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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. On your payroll CITY COUNCIL Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt RO. Box 3177, Cumming, GA 30028; (770) 887-4342 Mayor Pro-Tern, Lewis Ledbetter 205 Mountain Brook Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) M 7-3019 Ralph Perry 1420 Pilgrim Rd.. Cumming. GA 30040; (770) 887-7474 Quincy Holton 103 Hickory Ridge Dr.. Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279 Rupert Sexton 705 Pine Lake Dr., Cumming. GA 30040; (770) 887-4332 John Pugh 108 13th St.. Cumming. GA 30040; (770) 887-3342 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Charles Laughinghouse, Post 1 3550 Rosewicke Dr., Cumming, GA 30040 (770) 886-7937; office, (770) 886-2010 David “AJ.” Pritchett Post 2 4840 Chesterfield Court, Suwanee, GA 30024 (404) 392-6983; office, (770) 886-2809 John A. “Jack" Conway. Post 3 6130 Polo Club Dr.. Cumming, GA 30040 (770) 886-9226: (770) 886-2807 Marcie Kreager. Post 4 9810 Kings Rd.. Gainesville. GA 30506 office. (770) 886-2806 Eddie Taylor. Post 5 4195 Morningside Dr.. Cumming, GA 30041 (770) 886-2802 BOARD OF EDUCATION Ann Crow 96 Barker Rd.. Cumming. GA 30040 (770) 887-9640; acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us Paul Kreager 9810 Kings Rd.. Gainesville. GA 30506 (770) 889-9971; pkreager@forsyth.kl2 ga.us Nancy Roche 7840 Chestnut Hill Rd.. Cumming. GA 30041 (770) 889-0229; nroche@forsyth.kl2.ga.us Rebecca K. Dowell 2030 Commonwealth Place. Cumming. GA 30041 (770) 844-0830: rdowell@forsylh.kl2.ga.us Chairman Jeffrey Stephens PO. Box 169. Cumming. GA 30028 (770) 889-1470: jstephens@forsyth.kl2.ga.us NATIONAL LEGISLATORS U.S. Sen. Zell Miller Russell Senate Office Building, Room C-3 Washington. DC. 20510 (202) 224-3643: Fax: (202) 228-2090 U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss 1019 Longworth House Office Building Washington. DC. 20515 (202) 224-3521 U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 10th District 2437 Rayburn House Office Building. Washington. D.C. 20515 Gainesville: RO. Box 1015. Gainesville. GA 30503 Gainesville. (770) 535-2592 Washington: (202) 225-5211: Fax: (202) 225-8272 I J U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District 1727 Longworth House Office Building. Washington. DC. 20515-1011 Washington: (202) 225-4272: Fax: (202) 225-4696 STATE LEGISLATORS Sen. David Shafer, 48th District 109 State Capitol Atlanta. GA 30334 (404)651-7738 Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District 421 State Capitol. Atlanta. GA 30334 (404)656-6578: Fax:(404)651-6768 Sen. Dan Moody, 27th District (770) 695-3127: Office (404) 463-8055 Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th District (770) 466-1507; Office (404)463-1368 n M- ] Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District Legislative Office Building, Room 504 18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334 (404) 656-0188, (770) 887-0400, law office 4 Rep. Jan Jones, 38th District 412 Legislative Office Building, Atlanta GA 30334 (404) 656-0137 Rep. Jack Murphy, 14th District Legislative Office Building, Room 612, Atlanta GA 30334 (404) 656-0325 (770) 781-9319, home 111 ji j T ' K TWKYoU ol k|«® | YoOR V 7 FcRVcTNG M'| I P^WO T I // ■ WollLD'xbU LIKE // \ ■ another MrW \ ■ TRANSACTION? ■ m© HB' B ~ B EEjE I ■ ASK ABOUT OUR M ijlr \ ■ Low INTEREST , I°l SsHA IIF \ ■ LOANS 1 ■ 119 \ 111 DON'T FORGET I ■ YoUR RECEIPT WM • •fk ■ Raimondo failure embarrassing WASHINGTON The most charitable explanation of why President Bush’s choice to be the government's manu facturing czar crashed and burned last week is sheer incompetence. But the real causes of this embarrassment look like something worse: secrecy, deceptiveness and vindictiveness in this adminis tration. It could be a script from television's "West Wing." Nebraska industrialist Tony Raimondo was selected to be the newly created assistant secretary of manufacturing in the Commerce Department at the recommendation of his friend and business associate, the state's Democratic senator. Ben Nelson. But before Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans' scheduled announcement, the appoint ment was leaked to Sen. John Kerry. The prospective Demo cratic presidential nominee then revealed that Raimondo runs a factory in China. Senate Republican leaders won White House agreement not to make the nomination, and Bush aides blamed Nebraska's Republican sena tor. Chuck Hagel. The incompetence stems from White House failure to notify Hagel or any other Republicans in advance. That the process of vetting an important nominee fell apart in the fourth year of the Bush Bush terrorism policy c "I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror," droned Democratic presidential candi date John Kerry at a campaign event in Washington this week. Tj.UU. "I believe he's done too lit tle." What was that? My ears perked up slightly. Would this "proven leader" who claims he will "stand up to the special interests" talk about the need for racial, ethnic, nationality and religious profiling? Would he attack the Bush White House for appeasing the eth nic grievance industry and keeping silly Norm Mineta in his Cabinet during these dead ly serious times? Or would he propose a temporary visa moratorium on terror-friendly countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Morocco? Or how about the open-borders lobby? Would Kerry have anything to say about the continuing security threat that unchecked illegal immigration poses to the "hardworking families" he claims to represent? Naaah. Kerry, you see, was speak ing before the International Association of Fire Fighters, whose president, Harold Schaitberger, is national co chair of the Kerry for Robert Novak administration defies credibil ity. Somewhere in the White House, too-clever-by-half staffers made a decision to sneak through Raimondo's nomination without telling Hagel. That failed process gives Republicans plenty to worry about on the eve of a long, hard election campaign. Had Hagel been notified, he would have informed the White House of two political facts of life. The first was Raimondo's factory in China. Hagel is a sophisticated for mer businessman who under stands the global economy and sees no sin