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Friday,‘g%‘ober 24,2014
YOUR ELECTED
OFFICIALS
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor H. Ford Gravitt, PO. Box
3177, Cumming, GA 30028; (770)
887-4342
Ralph Perry, 1420 Pilgrim Road,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-
7474
Rupert Sexton, 211 Hickory Oak
Hollow, Cumming, GA 30040;
(770) 844-7929
Mayor Pro-Tem Quincy Holton,
103 Hickory Ridge Drive,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-
5279
Lewis Ledbetter, 205 Mountain
Brook Drive, Cumming, GA
30040; (770) 887-3019
John Pugh, 108 13th St.,
Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-
3342
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Chairman R.J. (Pete) Amos, Post
1, 110 E. Main St.,, Cumming, GA
30040; (678) 513-5881; rlamos @
forsythco.com
Secretary Brian Tam, Post 2,
4410 Dorset Lane, Suwanee, GA
30024; (404) 392-6983; office,
(678) 513-5882; brtam@forsythco.
com
Todd Levent, Post 3,
110 E. Main St., Cumming, GA
30040; (678) 513-5883; tlevent@
forsythco.com
Cindy Mills, Post 4, 110 E. Main
St., Cumming, GA 30040; (678)
513-5884; cjmills@forsythco.com
Vice Chairman Jim Boss, Post 5,
110 E. Main St., Cumming, GA
30040; (678) 513-5885; jjboff@for
sythco.com
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Ann Crow, District 1, 320
Dahlonega St., Cumming, GA
30040; (770) 490-6316; acrow @
forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Kristin Morrissey, District 2,
3310 Cany Creek Lane, Cumming,
GA 30041; (678) 250-4047; kmor
rissey @forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Tom Cleveland, District 3, 5225
Milisford Court, Cumming, GA
30040; (770) 844-9901; tcleve
land @forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Chairwoman Darla Sexton
Light, District 4, 50080 Hopewell
Road, Cumming, GA 30028;
(770) 887-0678; dlight@forsyth.
kl2.ga.us
Vice Chairwoman Nancy
Roche, District 5, 7840 Chestnut
Hill Road, Cumming, GA 30041;
(770) 889-0229; nroche @forsyth.
kl2.ga.us
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, 120
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; (202)
224-3643 or (770) 661-0999
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, 416
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 20510; (202)
224-3521 or (770) 763-9090
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, 9th
District; 513 Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20515; (202) 225-9893; fax, (770)
297-3390
U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, 7th
District; 1725 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington, D.Cs,
20515; (770) 232-3005; (202) 225-
4272; fax, (202) 225-4696
STATE LEGISLATORS
Sen. Steve Gooch, 51st District,
Suite 421-C, State Capitol, Atlanta,
GA 30334; (404) 656-9221
Sen. Jack Murphy, 27th District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 325-A, 18 Capitol
Square, Atlanta, GA 30334; (404)
656-7127
Rep. Kevin Tanner, Sth District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 401-E, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-0152
Rep. Sam Moore, 22nd District,
Coverdell Legislative Office
Building, Room 509-D, Atlanta,
GA 30334; (404) 656-0220
Rep. Mark Hamilton, 24th
District, Suite 218, State Capitol,
Atlanta, GA 30334; (404) 656-
5132; local, (770) 844-6768
Rep. Mike Dudgeon, 25th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 608-C, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-0298
Rep. Geoff Duncan, 26th
District, Coverdell Legislative
Office Building, Room 512-B, 18
Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA
30334; (404) 656-7859
Send a letter to the editor to PO. Box 210 Cumming, GA 30028; fax it to (770) 889-6017; or e-mail it to editor@forsythnews.com.
Governor: Everything on table
Last week, Democratic
gubernatorial candidate
Jason Carter shared via
this column his vision for
public education in
Georgia.
This week, incumbent
Republican Gov. Nathan
Deal talks about his plans
for public education if he
secures a second and final
term as the state’s chief
executive.
What he told me came
as a bit of a surprise. |
suspect it will be as well
for members of the
General Assembly reading
this: The governor intends
a top-to-bottom review of
public education in
Georgia in his second
term.
“l am going to put
together an education
reform group, much as I
did with criminal justice
reform. Everything
regarding public education
will be on the table,” he
said. “The committee will
include all those who have
a role to play in public
education, and I will take
all of my final term in
office to see we do it
right.”
