A “Pat” On The Back
Now that it’s all over but the shouting, (from some dopey college kids who ought to be locked up for disrupting a public meeting) and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens been appointed President of Kennesaw State University and Chris Carr, the former Commissioner of the State Department of Economic Development, has been announced as Olens’ replacement, we should tip our hats to Irish Pat, who posted not only the widespread speculation about Olens, but also first put Chris Carr’s name forward as a replacement -and generated some highly skeptical comments back in August.
Carr’s appointment is a good thing to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and former Governor Roy Barnes, who have both expressed support for him.
In baseball, that’s called a “brushback” -a pitch thrown so close to the batter as to make him think twice about crowding the plate. It’s the same thing in politics, and any potential Democratic challengers have just been put on notice that they should hold their horses a bit, and wait to see how Carr performs before making any decisions to challenge him. (And they should certainly wait until after the ashes from the current election have cooled.) State Rep. Scott Holcomb was quick to disclaim any interest in the office, but some fellow Democrats say State Rep. Stacey Evans would be a “phenomenal” candidate.
Endorsements from Democrats will probably only embolden Sen. McKoon, who is already making primary challenger noises. The Columbus Republican has been a champion of “religious liberty,” an issue which may be red meat to Republican primary voters, but which scares the dickens out of the business community, who point to the lost conventions and sports tournaments in Indiana and North Carolina as proof that such legislation is bad for business, bad for jobs, and bad for Georgia. (It’s worth noting that outgoing State Rep. BJay Pak is in the “often-discussed but still silent” category of potential candidates, and that he’s already congratulated his good friends on their respective appointments.)
Georgia Democrats are in a pickle as they try to prepare for the 2018 cycle. On the one hand, the long-awaited demographic tide hasn’t quite turned in their favor and probably won’t by qualifying day, 2018. On the other hand, if there’s only one Republican they think they could beat in a general election that year, it’s Josh McKoon. They’d hate to see Georgia’s volatile Republican primary voters turn Carr out -and miss an opportunity to defeat McKoon.
Irish Pat’s prediction, now that it has come true, presents a genuine quandary for Georgia Democrats.
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Mike Hassinger
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Locked up? That’s very Soviet of you, Mike. Or considering your last name, Germanic, maybe?
If the protesters were escorted out by the police and didn’t resist please tell us why they should be imprisoned.
I know it’s a run-on sentence, but part of it says “for disrupting a public meeting.” So please start reading for content.
i don’t know the extent of the behavioral breach, but is arrest now the solution of first resort?
Look, I’m never going to try to correct a poster for grammar, that is a two-way street. I’ve read your post twice and I still don’t get the point.
My position is that people who disrupt a meeting (no matter how dopey, even if they were wearing UGA gear) should not end up in a criminal charge once they are escorted out by police.
Olens is a pretty uninspiring choice so it’s really hard for me to blame any person affiliated with KSU getting upset. Could you ever imagine him getting an appointment to Tech or UGA? Yeah, neither can I.
Also the Faculty Senate doesn’t approve of Olens so, you know, there’s concerted outreach from the two biggest stakeholders of KSU to him…
Let me preempt and predict Mike’s response.
Something something, whiny liberal professors, something something, never worked do nothings!
🙂
The job of the state AG is to enforce state laws and fight public corruption. With the number of folks lining up to sing Carr’s praises in both the political and business community, I’d say these shouldn’t be perceived as ringing endorsements from a public perspective. They SHOULD be viewed with extreme skepticism, like appointing Ronald McDonald to lead a childhood obesity agency.
Being “good for business” isn’t necessarily being “good for Georgians”. And fighting “public corruption” should be difficult for Carr, seeings as his entire position was built on a Deal-stacked Board of Regents picking Olens after an extensive “one hour” interview.
When Paul Bowers (Georgia Power) and Hank Liginfelter (AGL) are the business community endorsements, it might have something to do with both leading publicly regulated utilities rather than Mr. Carr’s extensive legal expertise.
If Carr wants to be elected AG in 2018, he’s going to have to build up a resume and quickly. Doing so without biting any of the hands that have fed him thus far will be his true test.
Congrats to Pat on the scoop.
No mystery as to why Olens would go from $140K to $350K and not have to face future reelections. Though I’m not sure about the qualifications needed for an academic president other than better ethics than his predecessor. For a politician I feel that he has exhibited more ethics than most, only forgetting them when it would have meant political suicide. And as I commented earlier I believe he has hit the glass ceiling for a higher state office in Georgia.
Obviously Carr is shooting for something bigger as I doubt the $140K is the inducement. He was once with Alston & Bird and lowly associates average $175K there.
I’m fine with boxing out the populists’ populist McKoon. If he should ever want the real bucks he should consider going Protestant and seek his RFRA partner J. Robert Smith’s role as head of the Georgia Baptists which is somewhere north of $600K. No one knows about Smith’s neighbor and compatriot Ralph Reed since he learned from the Christian Coalition debacle and not only has opaque books but they are spread among many different state chartered versions of the F&F coalition. I suspect his numbers are even higher though considering his past practices.
Of course Governor of Georgia has historically paid well in fringe benefits. Lester is the only one within my memory that didn’t die wealthy. Probably as a result of being “The most honest governor Georgia ever had” as described by Hosea Williams in a photo of the two of them.