Category Archives: Elections

GA PSC questionnaire answers: Steve Oppenheimer


Steve Oppenheimer
The Georgia Sierra Club sent a questionnaire to all candidates for
Georgia Public Service Commission.
None of the incumbents answered.
The two challengers did.
Here’s the one from
Steve Oppenheimer
for District 3.
-jsq

  1. As a Candidate for Public Service Commission, what is your campaign strategy for achieving 50% +1 of the votes cast?

    [I’m omitting the answers to this question. -jsq]

  2. How should the Public Service Commission consider and
    weight the impacts to community health (asthma, cancer rates, etc.)
    and on Georgia’s environmental (water quantity, air quality etc.)
    when making decisions about a utility’s generation portfolio?

    The PSC has a major role shaping energy policy for Georgia. I would
    like to schedule PSC hearings on the relationship of power
    production and our air, water, morbidity and mortality and our
    general quality of life. My professional background in dentistry &
    health care provides a keen understanding of the relationship of
    power generation and health. Dr David Satcher, former US Surgeon
    General and Executive Director Satcher Health Leadership Institute
    at Morehouse University has become a friend and part of my
    professional network during the campaign. I would like to see PSC
    convene hearings on the topic. Georgians for a Healthy Future, a
    relatively new, broad based, organization would provide another
    forum for discussion of these issues. Membership in Georgians for a
    Healthy Future includes Georgia Legislators on both sides of the
    aisle. The PSC must be a leader on these issues—as the
    legislature as a body will likely not be progressive on these
    issues.

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See Gretchen Quarterman on the radio


Gretchen Quarterman on Chris Beckham's radio show 11 October 2012
“I think people would be more interested in government if they could see it going on,”
said

Gretchen Quarterman,
candidate for Chairman of the Lowndes County Commission,
on the Chris Beckham drive-time radio show
11 October 2012,

105.9, WVGA.
Here’s

video of that interview,
followed by some excerpts.

A few excerpts:

Our county government does a lot of stuff really great…
but one of the things they don’t do very well
don’t advertise themselves;
not very transparent;
they don’t say what a great job they’re doing;
so I thought we could improve in that area.

The County Commission a couple of years ago had

two different studies commissioned
about growth and planning, and one of them was…

Sprawl to ruin, by Prof. Dorfman

growth close to existing services.
The county already has an urban service area, like how far the
water line goes, how far the sewer line goes.
And that growth should be infilled, and not expand outside of that area,
because that saves resources in terms of how far you have to send the
sheriff, how far the school bus has to go.
And they also gave an average house price, what it costs in terms of
property taxes to support the services that are sent to them, to a development.

So I would say close in to existing services is the way to go.

We need to actively seek out manufacturing jobs,

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Score high on ALEC policy, score low on education

 

According to ALEC’s own website, states that score high
on ALEC’s education policies score low on education.
Remember,

ALEC is behind the Georgia charter school amendment
on the November ballot.
If you didn’t believe

Stanford Credo’s study that showed
adding a charter school authorizer, as that amendment would do,
reduces academic learning,
how about ALEC’s own data?

Bill Simon write for The Political Vine today,

Charter Schools and ALEC: The Facts ALEC Doesn’t Want You To Know,

If you take the state performance rankings and match them up to each
state’s education policy rankings, you come-up with an entirely
different picture of how little (if any at all) a state’s degree of
conservative education “policy” translates into actual
education performance.

I did this (
PDF copy available here)
and this is what the 2012 Top 10 states in Performance looks like,
and their corresponding Policy ranks:

2012 Performance/Policy Rank


ALEC's 17th Report Card on American Education

  1. Massachusetts / B-
  2. Vermont / D+
  3. New Jersey / B-
  4. Colorado / B
  5. Pennsylvania / C+
  6. Rhode Island / C
  7. North Carolina / C
  8. Kansas / C-
  9. New Hampshire / C+
  10. New York / C-

The numbers are ALEC’s performance rankings,
and the letters are ALEC’s policy grades.

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GA PSC questionnaire: David Staples


David Staples
The Georgia Sierra Club sent a questionnaire to all candidates for
Georgia Public Service Commission.
None of the incumbents answered.
The two challengers did.
Here’s the one from
David A. Staples for District 5.
-jsq

  1. As a Candidate for Public Service Commission, what is your
    campaign strategy for achieving 50% +1 of the votes cast?

    [I’m omitting the answers to this question. -jsq]

  2. How should the Public Service Commission consider and weight the
    impacts to community
    health (asthma, cancer rates, etc.) and on Georgia’s environmental
    (water quantity, air quality
    etc.) when making decisions about a utility’s generation portfolio?

    Impacts to community health and the environment have to be considered
    very carefully. I know
    there are a number of different ways of viewing the situation but the
    explanation I’ve found
    that works best with Republicans in trying to get their support is that
    it comes down to a private
    property matter. The right to swing ones fist ends at the other
    person’s nose. Does anyone have
    the right to pollute the air that I breathe or the water that I drink?

    If I buy a piece of property for
    instance along the Savannah River or Ogeechee River, does someone
    upstream from me have
    the right to pollute the water that then flows onto my land, carrying
    those pollutants with it?

    Absolutely not.

