Politics Archive

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This PEACH In My TEA Doesn’t Taste Right

– April 16, 2012Posted in: Politics

 

There is something to be said for being a genuine original. Authentic. All natural.

Georgia’s identity as the Peach State underscores the beauty that is a fresh peach.  Picked ripe and in season, there is no better delicacy.  But created in a lab as a synthetic flavor to market an otherwise unrelated product, artificial peach products are a disgusting fraud upon the palate. Think about a peach Jolly Rancher candy if you’re having trouble with this point.

When I was in middle school I spent two weeks in bed with both strep throat and pneumonia.  It was “unpleasant”.  I went a few days without wanting any food (which is how my parents knew I was really sick) until one day I wanted only one thing: Breyers Peach Ice Cream.

I was not quite old enough to be a brand snob (and we were very much a “generic” family), so I was questioned on why I needed Breyers brand peach ice cream.  It was simple. In the days before Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers was the “all natural”, premium ice cream.  I did not want the first thing I was able to eat to be some orange-ish dyed fake peach menace.  Breyers would ensure the real thing.

Dad understood his mission and left.  He was gone for a long time.  Too long, actually.  I just  assumed he decided to run other errands, and even when he eventually returned it took forever before my ice cream appeared.  But it was…different, somehow.  I just assumed my taste buds were a bit off, but it was more than that.  Mom told me weeks later what had happened.

Dad went to 5 grocery stores in three separate towns.  He was that kind of guy. None of my ice cream was to be had.  He finally decided he would buy Breyers vanilla, some peaches, and mixed them together upon returning home.  He did his best.  At least there was no orange food coloring involved.

Here in modern day Georgia, we have some coloring over underway in the political landscape.  For decades in the Deep South, social conservatives ran the GOP.  They were unquestioned and held a virtual veto over any major decision – campaign or legislative – that occurred under the Republican brand.

Over time, social conservative leaders couldn’t decide exactly how to stay on the same page.  Too many substituted their own opinions for God’s will, and refused to tolerate dissent in their ranks.  Once mighty organizations balkanized into many factions and splinter groups.  Public scandals of leaders, members and politicians they had proudly pronounced “true Christians” damaged their brands.  Others sold their influence to unsavory gambling and other interests.  Fiscal conservatism was an afterthought, if thought of at all, while social conservatives rose to total power – and then many crashed mightily.

2010 brought the resurrection of the Republican party on the backs of the TEA Party.  Taxed Enough Already, Republicans united around a simple slogan that represented one core value of limited Government.  Some of the original TEA Parties remain true to the winning message.  The Cherokee County TEA Party begins every meeting with a simple reminder: “We are about lower taxes and smaller government.  Anyone else here supporting other issues are welcome, but this is the focus of this group.”

Such has not been the case with other groups who have been less successful attracting people to their cause.  Several have resorted to appropriating the TEA party label for their own uses and agendas.  The State of Georgia TEA Party was among the first to co-opt the name after the heavy lifting and electoral success was completed, and now many of the same folks who have destroyed the once proud brand represented by Georgia Right To Life have decided that they too must be a TEA Party in order to be taken seriously.

These people who are Proselytizing Evangelicals Advocating Conservative Hypocrisy have decided to co-opt the brand of those who are Taxed Enough Already to form the PEACH TEA Party.  Tuesday, they decided to target 16 state Republicans as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and one independent for defeat as well. The litmus test to determine opposition, however, seems to have nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with opposition to Doug McKillip’s fetal pain abortion restriction bill.

This is the same Doug McKillip, this TEA Party group’s new best friend, who during his 2010 election advocated for raising $1.5 Billion in new tax revenue by increasing income taxes on those making over $400,000 per year, adding the sales tax back to groceries, raising cigarette taxes $1 per pack, and closing all tax loopholes.  Of course, that was when he was a Democrat.  Not just in name, but in stated tax policy.

Today, those who stand with Doug “we can’t cut anymore, we must generate revenue” McKillip because of his bill restricting abortions are daring to call others RINOs because they disagree with them on social issues.  Yet when they tried this under their old names against Representative Sharon Cooper of Cobb County during the last election, she won with 62% of the vote.  Cooper actually “wrote the book” about TEA Party involvement titled Taxpayer’s Tea Party: How to Become Politically Active – And Why with a foreword written by fellow RINOs Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh. Her longtime opponents will now attempt to don the mantle of the TEA Party and try again against this pro-life candidate that they refer to as a “pro-abort” on their website.

