The “short” list of nominees for the 3rd State Court Judge were announced today. Who the heck made up that list? Only one person on the list is a member of the Hall County Republican Party: LARRY BALDWIN. Start sending your letters and email to the Governor today supporting Larry. Don’t wait!
Read The Time story here–>Nominees for new judgeship named
Honestly, I haven’t analyzed the proposed budget yet. Like unwinding a string tied in a knot, it seems a daunting task. I understand that at least two board members are asking for more information (now). I think we are all still awaiting answers to the “missing” money and the reason for the budget shortfall.
The short answer is that as long as the superintendent is still working there, the whole operation is suspect. Everyone involved in the finance department needs to be fired and just start over (unless the “flip” on the bad actors and turn “state’s witness”). Make the superintendent file suit to get his golden parachute. Consider this my continued vote of “no confidence.” The board has to earn the respect of the taxpayers. The children and teachers deserve to have leaders they can trust and respect.
A failue to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. This adage applies to the “emergency” with the school board budget. Prior planning prevents poor performance, Sir! I learned that at 17 years old with a crusty drill sergeant cussing in my face at boot camp. Maybe more people need to go to boot camp? Maybe we need to run a Republican Elected Official Book Camp here in Hall County to remind everyone what we Hall County Republicans stand for? Let me know what you think about that.
Read The Time story here–>Gainesville school board approves $7.5 million loan
Just when you thought that $9M was a bad, now we are up to $33M in budget adjustments… but that is just through 2007. It will take auditors another few weeks to fix the books for 2007! Even the auditors don’t know if the school system is in a deficit or not. Don’t they have last month’s bank statement? That might provide a clue don’t you think?
Read the story in The Times here–>Audit of Gainesville schools results in $33M worth of adjustments.
When you read news remember that good writers learn the importance of primacy and recency. The reader tends to remember what you read/hear last (recency) followed by what you read/heard first (primacy). Those presenting information to you will attempt to put the most important points in those two positions, with the rest of the stuff sandwiched in between. That way the story looks like it tells both sides, but if one side is at the beginning and the end, you are more likely to just remember that side. That last paragraph of the story was too silly for printing. Who cares what the auditor thinks about what the people who are responsible for this mess think? What else is the auditor going to say to the paper before they are finished with the audit? They are accountants (I hope!)
I had appointed criminal case once where the Defendant though he wasn’t legally responsible for selling crack cocaine. An undercover officer asked the defendant for the crack and he got some crack from a drug dealer and gave the crack to the cop who gave him the money and then gave all the money to the drug dealer. Since he didn’t make a profit, and he was asked to get the crack by the cop, he reasoned in his own mind that he did not commit a criminal act of sale of cocaine. He was wrong.
People who commit malfeasance or misfeasance in public office often convince themselves they are in the right because they are owed what they took. People who commit nonfeasance in public office are too lazy to know what they did wrong so they think they are in the right. You often hear them cry out: “But I did the best job I could.” When you are entrusted with public money and public trust and our children, the only job that is good enough is a flawless job that follows all the proper procedures and is completely reasonable under the circumstances.
In the Gainesville City School fiasco we KNOW that some money is missing. We KNOW that the accounting practices are horrible. We KNOW that expert financial auditors don’t know what is going on yet and they need WEEKS to figure it out. We KNOW the school board is going to raise taxes to pay for the mess. We KNOW that all the time the quarter-million-dollar-man and his staff have been getting money and writing checks and making the bad entries into the accounting system every day. We KNOW the same people who caused the mess are still at work making almost $1,000 per day. Wouldn’t you hang out and “cooperate” for $1,000 per day too? Especially if you had a $.5M golden parachute? Besides I never had a white collar criminal case where the Defendant didn’t have a well thought out story before he/she was arrested. You can’t be a good “con man” unless you are a convincing and engaging actor.
Democrats = Tax Increase * infinity. Do you see the proof now with the Gainesville School Board?
I guess the old addage that absolute power corrupts absolutely is at play in our small town. The quarter-million-dollar man and his handlers appear to think that they are above reproach. Way to go Carl Rogers for reminding the city school board that they can all be “fired” in February when the General Assembly gets in session if they don’t get their act together. Do we really want to be put in the same pot with Clayton County? Do we want to lose accredidation? Don’t we deserve more for our money? Ballew and his crowd don’t think anything can happen to them. They now know differently.
How many weeks have we gone now without an answer to the question of the missing money? The only answer we get is that taxes have to be increased, but no idea where the money went or where it is going to go. Ballew might as well have taken the 5th Amendment when he gave The Times an interview. He SHOULD have had a lawyer before he did that.
Why is is that none of the yard signs for Democrats say “Democrat” on them. Not just in Hall County, but in my travels around the state. If you are not proud enough to put Democrat on your sign you need to change parties. If you are liberal then you should trumpet it to the world! Don’t hide your tax-and-spend light in a basket! Let it shine.
We welcome all reformed Democrats in the Hall County Republican Party. We have a tent that is big enough for everyone. But in our tent you have to order from our menu. And bigger government, more taxes, more services, and more regulations are things that ARE NOT on the menu.
