Campaign Watch

Your election headquarters for local politics in 2012

About Jeff Anderson, Democratic candidate, District 11 seat in Congress (Bartow, Cherokee counties)

-Media release: Jeff Anderson is a 22-year resident of metro Atlanta, nearly all in the 11th Congressional District. He settled here after eight years of active service as a U.S. Navy pilot, including three overseas tours.

A commercial airline captain today, Jeff is a 1982 cum laude graduate of Tulane University with a B.A. in History and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Legal Justice School.

Anderson lives in Acworth with his wife Lauri and their
seven children. They are widely involved in community
volunteer services, especially in activities involving their children and church community.

Anderson's pursuit of Congressional office is a natural
extension of his longtime public service and focus. Jeff
recognizes the decayed state of our contemporary governing
and candidacy responsibly upholds his personal motto:

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the
problem.”

Jeff presents a platform designed not for political purpose, but for actual betterment of our national condition.

-For more on Anderson: Facebook

Santorum takes second Floyd straw poll in four days:

-With Super Tuesday 13 days away, Republican Ron Santorum continues to surge in local "straw polls" of the GOP faithful and the Rome Tea Party.

-A "large Ron Paul turnout" by supporters on Tuesday at the tea party's meeting at Fuddruckers gave the candidate the biggest gain of any of the GOP's final four: from 5 percent in January to 32 percent on Tuesday. Sixty or so voted each time.

-The other big gainer: Santorum with a 25-point swing month-to-month. A straw poll Saturday of Republicans showed Santorum with nearly 40 point and Newt Gingrich in the No. 2 spot

-The straw poll on the SPLOST extension came back 91 percent against, 6 percent in favor and the rest undecided. Rome Tea Party.

-Advance voting in the March 6 presidential primary continues at the elections office through March 2. The SPLOST extension also is on the Rome, Floyd, Cave Spring ballots. Rome voters will decide whether to allow Sunday alcohol package sales.

Santorum wins straw poll at Floyd GOP's precinct meeting

(2/18/12) The largest crowd ever gathered Saturday for the 2012 Floyd County Republican Precinct Mass Meeting. Republicans from around Floyd gathered to elect delegates and alternates to the county convention. They also held a straw poll for president:

-Rick Santorum: 39.6%
-Newt Gingrich: 25.3%

-Ron Paul: 19.7%
-Mitt Romney: 15.4%

About the March 6 SPLOST extension vote

All Floyd County voters have a chance on March 6 to decide on a proposal to extend the current penny SPLOST tax to help provide funds for critically needed areas as defined by Floyd County, Rome and Cave Spring governments.

This is not an extra penny sales tax; it extends a penny-per-dollar SPLOST we're already paying.

SPLOST basics:

-How long would it last: 27 months, starting July 2013.

-Projected revenue: $1.2 million a month.

-Total revenue: $32.4 million.

How it would be shared:

-Floyd County government: $18,261,200
-City of Rome: $13,737,600
-City of Cave Spring: $401,200

FLOYD COUNTY: Key county needs

-For a special PDF presentation on the county's needs and financial situation, please click Floyd County.

Public Works $4,518,882
-Grading and Stabilization Equipment
-Paving Equipment
-Pickup and Dump Trucks
-Fueling Tank

Purchase Title to Fire Trucks under lease purchase $750,000
Police Vehicles $700,000
Sheriff Vehicles $300,000

Purchase Title to Equipment under lease purchase $1,382,951
Police, Public Works, Prison, EMA, other

Information Technology Equipment $1,210,793
-Comprehensive Case Management System
-Criminal Justice System Data Exchanges
-Replace Servers and Routers

Recreation
-Equipment $304,219
-Facilities $0

Cooperative Extension 4-H van $40,000

Facility Repair Needs Total

County Building & System Repair $3,495,988
-1995 Law Enforcement Center Chillers and Control System
-1988 Jail Roof, Intercoms, Electronic Doors
-1890 Historic Courthouse Window Replacement & HVAC
-1992 Library HVAC & Control System Update

