Attorney General & Insurance Commissioner - super exciting stuff!

I began my research on this race with the state's website for the Office of Attorney General. Check it out for yourself here. This person is basically the governor's legal adviser and I'm going to go ahead and remind you that this is definitely a stepping stone position for bigger and better political jobs. 

We have two candidates: Chris Carr and Charlie Bailey

Both candidates agree that human trafficking and opioid abuse are big problems in Georgia. Bailey promises to defend affordable healthcare which is a deciding point for me. Bailey has a rather impressive list of endorsements on his page that includes fifteen sheriffs and even more representatives. Carr also has a list of endorsements on his page and he actually has even more sheriffs on board than Bailey. I think it's interesting that both candidates have lists of endorsements as I haven't noticed this feature on any other candidate's website. 

Overall, I get the feeling that Carr and I have some philosophical differences, although it's hard to tell when reading his bio page...there's a lot of noise and accolades that drown out what this guy really thinks. I'm going with, Bailey, the new guy in this race.

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Oooohhh...insurance commissioner...it's a party up in here! 

The Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner licenses and regulates insurance companies; ensures that insurance rates, rules, and forms comply with state law; investigates suspicions of insurance fraud; and conducts inspections of buildings and houses to prevent fire outbreak.

We actually have three choices in this race: Jim Beck, Janice Laws, Donnie Foster

As in other races, Atlanta Magazine compiled questions and answers from these candidates. Check out their article here.

I'm not about Beck's in-your-face Christian Conservative rhetoric, but his stance on the issues he's most interested in make sense. Laws makes a good case for herself having worked in the insurance industry for many years. Foster's bio leaves a lot to be desired and he doesn't appear to have a current job, but he clearly wants to make insurance more affordable for Georgians. 

Thank goodness for the Atlanta Magazine article (see link above). Foster only submitted an answer to one question and he ended by saying he would shut the office down if elected because there were other offices that could handle the responsibilities of Insurance Commissioner. It's an interesting stance to want to get elected so you can get rid of the office you ran for. Although I can't exactly argue against shutting down this office, it may be a bit rash to promise to eliminate it altogether.

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Hallelujah. I'm done with my research. This has been an interesting project. I can't say that I look forward to doing it again, but I will. I will continue to research candidates and do my best to make informed decisions based on the information available from the candidates as well as other articles. 

Solicitor General - Gwinnett County; Board of Ed - District 2 Educator vs. NONeducator

From the Solicitor's website:

The Gwinnett County Solicitor’s Office is responsible for the prosecution of all State misdemeanor crimes in the State Court of Gwinnett County and all County ordinance violations (including traffic citations) in the Recorder’s Court of Gwinnett County.

Two candidates: Rosanna Szabo and Brian Whiteside 

Why can't I find a website for Whiteside?? I found an article from the Gwinnett Daily Post that talks about both candidates, but surely Whiteside has a dedicated webpage somewhere. Maybe not...I found this site that lists all of the candidates for races in Gwinnett County and all this fellow has is a Facebook page. Seriously. My elementary students could design a basic webpage. How are you going to say you're running for office and not have a dang webpage where people can find out about your beliefs and qualifications? 

I read through Szabo's page and found nothing particularly out of line. Case closed.

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On to Gwinnett District 2 Board of Education candidates: Wandy Taylor and Steve Knudsen.

OMG. In this race we have an EDUCATOR with her doctorate running against a guy who doesn't describe any type of work experience on his website. He's a dad of kids who have attended Gwinnett Public Schools. He says vague things about common core so here we have another non-educator talking about things out of his realm of experience. First of all, we don't use the official Common Core standards in Georgia and although I don't teach in Gwinnett County, I do know that they have their own set of additional standards or learning targets. So basically, what Knudsen is saying he'll work on has already been resolved.

So you can vote for Wandy who has spent her career working in public schools or you can vote for Steve who's job status is unclear. Am I beginning to sound cynical?? 

House of Reps & Senate - two blogs for the price of one.

I'm going to knock this one out real quick. I've been receiving Jody Hice's propaganda-laden newsletters ever since I took to writing him regularly to tell him how disappointed I've been in various decisions he's made. He and I don't see eye to eye on any issues. His newsletters make me ill to read and his formulaic intern-authored replies anger me. So boom. No Jody for me.

I did, however, take time to surf around on Johnson-Green's website because I will not blindly vote for anyone this year. (I have in the past.) I was pleased to see that she is supporting common-sense gun laws - please go read her stance - she says nothing about taking 'yer guns away. I also love that she's a proponent for affordable college for every student regardless of background. Another issue that she and I totally agree upon is working on electoral form including un-gerrymandering districts that have been drawn up to serve one party over another.

