Flyer Smears Jason Carter; Tom Stubbs Condemns It
Decatur Metro | May 7, 2010Creative Loafing has the scoop on a flyer that’s been making the rounds around the Toco Hills area – and posted this morning on Peach Pundit – showing a picture of Yasser Arafat with three other guys (none of which are Carter), and asserting that 70% of District 42 candldate Jason Carter’s campaign funds come from outside the district and 40% from outside the state. It also mentions a $9,600 donation made by someone named Amir Emami (also not in the deceiving flyer, according to Carter), who lives in Hong Kong.
CL reports that Carter and his campaign have responded, calling the flyer “completely erroneous and wrong” and provided facts to dispute both the claim that Emami gave $9,600 (he gave the legal max of $4,800) and that 40% of Carter’s contributers are based outside the state. (They have it at more like 27%.)
Carter’s opponent Tom Stubbs has also condemned the note on Peach Pundit and released his own press release calling for the State Ethics Comittee to investigate the flyer. Stubbs release can be read at the bottom of the CL article.
Not really surprising that it came out of Toco Hills given his grandfather’s book about Palestine and the general makeup of that neighborhood’s population. I have said since he first announced that specifically that neighborhood will be the reason he can’t win in this district because he’ll be tied back to President Carter and that cuts both ways.
Interesting to see the “money from outside the district” argument being used against Carter here. This argument had a prominent role in Decatur’s recent City Commission election. I wonder if someone was paying attention to how effective it was here?
Not so prominent, methinks. Two very good candidates and one lost in a close election.
Moving on?
I’m glad to see that Tom Stubbs condemned this flyer. I was a little perturbed to see him make a sour grapes-sounding swipe at Jason Carter on the Winnona Park listserv regarding how much money Carter has raised and how many mailers he is sending out.
“asserting that 70% of District 42 candldate Jason Carter’s campaign funds come from outside the district and 40% from outside the state. . . . CL reports that Carter and his campaign have responded, calling the flyer “completely erroneous and wrong” and provided facts to dispute both the claim that Emami gave $9,600 (he gave the legal max of $4,800) and that 40% of Carter’s contributers are based outside the state.”
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Part of Carter’s response doesn’t meet the substance of the allegation. That allegation is that 40% of total campaign funds he’s raised to have come from outside. He appears to have responded by saying that fewer than 40% of his contributors are from outside the state. Both could be true, of course.
A quick flip through the Georgia ethics website, which the flyer cites, seems to show that many, if not most, of Carter’s largest donations are indeed from outside Georgia. Some are from DC. Some from San Francisco, and other far-flung places. Would Mr. Carter care to explain why so many non-Georgians seem to care about who wins a Georgia state senate seat?
I’m sure it has an awful lot to do with who his grandfather happens to be. And Jason may be a fine person, but I’m not big pn political dynasties. The Bushes alone should make people want to avoid electing members of the same family over and over. The Kennedys, too — witness the embarassment of the recent Caroline for senate movement. Not to mention the fact that Jimmy Carter’s presidency was not exactly a historical success. We can do better than plucking leaders from the same families as often as we do.
I still don’t understand the difference between Jason Carter and Tom Stubbs. Their positions are very similar if one goes by their websites.
Thanks for bringing the conversation back around the to The Issues, karass! Personally, it doesn’t bother me that Jason Carter was able to raise over $260,000 for this campaign and that the legal limit of $4800 came from a couple named Amir and Nathalie Emami with a Hong Kong address. If that is Amir Emami in the picture with Arafat, I would not make that mean anything about Jason. I trust the voters to decide based on the issues, not on how much money the candidates have raised (or not) and where the money came from or how it was spent. The more attention voters pay to the issues, the less money candidates will need to spend to get our votes.
I would rather focus attention on Jason’s position on Education, in which he naively associates how much children learn with how much taxpayers spend, and Transportation, in which he ignores how poorly run and expensive government trains such as MARTA and AmTrak are, instead suggesting that we should spend money to expand them and make them faster.
And you are right – when it comes down to it, there is not much difference between Jason and Tom, nor Steve, for that matter, as became clear at the debate last Sunday night. They all want to increase our taxes instead of look for ways to reduce our collective expenses. I am the only one of the four candidates who is pointing out that 60% of our state budget is for Education, so that is an area deserving a big microscope to see where we can cut.
Immediately this statement will raise concern on the part of public school teachers, so I want to make clear that in my opinion, the place to start is to cut all the federally mandated testing teachers are required to prepare students for, which will also lead to less need for administrative staff. While I do not feel teachers should be getting raises in this deflationary period when so many in the private sector are taking huge pay cuts or being laid off, I think teachers should be the last place to look for cost savings.
Since the only requirement of the Georgia State Legislature each year is to balance the budget, and since so much of the budget is Education, this is the biggest issue to look at.
For all the other issues, if you want to know where I stand, review the Libertarian Party of Georgia’s platform at http://www.lpgeorgia.com, the Ludwig Von Mises Foundation at http://www.mises.org, the Cato Institute at http://www.cato.org and the Weston A. Price Foundation at http://www.westonaprice.org.
I hope that all who read this will carefully consider their vote, and only vote if you are confident your decision will be the best long-term decision for District 42 and the state of Georgia. I stand for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes, and More Freedoms. If this is what you want, vote for me. If you want Big Government and Higher Taxes and a state Senator who is unsure of what Freedom really is, pick your favorite candidate: Jason Carter, Tom Stubbs or Steve Patrick.
In what ways is MARTA “poorly run”?
Thanks for asking, DM. I await Mr Montane’s response. He’ll probably say that, because it’s government operated, it must be poorly run and should be privatized, which, by his definition, would make it run better and allow it to operate in the black. The fact is, that public transportation anywhere is just that, public transportation and is properly a facet of government supplied transportation, just like roads, which BTW, are not self-supporting either.
