More Endorsements and Education Cuts
I am proud to announce that I have secured further endorsements from several cities that are critical to my success in the Democratic Primary. Joining the dozens of other municipal and community leaders who are convinced that I am the candidate for Governor who can move Georgia forward are Albany City Commissioners Jon Howard and Christopher Pike, Macon City Council President Miriam Paris and two faith leaders from Columbus, Rev. Dr. H.L. McCall and Rev. Albert Sanders. I am honored by their confidence in my leadership and look forward to working closely with them.
Fourth-term Albany City Commissioner Jon Howard has served as Mayor Pro-Tem and is highly regarded among his peers. His regularly scheduled community forums are evidence of his commitment to openness in government. “I support General Poythress because he is a visionary leader, has integrity and knows how to lead,” says Commissioner Howard.
Newly-elected Albany City Commissioner Christopher Pike is the founder of Urban Pulse Media, an advertising sales and marketing firm. He currently serves as Mayor Pro-Tem and serves on the Emerge Albany Board for the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. “The General has shown a willingness to embrace new ideas and innovative approaches to addressing Georgia most critical issues, and his pledge not to accept a salary as Governor until he brings the unemployment rate down is most impressive,” says Commissioner Pike.
Macon City Council President Miriam Paris was elected to Macon City Council 2006, was selected unanimously by fellow council members as President of the City Council, and has served on the Public Safety and Community Resources Committees.
“I support General Poythress because of his sincerity and his ability to think ‘outside of the box,' which is very refreshing. He invites innovation, and I truly believe that he will not accept the status quo,” say Council President Paris.
The Rev. Dr. H.L. McCall is the Senior Pastor of Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus and currently serves as the president of the Columbus Metropolitan Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. Rev. Dr. McCall supports my campaign because of my commitment to working with the faith community to address many of the social ills that government alone cannot solve. “The General is a man of faith, and that’s enough for me,” says Rev. Dr. McCall.
The Rev. Albert Sanders is associate pastor of the St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus and member of the Columbus Metropolitan Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. He is convinced that “General Poythress has the right ideas and attitude about transforming our schools; David is our ‘Moses’ when it comes to public education,” says Rev. Sanders.
Georgians and newspaper editors across the state have been stunned by the dramatic cuts to our state’s system of higher education requested by the state legislature. It’s been called a “doomsday scenario” that will “stunt the state,” and the Rome paper says the cuts have “…gone well beyond surgery to butchery, slashing fat, removing muscle and cutting through the bone.”
Last week the state legislators asked the Board of Regents to cut $300 MILLION more (on top of the $265 million previously requested) from next year’s budget for the 35 colleges and universities in the system, and they gave them less than one week to identify these massive cuts. The alternative offered to such draconian cuts was a 77% tuition increase – which would break a promise the state made to currently enrolled students.
Chancellor Erroll Davis reminded the legislators that $300 million was the total combined budget for 23 of the schools in the system. The attached spreadsheet shows the depth and breadth of these proposed cuts to programs across the state, but let me give you a few examples.
Think about the size of these cuts relative to the size of each institution:
* Our 5 smallest schools have to cut as much as $2 million
* 18 of the moderate size schools will be forced to cut $2-5 million
* 6 schools will lose as much as $10 million
* Kennesaw State and Georgia Southern have to find more than $14 million
* Our flagship institutions take enormous hits – Medical College of GA ($25.5 million), GA State ($34 million), GA Tech ($38 million) and UGA ($59 million)
Proposed changes include:
* Termination of college majors and programs of study, impacting currently enrolled students
* Reduction of the number of students for the incoming classes, including reduction of positions available in nursing and teacher education programs
* Closing some satellite campuses; rejection letters for previously accepted new students.
* Over 4,000 college faculty and staff jobs lost
* Elimination of 4-H programs statewide
* Half of county extension agencies to be closed
State Senator Seth Harp, Chair of Higher Education Committee, was blunt in his direction to Chancellor Davis: “Please, prioritize where those cuts will come or we will do it blindly.” Harp also made it clear that drastic solutions are being considered tuition hikes, layoffs, furloughs, salary reductions and closing or consolidating schools.
As I have said before, the state does not have their budget priorities straight. Particularly in this difficult economy, we need to be expanding educational opportunities not drastically cutting worthwhile programs. Why haven’t the Republicans taken a serious look at repealing the dozens of special interest tax breaks? Since 2005, they enacted 52 special exemptions which cost the state more than $400 million.
Maybe more impossible to believe is the obvious pork still existing in the state budget. Governor Perdue and his buddies have already spent over $19 million dollars for fish ponds in Perdue’s home town, but they keep asking for more. In this tight budget, he asks for $9 million for a horse park in Houston County and $10 million to move the College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta. Now I love horses and football and know that such facilities can help bring in tourism dollars, but these are luxuries.
As your Governor, I’m going to demand a full review of our tax code and weed out special interest breaks before cutting funding to our schools. And like the families that are struggling to make ends meet, I’ll make the hard choices, but I’ll always cut the luxuries before closing any door to educational opportunities.