Go check out both candidates - make your choice.

Two candidates: Jody Hice vs. Tabitha Johnson-Green

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Might as well knock out another couple candidates in the same blog. Who's excited about our choices for senator of the 45th district?

Two candidates: Renee Unterman and Jana Rodgers

Interestingly, both of these candidates work or have worked in the medical field. Unterman lost me with her vague "sanctity of life" stance...I'm not really sure what she's talking about. It may be unfair to assume she's pro-life, but without further information I am wary. There really isn't much in the way of information regarding her "stances" on her website. 

Jumping over to Rodgers' site I was interested to read her page on why she's running. She commended Unterman for her year's of service and then ever-so-politely threw her under the bus for a couple pieces of legislation that Unterman opposed (access to cannabis for certain medical conditions and pursuing justice for rape victims). I particularly love Rodgers' stance on getting money out of politics. She has paid for her campaign out of her own pocket. 

Do you research - vote for the candidate who speaks for you! 

11th Hour - the final countdown: Commissioner of Labor

Not gonna lie...I'm not looking forward to looking over the remaining candidates, but I am excited that election day is nearly here. This is the most prepared I have EVER been to vote. It's taken several hours to complete my research on all of the candidates. It makes me really question who our elected officials really represent because I don't think the majority of voters do this kind of research before making their choices. Do you?

First up, Commissioner of Labor! Woot! I visited the Department of Labor website in hopes of finding out what they actually do. The landing page has lots of information, but not necessarily anything about what this office does.

I found an opinion article from the AJC that describes the position of commissioner of labor as the person who "provides services to job seekers and employers, including running Georgia's unemployment insurance program and overseeing child labor issues." 

There are two candidates for the position: Mark Butler and Richard Keatley. An interesting note...I had to scroll and scroll to get to his political homepage. Google amazes me. 

Ya'll. In the aforementioned AJC article it explains that Keatley was a French professor and had run for another political position. He decided that he'd give this position a shot since he'd lost his previous bid at a political office. :/ THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH POLITICS. The guy he beat out in the primary appears to have been a better candidate based on his degrees and work experience (i.e. bachelor's degree in history, master's degree in business administration, and an internship with the Labor Department in Augusta!!!). So what happened in the primary?? I guess that ship has sailed, but daggone. 

There are noticeable differences in philosophy between the Butler and Keatley. Although skeptical of Keatley's qualifications and interest in the position, I am intrigued by his emphasis on education including working to "transform prisons into colleges." He sees education as the key to improving life in Georgia. I whole-heartedly agree with this. 

Butler's "issues" leave me wanting more information and ideas. For example, he says that his "team will continue to improve our state's technology for even better customer service." What does this mean? The information on his website leads me to believe that he's fine maintaining the status quo. 

I have more candidates to research so my blogs aren't going to be as lengthy...my choice for Labor Commissioner is made.

Georgia's PSC - 2 seats up for grabs!

Another exciting post about an overlooked, yet important government office: public service commissioner. The PSC covers telecommunications and utilities - in other words, they influence our lives every day. Additionally, these positions are perfect stepping stones for bigger and better things down the road so we must choose wisely. 

We have two seats to fill this year. Apparently there are 5 elected officials who represent the five different districts in Georgia. And even though the commissioner who covers district 2 (where I live) is not up for election, Georgia voters are able to vote for commissioners in other districts. This seems a little odd to me. Looking at the district map, I don't know if I'm the best person to decide what people in other districts in Georgia need. I have to wonder who drew the map and how they rationalized cobbling together the different districts.

As the article in Atlanta magazine points out, "if you care about the environment, keep a close eye on the PSC." I recommend reading the article and the questions & answers from the various candidates. Apparently there's a huge nuclear power plant project that's way over-budget and very overdue that is a hot topic for these candidates. Two of the candidates Eaton and Pridemore, both incumbents in their districts, have been accused of accepting donations from companies involved with the construction of the project. I read an article that explained these accusations more in depth - click here.  

Here are the candidates up for election this year:

District 3: Chuck Eaton, Lindy Miller, and Ryan Graham

In reading through Chuck Eaton's blog, I was disheartened to see inflammatory language (i.e. "radical liberals" and referring to California's ideology negatively). I was on board reading through his bio, but the issues page turned me off. I'm realizing more and more as I research the candidates that I truly oppose negative rhetoric. Some may say both sides are guilty and that's true, but when you get down to the individual candidate level there are differences. I'm choosing to vote for individuals and not parties. 

