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PAGE 10A
: ORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, December 14,2003
The Forsyth County News
Opinion
This is a page of opinions - ours, yours and others.
Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the
writers and artists and may not reflect our views.
Political tempest in
election board teapot
Q y That we got
%/> / here is fail-
▼ V ure to com
municate.”
Those immortal words
from character actor
Strother Martin in the movie
Cool Hand Luke aptly
describe what went on last
week between the county’s
board of elections and the
county commission.
Monday, the board of
elections met and decided to
ask commissioners to recon
sider the ballot question for
a March referendum on a
new county courthouse, jail
and sheriff’s office facilities.
Problem was, the elec
tions board had not yet been
given a ballot question by
the commissioners.
While the county com
mission has agreed to hold
the referendum and to put
the projects before the vot
ers, it has not yet adopted
the required resolution for
doing so. That is expected to
happen this week.
Once the formal resolu
tion is adopted and a final
ballot question approved,
that paperwork will then be
sent to the board of elec
tions, which will be asked to
include the question on the
ballot in March’s Presiden
tial Preference Primary.
Without having received
the actual resolution and
ballot question from com
missioners, elections board
members clearly could not
vote to put the issue on the
ballot when they met last
week. Lacking what was
needed for action to be taken
they should have been
adjourned with nothing
done.
Unfortunately, that didn’t
happen.
Letters
Board of Elections lacked
proper ballot request
At a hastily called special meeting of the
Board of Elections, the Elections Board was
asked by the Superintendent of Elections to call
for an election and placement of a ballot question
from the Board of Commissioners for a bond ref
erendum to pay for a new justice center complex.
The elections superintendent indicated that this
was prompted by the county verbally.
State mandate requires the Board of Elections
be provided with the legal wording. For an
extended period, the Superintendent of Elections
repeatedly requested from county representatives
the formal written request for the election call,
including the legal wording of any ballot place
ment requests.
The Board of Elections extended a courtesy
reminder along with a review request to hopeful
ly ensure ballot placement on the next election
cycle by the deadline.
How can the county attorney review an action
when the presentation for an election call and
ballot placement was not done in writing? Did
the legal review take into consideration that the
county failed to properly present the request in
writing?
While verbal exchanges are a courtesy and
are important, we must ensure compliance with
the state law and receive the formal written
request along with legal wording of the ballot
issue before placement. I am not willing to com
promise the integrity of this legal process.
1 have to question why this is being done at
the last minute, in such a rush. Should the word
ing of this request be a secret?
The Board of Elections cannot be expected to
call for an election on what it has. not seen in
Without having seen the
ballot question proposed by
the commissioners, the elec
tion board voted unanimous
ly to ask that it be reconsid
ered and changed anyway.
That unusual action set
the Board of Elections adrift
in some very murky legal
waters. The role of the elec
tions board is to make sure
elections are conducted fair
ly and in compliance with
the law, and to see that can
didates and voters are prop
erly qualified. Election
board members are not sup
posed to stake out positions
on sensitive political issues,
less their objectivity be
questioned.
The election on board
members are not appointed
to attempt to challenge or
change ballot questions
based on their personal
political beliefs. Nor should
they be. To politicize the job
is to diminish the likelihood
of unbiased elections.
In the end, a tempest
emerged from a most unex
pected teapot. Even as they
were asking commissioners
to reconsider their ballot
question, election board
members said they ultimate
ly would put whatever ques
tion they were given onto
the ballot for the voters to
decide anyway.
So a premature meeting
resulted in a vote on an issue
that didn’t really yet exist,
prompting a flurry of antag
onistic criticisms, legal opin
ions and the unnecessary
stirring of an already heated
political pot all of which
likely would have been
avoided had the election
board met after the county
adopted the necessary reso
lution rather than before.
writing. To do so would be a disservice to the cit
izens of Forsyth County.
Brant Meadows
Board of Elections member
Cumming
Voters will be informed
on bond referendum
The points in your Dec. 7, 2003, editorial
regarding communication with voters in relation
to the bond referendum to finance county deten
tion, law enforcement, court and related support
facilities are well taken. A referendum is an
established, very effective and final means for
the voters to express their thoughts and convic
tions on specific proposals and issues.
