Free Republic

One week from Monday, the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly will convene. This will be my eighth regular session representing Georgia’s 18th district. A new session always brings excitement, but also trepidation. And it brings considerable responsibility for representing the values, views, and needs of constituents. What will the new session bring? Certainly the number one issue will continue to be the state’s budget. Georgia is big business. Prior to the recession, our budget had grown to more than 20 billion dollars annually. Since 2008, we have cut the budget to reflect declining state revenues. Fortunately the leadership...

In 2001, the Democratic Party in Georgia barely clung to power. The state, at that time, was moving ever closer toward a Republican majority. When the Democrats began the redistricting process, they knew the only way they could attempt to retain power was to gerrymander the districts in such a way that Republicans would have a difficult time getting elected to office. Well, it didn’t work. After weeks of work during a special session – a session where secret maps were drawn and unreleased until well into the process – the new districts looked outrageous. Lawsuits followed and the process...

One day after his computer was linked to a barrage of incendiary e-mails allegedly from a 55-year-old female Republican volunteer, Cecil Staton of Macon excused himself from his duties as Senate majority whip, a spokesman confirmed Tuesday. Staton announced his decision during a Republican caucus meeting, declaring that the issue had become a distraction at a critical time. He maintained that he did not pose as the mysterious “Beth Merkleson,” who wrote a series of e-mails attacking Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the spokesman said. State Sen. Cecil Staton, R-Macon, in a 2009 photo while he was chairman of the Science...

State Senator Cecil Staton: Time To Resign by Bill Simon MEMORANDUM TO: State Senator Cecil Staton CC: “Beth Merkleson” From: Bill Simon, Political Vine RE: Nice, sleazy hit on Casey… Dear Senator Staton, Wanted to let you know that the moment I received this e-mail from a Republican operative on Friday, April 1 at 11:30 AM, and the operative had your name on it as someone I should go to to “check” a story for accuracy, I knew the story was false on its face: “Cagle promised the dems 2 key things if they went along with this counter coup:...

For a week, Republican grassroots activist Beth Merkleson has been on a tirade against Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Fuming at allegations that Cagle was colluding with Democrats to recoup his power that Senate Republicans stripped from him last November, Merkleson dubbed her near-daily e-mails the “Georgia Senate Informer.” The 55-year-old self-proclaimed computer novice railed against senators who allied with Cagle, and even asked the chairman of the Habersham County GOP to drum up a primary opponent for state Sen. Jim Butterworth, R-Cornelia. Merkleson passed on resolutions of support for the anti-Cagle position, to be adopted by district GOP conventions over...