Gee Evan, thanks for cutting through the fog for us. I guess we are all too dumb to put it all together for ourselves.

The one thing you are missing Suzi is that all six are beholding to the Mayor-elect for his support and the special intrest groups/companies which have funded their campaigns and will look them to see which way the wind blows for each decision, whether it is in the best interest of Johns Creek or not.

I think this blog is a fairly useful idea, however the anonymous posts which fling un-supported mud really reduce the value of the entire blog.

Is there a way to turn off the anonymous feature?

If people feel strong enough to make a statement (like the one above) without basis in fact, they ought to have the guts to post their name and enter an honest debate with facts.

Jim, Unfortunately, this election has come to mirror the partisan down and dirty mud slinging that come to characterize American elections. I had personally hoped that it would be a race where things like passion, commitment and qualifications would be the basis for electing individuals. Instead we have professional marketing machines (at no small cost) at work crafting personas, messages and images to try to make their clients into the "perfect" candidate.
The anonymous posts fall into one of two categories: ones that support the marketing machine and ones that are trying to level the playing field. I'll get some guts (just kidding) this weekend and comment on the newer anonymous posts.
Evan Vayhinger
Candidate for Johns Creek City Council Post 4 - www.evforjc.com

That's a pretty wild accusation when you say, "all six are beholding to the Mayor-elect for his support and the special interest groups/companies which have funded their campaigns". Can you substantiate your statement?

I know a few of these candidates and feel you are way out of line! If you have any proof that a specific interest group or company has funded their campaigns, then I suggest you post that evidence. My guess is you have no proof at all!

The proof is from the campaign disclosure reports that each candidate files with the state and are public record. The companies that the group (including the mayor) has taken money from include CH2MHill, Equity Development (developer), the Columns Group (developer), Riley, Somebody and Sombody (forgive me for being forgetful) but they are the attorney for the city, Mark Buckhalters campaign and several others. As for beholding to the mayor, Wayne Carrol and Randall Johnson both had funraiser that the mayor attended and was the featured guest at. So if you want the proof yourself it costs $0.25 to copy at the Fulton County Election Office.

Contributions from CH2MHill!!!
Are you sure that the Mayor has taken contributions from CH2MHill??

Isn't he negotiating the contract between The City of Johns Creek and CH2MHill??

Liz Hausmann accepted the contributions from CH2MHill.

How can Liz Hausmann participate on the JC City Council and rule objectively on the work CH2MHill has performed after having accepted money from them?

On the surface, this sounds like conflict of interest to me.

I wish Liz would speak to this on this forum, because I'd like to see what others think as well.

Campaign donors are a public record that anyone can get from the Fulton Elections office. I agreed not to wage a negative campaign so I will not post that info. Please get it and give us your conclusions.
Evan Vayhinger
Candidate for Johns Creek City Council Post 4 - www.evforjc.com

It sounds like you want someone else to wage your negative campaign for you or you wouldn't have posted a reply. That's my conclusion!

Thanks for your posting about the Rivermont meet and greet on Sunday. I missed the other meet and greets, and I'm glad to hear that Rivermont is having one. I'm a Rivermont homeowner, but I didn't know about this meeting on Sunday.

I for one want to put it on the record that it was a travisty that Evan did not get the IAFF endorsement. The thought that someone who is a trained firefighter on the city council in my mind would be a dream come true for the IAFF. I posted on the northfulton.com about the same issue of endorsements. These endorsements are worth at times as much as the paper they are written on. My hope is that each voter gets information about all the candidates and makes an informed discision. I for one can say after spending a considerable amount of time with all of the candidates over the last two months, that ALL of the candidates are qualified in their own ways to be part of our first city council, and that you the voter need to decide who fits best with who.

Scott Thomson
Candidate - Johns Creek City Council Post 6

PS - Evan I agree the posts are amusing but it does look like it has driven traffic up on the blogs (Hmm.. I wonder if the election is getting near.)

