Friday, October 17, 2008
News U.S. Congress (DeKalb County): Incumbent protectorate II
Posted by Ken Edelstein on Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 5:13 PM
DeKalb County, like Fulton, is represented in Congress by one Republican and two Democrats. Also like Fulton, it's gerrymandered to protect the incumbents.
And in DeKalb County, just like in Fulton County, all three incumbent congressman are set to win re-election.
Hank Johnson, who defeated firebrand (and current Green Party presidential candidate) Cynthia McKinney) in the 2006 Democratic primary, may have the easiest road, even though he’s the state congressional delegation’s sole freshman. His only known foes in the Fourth District are write-in candidates: “conservative-libertarian” Loren Collins, who has proposed replacing Andrew Jackson with James Madison on the $20 bill; and retired police Sgt. Faye Coffield, whose slogan is: "She is different."
While we have doubts whether Johnson has the political skills to develop into a leader in Congress, he’s done well at representing the interests of those in his district, which includes most of DeKalb County, well. And he's fairly consistently voted to support important values like equity, justice and the environment.
Each of DeKalb’s two other congressmen — Republican Tom Price and Democrat David Scott — faces an opponent from the opposite party.
Price — who’s proven a stridently partisan voice in Congress more often concerned with showmanship than responsible legislation — is opposed by Air-Force-and-Delta-pilot-turned-businessman Bill Jones. While he doesn’t stand much of a chance in the conservative Sixth district (which pokes into DeKalb in the Dunwoody area), a vote for Jones might at least send a message that we’d prefer our elected officials to put more effort into solving problems than into scoring political points.
Scott’s 13th district creeps into extreme South DeKalb near the Clayton County line. He’s disappointed us at times, most recently with relevations that his campaign has paid more than half a million dollars to his own firm and his campaign. Still, his hapless opponent, Deborah Honeycutt, is a fellow traveler in today’s radical Republican ideology and questions surround fundraising and spending at her own campaign. We’d back Scott despite his flaws.
Comments (3)
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http://i-newswire.com/pr205562.html (I-Newswire) - Thomas Jefferson created a black family and a white family. He ignored and denied the black family. The Republican Party was created to free the slaves but now they ignore and deny that we exist. They make deals with Democrats to make sure that a corrupt Democrat stays in power in the 13th Congressional District. They won’t support arguably the most qualified Republican challenger in the state, Deborah Honeycutt. It’s not personal, it’s not partisan; it’s about power. It’s personal to me right now. I’m speaking as a husband who has conservative views and has integrity. It’s time for us to quit playing these damn games; quit allowing the old guard African American civil rights leadership to make deals against the black community to maintain their political clout and cache. They’d rather enjoy political power then serve the people. They know David Scott is corrupt. They’re his cohorts in an array of contemptible ways. The media ain’t going to upset the Andrew Young’s, the Rev. Joe Lowery’s, and the John Lewis’. The [redistricting] deal is that most Georgia districts can be Republican, but Democrats can have Hank Johnson’s district, John Lewis’s district and you can have David Scott’s district. Those are safe Democrat districts; Republicans have made a deal to not even campaign or compete in those Congressional districts. That’s wrong. It’s an insidious back-room deal by the reigning political power structure that says it’s alright for Democrats to control local Atlanta government, Clayton County local government and DeKalb local government because that’s where the black people live. But the jobs and economic opportunity aren’t going there; only despair. GOPAC chairman Michael Steele and one other Black man from Texas were the only African Americans who spoke at the convention. This is the Party of Lincoln that had no true black representation. The rank and file Republicans are really good people. They want to see everybody have an opportunity. It is the Georgia Republican leadership; it is the national Republican leadership. Their biggest fear is if they get behind a black candidate like Deborah [Honeycutt] it might bring out the black vote and that will help the Democrats. I’m not going to sit idly by and let the Republican Party ignore us and let the Democratic Party pimp us. It’s been happening for years. What I am ashamed of is John Lewis and Andy Young, who used to be champions for the underclass, and now they’ve gotten so fat as Democratic leaders they think Democrats are more powerful than God. I don’t care what they say. They have no record to stand on in Georgia. All they have is their own self-interest. They haven’t done anything since the 1960’s. They’re in bed with the same Democrats who beat them over the head and hosed them; the same people who pimped them then and are pimping them now! [Dr. Andrew Honeycutt, a Harvard University-educated business professor, is the husband of Georgia’s 13th Congressional candidate Dr. Deborah Honeycutt, who is poised to make history as the first black Republican woman ever elected to Congress. Andrew is the CEO of her campaign.]
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His only known foes in the Fourth District are write-in candidates: “conservative-libertarian” Loren Collins, who has proposed replacing Andrew Jackson with James Madison on the $20 bill;I wanted to say I appreciate the acknowledgment and link. Georgia's ballot access laws effectively prohibit third-party candidates from appearing on House ballots, forcing independents to run as write-ins. Yet most media outlets choose to treat races that lack a major party challenger as being unopposed. Similarly, sample ballots are posted in polling places, but lists of qualified write-ins are not. Thus, voters aren't alerted to the fact that they have any other options, and the lack of coverage merely enforces the assumption that they don't have any choices. I will admit, however, that the issue cited above is not the one I would have chosen to single out. Admittedly it is a proposal that is unique to my campaign, but it's like summing up a certain Democratic primary contender's campaign as "Hillary Clinton, who has proposed giving every U.S. baby $5000." As I've stated, it just happens to be a niche issue that I believe I could effect a change in, even as a freshman Representative. And as a point of comparison, what is the only original bill of Hank's to even make it out of committee in his first term? That would be H.R. 4203, which renamed a Lithonia post office. So let it be said that I'm at least shooting a little higher than that. Write-In Loren Collins for Congress www.VoteLoren.com
And in DeKalb County, just like in Fulton County, all three incumbent congressman are set to win re-election.I also wanted to point out that this is slightly inaccurate: DeKalb County is represented by *four* Congressmen. John Lewis' Fifth District stretches into western DeKalb, covering the Druid Hills and Decatur areas.
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