They are advocating keeping a “Republican” who during the 2010 TEA Party election advocated for raising taxes on Georgians by $1.5 Billion, but against longtime fiscal conservatives that have publicly stood up to the bullying by these modern day Pharisees.

There is a funny taste left in the mouth after reviewing the tactics of this “TEA” Party In Name Only.  It’s much worse than any Peach Jolly Rancher I’ve ever eaten.  And there’s nothing authentic, natural, or genuine about it.  It’s fake to its core.

 

Tags: Georgia Politics, Harper, PEACH TEA Party, politics, tea party
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With Power Comes Responsibility

– April 6, 2012Posted in: Government, Politics

 

 

Days before the 2011 Session of the Georgia General Assembly convened, Senate Republicans chose to strip Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle of much of his power over the body.  Despite Cagle having just won re-election by a wide margin, Senators declared that the constitutional responsibilities of running the Senate should remain with them.  A Committee On Assignments was re-instituted from the Mark Taylor era to dole out roles and prized committee chairmanships, controlled not by the Lieutenant Governor, but by the Senate Republican caucus.

The Senate spent the first year under their new structure at the height of dysfunction.  Cagle used his remaining powers to cajole and undermine where possible.  House members complained that they did not know who to negotiate with on major legislation.  As the Lieutenant Governor publicly battled Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams and Majority Leader Chip Rogers, the constant force of power in the Senate remained Rules Chairman Don Balfour.

Virtually no legislation can pass the Senate without Balfour’s approval.  His committee is the last stop before a bill can be voted on from the Senate floor.  He can decide if a bill reaches that floor, under what terms (thus, rules), or significantly alter bills assigned to his committee.  In a vacuum of power, Balfour became the Senate.  It was a gift to him from his fellow caucus members.

Balfour is no stranger to gifts.  He is the frequent recipient of meals, trips, and lodging from those who wish to curry his favor.  During 2011 alone, Lobbyists spent $13,646 to entertain Balfour.  One lobbyist name used to appear frequently. In 2008 and 2009, Marcia Rubensohn bought both meals and a hotel room for him.  She also traveled with Balfour to Israel as part of a delegation of State Legislators, and was listed on the itinerary not as a lobbyist, but as a Senate staffer.  When Atlanta news station WGCL attempted to question Balfour about his travel and expenses with Rubensohn, he hid in a Senate Anteroom and eventually escaped the Capitol through a back stairwell.

His campaign account is a trophy of his position of power, showing roughly $720,000 cash on hand as of the end of the year.  Names of those interested in seeing their bills pass the Senate are frequently listed next to large dollar contributions on his disclosure report.  It is from this account that Balfour pays for a $2,100 per month luxury midtown Atlanta condo plus related expenses, despite his home being in Snellville just 31 miles away.

Even after paying for this condo ostensibly to avoid a commute to his Gwinnett County home every day, Balfour has claimed not only his $173 per diem for the 50 days the Senate was in session last year and 123 days they were not, but mileage to and from his home each of those days.  This includes mileage for days when lobbyists disclosed they were entertaining Balfour out of state.

We know all of the above because it was disclosed under various ethics laws in Georgia.  Former Atlanta Journal-Constitution editor Jim Walls has done yeoman’s work categorizing the above information and much more on his watchdog website AtlantaUnfiltered.com. It’s worth a few minutes of your time.

The coup de grace from Balfour on ethics came during the final hours of the General Assembly last week.  Balfour, along with Senators Jeff Mullis of Chickamauga and John Bulloch of Thomasville were assigned as Senate Conferees to work out language on a bill regarding individual information stored upon the sale of fishing licenses.  Among the conferees was also Joe Wilkinson, Chair of the House Ethics Committee.  They added completely unrelated language to the bill that proposed sealing records of public officials found guilty of some ethics violations.  So much for transparency.