Lindy Miller is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School which focuses on public policy and public administration. She is into lowering utility bills and investing in solar energy. She believes in carrying on with the nuclear plant, but only if we can shift the cost back onto the shareholders constructing it rather than ratepayers. Overall she's looking like a strong candidate.

Information is rather sparse on Graham's website which is troubling to me. I found the interview questions from the Atlanta magazine article to be more enlightening. Graham is in favor of creating open markets for all of our utilities to increase competitive rates. He is opposed to the nuclear power plant project, but doesn't suggest what to do about it. I doubt we can just leave a nuclear power plant half built. 

District 5: Tricia Pridemore, Dawn Randolph, and John Turpish

To put it bluntly, I don't like any of these candidates. Pridemore is super conservative and we do not see eye to eye on issues like gun control and abortion. I was thinking to myself that why should it matter that a public service commissioner thinks about guns and babies, but then I remembered this is one of those stepping stone positions. If she moves up in her political career, Pridemore could end up in political positions where she will have the power to influence decisions related to her personal beliefs. So, nope to Pridemore.

Randolph's website had a negative impact on my opinion of her. I agreed with her answers in the Atlanta magazine article, but then when I went to her website I felt that the pictures were odd (some looked like selfies from Instagram) and the language was not polished. I'm struggling to get on board with Randolph.

Turpish's site is like Graham's from district 3. Information is sparse on his website, but it's also sparse in his answers to the questions from Atlanta magazine. It's hard to get behind someone who doesn't provide much information about themselves and their beliefs. 

For me, deciding on who to vote for in District 5 comes down to thinking about who would do less damage should they decide to move up the political ladder. 

Good luck on your research of these candidates! I urge you to go to their websites and think about who represents you and your beliefs. 

Commissioner of Agriculture - Georgia's 2018 Candidates

I'm not sure if there is a position that I'm less excited to research than this one...but here goes nothing. 

The Commissioner of Agriculture is in charge of a whole laundry list of things including gas pumps and grocery stores. It is no doubt an important job that touches each of our lives daily in some way. 

Our two candidates are Gary Black and Fred Swann. Both candidates have informative websites and I also read the questions & answers with both candidates published by Atlanta Magazine. 

Gary Black has held the position since 2010. He was re-elected in 2014. He was raised by a family of farmers and currently manages a farm where he raises beef cattle in Commerce. I'm all about people actually having experience in the field that they're seeking an office (see my post on the state school superintendent candidates). 

Fred Swann also has farming experience, albeit less extensive than Black's. Reading through Swann's biography on his website, I am led to believe that he may be a career politician although I do not doubt his genuine interest in the position.

Reading through the aforementioned article from Atlanta Magazine's website, I noticed some distinct differences between candidates on several issues. Swann speaks directly about puppy mills along with animal welfare for farm animals. We have rescued several dogs through DREAM rescue in Atlanta and they seem to be taking in dogs that have been rescued from puppy mills with alarming frequency. Black makes no mention of this issue on his site, although he does seem hopeful that the spay/neuter license plate sales will make more money to support local animal control measures. 

Another issue on which the candidates differ is on cannabis and hemp production in Georgia. Black does not mention it on his website, but does address the issue in the Atlanta magazine article. He's against it in a nutshell. He mentions that we need to put standards and controls in place before we're ready to begin production in Georgia. Here's what Swann has on his website:

While I understand Black's call for regulation and standards to be in place, I also sense that Georgia is going to miss the boat and Black doesn't convey any urgency in addressing the issue. 

One of these candidates comes across as very formal, traditional, while the other is definitely more progressive. I get the sense that Black drives the speed limit exactly everywhere he goes and he's happy with that life. However, I'm very intrigued by the angle that Swann brings to the position as a person with autism. He comments on his website and in the article on how working in agriculture was therapeutic for him. Overall, I get the impression that Swann cares about the people (local farmers, school children, migrant workers) involved in agriculture as well as the animals. 

There are many more issues related to these candidates that I urge you to read about. I have only touched on a couple issues that make sense to me.

Georgia State Representative 104th District - Efstration vs. Stephenson

Tonight's interesting link is to BillTrack50.com - it provides voting records for our representatives. Who knew such things even existed?? I ended up there accidentally while researching Chuck Efstration who is running for re-election against Andrea Stephenson.

