Monday, November 06, 2006

The Endorsements - The Offices

Governor - Garrett Hayes (L): Pox! Pox! Pox! What a choice. Two mean-ass southern politicians who have spent the entire election cycle trying to out tough, out-rich and out sleaze each other. It's old style Georgia politics and it needs to stop. Many would say a vote for the libertarian is a wasted vote or just a protest vote. Fine. Maybe it's time for a little protest. Isn't it about time we let our leaders know that 130 years of the being force fed the same crap is enough? A vote for Hayes may be the primal scream we all need.

Lieutenant Governor - Jim Martin (D): This is a bit of snark endorsement. I actually believe despite his affinity for holding hands with the right wing crazies, Casey Cagle would make a competent leader. However, Jim Martin has a couple of things going for him, not the least is he is the opposition. We've seen at a national level what happens when there is no one holding the gate on the sty. Martin is the type of quiet leader with the beaucratic background that will know how to check as many excesses as possible. And it will definitely be fun to watch him try to wrangle a Republican Senate.

Secretary of State - Karen Handel (R): Note to my democrat friends. Gail Buckner has been wholly unimpressive. Secretary of State is an administrative position that is actually important and I can't trust anyone to run the department who can't even seem to run her own campaign. Handel has a McCain-like tendency to flirt with the religious nuts but she actually showed some competence in trying to fix the mess that is the Fulton County Commission. That redeeming quality will have to be enough in this one.

School Superintendent - David Chastain (L): The pox flows like wine but this is a special one. I don't care how many times people say Kathy Cox is competent, she wanted to remove evolution as a standard and that loses my vote forever. Denise Majette is such a political opportunistic toad that I will never vote for her again. David Chastain on the other hand understands exactly how this office should be run. He wants to eliminate it. He wants it replaced with a professional board of educators and administrators. That is spot on. This may be the easiest choice on the whole ballot.

New we wade deeply into the Administrative positions. Remember, the mule rule rules.

Agriculture Commissioner - Tommy Irvin (D): The only angle it seems anyone can attack Tommy on is that he's been there forever. That might work if Irvin's ideas were stuck in the 60s. They are not. Gary Black is a fine man and actually would be a good choice, but there's simply no good reason to throw Tommy out.

Labor Commissioner - Michael Thurmond (D): Disclosure, I used to work for DOL. Thurmond oversees a well oiled machine that he has rapidly brought into the 21st century. He also oversaw one of the biggest small business tax breaks in the history of Georgia. Like Irvin, there's really no reason for a change here.

Insurance Commissioner - John Oxendine (R): John Oxendine is a troll but I reallly can't find a reason to not vote for him. The mule rule rules.

Attorney General - Thurbert Baker (D): I'm not overly fond of Baker, but once again, mule rule rules. Hold the nose and vote.

And of course, we can't forget the Georgia Supreme Court. Yes, we elect judges down this way.

Georgia Supreme Court - Carol Hunstein: I hope this race opens some eyes. The behavior here is exactly why judges should not be subject to election. I expect politicians and activists to act like asses. I expect better from the judiciary. The bottom line is as distasteful as I find Hunstein's ad campaign, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is trying to buy a judge here and that's just plain wrong. Don't believe the crap you have read or heard about Hunstein. She is a competent jurist who has strong bi-partisan support. She's exactly the type of judge Georgia needs.

Oh yeah. And I am voting for Hank Johson (D) in the Georgia 4th. If nothing else, at least we finally have a sane choice.

I think that's it. Did I forget any?

7 comments:

Button Gwinnett said...

Good calls. I early voted and pushed the button for Gail. I did so more out of recognition that Karen's sneaky AND she's on the way up. Despite party affiliation, I'd actually rather like Karen. But she flip flops more than a Canadian at Destin in February.

It's good to see a former DOL guy say good things about Mike. I haven't blogged about him because I think he's very safe. He's someone I'd like to see move on up the ladder.

Thurbert's not my favorite. But that choice was clear. Mr. Chik-fil-A is about as qualified for this job as Mike Wiggins is for Supreme Court Justice. Thurbert's ads are probably the best I've seen this year......"tough as nails."

Also agree on Tommy Irvin. He's keeping up with the times and thinking towards the future. Lord knows he'll be there when we get there!

Sara said...

Many would say a vote for the libertarian is a wasted vote or just a protest vote.

This year if the votes for Hayes help keep Purdue under 50% it could be a lot more than just a protest vote...it would buy Taylor a runoff and embarass an allegedly popular governor who everyone expected to win in a cakewalk.

griftdrift said...

Thanks Button. Although there's much hand wringing this year, I am genuinely excited about the election. Some will call me crazy but I believe we have some really good choices. After generations of the same election malaise this is something to see.

And yes I do hope Garrett plays spoiler and I think the number could be bigger than people think.

Loren said...

And I am voting for Hank Johson (D) in the Georgia 4th. If nothing else, at least we finally have a sane choice.

Given your votes for a couple of Libertarians, I'd still welcome your vote in this race. If Hank's biggest selling point is sanity, then I'd like to think that I at least meet that standard, as well as offering a viewpoint from outside the big two parties in DC. It's just been unfortunate that the race got no attention after the primary runoff.

Incidentally, other than this race, your votes match up almost exactly with mine (I'm voting Buckley for Lt.Gov).

Write-In Loren Collins for Congress
www.VoteLoren.com

griftdrift said...

Hey Loren! Glad you stopped by. I admire your guerilla campaign. It has been refreshing. And I encourage all my readers to go to you site and give you a look. Who knows? I may walk into that booth tomorrow and get a real wild hair.

Loren said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Loren said...

Thanks grift. And here's hoping that you get that wild urge tomorrow. (After all, it's not like Hank needs your vote to win.)