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Adding another charter school authorizer reduces academic learning —Karen Noll

Received today on
Georgia charter schools do no better than traditional public schools. -jsq

The Stanford study,

Multiple Choice: Charter school performance in 16 states (p. 4),
also found that multiple authorizers:


Figure 15: Charter School Effect of Policy Variables

States that empower multiple entities to act as charter school
authorizers realize significantly lower growth in academic learning
in their students, on the order of -.08 standard deviations.

Currently we have
the local boards of education that authorize charter schools at a
very high rate, 94%. If the charter is not approved by the local
board then they can appeal to the Dept of Ed. For approval. So, by
adding another authorizer in the form of the UNCONSTITUTIONAL
charter school commission you simply reduce the academic learning of
the students! This is not about education this amendment is about
the money earned by some to keep power! Our constitution states that
we have an obligation to provide free quality education to all
Georgians. We have no obligation to line the pockets of the rich
with our tax dollars!

-Karen Noll

Charter school amendment: taxation without representation —Karen Noll @ LCC 2012-10-09

Karen Noll spoke to the Lowndes County Commission Tuesday
about the charter school amendment,
saying it would implement taxation without representation

Karen Noll @ LCC 2012-10-09
and would take more tax dollars from our public schools
to give twice as much money to special charter school students.

When you’re talking about my kids in the schools
and you’re going to take their money
and ship it to somebody else’s family and then there’s no accountability,
that’s just unacceptable.

Here’s

the video.

-jsq

WCTV on LCC Chair Candidates


Greg Gullberg at the Lowndes County Palace
Greg Gullberg wrote for WCTV today,

Lowndes County Commission Chair Candidates Polar Opposites,

The Chairman of a County Commission can have great impact on the
lives of residents. And in one local county, the candidates couldn’t
be more different.

She wants to make it easier to see what the Commission is doing;
he worries ordinances make it too difficult for business.


Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes County Chairwoman

Bill Slaughter for Lowndes County Chairman


Gretchen Quarterman speaking to the Lowndes County Commission

WCTV using LAKE video
Here’s
the WCTV video,
which appears to start with outtakes from LAKE videos of Commission meetings.
LAKE videos that were taken by… Gretchen Quarterman.
The one of her speaking to the Commission? Camera on a tripod.


-jsq

Georgia charter schools do no better than traditional public schools

Let's look at Georgia's non-unionized public schools.
So far as I know, Georgia does not have teachers' unions.
But there's still no reason to believe charter schools in Georgia
would be any more magic

than in Chicago.

According to CREDO at Stanford University,
which has done

CREDO at Stanford University

state-by-state charter school studies,
they find

CHARTER SCHOOLS IN GEORGIA PERFORM
SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW THEIR TRADITIONAL
PUBLIC SCHOOL PEERS IN MATH:
No Difference Found in Reading Performance.
That's their press release.
Here's
the detailed study.

So if someone has a charter school idea that they think will perform

Vote No on Amendment 1
better than public schools,
they can talk to their local school board about that, and maybe
that local board will agree.
There's no need to authorize an unelected Atlanta board to force that charter
school on us.

Vote No on the charter school amendment in November.

-jsq

Chicago charter schools do no better than unionized public schools

The Georgia “charter school” amendment isn’t really about charter
schools (which any school district in Georgia can already approve,
and many have): it’s about

giving an unelected committee in Atlanta
power to force us to pay extra local taxes to fund charter schools we don’t want.
However, since the pushers of that amendment say it’s about charter schools,
it’s worth reviewing that charter schools actually on average perform
no better or even worse than traditional public schools.
Let’s look at what the pushers hate most,
unionized public schools in Chicago.
and then let’s look at Georgia’s non-unionized public schools.

Ben Joravsky wrote for chichagoreader.com 3 October 2012,

Today’s lesson: charters do not outperform unionized schools:
Confronting the anti-teachers’ union myth with, you know, facts

But as I was saying, the foes of the teachers’ union declare that we
should pay close attention to the all-important standardized test
scores. So let’s take a look.


Chicago Public Schools
There are 541 elementary schools in Chicago. Based on the composite
ISAT scores for 2011—the last full set available—none of
the top ten are charters. None of the top 20, 30, or 40 either.

In fact, you’ve got to go to 41 to find a charter. Take a bow, CICS
Irving Park!

Most of the 49 charters on the list are clustered near the great
middle, alongside most of their unionized neighborhood schools.

The top scorers are public schools with unionized teachers who are
members of the Chicago Teachers Union.

UNO is

a charter school operator. Joravsky compares one of its schools side-by-side with a unionized public school.

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Library process transparency —John S. Quarterman


John S. Quarterman videoing SPLOST VII Kickoff Speeches
It’s good to see that someone responsible for allocating millions of dollars
of taxpayer money is willing to answer questions about related decisions,
as

Kay Harris is doing!
It would be even better if there were a regular process by which the taxpaying
and voting and library-using public could ask such questions and get answers.

If there were such a process, it’s pretty likely Ms. Harris or the Library Board
or the County Commission would have been asked about the architect selection,
considering I wasn’t even involved in that selection and my ear was scorched
with complaints as soon as it was announced.
Maybe Ms. Harris can suggest a way to produce such a process.

Let me take Ms. Harris’ points in order.


“First, they were the only one of the four finalists who did a full cost
evaluation of the project, estimating $16 million while others were more
than content to use the state’s estimate of $21 million.”

That’s very interesting news, which clarifies for me what she was getting at in

the VDT writeup on that selection:

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