Southern Political Report

Study Shows Which College Buildings Are Underused

Walter Jones

ATLANTA -- A two-year study by the University System of Georgia shows classrooms are empty during most of the week.

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SC Woman Wins Benefits After Refusing Flu Shot

By Morris News Service

COLUMBIA -- The way Pamela Crowe saw it, she had to choose between keeping her job or protecting her life.

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	*5/23/2013 — Walter Jones:* Forecast: Savannah Job Base to Grow 2.3%**
	ATLANTA -- The metro Savannah economy will grow better than the state this year, according to Georgia State University's quarterly economic forecast released Wednesday.

	*5/23/2013 — Matt Towery:* When the Messenger Gets Shot, Others Are Sure to Follow**
	In the world of White House politics and the politics of handling the White House press corps, the president's press secretary is the most visible target and often the first to fall when the media turns on an administration.

	*5/22/2013 — Walter Jones:* Environmental Group Has Questions for Utility Execs**
	ATLANTA - Members of the environmental group the Sierra Club plan to use today's Southern Company annual shareholder meeting as an opportunity to grill executives about construction overruns and renewable energy.

	*5/22/2013 — Sarita Chourey :* Hope for Drinking Water Wells**
	COLUMBIA -- Signaling progress toward saving area drinking water wells, Georgia has placed a moratorium on new groundwaterpumping from the Floridan Aquifer.

	*5/21/2013 — Walter Jones:* Georgia's Inmate Population Declines**
	ATLANTA -- A year after relaxing sentencing for minor crimes, Georgia is seeing the first hints of an inmate-population decline.

	*5/21/2013 — Morris News Service:* New Georgia GOP Chairman Elected**
	ATHENS -- Athenian John Padgett is the new chairman of the Georgia Republican Party.

	*5/20/2013 — Hastings Wyman:* Florida: Governor’s Race Up In the Air**
	“I have no plans to run for governor. I have no intention of running for governor,” US Sen. Bill Nelson (D) told Tampa Bay Times Bureau Chief Alex Leary recently. “Why can’t you accept the King’s English?” That of course begs the question, Why not a Sherman statement? “If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.” And that Nelson has not said.

	*5/20/2013 — Morris News Service:* Georgia GOP Convention**
	ATHENS -- Appealing to minority voters was ranked as key to the Republican Party's survival at the second day of the state convention in Athens.

	*5/17/2013 — Morris News Service:* Sonny Perdue's Cousin Considering Run for Senate**
	Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue stumped on Tuesday for a cousin considering a run for the U.S. Senate.

	*5/17/2013 — Walter Jones:* Southern CEO Says Vogtle Overruns Won't Impact Customers**
	ATLANTA - Cost overruns on the construction of two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle won't end up making a significant impact on customers' monthly electricity bills, the chief executive officer of Southern Company said Thursday.

	*5/16/2013 — Walter Jones:* Fed Economist Says Manufacturing Strong, Growing**
	ATLANTA -- Gloom and doom pronouncements about the state of American manufacturing are uninformed and wrong, according to a senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank.

5/16/2013 — Matt Towery: 'When Those Liberals Start Mixing Into Policy ...'

"When those liberals start mixing into policy, it's murder."

That quote came from none other than John F. Kennedy in 1962, taken from a source in a Newsweek article, and later discussed with his friend Ben Bradlee, then of Newsweek and later the head of The Washington Post during the Watergate years.

	*5/15/2013 — Sarita Chourey :* DNR Chief Has Brush With Saltwater Plume**
	COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s top natural resources official drinks saltwater. He doesn’t do it to show solidarity with the Bluffton-Hilton Head area, where some drinking water wells have been tainted by saltwater intrusion. Rather, S.C. DNR director Alvin Taylor’s well has been contaminated for about two years.

	*5/15/2013 — Hastings Wyman:* North Carolina: GOPers Circling Around Hagan**
	The last time an incumbent Democratic US Senator was reelected in North Carolina was 1968, when the legendary Sam Ervin won his fifth term with 61% of the vote. Since then, under the onslaught of the growth of a vibrant, if not always victorious, conservative Republican Party, a GOP challenger has managed to unseat every freshman Democratic senator.

	*5/14/2013 — Hastings Wyman:* Obama and an Overreach of Power**
	Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. These powerful words, penned by British moralizer Lord Acton in the 19^th Century (thank you, Google), came to mind when I first saw the Huffington Post story that the Department of Justice has been collecting data on telephone calls made by Associated Press journalists, including some of those in the House of Representatives press gallery.

	*5/14/2013 — Walter Jones:* Voting Trends can Alter Political Landscape**
	ATLANTA -- Adding to the Democrats' delight and the Republicans' woes is new data showing the voter-turnout trends are tipping the partisan balance.

	*5/13/2013 — Sen. Buddy Carter:* Enough is Enough**
	The public is beginning to lose its faith in the Environmental Protection Division and its projects.

	*5/13/2013 — Walter Jones:* GOP Meets in Athens to Pick Chairman**
	ATLANTA -- More than 2,000 Republican delegates will vote May 18 on the state party's new chairman, potentially setting the path for the next generation of campaigns.

	*5/10/2013 — Morris News Service:* Ga. Tax Collections Up 13% in April**
	ATLANTA -- An improving economy pushed Georgia tax collections up 13 percent in April, Gov. Nathan Deal's office announced Wednesday.

	*5/10/2013 — Morris News Service:* South Carolina Celebrates Confederate Memorial Day May 10**
	COLUMBIA -- South Carolina state government will be closed Friday, May 10, in observance of Confederate Memorial Day.

Around the South

Mississippi, North Carolina, & Tennessee

Mississippi: Will Cochran run again? If not, who will? US Sen. Thad Cochran, 75, who will complete his sixth term in the Senate next year, hasn’t decided whether he will seek reelection, reports South Mississippi’s Sun Herald. In an interview published last week, Cochran said he didn’t want to make a decision before he had to, noting the party primaries will be in June of next year. If he runs, he’s a shoo-in. If he doesn’t, names being mentioned to claim his seat include, for the GOP, state House Speaker Philip Gunn, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, State Auditor Stacey Pickering and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. In addition, one or more of the state’s US House members (R) might run. For the Democrats, Attorney General Jim Hood and former governors Ronnie Musgrove and Ray Mabus, now US Navy Secretary, are in the mix.

North Carolina: Hagan leads, but… US Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) leads all but one of her potential 2014 opponents, but continues to poll under 50% in Public Policy Polling’s May survey. Hagan ties her strongest potential rival, State Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry (R), 45%-45%. She leads her other potential foes (R), including state legislative leaders Phil Berger and Thom Tillis, and US Reps. Virginia Foxx and Renee Ellmers, but never broke 50%, an important mark for incumbents. Foxx, Berry and Ellmers – all women – were the top three favorites among GOP voters.

Tennessee: Support grows for gay unions. The latest Vanderbilt University survey shows that 49% of Tennesseans support either same sex marriage or civil unions, while 46% remain opposed to both, reports The Tennessean. This contrasts sharply with a 2006 referendum, when 81% voted for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, and “the only legally recognized marital contract” in the state.

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