Georgia’s greatest scam revisited

Georgia’s worst governor ever? Hard to say, but Sonny Perdue was definitely the worst in my lifetime.

It turns out even the most conservative attendance prediction for the Go Fish Georgia Education Center in Perry was too ambitious.

The Telegraph of Macon reports the center drew only 15,000 visitors in its first 12 months of operation. That’s far below the 100,000 tourists projected to visit when the center opened in October 2010.

The dismal turnout gives more ammunition to critics of then-Gov. Sonny Perdue, who supported spending $19 million on the center and statewide boat ramp construction during a budget crisis that included furloughs and layoffs of state employees.

An exception to my rule on conspiracy theories

Ninety nine point nine percent of them are bullshit, but this one has teeth.

Gov. Nathan Deal has taken a page from the political playbook of Sonny Perdue by appointing the spouse of the top federal prosecutor for North Georgia to a seat on a state commission.

Deal’s office last week disclosed that the governor has reappointed J. Comer Yates, the husband of U.S. Attorney Sally Q. Yates, to a seat on the Georgia Commission on Hearing Impaired and Deaf Persons.

Because of that gubernatorial appointment of her spouse, Sally Yates, who has extensive experience prosecuting political corruption cases, will be required by Justice Department rules to recuse herself from any future investigations that her office may undertake involving Deal’s activities.

Deal has put himself in a similar position regarding potential federal investigations as his predecessor as governor, Perdue.

In August 2006, as Perdue was in the middle of his reelection campaign, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a series of articles that detailed Perdue’s real estate investments in Houston County and in Florida. …

About six weeks after the Salzer article detailing Perdue’s secret tax break appeared in the AJC, Perdue appointed Atlanta lawyer Catherine M. O’Neil to a seat on the state’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. The O’Neil appointment was announced by the governor’s office on Sept. 28, 2006.

O’Neil, then as now, is the wife of David Nahmias, who was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in 2006. Nahmias’ office would have been responsible for carrying out federal investigations, if any had occurred, into Perdue’s real estate dealings.

Coincidence? I doubt it, considering the track records of Deal and Perdue.

Related articles

• Deal rakes in cash from healthcare, lobbyists (ajc.com)
• Deal ditches hiring rules in appointing spokesman’s girlfriend (ajc.com)

Q: Who’s the only person to profit from Sonny’s rule over Georgia?

A: Sonny

Making money was Gov. H. Dumpty’s prime objective, and on that he delivered. He tripled his wealth while in office.

Don’t say you weren’t informed. The local organ has doggedly reported on Sonny’s unethical conduct while governor, but no one seemed to care.

Perdue ran his mid-Georgia grain and trucking businesses throughout his eight years in office, refusing to put his assets into a blind trust like previous governors. During his second term, according to documents obtained last fall by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Perdue and his companies’ employees repeatedly tapped the expertise of state workers at the Georgia Ports Authority and the departments of economic development and agriculture.

And now …

Perdue is parlaying business information gleaned, and contacts made, during two terms in office into a new company called Perdue Partners.

The firm, incorporated March 22, will be “an Atlanta-based global trading company that facilitates U.S. commerce, with an emphasis on the export of U.S. goods and services through trading, partnerships, consulting services, and strategic acquisitions,” according to its under-construction website.

A reception will be held April 21st in Buckhead to celebrate Sonny’s shenanigans. I’d suggest some sort of protest, but why bother.

Jell-O shooters on me

Sunday alcohol sales legislation given good odds

Sonny’s been gone two weeks and already things are looking up.

 

Perhaps Nathan Deal will surprise us

He’s been shady but, judging by his inaugural speech, Nathan Deal may not be a total *Sonny after all.

“For violent and repeat offenders, we will make you pay for your crimes. For other offenders who want to change their lives, we will provide the opportunity to do so with Day Reporting Centers, Drug, DUI and Mental Health Courts and expanded probation and treatment options. As a State, we cannot afford to have so many of our citizens waste their lives because of addictions. It is draining our State Treasury and depleting our workforce…..”

Highway congestion, especially in the Greater Atlanta area is a deterrent to job growth in the region. If we do not solve this problem soon, we will lose the businesses who want to expand or locate in our State. I am dedicated to working with all elements of government to improve our transportation system and I call on all Georgians to join us. We must put aside some of the regional differences of the past and work for the common good of our State.

*Sonny: A corrupt, ineffectual governor

Replacing King with a crook

I don’t suspect sinister motives in the decision to move the portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. to make room for Gov. Hogg’s portrait, but the symbolism stinks as bad as Sonny’s land deals. Perdue’s mug belongs on a “Wanted” poster next to the state ethics office (if one existed).

Sonny’s legacy

Gov. Sonny Perdue leaves office in a week but Georgians will spend the next two decades paying off some controversial hometown projects he pushed.

