Category Archives: Elections

Why we selected an out of town architect —Kay Harris

Received yesterday on

New Library —Kay Harris.
My response follows in

the next post.
-jsq

I was never asked why we selected an out of town architect, but will

Kay Harris
happily answer that question now. 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. Second, they brought to the
project a consultant who is considered the country's leading library
consultant; only one of the other four brought in an outside expert.
Third, the principals of this firm live right over the county line
in Florida—they are within the 50 mile radius that is
considered "hiring local", so they are indeed a local firm. They
also brought a local engineering firm, from Valdosta, to the table,
and have agreed to hire as many subs from the local area as
possible. So I truly don't understand the "jab" about hiring
non-local… if it was that big a concern, why not just ask me the
question? Mr. Quarterman wasn't even in the room at the time I
spoke….

-Kay Harris

-jsq

Ethics Matter —David Staples for GA PSC

Received 2 October 2012 from David Staples. -jsq

One of the most frequent topics that comes up in political


conversation these days is ethics. On July 31st, Georgians
overwhelmingly voted that there needs to be a cap on the amount of
gifts our elected officials are allowed to accept. However, there
are many of us who believe that even a $100 per day cap is still too
much—that perhaps $0 is a better cap. After all, looking at
the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission
website, one can see that while the $150 rounds of golf and several
hundred dollar dinners for the official and their spouse may be
eliminated, there are many more of the smaller lunches, dinners, and
various other goodies that would still be allowed. Would you be
surprised to hear that some Public Service Commissioners walk out of
their office or a hearing at lunch time and say “I’m hungry, where’s
a lobbyist”?

However, there is one completely legal process by which we can
eliminate all gifts

Continue reading →

What Georgia Power is afraid of: GaSU and Dr. Smith; and you

So what is Georgia Power afraid of

that made their CEO Paul Bowers double down on old-style baseload?
Competition, that’s what!
What could be more scary in the power-monopoly state of the

1973 Territorial Electric Service Act?


GaSU sun
On one side, Georgia Power faces

GaSU and its 80 or 90 MW solar plant proposal.
Walter C. Jones wrote for OnlineAthens 24 September 2012,

Proposed solar company could stir up Georgia’s utility structure,

A proposal from a start-up business promises to lower electricity
rates by rebating profits to customers if given a chance to compete
as Georgia Power Co.’s “mirror image.”


GaSU fb profile image
To proceed with its long-range plan of developing 2 gigawatts of
solar power, the start-up, Georgia Solar Utilities Inc., wants to
start by building an 80-megawatt “solar farm” near
Milledgeville as soon as it gets a green light from the Georgia
Public Service Commission. GaSU filed its request last week, and as
of Monday, it’s still too fresh for public evaluation.

So radical is the proposal that spokespersons for Georgia Power and
the Georgia Solar Energy Association said they still were evaluating
it and could not comment.

Groups that normally advocate for customers also are staying quiet.

GaSU executives recognize such a big change won’t come easily.

Continue reading →

New Library —Kay Harris @ LCDP 2012-10-01

At Monday’s Lowndes County Democratic Party meeting,
LCDP Chair
Gretchen Quarterman introduced Kay Harris as chairman of the Library Board.
You can see that board in action a few weeks ago

in these previous videos.




Kay Harris said she was not there as editor of the newspaper,
since as such she wouldn’t be allowed (presumably by the newspaper)
at a partisan meeting.
She was there as chair of the library board.
She said this is her fifth year on that board, and
her second year as chairman.

Here’s

a video playlist.

She said the county put her on that board to move along the
library project, which had been in process for some time.
She said she had led negotiations with the City of Valdosta
for the Five Points process.
She mentioned the

Five Points Steering Committee,
of which she is also a member.

About the current library building and how the new one would be better,

she said,

Continue reading →

Hahira Honeybee Parade Saturday noon, with candidates



Missed the candidates at VSU Tuesday?
You can

watch them on video (now with a third viewpoint).
And you can come to Hahira tomorrow to see them in the

31st Annual Hahira Honey Bee Festival, Inc. Parade.

Here are some



pictures and videos from last year.
The food and festivities start early in the morning and continue all day,
with the parade in the middle.
They had about 35,000 people last year, more than a dozen times
the usual population of Hahira.