Furthermore, upon issuing their conference report to the Senate, they did not inform members of this totally new addition to the bill.  Most legislators never have time to read conference reports, especially on the last day as bills are finalized and presented every few minutes.  They must rely on the conferees to accurately depict changes they have agreed to from the bills that the Senators have presumably read.

By hiding language that eliminated transparency of ethics violators in a bill about fishing licenses, Balfour not only showed contempt for the citizens of Georgia, but for his fellow Senators .The bill passed the Senate with only 4 voting “no”, but was soundly defeated in the House once members learned what was actually in the conference report.

It should be noted that Balfour now faces an ethics complaint filed by one of his constituents in Gwinnett County regarding his expense reimbursements detailed above.  It should also be noted that it was not filed by one of his peers – all of whom are aware of the same news reports, yet none of whom have been willing to publicly challenge him on it.

Balfour, first elected in 1992, recently told the AJC that he has been doing business the same way for 20 years, and he keeps getting re-elected.  For the first 10 years, he was a member of the minority party fighting Democrats for the same self-serving patronage he has spent the last 10 years perfecting.  He is now the poster child for the Georgia TEA Party Patriots and their drive for ethics reform.

By stripping Cagle of his power of committee appointments, Republican Leadership, The Committee On Assignments, and the Republican caucus in total now own the problem that is Don Balfour.  They left him as Chairman of Rules despite past ethical issues.  They have watched these transgressions continue, all the while allowing him to continue blocking ethics reforms.

Some Senators will face primary challenges this July.  All incumbents should be required to defend the action of leaving Don Balfour as chairman of rules.  All should be required to explain how the most powerful man in the Senate can put something non-germane into a bill in the last hours of a session that would block the public from ever learning which public officials have been found guilty of ethics violations.

There is a way out of this problem for Senate Republicans , but only  if they want to  govern as they have promised: The Senate Caucus must ask the Committee On Assignments to Remove Don Balfour as Rules Chair. Before Qualifying.

Anything less than Balfour’s removal equates to condoning his actions, and makes him a running mate for every Republican Senator in the 2012 election.

The Republican caucus took this power away from Casey Cagle.  They must now be held accountable for the responsibilities that come with it.

 

Charlie Harper is the Atlanta based Editor of PeachPundit.com, a conservative-leaning political website.  He is also a columnist for Dublin Georgia based Courier Herald Publishing.

Tags: Atlanta, Charlie Harper, Don Balfour, ethics violations, Georgia General Assembly, House Ethics Committee, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, Majority Leader Chip Rogers, Marcia Rubensohn, PeachPundit.com, Rules Chairman Don Balfour, Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams
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40 Days at the Capitol- Installment 1

– January 19, 2012Posted in: Politics

 

Day 1 (Monday, January 9, 2012): As the second year of our two year term begins, we welcome two new Senators to the Senate.  Senator Mike Crane from Newnan and Senator John Wilkinson from Toccoa have recently been elected in special elections and join us today for their first session.

After our regular caucus meeting earlier this morning, we get right to work as we take up two bills left over from last session.  Both of these bills were passed out of the Senate last year and, although they passed the House last year, had changes made to them while in the House that we must either agree or disagree with. The first agree/disagree is SB 38 which puts the State School Superintendent in line with other department heads with regards to staff control by giving him the ability to enter into contracts up to $250,000 without the state board of education’s approval.  It also clarifies that the Superintendent has the sole authority over all employees in the department of education meaning that he has the ability to hire and fire employees.  We vote to agree with the changes made by the House last year and the bill now goes to the Governor for his consideration.

We take up another agree/disagree in SB 184, the first in, last out bill that generates much controversy, albeit along party lines.  This bill amends the current law that a school board primarily considers a teacher’s effectiveness in advancing student achievements when considering whom to lay off in a reduction of force implementation. The bill says that the amount of time a teacher has been employed cannot be the primary or determining factor in this decision.  In my eight years in the legislature this bill generates the most intense debate of any bill considered on the first day before finally passing.

            Day 2 (Tuesday, January 10, 2012): After attending the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting last night at the World Congress Center, we are back again this morning at 7AM for the Chamber’s annual state Eggs & Issues breakfast.  We hear from Governor Nathan Deal, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Speaker David Ralston on what they expect to see in this year’s session. Although no bills are debated today in session, we do hear from U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, who updates us on goings on in Washington, D.C.

