Maybe it's just the arrogance of power. Polls show Perdue far ahead of Taylor, so he may feel there is no need to be accountable to the public.
An editorial from the Marietta Daily Journal:
It's time to add another item to Gov. Sonny Perdue's "Sonny Do" list: Explain to the public why he appeared to put his own financial interests ahead of what was best for the people of Georgia by ignoring the chance of a lifetime to create a 20,000-acre state park and wildlife preserve.
As revealed by the MDJ columnist Bill Shipp and the Atlanta newspapers, the governor passed up the chance for the state to acquire what is known as the Oaky Woods preserve in Houston County near Bonaire in Middle Georgia from timber giant Weyerhouser Corp. The bargain-basement asking price for the forest - one of the largest black-bear habitats in the Southeast - was only $30 million. Making the deal even more of a no-brainer, the Nature Conservancy, a national nonprofit environmental group, was willing to lend the state nearly all of the price if Perdue would commit to the full purchase later on.
All that was needed was a letter from the governor stating that yes, the state was interested in acquiring the tract at some unspecified later date for conservation purposes.
So what did Perdue do? Nothing. And now, it has come to light that Oaky Woods has been bought by developers for $32.1 million. They plan to bulldoze it to make way for 35,000 houses over the next quarter century, according to the Associated Press.
Perdue has weakly asserted in recent days that the state could not afford to purchase Oaky Woods because 2004 was a tight budget year. Well, just how tight was it? It seems the governor was willing to spend $84 million that year on roads, $35 million on the UGA Performing Arts Center, $11 million for a trade center in Columbus and $3 million to enlarge a golf course at Altamaha State Park.Perdue also has claimed Weyerhauser was unwilling to give the state sufficient time to get a financing proposal prepared for the property. Yet Weyerhauser says that is not true.
So why would the governor be so unwilling to do what was right regarding Oaky Woods? Ahh, here's where it gets interesting. It turns out he cut a deal in 2003 to purchase 101 acres next to the tract. The purchase was made by a company called Maryson LLC, of which Perdue and his attorney, state Rep. Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins) are the principals. The governor took title in May 2004 - nine days after the state told the Nature Conservancy it was not interested in the Weyerhauser tract. And he never disclosed he had bought the land until last week, long after the chance for the state to take title to the Weyerhauser land was gone. (Unlike his predecessors as governor, Perdue has refused to put his assets in a "blind trust.") Oh, by the way: Those 101 acres Perdue acquired in 2003 for $303,000 have already appreciated to $750,100 in assessed value. So Perdue's quiet decision to stiff the public is looking like a better and better one for him.
The Oaky Woods news follows word Perdue spent $2 million to buy 19.5 acres of prime land in Florida a few miles from Disney World from a developer he had appointed to the state Board of Economic Development. And it comes on the heels of news that a bill quietly passed two nights before the end of this year's legislative session - a bill introduced by Perdue's land-buying partner and lawyer, Rep. O'Neal - saved Perdue $100,000 in state capital gains taxes on the sale of 318 acres he had inherited.
Does anyone see a pattern here?
It doesn't appear the governor has broken any laws, but he has shown a repeated tendency to benefit himself financially from insider information not available to most other Georgians.
As Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who is hoping to unseat Perdue on Tuesday, put it the other day, "Sonny Perdue has made more money in the last four years as 'Gov. Perdue' than he did in his first 54 years as 'Sonny Perdue.'"
Perdue's high-handed approach to his land dealings - and his feeling that he owes little explanation to the public - are a foreboding echo of his support for House Bill 218, which is expected to resurface in next year's legislative session and would allow state and local officials to keep the public in the dark until the ink is dry about deals to induce economic development, even for something like a paper mill or hog farm.
It's clear the governor doesn't think he has done anything wrong. What the public thinks is another story, even here in conservative Cobb County.
Maybe it's just the arrogance of power. Polls show Perdue far ahead of Taylor, so he may feel there is no need to be accountable to the public.
Cobb residents are going to polls on Tuesday, hopefully to approve a $40 million bond referendum to buy Cobb land for future parks. What a contrast: Here in Cobb, residents seem ready to foot the bill for new parkland. Yet their governor was unwilling to lift a finger to ensure that a priceless natural preserve practically in his own backyard would be spared from developers at low cost to taxpayers and become a park.
Perdue and the Republicans can complain all they want about the excesses when Georgia was ruled by Democrats - but we don't recall having ever had a Democratic governor determined to carve a reputation as a real estate mogul at the public's expense.