-jsq

Videos Meet the Candidates (Part 2 of 2) @ VLCoC 2012-10-02

Here are videos of all the presentations from the
Meet the Candidates
event at VSU Monday.
This adds to the previous
LAKE videos,
and also includes a different perspective from George Boston Rhynes.

Update 4:40 PM 5 October 2012:
Toma Hawk has supplied

a third viewpoint.

Introduction






Ron Borders, Introduction

Solicitor General:

Continue reading →

Joint Resolution in Support of Quality Public Education —Lowndes and Valdosta Boards of Education

Yesterday I asked

But what does the joint resolution actually say?
Karen Noll has supplied the answer, in the form of a
PDF
of the signed resolution,
transcribed below.
This thing makes the education paragraph in the

Occupy Valdosta Mission Statement sound mild-mannered.
We’ve already seen

the state’s response.
-jsq



LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

AND

VALDOSTA CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION

JOINT RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF
QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION

Continue reading →

Videos Meet the Candidates (Part 1 of 2) @ VLCoC 2012-10-02

Update 10:15 AM 5 October 2012:
Ignore this version and go directly to the complete version.

Here is the first set of LAKE videos from the
Meet the Candidates
event at VSU Monday.

Introduction




Ron Borders, Introduction

Solicitor General:

Continue reading →

Georgia Power’s Bowers pushes solar misinformation out the next fifty years

Paul Bowers, CEO of Georgia Power, doubled down on baseload nuclear,
coal, and natural gas for the next fifty years.
What’s he scared of?

Nick Coltrain wrote for OnlineAthens yesterday,

Renewable push not in the cards for Ga. Power,


Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers in Georgia Trend, November 2011
“Renewable (energy sources are) going to have a sliver,”
Bowers said of fuels to create electricity. “Is it going to be
2 or 4 percent? That’s yet to be determined. Economics will drive
that. But you always remember (that renewable energy is) an
intermittent resource. It’s not one you can depend on 100 percent of
the time.”

One time you can depend on it is hot summer days when everybody is
air conditioning, which is why

Roger Duncan of Austin Energy in 2003

Austin Energy flipped in one year
from spouting such nonsense to deploying the most aggressive solar rooftop
rebate program in the country.
Austin Energy did the math and found those rebates would cost
about the same as a coal plant and would generate as much energy.
And when it is needed most, unlike the fossilized baseload grid,
which
left millions without power in the U.S. in June
and

hundreds of millions without power in India in July.

Bowers knows better than the nonsense he just spouted;
as recently as

November 2011 he told Georgia Trend,

Continue reading →

GA State attorney general tries to order private citizens not to oppose charter school amendment

Pushers of the charter school amendment must be desperate!
Blurring the line between public officials and private
citizens, state Attorney General Sam Olens wrote:



Local school boards do not have the legal authority to expend funds
or other resources to advocate or oppose the ratification of a
constitutional amendment by the voters. They may not do this
directly or indirectly through associations to which they may
belong….

As
Jim Galloway wrote yesterday for the AJC in

Sam Olens orders local school boards to stay out of charter school fight,

That means organizations like the Georgia School Boards Association,
and perhaps, the Georgia School Superintendents Association, would
be barred from speaking out against the proposed constitutional
amendment.

And would that include organizations like PAGE,
which produced
the slides
that

a local middle school teacher used last week?
What about that teacher, or

Dr. Troy Davis, speaking a few weeks earlier,
both on their own time?

Olens’ letter would apply to what

the VDT said was in the VBOE and LCBOE joint resolution,
at least the part about “The resolution explicitly states that the boards
are asking voters to not support the Constitutional Amendment relative
to state charter schools.”

But what does Olens mean, duly elected local school boards don’t
have authority to express opinions about educational matters
that would directly affect the people who elected them?

Why has Sam Olens suddenly gotten religion about this now,
after he was silent last year when both VBOE and LCBOE adopted

resolutions against the school “unification” referendum?
Where was he when both boards of education hosted numerous
forums opposing consolidation?

Will he next be telling the Valdosta City Council it can’t

pass a resolution opposing a referendum?
What exactly is the difference between that elected body and
an elected school board as far as expressing such an opinion?
And all of those resolutions were non-binding opinions.

Will Sam Olens next be telling the VDT it can’t
editorialize against the charter school amendment?

How desperate are the pushers of the charter school amendment?

Continue reading →