{"id":285,"date":"2012-12-07T13:11:14","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T18:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/legislative-luncheon-at-wiregrass-tech-by-chamber-and-rotaries-vlcoc-2012-12-05.html"},"modified":"2012-12-07T13:11:14","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T18:11:14","slug":"legislative-luncheon-at-wiregrass-tech-by-chamber-and-rotaries-vlcoc-2012-12-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2012\/12\/legislative-luncheon-at-wiregrass-tech-by-chamber-and-rotaries-vlcoc-2012-12-05.html","title":{"rendered":"Legislative Luncheon at Wiregrass Tech by Chamber and Rotaries @ VLCoC 2012-12-05"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\n<\/a>\nNo questions and no mention of Moody AFB at the Legislative Luncheon at\nthe\nLegislative Luncheon at Wiregrass Technical College Wednesday by\nthe Chamber of Commerce and the three\n\nRotary Clubs<\/a>.\n\nState Sen. Tim Golden R-08<\/a>,\nand\n\nState Rep. Ellis Black R-174<\/a>\nplus\nincoming\n\nState Rep. Dexter Sharper D-177<\/a> spoke\n(Reps. Amy Carter R-175 and Jason Shaw R-176 were not present).\n\n<\/a>\nBut they didn’t answer any questions.\nThe organizers didn’t even\ntake questions on cards from the 75 or so people in the room.\nIt’s nice they’re going around to all the organizations and talking to them,\nbut it might be more helpful if they listened to the concerns of their\nconstituents all at once.\nLowndes County Commissioners Joyce Evans and Richard Raines were there,\nbut they did not speak,\nand none of the state legislative delegation said anything\nabout Moody Air Force Base encroachment,\nunlike\n\nHouston County where their state rep. helped organize\n“$7.5 million to\nhelp resolve the encroachment issue affecting Robins Air Force Base.”<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nRon Borders\non behalf of the Chamber’s\nGovernmental Affairs Council (GAC) did\n\ninvite people to a\nMembers to the Heard session<\/a>\nMonday 7 January 2012 at Valdosta City Hall Annex Multi-Purpose Room.\nWaiting a month to provide feedback to legislators through the Chamber\ndoes seem a tad indirect.\nOverall, it would be nice if the legislators would at least actually listen to\n(even if they don’t want to answer) questions and concerns from citizens without\nthose citizens having go go through some filtering system (ie chamber legislative affairs\nor county commissioner).\n\n<\/a>\nWith a room full of 75 or more people, wouldn’t it be refreshing for\nelected officials to say “We can’t necessarily answer all your questions\ntoday, but we would like to know what they are. Please come to the\nmicrophone and ask your question or state your concern”.\nCitizens Wishing to be Heard in the County Commission meetings\nis not really the same as having a session dedicated to listening to citizens’ concerns.\n<\/p>\n

\n\nThe Chamber’s pre-announcment<\/a> of this meeting said:\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Chamber’s Government Affairs Council will present its top\nbusiness issues to elected officials.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nYet though the GAC the previous day in a contentious meeting\n\nvoted to oppose encroachment on Moody Air Force Base<\/a>,\nhe said not a word about that at the Legislative Luncheon.\n<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nIn his keynote,\n\nSen. Tim Golden<\/a> said\n\n\nhe is\n\n“not sure where we are going in this session”<\/a>,\nand declared\n\n“I have not violated a single section of that bill”<\/a>.\n\n<\/a>\nHm, maybe not, but he did misuse a LAKE video,\nas\n\nI reminded him on TV<\/a>\n(he fixed his ad within two days after LAKE’s lawyer contacted him).\nGolden also said\n“the majority of the legislature is quite ethical”\nand we\n“probably do not need an ethics bill” but it “sends the right signal”.\nHow about instead we pass an ethics bill because it’s the right thing to do,\nnot just for appearances?\n<\/p>\n

\nGolden is “excited” about the change in Senate Leadership from Chip Rogers\nto Ronnie Chance,\nand he didn’t mention\n\nthey’re both ALEC and they were both sponsors<\/a>\nof both misleading Amendment 1 (charter schools)\nand misleading Amendment 2 (multi-year contracts) on November’s ballot.\nAlso Golden is\n\na big fan of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nGolden\n\nremarked:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nI thought we might have to answer questions, but I’m relieved we don’t (just kidding).\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nIf he was just kidding, he could have asked for questions briefly before\nintroducing Ellis Black.\nHe also could have shown up at\n\nany of the three candidate forums\nwhere questions were asked<\/a> rather than just\nthe Chamber one which had no questions.\n<\/p>\n

\n\n<\/a>\nOther speakers at the Legislative Luncheon included\n\nKerry Morris,<\/a> President of Valdosta Rotary,\n\n<\/a>\n\nDr. Ray Perren,<\/a> President of Wiregrass Technical College,\n\n<\/a>\n\n“State of the Guard by Deputy Adjutant General Russell Carlson<\/a>\nand\n\n<\/a>\n\nCol. William A. Dent, Chief of Staff, Georgia Army National Guard<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\nHere’s\n\na video playlist:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

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