Good new video from my candidate for State Senate in Roswell.

– The John Albers for State Senate Campaign is proud to announce the first of several cutting edge, high tech communication initiatives with the release of its new iPhone app and Blackberry/smart phone mobile sites.



Campaign Manager Wesley McCall explained the importance of these new technologies to the campaign’s winning campaign plan. Said McCall, “North Fulton voters are the most tech-savvy and involved voters in the state. To reach our highly educated and wired community, campaigns and elected officials need to maximize the latest technology and communications tools. The Albers campaign is setting the standard with some of the most technologically advanced communications and outreach tools provided by any campaign.”



The Albers applications are some of the most advanced and innovative available in the nation today. Users will be able to follow the campaign’s progress, get John’s views on top issues, view videos, download ring tones and sign up to become a volunteer


John Albers emphasized the importance of using technology to communicate with voters. Said Albers, “The entire focus of my campaign is serving the needs of the families of north Fulton. The best way to meet the needs of our families is by providing easy ways to communicate those needs to public officials, and we are leading the way with these new online tools. I am a strong proponent of using technology to improve communication and maximize efficiencies in business. Our campaign is demonstrating in a small way how we can bring technology to bear in public service to improve communication and eventually lower the cost of government to taxpayers.”



Voters may download the iPhone application at the iTunes store or the Albers campaign website – www.votealbers.com. Blackberry and other smart phone users can access the Albers campaign mobile site at www.votealbers.com. For more information or questions, please contact the campaign at info@votealbers.com.

Sam Olens, Republican candidate for Attorney General, is pleased to announce his new campaign literature features quotes from two respected leaders in Georgia’s Congressional delegation.


Congressman Phil Gingrey states the following, “Under Sam’s conservative leadership, Cobb County has the lowest property taxes and the lowest crime rate in the metropolitan Atlanta area.”


Congressman Tom Price adds “Sam Olens has made Cobb County the envy of local governments nationwide. It is one of the most fiscally conservative and best managed counties in the U.S.”


In addition, the piece also includes quotes from Georgia State Senator leader, Tommie Williams and former U.S. Attorney for the Middle and Northern districts of Georgia, Joe D. Whitley.


“I am grateful for the outspoken support of the Georgia’s most respected public servants,” said Olens. I plan to live up to their endorsements and build on the momentum it gives our campaign.

Here is an update sent out by Jere Wood, my choice for Mayor of Roswell, Georgia:


Campaign Issues

In five weeks you will have the opportunity to choose who will be Mayor of Roswell for the next four years. You deserve to know where I stand on the issues. This week I address how the city spends your tax dollars. In the coming weeks I will be sending out emails on other important local issues that effect you.


I am interested in what you have to say. If you have any questions about property taxes, how the city spends your tax dollars, or other issues please contact me at mayorwood@mayorwood.com and I will personally answer your e-mail.


City of Roswell Spending, Budget, and Property Taxes

The economic downturn has hurt Roswell businesses and homeowners, but because we were prepared, it has not resulted in a tax increase, nor caused a reduction in the Fire and Police protection that keeps Roswell safe, nor taken away from the Recreation and Parks Department that makes Roswell the best place to live in Georgia. Just as Joseph advised the Pharaoh to save in time of plenty, Roswell set aside over $26 million in good years as a “rainy day fund” – enough to make it through today’s economic famine, even if the economy does not get better for several more years.


Operating Budget

In response to falling revenues, early this year we cut Roswell’s 2008/2009 operating budget by $1,500,000.00. For the current 2009/2010, I proposed cutting $10 million from the previous budget. Two million dollars of this was to come from the operating budget, accomplished by not funding non-essential programs and by eliminating vacant non-essential employee positions. The remaining $8 million was to come from cutting capital expenditures.


By a vote of 4 to 3, the Council adopted my 2009/2010 operating budget with no substantial changes. The budgeted operating expenses adopted by the majority do not exceed conservative revenue estimates. The three dissenters argued that we should furlough employees to save money.


Capital Budget

I budgeted payment for capital expenditures from money saved in prior years, as I have done every year I have served as Mayor. The Council unanimously voted to add $2.2 million in expenditures to my proposed capital budget, including the three who voted to furlough employees. Later the same three Council members voted against spending $1.1 million for 22 new police cars. These three now claim that the City budget we passed constitutes deficit spending, even though operating expenditures are less than projected revenues, and we are not spending money we do not have, nor are we borrowing money to pay for capital expenditures. Roswell still has $26 million in our rainy day fund, enough to handle any contingencies.