Chuck is the fella that rode through my neighborhood in a golf cart a few days ago while I was working on my blog about superintendent candidates. My husband answered the door midway through preparing a bunch of chicken for dinner and I totally missed the exchange. He brought me the brochure and told me a candidate had just been at our door so I headed down the street to catch up with him (golf carts are slow). I couldn't resist the chance to meet one of the people I'd ultimately be writing about. 

He was very personable & seemed to listen as I explained that I was a veteran teacher and I questioned his support of public dollars going towards private schools (it was on his brochure). I am VERY skeptical of anyone who wants to divert public dollars to private schools. He assured me that this year our government had fully funded public education and that he supported public dollars following students to whatever school parents selected for them. I can give some leeway there...I suppose...

Before running out the door to meet the guy, I did a quick Google search for him and his opponent. It's really not that hard to put information on a web page, but doggone if his opponent doesn't even have her last name on the top half of her home page. Perhaps this shouldn't be that big of a deal, but I'm struggling to get behind someone who can't assemble a decent web page with coherent information along with their last name so I know who to look for on the ballot. (Honestly, I was reminded of Homer Simpson's web page, but maybe I'm just being mean.)

Stephenson and Efstration appear to agree on a couple of issues - improving education & infrastructure. I didn't find any major red flags on either page and thankfully neither candidate resorted to mudslinging that I found. 

Further digging on BillTrack50 led to this site which revealed how many races Efstration had participated in and where his money had come from. I honestly have no idea what to make of this. I clicked around quite a bit and found it interesting to see how much money various individuals and companies had contributed. 

It appears that the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association has donated quite a bit of money to candidates over the years (including Efstration) and when I clicked for more information I was surprised to find that they had donated 600k-ish more to the Democratic party than the Republican party. Honestly...there is so much information out there. I had no idea.

I appreciated that Chuck listened when I talked and then asked questions as to what I thought we needed in order to make progress in education. I told him homework was the devil and car rider lines sucked. (Those things are true, but I didn't really tell him that.) I actually asked why Gwinnett County doesn't have any sort of magnet programs to serve programs like performing arts. He said he'd had that same conversation several times over the last few days and urged me to vote to pass the bond issue on the ballot in Gwinnett County which will help to fund a new high school in our district along with some other education projects.

Overall, I have no reason not to vote for Efstration. He's worked in this role for a few years, I didn't see any red flags in his voting history, he is from this area, his mom is a retired teacher, and I enjoyed talking to him. 

Do I have positive feelings about socialism?

So I got this in the mail today...

So many questions popped into my head. The first one being "what is socialism?". I'm pretty confident that I'm a well-rounded, well-educated person and I literally cannot give you a good definition of socialism. It's been a minute since I took any kind of history class and I'm pretty sure I never took any sort of political science class. 

I Googled the details of the Gallup Poll used to create this statistic to see what the actual questions were and found this article from Gallup. Scrolling to the bottom (where they hide the good stuff) I found that this was a phone survey. I don't know about any of you, but I do NOT answer unknown numbers and I absolutely do NOT answer survey questions over the phone, but they managed to find 1,500 people who do such things. 

If you click the link "View survey methodology, complete question..."in the box at the bottom of the article you'll get to a pdf that gives a few more details about the survey.

I'll save you the time and energy...take a look at the one question they're basing this "fact" on...

I wasn't able to find any documentation in the survey methodology of how they determined which respondent identified with the different political parties. So, after reading the article and methodology, I'm struggling to figure out how exactly they came up with the statistic they plastered on a high gloss flyer and sent to goodness knows how many households in Georgia. (Surely, they simply asked people which political party they identify with, but I'd feel better to see it spelled out in the methodology.)

Back to defining socialism - I read the definition on Encyclopedia Britannica's website. In this case I agree with the portion of the Gallup article that states:

Instead, socialism today seems to embody sets of programs by which the government helps regulate and in some instances run and pay for social programs focused on basic population needs in health, education, housing, and employment.

I think this is NOT the definition that this particular ad is basing its alarm on. Based on the above definition from the article, I'm all for socialism. Based on the historical definition of socialism, I'm not so sure. I am certain, however, that asking people "off the tops of their heads" to say whether they thought positively of things like capitalism and socialism is a bad idea. Furthermore, plastering this vague statistic on a flyer and sending out all over the state is simply saying to Georgia citizens..."We don't think you're smart enough to think through this. You'll buy any statistic we throw out there."

Georgia's 2018 State Superintendent Candidates

We've got two candidates on the ballot for state superintendent in Georgia. 

