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The PBA of GA endorses
Mark Taylor for Governor, Karen Handel
for Secretary of State, and Thurbert Baker
for Attorney General. We ask all members and
their families and friends to support these
candidates. Based on our screening process, the
responses the candidates gave to our law
enforcement related questions, and the proven
record each candidate has with the PBA, we very
strongly believe these are the very best
candidates for the state of Georgia in general
and the public safety community in particular.
On May 12, 2006 the PBA of Georgia Division
Screening Committee interviewed 14 candidates
for state office. They were running for
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General,
and Secretary of State. All of the registered
candidates were invited; however, Sonny Perdue
did not care enough about Georgia public safety
officers to attend in person or set up a phone
conference.
Screening questions were sent to the candidates
in advance and covered the following issues for
governor and lieutenant governor:
1. Fairer Representation on POST Council
Membership for Officers.
2. Enhanced Retirement Benefits for
Officers.
3. Health Insurance Cost Reductions for
Officers and their Families.
4. Reasonable Pay Scale and Cost of
Living Adjustments for Officers.
5. State Mandated Disciplinary Due
Process Rights for all Officers.
6. Increasing Georgia’s Indemnification
Benefit for Officers’ Families.
The PBA screening process requires that the
candidates be scored from 1 to 5 based on how
well they answer each question. All the
candidates that appeared in front of the
committee were only asked those questions that
were mailed to them in advance. At the end of
the screening, the committee reviewed the
candidates’ scores, discussed pros and cons of
each, and made a recommendation for the Georgia
Division Board’s approval.
The very diversified screening committee was
made up of chapter representatives from 11
chapters covering every spectrum of our
membership. Jason Sunday, Division Senior Vice
President, was the Chairmen of the Screening
Committee and he also represents the South
Georgia Chapter as President. Other committee
members were: Jackie Lee, Division Vice
President and West Central GA President; John
Sisk, Division Secretary and North GA President;
Jerome Little, COBA Chapter President; Al Hagan,
GBI Chapter Chairman; John Crumbley, SLEO
Chapter Senior Vice President; Benita Childs,
Flint River Chapter President; Josh Cothern,
Atlantic Chapter President; Marcia Dell, Atlanta
PD Chapter Senior Vice President; David Webb,
Fayette County Chapter President; and Peter
Wolfe, Alcovy Chapter Senior Vice President.
The race for Attorney General was no contest,
only Thurbert Baker answered all the questions.
In fact he was very thorough and even made
several suggestions about legislation to better
the working conditions for Georgia’s public
safety officers. As a reminder, retired officers
in Georgia would not have qualified to carry
under federal law (HR 218) without the
leadership of Attorney General Thurbert Baker.
He stepped forward when others in Georgia were
ready to say “the hell” with retirees. He
literally brought all the parties to the table
and provided the means for a solution to be
reached.
After the primary we had to re-consider our
position on the lieutenant governor and
secretary of state races. All of our active
chapters were contacted about voting to endorse
those candidates that appeared in front of the
committee and had not been endorsed in the
primary. Ballots were tabulated based on each
chapter’s total membership. Pursuant to SSPBA
Policy 00-18, VI, D, we had to reach a 60%
benchmark of the total Division membership in
order to make an endorsement. We easily did for
Karen Handel for Secretary of State. However, we
were unable to make an endorsement in the
lieutenant governor’s race as no candidate was
able to reach the 60% level. The primary
endorsements for Governor and Attorney General
were successful so they carry over to the
general election.
Karen Handel was clearly the best candidate for
Secretary of State to appear in front of the
screening committee. Because of the large field
of candidates in the primary, no candidate was
able to meet the 60% benchmark. However, she was
the hands down winner of the chapters voting
after the primary.
Please support and vote for our candidates and
our proven friends in the November 7, 2006
General Election:
Governor - Mark Taylor
Attorney General - Thurbert Baker
Secretary of State - Karen Handel
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