From the Sample Ballot

[Plane]

All of the canadates for Agriculture comissioner say that they are for the family farm.

Farming is Georgias big money and family farms are popular with everyone.

Yet somehow only 2% of agricultural land is owned by family farms , the rest is corporations , mostly big ones.


Damn that death tax, sold as a benifit to the common man and a curse to the rich , the reality is the opposite .
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http://www.lwvga.org/resources/documents/2006GeneralVGPrintFriendly.pdf



Gary Black, Republican
Gary has served the state’s agriculture community for 25 years through the Georgia Farm Bureau and as
President of the Georgia Agribusiness Council. Gary resides on his family farm near Commerce with his wife and
two children. Black is active in the Maysville Baptist Church where he teaches Sunday school.
1. To save the farm, we must first save the farmer. I will work to expand economic opportunities for farmers,
which include developing an agriculturally based biofuel
industry, expanding promotion of Georgia agricultural
products domestically and internationally, and developing and promoting more agricultural and naturebased
tourism business opportunities for farm families.
2. Georgia family farmers need expanded economic opportunities. As Commissioner, I will have an economic
development team that will work to open domestic and international markets to Georgia products. They will also
work on opportunities to bring processing facilities to Georgia to finish products and raise prices on Georgia
commodities.


Jack Cashin, Libertarian
Age 80, Motto: “life should be led like a cavalry charge”. Family man, entrepreneur, sportsman, adventurer.
Owner, Chukkar Farm and Polo Club Alpharetta,
GA. Married to his wife Helen, 58 years, Six Children, 14 Grand
children. Bachelor of Arts degree Colgate University, Master’s degree at New York University (NYU).
1. “Excessive taxation is driving out the small farmer. I support tax cuts that give small farmers a better chance of
being profitable. Local governments often welcome the failure of farms so developers can buy it up and create
more tax revenue. Land trusts/tax credits will protect farms/forests.”
2. “I’m calling for the relegalization
of industrial Hemp as Georgia’s new billiondollar
crop. Hemp can be used for
food, fiber and fuel. Any product that can be made from fossil fuel can be made from Hemp, including paper,
plastics, textiles. Hemp will save the family farmer. Hemp for Victory!”


Tommy Irvin, Democrat
Tommy Irvin, husband, father, grandfather, statesman, has been overwhelmingly elected commissioner nine
terms. Past public service includes Habersham County Board of Education (Chairman); Georgia School Boards
Association (President); State Representative (floor leader); and Mason (Past Grand Master). Irvin has been
recognized repeatedly for his benchmark initiatives; integrity and leadership.
1. Family farms and forest land are among Georgia’s most precious resources. I will work to: Increase funding for
Georgia Land Conservation Program; Eliminate Georgia’s Estate Tax; Enhance USDA Conservation Reserve
Program; Promote state legislation specifically addressing family farms and forest land protection
2. Promote quality and freshness to consumers, restaurants, hospitals, schools, etc; Enhance “Bring Home,
Georgia Grown” campaign”; Encourage organic farming; and nontraditional
crops and livestock; Support The
Federation of Southern Cooperative, provider of technical, family, educational, marketing services small farmers;
Promote agricultural education programs

[Plane]

I am mad at Perdue , Taylor seems to be saying "vote for me, I am big "

I could stand the Libertarian here , if there is ever going to be a Libertarian President there needs first to be a libertarian Senator or Govenor with a credible record of service.


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Garrett Michael Hayes, Libertarian
Born in California in 1956, Garrett Michael Hayes was raised in rural Maine, before his family returned to
California in 1969. Hayes attended Beverly Hills High School (zip code 90212, for anyone who cares) and
graduated from California State College at Bakersfield with a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies. In…
1. My first priority is to eliminate the state income tax. By leaving more money in the hands of our citizens, we can
then completely reengineer
the state budget to fund only the most essential services of government, with the
focus on public safety.
2. I absolutely oppose public funding for campaigns. The history of every election "reform" effort of the past 50
years shows us that they always serve to protect incumbents and limit the opportunity for challengers. Public
funding would put the last link to free elections in the hands of politicians.


Sonny Perdue, Republican
Raised in Perry by a farmer and teacher, Sonny graduated from the University of Georgia, where he met Mary.
They raised four children and also served as foster parents. Sonny draws from experiences as husband, father,
small business owner, Air Force officer and Sunday school teacher to help him govern.
1. When we took office we inherited a $640 million budget deficit. We balanced the budget by setting priorities:
education, jobs, and public safety. We created 210,000 new jobs, a $580 million surplus, grew the economy,
lowered class sizes, and continued to give teachers the tools they need to be successful.
2. Running for office is one of the most important things a citizen can do. It requires sacrifice, determination, and
a vision for the future. Georgia must create an environment that encourages active citizenship and as much
political participation as possible.


