Mike Beaudreauis the only current county commissioner to have severed with Kevin Kenerly, Shirley Lasseter and Charles Bannister all of whom are /or have part of an ongoing grand jury probe related to bribery and ethics volitions. It is my understanding that Sentencing of former Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, has been delayed until Sept. 5. to facilitate matters relating to their cooperation with the government’s ongoing investigation into corruption in Gwinnett County. (http://duluth.patch.com/articles/shirley-lasseter-s-sentencing-rescheduled-to-sept-5) Maybe it time for a change, my mother always said if you lay down with dogs long enough your bond to get flies sooner or later .. Enough is Enough Gwinnett needs an new start - NOW

Nice article Vanessa!

It’s finally here, the weekend eve of the runoff vote …

We’ve all heard the claims of great fathers, husbands, family men, friends forever on BOTH sides tell us they are church men and straight shooters deserving your vote. So how do you choose? For some, it’s how you define success when making the big decisions so here are 3 briefly dissected items below for your consideration, if you’re willing to entertain it, (or not) ENTIRELY your call.

Success… Success?
The trash issue isn’t just a policy difference, like what door to enter through, or Steak vs. Chicken vs. Barbeque BUT it’s actually a CLEAR example of BAIT and SWITCH.

Which now produces revenue by and PAYS for the loss of ” its” own income NOT by reducing the COUNTY’S “cuts” of administrative expense one thin dime, but by INCREASING taxes/fees on one set of citizens - to give a small break to another small subset of citizens in an election year.

Isn’t this is how ever expanding government and entitlements begin?

Is this a CONSERVATIVE policy at its BEST? Success at REAL Redistribution of Wealth

Isn’t that very thing being presented as a NON Conservative position in the national arena?

Sorry but we were publicly PROMISED during official BoC meetings that haulers in a region would be selected by open COMPETITIVE bidding. You know what actually happened in 2010?
Cont.

County attorney staff stood before the Superior COURT judge and stated “on the record” that the bidding process was REMOVED and NOT required, because trash was a “core” government service. WE sure publicly didn’t get THAT memo did we?
Besides, the first few pages of the decree covered how the signers wouldn’t be personally sued themselves, their estates or families either. All this was covered first - before the “product service” was even mentioned. Think the county residents might have come in a FAR 2nd place on this negotiation on OUR behalf?
But in retrospect, if the commissions that were so “Gun Ho” on this new and improved “jewel” had actually FOLLOWED the Gwinnett County Procurement rules active and on file at the time, the hauler lawsuits probably wouldn’t have been filed to start with, or if they had been they would’ve FAILED - but it’s still called a Success!!
(Review the 2012 Airport process for STARK example differences of involvement and outcomes)
Cont

Now there is a place in government operations for what are called “core” services – these are commonly defined as EMS including Police, Fire and Ambulance.

The “No Bid” process makes sense in some cases, because these services use HIGHLY specialized apparatus in both complete rolling units and contain custom contents NOT readily available across the counter. Sources of quality equipment are HIGHLY concentrated within the respective industry fields. For instance you won’t find the highly expensive, sophisticated electronics systems of police cars at Wal-Mart. You won’t get SWAT tank components at SEARS. Gurneys may be interchangeable in EMS applications, but there are a slew of models to interchange across a large fleet. So in Health and Safety, single sourcing makes sense at times and can be CLEARLY defended.

We all could appreciate that an officer, drawing his weapon in defense, REALLY doesn’t want “similar fit, form and function” in his holster right? Especially with the Cartel on the other end of the barrel, when the bad guy bullets are seconds away and the officer’s back-up is a minute away.

Now back to Trash as a “core” government service.

While needed, do you recall EVER seeing a trash truck respond to a 911 call, have you? They are regulated by DOT as commercial vehicles, supply sources are FAR more readily available; in fact they are available PRIVATELY to any licensed businesses unrestricted.

