Email sent to Snellville Democrats on Election Day

The fact that the Dems claim Kautz as their own shouldn’t surprise anybody. While candidate Barbara Bender had no problem acknowledging her alliance with the Republican Party, Kautz insisted on her “independence” and hid behind the non-partisan nature of the Snellville race. Kautz counted as her supporters Mr. Clower, who only abandoned his Democrat affiliation in the face of the Harrell challenge; attorney and former Council member Warren Auld and car dealer Dwight Harrison, both of whose political leanings have always been suspect.

Moreover, those of the decade-long conservative insurgence in Snellville should have seen the writing on the wall. Southern Gwinnett has continued to trend Democratic as blacks, traditionally and inexorably beholden to the Dems, flee the blight and corruption of east DeKalb County for Gwinnett’s better schools and cheaper housing.

Further evidence of the bluing of Snellville is the fact that Republican state legislators essentially abandoned south Gwinnett to the Democrats during the redistricting after the 2010 census. In part to protect its control of Gwinnett and give the GOP inroads into Atlanta, state Republicans have ceded everything south of Hwy. 78, Mountain Park and much of Lilburn to Hank (“Guam may sink”) Johnson’s Fourth Congressional District.

In the State Senate, Snellville has been represented for a decade by Don Balfour, an influential Republican. To protect his own political future, Balfour has drawn for himself a district that takes in a significant portion of conservative southeast Gwinnett including Dacula. Democrat-controlled Senate District 55 will now take in all of Gwinnett south of Hwy. 78 and parts of Grayson and Loganville.

The balance of power in Snellville between Republican and Democrat is at the tipping point and sliding steadily back to blue. Dems apparently recognized that boosting turnout by a fraction could be (and was) the difference between victory and defeat. Republicans, possibly lulled into complacency by the obvious ethical and intellectual superiority of their candidate, failed to defend the seat that they have held for 12 years.

“Our goal is to increase Democratic performance in key areas across the state,” said Chairman Mike Berlon of the Democratic Party of Georgia. “This election showed that we can do that, and that bodes well for our next statewide contest.”Women had an especially impressive night, with first time female mayors taking office in Snellville Kelly Kautz and in Albany,

via Georgia Democrats Energized by Election Results | Georgia Democrats.

From the MDJ article:

During the public comment portion of the City Council’s Wednesday’s meeting, Michael Sabbagh, who identified himself as a Snellville City councilman and friend of Jaraysi, claimed that Jaraysi had the money to finish the building and that Council should allow him to do so.

Yet Councilman Jim King responded by saying that Sabbagh had promised to put the money in an escrow account for him to look at, but had failed to live up to that promise.

Sabbagh also claimed to be a professor at Southern Polytechnic State University; however an SPSU spokeswoman said he had not been associated with SPSU for five years.

Moreover, Sabbagh warned that if the Council did not settle with Jaraysi, Al Jazeera news would begin reporting on the case.

How can Snellville residents trust a Councilmember, sworn to uphold their city’s ordinances, who would demand that another city’s leaders disregard their own? More importantly, why should the residents of Snellville trust that Sabbagh will represent their interests without bias when he is so quick to invoke the specter of racial discrimination to further his goals, and those of his buddies?

Update 10/19 4:00pm – Video of Sabbagh’s comments is now available. Advance the video to the 37-minute mark

via The Marietta Daily Journal – High court rejects Jaraysi’s appeal.

The CID board is apparently set to disappoint the hopeful and confirm its place as the retarded (or, for the PC crowd, “integrity-deficient”) red-headed stepchild of the Gwinnett CIDs.

Jim Brooks first came to the CID from the city of Snellville, where he served a less-than-stellar stint as interim city manager. At the CID, Brooks quickly buddied up with board members Dwight Harrison and Kenny King. This was no surprise at the time; Brooks owed his job to Harrison and King. The two had pursued recall elections against two other board members; the change in the balance of power allowed Harrison and King to bring in their political crony.