in an American manufacturer set ting up a plant in China sell ing strictly to the Chinese market and simultaneously generating sales jobs at home. But Hagel is also a politician who understands that "China" is a buzzword in today's high ly politicized Washington. It made no political sense to name a manufacturing czar who owns a factory in China. The second fact of life that would have been imparted by Hagel to the White House is that Tony Raimondo may be a registered Republican but is not a loyal Republican. He Michelle Jk S Malkin W President Committee. Their complaint is not that Bush has done too little to fight terror ism. but that he has showered too little government funding on certain Democratic con stituencies. Hence, the First Responders Fake-out. Kerry's big proposal to fight the global war on terror ism (borrowed from Bill and Hillary Clinton) is to add 100.000 "first responders" to the ranks of firefighters and emergency medical personnel in cities and towns across the United States. In other words: Wait until the terrorists strike us again and then do a really, really good job of cleaning up the mess afterward. Os course, our brave fire fighters, cops and emergency personnel need better training and equipment to respond in the event of another attack. But responders, no matter how courageous, prevent nothing. Dialing 911 is not the solution to stopping another 9/11. "When it comes to protect ing America from terrorism," Kerry complains, "this admin istration is big on bluster and FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, March 19, 2004 I supported then Gov. Nelson's 1996 bid for the Senate against underdog Hagel. After providing private jet trans portation for the heavily favored Nelson's losing cam paign. Raimondo took Nelson on his Behlen Manufacturing board (where he still serves as an unpaid adviser). Imagine Hagel's astonish ment when an aide gave him an Associated Press dispatch last Wednesday disclosing Raimondo's selection. Kerry made the actual first announcement, and it was not difficult to figure how he found out. A former Nelson press aide now works for the Kerry campaign. Naturally. Kerry knew all about the fac tory in China, and Democrats in their current mood of economic jingoism took the Senate floor to ridicule Bush's choice and effectively kill the nomination before it was made. Appalled. Secretary of Commerce Evans called Hagel to say he had thought surely the senator had been notified about Raimondo. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card phoned Hagel with the same message. But Hagel was not alone in being kept out of the loop. Nobody called Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Majority Whip Mitch McConnell or Comm-erce Committee Chairman John McCain ( who ritic has no plan of own short on action." And what does Kerry have to offer? More bluster about the old Clintonian "law enforcement" approach to prosecuting al Qaeda. More jury trials for terrorists. The federal prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers in our civilian court system demonstrated the pit falls of prosecuting the War on Terror like an episode of the TV show "Ally Mcßeal" —a pathetic courtroom comedy. The trials gave the bin Laden network a multi-million-dol lar, tax-subsidized defense team, free translation services, personal dry-cleaning servic es, and access to information that was allegedly used by Islamists "to become more adept at eluding surveillance." All of the convicted World Trade Center bombers received life sentences behind bars, where they rejoiced when they heard the news that the Twin Towers had fallen. Two had faced the death penalty but were spared by a minority-dominated jury that swallowed the race-baiting of traitorous defense witness Ramsey Clark (the former U.S. attorney general under Lyndon Johnson). Clark testi fied that no member of a racial minority group African- American, Arab or otherwise could expect a fair trial in would preside over Senate confirmation). Nor was Nebraska's Republican Gov. Mike Johanns informed. Somebody at the White House other than Andy Card apparently made a decision to go with Nelson, a rare Senate Democrat who occa sionally votes with the presi dent, over Hagel, a Republican who always backs Bush (voting for administration bills at rates of 96 percent. 98 percent and 98 percent in Bush's first three years). It made no apparent difference at the White House that Hagel and Johanns are co-chairmen of the president’s re-election campaign in Nebraska. Chuck Hagel may vote the right way but speaks his mind all too often to please the White House. Presidential aides, talking not for quota tion. unfairly blamed Hagel for killing the nomination. One Republican source close to the White House said Hagel was not informed in advance because he simply cannot be trusted. Those remarks suggest what’s wrong w ith George W. Bush's opera tion heading into a presiden tial campaign. The Raimondo fiasco points to failings that w ill not be corrected if they are not admitted. Robert Novak is a nation ally syndicated columnist and a television commentator. the United States. He also blamed the Gulf War and U.S. sanctions on Iraq for creating the psychological "suffering" that led to the embassy attacks. On another front, convicted mastermind Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman may have exploited his right to counsel in order to establish a terrorist message pipeline from behind bars. His radical lawyer, Lynne Stewart, faces trial this spring on charges of providing material support to terrorists; she is accused of aiding a plot to kidnap and kill people to help win the release of Rahman and making false statements regarding her efforts to pass messages between Rahman and his fol lowers around the world. The Bush administration has moved beyond reactively serving terrorists with their legal papers to proactively busting sleeper cells, detaining enemy combatants before they set off their bombs, setting up military tribunals, and deport ing Arab and Muslim illegal alien suspects. What is John Kerry's plan? Buying more walkie-talkies and playing "People’s Court" with Islamic mass murderers. Michelle Malkin is a nationally syndicated colum nist. Her e-mail address is ma I kin @ Comcast. net. PAGE 11A