I was just looking at the blog for the Johns Creek Herald and they mentioned a meet and greet at Rivermont CC for "some" of the candidates. The candidates were Johnson, McCabe, Carroll, Figuroa, Haussman and Miller. I was suprised that not all of the candidates were showing up since for most of the forums and town halls they have been there in mass. They also had all six of them in one add in the Herald's election edition. I am wondering if a collation of these candidates is forming, or if they are being hand picked by someone as the group who should run our city. Neither of these options is too reassuring to me since our mayor already is one of the most powerful in the state. Will this group vote as one, or will they be beholding to some special interest? maybe not but the possiblity is real. I guess I will be looking at some of the other candidates such as Vayhinger, Rolquin, Rich, Thomson and Swartzhoff.

While you are looking, don't forget Karen Richardson. She chaired the zoning committee for the Johns Creek Community Association. www.electkaren.net

Most powerful Mayor in the state?? How do you figure? He hasn't been elected yet, so how can he be one of the most powerful in the state? Does he have previous political history where he has demonstrated power? It takes time and opportunity to develop power. Aside from leading the movement to charter the city of Johns Creek, I haven't really seen him do anything that I would really consider to be "powerful".

As far as the coalition of candidates is concerned; that very interesting. Perhaps they have similar views on some key issues or something?? It does looks somewhat suspicious. The are six of them. Is this just a random collection of candidates, or does it represent a recommended slate of candidates for each post? If so, who's recommendation is it?

Johns Creek city government has a fundamental fallacy in that the Mayor has power over both Executive and Legislative braches of this government and that make him the most powerful mayor in the state.

The mayor votes with the city council (legislative brach)but also has veto power over the vote (Executive Branch). No other mayor in this state has that much power.

Irronically, the legistlator who introduced this fallacy as legistlation has also endorsed certain candidates, there must be a connection somewhere.

OK. I'm not tracking you here. What Legislator? What legislation? Which candidates? And lastly is any of this on the Web so I can read it for myself?

The bill creating the Johns Creek is at: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/versions/hb1321_HB_1321_AP_8.htm

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/versions/hb1321_HB_1321_AP_8.htm

Drake,

The Legislator I would imagine the anonymous post is refering to is Mark Burkhalter and the legislation would then be the city charter, and once again I am assuming that he is refering to the six candidates listed throughout this section. Mark Burkhalter has given money to one or two of those six as I can remember from looking at the financial disclosure reports when I filed mine.

Scott Thomson
Candidate - Johns Creek City Council Post 6

If you look closely at these 6 candidates, you will see that they are 6 from the original group to actually come together to form the commitees to get Johns Creek off the ground. Do you really want a candidate like Schwartzoff who actually campaigned against Johns Creek? He wanted to be annexed into Roswell.

If these 6 are somehow working together, I do not think it is a bad thing. All 6 of these are known to be conservative Republicans, so when a group such as Rivermont feels that these 6 can best represent their interests, it only makes sense for them to have a meet and greet with just those candidates.

I think this statement is not true. The original NEFSCO Finance Chair ws Brad Barks not Dand McCabe. Liz Hausmann and Randall Johnson did not join the Committee for Johns Creek until April of 2006. Bev Miller was an original Steering Committee Member but Wayne Carrel was never involved at all on the Committee for Johns Creek. Ivan was on a committee but no the Chair.

Ed Malloy was the NEFSCO Public Safety Chair and the CJC Police and 911 Committee Chair. Evan Vayhinger served on the NEFSCO Public Safety Committee and Finance Committee. He was the CJC Public Safety Chair for Fire and EMS. Karen Richardson was NEFSCO and CJC Zoning Chair. Dave Rich served on the CJC Public Safety - Police and 911 Committee.

