Wilkinson actually first made that statement a year before the Balfour indict ment! It is especially surprising that the Reporter editor didn’t call foul on that cheap shot. The letter notes that a report by a local investigative news site exposed Balfour’s alleged expense account discrepancies. Yet, again, McAdam doesn’t tell the read er that the news site was able to get lobby ist information to verify the report for this story because Wilkinson has championed lobbyist transparency, and even pushed BETTER DOCTORS = BETTER CARE! ^ g MtSpRIMARY CAR^V^y ...... ...... 4 lUMPniATP riBF ^ With or Without Agnes Kovacs, M.D. Diplomate American Board Family Practice Member of Piedmont Received Doctor of Medicine degree from Medical College of Georgia Augusta, GA. Dr. Kovacs' holds a Ph.D. in Liquid Mechanics from Minnesota University. Dr. Kovacs’ scope of practice includes patients of all ages. She is especially interested in women’s health care issues. She has been practicing in Atlanta since 2005. Dr. Kovacs and her husband reside in Brookhaven. Appointment, you will find: • Caring • Knowledgeable • Accessible • Experienced Physicians If you need a Primary Care Doctor, or just can not get on your Doctor’s schedule, your community-trusted physicians and staff are always ready to help. BUCKHEAD FTh' Schedule an Appointment or Walk-In seven days a week. No wait! Perimeter Clinic Buckhead 3867 Roswell Road, Atlanta, GA 30342 (1/2 Mile North of Piedmont Road) www.PerimeterCinic.com | 678-904-5611 Hours: Mon-Fri 9am - 7pm, Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 12pm - 5pm Walk-In • Most Insurances Accepted • No Appointment Necessary LETTER TO THE EDITOR E-mail letters to editor@reporternewspapers.net for ethics reforms to ensure that the infor mation was available to the public three times faster than it was previously. Out-of-legislative-session lobbyist dis closure reports were filed only once ev ery 90 days, so Wilkinson took the lead to change it to every 30 days. In-session reports were due once every 30 days, but the Ethics Committee chairman again changed them to twice every 30 days. Ad ditionally, the chairman moved to raise fines for lobbyist non-compliance to some of the highest in the country. McAdams letter cites a 2012 report by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) which looked at each state’s laws and attempted to determine how susceptible they were to corruptibility. This report concluded that Georgia ranked last in the nation. McAdam then mocks Wilkinson for challenging the CPI report when in fact in 2010 the same national group ranked Georgia seventh in the country in terms of strong ethics/transparency laws. In compiling that ranking as well as previ ous ones, the CPI relied on objective, in dependent and professional regulators and administrators. Yet in 2012, the CPI changed the methodology that it had always employed. Instead of seeking input from the objec tive ethics officials, CPI contracted with a hodgepodge of individuals in all 50 states to conduct the study. In Georgia, the in dividual selected was paid $5,000 to “re view” Georgia’s laws. This individual then concluded that Georgia - which was ranked the seventh best state two years before - had somehow jumped to last in the nation. At that point, national media outlets and other experts questioned the entire CPI report, especially since it ranked New Jersey with a controversial, first-in-the-na- tion “clean” rating. That’s why Wilkinson asked outside experts to review and ana lyze the CPI report — and those findings were passed along to local media. Bottom line: The CPI report is now as discredited as McAdams irresponsible attacks against the reputation of this fine public servant. Readers ought to know, too, that the Sandy Springs/Buckhead lawmaker has never missed a day of regular or special General Assembly sessions in 13 years. This public servant, lest it be forgotten, sponsored the legislation that led to the creation of the city of Sandy Springs. And, significantly, he was the 2004 En vironmental Legislator of the Year — the first Republican ever named by the Geor gia Conservation Voters. Our representative has been instru mental in passing bills ranging from teen driving safety to student meningitis vacci nation requirements. The list goes on. But perhaps most important, and something McAdam refuses to concede, is that Rep. Joe Wilkinson has repeatedly ad vocated that all lobbying activity be fully open and transparent. Phil Kent 6 | NOV. 15 —NOV. 28, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net ss