Property Taxes

I have always been conservative regarding fiscal policies and careful how I spend your money. Under my leadership, Roswell has cut its property tax millage rate 17%, reduced the number of City employees per capita 26%, and cut operating costs by 5% adjusted for inflation. We have invested $101 million in parks, City buildings, and other capital projects and have grown our investment funds from $24 million to $65 million. We earned a AAA bond rating, the first city in Georgia to do so.


I am the only candidate for Mayor who has proven to have the ability to lower your City property tax rate and provide you the best City services available in North Fulton County at the lowest cost. If you want to keep your property taxes low and the cost of City services down, re-elect me as your Mayor on November 3rd.


Visit his site at MayorWood.com

Here I am, busy with real work for the last two months and not enough time to devote to political blogging. I’ve been reading the few press releases that have come my way and I’ve seen a trend. Maybe I just need to get use to this.

It’s the art of slamming someone while trying to kiss their butts. The need to posture and get your point across is essential but do you have to qualify your statements with an apology or a show of respect? Just say what you want, especially you Ox!

With all due respect and appreciation for the Supreme Court of Georgia, I am deeply disappointed in the decision today to reject the challenge to touch-screen electronic voting machines,” said John Oxendine. 9/28/09

Team Ox, here’s my advice, don’t pull any punches. There are plenty of undecided Republicans out here (ME)… Show us what you have.

Oxendine said he respects the work being done by Governor Perdue and like many Georgians he realizes there are no easy answers. “I do not wish to criticize the Governor and continue to offer my support in these trying times,” said Oxendine. 9/28/09

Speaking of candidates for Governor…
Is Karen Handel still running? I don’t think I’ve seen a press release in months. Did Austin Scott ever stop running across America like Forrest Gump? Has Roy Barnes accepted a cage match fight with David Poythress? Does Ray McBerry have any money left?

FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY IN THE MIDDLE AND
NORTHERN FEDERAL DISTRICTS OF GEORGIA

Sam Olens, Republican candidate for Attorney General, is pleased to announce he has received the endorsement of Joe D. Whitley, former US. Attorney in the Middle and Northern Federal Districts of Georgia during two presidential administrations.
“We need a person of integrity, a proven leader and a lawyer with superb qualifications, to be our next Attorney General. For me, and I believe Georgians of all backgrounds, Sam Olens is that person.

“As a lawyer, Sam has amassed a record of excellence. As Chairman of the Cobb County Commission and Chair of the Atlanta Regional Commission, he has been a constant friend and avid supporter of law enforcement. Cobb County and the region is safer and a better place to live and work because of Sam Olens’ ability to get the job done in a way that respects citizen rights, but deals firmly with law breakers,” said Whitley.

Whitley served as the Acting Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking position in the Department of Justice. He was appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush, respectively, to serve as U.S. Attorney in the Middle and Northern Federal Districts of Georgia. Throughout his career, Joe served under five United States Attorneys General in a number of key operational and policy positions.

In 2003, Whitley was appointed by the President as the first General Counsel of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS),

“I’m honored to be endorsed by a man with the distinguished service and career of Joe Whitley,” said Olens. “His support speaks to the kind of Attorney General I will be and what I will do if given the opportunity to serve the citizens of Georgia.”

The Fulton County Republican Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Rob Kaufman as its General Counsel.

“Rob is a top tier attorney, ready to handle all the issues we’re going to send his way,” said Shawn Hanley, Fulton County Republican Party Chairman. “We’re very thankful for his continued support of the Fulton County GOP.”

“I am honored that the Fulton County GOP has selected my firm as its General Counsel,” said Rob Kaufman. “We look forward to serving and stand ready to assist in any way we can.”

About Robert J. Kaufman

Robert J. Kaufman is the founding member of Kaufman, Miller & Sivertsen, P.C. and has practiced extensively in many areas of litigation, having tried business disputes, trusts and estates litigation, securities litigation, employment disputes including non-competes, domestic relations, intellectual property, injunctions, breach of contract, quasi-contract and tort suits. Mr. Kaufman and his law firm also serve as corporate counsel handling a full range of corporate law matters for numerous companies in Georgia and throughout the United States. Mr. Kaufman has tried cases throughout Georgia and in many parts of the U.S. and has appeared at the trial as well as the appellate level. Mr. Kaufman has obtained several verdicts, judgments and settlements in excess of one million dollars, and has successfully defended individuals and corporations against multi-million dollar lawsuits.

By Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine


As State Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner, the safety and protection of our citizens is my job. That is what Georgians elected me to do. That is why I cannot be silent about the government takeover of healthcare that the U.S. House of Representatives is proposing this week. If your mental smoke alarm has batteries, it should be going off now.