Mark Taylor, Democrat
They call Mark Taylor the Big Guy. His achievements include sponsoring the HOPE Scholarship to passing the
toughest crime laws in the nation. Mark now proposes restoring all money cut from HOPE; providing health
insurance to every Georgia child; stopping annual education cuts to our school kids and cutting the…
1. Managing the state budget is all about where, as Governor, your priorities for Georgia lie. My top priorities will
be stopping the cuts to education, lowering class sizes, ensuring every child has health insurance under
PeachKids and PeachCare, and keeping the people of Georgia safe.
2. I believe there is a need to reform the way campaigns are financed and remove special interest money from
the system. While I personally oppose public financing of campaigns, I do support giving Georgians the
opportunity to vote on this matter.

[BT]

Why are you mad at Perdue?

[Plane]

Why are you mad at Perdue?

Flag +land deal+claiming credit for economic good times he didn't really cause


In that order

[The_Professor]

I realize I am a recent Georgia transplant (only been here for eight years now), but I still fail to see why folks are still so riled up about the Governor changing the flag? Big deal. When I pay my mortgage, they don't care. I still have a job, so that is safe. My kids still get a decent (well, barely) education.

So, what's the point here? Am I missing something?

[Plane]

The Flag makes no practical difference at all , it is an intangible .


But Governor Barnes act of contempt on all Crackers is an intangible of great import.

Sonny's failure to live up to his promise is nearly as bad.


The flag may never come back , and we will be little hurt in fact , but it is meet that the penalty for holding us in contempt be high.

[BT]

Flag +land deal+claiming credit for economic good times he didn't really cause


In that order

The flag thing doesn't bother me a bit.

The land deal may once i know more than soundbites about it.

And I don't think he claimed credit for the economic good times. I think he deserves credit for managing the boom times well.

[Plane]

Flag +land deal+claiming credit for economic good times he didn't really cause


In that order

The flag thing doesn't bother me a bit.

The land deal may once i know more than soundbites about it.

And I don't think he claimed credit for the economic good times. I think he deserves credit for managing the boom times well.

The flag itself is not so bad to loose.

But being treated with contempt by the Govenor should not be tolerated.

I think that the old flag would very likely fail in a referendum , but that referendum was promised and not delivered because we can't be trusted with the choice.

This is definately contempt , I might be persueded to vote against the battle flag , but I am not likely to be persueded that the governments wisdom should be preferred over the peoples.


The Land deal is converting Game reserve to development , while the Governer owns other land nearby , it is no Whitewater but I like the idea of game preserve better than uneeded development.




The Boom times might have come for Govenor Barnes I don't know why they wouldn't have.

[BT]

The Land deal is converting Game reserve to development , while the Governer owns other land nearby , it is no Whitewater but I like the idea of game preserve better than uneeded development.

Owning land nearby is not a crime. My understanding is the State wanted to buy the land for greenspace but was outbid by developers. If the Governor maintained ahands off approach tothe negotiations and recused himself from the deliberations i don't see a conflict of interest, nor do i see an ethical lapse. This is based on knowledge gleaned from Taylor campaign ads.

[Plane]

The Land deal is converting Game reserve to development , while the Governer owns other land nearby , it is no Whitewater but I like the idea of game preserve better than uneeded development.

Owning land nearby is not a crime. My understanding is the State wanted to buy the land for greenspace but was outbid by developers. If the Governor maintained ahands off approach tothe negotiations and recused himself from the deliberations i don't see a conflict of interest, nor do i see an ethical lapse. This is based on knowledge gleaned from Taylor campaign ads.

This is a local issue here , it is not illeagal as far as I know , it is just regretable.

It bears at least the appearance of Impropriety.

And we will miss the Okie Woods more than we will enjoy another Golf comunity.

[The_Professor]

"My understanding is the State wanted to buy the land for greenspace but was outbid by developers."

Actually, according to the Governor's Office, they indicate that the state simply couldn't purchase Oaky Woods since that was the depth of the bad economic times and there just wasn't the money.

So, it will now be a development  where homes will be ten feet apart with no trees, and all the wildlife will be seen, dead, on the streets. I find this appalling. Many many times I wish I had lots of money. I would purchase large tracts of land and do ZIP with it and allow the wildlife to live as God designed them to do.

The Nature Conservancy is a non-profit organization that does this a lot.see http://www.nature.org/

In this area I differ from many of my Republican colleagues.

[BT]

So, it will now be a development  where homes will be ten feet apart with no trees, and all the wildlife will be seen, dead, on the streets. I find this appalling. Many many times I wish I had lots of money.

Might be cheaper to get a strict tree ordinance passed in the local juridiction. Set the Woods as a special zoning district. Set the minimum caliper inches of tree density per quarter acre rather high. We just did that here. We were at 50 caliper inches per acre we are now at 400.

You might want to double that.

Set the impervious surface percentage to no more than 10%. Then set setbacks to 25 feet on all sides.

Doesn't leave much room to build on at that point.

[Plane]

I like the rainfall tax that they have in Griffin.


The recipts from this tax are supposed to be devoted to building and maintaining the system for storm drainage.


It is levvyed on landowners based on the amount of roofed or paved surface they have.

This discourages paveing more parking lot than needed .

[Amianthus]

I like the rainfall tax that they have in Griffin.

They have that here in Charlotte, too.