Our U.S. Representative Nathan Deal will announce his intentions to run for Governor this Friday at the Kenyon Plaza at the Hall County Courthouse.  I’m excited about the soon to be campaign and I think he could take Cagle’s supporters, not only in Hall County, but statewide.  Deal is a back bench Congressman and that could pose a problem.  He’ll really need to find is voice, and soon!  Check out this interesting article from Access North Georgia.

Some seem to think that State Rep. James Mills (R-Chestnut Mountain) may choose to seek Nathan Deal’s vacant Congressional seat should he run for Governor.  I’ve brought the idea up to Mr. Mills earlier this year and he just chuckled humbly.  I’d really like to see James run, he’d but great for the job. 

*Note: James is not the guy that I mentioned earlier that I know will run.*

I’d also just love to see who then would run for House District 25…  Time will tell.

I’m glad to hear that Casey Cagle’s surgeory went well!

Apparently there was some confusion because he had to make it clear.  He will not run for Governor next year.  I hate to hear about his medical issue but I know casey as a strong and able man and I know that he will stand a greater chance for Governor later on.  But let’s see what else happened.  A lot of folks are speculationg why he can run for Lt. Governor but not Governor, it is has to be a little bit easier to run for re-election rather than move up.  BUT, there are rumors that Sonny has had his hand in the election cookie jar.  Many say that he and the GAGOP have pushed Casey (the popular candidate) outof the way for Karen Handel.  I don’t know if it’s true or not but it’s out there pretty heavily.  Casey’s announcement came as a surprise to everyone and has really thrown everyone for a loop.  Sen. David Shafer who was favored in the Straw Polls to win Casey’s then vacant seat is now “re-evaluating his options”.  Shafer is very popular and if chooses to run against his good friend Casey, it will make a rough primary for both.  I think that we can go ahead and count Eric Johnson out.  He doesn’t have the popularity, intelligence or the backing to run in a statewide race.

Now who will Hall County support for Governor?  I am seriously displeased with the candidates now.  Karen Handel has a really bad reputation for being just a tad snooty, and John “Blue-Light Special” Oxendine just isn’t Governor material.  Although he’s a great guy, I don’t think that he would represent us very well.  Oh well.  I’m sure that there will be another twist in the race.

Oops.  Left On Lanier would tan my hide if I neglected to list some Democrats that intend to run.  I think the Dem that would do the best would be Roy Barnes, but he’s not even sure if he wants to get involved or not.  DuBose Porter=Moron.  David Poythress=No.   And Thrubert Baker… he has the potential to garner a great deal of votes from the Atlanta/Metro area but he’s still an awful Attorney General.  I’ll be glad when he resigns to go full time campaign… At least I hope he does.

Looks like our very own Nathan Deal is considering entering the crowded Governor’s race.  I think that he would be a great candidate, right now Republicans don’t have a good candidate.  John Oxendine just doesn’t have what it takes, Karen Handel isn’t the nicest lady out there and Eric Johnosn is off the wall on education.  I like Nathan, he’s a very good speaker, very intellectual and I think he would represent Georgia well.  If he does decide to run, there will be a great oppurtunity for North Georgia to elect a new Congressman.  I wonder who will jump in…  I’ve got a guy that I know is interested in running…  Let’s hope Martha Zoller won’t run…

There are quite a few rumored potential candidates for the South Hall Commission Post.  I’ve compiled a list of folks that haven’t ruled out the race…

• Andy Braselton: Great guy, very sharp.
• Robert “Kimbo” Senter: Business savvy, honest, and down-to-earth.
• Kathy Cooper: South Hall business leader, great lady who brings the intellect  to the Commission that should be representing South Hall.  Note: Kathy collected about 47% of the vote against Bobby Banks in 2006.
• Bobby Banks: The sitting commissioner hasn’t quite made up his mind just yet…  Because he currently holds the office, I won’t make a judgement on his job, I’ll leave that up to you.  I will say however, that he’s a pretty cool guy.

Also, look for Steve Gailey to run for Tax Commissioner in a few years.

Flowery Branch is looking at using $500,000 to buy “real estate and administration buildings”.  Apparently buying real estate now mean job creation, according Councilman Craig Lutz.  As I’ve stated numerous times before on this blog, infrastructure improvements create jobs, NOT buying property.  I’m not sure what Lutz’s angle is but whatever.  Infrastructure improvements such as building roads, schools and sewer lines all pad the wallets of local construction industry.  I think it’s safe to say that Charles Black Construction isn’t really getting a ton of business right now because there aren’t very many schools being built.

Recently, Hall County Commissioner Bobby Banks has sent out a letter to nearly every elected official in the County.  The letter state his strong disapproval of Gainesville’s annexing a few miles of I-985 between GA 60 and US 129.  The Times ran an article about it today; and you can read it here.  I applaud Banks’ letter and his distaste of a possible speed trap.  But let’s get honest right here…  Banks said;

“I’m not going to tolerate a speed trap in my district,”

Well Commissioner Banks, if this is so true, then why was Oakwood allowed to annex a few miles of winder HWY?  I’m sure they didn’t want to park their police on the sides of the brand new four lane highway and prey on motorists…  I wonder why there was hardly anything said against Oakwood when they wanted to annex Winder Highway.  It really angers me when Banks is angry with Gainesville wanting to annex almost nothing on a northern border of his district, but when there’s a possible annexation from a city whose police agency is famous for doing nothin but writing trumped up tickets, it’ ok.  I guess he can tolerate driving home everyday and seeing Oakwood all over GA 53,  I guess he just has beef with Gainesville.  I’m glad that Mr. Banks is standing up against the annexation of Gainesville, after all, that’s what he campaigned on.  I guess he was “busy” when Oakwood was ready to set a speed trap just 200 yards from the front steps of his home. 

Also in the letter;

“It would appear that the City of Gainesville is taking the same approach that the City of Oakwood has taken for years to use their police force as a principal means of revenue generation,” the letter stated.

In response to that statement, Patti Doss-Luna, Oakwood’s acting City Manager stated the City of Oakwood was very disappointed in being referenced as a speed trap.  Well, I’m sure if your city wasn’t a speed trap, that comment wouldn’t have been made.  It’s plain to see, no one that I know has ever had anything positive to say about Oakwood, especially their Police Dept.  If Chief Moon wants to shift the public’s perception of his agency then he really needs to change the way he does business.  And thus far, nothing has been done.  Ms. Luna, I am very disappointed that people consider driving through your city a hassle, not entirely due to roadwork on Mundy Mill Rd. but mainly due to your police department looking for and waiting on Hall County motorists.  I hope you’ll see that your city has a reputation equal to the municipalities along US 129 in Jackson County…

A staple of the community, Mrs. Oliver will be dearly missed.  She has made countless contributions to the people of Chestnut Mountain.  Thank you Mrs. Oliver, thank you.

It was definitely a sad day in the School System on Friday after 100 teachers learned their contracts would not be renewed.  Its’ no fun but it had to happen.  I would rather have seen the School Board take into consideration Zero-Based-Budgeting instead of cutting jobs.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is alot, too much waste in local education.  We really need to get down the basics in every level, agency and department of government.  Please, please, cut taxes, cut spending, cut waste.