First, a government takeover of anything usually results in higher prices and poorer service. Think about what has happened to our schools with the price-per-pupil continuing to rise and test scores staying flat or only inching up. The unions, such as the National Education Association, have resisted educational choice with every fiber in their being. They have used dues from hard-working Georgia teachers to lobby against even the most basic educational choice. Obama’s so called “public-option” is nothing more than the first step of government takeover.


The government acquisition of General Motors may save the Camaro and the Corvette, but may give the new company such an unfair financial advantage that it drives Ford Motor Company to the brink of bankruptcy. This kind of meddling in the private sector was certainly not a mandate from any voter back in November. And if the members of Congress aren’t careful, they are going to allow the president to do the same thing to the healthcare network in America.


Second, destroying the private sector in healthcare would substitute bureaucratic planning and control for competition and consumer choice. I realize that the word “destroying” sounds pretty strong. But when you are able to undercut the private healthcare market, and then add a trillion dollars of new taxes to pay for it, the result will be companies going out of business. And, all the while, workers likely will be forced into the government-sponsored plan simply because it is less costly for employers, even though the care may be inferior. In a word, a monopoly is created. And when that monopoly can decide whether you live or die, it is too powerful.


How did a country built on the entrepreneurial spirit ever get to a point where we take glee in seeing the freemarket punished and forced into bankruptcy? This is not the kind of leadership we need in Washington, Atlanta-or Moscow for that matter.

Third, as the government-run healthcare plan gobbles up business, there would be no incentive to improve quality or increase efficiency, but instead we’ll see eventual efforts to control costs by restricting access and choice-such as happens now in England and Canada. When the good people of Georgia have to wait months or years for surgery or specialized medical care, we’ll know the house is on fire. Access and Choice will decrease-not increase.


The societal engineers who want to tear down the private sector in health insurance don’t want to be honest about the “uninsured” statistics either. They pad the numbers with illegal aliens, with young people who choose not to be insured (because they often think they are invincible), and with people in transition between jobs. So, before we take such drastic action, let’s do more to encourage the non-profit clinics out there providing a medical home to the uninsured-clinics such as the Good Samaritan Health Center in Atlanta and the Athens Neighborhood Health Center.


Fourth, have you ever thought that if government can’t afford to finance existing programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, then providing health care for all our citizens might really be tricky? We must wake up and smell the smoke before it’s too late.


I travel the state frequently and often tout the importance of changing the batteries in smoke detectors and testing the equipment at least once per year. Fellow citizens, the detector in all our brains is beeping incessantly trying to warn us of a disaster that awaits if we allow this takeover. Yet, our smooth talking president and his big-government allies in the U.S. Congress are telling us it is a false alarm and urging everyone to return to business as usual. This is a mistake, and as a statewide-elected official in Georgia, I must urge you to tell your Congressman to vacate this hasty plan and return to sanity.


Finally, let’s think about the future. Do you possibly want to saddle your children, your nieces and nephews, and even your grandchildren with trillions of future tax payments when we can’t pay the debt we already have?


The house is on fire-but the fire can be put out. Call the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives today and tell them to back away from this ill-considered government takeover of healthcare. Urge them to delay this rushed effort to socialize the best medical system in the world.


John Oxendine is the State Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner and can be reached at john@johnoxendine.com

John Albers, a Republican candidate for State Senate District 56, filed his June 30 campaign contribution disclosure today showing $100,989.85 in contributions since entering the race less than 2 months ago.

The campaign also announced it has over 200 grassroots leaders signed up to help with campaign activities.

Said Albers, “The amount of support we have received since entering this race has been overwhelming and truly humbling. Families all across north Fulton County are responding to our message of serving our families and delivering on needed reforms. They’re rejecting the politics of personal agendas and special interests. It shows in our fundraising success so far. It shows in the hundreds of people volunteering for our campaign. It shows in the events and activities we already have scheduled for the fall and beyond.”

“Our grassroots efforts will begin very soon, and I look forward to sharing our message of true public service with every family in north Fulton County. I am personally committed to raising the money needed and devoting the time and effort needed to win this race. What’s at stake for our region and our families is too important.”

See these pictures and more at the 120Politics Facebook Fan Page.

U.S. Rep. Tom Price

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel

Sen. Eric Johnson

Ray McBerry

Georgia Insurance Commission John Oxendine

Rep. Austin Scott, R-153

Brian Kemp, running for Secretary of State

Doug MacGinnitie, running for Secretary of State

Rep. Ralph Hudgens, R-24, running for Insurance Commissioner

Stephen Northington, running for Insurance Commissioner

Gerry Purcell, running for Insurance Commissioner