Most of my friends know that I am a political junkie and have been actively and enthusiastically involved with the Bartow County Republican Party for the last couple of years. I guess because of that, I've had a number of you contact me over the last few weeks, and especially the last few days, asking for my recommendations for various races and issues. For those of you interested, I am listing my recommendations below. For those not interested, feel free to delete this. It will in no way hurt my feelings. I will also reiterate that these are my personal opinions, and others on the Executive Committee or within the Party may feel otherwise. This is simply an attempt to provide you with information that you may not have had otherwise.

For all partisan races (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture, State School Superintendent, Labor Commissioner, Insurance commissioner, U.S. House, U.S. Senate, Georgia House and Senate seats), I am voting for the Republican in all cases (this, hopefully, will come as no surprise). Some candidates impress me more than others, and in some races my primary choice did not make it to the general election. Regardless, in all cases they are better than the Democrat. I know some have considered voting for a Libertarian candidate in some races (which I myself did for over a decade up through 2006), but this is now a matter of principled pragmatism. No Libertarian candidate is polling above about 5% right now, and virtually no Democrats will vote for a Libertarian, whose views are even more radical to them than the Republicans on most issues. That means Libertarian votes take away from Republicans, thereby increasing the likelihood of the Democrat being elected in tight races. We've seen in 2006 and 2008 what we get from our protest votes which put Democrats in office.

So my recommendation is to vote for Republicans in all partisan races, and then make sure you stay active in holding the Republicans just as accountable as we have been with the Democrats over the last year, as I wrote in a recent article (http://www.daily-tribune.com/view/full_story/9859914/article-We-re-the-ones-we-ve-been-waiting-for?). We can't just vote for Republicans and then assume they will do the right thing at all times (or at least what we consider to be the right thing). Our obligations and civic duty do not end at the ballot box, they begin there. Republicans strayed badly over the last decade, which is why we suffered horrible losses in 2006 and 2008. If the Republicans we elect this year fail to do what they were sent to do, then we need to challenge them in the primaries the next time, as we've seen happen nationwide.

My recommendations for Non-Partisan Races

·   Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia - David Nahmias. Nahmias clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was an investigator/prosecutor in the Eric Robert Rudolph case, as well as in several terrorism cases. He is ranked Well Qualified/Qualified by the state bar with a score of 2219,which is 1736 points higher than the next candidate. Of his two opponents, Matt Wilson is a trial lawyer endorsed by Obama's Organizing for America, and Tammy Lynn Adkins has divulged virtually no information about herself or her beliefs on which to base a vote).

·   Judge, Court of Appeals - Chris McFadden. It has been difficult getting a lot of information on the candidates. Pretty much all of them recite the election year mantra of promising not to legislate from the bench. I had narrowed it down to McFadden and Schaeffer, but in the end went with McFadden. McFadden was scored as WellQualified/Qualified by the state bar with a total of 1771, nearly 400 points higher than Schaeffer. McFadden also wrote the book on appellate jurisprudence in Georgia(literally...his book,Georgia Appellate Practice, is the leading reference book used in the study of state appellate court issues). I had a chance to hear him speak and feel confident that he understands his role as a judge in our constitutional republic.

·    Superior Court Justices- all other races in my district are uncontested.

·    Coosa River Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor- there is virtually no information on either candidate. I even went to my contacts in state government and public policy think tanks, and no one knew anything about either candidate. The only thing I could find on either one was that Thomas E. Hadaway was the plaintiff in a lawsuit dealing witherosion and run-off. While this may be a legitimate suit, I was also told that environmentalists, unable to block construction projects on other grounds, often file these types of lawsuits. For that reason, and with no other information available, I am voting for James Brent Nelson.

My Recommendations for Proposed Constitutional Amendments

·  Amendment 1 (Allows competitive contracts to be enforced in Georgia) - I vote NO.- I've struggled with this one for weeks, and have spent a lot of time researching it as well. I've talked to state legislators, businessmen, etc. Americans for Prosperity asks for a NO vote, but the Chamber of Commerce asks for a YES vote. On the one hand, business owners need to be able to protect intellectual property and not be punished for investing time and resources into training employees. On the other hand, I am hesitant to give government power to unilaterally change the terms of a private contract, or subject a person's ability to earn a living to the decision of a judge who is no less likely to be influenced by political pressures as anyone else. In the end, I am not comfortable with going so far as to amend the Constitution in a way that could do significant harm to employees. If there is a problem with contractual law as written, let the legislature take responsibility for it and tweak the system through the normal legislative process.

·  Amendment 2 ($10 tag fee for trauma care) - I vote NO. - While the state certainly needs more trauma care centers, this can be funded through the normal legislative process. There are several red flags here, at least in my opinion. One is that fact that we are amending the Constitution for an issue which is able to be handled through the normal legislative process. Two, the $10 fee is a starting point, and is subject to be raised at any time. The enacting legislation will determine the amount of the fee, and because one legislature can not legally bind future legislatures to specific expenditures, the $10 amount will only be locked in until the next legislature is elected. After that, the fee can be raised to $15, $25, $100 or whatever a future legislature deems appropriate, and it can be done with a simple majority vote. Finally, and most concerning, by including trauma care as a constitutional amendment, we are declaring that health care is a legitimate function of government, which then undermines our ability to block implementation of ObamaCare. For that reason I am voting NO, and telling the legislature to address this issue through the normal appropriations functions which fall under their responsibility.

·   Amendment 3 (Allows states to execute multi-year construction projects)- I vote YES- this is just good business, and allows the state to realize cost savings that they would not get if they continue to execute single year projects. Currently the state is not allowed to even start a construction project until it is fully funded, even if it is a 3-year project.

·    Amendment 4 - (Allows states to execute multi-year energy efficiency projects) - I vote YES - for the same reason as Amendment 3.

·    Amendment 5 - (Allows owners of industrial-zoned property to choose to remove the industrial designation) - I vote YES- this is an anachronism to our state constitution, and affects only two counties, Chatham and Jeff Davis.

·    Proposed Statewide Referendum (eliminate business inventory tax) - I vote YES. This is a horrible tax that penalizes a business simply for having physical product inventory in-house on a certain day of the year. It is an arbitrary tax that should never have been implemented in the first place. This was part of the JOBS bill that was vetoed twice by the governor.

I hope this helps you. Please, please, please...get out and vote. Make no assumptions about the outcome of any race. It doesn't matter what the majority of citizens in a certain district want, only what a majority of those that actually show up to vote!

Thanks for all that you do to promote conservative principles, freedom, and the Republican Party!

Sincerely,

Louis DeBroux

Vice Chairman of Communications, Bartow County Republican Party