Secretary of State Brian Kemp continues doing a great job providing information to voters. If you need a sample ballot before heading out to the polls stop in on the website of the sos.ga.gov and get your own sample ballot. It very easy. Just fill in a little information, click and scroll. You’ll see a link to your very own sample ballot.
Mean time here is mine:
If you need additional help there are folks who can assist you. Here is where you can early vote.
The aftermath of the failed banks in Henry is still being investigated and some are prosecuted. Over at the Atlanta Business Chronicle (ABC)they report Mark Conner of failed FirstCity Bank in Henry, County, GA just received 12 years for his role in the failure, embezzlement and mismanagement of FirstCity.
From ABC:
Mark Conner, who headed up FirstCity Bank in Henry County, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in federal prison for fleecing the failed FirstCity Bank of Stockbridge and other banks.
He also must pay $19.5 million in restitution to the FDIC and victim banks, will forfeit $7 million and is banned for life from the banking industry.
Read the entire article here.
We’ll continue to see more on Henry county banks as time goes by. the county had several failures and who knows what will come of all of them. Hopefully there wasn’t as much negligence and fraud as FirstCity seems to have gone through with the other failed banks.
Joanie Scott, writer at Proof of Right, was so outraged the conservative group known as the 912 Group in Henry County invited Ray McBerry to speak she quit them because she had higher standards.Her standards have now been lowered.
Copyright cmob 10/4/11
I am a member of the Henry County 912 group that held this event and I refused to go because the organizers invited McBerry. I am ashamed that he was allowed to speak and had even asked the group leaders to uninvited him and they refused. I was very suprised that Doug McGinnitie and Gerry Purcell did not cancel. I wish they would have. You’re doing the right thing By speaking out. And I will no longer be a member of th Henry 912 group.
http://www.facebook.com/maria.sheffield/posts/107212892657344
Joanie Scott is one of the largest mouth pieces Steve Davis has and is best buds with Larry Stanley. She is constantly telling us how righteous her candidates are, how we all need to listen to her and vote for them. Davis himself claims to have “never done anything unethical, immoral, or illegal.” Scott soaks it up and lashes out at anyone that says otherwise.
Last night with a crowd of 10s, as Beau Kelley mentioned, Davis took stage with Ray McBerry at the super rally event on the square. Funny thing I have not seen Joanie Scott’s outrage with Davis, Stanley and event organizers.
Larry Stanley has had one contribution to his campaign and it was Ray McBerry. Kind of odd that Stanley has gotten no attention for it other than Joanie Scott saying she will vote for Stanley.
“I will be voting for Larry Stanley because I know he will treat the BOE’s half billion budget with respect for the citizens. Vote Larry Stanly on July 31st.”
Surely Joanie Scott has some choice words of wisdom to spew on this matter. If history serves us we should see her do what?
The correct answer is Janus is the two face Greek mythological god. Joanie is just human and to err is human.
Davis Transportation Tax, TSPLOST, is coming up for a vote in July. Readers know I am not for Davis’ potential 14.3% sales tax increase mainly because in 2013 Henry County will vote on its special local optional sales tax (SPLOST) that is set to expire in 2014.
The county SPLOST will raise the exact same revenue the new Davis transportation tax will foster. Every road project on the list Henry would receive from the new Davis tax can be done with the 2013 vote. Why do we need an additional new tax is beyond me.
Davis, the only Henry County Republican incumbent that voted for his potential tax increase TSPLOST said prior to his yes vote commuter rail does not work. We were wasting our money on commuter rail that it won’t work in Georgia -yet his vote will fund commuter rail projects.
PolitiFact of the AJC weighed in on this very issue, did Georgia legislators break their pledge to the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) when they voted for the Transportation Investment Act. Davis made a huge to do out of being the only candidate to sign the pledge in his mail pieces during the last election cycle. Davis claimed to be a no tax increase advocate and would continue to fight for us. Most likely Davis will continue his rants about cutting taxes and keeping his word, however he might need to read up on what he actually did.
See PolitiFact went to the source, the ATR and asked questions about this very subject.
“We asked Norquist whether Georgia lawmakers who’ve spoken in favor of the referendum have violated the pledge they’ve signed. “It does violate the pledge,” he said. “It’s a rather significant tax increase.” AJC PolitiFact
And
“The problem for lawmakers who signed the pledge is it specifically states “that I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
The T-SPLOST is an increase in the sales tax. There are no cuts to make it revenue-neutral. Deal Davis gets a Full Flop.” AJC PolitiFact
Government has an insatiable appetite for tax revenue. We have had some difficult times with the economy of Obama where communities have been hit hard with falling home values. Here in Henry, the Board of Commissioners has a $10 million dollar hole to fix. Not one sitting commissioner other than Brian Preston offered a solution on how to fix the deficit without placing it on the backs of home owners.