Richard Woods vs. Otha Thornton

Woods has been our state superintendent since being elected in 2014. Notably, he replaced John Barge who quit to run for governor. Remember...it's these smaller government roles that serve as stepping stones to higher positions so it is important for us to choose wisely. Woods has a resume that includes lots of experience actually working in schools and school district offices in various roles including being a teacher for 14 years. 

While Thornton has an impressive resume with lots of recognition including an honorary doctorate, as far as I can tell he has never been in the classroom. The closest thing I see to school experience is that he was the President of the National Parent Teacher Association and he served on an education task force in Maryland. I feel pretty strongly that someone who is in charge of schools should have worked in a school somewhere along the line.

Woods list of issues and potential solutions is specific, yet not scary. For example, under improving school safety he's calling for improved school climate and deferring to local districts for how to make improvements by making grants available. In other words, he's not threatening to arm teachers which would be a deal breaker for me. 

Thornton's list of issues is wordy and perhaps a bit vague for my liking. It's like in college when maybe you had to write a book summary, but you didn't quite read the whole book. Or let's say you want to review a restaurant that you didn't actually eat at. You can look at the pictures online and talk to others who dined there, but unless you actually eat the food you'll sound like you don't know what you're talking about. So, I'm back to having concerns based on the fact that Thornton hasn't really worked in a school. 

Another concern I have is that the National Education Association isn't endorsing either candidate. Clearly they have a preference for recommending candidates from the Democratic party, but Thornton is suspiciously absent from their list. Professional Educators of Georgia produced a great document comparing the gubernatorial candidates as well as the candidates for superintendent. I enjoyed reading the interview questions and felt a little better about Thornton...enough that I don't think we're doomed if he wins, but not enough to make me think he'd do a better job than Woods.

Woods is pushing to expand the salary steps for teachers beyond 21 years and I'm liking this idea a lot as this is year 20 for me. It makes no sense that we essentially put our veteran teachers out to pasture after 20 years. On a personal note, however, I am definitely not okay with veteran teachers thinking they can just coast through their twilight years in the classroom. While, I'd say this is rare, it happens and I've seen it several times over the years. (This is dangerously close to a whole 'nother can of worms...performance pay for teachers...and I'm not even going to touch that here.)

I encourage you to do the research on these candidates. Surf around on their websites. I am happy to report that both of these gentleman appear to be of strong character and neither have included negative campaigning against their opponent (that I've found anyways). 

This race a great example of where I may have voted for a candidate who was less qualified by simply voting party lines. 

Secretary of State Race in Georgia

Who even cares about the secretary of state?? Until looking it up just now I really couldn't tell you what the secretary of state was responsible for. As it turns out, it's a pretty important job, especially given the hot water our current secretary of state has gotten himself into.

The secretary of state is in charge of supervising and monitoring elections, which as it turns out, is a pretty big deal. Additional duties include providing campaign finance disclosure, preserving public records, and all sorts of business related things like licensing.

Additionally, this job could be a stepping stone to bigger jobs, such as governor. So if we don't choose wisely here we could pay dearly in the future.

The candidates: Brad Raffensperger vs. John Barrow vs. Smythe DuVal

So I'm thinking for secretary of state I'm interested in honesty, knowledge of the Constitution, and a good understanding of Civil Rights.

Raffensperger is a businessman with an MBA from Georgia State. Barrow has a degree in political science from UGA and then graduated from Harvard Law School. Duval earned his bachelor's degree in American Studies from Oglethorpe and then enlisted in National Guard. 

Ya'll - check out the three candidates' web pages. Raffensperger has 3 things he's concerned about, Barrow lists NO issues on his web page, and Duval has a comprehensive list of issues along with proposed solutions. Additionally, Barrow has a "press release" on his landing page for "news" with the headline "Barrow Best Positioned for Victory in November; Raffensperger Agenda is Bad for Georgia." First, I don't agree with candidates posting negativity about their opponents online - it's rude and I'm over it. Additionally, I'm not sure Raffensberger's agenda is bad...because he doesn't appear to have one based on the limited information on his web page.

This is making my choice very easy. I think I'm going with the candidate who seems to actually care about the job. 

Georgia's Gubernatorial Candidates, pt. 2 - gun control

In yesterday's blog, I reviewed each candidate's plan for education. Today, I'll take a look at another issue that is important to me. I urge you to visit each candidate's website and consider the issues that are important to you. 

One oddity I'm noticing is that when I Google "Kemp" his governor page is the first on the list. When I Google "Abrams" I have to scroll through some randomness, including the Wikipedia link to the M1 Abrams tank. I cannot even pretend to understand how Google works, but I feel that it's odd one candidate's page would be buried under assorted links, while one is at the top of the list. Whatevs...

