Other speakers include Mrs. Sadie Fields, House Majority Whip Ed Lindsey, Georgia Republican Party Chairman Sue Everhart, RNC National Committee Woman Linda Herren, U. S. Senator Johnny Isakson, U. S. Congressman Tom Price, U. S. Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, Speaker of the House David Ralston, Speaker of the House Pro Tem Jan Jones, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, U.S. Congressman Phil Gingrey, and will also include the candidates for Governor, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, and Secretary of State.

“I’m honored to speak at an event that truly embodies the Republican doctrine and represents my personal beliefs regarding family, faith and freedom,” said Stephens.

The GACA is a pro-family grassroots organization who represents Georgia’s families in the legislature, the press, and in the arena of public debate. Referred to as “Georgia’s most powerful Christian lobbying group” by the Marietta Daily Journal, the Georgia Christian Alliance is a non-partisan, issue oriented organization.

Advance tickets are $25 per person, and $10 for children under 12. Tickets will be available at the door for $30 per person.  All tickets include lunch.

###

The following are Stephens’ Forsyth County organization:

County Elected Officials:

Commissioner Jim Boff

Commissioner Jim Harrell

Local Business Leaders & Supporters:

Brent Baker

Jeanie Ballard

Jeanne Cordon

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Day, Jr.

Chris and Vivian Heard

Reva Jennings

Bob and Cindy Komar

Larry and Pat Lehman

Alex McClain

Bob and Donna McKenna

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sirpak

Steve and Stacy Voshall

Debbie Tibbetts

Carol Tunstall

“As I seek to bring Common Sense Solutions and much needed adult supervision back to the U.S. Congress, I am proud to have the help and support of strong community leaders.  Our campaign is fueled by people, and we are thrilled to have many of North Georgia’s finest joining our campaign team, contributing and making a difference,” said Stephens, who represented six of the 15 counties in the current 9th Congressional District over eight years in the Georgia State Senate.

Stephens is the only Forsyth County resident in the race for the 9^th congressional seat.  He rose from a first term freshman to the Governor’s Floor Leader during his first term of Governor Sonny Perdue, and later was unanimously elected by his peers to be State Senate Majority Leader.  During his years in the State Senate, Stephens authored or co-sponsored more than 20 pieces of significant legislation including the Georgia Voter I.D. Bill, Georgia Tort Reform, the amended Georgia Fair Lending Practices Act and the Georgia Stuck Pig Award.

For more information, visit www.billstephens.com.

###

Our national debt is more than $12,310,288,969,586.05.

Let’s first highlight the difference between national debt and national deficit.  The national deficit is the annual difference between money spent by our federal government and the tax and other related revenues collected each year.  Our national debt is the collective amount of money which the government owes, either to other countries or U.S. taxpayers, cumulated from all past years’ deficits, and repayable primarily in the form of Treasury Bonds.

During his first year in the White House, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress have more than doubled our national debt. One thing to make very clear is that when Congressional Democrats are talking about reducing the deficit, that does not mean they will be reducing the debt.  In fact, we are still adding to the debt, just at a slower speed.

Over the next decade, the federal government is projected to add $9 trillion to its existing $12.4 trillion national debt. If President Obama’s proposed budget freeze is successful, the government will only add $8.75 trillion to the nation’s debt, rather than $9 trillion.

As proposed this “freeze” is more like the minority of refrigerator space compared to the size of the icemaker in your refrigerator/freezer as it will only impact 1/8th of the overall budget, and fails to do anything at all about the escalating entitlement expenditures which are responsible for the majority of future borrowing and expense.

While President Obama is busy blaming President Bush for the last eight years, he fails to mention, or perhaps even realize, that the Democrats controlled Congress in Bush’s final two years as president, when the infamous TARP Bank Bailout occurred.  And after studying prior federal budgets, it very quickly becomes clear that during the last three-year period of Democratic controlled budgeting, overall federal government spending increased more than the previous six years of Republican budgeting.