Taxpayers will spend almost $4 million annually paying off Perdue’s Go Fish aquatic wildlife and fishing education center, some new equine and livestock facilities at the Georgia National Fairgrounds near his home and the purchase of the Oaky Woods conservation property at a price some lawmakers considered excessive. All are in Houston County, where Perdue was born, raised and plans to return when he leaves office.

The state is making debt payments on those three projects — worth a total of $60 million — at a time when legislators are approving tight budgets that forced teacher furloughs and layoffs, and brought spending cuts on everything from economic development efforts to health care.

The three projects are part of the about $1.2 billion a year the state is now paying on long-term debt, up about 60 percent from the year Perdue took office.

A complete accounting of Sonny’s eight years in office.

Pointless year in review presents … 2010′s most corrupt politician

He'd be a hit in Louisiana

Are Georgians better off than they were 8 years ago? Only if they’re named Sonny Perdue.

There’s a reason the governor refused to place his financial interests in a blind trust, bucking tradition. By the end of his first term, Perdue’s holdings had increased by more than one-third. You can bet his second term will prove more profitable.

Earlier this year we learned the governor personally intervened in a state Department of Transportation project involving a road that goes through his hometown and runs along land Perdue owns.

A spokesman for Perdue did not dispute that Perdue would benefit, like most citizens, from the overall road project but not from the shift in the alignment.

He saved his most audacious chicanery for last.

On Wednesday, the Board of Natural Resources agreed to pay $28.7 million for 10,015 acres of Oaky Woods wilderness in middle Georgia. Six years ago, the price was roughly the same — for the entire 20,000-acre tract.

By passing on the property in 2004, over the protests of environmentalists, the state allowed the pristine black bear habitat to pass into the hands of Houston County developers — whose plans to build a private city did wonders for local land prices.

The assessed value of 101 acres adjacent to the Oaky Woods property, purchased by Gov. Sonny Perdue a year or so earlier, more than doubled to $750,100.

Oops. Sorry. I forgot to mention Perdue’s interest in the transaction. Just like the governor forgot to mention it in 2004. The same governor who appoints Department of Natural Resources board members.

Related Articles

• State offered 420 free acres if it buys 9,595 in Oaky Woods (ajc.com)
• Ethics complaints filed against Perdue (ajc.com)

Georgia’s most corrupt governor bids adieu

He robbed the state blind yet leaves with a favorable approval rating. Sonny’s replacement could well be indicted for his financial misdeeds, but Georgia’s voters have demonstrated they care little about ethics.

On Wednesday, the Board of Natural Resources agreed to pay $28.7 million for 10,015 acres of Oaky Woods wilderness in middle Georgia. Six years ago, the price was roughly the same — for the entire 20,000-acre tract.

By passing on the property in 2004, over the protests of environmentalists, the state allowed the pristine black bear habitat to pass into the hands of Houston County developers — whose plans to build a private city did wonders for local land prices.

The assessed value of 101 acres adjacent to the Oaky Woods property, purchased by Gov. Sonny Perdue a year or so earlier, more than doubled to $750,100.

Oops. Sorry. I forgot to mention Perdue’s interest in the transaction. Just like the governor forgot to mention it in 2004. The same governor who appoints Department of Natural Resources board members.

The legacy of Gov. H. Dumpty is steeped in corruption. Has there ever been a bigger crook in the Governor’s Mansion?

Related Articles

• State offered 420 free acres if it buys 9,595 in Oaky Woods (ajc.com)

The most crooked governor in a lifetime

Those who’ve been paying attention know that Sonny is a crook, routinely violating state law.

“It shall be unlawful for any full-time public official who has statewide powers, for himself or on behalf of any business, or for any business in which such public official or member of his family has a substantial interest to transact any business with any agency.”

Now this:

In September 2009, Gov. Sonny Perdue and two men who run the governor’s trucking company met in the Georgia Ports Authority in Savannah with a half-dozen state employees

The purpose: Grow Perdue’s private business.

“The governor wanted to know if there are any particular services which we feel could help them here,” wrote Chip Hawkins, a sales manager at the ports, in an internal memo dated Sept. 21, 2009.

Not that anyone cares, as evidenced by the election of Nathan Deal.

Georgia’s ethically challenged new governor already confirming suspicions

(via Fresh Loaf)

Gov.-elect Nathan Deal today named more everyday folk lobbyists to the list of folks who will help build the Gainesville Republican’s administration.  Included among the new names on Deal’s transition team are some of the Gold Dome’s top handshake artists and well-heeled businessmen. You’ll also notice some state lawmakers who’ll soon be making big bucks taking their former colleagues to dinner.

We should be used to this by now, after eight years of Sonny Perdue’s self-enriching governance. A quick review:

► In the waning days of the 2005 legislative session, state Rep. Larry O’Neal, a Bonaire Republican who also was Perdue’s lawyer, pushed through a piece of legislation that made a tax break on land sales retroactive to 2004. The new law gave Perdue a $100,000 break on a Florida land deal.

