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by TOM
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opiate any kind of legislated tax
Instead, they passed the buck to
ho are now asked to puli the trigger
Ready for Our dose-tip* Iff been just a few
short months since Athens was abuts over
downtown's takeover by a foli-scate film crew
shooting scenes from the upcoming film
Trouble with the Curve, which brought dint
Eastwood, Jastin Hmberiake, Amy Adams md
a bunch of other professional film people into
our midst for a few days. At the time, it was
roundly declared that we should try to do
this more often, to see if the jdt of energy
and cash that had accompanied Eastwood and
Co. to town could be turned into a sustainable
feature of our local character and economy.
It’s now apparent that some among tis got /
right on that and were about to see some of
the fruits of their efforts—with the serious
possibility of further bounty down the road.
Last week, a call went out for local
crew to work on The Spectocuiar Hem, the
third feature film by Athens native James
Fonsoldt, which wiU
star Shailene Woodley
(George Ciooor/s teen-
aged daughter in The
Descendants) and which
will be shot entirely
in Athens for about
five weeks beginning
in mid-to-Late July.
Furthermore, Film
Athens, in coordina
tion with the Athens-
Clacks County Public
Information Office,
has been organising
a series of sponsored
and guided tours of
the city for Georgia's
top location managers,
seven of whom have
accepted an invitation
to the first two-day
tour/which will take
place sometime in July,
The biggest thing .
we want to do,* says
Film Athens' Danielle
V
■&£
Ms about the closest viewW% gst c? these
CeriotNae capitals before they're placed atop the
new otinMMS being erected at the host ef OGA's
Hr? c?v ; s Hwiftr as part fit a
SBa^fjv resss^atrCiO, ine CfiprsnS fire fisriGsisai,
Athem &mner Hentd to the positions of local
and nearby state legislative candidates on
the upcoming T-SPIQ5T referendum, which
will appear on the ballot along with the pri
mary electrons for said candidates' House and
Senate seats. Your once and current Dope (the
Lame Dope?) has been collecting opinions
from that group, as well and some of them
are illuminating—ff In rather a banal unsur
prising way—of the cynicism and intentional
dysfunction that plague our representation on
the state level
Incumbent Keith Heard and his House
District U8 Democratic primary challenger
Spencer Ftye both support passage; the two
Republicans running for the seat Carter
Kessler and Christopher Pertere, are both
against it. As Slake has reported, both District
117 Rep. Doug MdCittip and his Republican
primary opponent Regina Chock oppose the
tax, as does Danny
Yearwood, Sen. Frank
Ginn's opponent in the
District 47 Republican
primary. Ginn supports
it as does unopposed
District 119 Rep. Chuck
Williams. Sen. BUI
Cowsert, unopposed in
District 46, is against
the tax.
What's interesting
is that of the three
legislators (Heard,
WcKUlip and Cowsert)
who were in office
when the referendum
was created in 2010—
who all voted at the
time to put it on the
ballot—the two who
are now Republicans
(McKiUip, of course,
was a Democrat until
2011) now oppose it
The Republican tegis-
tihiu <Url{itdal fft fitnA
■
groups who have a stafceta this op fhe same
Waiba in'*h Vkl~Fa HiLWy hillU <k(ls -lv. ... «. Jt, ip? ,4^1
the film industry can be to the local economy,
and what we need to do to attract and assist
local film productions.*
This is an aggressive and highly realis
tic economic development initiative being
undertaken largely by creative-minded people
outside of the professional structure that's
supposed to he in charge of getting things
like this done around here, and they need
help. "Right now we are scrambling to get
some funding to host the location managers,"
says Robarge. T can't think of a much better
investment for the community than wooing
these folks. These people have a huge influ
ence on where a movie shoots, and this is
the most pro-active thing that any county [in
Georgia] has tried to do.*
Local businesses and leaders should be
lining up to sponsor these visits. The folks at
Film Athens are happy to do the work, but
they're not a wealthy organization. Mote local
buy-in for this effort is going to be neces
sary—if you want to help or find out more,
email Robarge at danielle@fitmathens.net.