The governor success
fully engineered a com
prehensive overhaul of the
state’s criminal justice
system in his first term
beginning with the forma
tion of a Special Council
on Criminal Justice
Reform.
“] was told criminal jus
tice reform was a risk
politically,” he recalled,
“but it was the right thing
to do. I got tremendous
The Hunter Biden chronicles
Everything you need to
know about Beltway nepo
tism, corporate cronyism and
corruption can be found in the
biography of Robert Hunter
Biden. Where are the Occupy
Wall Street rabble-rousers and
enemies of elitist privilege
when you need them?
Straining their neck muscles
to look the other way.
The youngest son of Vice
President Joe Biden made
news last week after The Wall
Street Journal revealed he had
been booted from the Navy
Reserve for cocaine use. His
drug abuse was certainly no
surprise to the Navy, which
issued him a waiver for a pre
vious drug offense before
commissioning him as a pub
lic affairs officer at the age of
43. The Navy also bent over
backward a second time with
an age waiver so he could
secure the cushy part-time job.
Papa Biden loves to tout his
middle-class, “Average Joe”
credentials. But rest assured,
if his son had been “Hunter
Smith” or “Hunter Jones™ or
“Hunter Brown,” the Navy’s
extraordinary dispensations
would be all but unattainable.
Oh, and if he had been
“Hunter Palin,” The New York
Times would be on its 50th
front-page investigative
report.
Despite the disgraceful
ejection from our military,
Hunter’s Connecticut law
license won't be subject to
automatic review. Because,
well, Biden.
Biden’s bennies are not just
one-offs. Skating by, flouting
rules and extracting favors are
the story of Hunter's life.
Hunter’s first job, acquired
Letter policy
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P
DICK YARBROUGH
Columnist
bipartisan support and as a
result we are changing
lives for the better in
Georgia. I intend to do the
same thing with education
reform.”
(As information: I am a
member of the State Board
of Juvenile Justice,
appointed by Deal in
2012.)
The governor likens his
plan to Gov. Joe Frank
Harris’s Quality Basic
Education Act of 1984,
which fundamentally
changed how public edu
cation was to be funded in
Georgia. Harris created a
blue-ribbon, statewide
commission to look at all
aspects of the issue.
(Then-state Sen. Nathan
Deal saw the exercise up
close and personal.)
I had a role in that
effort. Working with the
governor and his chief of
staff, Tom Perdue, my job
was to build a broad-based
coalition in support of
legislation that resulted
from the commission’s
deliberations and to roll
any opposition. It worked.
QBE passed unanimously.
The opposition was road
kill. It is one of my proud
er moments.
My experience with
QBE suggests Deal’s
intentions for education
reform should be taken
A
MICHELLE MALKIN
Columnist
after Joe Biden won his 1996
Senate re-election bid in
Delaware, was with MBNA.
That’s the credit card con
glomerate and top campaign
finance donor that forked over
nearly $63,000 in bundled pri
mary and general contribu
tions from its employees to
then Sen. Biden. As I've
reported previously, Daddy
Biden secured his custom
built, multimillion-dollar
house in Delaware’s ritziest
Chateau Country neighbor
hood with the help of a lead
ing MBNA corporate execu
tive. Average Joe went on to
carry legislative water for
MBNA inthe Senate for
years.
Hunter zoomed up to senior
vice president by early 1998
and then scored a plum posi
tion in the Clinton administra
tion’s Commerce Department,
specializing in “‘electronic
commerce” before returning
to MBNA three years later as
a high-priced “consultant.”
While he collected those
“consulting” (translation: nep
otistic access-trading) fees,
Hunter became a “founding
partner” in the lobbying firm
of Oldaker, Biden and Belair
in 2002.
William Oldaker was Papa
Biden’s former fundraiser,
campaign treasurer and gener
al counsel — a Beltway bar
nacle whose Democratic
machine days dated back to
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
seriously. If he makes it to
a second term — and it
will be close —the gover
nor can shape the makeup
of the commission and
focus the debate.
Erin Hames, Deal’s dep
uty. chief of staff and edu
cation policy adviser, said
her boss would encourage
legislation in the next ses
sion that would support
his reform effort and dis
courage measures that
didn’t.
We also discussed the
governor’s education pri
orities. One of his ongo
ing efforts is to get all
third-graders reading at
that grade level. “Studies
have shown that if chil
dren have not developed
their reading skills by
third grade, it will be hard
for them to ever catch up.
That hurts the students
and costs us money for
remediation,” he said.
