Brambleman

Georgia sleaze alert: Fran Millar comes out with push poll, lies about Sally Harrell’s record

READ THE LATEST: PEOPLE POWER VS. CORPORATE CASH: GEORGIA’S HOTTEST SENATE RACE Jonathan Grant @Brambleman on Twitter I’ve known Georgia State Sen. Fran Millar for nearly twenty years, broken bread with him, and I held a certain amount of respect for him, though that has diminished as I watched his slide toward the Trumpism that has consumed the Republican Party. I will not be voting for him in November. Millar has tried to separate himself somewhat from the president, claiming he likes Trump’s policies but not his behavior. That’s a distinction without a difference, since Trump’s behavior and policy are intertwined; both are children of his ego. Look out, Canada! If Millar dislikes Trump’s behavior, he has a funny way of showing…

Sally Harrell Camp: Data shows big upturn in Georgia SD 40 Democratic Voting

Source: Sally Harrell campaign Former State Rep. Sally Harrell won big May 22, receiving 67 percent of the vote in the Democratic Primary for Georgia Senate District 40 (GASD40). She will face GOP incumbent Fran Millar of Dunwoody in the general election on November 6. The campaign is reporting that primary results show a major shift in Democratic voting strength in the district, which is centered in North DeKalb County with some precincts in Gwinnett and Fulton. From a campaign email sent out today: For the first time since Senate 40 was drawn, Democrat primary ballots outnumbered Republican ballots, and it wasn’t even close! The spread was 18 points — 59% to 41%. Looking at these primary results, it’s clear that voters are…

Bad news, DeKalb: only early voting in runoff will be at Memorial Drive Elections Office

Jonathan Grant @Brambleman on Twitter What a difference a year makes! The DeKalb County Board of Elections voted 4-0 (Leona Perry absent) to open only one early voting location for the July 24 runoffs: The Memorial Drive office. So there will be no early voting in DeKalb’s 6th Congressional District precincts despite the runoff between Lucy McBath and Kevin Abel — nothing like the widespread early voting locations for last year’s runoff between Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel. While agenda listed: “New Business: A) Runoff Election Advance Voting,”there was no prior publication of this information, so no public comment on it. The period of public comment comes after the agenda is set and before agenda items are taken up, and the agenda typically…

Check out the Decatur Arts Festival: Sat-Sun May 26-27, 2018

The weather held, so Judy and I went to the Decatur Arts Festival Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t as crowded as the Book Festival, but it was lively. The first thing that drew my eye was “Vibrant Fish” by Elliott Hubbard, a Fairburn, Georgia artist who specializes in clay sculptures. I really like that fish—and really everything in his booth—but we ended up buying a pair of digitized prints of his sculptures (the opposite of 3-D printing?) and now we have to find a place for them. Still, low maintenance, even for fish. Check out Elliott’s website. Some artists drew their own crowds, like Richard D. Willson Jr. on Clairemont Avenue, who told a pack of festival-goers about his portraits of Hank…

Georgia women take two different paths to claim Democratic PSC nominations

Above: Selfie of victorious PSC Democrats Lindy Miller (Post 3) and Dawn Randolph (Post 5) I found this historic photo on Dawn Randolph’s Twitter page. Democrat Lindy Miller ran against two men and won with nearly 2/3 of the vote in the Georgia Public Service Commission Post 3 race. Fellow Dem Dawn Randolph faced one man and took more than 3/4 of ballots cast for Post 5. Lindy committed heavily to fundraising and ran a well-financed campaign with money for Atlanta TV ads, which do not come cheap. Dawn, who’s run for the PSC before, had a shoestring campaign, raising just a few thousand dollars. Republican Commissioners Chuck Eaton and Tricia Pridemore have campaigns financed by utility interests. Lindy and Dawn do…

For Democrats, one issue makes all the difference in Insurance Commissioner’s race

Above: Cindy Zeldin at Spalding County Democrats’ statewide candidate forum Jonathan Grant @Brambleman on Twitter By virtually every measure, Cindy Zeldin is the stronger Democratic candidate for Georgia Insurance Commissioner. She’s knowledgeable, media-savvy, and well-funded (for a Democrat). In addition to raising ten times as much cash as her primary opponent, insurance agent Janice Laws, Zeldin has built a strong social media network, and she’s putting in the miles and hours it will take to run and win statewide. Yes, that’s a distinct possibility. Thanks to feckless Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens and the swamp-dwellers at the Public Service Commission, each of these downballot regulatory races give a strong Democratic candidate a great chance to break the Republican lock on statewide offices.…

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