As the new chairman of Higher Education in the Senate, I have the honor today of addressing the state Board of Regents at their monthly meeting.  Later in the afternoon, I chair my first meeting of the Higher Education committee as we introduce new staff members and review bills left over from last year.

Finally, we finish the day by joining the House at 7PM in a joint session to hear the Governor’s State of the State address.  The Governor does an outstanding job of presenting his message and briefly outlining his budget priorities for the upcoming budget, which includes money for higher education in our state as well as bond money for the deepening of the Savannah Harbor.

Day 3 (Wednesday, January 11, 2012):  After a full day yesterday, today is much more manageable as the only bill on the calendar, HB 110, a bill dealing with foreclosure registries, is sent back to committee by unanimous consent for more work.  Most of my afternoon is spent meeting with Higher Education staff from the Senate research, budget and press offices to discuss plans for the remainder of the session, although I am able to work in a meeting with parents of home school students to discuss their concerns with the HOPE scholarship.

Day 4 (Thursday, January 12, 2012): Chairman Ron Stephens, Dean of the Chatham County delegation, presides over our first meeting this morning as we hear from the state Planning Director, Todd Long, who updates us on the upcoming TSPLOST and the specific projects that have been selected in our region.  We also discuss proposed school board and county commission maps as well as other business affecting Chatham County.

After a very short session, I spend most of my afternoon working in my office and preparing for my first live interview on the Georgia Public Broadcasting show Lawmakers.  Later that night I appear with my counterpart in the House, Chairman Carl Rogers as we discuss Higher Education issues including college consolidation and the HOPE scholarship.

Day 5 (Friday, January 13, 2012):  The newly formed Coastal delegation, consisting of House and Senate members who reside in the 1st Congressional District, meets this morning to discuss issues affecting the Coastal region of our state.  The session starts early this morning and after a very short session where only points of personal privilege are heard, we are adjourned until Monday, January 23rd, as we are out next week for budget hearings.                   

 

 

State Senator Buddy Carter (R- Pooler) will be reporting each week during the Legislative Session.  The session began January 9, 2012 and is expected to last until the latter days of March. . Senator Carter can be reached at Coverdell Legislative Office Building (C.L.O.B.) Room 301-A, Atlanta, GA, 30334.  His Capitol office number is 404-656-5109.

 

 

Tags: Buddy Carter, Government, Legislature, politics
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Cartoon

– January 16, 2012Posted in: Cartoon, Politics

Tags: cartoon, D. Sterling, Political cartoon
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Cartoon

– January 10, 2012Posted in: Cartoon, Politics

Tags: CRCT, DCSS, Political cartoon, Sterling
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“Same Old Story, Same Old Game”

– January 9, 2012Posted in: Politics

 

 

By: Ekwueme Obi-Jones

 

As I sit here this morning drinking my coffee and reading the “Journal” to start my day it amazes me how the Radical Left, the Historic Left, the Typical Left, spins the social issues of the day.

While reading the article written by Leon Modeste (December 19, 2011- Columns), GOP wants to “Block the Vote”, I realize how ignorant and politically driven with misinformation the “Left” truly is. Is this to say the “Right” isn’t as driven? No. They have their radicals too. But the intentional slant to deceive from the left is so rampant that it makes you wonder how “Low” the “Left” will stoop to get their anti-American, anti-Patriot message out to the left wing, biased, kool-aid drinking junkies.

I don’t belong to a particular party, but I would say that I am a “Realist” who leans towards Fiscal Responsibility, a Constitutionalist who believes that judges shouldn’t dictate legislation from the bench, such as the radical Ninth Circuit Court does, but rather rule by the guidelines our constitution has established. I also believe that our border should be protected and anyone that has entered this country “Illegally” is a criminal who has broken the law. Health Care, Education and Social Sustenance should be afforded to law abiding citizens who actually “ARE” American Citizens!” If I broke the law I would be arrested!

The Left wing Democratic Politician sees potential in allowing law breaking illegals the opportunity to vote. Why? Because they vote Democratic! This goes to the heart of “Voter Fraud.” Whether Mr. Modeste wants to admit it or not, and I personally believe he knows this to be true but he “can’t” admit it. Statistically this is fact. Facts are something the left has a hard time dealing with because it exposes their inability to produce a legitimate argument for most things dealing with reality, hence, why I’m a realist.

