Before the primary election on July 20, supporters of the SPLOST renewal were saying that we had to renew the SPLOST or else we would end up paying higher property taxes. The SPLOST renewal passed.

Well, I opposed it, but at least it won’t fall back on property taxes, right?  Wrong. On August 10 the Board of Commissioners raised the millage rate (unnecessarily), which upset a lot of people.

There is a public hearing on August 24 to discuss the 2011 budget, which, given the number of people outraged over the millage rate increase, will probably be a crowded event. On Thursday the 19th, some concerned citizens are meeting to discuss the hearing. More information on that is available here.

The next time you’ve actually got a say in what taxes you pay, remember the SPLOST renewal. Remember the Paulding County Board of Commissioners. Remember how taxes were raised even though we passed the SPLOST. Then vote accordingly.

Following some good advice, I’m going to refrain from commenting on yesterday’s election results for a few days, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about my friend Daniel Stout.

I met Daniel last fall, a few weeks before he decided to run in the special election for the 19th district in the Georgia House.  I helped with his campaign in the special election, and I worked even more diligently for him in the recent primary and runoff elections.

During his time in the General Assembly, Daniel stood firm – under extreme pressure from other Republicans – against increases in government. He remained true to his word to his constituents, and he proved to us all that it really is possible to elect a true fiscal conservative.

I was with Daniel the day he received that despicable mailer from Steve Golden. When I was furious, Daniel calmed me down and insisted we not lash back in anger. When he read what I wrote about Steve Golden, he called and asked me to back off. And after the primary, when Golden apologized for the mailer, I saw Daniel respond in love with complete forgiveness.

When Daniel got juicy bits of information about Paulette Braddock that would have hurt her campaign, he insisted that we not go public with it. He had promised a clean campaign, and he was determined to run a clean campaign – no matter how his opponents ran theirs.

Throughout this past year, I have seen Daniel Stout in victory and in defeat. I’ve seen him when he’s been viciously attacked, and I’ve seen him respond in grace. I was present when he was addressing crowds, and I’ve been with him when nobody else was around. In every one of these instances, I have seen what real integrity in a man looks like.

I am honored to know Daniel Stout and to be able to call him a friend. Being around Daniel has taught me a lot about myself, and I’m a better person because of his example. Whether you supported Daniel in this election or not, I hope you’ll go out of your way to get to know him. You may find him challenging you to be a better person as well.

It’s runoff time, and there are some Paulding-specific races in the runoff that you need to make sure you’re aware of before you go vote.

District Attorney
The District Attorney race will be on all Paulding County ballots since it’s a county-wide election.  Incumbent Drew Lane is up against challenger Dick Donovan.  I’m afraid this race is one where the best candidate didn’t make the runoff, which is unfortunate.

Going solely on qualifications and experience, I think Drew Lane has the better hand in this race, but if you’re a Donovan supporter, I don’t particularly care to get into a debate over it.  I’m not a big fan of either candidate.

House District 19
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it as much as I need to: there’s no reason for anyone who professes to be a conservative to vote for anyone other than Daniel Stout in this race. I’ve reviewed Daniel’s endorsements, spoken with him personally about what he believes, and I’ve scrutinized his voting record.

Daniel has done an excellent job representing our district, and If you live in House District 19, I urge you to vote for Daniel Stout this Tuesday.

County Commissioner Post 2
Commission Chairman David Austin has taken out ads in the local paper supporting Todd Pownall and blasting Beverly Cochran for being someone who takes a government paycheck. If you’re thinking that’s a bit ironic since Commissioner Austin has a job that draws a government paycheck, you’d be correct.

The choice in the Post 2 race is clear. Beverly Cochran is obviously the better candidate, and if you live in Post 2, I sincerely hope you will support her on Tuesday. I hope Beverly gets a chance to serve on the Board of Commissioners; I believe she’d serve Post 2 very well.

County Commissioner Post 4
Tony Crowe and David Barnett face each other in a runoff in Post 4.  I wasn’t thrilled with either of these guys in the primary, and several readers here contacted me to say that I was wrong about them.  I’m still not overly thrilled with either candidate, but if I were a Post 4 voter, Tony Crowe would get my support.

For the record, I don’t doubt that Barnett is a nice guy, but from what I’ve seen of him and from when I’ve heard him speak, I don’t believe that he is what Paulding County needs on the Board of Commissioners.

For the sake of the completionist in me, I’m listing the people on Paulding County ballots running unopposed.

Board of Education
District 2 – Nick Chester
District 5 – Sammy McClure
District 6 – Kim Curl

Paulding County Judicial Circuit
Superior Court Judge – James Osborne

Georgia House
District 17 – Howard Maxwell

Georgia Senate
District 30 – Bill Hamrick

Lieutenant Governor
Casey Cagle

U.S. House of Representatives
Phil Gingrey

U.S. Senate
Johnny Isakson

Not all of these are on my ballot, but of those that are, the only one I’d vote for is Gingrey. Obviously, they’re all going to win since they’re running unopposed, but if you don’t support the candidates, you shouldn’t vote for them – even if they run unopposed.

That said, I will most certainly not be voting for Casey Cagle or Johnny Isakson.