Contrary to published and perhaps purpose
fully misleading statements by two or three unin
formed persons, the March 2, 2004, referendum
will not cost the taxpayers anything. Rather it is
being held simultaneously with the Republican
and Democratic Party Presidential Candidate
Primaries.
Chairman Jack Conway and other members
of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners
should be commended by all residents for their
unrushed, through evaluation of the capital
improvement proposals presented by the Citizens
Task Force appointed in August 2002.
Likewise, the work of the Task Force was
thorough in all aspects and their efforts should be
saluted and respected. Their proposals represent
logical, workable and economical solutions to
meet the needs that have resulted from Forsyth
County's incredible growth.
The Task Force believes that an informed
Coleman faces a tough session
Year II of Georgia’s two
party government starts next
month as the General
Assembly gathers to fight
again over money what
else? and to prepare for the
2004 legislative elections.
The state is facing a poten
tial deficit of $1 billion. The
state capital is on the verge of
plunging into receivership.
Education administrators are
pleading for S6O million to
keep the HOPE scholarship
fund from foundering. And
several rural hospitals are
close to financial collapse.
Meanwhile, Gov. Sonny
Perdue wants to repeal the so
called Blaine amendment so
tax-exempt religious organiza
tions can receive more state
funds.
Across the hall from the
governor’s office, Democrats
are gearing up for an election
campaign to recapture the
state Senate from the GOP.
If you are a member of
state government, these are
bleak times. If you are a tax
paying citizen, get ready for
action and hold onto to your
billfold. The ride is about to
get rough.
Keep an eye on Rep. Terry
Coleman, D-Eastman, the
low-key House Speaker and
most powerful Democrat left
standing in state government.
After a bitter fight to sur
vive as speaker last year,
Coleman emerged as the dom
inant figure in the record-long
2003 session of the
Legislature. He cast the decid
ing vote on a new state flag
a vote that earned him a posi
tion as the ace of spades in an
“enemies” deck of cards
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Bill I.JLI
Shipp
issued by advocates of the dis
carded Confederate X flag.
More importantly, Coleman
maneuvered the ship of state
through the shoals of a budget
disaster.
With his position secured
this year, “Ace” Coleman is
expected to play an even more
decisive role in several legisla
tive matters, indulging desper
ate pleas for help from:
• HOPE: Supplicants are
seeking an additional S6O mil
lion for the endangered HOPE
scholarship fund. In the same
breath, they mention further
raises in school tuition. They
may be in for a rude shock.
Coleman already is
demanding answers from
higher-education officials
about spiraling increases in
tuition, and other fees that
depleted HOPE funds and left
thousands of nonscholarship
students (“C students like me,”
as Coleman puts it) out in the
cold.
The speaker says he will
shortly announce a plan for
saving HOPE. A proposal to
add SAT scores to HOPE’S
requirements is already on life
support and not expected to
survive the legislative session.
• Atlanta: Forget about it.
Not only is the state in a deep
financial hole, help-Atlanta
politics simply will not fly in
rural Georgia. Coleman asks
pointedly: How can the city of
Atlanta ask the state to bail
voter is the best voter. We are committed to a
fully informed electorate on all matters relating
to the March 2nd referendum. However, out of
respect for holiday season observances by
Forsyth’s families, churches and community
groups, communication efforts will not be under
taken until after Jan. 1.
Roger Crow, Chairman
Citizens Task Force for Capital
Improvements for the Sheriff’s Office,
Detention Center and Court System
Election board part of
‘checks and balances 9
The recent decision by the Board of
Elections, asking county commissioners to
reconsider their all-or-nothing vote on the pro
posed justice center, should be considered a tri
umph of checks and balances in how our govern
ment wields it’s power. It is heartening to see a
group of citizens, however small, be more con
cerned about fiscal responsibility than a majority
of our current sitting commissioners.