What is overwhelmingly obvious is the “Let’s Play the Race Card” slant to Mr. Modeste’s column. It is no secret that when the chips are down and liberals are behind in the polls or public opinion, or at a loss for a legitimate argument, liberals and minorities break out the race card. The “Woe is me, just trying to keep me down argument.” Give me a break.

What is the Big Lie? There is no Big Lie. Accusing the Republicans of closing the polls on Sundays to prevent black church goers from voting is nothing more than inciting hatred and ill will. If “Souls to the Polls” were as hell bent on voting as Mr. Modeste says they are, I don’t think the day of the week would be a factor in their effort to actually go to the polls. I applaud their motivation to participate in the process. I wish all Americans were as motivated. But don’t use it as an example to play the race card.

Mr. Modeste states the GOP is trying to “Mandate” every voter have a government issued ID. I say, “…and what’s wrong with this?”  This will ensure that the very voter fraud that Mr. Modeste speaks of does not happen.   Obtaining a government issued ID is not an inconvenience. It is your CIVIC DUTY!

Democrat or Republican, Independent or Libertarian, you should ensure that those who legally have a right to vote be able to vote, and those who don’t do not.  14 states, along with 34 others that Mr. Modeste speaks of, are enacting new voter laws because of voter fraud.  I think that Mr. Modeste, and people like him are simply upset that thousands of illegal votes won’t be cast in favor of candidates who promote a radical left wing progressive agenda.

Counting Jelly Beans, Paying a Poll Tax and Jim Crow Laws is an example how far the left will distort the already distorted. Then, to insinuate that voters will be “Lynched” for voting goes beyond the reasonable. Was Mr. Modeste standing up for the voters who were intimidated by Black Panther extremists who were physically threatening voters who showed up to vote in the last presidential election? He was nowhere to be found, probably toasting the efforts of the intimidators. Were these voters disenfranchised? Yes they were, but it didn’t suit his purpose to defend them.

Mr. Modeste quotes information from the Brennan Center for Justice, a left wing think tank organization.  Five million disenfranchised voters?  How many of this number belongs in the category of, “Recently Arrived Undocumented Aliens?” As far as those who can’t afford a proper ID who actually are American citizens, if you are an American citizen you don’t have to pay to receive a valid ID in any state, and by the way, a college ID does not prove you’re an American citizen, it shows you attend a school or college. Thousands of non-Americans attend our colleges and universities.

Then Mr. Modeste states that the unwillingness of the right to work with Mr. Obama is criminal in nature. Really? As criminal as running our national debt up so high that my great-great grandchildren will still be paying for it and they’re not alive yet.  Will he call for the president’s arrest? I doubt it!

But it is Mr. Modeste’s final statement that actually makes the most sense. “…The strength of a democracy is depending upon the full participation of its citizenry in the electoral process…” I could not agree more. The key to this statement is “…The citizenry…” Mr. Modeste, that means those who actually have a right to vote!

 

Ekwueme Obi-Jones is a husband, father, volunteer, and Second Amendment advocate who’s career is in criminal justice.

Tags: Ekwueme Obi-Jones, Leon Modeste, politics
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Cartoon

– December 19, 2011Posted in: Politics

Tags: Political cartoon, Sterling
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Elections Board passing the buck

– November 16, 2011Posted in: Government, Politics

Several citizens spoke out, as did Ward II candidate Melissa Strother, mayoral candidate B.J. Fletcher, and former Ward II candidate Cheryl Calhoun.  The results of their efforts? Nothing.

From the beginning, county attorney Spencer Lee made it clear that the board saw this ordeal culminating in legal action, and seemed to welcome the action.  “I think that it [legal action] should be done, the board thinks it should be done, and the community thinks it should be done,” he told a standing room only crowd at the Government Center earlier this afternoon.

Lee seemed willing to concede the facts, as reported, are correct.  “No one can disagree with the fact,” he said. “No one denies that a mistake was made.”

However, many of the speakers wanted answers that the board refused to give.