I would imagine that the perception of the group being togeather is that they all share the same political consultant, have had several group meet and greets and have some of the same contributors to their campaign. As a candidate who seen these individuals at numerous events, I believe that they are honorable, would do the right thing, and vote their conscious (obviously I would like your vote and believe I bring a different perspective to the city, but don't all of us candidates). For the mayor being the most powerful, the AJC had an atricle a couple of days ago to a week ago about how by statue the mayor of Johns Creek will have significantly more power than most mayors in Georgia. This comes from the fact that he will be able to veto legislation, and vote for legislation as if he was a city council member. Lastly, for the republican issue, this is a non-partisan race thus the fact that these six individuals are republican, should not enter into the equation (by the way if asked I identify myself as a republican and have a significantly lighter wallet over the years to prove it). As was mentioned in the North Fulton Republican party email to a number of members and candidates, the Republican party would not endorse any of the candidates for the race (because it was non-partisan) and there were a number of candidates that had conservative republican values.

Scott Thomson - Candidate Johns Creek City Council Post 6

Republican vs. Democrat SHOULD be an issue even though this is a non-partisan race. This speaks to the candidates' basic political beliefs and make-up. Without a good forum (debate, etc.) to review the candidates, political orientation is an excellent, broad based tool for understanding what you are getting in a race that is hard to get even metering of those who are running. Because of the heavily conservative area, many candidates have been reluctant to make public the fact that they are democrat. This can be evidenced by the fact that most Demos have left that fact off of their political signs while Repubs have "Republican" proudly displayed on theirs. I would challenge all candidates to reveal their political orientation. I do not think many democrats will be doing that anytime soon. At least not until after the election!

I guess I'll weigh in here on this issue. I wrote the blog post (on this site) about Sonny Perdue and Mark Taylor. So you can perhaps guess my position on the question of Party affiliation--I'm currently disgusted with both Parties. Anyone who goes out of their way to align themselves with a Party will probably not get my vote. I'm looking for Commissioners who will educate themselves on the issues and are not afraid to vote the issues--independent of Party rhetoric!

...and thats all I have to say about that....
(run Forest!...ruuunnn!!...)

Which Dems - 2nd request
You charge that the Dems are hiding their party affiliation.
Can you back up that charge by identifying which Dems are doing so?

Please read my last post and my initial post very carefully. I realize you may have to go very slow. I never stated any are "hiding" their party affiliation. Most, if not all are not open about it while Repubs are. Hiding is answering "no" or not answering the question when asked about party affiliation. I don't think they are doing that. They are just using the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I have not seen "Democrat" on any political literature or signs. Is anyone open and outspoken about the fact that they are a demo?

Oh. OK.
Sure thing... ...

Oliver

Which Democrats hide...
Please specify which Democratic candidates hide their party affiliation.

Thank you.
Oliver

I don’t know that any are trying to “hide” their affiliation nor should they be. They are though reluctant and less than forthcoming to declare themselves as a democrat. Republicans have used street signs, mailers, meet ’n’ greets, blogs, and all other venues and have been ever ready to declare their affiliation. The democrats, for the most part, have not.

I ask again:
Which Democrats.
Please name them.

Oliver

This is a fairly common thing around metro Atlanta. It is call a special inmprovement district (SID). I know that Buckhead has one and I am thinking that Sandy Springs has one as well, and I know there are several others that off the top of mind head I can't think of. The reason that the businesses end up being for it is that traffic can be a big reason to not visit a business or for a business to not locate in that particular shopping center or business park. If I am elected and Skip introduced it, I would be for it.

Scott Thomson
Candidate - Johns Creek City Council Post 6

I disagree with your assessment of Bev Miller's response, Drake. We should indeed have a surplus, even after making improvements to the current level of services we receive from Fulton County. I have known Bev for the past nine years, having worked with her on a variety of community service issues. Be assured that I have never known Bev to make any kind of public statement without a thorough knowledge of the facts. She has high expectations for Johns Creek, and I am thrilled to know that we can acheive Bev's expectations without raising taxes! As Bev has pointed out, this will take a dedication to fiscal conservatism, and I am confident that Bev can and will find a way to make this happen. I'm more than a little concerned that Don Schwartzhoff is already entertaining thoughts of a tax increase. It's a bit like throwing in the towel - and our money - before the city even gets off the ground.

