On the LAKE Front

Support plummeting for charter school amendment

Support for the charter school amendment, previously falling, is now dropping like a rock. Saba Long wrote the Saporta Report 15 October 2012, Latest polls show the Charter School Amendment vote will be close, but the actual poll results, when compared to previous polls, including those before T-SPLOST lost by a landslide, say Amendment 1 is going down in flames.

That poll conducted 4 and 5 October showed 34.2% saying they would definitely vote no and 18.06% saying probably no. That's 52.26% No, which is far higher than 26.2% only a month before.

The pollsters, HEG-GPS, say, Re: October 4-5 Charter School Amendment Survey, 15.35% responded Probably Yes and only 9.30% said Definitely Yes. That's 24.62% Yes, far down from the 48.3% Yes of a month before.

Yet only 23.12% responded Unsure, which is hardly changed from 25.5% a month before. It sure looks to me like this is not just undecideds switching to No. It looks like a lot of formerly Yes votes are switching to No.

It looks even worse compared to T-SPLOST. Two weeks before the 31 July Primary election,

15,006 Voted in Lowndes County Georgia by 27 Oct 2012

15,006 people have voted in Lowndes County Georgia in the first two weeks of early voting, including Saturday:

Date	Daily	Total
Monday October 15	1,636	1,636
Tuesday October 16	1,225	2,861
Wednesday October 17	956	3,817
Thursday October 18	643	4,460
Friday October 19	1,433	5,893
Tuesday October 23	1,449	9,173
Wednesday October 24	1,363	10,536
Thursday October 25	1,408	11,944
Friday October 26	1,783	13,727
Saturday October 27	1,279	15,003
Data courtesy of Lowndes County Board of Elections.

You can still vote during extended voting hours this week at the Board of Elections, or on that great election day, November 6^th, at your precinct. Several recent elections here have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts!

-jsq

Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175 @ 30Club 2012-10-22

J.C. Cunningham, running for statehouse district 175, says vote No on the charter school amendment. At the 30 Club Political Forum at Serenity Church School Monday, he was asked about differences from his opponent, and he answered:

Vote No on the charter school amendment —J.C. Cunningham for GA House District 175
Political Forum, 30 Club
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2012.

This amendment was put on for one reason and one reason only, because there are powers that did not get their way and it was strictly for money-grubbing, for-profit charter corporations that would further take money away from our Department of Education.

J.C. Cunningham's opponent, the incumbent Amy Carter, only showed up at one of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, she voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballot and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.

We know where J.C. Cunningham for district 175 stands: against the charter school amendment.

-jsq

Vote No on Amendment 2 —Charlie in Peach Pundit

Let's cut to the chase on what Charlie wrote for Peach Pundit 18 Oct 2012:

Georgia needs significant ethics reforms. There needs to be greater transparency for those who do business with the state. Trust must be restored. Good governance must be demonstrated.

Paying slightly higher rates for a few more years is a small price to pay to avoid giving away 20 year favors to today's patronage class. Vote no on this amendment. That is the best way to save Georgians money.

Georgia is the worst state for legislative corruption. Do we want those legislators committing us financially for 10 or 20 years? If knowing it's an ALEC bill wasn't enough for you, maybe this will be. Vote No on amendment 2.

-jsq

Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174 @ AAUW 2012-10-24

Teresa Lawrence, running for statehouse district 174, says vote No on the charter school amendment. She was asked about it at the AAUW Political Forum at Valdosta High School Wednesday, and answered:

Vote No on the charter school amendment —Teresa Lawrence for GA House District 174
Political Forum, Deborah Van Petten, President (AAUW), Dr. Jim Peterson, Moderator
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta High School, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.

I believe we should vote no for the charter school amendment. We have a means of passing it at the local level to approve charter schools now, and I don't believe we need to give that decision over to the state level.

Teresa Lawrence's opponent, the incumbent Ellis Black, did not show up at any of the four local candidate forums in Lowndes County. However, he voted both for HR 1162 that put the referendum on the ballog and for HB 797 that will suck up more money per pupil for charter schools than for public schools, taking the extra out of our local tax dollars.

We know where Teresa Lawrence for district 174 stands: against the charter school amendment.

-jsq

13,727 Voted in Lowndes County Georgia by 26 Oct 2012

A record 1,783 people voted Friday, bringing the total to 13,727 who have voted in Lowndes County Georgia in the first two weeks of early voting:

Date	Daily	Total
October 15, 2012	1,636	1,636
October 16, 2012	1,225	2,861
October 17, 2012	956	3,817
October 18, 2012	643	4,460
October 19, 2012	1,433	5,893
October 23, 2012	1,449	9,173
October 24, 2012	1,363	10,536
October 25, 2012	1,408	11,944
October 26, 2012	1,783	13,727
Data courtesy of Tiffany Linkswiler, Lowndes County Board of Elections.