Conservatives in Washington need to make this point very clear and argue that while a budget freeze may be a crucial first step, the next step must be to roll back federal-budget increases back to at least 2007 levels in order to actually impact the budget deficit, let alone long-term debt.  That will require significant cuts in a significant number of federal programs which Democrats created or inflated over the last three years while having control of the government’s checkbook.

President Obama’s new rhetoric regarding his latest version of “change” initially will only deliver SMALL CHANGE in terms of any real cuts in the growth of government.    Coupled with the Democrat’s planned repeal of the Bush administration tax cuts at the end of this year, and full restoration of Estate Taxes next year to 55 percent, a majority of small businesses and families will still only see and feel a LARGER TAX BITE even if government is only incrementally shrinking.  We have already learned with this President that eloquent words do not necessarily guarantee action.  Hopefully that pattern is due for some ‘change’ as well.

To see more on this subject, please visit www.defeatthedebt.com.

I applaud Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue pushing for an agreement this legislative session on Georgia’s next steps in our tri-state water compact. Our neighbors in Alabama and Florida finally appear more receptive to reaching a consensus and solution.

I am not a lawyer, but having spent nearly a decade in the Georgia General Assembly, the majority as either Caucus Chairman, the Governor’s Floor Leader in the State Senate, or the Senate Majority Leader, so I do think I know the meaning of compromise, building consensus and finding Common Sense Solutions to the problems we face.

Georgia Property Law Descended from English Common Law & Riparian Water Rights

Old English common law is the way property rights have evolved in the original 13 colonies of the United States.  Georgia, one of those original 13 colonies, therefore, via a couple of hundred years of legal precedent, property and east coast water law follow the British tradition of riparian water rights.

In Old English common law, the primary natural asset is the land, rather than the streams, rivers, creeks, etc., which incidentally run off that land.  Riparian rights given ‘reasonable use access’ proportionate to the land ownership frontage along any body of water…allowing a land owner with a river running through his property, or living on a lake to make use of that water, as long as they don’t deny others access.

This standard in place for centuries also makes common sense for Georgians to make reasonable use of the water running under, through or stored upon its land.  There are nearly 700 miles of shoreline on Lake Lanier lined by thousands of Georgia residents, businesses and property owners, and thousand more to their north, lining the banks of the Chattahoochee and Chestatee Rivers, which join to flow through Buford Dam and form Lake Sidney Lanier.  Both of those rivers also have their headwaters in Georgia, so the water being damed is also a riparian asset of the state, and the millions of collective owners (residential and commercial).

Judge Magnuson’s decision of last July unfortunately more closely follows precedent established in U.S. Western water rights….such as the management of the Colorado River.  Simply put, Judge Magnuson placed a western coast ruling to an eastern coast waterway.  This flaw has caused our Governor and others to pursue legal appeal as the first line of defense to protect Georgia’s access to potable drinking water from the Chattahoochee, Chestatee and Lake Lanier.

It is important to recognize that private land owners may not be subject to certain water rights against federal, state, or local governments because those rights have been ceded to local government under governmental regulation, in this case the Rivers and Harbors Acts of 1945 or 1946 and the Water Supply Act of 1958.  Even in that case, Georgians still own the land, thus water, of the Chattahoochee River and Chestatee River, which is the source of water for Lake Lanier and Buford Dam.

Georgians Will Fight For What Is Rightfully Theirs

Georgians respect the rule of law, as well as their local, state and federal governments.  While we also fully appreciate the needs of our friends and neighbors in Alabama and Florida to also have the right to reasonable access to a potable water supply.

