Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Is This How the "Big Guy" Takes Care of "The Little Guy"?

Over the last several days, the Taylor campaign has begun grumbling about Cathy Cox, as Secretary of State, engaging in an aggressive campaign to educate Georgians about the dangers of investment fraud. This is very old news. The State of Georgia had received 5.4 million dollars in settlement of a lawsuit involving such fraud, and Cox used the proceeds of that settlement to pay for public service ads and other educational efforts targeted to meet the needs of Georgians, particularly, senior citizens. The first people to attack her on this, in 2005, were Republicans who were afraid that in the process of serving the people of Georgia, Cox would also develop positive name id. Now, Mark Taylor seems to be beating that same drum. What a yawn.

I can't imagine anyone who fits the bill of the "Little Guy" better than Georgia seniors who are often targeted by heartless criminals who want to take the money they have worked a lifetime to save. Now, Taylor has apparently joined the Republicans in saying that it doesn't matter whether the program helped our seniors- all that matters is whether it hurt his chances of winning. It's good to know that we can always count on the "Big Guy" to take care of himself.

Again, it is clear that Mark Taylor and Sonny Perdue have at least one thing in common: they both want Taylor to win the primary, and that's why they are both attacking Cox.

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6 comments:

Button Gwinnett said...

It's one of the examples of the pettiness of the Taylor campaign. Cox has been praised by senior citizens groups for turning GA into a state where schemesters looking to take advantage of the elderly don't want to reside in. The success of the Cox administration as SoS has even been lauded by Clark Howard.

No, this is not the way to "look out for the little guy." There was nothing illegal or unethical about what Cox did. The ads were 2 years ago and less than half of them featured Cathy's face or voice. And none of them included her name, although they easily could have.

Remember when Max Cleland as SoS used to do that series of "Great Moments in Georgia History" back in the 80's? They appeared on every television station in the state of Georgia for a long, long time. No one complained about what Max did. And what the anti-fraud ads did served a far more practical purpose.

Amy Morton said...

No kidding. This is just one of Taylor's deparate attempts to try to dig up some mud to throw. Does he have no shame?

Amy Morton said...

The ads helped Georgians. That was the point. What Cox did was reviewed and approved by the Attorney General. Is Taylor now going to say that Baker was in on some grand scheme to promote Cox? Give me a break.

I can't speak to the politics of the union endorsement. Actually, I hear he sold that stock. You seem to have some connections, TT. Can you find out when, exactly, between the May 6 filing and the day Tom Crawford was asking about the stock (May 30), did Taylor dump that asset? And if there was no problem with the buy, why the dump? Could you also check to see whether Weathers Windward was involved in the purchase or sale? I'm really quite serious here. I'd like to know. Maybe I should try an open records request....

Seriously, it is interesting that the AFL-CIO, Central Labor Council, has said they are not endorsing in the primary. That had to pinch. I'll bet Taylor was betting on that support. Don't you think so?

Button Gwinnett said...

TT, how do you know what I do or do not listen to? You don't know me at all. However, I am not aware of any tv or radio ads that mentioned her. But if a radio ad did, so what? The insurance commissioner, handling similar cases of claims and fraud, uses his office and name in his advertising. I don't see anyone criticizing him.

The Republicans tried their best to pin something on Cathy when they looked into this and came away with nothing. Why? Because she broke no laws and violated no ethics codes. Since the polls show that Republicans would rather not face Cox in the general election, don't you think they'd have done something if they could?

You still miss the point. Which is, the ads helped. The problem with a lot of government services is that too many people don't know where to go for help. The ads pointed a lot of people to the SoS's office. Hence more people filed reports of fraud and more scam artists were prosecuted. Wouldn't it just be easier to say, "nice job, Cathy."

Amy Morton said...

Yes, I think that we should be responsible investors. I also think that having a bit of stock purchased as part of a 401K or other vehicle is different than a thoughtful buy of 10 thousand dollars worth of stock. I do have a problem with Wal-Mart relying so heavily on the State of Georgia for employee health insurance, and Mark Taylor should have a problem with that, too.

And, let's see, who would I rather have for a governor: Cathy who voters got to know as she effectively carried out the duties of her office or Taylor whose daddy's money apparently leveraged the million that secured the early ad buy?

Ataru Atlanta said...

With candidates like these, who needs enemies?