Cont

Now Gwinnett County Commissioners can “legally” enter into any type of consent decree they desire as OUR representatives, often doing under these agreements what CAN’T legally be executed under normal OPERATIONS policy. Which happened in this program, because Gwinnett Procurement Policy in FORCE at the time of hauler selection BARRED vendors/suppliers currently in a suit against the county from being considered.
As counsel stated in Superior Court to the Judge in this case: What’s Political is Political, What’s Legal is Legal, the two DON’T meet and SHOULDN’T have to”
The ONLY legal single thread argument presented in court was a case record of a contracted EMS service that was granted in HALL County for a period of 48 months without bid. The contract in that matter “stood” because it was considered a “core” service and the common reasoning was defined in detail above. This isn’t secret smear knowledge; it’s CLEARLY available to all to check out in hard copy from GJAG Superior court records. It may even be available on-line if you have a lawyer’s account with a service like KnowX, but sadly I don’t or I would link to it for you.

Cont

So now we have a program right here in Gwinnett, that was created under a COURT consent order, with the only remedy to citizens being eerily similar to a recent Supreme Court Ruling that stated citizens have a POLITICAL avenue available to CORRECT the situation, it’s NOT always up to judges to legislate intent from the bench, after the fact.

Please bear in mind, we now have a circumstance where government collects your money by force of lien if necessary, a year in advance and in this role has NONE of its “own skin” in the game as it stands - there is ABSOLUTELY no REAL world incentive to lower “OUR” costs BECAUSE to ACTUALLY do so would lower its OWN government revenue stream.
(It may be a claimed zero sum game, but this boosts the balances on HAND..)

Isn’t this also on the national scene now as a situation Conservatives are TRYING to rectify spiraling costs?

Cont

The County has already begun charging some more to offset a small break the BoC gave to a really small subset of citizens. Does it appear that it’s cutting related operations expenses? NO it’s GROWING them as you read this.
Now who REALLY wants to give the GA State Government yet another NO BID source of REVENUE with no cost containment incentives to a NEW layer of government? Is THAT success in YOUR mind?
Didn’t T-SPLOST just FAIL here by a large margin?
If candidates wish to sell themselves like cars, well let’s treat them as such. We hear about past records but sketchy details for the future. Times are tough to read so…
Most people don’t throw away a basically good car that needs its front end alignment adjusted; they get the front end FIXED because they KNOW from experience even a “SLIGHT” misalignment will EAT UP your wallet in a REAL hurry.
Some find its cost more in time and trouble to FIT the existing one and buy a new car.
Most people won’t pack the rear end differential with sawdust either and then brag about how quiet and tight it is - BUT SOME DO! Guaranteed to get off the election lot… (Differential Packers – DP)
(Performance folks - you KNOW rear Diff cars are best don’t you?)
Cont

Now some will say they’re Conservative, some ARE Conservative and some CONSERVATIVES would be appalled by this quote; What’s Political is Political, What’s Legal is Legal, the two DON’T meet and SHOULDN’T have to”

IS THIS ethics? Take YOUR pick and step up and take your POLITICAL action, delays cost.

You HAVE a choice right NOW in how WE define the term CONSERVATIVE going forward for the next 4 YEARS and maybe to some extent statewide.

Success…
BEFORE you personally vote - please at least read pages 3,4,5,10,12,13,28,29,35,36, 49,52,53 if you can’t take the time to read the WHOLE thing.
(Which really every resident that votes SHOULD do)
So the GRAND JURY looked at land transactions. Gwinnett owned 4,682 parcels total at the time. Gwinnett COUNTY purchased 1,156 parcels between 2005 to 2009. The GJ chose 17 and from that pool - reviewed only 5 in depth, … that’s right 5 ….
Out of 1156 ….
A whooping .004325 – not even 1 PERCENT of the transactions during the term(s).
But the GJ still managed to hit earth shaking "pay dirt" about county OPERATIONS ...
Taking the position” I survived the Grand Jury” is an interesting development. Shouldn’t that be a normal everyday STANDARD occurrence? Just like being a “straight shooter”? After a review of such a small slice of history, it’s practically the equivalent of claiming you have an IQ higher than a houseplant…
Now let’s look at the demonstrated real world RESULTS of that “survival” experience. It sure would have been a wakeup call in our lives out here in the everyday world. However, apparently we are NOT all built the same.