Roads are “government supplied” transportation? When is the last time a road transported you somewhere?
A perfectly reasonable argument DEM….but only if you drive off-road everywhere you go.
A road is not transportation, DM. You need a car to make use of them. And at least until the gummit bought GM, you had to buy those for yourself.
Is not a road or a rail or a runway part of the transportation equation? Cars, trains and planes are pretty useless without them.
Therefore, yes roads are a piece of our “government supplied transportation” system.
Somewhat off-topic, but here’s a snippet of history about the Interstate system (from Wikipedia):
“The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956[8] – popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 – on June 29. It had been lobbied for by major U.S. automobile manufacturers and championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. Eisenhower also had gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. In addition to facilitating private and commercial transportation, it would provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion.”
According to my Agnes Scott College friends who frequently ride the trains and buses, MARTA is often behind schedule, has frequent breakdowns and is well-known for lack of security. They contrasted this with the CLIFF buses, which are clean and comfortable, well-maintained, run on alternative fuels and best of all are FREE. They are not only free to the riders, but free to the taxpayers, since they are provided by Emory University to benefit the private school’s students and faculty.
I think your ASC friends may have been catering to your tastes. MARTA generally runs at the correct frequency of trains; buses can be delayed by traffic conditions. Security has never been an issue – look at their crime stats. A little research among other large transit systems will show that MARTA is as well run as any and better than most. You just don’t like it because it has that “government” flavor.
As I said, privatizing a) is impractical, b) wouldn’t necessarily make it any better and c) wouldn’t allow it to turn an operating profit. Maybe you should quit driving on all the government provided roads and flying on planes that use government provided facilities. Walking would help, but you’d have to use the government provided sidewalks.
As for CLIFF, I daresay that some capital grants were used to purchase equipment, although Emory, as a good citizen, absorbs the operating cost.
The CLIFF buses also run behind schedule from time to time, have their share of breakdowns, and certainly many have broken air conditioners. They are most certainly not “free”. They perhaps do not charge the riders for the service, but Emory still has to pay for drivers, maintenance, new equipment, etc. Part of the funding for this came from almost doubling the parking permit fees. Unless you are suggesting that all private entities raise fees on their employees in order to provide free services to any and all comers, I don’t see how pointing to the Emory buses proves anything. Also, although Emory kindly allows everyone to ride the CLIFF busses, they may becoming a victim of their own popularity. Rumor on the street has it that Emory may have to start restricting ridership to Emory-only folks.
That first paragraph is HILARIO: “Personally, it doesn’t bother me that Jason Carter was able to raise over $260,000 for this campaign and that the legal limit of $4800 came from a couple named Amir and Nathalie Emami with a Hong Kong address. If that is Amir Emami in the picture with Arafat, I would not make that mean anything about Jason.”
Also, lets chuckle about this image from Montane’s website: http://tinypic.com/r/1z372f9/5
Way to keep this “about the issues,” David. Your inauguration will be an exciting day.
I think their positions are similar enough, but Tom Stubbs seems to me to have more well-rounded experience.
Jason’s sister has lived in San Francisco, and I’m sure is helping him raise money from her friends. He has also been a Peace Corps volunteer (lots of fellow alum all over the country), is a Duke and UGA alum, and I believe other members of his family reside outside of GA as well. If my sister ran or a former friend from college/law school (and I believed they were a great candidate!), I’d be helping her fundraise too.
I think one thing that differentiates Carter/Stubbs is Jason’s background being from Calhoun. One of the great problems we have in the leg is the lack of ability to bridge rural/urban, which results in many of the transit problems we DM readers lament about. We need leaders at the state who can help the rural reps understand the engine of Altanta metro area helps all, and build coalitions between rural and urban legislators to help support REGIONAL transit (and state-wide). I believe with Jason’s background and coalition-building skills, he is in a very good position to help us do this.
Whether he was behind this piece of filth or not, I think the real question is why is Tom Stubbs using a REPUBLICAN political consultant, Landmark Communications, in his campaign? Landmark is known for their hard hitting, political attack pieces and working for (mostly) Republican clients.
Tom says he makes ethics a top priority, but uses a Republican firm with a history of slimy tactics as a consultant for his campaign?
Look, I personally like Tom. However, his political ambitions and calculations bring out the worst in him. I would not be surprised by anything he’d do in the furtherance of his political ambitions and too often his community efforts have served to divide our city, not bring us together.
In any event, I do not believe that Tom is the right choice for State Senate in District 42. Maybe at another time, but not now. We need a leader with the right kind character to represent us at this crucial time.
I will leave your comments about me alone, but, for what it’s worth, I chose Landmark based largely on the recommendation of Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, my representative, friend and a good Dem, and Judge Johnny Panos, a non-partisan candidate whose commitment to grassroots involvement I share. Landmark recommended, and I agreed, to run my campaign like a golf match, where you play your best game and let the others play theirs, and then the voters decide. I don’t call that kind of approach to campaigning anything but honorable.
-Tom
I’m accustomed to Democrats pointing out how mean and hateful Republicans are (and I agree that many who purport to represent my party are loud-mouthed a$$holes). And then I took a gander at Dean’s personal attack on Mr. Stubbs. Looks like vitriol and nastiness are party-neutral. How I miss the inteligent and thoughtful comments from the left by those like Nelliebelle.
Does “hard hitting, political attack pieces” include “I would not be surprised by anything he’d do in the furtherance of his political ambitions?” Because “anything” includes killing people, taking bribes, etc. It’s about the worst thing you can say about the guy.
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