Capital Equipment & Facility Repair Subtotal $12,702,833

Transportation Improvements
-Roads (75 miles out of 90 mile backlog) $5,058,367
-Barron Road / Model High intersection improvements
-Old Calhoun Road resurfacing Bypass to Model High
-Floyd Springs Road (some portion)
-Old Rockmart Road (some portion)
-Texas Valley Road (some portion)
-Donahoo Road (some portion)
-Other

Drainage and Other Improvements $500,000
-Lindale drainage and sidewalks
-Riverside drainage and sidewalks
-Transportation Improvement Subtotal $5,558,367.

Latest Rome Tea Party presidential poll:

-Between 45 and 50 members and guests of the Rome Tea Party took part in the group's fifth presidential straw poll on Tuesday, says Mike Morton. Here's how the latest numbers came in:

-No. 1: Newt Gingrich, 40%. He has been on top for months, says Morton.

-No. 2: Mitt Romney, 25%, his first time "getting traction" in the local survey.

-No. 3: Rick Santorum, 9%, his highest numbers here yet.

-No. 4: Ron Paul, 5%, down a bit here.

-No. 5: Rick Perry, 5%,

-No. 6: Undecided, 9%, the highest yet.

The Floyd County Elections Office seeks poll workers to assist with elections to be held during 2012.

-New poll workers will attend training and could work at the elections office or other locations during the 21-day early voting period prior to each Election Day or at various precinct locations on Election Day.

-The following elections are planned for 2012; Presidential Primary – March 6; Primary Election - July 31; and the General election – Nov. 6. Details: 706-291-5168.

-Absentee voting under way for Georgia's presidential primary; advance voting starts Feb. 13. Primary

Campaign finance reports for Dec. 31

-The State Ethics Commission records below link you to each candidate's campaign finance report for Dec. 31. From there, you can check contributions, expenditures and other funds as of reports filed earlier this month.

State House

-District 12: Barbara Massey Reece, $9,285. Reece (Reece represents District 11 but the district gets a new number in 2012 election cycle as well as some changed boundaries)

-District 12: Eddie Lumsden, $925. Lumsden. (Lumsden is resigning his county commission seat in March to run for state House). Lumsden had $344 in his commission account.

-District 13: Katie Dempsey, $14,211. Dempsey. (Slightly redrawn district lines for 2012 re-election bid).

-District 14: Christian Coomer, $13,669. Coomer. (Little change to Coomer's district except for a few strategically drawn lines in the city of Rome).

-District 15: Paul Battles, $2,680. Battles. (Mostly Cartersville area district).

-District 16: Rick Crawford, $3,510. Crawford (District no longer includes three Floyd precincts in 2012).

State Senate

-District 31: Bill Heath, $101,398. Heath. (Heath will not represent Bartow thanks to reapportionment; retains Polk).

-District 52/14: Barry Loudermilk, $26,212 / $945 (Loudermilk currently represents District 52 which includes Floyd and parts of Gordon and Bartow counties; he'll run in 2012 for the District 14 seat which includes parts of Bartow and Cherokee counties).

-District 52: Chad Whitefield, $10,238. Whitefield. (Whitefield will resign his county commission seat in March to see the GOP nomination for state Senate).

-District 52: David Doss, $0. Doss (Doss, like Whitefield, is a declared candidate for the new 52 which includes parts of Floyd, Bartow and Gordon counties).

Floyd County Commission

-Post 3: Irwin Bagwell, $39. Bagwell (Is seeking new term in 2012).

-Post 2: Garry Fricks, $0. Fricks. (Up for new term this year)

-Post 4: Jerry M. Lee. $4,735. Lee   (Lee is running for the seat Eddie Lumsden will resign as he runs for state House.

Floyd County Sheriff

-Tim Burkhalter, $14, 281. Burkhalter. (Is seeking a third term)