Cont

Because after reading page 52 of the GJ report and attending the AUGUST 2011 BoC meeting, where a sitting commissioner that went through the GJ experience personally, called staff BORDERLINE Insubordinate publicly, one wonders if the grand jury inquiry experience OR its recommendations even took the slightest hold.

As was often stated in the report, just because it wasn’t proved CRIMINAL doesn’t make it RIGHT. If you didn’t attend, you can see the recorded video on the Gwinnett County Website for yourself. Its apparently too long to compress for a quick link insertion.

http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/portal/gwinnett/Departments/BoardofCommissioners/CommissionMeetingVideos

BOC Public Hearing August 23, 2011
Segement
2011-0761
Approval to clarify the actions previously approved bt yhe BOC on May 3, 2011, and May 17, 2011, related to the proposed privatization of Brisco Field.
Time: 01:07:57 - 02:02:00
Full Grand Jury 2009- 2010 PDF File

http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/archive/00719/Read_the_full_grand_719640a.pdf
Commissioner Nasuti’s Addendum

http://www.bobgriggs.com/commissioner-nasutis-addendum-to-the-gj-report/

If you’re going to run on 8 years experience making the "tough" choices
(Oh where are you CBS Channel 46?)

HOW can you personally stand there and claim for the record something that happened in 2008 was a long, long time ago while in the process of NOT directly answering the original question?

No one else has control here at all; truly it’s just the candidate himself.
Just say Yes or NO its YOUR private choice, its been done before and its NOT a bad trait to have.

http://dacula.patch.com/articles/audio-listen-to-the-district-3-candidates-answer-questions-at-forum

“Question from Oberholtzer to Beaudreau: Don't you think you should return campaign contributions from Kennerly?”

http://soundcloud.com/daculapatch/001-a-029-kristi-z0000355

This isn’t “negative” campaigning, this isn’t DIRT, this IS the review of RECENT verifiable, HISTORY.

Vote YOUR conscience, but read and LISTEN to the links provided first… then pull the lever!

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2012/aug/15/experience-is-hot-topic-at-runoff-debate/

Everyone needs to watch these videos recorded by the Patch of Beaudreau's Saturday meetings. Is this how you want to be treated by your commissioner?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuH7AqlAoz0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoFQf3PResA

Friends...the primary runoff is in a mere 4 days...less than 100 hours from now. During this time I'm sure we'll hear all kinds of vile hysterical nonsense from those special interest persons and groups that hate Commissioner Beaudreau because he won't bow and worship at their feet. I'm sure in the next 100 hours we'll see all kinds of hysteria here in a shameless attempt to distort Commissioner Beaudreau's record in hopes of affecting the election.

One thing they will all have in common is their negativity. Notice they don't say anything about why your should vote for the other guy...just negative hate-filled hysteria about Commissioner Beaudreau.Why? Because they know that the only way Commissioner Beaudreau loses this runoff is if his supporters do not return to the polls. They don't really care if you vote for the other guy or not...that's just a plus. Their only hope is that those persons who voted for Commissioner Beaudreau in the primary do not return. Hence they will be as negative as they can be. It's straight out of the Barak Obama playbook.

I have been here for months supporting Commissioner Beaudreau and correcting the hate-filled hysteria. Why? Simply put...he's earned it. Mike Beaudreau has conducted himself as a strong conservative and a public servant with complete personal integrity. He's what we all want in an elected official.

Promises Made.....Promises Kept....Mike Beaudreau.

Floyd: That's a bad line to preach right now. NOT voting for the other guy returned Balfour to office. Surely you are not saying that is a good thing, are you?

And yet the TEXT content remains unchallenged BECAUSE its NOT hate but reality and real world experience from every day life in Gwinnett.

I will pass along this observation, I attended the latest forum, wandered around all the participants and the ONLY candidate data that wound up in my hand was Hunter's Why?

Because he was hungry enough to have his folks standing at the door of the
auditorium, couldn't get past them for a seat.

Fact is the issues that were raised are going to be there Wednesday morning after all the confetti is swept away. Then it will be time to get to the REAL work.

