Chickamauga City Manager Culpepper admits he was putting out Bebe! campaign signs on the clock October 2nd and isn’t sure if it’s ethical or not, but doesn’t care because the people of Chickamauga like her and think he’s doing a good job. One state ethics group says it’s “ill-advised” but not illegal, another says it breaks state law.

“I just made the decision on my own. Was it the correct decision as far as ethics and all that stuff? Probably not.”

In other words, he knows it’s illegal but he couldn’t care less. He’s so protected, his job is so secure, he can violate state law and tell us all to go to hell without fear.

So let’s ask Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens about using tax dollars to campaign for issues or candidates. What do you say, Sam?

“During a conference call Thursday, Olens said his letter to Barge did not ‘break new legal ground’ because public entities have never been able to spend tax dollars to voice their opinions.

“‘The government can’t tax you and then use your tax money to tell you how to vote,’ he said.”

Of course that’s a quote about school systems campaigning against the Charter Schools amendment, but it should apply to anything in the state. County and city government leaders cannot legally or ethically use government resources to campaign for candidates or issues.

Georgia has hundreds of millions of dollars in NWGA road projects on its to-do list, but can’t find funds to do them without federal help. And the counties don’t have money to do anything. But somehow GA can afford a new football stadium for the Falcons, and Walker County had no problem spending a few million on a farm in Kensington nobody ever uses. Priorities people, priorities.

Admittedly, if the Falcons keep playing as well as they have been (best record in the NFL right now) they deserve a better facility, but upgrading the Georgia Dome wouldn’t cost the BILLION dollars expected to go into a completely new stadium.

State transportation leaders like Jeff “Citizen of the Year” Mullis are going to have a hissy fit over TSPLOST not being passed and make us all walk. Or crawl if possible.

LaFayette High School homecoming parade tonight downtown beginning at 5:30. Traffic will be terrible south of Bi-Lo after 5 when the streets get blocked off between Margaret St and West Main. Parade should be over by 6:30 or 7.

LHS will play its homecoming football game against Dalton tomorrow night.

LaFayette Middle will also be having “homecoming” activities throughout the day today.

Also tonight: a 7 PM concert at the Civic Center to benefit Rossville Library. Overlapping with the parade in LaFayette may cut down on the number of people who attend, but it’s hard to find an open spot on the calendar when you plan a fundraiser with just 12 days notice.

Every – Single – Article about this mentions how much work Commissioner Bebe has put in to make the concert happen, but rarely do they mention she’s refused to cut back waste or pet projects from the county budget to keep the libraries open. It seems highly unlikely the concert will raise anything close to the $12,000 needed, but very likely a good bit of time during the concert (held less than three weeks away from election day) will be devoted to mentioning and thanking the Commissioner.

A new Web site dedicated to raising library funds has so far collected $2,300.

And a petition asking Bebe to fund the system by that amount has 154 signers.

Judy O’Neal, Bebe Heiskell, Steve Wilson, and Jeff Mullis don’t approve, but LU Facebook just crossed the 3,800 “Like” milestone. That’s 100 new people since last Thursday. Next week will also mark three years since the blog restarted. Thanks for all your support, even if we are terrible mudslingers nobody cares about or pays attention to.

So very many people in Walker County don’t care what’s said here or pay any mind those terrible people on the Underground… multiple times a day, seven days a week.

This is the second of three planned Candidate Q&A’s for the upcoming November election. Questions were e-mailed to both candidates for GA House District 1, Tom McMahan and John Deffenbaugh. The candidates are competing to replace Rep. Martin Scott in a district representing all of Dade County plus communities in Western Walker – Kensington, Lookout Mountain, Flintstone, and Rossville. While residents of LaFayette cannot vote in this race, it does matter to many LU readers and will impact the future of Walker County in several ways.

This is the second Q&A Mr. Deffenbaugh has refused to answer in 2012.

LU: What is your full name, and what name do you generally go by?

DEFFENBAUGH: [no response]

MCMAHAN: Thomas A. McMahan. “Tom” is fine.

LU: What is your age?

DEFFENBAUGH: [no response]

MCMAHAN: 45. I’ll turn 46 on Election Day (Nov 6)

LU: What is your address? (We will only publish the street, not your house number.)

DEFFENBAUGH: [no response]

MCMAHAN: Rising Fawn GA, New Salem community in Dade County on Lookout Mtn

Mr. Deffenbaugh has a Lookout Mountain address but lives in Dade County just past Covenant College off Hwy. 189.

LU: How can voters contact you or stay in touch with your campaign? (Please include info like e-mail, phone, Facebook, Twitter, etc. if applicable.)

DEFFENBAUGH: [no response]

MCMAHAN: E-mail: tommcmahan@yahoo.com
Phone: 423.314.7696
Facebook: macforgeorgia campaign page
Don’t tweet, sorry! ?

LU: How long have you lived in the county, and (if applicable) where else have you lived?

DEFFENBAUGH: [no response]

MCMAHAN: I grew up in Dade County, spending most of my childhood years living on Sand Mountain. After a few years of working/college, I decided to join the Navy. I moved back into the area to begin teaching after receiving my Masters Degree, living in Chickamauga from 2000 to 2003, until I purchased the home I currently live in.