Let's jump right in to gun control. I'll begin by stating plainly...I am a gun owner. I took an NRA sponsored gun ownership course to learn about gun safety and maintenance a few years ago when I first received my handgun as a gift from my husband (which is actually kind of a funny story, but I'll save that for another post). I come from a family of gun owners and married into a family of gun owners. I learned from an early age that guns are NOT toys and should always be treated as if they are loaded. This is common sense and was reiterated in the NRA safety course. Here's a little snip from the NRA website:

Notice that first handy tip..."ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction." In other words, AWAY from living things.

Now, take a look at this infamous picture from Kemp's ad where he quizzes a potential suitor for his daughter on why he's running for governor. "A healthy respect for the 2nd Amendment," says the teen in the ad at which point Kemp snaps the gun shut and says that they're going to get along just fine. Google the ad if you're curious.

Ya'll...I get it. It's supposed to be a joke. Call me a liberal snowflake, but I was taught from a very early age that guns are not jokes. They are weapons. I am so confused as to how someone can claim to be in support of the 2nd Amendment and then make a "joke" like this. 

Here's Abrams' plan for common sense gun legislation (notice...she doesn't say anyone is taking away guns): 

Kemp does not have information related to gun control on his page that I could find. I Googled "Kemp and gun control" and turned up several articles that reported on things he has said. In this article from our local news station, Kemp is quoted as saying that gun control doesn't necessarily have anything to do with improving school safety. He suggests "new camera gear, mental health counselors, and more armed school police if the local systems want them." I'm okay with these suggestions, but I whole-heartedly disagree on gun control not being integral to school safety. At least both candidates are suggesting increased mental health services - this is an important starting point. Certainly people who decide to commit mass murder aren't mentally sound. 

In general, as I click around on each candidate's website I'm noticing a couple trends. Abrams' pages lay out the issues and for each one states what she will do as governor and gives a list of related experiences/achievements. Kemp's pages are less organized. For example, the landing page for his "issues" is a 4 point list with subpoints. Some of the subpoints have links, some do not. On many of the links, there is an "article" about something Kemp has said or done. When a person scrolls to the bottom of the page, there are three links to additional articles, two of which are negative articles regarding his opponent. 

One of the subpoints on Kemp's issues page is to "Protect our Georgia values." I clicked on the link, interested to find out what my values are. What I found was an article about some random charter school in Atlanta that isn't saying the Pledge of Allegiance every day. Reading the article could lead people to believe that the Pledge is under attack in our public schools. Let me fall back on my 20 years of experience as a public school teacher in 2 states, 3 districts, and 6 different schools. We.say.the.Pledge.every.day. I have never even heard anyone suggest that we not say it. Even when the intercom was broken and we didn't have morning announcements we would just say it in our rooms with the students. Beyond an inflammatory article about some school not saying the Pledge, there were no additional points about Georgia's values. 

Honestly, just the ad of Kemp pointing a gun at a kid is a deal-breaker for me, but I am determined to keep reading and studying. I hope you will too. Our democracy depends on us all being informed voters. 

Georgia's 2018 Gubernatorial Candidates, pt. 1 - Education

I've been simultaneously excited and filled with dread about writing this post. You can check out the candidates' websites for yourself. It's Kemp vs. Abrams here in Georgia in a race for governor that's getting quite a lot of national attention.

As with the lieutenant governor post, I'll start with education since I've got 20 years experience in public education. I also have two children enrolled in public schools - one in middle school and one in high school. Additionally, I completed my Ed.D. last fall. Long story short...education matters a great deal to me.

The first thing I notice about Kemp's "education" page is that it's really a brief smear article about Abram's not paying taxes. The claims about Abram's tax situation are explained here. In a nutshell, she owes taxes and is on a repayment plan. Lee and I have been on a tax repayment plan for most of our married lives so I'm not sure this is as scandalous as the article on Kemp's page would have people to believe. 

After stomaching the "article" I scrolled on down to find a link to Kemp's various ideas about education. He states that literacy is a main concern of his. He notes that 63% of 3rd grade students are reading below grade level and "that means 1.7 million adults...have low literacy skills." I don't think 3rd grade reading levels are a direct cause of low literacy rates among nearly 2 million adults. I understand the paragraph to mean that low levels of childhood literacy may result in low levels of adult literacy, but I'm struggling with the inaccuracy of the wording.