One more thing, the hissies about Bill McKinney? He was identified by many that seem to hang out in the mud pond as one of JERRY O's kids. If you DON'T have Hunters folks, Jerry's kids apparently aren't with you either and its been stated that the first line in a multi-candidate race gets a bump of 2 or 3 points due to PLACEMENT alone.

WHERE are your votes coming from?

OUR votes will determine how CONSERVATIVE policies are defined for the next 4 years.

Here's to best for District 3 VOTERS.

For all of Beaudreau's constituents, I hope you never have to be on the opposite site of an issue with your Commissioner. You will find that "Still Dedicated, Still Determined" apply only to his point of view.

I watched Beaudreau on the Gwinnett tv station way back when the others were approving these land deals. He stood up to these bad apples. He hired independent appraisers on his own to prove something was wrong. He endured attacks by those on the board that was in the pocket of developers. It's sad to see the people he has served with integrity run their mouths about him now. Of course he is going to vote contrary to some. It's called leadership. He is the reason these others were caught. If you don't agree with some decisions he's made just say so. But to assume that he's a crook because others were is just childish. Not to mention ignorant. Making tough unpopular choices is part of being a leader. He's voted for things I am totally against. But I have also seen him stand up to corrupt practices when no one else had the courage. A rare trait in an elected official.

@ Tim & Others: Kristi is absolutely correct. That video was taken at one of Mike's Saturday meetings. I know. I was there. Also, Kristi "ain't" biased. Like Bill O'Reilly, she is fair and balanced. As we move toward the Tuesday, August 21st. runoff, the one thing that "sticks in my craw" is that the CSP folks contributed $6,500.00 dollars to Mike's 2012 re-election campaign. That's a lot of money to, for lack of a better word, "throw" at a commissioner's race. I could be wrong but as best as I can determine from his campaign financial disclosure information, the RCP folks apparently did not make a campaign contribution.

@Jimmy who is CSP & who is RCP? I'm not fimiliar with the abreviations.

Jim. You are just another person insinuating or outright fabricating that Mike did something wrong. You should stick with facts and not say things that seem to mean Mike has somehow done something wrong because a company that does business in Gwinnett donated money to his campaign. It's not illegal is it? To give or receive? At least be fair. State facts not unfounded claims. It serves nothing but your ego. I get the whole "influence" thing. Of course there is no proof whatsover that anything underhanded happened. Obviously he made it public or you wouldn't have this info. let's all stick to what we know is true and not fabricate, lie, or dream up issues that do not exist. That's how we have a fair election based on truth. I know I personally like to know real truth before voting for someone. It's hard when people say things that aren't true for those that do not take the time to get to know candidates.

Taken from Jimmy Orr's post "I could be wrong but" is the only known fact on the entire post. "R" you may want to deal in facts instead of trying to throw so much at a candidate you do not intend to vote for. Your posts are actually too long, bias, and boring to actually read. As far as the donation goes, if it did happen it wasn't hidden as Jimmy has knowledge of it. Again just another person trying to insinuate something that isn't true. When you simply ask a question about something as jimmy did that's is great. An informed voter is what we need. But when you throw in things like "for lack of a better word, "throw" at a commissioner's race" (his words)" then you insinuate wrong doing, not facts. It would do everyone more good to stick with facts. There are many of them for both candidates.

Let's get right to the facts. R is a campaign hack.
No one posts as much as he has here unless he's on a mission. He also posted about 3 pages of the same kind of nonsense on the Gwinnett Daily Post site. R pulled the same stunts before the July election only that time he was either working for Korom or setting things up for the Hunter campaign. Maybe both.
I am very close to being able to expose R's real identity. If I get the information I've been promised it will be a real eye-opener.
R has his little group in the Dacula area and they post back and forth to make it look like his phony charges are true. Like I said R is a campaign hack. If you think he isn't being paid or compensated some other way you are too naive for your own good.
Not much to say about the pro Beaudreau people who are posting. Ackridge is a real person who believes in Beaudreau and isn't shy about saying so. Pretty much the same with other pro Beaudreau people. They are real and don't hide who they are.
Now get ready to read R's response where he denies everything and talks about how he is just a concerned citizen who only wants truth, justice, mom and apple pie.

