Will The Hermanator Run?
Mon at 9:16pm
A few days ago at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, WSB radio host, Conservative leader and native Georgian Herman Cain addressed the crowd. Anyone who has ever heard Herman give a speech knows that he doesn’t merely speak to a crowd - he inspires a crowd. This day was certainly no different. In normal “Hermanator” (the nickname given to him by his supporters) style, Cain gave a rousing speech in which he talked about reclaiming and defending the American dream, admonished President Obama and his administration for not adhering to the U. S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence, and emphasized keeping a unified Republican Party among many other topics that kept the capacity crowd whooping and hollering throughout the entire 17 minute speech. (All of which, by the way, was done without the aid of teleprompters.) Cain finished his speech, headed away from the podium and began shaking hands with many members of the crowd. He then returned to the podium and with one statement got the loudest ovation of his speech as he stated that there were many great leaders that were in attendance in the SRLC and that several of them would be trying to reclaim the White House for Republicans in 2012, “but as you get to 2011, remember there are a lot of people who might be interested in seeking the Republican nomination, but I want you to remember one thing. There might also be a dark horse candidate that you don’t know about.” And he turned and walked away as the crowd went nuts.
Now since Herman’s speech there has been a lot of speculation as to what that “dark horse” comment meant. Cain himself has answered questions from Neal Cavuto and Sean Hannity who have point blank asked him if his comment meant that he was running for President in 2012, and in his answer he has not only not squelched the rumors, but has in fact intensified them all the much more. That brings me to why I am writing this column.
Herman Cain could be exactly the person that the Republican Party needs to be leading the United States out of the Obama wilderness and back on a path to once more being a country that Ronald Reagan called a “shining city on a hill.” Cain possesses a rare blend of intelligence, sincerity, humor and the great communication skills that a leader must have to not only get elected to the nation’s highest office, but also to be able to work across party lines in order to make good legislation pass without making the opposing party feel frustrated and run over for not being included in the process.
Another thing that is refreshing about Herman is that he isn’t a lifelong politician whose sole goal in his public life is to get elected to office. As a matter of fact, Cain has never held public office – now many of you might think that this fact alone should preclude him from being nominated, much less being elected to our nation’s highest office. I however, do not and hope that you won’t either when you see his myriad other qualifications. Herman has worked for the Coca-Cola Company as a business analyst, a mathematician for the Department of the Navy as well as working for the Pillsbury Company where he was appointed president of Godfather’s Pizza where in only 14 months of leadership, the once floundering company became profitable. He then purchased the company from Pillsbury in 1988. Since then, he has been CEO and president of the National Restaurant Association, President and CEO of RetailDNA and was appointed to serve on the Economic Growth and Tax Reform Commission as well as serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Cain is currently the President and CEO of THE New Voice, Inc, a leadership consulting company, as well as serving on the Board of Directors of AGCO Corporation, Hallmark Cards and the Whirlpool Corporation. As if those accomplishments aren’t enough, he is also a popular radio talk show host at WSB in Atlanta and the author of four books. In my mind, his experience certainly trumps that of a community organizer who served three terms in the State Senate and less than one term in the U. S. Senate, all of which time was spent in running for President. What do you think?
There is still a long way to go until the primary season for the Republican nomination for President begins and there really are a lot of great candidates to field from. In my opinion however, of all of the people who have been mentioned at this point that are considering running for President, Herman Cain stands head and shoulders above them all; and I hope that for the good of not only the Republican Party but the country as a whole, he decides to run for President and I am VERY excited about his potential candidacy.
As the seasons change so does the political winds regarding consolidation. It’s been a hot and divisive issue that we are again facing in Bibb County. Currently, legislation is moving rapidly through the House and Senate, under the gold dome that will arrive for us to vote on.
I’ve had tremendous concerns regarding this simply from an evolutionary process. Little regard has been given to the taxpaying public. As recent as March 11th, our County Commissioners and City Council were huddled at Calloway Gardens to discuss this. It is my understanding that George McCanless, The Macon Telegraph publisher and Charles Richardson, Editorial Page Editor, were in attendance. Yet nothing has been mentioned in the newspaper or on televised news regarding this meeting. It would seem to me to be most appropriate to engage the public in this dramatic overhaul of our respective local governments. We are, in fact, paying for their representation and there are sunshine laws that explicitly address such “private meetings”.
My concerns, which are not unique, are expressed by many. They are:
1. Macon’s fiscal mess
2. Representation
3. Future Impact on residential property owners
4. Corruption
I certainly understand the plight of the residents of the incorporated area. They pay both city and county taxes. However, in the last election, nearly half of the city council seats had any opposition and both vacant seats had no opposition. One of those seats was a citywide elected individual! They simply paid their $300 filing fee and were basically seated. Surely, out of a population of 90,000 plus individuals there are 15 competent, honest and educated individuals who could serve. It is shear apathy and neglect that they don’t and won’t utilize their time and talent to serve.
Many counties all over Georgia and America face the same challenges at the local level. I would suggest that there are many in far worse condition than ours who manage to provide the appropriate governmental services necessary to maintain order. Residents of Macon and Bibb County are no different, yet we have remained idle and neglected our responsibilities.
We have a monumental amount of corruption and waste that could be eliminated if citizens would simply do their civic duty. That is what creates “Good Government”. We are a government of the people and by the people, not a government of politicians for politicians.
Rep. Peake has posted a survey that you can interject your opinion on the consolidation matter at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S2NJVPF .
If this measure fails, it would behoove us to offer our time and talent for the upcoming city elections in 2011. Several of us have committed to recruiting and working with capable people to restore common sense and competency in the city. You should strongly consider being a part of this focus. It’s your money, your property and your government.
Maurice Atkinson www.MauriceAtkinson.com
ERICKSON: A fool’s errand
First, let me just say that this past week on the radio has been extremely interesting. Having liberals misconstrue what I said and take a 10 minute defense out of context to claim I advocated that which I did not, has been an experience I’ll never forget.
Now to the column — the SPLOST and service delivery strategy (SDS). What the county proposes is a fool’s errand of political alchemy. Pay no attention to the schemes behind the curtain, look at the city.
That has always been the county’s trump card. However dysfunctional the county may be or may become, the county can always point to the city as worse. This time, they cannot.
When the county and city renegotiated the SDS in 2006, they reduced the city share of sales tax revenue to 60 percent of the total collected. The county has been able to fund its budget with its increased share while the city has been less and less able to sustain itself. If the SDS stays at the status quo or swings in the city’s favor — a swing toward the county is unlikely — we will for the first time in years look behind the county curtain and see just how terrible its financial condition has become, their protests notwithstanding.
Consequently, the county came up with its fool’s errand — pushing for a temporary SPLOST before settling on a permanent SDS. Not only that, but the county decided to portray the city as petulant and dictate to the city what city programs would be in the SPLOST.
Nobody is buying the county’s argument. This time, the city has a competent mayor with a competent council majority both of whom realize the taxpayers are getting played.
Sixty percent of Bibb County’s taxpayers live inside the city limits of Macon. The county is proposing not just a courthouse, but a Cadillac courthouse complete with shops built into the parking garage. It is terribly unpopular and overbuilt.
Anyone who knows anything about the present courthouse knows we need a new one. But we do not need to build a replica of the Taj Mahal for our black-robed masters.
With Mayor Reichert demanding responsible action to get the SDS completed — it’s completion was delayed by mutual agreement last year — the county is now in full bluster to distract from its crumbling finances, not to mention it becoming more and more apparent that city residents are doubly taxed for services they need not be doubly taxed to pay for.
We now arrive at the county’s final ploy — buy the music and sports halls of fame. It is a humorous distraction from what is at stake. If the county puts the SPLOST on a July ballot in its present form, the SPLOST will go down and the county must take on debt to finance the new courthouse. The county decided to load up the SPLOST with, in effect, shiny bribes to get voter support.
The halls of fame, the two blessed white elephants gifted from Atlanta, have been budget sucks for the state budget. In a scheme akin to money laundering, the county proposes a novel way to endow the halls, but there is no guarantee they would not become budget sucks locally. And there is no guarantee the state would not then start new ones in Atlanta.
A scheme fueled by folly and alchemy to turn already bled dry turnips into gold is turning the county government into the laughingstock county commissioners hoped the city would be. Nobody is laughing and the taxpayers are left footing the bill.