There are a lot of Republicans seeking the nomination for Insurance Commissioner this year.  They are:

• Dennis Cain
• Rick Collum
• Seth Harp
• Ralph Hudgens
• Tom Knox
• Joe Mamalakis
• Stephen Northington
• Gerry Purcell
• Maria Sheffield

What a list, huh? Time and space don’t really afford me the luxury of going into detail with all of these candidates and the differences between them, so I’ll just get to the point and tell you I’m supporting Gerry Purcell for Insurance Commissioner.  You can check them all out for yourself, but Gerry is a good free market guy with plenty of experience dealing with the insurance industry.

For the office of Secretary of State, we’ve got two candidates on the Republican ballot:

• Brian Kemp
• Doug MacGinnitie

Brian Kemp is the incumbent who was hand picked by the Governor. You may remember that story.

Doug MacGinnitie has been my choice all along. He’s a solid candidate that I had the opportunity to meet several months ago at a Paulding County GOP meeting. You can read my thoughts on MacGinnitie from that meeting here.

In May when the race in House District 19 was picking up steam, Steve Golden promised that he would run a clean campaign.  This week Steve Golden broke his promise.

Steve Golden sent a mailer to District 19 voters that is deceitful, underhanded, and is in blatant disregard for the promise he had made.  Isn’t it ironic that to question Daniel Stout’s integrity, Steve Golden had to compromise his own?

Does a man’s word mean anything anymore?  It does to Daniel Stout.

Daniel has insisted that those helping with his campaign refrain from negative attacks on his opponents. It was out of respect for Daniel’s wishes that I said nothing about his challengers when I posted about the District 19 race in my “Who’s on Your Ballot?” series.

Daniel Stout has kept his word and has run a clean, positive campaign. Steve Golden has shown the entire district that he cannot be trusted.

Earlier today I asked Daniel about the votes Golden called into question.   On the accusation of missing 45 votes in the session, Daniel explained this when Paulette Braddock brought up the issue at the Chamber of Commerce debate. Daniel’s response, which you can watch for yourself here, was:

“I’d like to rebut Ms. Braddock’s claims that I missed a great number of days at the capitol. I missed a day – with the Speaker’s permission and approval ahead of time – because the FDIC was coming in to audit the bank. For the first day they were there, I needed to be there to introduce them to the credit files, and so I did miss a day. I don’t know exactly how many votes there were that day – maybe 40 or 45 – but it wasn’t an irresponsible missage of votes. I just wanted to clarify that.”

On Daniel’s vote against the regional transportation plan, Daniel told me that he liked the bill and would have voted for it, but during his campaign he made a promise that he would not vote for it. Steve Golden is berating Daniel Stout for honoring a promise to his constituents.

On the missed vote for a constitutional amendment blocking the Obama health care legislation on the day Daniel was excused, Daniel told me they would have brought up the issue later in the session, but they didn’t have enough votes to pass it.

Steve Golden is smearing the good name of a great representative by twisting his facts and telling half-truths.

Let’s talk about issues. Let’s talk about our candidates. Let’s talk about what’s good for the state and the county. But let’s not stoop to the level of Steve Golden by lying to voters and by breaking the promises we make.

On the Republican list for State School Superintendent this year, we’ve got:

• Kathy Cox
• John Barge
• Richard Woods

This is a Republican primary, so we’re talking about Republicans. Of these, I’d probably take John Barge, but I really think the Libertarians have the best candidate in Kira Willis, who will be on the ballot in November.

The candidates for Attorney General are:

• Sam Olens
• Preston Smith
• Max Wood

I’m technically still undecided on this race.  I really like Preston Smith. (He’s the guy who called out the Republican leadership from the floor of the Senate for pushing new taxes and refused to vote for the new taxes after being told he would lose committee chairmanship over the vote. The entire speech is posted here, and it’s definitely worth reading.)  On the other hand, Max Wood is (by far) the most qualified for the position.

So that’s where I’m torn on this one.  Undecided, split about 50/50 between Smith and Wood.

The Governor’s race. This one hits close to home for me because I’ve spent time working in it. The candidates here are:

• Jeff Chapman – former state senator from Brunswick.
• Nathan Deal – corrupt former Congressman. Likes government involvement until he finds out you don’t. Then he doesn’t like it either.
• Karen Handel – former Secretary of State who chooses political positions based on current political landscape rather than on principle.
• Eric Johnson – former state senator from Savannah.
• Ray McBerry – Atlanta businessman.
• John Oxendine – awful, dirty, greasy, despicable politician who is currently is the state Insurance Commissioner. This guy is the reason nobody likes politicians. I honestly have nothing nice to say about the man.
• Otis Putnam – Wal-Mart employee who decided to run. I’m not sure why.

So that’s the batch of Republicans we get to choose from in the gubernatorial race. You might notice from those descriptions that I’m not really crazy about some of them.

Here’s the situation. There are four candidates that are leading in the polls and in cash. Those four are Oxendine, Deal, Handel, and Johnson.  There’s going to be a runoff, and it will likely be between two of those four candidates.  Of those four, Eric Johnson is the only one I could trust.

Of the others, Jeff Chapman gets my attention, but I’m torn between him and Johnson. Eric Johnson called me one day, which certainly caught me off guard, and we talked for 10 or 15 minutes about the race. I think he would govern well (certainly better than Oxendine, Deal, or Handel), but I still have trouble deciding on the race.

Maybe it’s a problem with me swallowing my pride and admitting I was wrong about one of these candidates I used to support. Maybe there’s something else.  Either way, I’m still working through the decision making process on this. I hoped that by now I would have decided on my candidate for Governor, but I’m just not there yet.