You Fay for It—Ho, Don't!: Rising City Dope
Blake Aued has devoted a couple of entries
in his closing string of dispatches for the
to
increase.
voters, who are now asked to puU
while those same legislators are free to throw
up their hands and protest that they're not
for it
"It's frustrating to see legislators who
supported the ballot, who are now against it
when it's up for a vote,*'says former mayor
and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce
President Doc Etdridge, a Republican who calls
T-SFLOST "probably the single most impor
tant vote in the last 50 years* in Georgia.
Supporters of the referendum have said there's
no "Flan B* if it doesn't pass, but Eldridge
disagrees. "'Plan B' is local governments pay
three times as much for road projects" as they
currently do, he says, an outcome that would
be "highly punitive."
And he's right, but why should the leg
islators care? They've ensured they're not
accountable either way—a nice trick. If they
can use it to avoid making the tough calls
necessary to pay for roads and bridges, maybe
they could figure out how to avoid funding
things like public education! Oh, wait...
Dm Harr news@fiagpoie.com
GREASED BY DOLLARS
George Washington Plunkitt was bom
too soon. For those who aren't familiar with
the name. Pbmkitt was a Hew York state
senator of the 19th century who coined the
phrase "honest graft* to describe his political
activities.
Honest graft as Plunkitt explained it
occurred when a politician's personal interests
happened to coincide with his constituents'
interests. For example, Plunkitt would pur
chase a tract of land in an area where a public
project such as a park, was going to be devel
oped. Me would then sett his property, which
would be needed to complete the public proj
ect at an inflated price.
"They couldn't make the park complete
without Plunkitt's swamp, and they had to pay
a good price for it," Plunkitt would say.
"Anything dishonest in that?"
Plunkitt was bom in 1842 and
benefited from his association
with the Democratic Party's
Tammany Hall machine. If he
had only been bom here in 1962
or 1972, he would have really
prospered in Georgia's current
political environment. We've
seen Gwinnett County officials get
involved in suspicious land deals like
Plunkitt's—and also get indicted by
local and federal grand juries.
We've seen elected officials get free trips
to Europe for themselves and their family
members that are provided by generous lobby
ists willing to pay out $17,000 for the junket
We've seen governors sign bills that gave
themselves a tax break on their property worth
an estimated $100,000.
Although much attention is being paid to
the dollars that lobbyists spend to entertain
legislators, the really big money in Georgia
politics comes in the form of campaign contri
butions. Let's took at state Sen. Don Balfour
(R-Soettvitte), an executive with the Waffle
House restaurant chain, and Stan Wise, a well-
fed member of the Public Service Commission.
" *' to so many
baseball games, football games and golf tour
naments over the years that he has acquired
the nickname "Donnie Baiigame."
The lobbyist gifts are but a drop in the
bucket, however, when compared to the cam
paign contributions Balfour received. Balfour's
latest disclosure report reveals that as of Mar.
31. he had received $993,108 in contribu
tions. A tot of that money came from fundrais
ers attended by capital lobbyists.
As a PSC member, Wise regulates utilities
like Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light.
When there is an issue before the PSC where
commissioners must choose between the
interests of the utilities and the interests
of consumers. Wise nearly always votes for
Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas, and against
the consumers.
This should not be a surprise. A
recent analysis of Wise's campaign
contributions revealed that he got
91 percent of his contributions
from people who work for com
panies regulated by the PSC or
whose law firm represents a PSC-
regulated company.
House Speaker David Ralston is
unopposed this year, yet his cam
paign coffers are overflowing. His
last disclosure report showed he had
received nearly $532,000 in contributions and
still had $318,000 in the bank.
The last report filed by Sen. David Shafer
(R-Duluth) disclosed $936,000 in contribu
tions, with $515,000 still resting in his cam
paign bank account He is unopposed.
Senate President Pro Tern Tommie Williams
(R-Lyons) has amassed $340,000 in contribu
tions and still has $183,000 cash on hand. He
has no opposition this year.
The scandal of Georgia politics isn't that
the huge amounts of money given to Balfour,
Wise and their colleagues is illegal The scan
dal is that this financial gusher is allowed
under current state law.
Tom Crawford loawfrxd@gafeport.com
jemomow
4 FlAGPOLE.COM • JUNE 27,2012