It's time to add another item to Gov. Sonny Perdue's "Sonny Do" list: Explain to the public why he appeared to put his own financial interests ahead of what was best for the people of Georgia by ignoring the chance of a lifetime to create a 20,000-acre state park and wildlife preserve.
As revealed by the MDJ columnist Bill Shipp and the Atlanta newspapers, the governor passed up the chance for the state to acquire what is known as the Oaky Woods preserve in Houston County near Bonaire in Middle Georgia from timber giant Weyerhouser Corp. The bargain-basement asking price for the forest - one of the largest black-bear habitats in the Southeast - was only $30 million. Making the deal even more of a no-brainer, the Nature Conservancy, a national nonprofit environmental group, was willing to lend the state nearly all of the price if Perdue would commit to the full purchase later on.
All that was needed was a letter from the governor stating that yes, the state was interested in acquiring the tract at some unspecified later date for conservation purposes.
So what did Perdue do? Nothing. And now, it has come to light that Oaky Woods has been bought by developers for $32.1 million. They plan to bulldoze it to make way for 35,000 houses over the next quarter century, according to the Associated Press.
Perdue has weakly asserted in recent days that the state could not afford to purchase Oaky Woods because 2004 was a tight budget year. Well, just how tight was it? It seems the governor was willing to spend $84 million that year on roads, $35 million on the UGA Performing Arts Center, $11 million for a trade center in Columbus and $3 million to enlarge a golf course at Altamaha State Park.Perdue also has claimed Weyerhauser was unwilling to give the state sufficient time to get a financing proposal prepared for the property. Yet Weyerhauser says that is not true.
So why would the governor be so unwilling to do what was right regarding Oaky Woods? Ahh, here's where it gets interesting. It turns out he cut a deal in 2003 to purchase 101 acres next to the tract. The purchase was made by a company called Maryson LLC, of which Perdue and his attorney, state Rep. Larry O'Neal (R-Warner Robins) are the principals. The governor took title in May 2004 - nine days after the state told the Nature Conservancy it was not interested in the Weyerhauser tract. And he never disclosed he had bought the land until last week, long after the chance for the state to take title to the Weyerhauser land was gone. (Unlike his predecessors as governor, Perdue has refused to put his assets in a "blind trust.") Oh, by the way: Those 101 acres Perdue acquired in 2003 for $303,000 have already appreciated to $750,100 in assessed value. So Perdue's quiet decision to stiff the public is looking like a better and better one for him.
The Oaky Woods news follows word Perdue spent $2 million to buy 19.5 acres of prime land in Florida a few miles from Disney World from a developer he had appointed to the state Board of Economic Development. And it comes on the heels of news that a bill quietly passed two nights before the end of this year's legislative session - a bill introduced by Perdue's land-buying partner and lawyer, Rep. O'Neal - saved Perdue $100,000 in state capital gains taxes on the sale of 318 acres he had inherited.
Does anyone see a pattern here?
It doesn't appear the governor has broken any laws, but he has shown a repeated tendency to benefit himself financially from insider information not available to most other Georgians.
As Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who is hoping to unseat Perdue on Tuesday, put it the other day, "Sonny Perdue has made more money in the last four years as 'Gov. Perdue' than he did in his first 54 years as 'Sonny Perdue.'"
Perdue's high-handed approach to his land dealings - and his feeling that he owes little explanation to the public - are a foreboding echo of his support for House Bill 218, which is expected to resurface in next year's legislative session and would allow state and local officials to keep the public in the dark until the ink is dry about deals to induce economic development, even for something like a paper mill or hog farm.
It's clear the governor doesn't think he has done anything wrong. What the public thinks is another story, even here in conservative Cobb County.
Maybe it's just the arrogance of power. Polls show Perdue far ahead of Taylor, so he may feel there is no need to be accountable to the public.
Cobb residents are going to polls on Tuesday, hopefully to approve a $40 million bond referendum to buy Cobb land for future parks. What a contrast: Here in Cobb, residents seem ready to foot the bill for new parkland. Yet their governor was unwilling to lift a finger to ensure that a priceless natural preserve practically in his own backyard would be spared from developers at low cost to taxpayers and become a park.
Perdue and the Republicans can complain all they want about the excesses when Georgia was ruled by Democrats - but we don't recall having ever had a Democratic governor determined to carve a reputation as a real estate mogul at the public's expense.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 4:56 PM
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