Be Counted

It might be easy at this point in this presidential election year to start tuning out the overwhelming election coverage. Every day, the media scrutinizes the latest candidate commentary, polls, and hidden agendas with fist-bumps and tie colors.But a little closer to home, it's a good time to tune in and turn out - Tuesday, July 15 is election day. The importance of the next commander-in-chief has a tendency to overshadow the local races, but that shouldn't be the case. Local elections determine the leadership of the community where you live in work every day - or those who will represent your community in the statewide arena. It's essential that you take the opportunity to participate in deciding who those leaders will be. Those elected in Tuesday's local elections will play a central role in defining the area's economic strides, growth, laws, ordinances, taxes and educational system. From the amount of greenspace in the area to the amount of math your child is required to take in high school, these elected officials will touch multiple aspects of your life.You owe it to yourself and the community to make your voice heard. To find out more about the candidates and view a sample ballot for your county, go to the Athens Banner-Herald Activote page*. For information on where to vote, visit the local board of elections for Athens-Clarke or Oconee counties. It's your right - exercise it. *To view candidates from your county, select "Candidates" in the top navigation. On the page that opens, select Local > Athens Banner-Herald > County > (County Name).

Follow the Leader

Late last summer, I attended the first class of Leadership Oconee. The program, facilitated by the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce, offers area business people the opportunity to hone their leadership skills while learning about various facets of the community, all while working in small groups on a community service project. Maybe that sounds like what you'd expect from a chamber program.

What you wouldn't expect when you walk into that first meeting is the opportunity to meet people you may not encounter - educators, business owners, bankers, professionals - in your everyday life. People from an array of backgrounds - like long-time residents and recent additions; a range of ages - from recent college grads to the parents of soon-to-be college grads; and with a variety of goals, from getting to know the community better to cultivating business contacts.

Through a series of monthly meetings, our motley crew learned about personal accountability, education, law enforcement, emergency services, economic development, and agriculture. An all-day trip to the capitol provided us with an eyewitness account of the state legislature in action. And the blustery November day spent at a Covington ropes course made us better problem-solvers, team-players, and, well, great debaters on whose leadership we should follow.

Our small group service project raised funds for Extra Special People's summer camp, produced a commercial and a promotional brochure for the new senior center, and compiled a directory of the community's churches for Hands On Northeast Georgia.

In the end, we learned about our great community; hopefully, we made it a little better. Best of all, we left not just leaders, but friends. We graduated last week, but we plan to keep up those monthly meetings - just maybe not in the middle of the agricultural research center's watershed.

If you are living or working in Oconee County, you should consider Leadership Oconee, now accepting applications for LOXIII. (And if you live or work in Athens, check out the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce L.E.A.D. Athens program.) Even if you don't think you're a leader, you might be surprised. If you care about the community, want to know more about it and to feel better equipped to have a positive impact on where you live and work, you're a candidate. And don't let the unlucky 13th year scare you from seizing this opportunity - I guarantee you'll be lucky to have the experience.

From Both Sides of the Aisle

The Navy School hosted members of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce this morning (bright & early!) for a post-legislative wrap session. Each member of the local delegation spoke for a few minutes about what the session accomplished from his perspective. It was clear that the failure of the Speaker's "Great Plan" and the Lt. Gov.'s counter plan for tax reform left a bad taste in the mouths of both the houses and members of both parties. The inability to compromise on funding for the statewide trauma network and transportation improvements was mentioned in spades by the delegation.

Big news for Athens includes:
* funding to bring the Medical College of Georgia to a satellite campus in Athens
* funding for UGA's pharmacy school
* tax incentives for tourism destinations
* tax incentives for the film industry
* a water management plan

Here are the highlights from each member of the delegation and my take on each one:

Rep. Keith Heard (D-114)
- Emphasized accomplishments for UGA, including a 2.5% raise for faculty
- $10 million investment secured to bring the Medical College of Georgia to Athens with a satellite campus housed in The Navy School after it relocates to Newport, R.I.
- $1 million for a rare books collection at UGA
- Heard also referenced bills intended to boost the state's tourism efforts with incentives for companies building designated tourist destinations and one to offer tax credits to production companies.