Brant Meadows, the Republican appointee to
the elections board, should be congratulated for
looking at how this situation out if vot
ers reject this huge bond issue a third time. His
approach may be just the thing to inject some
common sense into a matter that has been mar
ginalized by our county commission.
Roger Crow, who headed the task force
which recommended not only the justice center
complex but the all-or-nothing vote to begin
with, has been sounding like Captain Ahab from
day one; tragically pursuing this great white
whale at all costs. Every attempt to modify the
out its dilapidated sewer sys
tem when many Georgia com
munities cannot afford a sewer
system at all, but depend
exclusively on septic tanks?
The speaker also asserts that
Atlanta’s billion-dollar finan
cial mess is incomprehensible
to a typical Georgia town try
ing to find “$1 million to build
a sewer line to a Wal-Mart
shopping center.”
• Hospitals: Some rural
Georgia hospitals are on the
ropes and may not survive
without additional financial
aid. Yet other rural and subur
ban hospital systems are flush
with hundreds of millions of
dollars in securities.
Some of these public hos
pitals even maintain mysteri
ous offshore bank accounts, as
state Rep. Austin Scott, R-
Tifton, has discovered. Look
for a major blowup over the
state’s role in making several
healthcare groups prosperous
while depriving others
especially those saddled with
helping the uninsured indigent
—of the assistance necessary
to survive.
• Church groups: Gov.
Sonny Perdue has embarked
on a campaign to repeal the
state’s seldom-enforced ban
on allocating funds to so
called faith-based organiza
tions.
The state already pours
millions annually into reli
gion-affiliated institutions
ranging from Mercer and
Emory Universities to several
Christian youth groups.
Coleman expresses concern
that the Perdue initiative may
be a back-door method of
gaining approval of school
recommendations of the task force has been met
with a stone wall of criticism, not of the sugges
tion, but of the person making the suggestion.
It appears Mr. Crow cares less about the intel
ligence of Forsyth County taxpayers than he
does about creating a legacy for himself. If all
three recommendations were separated into dis
tinct items on which to vote, then voters could
approve them all on their individual merits. If we
are convinced, as he is, that all three items are
badly needed, then the result would be no differ
ent than with his proposal. Mr. Crow’s “my way
or the highway” approach forces voters to
approve or reject an entire package, which may
not be in this county’s best interests. There is no
logical or financial reason to lump all items into
one vote.
We have already spent extra taxpayer money
on special elections twice before, and then spent
more money polling voters on why we rejected
the last vote. Isn’t it time we spent our money
wisely by using a little common sense, rather
than pursuing this justice center monstrosity with
fanatical zeal?
David W. Richard
Alpharetta
Residents should have
choice on justice center
The Wednesday, Dec. 10 article in the
Forsyth County News regarding [whether] the
bond referendum should be split.
Commissioner Eddie Taylor and Grand Jury
See LETTERS, Page 11A
vouchers for religious schools,
thus undermining the public
school system.
However, a couple of other
ranking Democrats contend
Perdue is on the right track
and that Georgia’s financial
support of church-sponsored
groups over the years may be
unconstitutional. A fix is need
ed to avoid major litigation,
they contend.
• Budget writers: Although
Georgia’s rollercoaster finan
cial situation now appears on
an upswing with revenues
improving slightly, the specter
of a $1 billion budget deficit
still looms.
Speaker Coleman says
more unfilled state positions
may be eliminated to help bal
ance the budget. (Such a move
has the sound of a shell game,
much like Gov. Perdue’s plan
to shift a state payday from
one fisdal year to the next to
create an illusion of a decrease
in spending.) Speaker
Coleman flatly rejects any
notion of tax increase or
layoffs, for the time being. In
the last 12 months of econom
ic problems for nearly all
states, Georgia has gone from
“good” to among the “worst”
states in the deficit depart
ment.
Fiscal experts say Georgia
has slipped into the crisis zone
because of an unrealistic pro
jection of an annual revenue
increase of 6.5 percent, plus
the Perdue administration’s
late start in cutting state
expenses.
Bill Shipp’s column appears
each Sunday and Wednesday.
His e-mail address is bshipp
@ bellsouth.net.