Further down the page, I came across this paragraph:

Of course, I'm excited about the idea of getting a raise, but read that next paragraph. See the typo? Bothersome. Even more bothersome is the notion that "we will dismantle Common Core." I don't know what we can begin calling Common Core State Standards to get people off their ragey Facebook high horses, but Common Core isn't all bad. The students in the U.S. struggle to compete with students in other developed nations. The Common Core raised the bar for all students across the U.S. Georgia already bailed on the actual Common Core standards in favor of adopting the Georgia Standards of Excellence. So "dismantling the Common Core" is basically a direct appeal to the Facebook crowd who shares and likes all those silly posts about how they don't know how to do their kids' math anymore. Since Georgia doesn't really "do" the Common Core, are we planning to dismantle it for all the states who do? That seems to be a little ambitious and rude.

I'm down with respecting local control, but I don't know how Kemp is going to require local districts to "value teachers' time." Most of the "burdensome mandates" we face in education are truly aimed at improving education. The hoops we jump through to get students the services they need are a necessary evil...for now. When we have districts being sued because they over-identify African American males for special education then there should be some accountability. Do we in education like the measures that are put in place? Nope. But I'd rather do a stack of paperwork now if it helps a student avoid mis-identification into a program that is nearly impossible to escape.

Kemp speaks of preK programs and assures voters that he will protect lottery resources that fund preK and childcare facilities. He also promises to protect HOPE scholarships and makes a point to criticize Abrams saying that she will extend HOPE scholarships to illegal immigrants. I found an article from the local news station outlining the two stances. Basically, Abrams states that any student who has risen through the Georgia school system and is accepted into a Georgia college should be eligible for the HOPE scholarship. Kemp disagrees. I'd be interested to know how many students this actually affects. 

I did a little digging on the immigrant question. This post from 2017 stated that there were 69, 858 children who were immigrants (notice it doesn't say "illegal"). When I realized the data omitted "illegal" status, I went digging again and found this site. I did a little math because the data wasn't quite broken down to K-12 students. In the under 16 range there were 31,000 children. I divided that number by 16 to find how many children we might expect at each age 1-16 and that totaled 194. I multiplied 194 by 12 (the number of ages 5-16, i.e. school-aged children) and got 2,328. In the age range of 16-24, there were 59,000 people. I divided this number by 9 (the number of ages 16-24) and got 6,500. I multiplied 6,500 by 3 (ages 16, 17, 18 assuming these are school-aged kids) and got 19,500. Adding 19,500 and 2,328 I have a grand total of 21,828 school-aged children who are here illegally. If we divide the total down further to get an idea of how many high school seniors we're talking about it's 1,679 kids. According to this site, there were 321,551 college students enrolled in 2016. Let's say EVERY one of the 1,679 seniors decided to apply for the HOPE scholarship. First of all, they have to have a 3.0 to even apply. Those illegal seniors would account for LESS THAN 1% of the students in Georgia. So basically, all this blustering about the HOPE scholarship is for NOTHING. 

Next, I paid a visit to Abrams' page on education. Here's her plan in summary:

Again, some vague language and a typo to boot. Of course having a fully funded education system would be amazing and both candidates are calling for increased funding. I agree with everything on this list, although things like "give educators the tools they need" is kind of ridiculous...what does that even mean? I like Abrams' "Bold Action for a Brighter Future Plan" because it emphasizes affordable preK and childcare for all families. I cannot begin to explain here how devastating it is to children to miss out on preK, especially when they're coming from an economically disadvantaged family. I see kindergartners every day who begin school already behind their peers who attended preK. Abrams mentions closing tax loopholes and getting rid of the $58 million that supports private schools. I'm all for it. I work with teachers on a daily basis who spend their own pocket money to support projects and initiatives for the betterment of our public school students. 

Another tidbit that I didn't know until just last year...if your child is enrolled in private school, but you want special education testing done, you can drop them off at your assigned public school and we'll handle it for you. At no cost. And at our inconvenience. Never mind the students we have sitting in our already full classes, we'll stop what we're doing and test your kid. Additionally, when a student is placed in a residential program, guess who gets to continue keeping them on the roll for testing accountability?? You guessed it...the school they were districted for. Ya'll...there are things that go on in public education that just make no sense. Supporting private school students and students who don't physically attend my school is one thing I'm over. Pardon my tangent...

One last note before I wrap up this part of the blog, just in surfing the candidates' websites for education I was struck by the way one candidate tries to tear the other one down, while the opposing candidate focuses on issues. You can visit the sites yourself and see what you think. 

