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.