► In the 2004 land deal that was the subject of the tax break, Perdue purchased approximately 20 acres near Walt Disney World for $2 million from Stanley Thomas, a large-project developer whom Perdue the year before had appointed to the state Board of Economic Development – clearly a prime perch for a developer. And the land Perdue bought is located next door to a resort community where half-acre lots were selling in 2004 for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

► Late in 2007, Houston County – the governor’s home county – was chosen as the site for a planned $22 million fish hatchery and visitor center, a centerpiece of the governor’s initiative to promote fishing and tourism in the state.

► Last year, as the roiling economy prompted him to revise state tax revenue estimates downward by $245 million, Perdue left a $7.3 million outlay for a horse barn and practice ring at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter – in Houston County – in the state budget.

The biggest difference? We didn’t know Sonny was a crook before he took office. Ample evidence suggests that our newly elected governor is at best shady — not that Louisiana’s Georgia’s voters  seem to mind.

Obama ate my homework

Gov. H. Dumpty, who’s fattened his wallet but accomplished little else in two terms as Georgia’s chief executive, says President Obama is to blame for the state’s incoherent transportation policy.

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office said he wasn’t responsible for any transportation shortcomings.

“It is clear the Obama administration has its operatives traveling the country in a last-ditch effort to try and find someone to blame for their failed policies,” Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said. “While the blame game may be alive and well inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway, Georgia voters are smart enough to recognize a con job when they see it.

Next he’ll be blaming Obama if the fish don’t bite at the state-funded “Go Fish Center” being constructed down the road from Perdue’s Houston County home.

The good news? Georgia’s most ineffectual governor ever has only a few months left to, well, do nothing. Unfortunately, odds are good his replacement will be worse.

The Bill Campbell of state government

Anyone doubt the real reason why Sonny intervened on a road project that runs along his property? His track record tells you all you need to know:

► In 2004, under Perdue’s watch, the state passed on an opportunity to buy the 20,000-acre Oaky Woods tract, a process in which Perdue was involved despite the fact that he owns 101 acres immediately adjacent to the tract. The property eventually was sold to developers, and the value of Perdue’s adjacent acreage doubled in value.

► In the waning days of the 2005 legislative session, state Rep. Larry O’Neal, a Bonaire Republican who also was Perdue’s lawyer, pushed through a piece of legislation that made a tax break on land sales retroactive to 2004. The new law gave Perdue a $100,000 break on a Florida land deal.

► In the 2004 land deal that was the subject of the tax break, Perdue purchased approximately 20 acres near Walt Disney World for $2 million from Stanley Thomas, a large-project developer whom Perdue the year before had appointed to the state Board of Economic Development – clearly a prime perch for a developer. And the land Perdue bought is located next door to a resort community where half-acre lots were selling in 2004 for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

► Late in 2007, Houston County – the governor’s home county – was chosen as the site for a planned $22 million fish hatchery and visitor center, a centerpiece of the governor’s initiative to promote fishing and tourism in the state.

► Last year, as the roiling economy prompted him to revise state tax revenue estimates downward by $245 million, Perdue left a $7.3 million outlay for a horse barn and practice ring at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter – in Houston County – in the state budget.

Unlike his three most recent predecessors, Sonny refused to place his financial interests in a blind trust. By the end of his first term as governor, Perdue’s holdings had increased by more than one-third. Coincidence?

bet on barnes in 2010

Roy Barnes all but announces another run for governor, and how could he resist?

Republican John Oxendine is not to be taken seriously, and does Georgia really want a female Sonny? Okay, that’s harsh — Karen Handel couldn’t possibly be as ineffectual as Gov. H. Dumpty, but his endorsement does the current secretary of state no favors.

Nathan Deal would be the GOP’s best alternative, but the longtime House member faces steep odds. Ironically, Deal — a former Democrat — backed Barnes’ first run for governor in 1990.

I wasn’t living in Georgia during Barnes’ four years in office, but I know he pissed off both the teacher’s union AND flaggers. That’s enough for me.

i’d gladly give them baxley

Nearly one-third of Georgians who identify with the party of Lincoln say they favor secession from the U.S. Just a tad ironic.

Not that I’m opposed. Hell, I’d give them a majority of state property if they opted to leave peacefully (the rest of us would keep Atlanta, the mountains and the coast. New Georgia would get Waycross and Dublin. I’d even throw in Stone Mountain).

They could add Sarah Palin, W. and Sonny to the big rock if they wanted. Hell, they could re-elect Sonny and the do-nothing Republican legislature. No transportation issues to worry about in the new Georgia, certain to be the fishing capital of North America.

Plus, they could fly their favorite flag without fear of backlash.

Sounds like a win-win to me.