During Brooks’ tenure, expedience and “good ol’ boy” politics replaced honesty and transparency. Brooks allegedly conspired with Harrison to over-pay a politically-connected landscaper by thousands of dollars. Only after a subsequent shift in the balance of power (due to Forrest Adair’s untimely death) were Harrison and Brooks prevented from re-awarding the landscaping contract to the same firm, even though the landscaper had submitted an inaccurate bid.

Even worse, it was alleged by other board members that Harrison and/or Brooks gave the landscaper a chance to change the bid (to a higher amount) and may have even disclosed to him the amounts of the competing bids.

In my opinion, the Evermore CID is beyond recovery. The Gwinnett County Commission should disband it promptly. The Commission could consider the formation of two smaller organizations; one in the Park Place area of Stone Mountain/Lilburn and another encompassing properties along Hwy 78 near and within Snellville.

Board member Stacy Patterson said Brooks’ past troubles with the board, which has seen six members replaced in recent months, were considered but ultimately didn’t harm his candidacy. Brooks’ 16-month first stint as executive director included regular boycotts by several board members and accusations that he allowed a landscape contract to exceed its allotted amount by $15,000.

Evermore CID taps Brooks to lead agency again  | ajc.com

In March, I warned you of the Commission’s plan to raise the tax rate for general operations by almost one-quarter of a mill, yet maintain the same rate as last year. They proposed to “re-align” an expiring bond (debt) millage and add it to the Maintenance & Operations (M&O) rate. I called the proposal what it was– a back-door tax increase.

One day after my article was published, soon-to-be Chairman Charlotte Nash agreed during a candidate forum that the debt millage should lapse and no longer be collected. Her position, which she still holds to this day, put her at odds with the other Commissioners who had tentatively approved the tax hike…. excuse me, “re-alignment.”

Tonight, we will see just how persuasive Chairman Nash can be. She will reportedly ask the Commission to adopt a tax rate of 13.02 mills, which is the same rate as the previous year minus the .23-mill rate for the paid-off bond debt. She will face at least two Commissioners who still support the millage “re-alignment” and one, District 2 Commissioner Lynette Howard, who pushed for a tax increase this year.

(Don’t worry– the county advertised a proposed rate of 13.25 mills. They can adopt a lower rate tonight, but not a higher one.)

“Re-alignment 2.0″

The Commissioners have discussed a millage shuffling of a different sort– continuing to collect the .23 mills (by adopting a rate of 13.25 mills tonight) but using it to pay off another debt, the bonds for the jail, a little quicker. (In recent years, the county has collected a millage for two bonds; last year, it was .23 for the now-retired debt and .24 for the jail, for a total of .47-mills.)

I can understand why the Commissioners would consider the idea. According to Moody’s, a ratings firm, Gwinnett has the third-highest debt load among Georgia counties at nearly $160 million. Paying off the jail bond early could save hundreds of thousands in interest.

I believe, however, that the taxpayers of Gwinnett would rather pay a lower tax rate this year and worry about paying off debt a little faster when the economy is better. Thousands of Gwinnett homeowners, one out of every 256, faced foreclosure in the first half of this year which, sadly, is only about 15% less than in 2010. Our unemployment rate is hovering around 9 per cent and showing no sign of improvement.

Now is the time to reduce the tax burden on Gwinnett property owners. The county has done an admirable job of cutting expenses to make even the consideration of a tax cut possible. The Commissioners should pass the benefit of a lower cost of government to the taxpayers in the form of a reduced tax rate.

If you agree with me that the Commission should lower the tax rate to 13.02 mills tonight, send them an email now at commishes@talkgwinnett.com (it will be auto-magically forwarded to all). You can also use the form here.

More…

• County millage rates, 5-year history

“In your campaign, you clearly stated that you believed that the loss of public trust was a fundamental issue facing Gwinnett County. Further, you proposed tougher ethics requirements and an overhaul of the land acquisition process,” Deak wrote in the letter, which included questions about implementing the special grand jury’s recommendations and new policies on land purchases.

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Democrats ask Nash to get started on ethics reform