For six years, I lived in Wilmington, N.C., known affectionately as "Wilmywood" for playing home to the popular series Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill as well as numerous films. North Carolina created a similar incentive package to attract companies to Wilmington's Screen Gems Studios but were often unable to compete with the breaks given in Canada. It will be interesting to see if Georgia can.

Sen. Ralph Hudgens (R-47)
- Hudgens openly stated that he felt the session was hijacked by the personal agendas of Speaker Richardson and Lt. Gov. Cagle.
- His opposition to the proposed tax plans was that they were tax shifts, just taking the same money in a different manner and, in some cases, penalizing certain groups with the shift.
- Emphasized that there's no tax cut until the spending is reduced - in other words, you can't have less money and keep spending the same amount.
- He's now pushing for a regional TSPLOST for Oconee, Clarke, Barrow and Gwinnett to fund clover-leafing 316 and implementing the Brain Train.

Hudgens was the most vocally disappointed in the way things played out on tax reform. He clearly didn't support either one of the proposed plans and felt that the reform should be handled differently through tax credits issued for ad valorem taxes. It's ironic to hear a politician so riled up about the politics of politics.

Rep. Bob Smith (R-113)
- Smith was the first to mention the state's overall budget and commented that it was a good budget and good for all of Georgia.
- Smith spoke about a couple of items near and dear to my heart - including a tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic properties. He also mentioned a similar credit for donation of conservation land.
- He spent the greater portion of his allotted time talking about the partnership between Medical College of Georgia and UGA, and also noted the $4 million in funding for the University's pharmacy school.

Smith felt like the media overplayed what didn't get done and wanted to emphasize what did get done. I think they were all feeling like they'd taken a public beating for the session's failures. But Smith was very positive about what the delegation accomplished for the local area and indicated several bills and resolutions that will boost the economy or bring business to the area.

Senator Bill Cowsert (R-46)
- Cowsert admitted a lot of frustration with the lack of resolution on the tax reform and trauma care. However, he did note his satisfaction with the outcome of two of his highest priorities: the water plan and bringing the medical college to Athens.
-He noted that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce considered this its most productive legislative effort ever - a sign that business interests were upheld during the session.
-Cowsert also plugged the water plan, saying that the state was taking a sensible approach by measuring resources, managing resources and implementing a system of checks and balances between environmental, governmental, business and residential needs.

Cowsert, though disappointed in the outcome of the session in some respect, voiced his belief in a silver lining. The conversation about tax relief is open, both sides have fired, and now is the opportunity for consensus building. Ever mindful of reaching his constituents, he also led off with a plug for his campaign kickoff on Tuesday at the Oconee County Civic Center.

Rep. Doug McKillip (D-115)
- McKillip, who serves on the Natural Resources Committee, lauded the water plan and the efforts on Jekyll Island. He said both were items that he studied carefully and felt like the right people were in place to address the issues.
- While he doesn't endorse the Speaker's "Great Plan" he did credit Richardson with starting an energetic debate about tax reform. He went on to describe how he's planning to continue examining the issue in preparation for next year's session.
- He emphasized that he hopes Georgia will continue to seek progressive efforts over regressive efforts.

McKillip was last in line to speak and wasn't left with much to cover in the way of this year's session. Instead, he addressed his thoughts about the future. He's a big proponent of earned income tax credits and plans to take the time away from the Hill to examine the full-meal-deal tax system, from income tax to sales tax to property tax and rethink it.

In just an hour, I got a sense of the intense atmosphere in this year's session and the immense complexity of how government works. Nothing is as simple as it seems - and if someone makes it sound simple, you should probably start asking questions.

All in all, I have great respect for the delegation and what they do. It's clear - whether you agree with their politics or not - that these men are truly committed to doing what they think is best for the communities they serve. And we have to give them credit for raising their hands to go to the Hill and continue making this area a great place to live and work.

Thanks to the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce and the event sponsors - AAA Sanitation, Chastain & Associates Insurance, Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, Heyward Allen, and Wachovia - for putting together this informative session for the local business community.