Drake,

I agree with your assesment that my answer is an absolute. As a conservative I am very much of the opinion that increasing taxes on any level is just a way to take money out of the pockets of those that really need it, the voters. My plan to increase revenue is not by raising taxes, but to raise economic activity within the city. I would be whole heartedly in favor of adding an economic development person to the city staff to help with this endevor. The area I would want them to focus on would be such things as making sure that high end business fully utilize the Technology park, and making sure that sure that businesses that fail have replacements (ie the old Harris Teeter/Kroger grocery store at Abbotts Bridge and 141 which has been vacent for awhile).

Sincerely
Scott Thomson
Candidate - Johns Creek City Council Post 6

Now I like that idea--hiring a business development person for the city. I might be inclined to apply for that one myself ;-)

A few of us voters got together at the last candidate forum and discussed a few things, such as candidate response on mass transit, taxes, partisanship, the new high school location, and of course there was the rumor mill. I normally don't listen to gossip and rumors, but since I know so little about the candidates, I thought I'd listen in case I heard something that sounded credible (or maybe even incredible). Sorry, I digress.

One of the topics we discussed was infrastructure improvements and how to fund them. My take-away from that discussion was this. The only source of revenue the government has is taxes and fees. They either tax the citizens, or they tax business. So you talk about keeping taxes low, and raising the economic activity of the area through business development. Does that mean you favor impact fees and taxing the business base? Otherwise how will increased economic activity result in increased revenue for the City of JC?

Drake,

If you increase the economic activity, you will do several things: 1) The city will see an increase of Local Option Sales Tax money due to the increase in total sales for the collective of the new businesses. This would be the case for any retail type business. 2) For any business, you would see an increase in the occupational taxes (business license fees) 3)The new business would also pay a number of fees for such things as 911 service, which are currently collected under normal circumstances there by increasing the base of which those services are spread over.

One of the major benefits of this approach is that businesses usually do not require the same level of service that an individual would require. What I mean by that is for example, how often do you hear of businesses requiring police assistance, while it happens, it just doesnt happen to the same degree.

Scott Thomson
Candidate - Johns Creek City Council Post 6

I think there was no contest. Bev clearly stood out as the best candidate for Post 6. She has well formulated views on all the important issues, and communicates them well, aside from a couple of alzheimer's moments--which anyone over 40 can relate...ah...well,

Um...What was I saying????

I too attended the candidate forum yesterday.

I thought Bev Miller was the most charismatic of the bunch. She also convinced me that she has loads of experience--although I can't remember exactly what that experience consisted of. Afterwards while discussing with others, I was told she is one of the inner circle of candidates. I sense some have a bit of disdain for this inner circle if it indeed does exist. I heard words such as sense of entitlement, and expected to win, being invited/encouraged to run for the seat, by others in the inner circle. I hope this is not true. Its difficult to get to know these candidates personally, but on the surface, I liked her.

Scott Thomson reminded us that he is a civil engineer and therefore uniquely qualified to participate in decisions regarding city infrastructure , etc. I tend to agree with him. I think some Councilmembers with niche knowledge in key areas will help balnce the Council. Right now, I'm leaning toward Thomson because I want to ensure there are some specialists on the Council and not all Generalists.

One note: I didn't like Thomson's response about whether he supported Mass transportation in JC. But for that matter, I didn't like Bev Miller's or, Donald Schwartzhoff's response either. They all seem to think Mass Transporation only made sense if utilized by the residents of Johns Creek. I think the major benefit of a Mass Transit system (i.e MARTA) in JC would be to efficiently move the daily Commuters through JC, who reside outside of JC. As someone astutley pointed out--the solution to traffic congestion must be created at a regional level--JC cannot create an effective solution. This problem transcends JC, or any other single community including the city of Atlanta itself.

In response to the comment about Bev Miller being in the "inner circle" I'd like to say kudos to her and everyone else who took the intiative without any guarantee that their time and energy spent were going to amount to anything. And for who? For us, the residents of Johns Creek. These people, Bev included, sacrifice personal time away from family to make this the best place in Georgia to live. Thank you to all of those in the "inner circle" who actually know, care and have interest in our community. Much more than I can say for myself! I rely on these people. And as far as liking Bev and her charisma? I know her personally outside of politics and say she is the "real deal."