Johnny Williams, who spoke at Strother’s press conference earlier this week, was the first to speak.  “I have great concerns,” he said.  He noted that Calhoun did nothing wrong, saying, “Ms Calhoun did not cause this, officials caused this.”

Williams placed the blame squarely on the elections board and the elections office. “Officials made a mistake, and I haven’t heard officials say them made a mistake.”

Next to speak was B.J. Fletcher, who started by saying, “I have respect for the process.”  She then asked, “How did this happen?”  The elections board, as well as Lee, began the first of several times claiming that this would all come out in court.  She then asked if it would happen again, and was told that while it may happen again, it wouldn’t be intentional.

“I’ve tried to stay out of this because I respect the system,” Fletcher continued, saying “this community is healing, but this community feels it has been wronged.”

Melissa Strother spoke next, outlining events that lead to her filing to run for the Ward II race.  She claims that, after learning of Calhoun’s disqualification, that she asked elections supervisor Ginger Nickerson what would happen with Calhoun’s votes from early voting.  Strother reports that she was told that those votes would be thrown out.  She was also told that it was to late to change the ballot that signs would be placed at precincts to tell voters that Calhoun was no longer a valid candidate.

Strother then recounted events on election night, when WALB had interviewed her giving an acceptance speech as she had been leading the race.  She says she recieved a phone call saying she needed to come to the elections office. “I knew it wasn’t good,” she recalled.  It was there that she was told it would go to a runoff election, and then the situation changed and Ivey Hines was declared the winner.

“I’m not trying to blame anyone for the original mistake.  We’re all human,” Strother said.

A woman who referred to herself as “Miss Mary” said, “I didn’t see no signs,” regarding claims from the election office that signs were prominently placed at precincts.  “Y’all need to go on and make this right,” she later declared.

Another Ward II resident, Anne Mitchell, says that she voted at Palmyra Road Methodist Church. She said,  “there was not a sign prominently displayed that Cheryl Calhoun was removed from the ballot.”

She furthered her thoughts, saying “Something’s going on.”

The next Ward II resident to speak was William G. Livingston.  He argued that several issues needed to be addressed.  He took particular care to mention “negligence regarding where people live.”

Cheryl Calhoun stood up to speak, still somewhat emotional after the events over the last month.  She pulled out two voter registration cards, one saying she was in Ward II, and another saying she was in Ward I.  “You say this is a computer error, but how am I supposed to know if that was right?” she asked.  Calhoun continued to speak about the confusion for just herself and her neighbors, who the elections office had also erroneously listed as being in Ward II.

Calhoun then went on to outline her cause as to how the laws on the books are inadequate.  “You come with a law that doesn’t apply to me, because I’m innocent.”  Calhoun noted that the laws on the books that were used to disqualify her are written with the belief that the mistake is because of the candidate and not election officials.  “I am an innocent woman,” she declared.

She then said, “I just want the board to have integrity, and we will get our city back.”

After Calhoun was finished, Melissa Strother asked a question of the board.  She stated her understanding that the Secretary of State’s office gave the County Election Board authority over this matter, and if they were deferring that over to the courts she would like it on the record.  The question was given over to Spencer Lee, who said that he would have to research that but that at this point there “is a process”, again citing pending legal action.  Strother asked if her would research that and get back to her, when Lee interrupted, holding up his hands saying “I’m not going to argue.”  He then said, “You’ve got your own lawyer.”

The pertinent part of the meeting adjourned, and Strother spoke to the press.  She said, “The board of electiosn has the jurisdiction to do the right thing, but based on Spender Lee’s response, they are deferring to the courts.”  She went on to say that it would cost taxpayers thousands of dollars to settle this in court.

Strother has five days after the election is certified to file a complaint.  The election was certified yesterday afternoon at 1 pm.

 

Tags: Cheryl Calhoun, featured, Melissa Strother, Spencer Lee, Ward II
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The Spice Delima

– November 16, 2011Posted in: Politics

 

 

 

In September a sheriff’s deputy in Statesboro responded to a call of a young man who had nearly beaten his girlfriend to death with a beer mug after both had ingested the drug spice.

While the girlfriend ended up in intensive care with a shattered cheek and eye socket, a plate in her jaw and a bruised brain, the boyfriend was charged with aggravated assault with the intent to murder, changing both of their lives forever.