The governor remains
strongly committed to
charter schools and
expressed frustration at
the obstacles thrown up by
some school districts,
even after the state’s
Charter Commission has
given its approval. He
intends to see that correct
ed in his next term and is
talking about a constitu
tional amendment to do
SO.
Deal said he wants to
keep good teachers in the
classroom. “Too often,” he
said, “good teachers leave
the classroom and go into
administration to make
more money. We have to
change that. | want us to
Teddy Kennedy’s 1980 presi
dential bid. Under Oldaker’s
tutelage, Hunter lobbied for
drug companies, universities
and other deep-pocketed cli
ents to the tune of nearly $4
million billed to the company
by 2007.
Coincidentally, then-Illinois
Sen. Barack Obama personal
ly requested and secured cozy
taxpayer-subsidized earmarks
for several of Hunter’s clients.
Hunter got himself appoint
ed to multiple corporate board
positions, including a director
ship with Eudora Global. It’s
an investment firm founded
by one Jeffrey Cooper, head
of one of the biggest asbestos
litigation firms in the country.
Simmons Cooper, based in
Madison County, 111., donated
hundreds of thousands of dol
lars to Biden the Elder’s vari
ous political campaigns over
the past decade — all while
the firm poured $6.5 million
into lobbying against a key
tort-reform bill, which former
Sen. Biden worked hard to
defeat. Cooper also contribut
ed to the Delaware attorney
general campaign of Hunter’s
older brother, Beau, and paid
Beau for legal work on lucra
tive asbestos-litigation cases.
Hunter also was previously
a top official at Paradigm
Global Advisors, a hedge fund
holding company founded
with Vice President Biden's
brother, James, and marketed
by convicted finance fraudster
Allen Stanford. As Paradigm
chairman, Hunter oversaw
half a billion dollars of client
money invested in hedge
funds while remaining a lob
byist at Oldaker, Biden and
Belair. Cooper chipped in $2
submit one letter per month for consideration.
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Mail letters to the Forsyth County News, PO. Box 210,
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have our best and most
effective teachers in the
classroom with the stu
dents.”
He believes the new
evaluation system will
help identify and better
reward those teachers.
We talked about giving
schools more flexibility
and what can be done to
turn around failing
schools and the roles that
parents should, but often
don’t, play in their chil
dren’s education.
I asked the governor
what he wanted to say to
school teachers. He said,
“I thank them for their
service. As the son of two
school teachers and being
married to one, I know
how hard their job is and
the long hours involved.
Teachers get blamed for a
lot that is not their fault. I
intend to change that. I
want to restore the joy to
teaching.”
One way to do that and
the other things Deal has
on his education plate
would be to task a blue
ribbon, statewide educa
tion reform commission
with the responsibilities
for making it happen. This
could change the face of
public education for
decades to come. It will
be interesting to see if
voters give him that
opportunity.
You can reach Dick
Yarbrough at yarb24oo@bell
south.net; at P.O. Box 725373,
Atlanta, GA 31139; online at
dickyarbrough.com or www.
facebook.com/dickyarb.
million for the ill-fated ven
ture, which went bust amid
nasty fraud lawsuits.
Continually failing upward,
Hunter snagged a seat on the
board of directors of taxpayer
subsidized, stimulus-inflated
Amtrak, where he pretended
not to be a lobbyist, but rather
an “effective advocate” for the
government railroad system
serving the 1 percenters’
D.C.-NYC corridor.
So where does a coke-abus
ing influence peddler go after
raking in gobs of Daddy
enabled dough and abusing
the U.S. Navy’s ill-considered
generosity? Back to
Cronyland. Hunter joined
Ukrainian natural gas compa
ny Burisma Holdings —
owned by a powerful Russian
government sympathizer who
fled to Russia in February —
this spring. The hypocritical
lobbyist-bashers at the White
House deny he will be lobby
ing and deny any conflict of
interest.
Meanwhile, Just Like You
Joe was whipping up class
envy in South Carolina last
week. “Corporate profits have
soared,” he railed, thanks to
“these guys running hedge
funds in New York,” who are
to blame for “income inequal
ity.” You know, like his son
and brother and their Beltway
back-scratching patrons.
The Bidens: Theyre not
like us.
Michelie Malkin is the author of
“Culture of Corruption: Obama
and his Team of Tax Cheats,
Crooks and Cronies.” Her email
address is malkinblog@gmail.
com.