Georgia's 2018 Lieutenant Governor Candidates

Duncan vs. Amico

First, what does a lieutenant governor do? I googled that question and found basically they're like the vice president. They take over in case something happens to the governor. Beyond that they serve as president of the senate and preside over debates and movement of legislation through the pipeline. It seems that this person is the one who helps get things done in terms of pushing through various pieces of legislation. You can read the job description for yourself here. 

I began my research into the candidates for lieutenant governor by going directly to their websites. I branched out to other sites when I wanted clarification or more details. I've included all the links to the sites I visited. 


EDUCATION
Since I have 20 years experience in public education I headed to that topic on each page first. 

Right away I notice that Duncan is advocating for parents to have more power in public education. He states "We need to empower parents, not education bureaucrats." I agree that parents need to know what's going on at school, however I disagree that they need more power. Just visit a ballpark any weekend and consider whether you want the people yelling at children through the fences to have MORE say so in our schools. (I dream of a day when a politician says "let's ask the teachers what we need in education.") Of course, I know all parents aren't ballpark ragers, but I think reforming education doesn't begin with parents. It involves parents.  

Amico mentions the importance of all children receiving a quality education regardless of zip code. She points to "innovation in classrooms, rewarding good teachers, firing bad ones, and partnering with businesses to increase vocational and technical training in high schools and community colleges." "Innovation" is a buzzword in education these days, but I appreciate the sentiment. I have yet to hear a plan that rewards teachers that isn't somehow biased against teachers with challenging populations of students. "Firing bad teachers" is tricky because, I'm not going to lie, sometimes there are bad administrators who use poor judgment in hiring and evaluating the effectiveness of teachers on staff. (Disclaimer - I've worked at 6 different schools in 3 different districts with 9 different principals.) I like the idea of increasing vocational training because I believe not everyone needs to go to college and I also want to live in a community with capable mechanics, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc. 


BUSINESS 
In the area of business, I have much less experience although I was raised by a small business owner. 

Duncan says he is a "serial entrepreneur" - what does this mean? Sounds fancy for adult ADHD. But I digress. He says he "took a business from his living room to a full-scale operation in a 10,000 square foot facility." I googled to find out more about this business. Wikipedia says it was a "marketing business." His biography on the state website says the business merged "old fashioned customer service with modern day technology". I'm still unsure of what his business was. He gets some coolness points for playing baseball and making it to Triple A with the Marlins, but he dropped out of Georgia Tech to do so.

Amico owns a trucking business, Jack Cooper, with over 3,000 employees (which she grew from 120). Jack Cooper is the "largest specialty over-the-road finished vehicle logistics company in North America." She mentions putting her own money into the business to save jobs when times were tough. According to her bio on the Jack Cooper website, Amico graduated with a bachelor's degree in politics from Washington & Lee and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She's worked with a long list of well known companies.

OTHER ISSUES
Both candidates speak to other issues on their websites. Duncan is clearly pro-life and refers to Planned Parenthood as being "malicious." I understand that Planned Parenthood advocates for abortion, but they also stand for so much more. I found this cool site that has a Truth Meter for statements made by various politicians in regards to Planned Parenthood. 

Amico doesn't have a clear position on women's access to healthcare services (including abortion) on her website. She does speak to increasing rural healthcare and making sure that all children have regular access to pediatric care. 

Both candidates talk about not being your typical politicians. They both speak to wanting to make government more efficient. Both candidates weave comments about their faith throughout their statements on their websites.

I've decided on my choice for lieutenant governor and I'm voting on Nov. 6th - I hope you are too! 

Becoming a Gardener

We moved into a new home last November. It's a beautiful, traditional house and the previous owners did some amazing things to it including screening in the back patio and planting interesting plants everywhere. 

I've always been an enthusiastic viewer of gardening shows. I have a vast knowledge of all sorts of random things from my many hours spent watching PBS as a child. I spent many Saturdays and Sundays glued to the tv in my bedroom taking in show after show. Victory Garden, Square Foot Gardening, The Woodwright's Shop, Hometime...and of course the Joy of Painting along with a quilting show that I don't recall the name of. I wish I could believe that my children were watching this same level of programming on YouTube, but who am I kidding?

For now, I'm going to put a few pictures from the yard on the good ol' blog. I hope to figure out what these plants are and what they need to keep them growing strong. 

This is a close-up of one of the flowers on the plants pictured below. They're huge! Taller than me! I love their gray-green foliage. Last night's heavy rain from Tropical Depression Alberto knocked them down some, but hopefully they'll spring back up.

Just discovered the bush below today. No idea what it is. Love the pinkish-purple flowers though!