Deffenbaugh’s campaign Web site says he has “lived over 40 years in Dade County.”

There were serious traffic problems on GA 136 over Taylor’s Ridge Tuesday morning, after a semi carrying scrap metal flipped over near Old Villanow Rd. around 5:30. The mess took hours to clean up while traffic (including school busses) had to be routed through Subligna and rural parts of Chattooga County.

Here’s Chickamauga City Manager John Culpepper putting out Bebe! signs in front of the Gordon Lee Mansion using a Chickamauga city truck. Where does the Heiskell campaign end and the Chickamauga government begin?

Unfortunately he doesn’t actually have any signs in his hand but the photographer said he was putting them up in advance of a Bebe fundraiser at the mansion, and the truck had several more in the back. Even if Culpepper himself didn’t erect the signs, it’s still illegal for them to be displayed on city-owned property.

Just another aspect of the Chickamauga Mafia.. They don’t care about campaign laws or ethics, just whatever it takes to stay in power.

New stop signs on Gordon Pond Rd. are apparently being taken down. That didn’t last long..

Drivers have complained for over a week that the new county-erected signs were dangerous as few people stop at them, and nearly run over the drivers who do. It’s still unclear why the signs were put up in the first place or why they were installed without adequate warning or law enforcement patrols to make them effective.

Early voting has begun in Georgia. You can vote now through November 2nd or hold off for voting day on the 6th – but please be sure to vote. Sample ballots and precinct information are available here through the GA MVP site. This is for county, state, and national races including Sheriff, Commissioner, GA House, US Congress, and President. It also has the Charter Schools amendment and another ballot measure plus all the races with no opposing candidate.

Here’s how to vote with the machine, if you’ve never done it before.

Before voting, check out all LU coverage of the 2012 election. An additional Q&A with House District 1 candidates McMahan and Deffenbaugh will be posted soon.

In related election news, there are still two legally qualified candidates for Walker County Commissioner: Ales Campbell and Bebe Heiskell.

WQCH Radio, 10/12/12: “AFTER RECEIVING A TELEPHONE ‘TIP’ THAT WRITE-IN CANDIDATE FOR COMMISSIONER, ALES CAMPBELL, HAD UNPAID TAX BILLS, ELECTIONS SUPERINTENDENT BARBARA BERRY CALLED THE COUNTY ATTORNEY FOR ADVICE. THAT ACTION, AND A SUBSEQUENT PRESS CONFERENCE CALLED BY ATTORNEY DON OLIVER TO RECUSE HIMSELF, LED TO AN APPEARANCE BY THE CANDIDATE BEFORE A MEETING OF THE WALKER COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS FRIDAY MORNING.

“MS. CAMPBELL TOLD THE BOARD THAT THE ACTION HAD DAMAGED HER CAMPAIGN, AND SHE ASKED FOR AN APOLOGY FROM ELECTIONS SUPERINTENDENT, BARBARA BERRY. SPECIFICALLY: FOR CALLING THE ATTORNEY BEFORE SHE CONTACTED THE CANDIDATE. CAMPBELL ALSO PRESENTED TO THE BOARD, WRITTEN EVIDENCE THAT ALL TAX BILLS HAD BEEN SATISFIED AND WILL SOON BE REMOVED FROM RECORDS IN THE CLERK OF COURTS OFFICE.

“JIM BUCKNER, A MEMBER OF THE ELECTIONS BOARD, TOLD CAMPBELL THAT THE SUPERINTENDENT WAS CORRECT IN CONSULTING THE COUNTY ATTORNEY ON THE MATTER AS THEY HAVE OFTEN DONE IN THE PAST. HE SAID THE BOARD MUST TAKE ANY ACCUSATION AGAINST A CANDIDATE SERIOUSLY AND INVESTIGATE IF NECESSARY. HE EMPHASIZED THAT NO ACCUSATIONS AGAINST CAMPBELL HAD COME FROM THE ELECTIONS OFFICE. AND FINALLY, HE SAID MS. BERRY SHOULD NOT HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FOR HER ACTIONS.

“ELECTIONS CHAIR EBETH EDWARDS SAID FROM THE BOARD’S POSITION THIS EVENT WAS A ‘NON-ISSUE’ AND THAT MS. CAMPBELL IS A QUALIFIED WRITE-IN CANDIDATE IN GOOD STANDING.”

The problem here isn’t Berry calling the county attorney, but with the county attorney calling a press conference to kick Ales around before anyone checked into the tax issues or even contacted Campbell about it. Almost like it was planned that way. The elections office is fine but it’d be interesting to know how the person who called Berry (Rock Spring resident and Ringgold business owner “Melissa Capehart”) accessed the records to begin with and how Heiskell supporters ended up with them before the elections board did.

Don Oliver should hold another press conference just like he did a week ago, declaring Campbell clear of the accusations and apologizing to her for doing the first press event. But he’s not going to do that; people close to the county attorney say he’s been calling all his friends and relatives begging them to support Heiskell so he can continue in his job long enough to get full retirement. If Heiskell is defeated Oliver will be out of a job, and he’s not going to get one elsewhere since he’s near retirement age and a convicted felon – that’s plenty of motive for him to do something unethical like the press conference.