UPDATE: While in Atlanta I saw some yard signs and one door sign that actually had the “D” word on it. Clayton County DA is one I recall. And I saw some dude running for Senate on TV proudly touting that he was a Democrat and that he would help the middle class. How? By raising taxes on the “rich” I suppose. Oops. To the Democrats “the rich” is anyone who actually pays taxes. I don’t think that will help the “middle class” much, do you? Playing the definition game got the Democrats where they are today.
Maria Caulkins said: “We [the school board] all completely agree with the success of this administration in the quality of education with Gainesville city schools.”
I know there is a lot moral relativism going on and the hand holding and cheerleading for everyone no matter how badly they perform, but under no usage of the English language can the administration of the Gainesville City Schools be considered a success. Unless by “success” you mean in the red several million dollars, a couple million are just plain missing, and you are raising taxes 20% (this year alone). If the kids are getting educated properly it is DESPITE the administration not because of it. If the administration is teaching math to our kids, then there is no way they will ever pass the CRCT.
I’m glad that the quarter-million-dollar man got back from vacation in time to see his largest tax increase ever through, however. It is a shame he missed the lynch mobs during the public hearings. Hope he has his golden parachute at the ready. But since his bosses think he is a “success,” his job is secure. Hope the voters disagree.
Practice Tip: By the way voters, here is a secret: Republican voters outnumbered Democrat voters in Gainesville this year. So if a real Republican were to run for school board he/she would be likely to win even if every Democrat voted for the opponent. Maria Caulkins is not a member of the Hall County Republican Party.
Read the whole story here–>Gainesville schools weigh budget cuts; deficit is $6.6 million.
Can’t believe I’m quoting Jimmahy (in a good way), but you have to agree with the logic that Obama-Clinton ticket would be the worst of both worlds. Actually it would be an Obama-Clinton-Clinton ticket and it would be the worst of all three worlds!
Read the quote heah y’all–>Carter: Unity ticket would be ‘worst of both worlds’ | FP Passport.
Am I the only one who can connect the dots? Hillary drops out of the race, the mainstream media anoints their Chosen One as president, and the market immediately takes a 400 point drop. Coincidence? No way!
Even Fox News is too politically correct to tell the story like it is. It is NOT the jobs numbers that caused the drop. It is NOT the federal reserve numbers that caused the drop. It is NOT the sudden rise in oil prices that caused the drop. That is what we call a causation-correlation error. All those things were CAUSED by the specter of an Obama presidency.
People with money are AFRAID OF OBAMA and his ilk. They know that if he is coronated, he will lay waste to capitalism. If I was Exxon or anyone with large amount of liquid capital, I would be cashing out and taking my money to a third-world country just in case he gets elected. Ride out of the storm somewhere safe.
Worried about $4/gal gas? With Obama expect much higher because that is the easiest way for him to raise money to give to his liberal friends and keep people off the road and “help the environment.”
Worried about terrorists? Don’t be worried with Obama. The will be right here in the U.S. visiting the White House and planning an end to all infidels (that means you). Why not worry? Once Obama is King you can’t do anything about it, so pray to THE ONE TRUE God (the one who does not preach martyrdom with virgins as a reward), don’t worry.
Inflation worries? Inflation is always higher with Democrats than Republicans. Gas will keep going up, other prices will go up too. Your spending power will go down. Good thing Obama gives good speeches. IF you can afford the electricity, you can watch them on state-run TV all day long because you won’t be able to afford to do anything else.
Healthcare worries? Everyone else will have free healthcare except you. You will have to pay for everyone else’s healthcare. Just about like right now in Hall County with the illegal aliens. No worries!
Wonder why gold has been going up? Because smarter people than us have been converting their dollars to gold for awhile to protect their assets. They were way ahead of the curve.
I would sign it if I could. Read about the Petition here–>Petition calls for removal of Gainesville superintendent.
Update: Did you read The Times on Saturday and Sunday (June 7 & 8)? Where is the criminal investigation?
Very nice. First there was going to be a shortfall for next year’s budget so they needed a tax increase. Then it turns out that instead of a $1M surplus this year, there is really a $7M shortfall so they need a bigger tax increase. Then the School Board decides to max out the tax increase to pay for the “lost” money (still taking 2 years to pay the debt off). Then the superintendent ($250,000 per year) blames a former employee who left almost a year ago (and who denies any knowlege of a budget problem) for the budget crisis and then he “lawyers up” and won’t talk to anybody claiming the School Board was being mean to him and has committed criminal acts. Then the new CFO announces that another $1.8M is missing. See the memo here–>School Nutrition Missing Money How much can get stolen before someone besided me and The Times does something about it? Sheriff Cronic: Please call the GBI to start an investigation before the “auditors” clean up the evidence. You don’t need a search warrant, just ask for consent to search and see who objects.
This is what happens when you let Democrats handle money. There is never enough to do what they want, and sometimes some money goes missing. The answer is always to raise taxes so you can pay for their mistakes.
Read The Times here–>$1.8 million in federal funds unaccounted for by Gainesville schools