What one can get paid to post to the patch?? Who woudda thunk it.

1. The trash deal worked out well for the county.
2. The airport should have been studied for commercial viability.
3. Mike was kind and soft-spoken in the video's sited. He was also there, in person, taking responsibility and explaining his decisions.
4. While I understand the N.I.M.B.Y. reasoning of the constituents on the videos, I can not imagine anything that would improve the economics of Gwinnett County more than 100 or so flights a day of commercial jets in and out of Briscoe. I doubt it would have negatively affected many people's property values, and believe it would have positively affected the property values of the great majority of Gwinnett county residents.
5. I live within 5 miles of Briscoe, and was all for seeing if it was possible to have a well-run, privatized, commercial airport there. I am disappointed in the elected leaders who did not try to pursue this possible opportunity.

R, I am paying 18.65 monthly. That is less than I paid in the past, and I doubt that is "far more than the surrounding areas pay." Got any facts?

I'm not sure if I am pasting this right, but I read this in another column on the Patch. Maybe Sabrina won't ask Floyd, but I want to know if Floyd or anyone else thinks this is right what the school is doing. And didn't Beaudreau vote for the county to do this too? I think Beaudreau gives the chamber 500K a year.
1. Gwinnett County Public Schools has been paying the salaries of Gwinnett Chamber employees since 2007.
2. The payments now appear to total approximately $900,000, but there is no contract to outline what the chamber is doing in return for the payments.
3. Superintendent Wilbanks sits on the board of the chamber.
4. GCPS issued a statement claiming they received $6 million in return for making those payments, but admit they have never asked the chamber to explain their wild claim of generating $800 million in economic activity with 2 employees.
5. GCPS said Superintendent Wilbanks met with the board to discuss this and got their approval. The board requested annual reviews to determine the benefits. There are no minutes to memorialize this meeting and no review was ever done to determine the benefits. Board members have refused to answer any questions.
Floyd, can you honestly tell me if you came across the above-mentioned issues, you would have just dropped it without attempting to learn more? I can answer that question for you. I know you would have continued to ask questions, just as we have done.

Hi Harold: My understanding is that the county is holding back the $500,000 payment to the chamber this year. Beaudreau did vote to approve the payments in the past.

I would be shocked if anyone tried to defend what Gwinnett County Public Schools has done by giving education funds to the chamber, but if anyone does, I would love to read their attempt to explain how GCPS got $6 million in return for the payments.

An apples to apples comparison of garbage rates would show that you can't provide the level of service that Gwinnett county is getting for $10 monthly. CBS would have done a follow up story if the price was out of line. I am certain Gwinnett followed a bid process and the market reached a reasonable price. I'm glad my neighbors don't need to burn their trash in a pile (or dump it on a dirt road) to try to save money.

Hi Ned: Nope. There was not a bid process. The original plan approved by the BOC was ruled unconstitutional, so the plan we have now was negotiated to settle the lawsuits. My point about the $10 per month plan in neighboring counties is that it would allow those people who find it fits their needs to sign up for that plan if we did not have a county mandated trash plan. You say it may not include all of the bells and whistles that the Gwinnett plan includes. That may be true, but what about the singles who travel out of state Monday through Friday for their job and have a handful of trash per month? What about other people who may not need all of the extras, but are required to pay for them anyway? The $10 per month plan might have been perfect for some people and not for others. Allowing consumers to choose instead of government would have allowed people to buy trash plan that fit their needs. Even if a trash company approached Gwinnett County today and said they would provide all of the services we have now at half the price, the county could not do it. We are stuck with this multi- year plan because getting out of the contract would cost taxpayers more than they could ever save. The contract we have now was created to settle the lawsuits.

And just for fun, grins and giggles
http://dacula.patch.com/articles/sparks-begin-to-fly-in-race-for-district-3

J. Morley 8:43 am on Sunday, May 27, 2012
Kevin sorry to inform you, but Kennerly has never appointed Tommy to anything.

Mike Beadreau was the guy that appointed Tommy to the W&SA. I wonder why Beadreau would appoint Tommy to anything?