The increased county budget Bowman, Holder, and Stamey passed comes with a price and most likely it will cost homeowners another 2 mil increase. None of the commissioners have signed the ATR pledge. Preston would be the only Republican to not to have broken it if they had signed.
With the likelihood of our property taxes going up, Davis putting us in with 9 other counties that can raise our sales taxes, and now we get the new Davis toll road to go to work on, where’s it going to stop? Davis keeps adding new ways to get into our bank accounts.
We cannot think that taxing ourselves out of this mess is the right way to go. The trillions of dollars the Obama administration has put us in debt in has yet to make this economy be healthy. If it is not good for our federal government how can it be good for our local pockets?
Davis broke his pledge not to raise taxes. He tells us we are wasting money on commuter rail but votes for it. Davis brings us his toll road and his transportation tax and wants your vote to continue the charade. We can do better than to return Davis to Atlanta. It is why I volunteer in Dale Rutledge’s campaign and am not going to vote for Davis’ TSPLOST.
A World Class Runner lives in McDonough, GA. I’m not just talking about Charles McCollum though he did place first in the Locust Grove 40-44 category not long ago, but Geofrey Terer.
A race out in Des Moines Terer won just recently known as Dam to Dam.
Geofrey Terer, ran the third-fastest Dam to Dam ever on a cool 56-degree morning. The Kenyan living in McDonough, Ga., covered the 12.4-mile course from Saylorville Dam to the Central Library in downtown Des Moines in 1:00:48. Terer, 34, was 29 seconds ahead of Edward Tabut.
Henry county Georgia has a ton if interesting people in it. We’ll have to keep our eyes open to see if he makes it into the Olympics.
Marsha Cash posted some interesting data on home sales in Henry County, GA. It looks like $23.3 million dollars’ worth of houses sold in April 2012. The biggest increase in value came out of Stockbridge where Cash points out the average selling price was $92,140 up $20,000 from a year earlier. That is significant.
Henry could be at a turning point in housing. There are several spec houses going up in the county. The inventory has decreased in homes for sell to around 4.5 months inventory.
Even though our assessments this year got cut another 13% or so on average, the county could be hitting the proverbial bottom in the housing drop. It might be time to make that deal if you are looking to purchase a house.
Seems Steve Davis cannot think without the gold dome leadership telling him how. 
After Davis voted against a bill almost identical to the Transportation Investment Act of 2012 back in 2008 Davis fell in line and voted for the act in 2010. Davis evidently changed his mind for whatever reasons. It most likely had nothing to do with him needing leadership to save his butt in the re-election campaign by financing him. How else would he be able to pay his wife $5000.00 to organize?
Davis was unable to raise funds from individuals to run his re-election campaign. Lobbyist and the gold dome funded 82.5% of his efforts back in 2010. We all know this had nothing to do with influencing his vote on the TIA 2012 but it sure is odd Davis went from a solid no vote in 2008 to a yes vote in 2010.
Davis has been in office for eight years and has fallen in line marching to the beat of what he is told by leadership. Something he was dead set against in his early years at the capital. However, it is why Davis has no stance on the issue of putting Henry County in the position to have 9 other counties raise sales taxes by 14.3%.
“On the upcoming referendum for the regional transportation penny sales tax, or TSPLOST, Davis said he has no stance. “It’s up to the voters to decide.” Rockdale News
The gold dome wants this new tax to pass and Davis does not have permission to go against the new tax increase. Either Davis has to say “Yes, I want to raise your sales tax by 14.3%” or he has to dance around the issue with the standard excuse.
Davis was given a token chairmanship after he fell in line with the other incumbents. Now Davis wants us to believe his ability to get things done is blossoming “I believe I’m sitting in a place that would be in the best interest of all the voters to keep,” he said, “There’s still a lot of work to do. I believe this is not the time to try and retrain someone and give up the experience and leadership.” (Rockdale News.)
Career bureaucrats always think they deserve to be in office and believe we could never do better than sending them back.
Well guess what, Davis does not need to be sent back. No wonder the man won’t give us a stance on TSPLOST; he voted against it before he voted for it. His mind cannot handle that flip-flop. If he says it is not needed people would ask why he voted for it and the gold dome might take that chairmanship from him.
It’s just another reason not send the lifetime bureaucrat back.
(I am supporting Dale Rutledge for the 109th, I volunteer in his campaign and will be voting against Davis. I am voting against TIA 2012 to raise sales taxes in Henry 14.3%.)