Elizabeth and I had a wonderful time attending the "Fanning the Flames Roast of Commissioner Thurmond" dinner in Athens, the annual Clarke County Democratic Committee Fundraiser. The blazing remarks about Commissioner Thurmond drew laughter, and his fiery response inspired local Democrats to action. It was truly a delight to join the chorus of celebration as the Clarke County Democrats honored the accomplishments of their favorite son.
We were blessed that we didn’t encounter any flames earlier in the day when our campaign vehicle was hit by an 18-wheeler while we were waiting on the bridge at Jimmy Carter Blvd. Who knew that my transportation plan of reengineering key intersections would strike so close to home? Next week I’ll share with you some creative ideas to eliminate such traffic bottlenecks. Sadly, this accident made me unable to attend the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Capitol Day Gubernatorial Candidates Forum.
Elizabeth and I certainly enjoyed visiting with the Richmond County Democrats during their Sydney Carter monthly breakfast. These dynamic Democrats are excited and will play a key role in helping to elect a Democrat as the next Governor. I commend Dr. Lowell Greenbaum and his wife Gloria for providing steady and effective leadership in Richmond County. It was also great to see my longtime friend Leon Meyer, and I thank him for the opportunity to speak. While in Augusta, we also met with a small group of veterans who are organizing an event for the campaign on March 20th at VFW Post 649 in Augusta.
Elizabeth and I had a delightful day in Conyers; our new friend James Baker met us for lunch at Evans Pharmacy and toured us around town. The visit was capped off by an enthusiastic gathering hosted by Linda Breeden and Betty Christian. If you would like to host a meet and greet for your friends, please email the campaign. Such events are a terrific way for me to have time to hear the concerns of your neighbors and give them a chance to get engaged with the campaign.
Another reception at the Peachtree Plaza ended a good day for Elizabeth and me. The Homebuilders Association of Georgia (HBAG) hosted their first ever reception for their Board Members and the gubernatorial candidates. Thanks to HBAG president David Clough and executive VP Kelly Lass for extending the invitation. In addition to their obvious concerns about the economy, many of the builders expressed disappointment that we haven’t made any progress on our transportation problems. I shared my plans to get “Main Street” hiring again and talked about the need for quick action as well as long-term strategic planning to tackle our transportation needs.
Elizabeth and I met many interesting small business owners at a recent the Green Chamber of the South (GCS) gathering at Zaya, a terrific Mediterranean restaurant in a rejuvenated part of the Poncey-Highland community. The GCS mission is to connect, grow and develop sustainable businesses across the south, and they are looking for a Governor who will listen and then act to remove the obstacles to growing their unique businesses.
We enjoyed visiting with GCS co-founders, Galit Levitin and Ofra Tessler and are looking forward to learning more about the innovative jobs that are developing in Georgia. As Governor, I intend to work diligently to make our state a leader in the “green” economy. Special thanks to our friend John Noel for introducing us to his colleagues.
Two nights later I enjoyed another enthusiastic evening with entrepreneurs; this gathering was the first mixer of the year for the South African – American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast (SAACOC). In my remarks I talked about my desire to effectively market the entire state to communities across the globe to bring more businesses to Georgia and expand markets for our goods. I also discussed the pledge I have made to not take a salary as Governor until we bring the unemployment below 7%, and the response was very positive. I’d like to thank Ms. Toni Castel, SAACOC President, for this speaking opportunity.
It was cold outside last Friday night, but I received a warm reception from the GA Society of the American College of Surgeons as they gathered for a reception with gubernatorial candidates at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead. Health insurance reform was on everyone’s mind, but I also had several conversations about the critical need for reform in our public schools. I was good to see Dr. John Harvey, with whom I worked on emergency preparedness when I was Commanding General of the Guard. Thanks to Dr. James Elsey, President, and Kathy Browning, Executive Director, for the invitation and warm welcome.
Congratulations to the Carlton J. Kell High School Robotics Team of Marietta and their coach Ed Barker for being one of eight schools in the United State to receive the 2010 SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Environmental Excellence Award. Their activities in FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics program helped them develop knowledge and applied technology skills which the Kell Team used to design a trash-collecting robot.
These industrious high school students have deployed this tool in service to the community cleaning up local lakes and rivers. Later this year member of the team will go to Tampa to receive their $10,000 prize to be put back into their innovative robotics work. Elizabeth and I have enjoyed two visits with the Kell team; they are fierce competitors who make being smart cool!
I had a great media day on Monday being featured on all three Columbus TV stations and WGXA in Macon talking about my pledge to improve our economy. The AJC did a piece on GOP candidate Ray McBerry’s “10th Amendment Summit” where he extolled the virtues of America in 1850. Thankfully, Jim Galloway balanced the coverage by mentioning my early and ongoing criticism of this pro-secession crowd.
Republicans sure are going to be disappointed. While they've celebrated recent polls that say that they can beat Roy Barnes in November, they fail to realize they'll be facing me instead. While its true Roy's #s have literally fallen off a cliff, Republicans are doing their their victory dance too soon.
All the best,
David Poythress
PS - I hope you're able to join us for a campaign open house, on Wednesday March 24 at 6:00 PM at the campaign headquarters in Norcross.
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