Somewhere around 25% of registered voters have already voted. But there are plenty more voters out there.

You can still vote today (Saturday), during extended voting hours next week, or on that great election day, November 6^th. Several recent elections here have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts!

-jsq

Library open records request 2012-10-26

The most-organized open records response ever! Well, that we've asked for, anyway. Sure, sometimes local government bodies deliver a three-ring binder of papers. Sometimes they deliver a CD. Sometimes they deliver on a USB stick. Nobody ever delivered all of the above. OK, I brought the USB stick and the scanner (not pictured), but look at that CD lying on top of the really thick binder: the CD contains everything that's in the binder, and that saved us a lot of scanning time.

Thank you, Kelly Lenz, Patrick Spurlock, and Tom Gooding!

It will take a bit of time to process all this information; stay tuned.

Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney
Left to right: an extra item, the four architect presentations, the "bible" of what the new library should be (the thick binder and the CD), and agendas, minutes, and board packets (the other two binders).
Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
at South Georgia Regional Library, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 October 2012.

I know of at least one open records request somewhere else that, two years later and counting,

Voted in Lowndes County Georgia by 25 Oct 2012

There was a dropoff in the first week of early voting, but it picked back up last Friday and this week. Daily and Total voting in Lowndes County Georgia by 25 October 2012:

Date	Daily	Total
October 15, 2012	1636	1636
October 16, 2012	1225	2861
October 17, 2012	956	3817
October 18, 2012	643	4460
October 19, 2012	1433	5893
October 23, 2012	1449	9173
October 24, 2012	1363	10536
October 25, 2012	1408	11944
Data courtesy of Tiffany Linkswiler, Lowndes County Board of Elections.

Somewhere around 20-25% of registered voters have already voted. But there are plenty more voters out there. You can still vote today, Saturday, during extended voting hours next week, or on that great election day, November 6^th. Several recent elections here have been decided by less than 100 votes. Your vote counts!

-jsq

Videos of candidates @ AAUW 2012-10-24

After the fourth and final candidates forum, moderated for AAUW by Dr. Jim Peterson last night at VHS, the statehouse candidate attendance report card is:
Incumbents: Ellis Black (R 174) 0 of 4, Amy Carter (R 175) 1 of 4, and Tim Golden (R Sen-8) 1 of 4.
Challengers: Teresa Lawrence (D 174) 4 of 4, JC Cunningham (D 175) 4 of 4, and Bikram Mohanty (D Sen-8) 4 of 4.
Open seat 177: J. Glenn Gregory (R) 4 of 4, Dexter Sharper (D) 4 of 4.
Local candidates: 4 of 4 for every one of them,
Gretchen Quarterman (D) and Bill Slaughter (R) for Lowndes County Chairman,
Chris Prine (D) and J.D. Yeager (R) for Lowndes County Sheriff,
John Gates (R) and Demarcus Marshall (D) for Lowndes County Commission District 4,
Justin Cabral (R) and Jason Cain (D) for Solicitor General.

Here are videos of the entire forum.

Candidates Forum at VHS by AAUW, Deb Van Petten President,
Videos by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 October 2012.

Videos of the previous 3 forums:

ALEC's "our state legislators" behind multi-year GA constitutional amendment referendum

Look who sponsored Georgia Senate Resolution 1231 which put the second referendum question on the ballot! Two of ALEC's "our state legislators", Senators Ronnie Chance of the 16th, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers of the 21st, are among the sponsors (Chance is the first sponsor).

SourceWatch's ALEC Exposed found Ronnie Chance on ALEC's International Relations Task Force. Rogers himself told CBS News how much he values ALEC, Who is ALEC? By Mark Strassmann and Phil Hirschkorn 30 June 2012. Rogers spelled out the same thing ALEC itself told me: it considers people like Chance and Rogers "our state legislators". "Our" as in belonging to ALEC, not representing you the voters and taxpayers.

Guess who sponsored the bill that put the charter school amendment on the ballot, HB 1162 in its Senate form? Chip Rogers. And who sponsored the companion bill that would suck money out of public schools and give more per pupil to charter schools, using our local tax dollars, HB 797 in the Senate? Chip Rogers. And House sponsors Jan Jones (R 46th) and Edward Lindsey (R 54th) of both bills are also ALEC's "our state legislators".

I don't always agree with Adam Smith, but when I do, I quote The Wealth of Nations from 1776: