Gold Dome Follow Up

Neither of these is earth-shattering, but a couple of bills in which I have a particular interest made it through the General Assembly and are awaiting the Governor’s signature.

The first concerns limiting the permissible dates for special elections held “to present a question to the voters.” Given my experience with contesting the Clarke County School District’s plan to hold its SPLOST 3 referendum as a special election back in 2006, an indefensible process that would have incurred considerable expense to open up all 24 of the county’s precincts and print absentee ballots for a low-turnout election with but a single item on the ballot, I wrote on my campaign web site:

. . . HB 1306, also introduced in the 2006 session of the General Assembly, was designed to limit the number of dates available for SPLOST referenda in any given year. Though I had nothing to do with this legislation, I am in full support of it as a means of curbing such practices in the future. Again, though a substitute version of the Bill was favorably reported out of the House Governmental Affairs Committee, the full House did not act on the Bill by “crossover day.” Hopefully, this legislation will also be resurrected in the next session of the General Assembly.

That is precisely what happened. HB 296 would add a subsection (c)(2) to O.C.G.A 21-2-540. That proposed subsection reads as follows:

Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a special election to present a question to the voters shall be held only on one of the following dates which is at least 29 days after the date of the call for the special election:
(A) In odd-numbered years, any such special election shall only be held on the third Tuesday in March or on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November; and
(B) In even-numbered years, any such special election shall only be held on:
(i) The date of and in conjunction with the presidential preference primary if one is held that year;
(ii) The date of the general primary; or
(iii) The Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The Senate’s substitute version of the bill passed that body by a vote of 51-2 (with 1 not voting and 2 excused); the House agreed to the Senate substitute by a vote of 162-6 (with 7 not voting and 5 excused). The measure is slated to go into effect in 2010.

The second concerns HB 1054, the “Children and Family Services Strengthening Act,” on which I previously commented. From a legislative standpoint, this bill is much more complicated that the one above, in that it would rearrange several aspects of the state’s child welfare bureaucracy into a Governor’s Office of Children and Families. Involving O.G.G.A. Titles 15, 19, 35, and 49, this proposed reorganization includes the Child Advocate for the Protection of Children, the Child Fatality Review Panel, the Children’s Trust Fund Commission, and the Children and Youth Coordinating Council.

The Senate’s substitute version of the bill passed that body by a vote of 50-0 (with 1 not voting and 5 excused); the House agreed to the Senate substitute by a vote of 135-26 (with 10 not voting and 9 excused).

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In Which I Offend . . . Pretty Much Everyone

Let’s get the week started off with a bang. This post began life as a brief “Impertinent Observations” entry, but it kept getting longer as I took the opportunity to vent on a variety of topics.

Starting at the local level, consider the recent Community Block Development Grant fiasco. By a vote of 6-4, the Commission pulled the rug out from under the East Athens Development Corporation and the Hancock Corridor Development Corporation to the tune of $285,000. I find myself ambivalent about this – not because the two organizations have been de-funded, but by the manner in which the “redirection” of funds took place. Like others, I certainly think that both EADC and HCDC have grown far too dependent on CBDG funds and, from what I can gather, internal reform of either organization is needed in the worst possible way. I likewise agree with the philosophy adopted by the Commission a while back concerning how CBDG funds are distributed from year to year. Be that as it may, however, like still others, I am concerned that the abrupt cancellation of CBDG funds may signal the death knell for a couple of organizations that, at least ostensibly, have worked for years to alleviate the plight of those in Athens’ lower income neighborhoods. Regardless, the CBDG mess prompts observations on my part concerning process, race, and bureaucracy.

Much has been made of the process, or the conspicuous lack thereof, involved in redirecting CBDG funds away from EADC and HCDC, specifically as to the abrupt and unanticipated nature of the proposal introduced on the floor the evening of the vote. And just where have these critics been for the past several years? The Commission has developed a habit of rushing various measures through with little or no advance warning. We have had a series of development moratoria enacted at either special called sessions, held on nights on which votes would not normally have been taken, or at regular voting sessions at which the agenda item in question was added on the afternoon before the day of the vote. Either way, the votes intentionally were taken before opposition could mobilize or to block specific, otherwise legal actions about to be taken by private property owners. Also, on the night of the infamous stream buffer vote, the Commission took about 45 seconds to make permanent the supposedly “temporary” one-size-fits-all restrictions on the basis of an unanticipated motion (from the public’s point of view at least) from the floor; the agenda item concerning the three-tiered proposal worked out over the course of a year by the Stormwater Advisory Committee was not even discussed or brought up for a vote. That the Commission might redirect CBDG funds “on the fly” should have come to the surprise of absolutely no one.

As to race, I understand the claim that the Unified Government is not attuned to the wants and needs of the local minority community – not that I necessarily agree with it (obligatory caveat - let me be explicit that I am not even remotely charging anyone with racism – as one of the few outspoken Republicans in this town, I know all too well how such charges are thrown around without justification). Coming on the heels of the denial of the rezoning request for the Boys Club/Girls Club, the denial of the rezoning request for ACTION, Inc., and the breaking of the promise not to expand the landfill, all of which disproportionately affect African-American residents, hanging EADC and HCDC out to dry with no notice fits into the template rather well. I just hope that the next time they go to the polls, minority Athenians will reconsider their (near) unquestioned allegiance to the Democratic Party, as the Commission that approved all of these things is composed exclusively of Democrats.

And yes, I know that are those elections are nonpartisan now. I actively campaigned for that (and was likened to the Klan for so doing), remember? Still, the reality is that the local Left will immediately scour campaign finance reports and the voting histories of anyone rumored to be running for the Commission so as to reveal any latent GOP sympathies with which to tar them.

Regarding bureaucracy as the answer to social problems, I wrote this on my campaign web site back in 2006 concerning the Partners for a Prosperous Athens, which has since evolved into OneAthens:

While wishing the Partnership well and eagerly awaiting its recommendations, I do so with a healthy skepticism. If the task force produces innovative proposals designed to empower the individual and curtail dependency, I will welcome them. If, on the other hand, the task force merely repackages the same failed big government approaches of the past that have institutionalized poverty and created intergenerational cycles of dependency, I will not.

From my perspective, thus far OneAthens has produced the same type of paternalistic, big-government, grant-dependent proposals that appear to be designed to accommodate the plight of the poor, not substantively alter it. This approach has not worked in the past, so I do not have any expectation that it will work this time. My fear, then and now, is that OneAthens will simply prove itself to be a conglomeration of formerly smaller bureaucracies, subject to the same ineffective fate as EADC and HCDC. Naturally, others will disagree (and how).

Another fiasco taking shape is the tiered “conservation pricing” rate structure for water (this is one of those issues on which I am in complete agreement with Carl Jordan). The pricing structure as approved is much too arcane and appears to punish those whose water usage was already frugal. Also, the skeptic in me suspects that the pricing structure has as much to do with raising revenue as it may to do with conserving water (for years the local water/sewer service has turned a profit). Other municipalities, counties, and states that have encouraged their citizens to conserve this or that revenue-producing commodity (water, gasoline, etc.) have run right into the Law of Unintended Consequences. As usage decreases, so does the tax revenue generating by that usage. Thus, in order to make up the difference, the government increases the tax on that which it encouraged citizens to use less. Look for the same to happen here. Of course, as one who lives in the peripheral area of the county and does not have access to typical “municipal” services, for me this point is largely academic.

Finishing up the rants pertaining to local issues, to my mind the AthensFAQ folks have been playing rather fast and loose with regard to rhetoric and reason in their anti-NBAF diatribes. Thus far, the strategy has been to throw whatever arguments they can muster in opposition to bringing the NBAF facility to Athens up against the wall, however improbable or histrionic they may be, and see what may happen to stick. Of course, any NIMBY or BANANA argument plays well in this community, but one that can be conjoined to Bush Derangement Syndrome, in this particular case the Department of Homeland Security, plays particularly well. For what it is worth, AthensFAQ seems to be flush with cash, having sufficient funds to pay for a web site, bumper stickers, yard signs, billboards, and newspaper advertisements. My fear is that if NBAF does not locate in Athens, regardless of the reason, AthensFAQ will claim the lion’s share of the credit and thus be emboldened to employ similar tactics with regard to other local issues.

As an aside, the NBAF debate has split the local progressive Left to a certain degree. On the one hand, some in the ruling establishment recognize the potential for economic growth the facility represents, which is desperately needed in our poverty-stricken burg (see above). Conversely, others on the progressive Left who are largely responsible for putting those folks in office have pulled out all of the stops to defeat the proposal. One local blog commentator attached to the ruling elite even went so far as to decry their “Republican tactics.” All that I can say to that is: “Welcome to my world.” As one who has fought against the local left-wingers on (so-called) historic preservation, the “living wage,” uniform stream buffers, rental registration and a host of other intrusive regulations and ill-advised policies, I can say from experience that they can turn to irresponsible, factually inaccurate, ad hominem attacks without much hesitation. It is just that now such arguments have been turned on the Left by the Left.

Moving up to the state level, here’s hoping that next session’s House of Representatives membership rids itself of Glenn Richardson as speaker. Various proposals advanced during the legislative session could have served as wonderful starting points for a thorough discussion of taxation and spending by those underneath the Gold Dome (while I did not embrace the GREAT tax, I am philosophically predisposed to favor consumption taxes over production taxes). Instead, we got months of backbiting and power plays, with the speaker unforgivably using his office to punish political opponents. If the GOP doesn’t want to spend another 130 years in the wilderness, its office-holders need to remember why we put them in charge and play nice with one another while pursuing the common good.

At the national level. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are still fighting it out for the Democratic presidential nomination, to the bitter end if necessary (though I am not enamored of John McCain, I think that he is vastly preferable to either of the donkeys – but that is another matter). As Obama has won more popular votes, more state primaries and caucuses, and has more “pledged” delegates, Hillary’s only hope is in wooing the “super” delegates at the Denver convention. Of course, if Hillary were to steal the nomination on the basis of super delegate votes, the party hierarchy would have effectively overruled the party rank and file – which, of course, is precisely the role super delegates were designed to play when they were written into the nominating process in the 1970s. Remember that the next time you hear a Democrat whining about making every vote count.

Finally, at the “international” level, there are calls for the US to boycott the opening of the Olympics in Beijing this coming August as a means of protesting Chinese policy concerning Tibet. While I am in full agreement with the sentiment, many of the current protests strike me as somewhat hollow. I strongly suspect that the bridge-climbing types in San Francisco did it as much to get their Warholian 15 minutes as anything else, and having Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton lecture the Bush administration on the issue constitutes absolute farce (especially given the Clintons’ cozy relationship with Chinese campaign contributions). This is because, absent any policy to actually make the Chinese pay a price for their actions, the Tibet protestors have no real plan. I do not doubt that many who oppose Chinese practices are sincere, but the issue has been appropriated by others recently simply as a means to harangue Bush. To channel John Edwards, carping about a “Free Tibet” without a willingness to confront the communist regime in Beijing amounts to nothing but “bumper sticker” politics and domestic political theater. Of course, if the Bush administration actually confronted China aggressively about Tibet (or its threats against Taiwan, or anything else for that matter), such action would immediately be branded as a racist, fascist, warmongering, neoconservative plot by lots of folks on the Left who cannot even define the terms, much less apply them appropriately.

There, I’m finished. Normally, I would include hypertext links so that readers could view the relevant source material, but I didn’t have the time. Besides which, readers in the Athens area should be familiar with the specific local issues covered.

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How Georgia's Delegation Fared

The National Taxpayers Union just released its Congressional Ratings for the 1st Session of the 110th Congress. The results for the Peach State delegation are striking:

“A” Rating
Nathan Deal (Republican – District 9) 90%
Lynn Westmoreland (Republican – District 3) 90%
John Linder (Republican – District 7) 89%
Tom Price (Republican – District 6) 88%
Phil Gingrey (Republican – District 11) 86%

“B+” Rating
Jack Kingston (Republican – District 1) 84%

“D” Rating
Jim Marshall (Democrat – District 8) 29%
John Barrow (Democrat – District 12) 17%

“F” Rating
John Lewis (Democrat – District 5) 7%
Sanford Bishop (Democrat – District 2) 5%
David Scott (Democrat – District 13) 5%
Hank Johnson (Democrat – District 4) 3%

Neither Charlie Norwood nor Paul Broun (Republican – District 10) were rated, though one may easily guess were either may have fallen. The state average for the House of Representatives was 50%.

Over on the Senate side of the Capitol, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson each scored 75%, which works out to a rating of B+.

Any analytical commentary on my part would obviously be superfluous, as the numbers speak rather well for themselves. See the NTU’s press release and ratings.

Addendum - John McCain received an NA rating due to a lack of applicable votes, while Barack Obama (5%) and Hillary Clinton (3%) both received a rating of F.

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The Truth About QBE Austerity “Cuts”

Advocates of big government routinely claim that reductions to projected budget increases are the same thing as budget “cuts,” even as the budget in question continues to expand. Needless to say, this claim is as specious as it is pervasive – which brings me to the question of QBE funding.

For those who may not know, Georgia’s Quality Basic Education Act (QBE) dates from the 1980s. The legislation did a lot of things, but over the years most of the focus on QBE has concerned the state’s funding of public education. Specifically, QBE established an arcane and convoluted formula for determining the state’s annual contribution to local school systems. The economic downturn of a few years ago predictably resulted in a reduction of state revenue, hence “austerity reductions” were introduced into QBE funding as a cost savings measure.

To paraphrase Maus, it was here that the troubles began. That is because even though the austerity reductions have continued, the actual cuts to funding lasted for two years only. Since then, the state’s QBE funding to local school systems has grown dramatically. The political demagoguery of the issue, however, has continued apace.

As is my custom, I will use the Clarke Count School District to illustrate the point. We will assume FY 2002, the fiscal year prior to the introduction of austerity reductions, as a baseline: FTE is “full time equivalent” student, that is to say the CCSD’s number of students; QBE is the total of state QBE funds contributed to the CCSD; and Austerity Reduction is the difference between QBE earnings according to the formula mentioned above and the actual number of dollars contributed to the CCSD for each fiscal year indicated.

FY 2002
FTE 10,921
QBE $43,134,498
Austerity reduction $0
Per pupil $3949.68

FY 2003
FTE 10,989
QBE $42,394,751
Austerity reduction $1,119,072
Per pupil $3857.93

FY 2004
FTE 11,122
QBE $40,583,318
Austerity reduction $2,321,688
Per pupil $3648.92

FY 2005
FTE 11,258
QBE $41,258,951
Austerity reduction $2,719,741
Per pupil $3664.86

FY 2006
FTE 11,311
QBE $43,309,132
Austerity reduction $2,719,717
Per pupil $3828.94

FY 2007
FTE 11,415
QBE $46,766,651
Austerity reduction $1,342,765
Per pupil $4096.95

FY 2008
FTE 11,834
QBE $49,948,819
Austerity reduction $1,100,429
Per pupil $4220.79

As can be clearly seen, actual budget cuts occurred in FY 2003 and FY 2004 only. Despite the continuance of “austerity reductions,” though, QBE funding to the Clarke County School District has risen in every subsequent fiscal year in both absolute and per pupil terms. Even with austerity reductions totaling $11,323,412 over the period, the state’s QBE contributions to the Clarke County School District have increased by 15.80% (6.84% per pupil) from the FY 2002 baseline and 23.08% (15.67% per pupil) from the FY 2004 nadir. Remember this the next time someone decries state “cuts” in education funding, which will happen presently as the CCSD budget for FY 2009 begins to take shape.

Feel free to verify these figures for yourselves; with the exception of per pupil and percentage calculations, which are mine, they are all taken from the Department of Education’s Mid Term System Allotment Sheets for the CCSD spanning the period FY 2002 through FY 2008. And yes, I spoke to the DOE's Financial Review folks to make sure that I was reading them correctly.

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Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

If your live in Athens-Clarke County and want to run for elected office, here is your chance. The following information concerning qualifying fees and dates is verbatim from the local Board of Elections:

Pursuant to O.C.G.A. 21-2-131(a)(1), the following qualifying fees were set by the Athens-Clarke County Commissioners in their January 2, 2008 Regular Session meeting:

• Judge of Probate Court $2,173.02
• Clerk of Superior Court $2,173.02
• Chief Magistrate $2,173.02
• Tax Commissioner $2,173.02
• Sheriff $2,424.58
• Coroner $ 426.38

Qualifying for the office listed above will begin at 9:00 am on Monday, April 28, 2008 and end at 12:00 noon on Friday, May 2, 2008.

• Judge of State Court $3,491.74
• Commissioner of ACC $ 450.00 (Even-Numbered Districts)
• School Board Member $ 108.00 (Even-Numbered Districts)

Qualifying for the non-partisan offices listed above will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, June 23, 2008 and will end at 12:00 noon on Friday, June 27, 2008. The General Primary will be held on July 15, 2008 and the General Election will be held on November 4, 2008.

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What Price Fungibility?

I will be the first to acknowledge that the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, along with its constituent members, has just as much right to try to influence government policy as do the rest of us. Even so, the condescension, hyperbole, and disdain exhibited by some ACHF members - admittedly not all – concerning the Kappa Alpha fraternity and its recent demolition of a couple of old houses on Reese Street, an action entirely in accord with existing zoning ordinances by the way, prompts a pointed observation on my part. (See here, here, here, here, here, and here; taking particular note of the rhetoric employed).

ACHF routinely advocates more restrictive historic preservation ordinances, supports hastily-adopted development moratoria, suggests that property owners take less for their holdings, and decries those property owners who do not submit meekly to the organization’s narrow vision. Predictably, these actions have the consequence of increasing the costs and bureaucratic hassles of developing or redeveloping private property. In other words, ACHF is perfectly content to spend other people’s money rather freely. The next time someone from ACHF puts forth such arguments, though, just remember that he or she does so as the direct beneficiary of the taxpayers’ largess.

That is because the ACHF office, located at 489 Prince Avenue, is the property of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County, and by that I mean the taxpayers, which leases it to ACHF for the staggering sum of $1 per year – a rate I verified through an inquiry made to Athens-Clarke County’s Central Services Department.*

The current value placed on the property by the Clarke County Board of Tax Assessors is $256,400: $40,000 for the 0.04 acres of land occupied by the building (for the non-mathematically inclined, that works out to a staggering $1 million per acre) and $216,200 for the structure itself (at 1512 square feet, that works out to a pricey $143 per square foot) - rented for the princely sum of one solitary greenback a year. Any guesses as to what the true market rent for a similarly-sized building located on a main thoroughfare into the downtown area is? I don’t know, but I’ll wager that it is significantly more than 8¢ a month.

The point is that whatever money ACHF is not spending on renting its publicly-owned headquarters frees up those funds to lobby the Unified Government to grant its wishes, through either direct expenditures, enacting policies, or otherwise pursuing the organization’s legislative goals. Political science and economics types will immediately recognize this concept as “fungibility.”

It is true that ACHF acts as a “secondary” organization that ostensibly works toward the public good in exchange for its essentially free rent, by performing such services as operating the Athens Welcome Center. It is also true that several other organizations have similar arrangements with the Unified Government, including the Junior League of Athens (Taylor-Grady House), Morton Theatre Corporation (Morton Theatre), and Town & Gown Players (Athens Community Theatre). The conspicuous difference is that these other “secondaries” do not lobby the Commission to curtail the property rights of, and inflate the costs incurred by, their fellow citizens in their attempts to use their own property. More importantly, neither do their members routinely lambaste those with differing opinions or political priorities with gratuitous, ad hominem attacks.

So, how about this as a solution: the Unified Government could either cancel ACHF’s sweetheart lease and charge the group a market-based rent or, better yet, declare the property surplus and put it up for sell, thereby returning it to the property tax digest. To my mind, this proposed solution would constitute a win-win-win situation; the Unified Government cold use the money thus raised to replace whatever services ACHF might no longer provide at the Athens Welcome Center, the ACHF's more radical folks could continue to hector the rest of us to their hearts’ content, and my tax dollars would no longer be subsidizing their tantrum-laden activism.

Any takers?

*Those interested can see the information on the Prince Avenue property from the CVIOG and the Board of Tax Assessors for themselves (the parcel number is 17-1-A1-G-001).

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GACR Convention - 2008

The theme of this year’s convention is “The Future Is Yours.” Scheduled speakers include Georgia Republican Party Chairman Sue Everhart, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, various Senators and Representatives, some special guests, and candidates for public office (after all, it is an election year).

The convention takes place on Friday and Saturday, 28-29 March, at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta. The conference runs from 6:00 p.m. on Friday until 3:00 p.m. on Saturday

Registration, which is free, includes the Chairman’s Awards Banquet on Friday evening and a buffet lunch on Saturday. If you need a hotel room for Friday night, the cost is $29.

Register for the convention and check out the GACR blog.

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Georgia Among Best Managed States

The purpose of this post is mainly to annoy the progressive types here in Athens. That is because whatever problems are identified in local government, consisting of the Unified Government of Athens-Clarke County and the Clarke County School District (and they are legion), the locals will inevitably trace them back to a paucity of funds from, or attacks on local control by, the evil Republicans who control state government - as opposed to the wanton spending and conspicuous over-regulation that occurs at the local level. From the 10 March edition of the Office of the Governor’s Week in Review:

Georgia Receives Highest Grade in the Southeast; Grade Rises to B+

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Pew Center on the States and Governing Magazine Monday ranked Georgia among the best managed states in the nation in the Grading the States 2008 report. Georgia’s overall grade of B+ is the highest awarded to any state in the Southeast. Governor Sonny Perdue traveled to Washington D.C. today to speak at the luncheon where the results were announced and to share some insights into how he has transformed Georgia’s state government.
“We have made sensible, strategic reforms in Georgia to make government more efficient and more responsive to the needs of our citizens,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “As a result, Georgians are getting better value for their tax dollars and better service from their government, and we will continue to work to surpass every other state and become the best managed state in the nation.”
Only three states received a higher grade than Georgia's B+, and four other states received the same grade as Georgia. The national average among the 50 states was an overall grade of B-. Thirteen states earned grades above the national average and 19 states were below the national average.
Georgia’s overall grade was determined by averaging the state’s score in each of four categories: “Money” B+, “People” A-, “Infrastructure” B, and “Information” B+. Georgia’s previous overall grade was a B in 2005, the most recent year the study was conducted. This year’s study is the fourth in the series.
The 2008 report emphasized the value and impact of improvements made by the Governor’s Commission for a New Georgia, an initiative Governor Perdue launched shortly after being sworn-in as Governor in 2003. The commission is made up of private sector business and community leaders who offer a fresh perspective on how to make government more efficient and effective.

See the Pew Center on the States, Governing, and the Commission for a New Georgia.

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Goodbye, Farewell and Amen*

Mike Huckabee pledged his supporters that he would stay in the GOP presidential contest until such time as a candidate secured the number of delegates required to clinch the nomination.

True to his word, the Governor bowed out gracefully last night when rival John McCain reached the requisite 1191 delegates. Even so, considering the comparative paucity of staff and funds with which Huckabee waged his campaign, he achieved stunning results. In conceding, Huckabee proved himself a team player, vowing to support McCain, the Republican Party, and GOP candidates for the US House of Representatives and Senate.

I think that too many wannabe pundits wrote Huckabee off as simply the “evangelical” candidate, ignoring his positions on a wide range of issues. As the editors of the Dallas Morning News noted in their recent endorsement:

. . . Mr. Huckabee, 52, should be a top leader in tomorrow's Republican Party. His good-natured approach to politics – "I'm a conservative; I'm just not mad about it," as he likes to say – is quite appealing after years of scorched-earth tactics from both parties. He's a pragmatist more concerned with effective government than with bowing to ideological litmus tests. For example, he has proven himself willing to violate anti-tax dogma to undertake investment in infrastructure for the sake of long-term prosperity.

Mr. Huckabee also is good on the environment, contending that the future of the conservative movement depends on embracing conservation and stewardship of the natural world. And he's a compassionate conservative especially in tune with middle-class anxieties in a globalizing economy.

Though I may differ with McCain on a number of high-profile issues, I think that he is a far better choice than either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton (hardy a surprise, I know). And with that, I will set presidential politics aside for a while. More about that and the veep sweepstakes later.

*Apologies to the 4077th.

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Upcoming UGACR Speakers

The UGA College Republicans have an impressive slate of speakers scheduled for the remainder of the semester. They include:

Secretary of State Karen Handel discussing Georgia’s voter identification requirements on 05 March

Congressman John Linder talking about FairTax: The Truth on 19 March (though it has nothing to do with the UGACRs per sé, in a related event Neal Boortz will be hosting a free FairTax webinar on 06 March).

Tenth district incumbent congressman Paul Broun and challenger Barry Fleming will debate on 03 May.

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