Well everyone...it's been just what I said it would be...more and more hysteria. I bet it gets even better tomorrow. I did enjoy Sabrina's self absorbed posting of a link that had her in the video. Notice how she did the two step when challenged why there was no follow up to the story?

I can't remember who it was but someone asked if I were doing a personal investigation of the GCPS stuff, or something similar, if I would continue to ask questions. My answer, on a general level, is heck ya. I'll get made fun of again but I am a data analyst by DNA. I will be here August 22nd, as promised, to discuss the economics involved...IF sabrina shows up.

BTW...if any one sees or talks to Jim Regan let him know that ht Richmond Fed has a good article on aviation and regional airports in their 2011 4th quarter magazine. Good informative read.

Well everyone... it's been just what we would expect out of Floyd. All bluster and no facts. You have done nothing to refute any of the facts presented. If you are so sure you are right, why wait until the 22nd? If your facts are solid, why would you hide them until after the election? If you can refute everything that R has written, wouldn't you want to do it now? If we were researching this, we would call your lack of facts a red flag.

Sabrina...it's is you who is the one who still will not answer to the readers here why you, as the leader of a group calling for RESPONSIBLE government, endorsed a candidate with a brand new ethics violation and then didn't withdraw that endorsement when ethics violations #2 and #3 appeared. When I finally drew a statement out of you your response was basically that they didn't matter.

That's why I'm waiting until the 22nd. You don't make it to the foul line in convincing me that you care about responsible government when you endorse irresponsiblity.

If you are sincere in caring about the issue outside of some psycobabble attack on Commissioner Beaudreau then the 22nd will work fine for you. Personally I don't think you'll show but I hope you do. Love economics. Minored in International Economics and have observed the economies of 16 different nations. Always more to learn for sure.

Proverbs tells us as a dog returns to its own vomit so does a fool to his folly. Frankly, for months, AS YOU WELL KNOW, I have been here taking on all comers who want to throw their hysterical accusations at Mike Beaudreau. I have no need to re-re-re-re-re-reanswer the "facts" quoted by R.

Question for you...did you ever call Republic and find out if that $10 per month charge for garbage services was a teaser rate and/or subdized by the county government?

Hi Floyd: I wonder if I am the only one who notices that you always talk about yourself and never get around to anything of substance. You've been to 16 countries? Wow. You minored in international economics? I'm impressed. After learning that, I'm too afraid to debate you anymore. I'm glad you are giving me a reprieve until the 22nd.

Floyd: You're too smart for me. I give up. I would be too intimidated to try to have a real discussion with someone who has been to 14 different countries. I'm glad I found out about that now.

Is that it? I just popped a new bag of corn.

For me it is about more than the trash issue. Beaudreau campaigned on smart growth in his first election. I did not see him say no to one project. Rubber stamping every project is smart growth? His recent proposal to raise taxes was enough for me. Just say NO to Beaudreau!

On the off chance that anyone other than the people posting are reading the comments above, consider the sources. This whole "conversation" is between people who strongly support their respective candidates, and in my opinion, have let their fervor frequently overstep the bounds of reason. That's not a bad thing. It's the exercising of American freedom at its finest. However, as with any strongly partisan dialogue, facts and opinion have frequently been thrown into a blender, which makes it extremely difficult to distinguish one from another.
I'm voting for Mike Beaudreau for a number of reasons, none of which have been discussed in the comments above. (I'm just mentioning it in the interest of full disclosure.) Why should that matter to you? It shouldn't. Nor should any of the comments from people posting here. Everyone should make decisions based on his or her own research, and personal discussions with people they know and respect.
As for blogs and comments-- you (hopefully) wouldn't invest money based on the recommendation of a blogger you don't even know. Why would you "invest" in a candidate based on recommendations made by equally unknown people?