Also in September, a Richmond Hill man was arrested at a gas station in Rincon after allegedly soliciting women outside the business for sex then getting in a car with a woman and her 11 year old daughter with his pants unzipped and soliciting them for sex.  The man claims he was high on the drug spice.

These are just a few of the recent incidents involving what has become a major problem in our state and our nation- the illegal use of the drug spice.

Spice, slang for synthetic cannabis or marijuana, is a mixture of medicinal herbs and spices that are sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids on them.  It is typically sold in small, silvery plastic bags of dried leaves and marketed as incense that can be smoked.  It is said to resemble potpourri.

There are more than 200 different chemicals which are considered synthetic cannabinoids.

One of these synthetic cannabinoids, JWH-018, was first made in 1995 for experimental purposes in the lab of Clemson University researcher John W. Huffman, PhD. Spice became popular because JWH-018 can be made easily by combining a few commercial products.

These synthetic cannabinoids have an effect similar to THC, the active compound in marijuana.  They cause psychoactive behavior including euphoria, decrease overall activity, produce analgesia, decrease body temperature and produce catalepsy, a trancelike state marked by loss of voluntary motion.

While the long term adverse effects of the drugs use is unknown at this time, it is known to stay in the body for a long period of time and JWH-018 and its many cousins have a chemical structure shared with known cancer-causing agents.

Dr. Huffman, the inventor of JWH-018, is quoted as saying “It’s like Russian roulette to use these drugs.  We don’t know a damn thing about them for real.”

Known by names such as Algerian Blend, Genie, k2, Smoke, Chill X, Sense, Yuatan Fire, Spice Diamond, Spice Silver and Spice Gold, the drugs can be purchased from gas stations, convenience stores, tobacco shops and head shops.  The availability of these drugs has become such a problem near some military bases that military personnel have been prohibited from shopping at stores that carry these products.

Another problem in trying to contain these drugs is there availability from the online industry.

Nevertheless, attempts to ban the sales of these drugs are being made on the state and federal levels.

This past legislative session, as part of the yearly update to the Georgia Dangerous Drug Act, I sponsored legislation that made certain compounds that are classified as spice Schedule 1 drugs, meaning that they have no known medicinal use and are for experimental use only, making them controlled substances and rendering them illegal in Georgia.

In September, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) used its emergency authority to ban certain chemicals used in these products, calling them an “imminent hazard” to the public. Now these chemicals are illegal in all states, not just the ones that have classified them as such in their state statutes.

However, enforcement remains a problem for a number of reasons.  Lack of law enforcement manpower, internet availability, and having to analyze the contents of each package in order to determine the contents remain a challenge, but the biggest problem is that clandestine labs that produce these drugs simply change over to another compound that has not been scheduled- which makes it legal to sell.

While we will continue to seek legislative remedies to this problem, only through education of the hazards of this drug’s use will we be able to contain the issue.

 

Senator Buddy Carter can represents the 1st district in the Georgia State Senate.  When the General Assembly is in session, he routinely shares his experiences with Journal readers.

Tags: Buddy Carter, DEA, politics, spice
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Hubbard issues statement

– November 15, 2011Posted in: Government, Politics

Former Ward II candidate, and current mayoral candidate Dorothy Hubbard has issued a statement regarding the ongoing battle over her former city commission seat. In an email sent to The Albany Journal, Hubbar said the following:

The ward 2 race and subsequent unrest regarding the results is unfortunate.

This is a unique situation to be resolved through the legal process.   I imagine in the history of elections similar situations have occurred.  The election was certified at 1:00pm today. As former commissioner of Ward 2, I wish only for a swift and just resolution. Our constituents of Ward II have been without representation since August 30th.  I have built relationships with the citizens in this, the most diverse ward in Albany.  It is a microcosm of the city with all kinds of people – young/old, retired, international, black, white, male/female, all economic statuses and both sides of the river.

We have to let the legal process take its course for the benefit of the entire city.  Let us all be in agreement on that.

Dorothy Hubbard

Ivey Hines, a pastor, was originally declared the winner of the Ward II race for Hubbard’s former seat, but his opponent Melissa Strother has issued a report outlining what she describes as “irregularities” in the election process and has vowed to file a formal complaint.

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