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ATHENS NEWS AND VIEWS
Fat Tuesday, Pt. 1: Last Tuesday, Dec. 7 was
one of the more eventful Athens news days
in recent memory. Early in the afternoon,
word came through that Georgia Democratic
Party Chair and Athens resident Jane Kidd
would not seek reelection to her post in
January. Far more surprising was the news,
perhaps an hour later, that Georgia House
District 115 Representative Doug McKillip,
who replaced Kidd in that seat in 2006 and
was just elected, unopposed, to a third term,
had decided after careful deliberation that the
best way for him to serve his constituents
in heavily Democratic Clarke County was
to become a Republican. Coming mere weeks
after McKillip was named Chairman of the
House Democratic Caucus—and on the very
day many ACC residents received a mailed invi
tation to a fundraising reception in celebra
tion of that anointment—the announcement
left local Democrats scratching their heads
and feeling badly burned.
Doug says he's sick of sitting on the
sidelines while the ever-growing Republican
majority makes all the decisions. He hasn't
returned the Dope's call, but he told Flagpole's
Pete McCommons that when it became clear
to him the Democratic leadership's intentions
were to "hold Republicans accountable" for
their policies, he decided he didn't want to
spend the next two years "making gestures."
That's supposed to sound high-minded,
but really, it's not. At this point, if you're
an even moderately progressive Georgia
legislator—which Doug has always claimed
he is—and you're voting on the Republicans'
agenda, which laughs in the face of even
moderate progressivism, then politics is all
about gestures. Gestures—such as diligently
communicating the substance and conse
quences of unchallenged, radically conser
vative Republican policies to the people
they affect—are the only weapons at your
disposal with the hope of making things
better, not worse. Doug told Pete he won't
cast votes on social issues that go against
his values, but that he's always been a fiscal
conservative. Does that mean he won't vote
with his new caucus on the constitutional
amendment to ban Sharia law, but will com
fortably hop on board with the Republicans'
inevitable further de-prioritization of social
A drawing representing the program plans for the SPLOST 2011-funded Classic Center expansion. The shaded
area that cuts off Hancock Avenue before it meets Foundry Street is the proposed expansion; the shaded enclo
sure to the left with the overhanging roof would replace the open-air courtyard behind the Fire Hall. This and
other drawings illustrating the essential parameters of the project were attached to a request for proposal:
(RFP) for the final design, a passage of which reads, "The Project as programmed will require the abandonment
and closure of the northeast lower portion of Hancock Avenue." The RFP is meant to give firms bidding for the
architectural contract specific and binding instructions for their proposed designs.
services and public education? But wait, he's
switching over in order to better represent the
interests of poverty-ravaged Athens and-cut-
to-the-bone UGA! Oh, well... at least Doug's
not making any empty gestures.
Fat Tuesday, Pt. 2: The same day last week
marked the final voting session for ACC
Commissioner David Lynn and Mayor Heidi
Davison. It was, befittingly, a marathon, and
you can read about it in City Pages. But here,
let it just be pointed out that it will be diffi
cult to find a commissioner who works harder
to make fair, sensible and thoroughly informed
decisions than David, or i mayor as committed
to fostering and maintaining an atmosphere of
access, openness and direct, honest commu
nication with her constituents as Heidi. That's
to say, they won't easily be replaced. Great
thanks to both for their eight years of service
to their beloved Athens.
Trash Wednesday?: Nope, stilt Tuesday.
Remember that giant waste incinerator the
citizens of Elbert County were so unhappy
about that they spent months protesting in
the streets to prevent it from being built in
their community, only to have callow public
officials approve it anyway, then collected
thousands of signatures to hold a referendum
on the issue, only to have two judges declare
their petition invalid? Well, the company
behind that incinerator, GreenFirst, LLC,
announced last week that they won't be
building it after all. citing "economic con
cerns," meaning they figured out they weren't
going to be able to make as much money as
they thought. "Sorry about all that, every
body," the ironically named corporation's press
release didn't say. "We promise we'll never do
it again!"
Dave Man news@flagpole com
Krazy Korner
Watching all the grided hoopla over the engagement of
Errand's Prince William, I couldn't help thinking why did we have
to go and have a revolution against the British? Aristocracy and class
by birth looks so gtemorousl I soon found that Broun and f were
already on the same page. Broun is making a stand against both the
Democrats and the Republican leadership by demanding that the
estate tax be wiped off the books. The estate tax taxes the estates of
• millionaires and billionaires upon inheritance, ffs what prevents toe rich
from becoming undeniably aristocratic. It's wha t makes America America, in
a way. Broun doesn't like it one bit.; •
You ree, Congressman Broun subscribes to something of a neo-aristocratic way of
thinking: it is only by toe wishes and whims of the economic elite that ordinary people
can survive and succeed, according to Broun's economics, We can't do anything by
or for ourselves (i.e., democratically), but Jniy through toe blessed actions of our elite
benefactors. They used to caRIt “trickle down" economics, this theory that consistently
favoring toe ultra-rich through cutting their taxes and relaxing regulations on their
quest for profit would result, ultimately, in some of that wealth making its way down to
us lowly folks, toe great many employees of those few elites. The theory has, in its 30
years of implementation leading into toe current unemployment and debt crisis^ shown
itself to be a terrible failure, except as a means to shift wealth upward toward the elite
Broun's insistence that the defunct and dangerous “trickle down” theory is still
legitimate ted him to break from even his own party's leadership. Broun is really in tire
political wilderness on this one The GOP managed to secure a massive income tax cut
for the richest 2 percent of Americans, but they were unable to do wt\at Broun wanted,
cut taxes even further m toe rich and eliminate toe estate tax altogether. The president
and Republicans ever, wcrked out a $10 million threshold for married couples' estates
• Only those above the mark-toe upper tenth of toe top one percent of American
wealth hofdersr—wtli pay an estate tax. But even that did not satisfy Broun. “Chin upr
old chap! At feast those ultra-rich elites you so devotedly 'verve won't have to share
much while they’re alive!'’ {Matthew Puiverl ■ fp|| J ^ ^ C
——
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