Pure Entertainment ........ I bet you don't see this kind of stuff going on in Snellville . LOL

M.K.-- Oddly enough we don't, at least not to this extent. We have other "issues" in Snellville, but there are typically only a few short and predictable responses to a blog post or online article. The conversation here now has 112 comments. As I recall, even the mayor's controversial request for the city attorney to look into a firearms ban only drew 10 to 12 comments.

I was referring to your city council and not so much the other blogs .

When the clock struck high noon on this overcast Sunday afternoon a few moments ago, there was 43 hours left before the polls will open at 7 AM on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, for the runoff election for the Distrist 3 Commissioner's post and the non-partisan election for judges to fill one seat in State Court and one seat in Superior court Superior Court . The District 3 Commissioner's seat is one that has been of interest to me. I cannot truthfully say that I have read all of the comments on Dacula Patch which have been posted to the various articles such as Vanessa's article, but I can say that I have probably read the majority of them. In doing so, since the campaign season started and after reading said comments, I surmise that the mindset of some voters may be that of having a political vendetta. If so, you may be throwing out the baby with the bath water. I have read many comments about Mike Beaudreau not being responsive, not returning calls, not replying to e-mails, being rude, etc. to his constituents. Have I ever called Mike? To the best of my recollection I have not. Why? I suppose I realize that he has a full time job as National Account Manager with Ricoh. A job that puts bread on the table. He has a part time job as District 3 Commissioner. A job that, with the hours that he puts in, takes away from his personal life. (see Orr con't #1)

(Orr con't #1) Have I ever e-mailed Mike with a concern? You betcha. Did he reply? Yes, he did indirectly by forwarding my e-mail to the dept.head in either the Dept. of Transportation or Water Resources in which the majority of my concerns have been. After recieving a reply from the dept. head, another e-mail would come from the responsible person in county government who would address my concern. So in my book, this constitutes a reply. Mike and I did e-mail back & forth on a concern I had with getting an existing traffic signal retrofitted with a left turn arrow. Seems the GA DOT was involved but Mike kept me abreast of what was going on until a successful conclusion was reached. As for Mike being rude, I cannot speak to this point as he has never been rude to me during the numerous times I have met with him on Saturday mornings in his "Meetings with Mike" or before/after BoC meetings. Perhaps if you approached him with an adversial attitude you may have caused the short hairs on his neck to stand up. Speaking for myself, if you approach me with an adversarial attitude things will not go well with us. Translated, if you step on my toes I am going to stomp on your toes.
(See Orr con't #2)

(Orr con't #2) In previous postings I have made mention of campaign contributions. Let me say this, whether you contribute absolutely nothing or contribute a large sum to Mike's campaign coffers same makes no difference with you having or not having a place at the table of county governmemnt in District 3. Mike will meet you at the table. Although I am not a subject matter expert, I am blessed to have a working knowledge of stormwater infrastructure. Yes, I am a member of the Gwinnett County Stormwater Authority. No, Mike did not appoint me. I applied for my seat on the authority in accordance with the Act of our state legislature which created the authority. Yes, Mike is well aware of a stormwater issue I have. I am confident that with Mike's input, the issue will be resolved in a manner that is in the best interests of all parties concerned. Especially the taxpayers of Gwinnett County, GA. Tuesday, August 21, 2012, the polls will be opened from 7 AM to 7 PM. Vote and vote for whom you please, but please VOTE!

I like those items , I would not personally view them as a function of government but would openly applaud them in the private sector . I remember when my uncle was a big part of the old farmers market in snellville in the 70's and later in Lawrenceville . Im not sure to what extent you fund these items or if you do at all . But if your citizens vote it in then thats ok too.

Sounds like you know the right way to offer opportunity of specialty services without using the taxpayer as the sole capital investor of every whim . Good Job !

The next time I read about Mike conducting himself as a "strong conservative", I think I will vomit. He may have done some really great things mingled with some really unpopular things but STOP touting him as a strong conservative! PLEASE! That is, unless your definition of conservative believes that mandating anything (trash service) for FREE people is a good idea, than I would submit that your definition of conservative is simply wrong. Sell us how it was great for us but please stop with this "strong conservative" nonsense. Unless you want to give him a few asterisks here and there when touting his "conservative" record.