There are existing and historic patterns of consumption, during times of drought and normal flow.  The U.S. Army Corps has years and reams of data on how may billions of gallons typically flow through Buford Dam, as well as how releases change due to the already statutorily authorized needs of power generation, flood control and recreation.  Across the country there are 80 other dams, reservoirs and waterways, maintained or managed by the Army Corps with similar issues regarding no statutorily authorized use of potable water consumption.  Simply put, our Federal Government has never been in the water supply business.  They regulate inter-state commerce (shipping), power generation and supply and flood control.  Local cities, townships and counties withdraw, treat and distribute water to their millions of commercial and residential users.  That said, it is again only common sense to add the withdrawal, treatment and consumption of potable water supply to the authorizing legislation of all U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams, reservoirs and waterways.

Though the state of Georgia and city of Atlanta unfortunately did not choose to participate in the 1945 funding of the construction of Buford Dam, those funds were drawn from the U.S. Treasury, giving all U.S. taxpayers (including those in North Georgia) a partial claim on the asset (Buford Dam), add to that the English Common Law precedent of Riparian rights for Georgia property owners along the lake and its tributaries, and the pure common sense of reasonable use of water supply and its clear that Georgia and Georgians will always have reasonable access to this water source that sits on 38,000 acres of Georgia land.

There are other measures that obviously need to be taken to preserve our water also.  State Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth) has already proposed a valid option regarding leak abatement for Georgia’s pipelines a week into the legislative session.  I fully support water conservation efforts and other proposals such as raising Lake Lanier’s authorized Full Pool Level to 1073 feet (currently 1071 feet above sea level).  This new water retention level could create billions of gallons of additional stored supply during times of non-drought.  Regardless, we will retain access to that water for potable drinking water.  What is ours is ours, just as what is there (Alabama, Florida and elsewhere) is theirs…this is just common sense.  Sharing is an age-old lesson.  Determine need, allocate resources appropriately, and write down a plan.  Revisit the plan as needs change.  This doesn’t have to be rocket science…it’s a lot more like, one for me, one for you, you know, common sense.

Bill Stephens

GOP Congressional Candidate

9^th District of Georgia

Resident, Cumming, Georgia (near Lake Sidney Lanier)

Squeal of the Week: White House Shoots at Cadillac  Health Plans Hits Labor Unions

Taxing Cadillac  Health Care Plans began as a brain child of the Democrats’ health care reform plan.  The target was intended to be wealthy financial services and industry executives, with wholly-employer paid health care plans…vastly more generous and more expensive than the average worker.   As is often the case though, things are not often as they appear…or as policy makers wish them to be. Among the REAL owners of ‘Cadillac’ health care plans for families with premium costs exceeding are thousands of Labor Union members, among the Democratic Party’s most loyal supporters.

The Cadillac tax plan began with President Obama wanting to tax the most elite executives who’s annual average plan was $40,000 and above.  But when that  plan emerged from the U.S. Senate, the federal government will charge insurance companies a 40% excise tax for all high dollar plans, which often simply provide more comprehensive coverage to patients with greater and more expensive health care needs.

The Senate version of health care reform would levy this whammy on all plans exceeding $8,500 for an individual and $23,000 for families.  They defend the plan by saying the “tax” will be paid by insurers.  And how do they think insurers will recover that ‘penalty?  Hmmmm…maybe by charging higher premiums for EVERYONE they insure.

As the Obama/Reid/Pelosi team seems to have long forgotten…the GOALS for Health Care Reform were supposed to be…increase access, decrease costs and end the practice of terminating coverage or jacking premiums when someone insured actually becomes ill or has a pre-existing condition.

In attempt to once more ‘gore the rich’ and penalize those with the ability to purchase more extensive health care coverage…Congressional Democrats can now congratulate themselves for ‘hitting’ the Middle Class and some of their typically strongest core base of supporters.  And they wonder why Senator Kennedy’s seat in Taxachusetts is now tipping into a dead heat between a little known Senator Scott Brown and a well-funded Attorney General.

Many blue collar professions have more generous health insurance plans because their jobs are simply more dangerous and cause more work-related health problems.  What Democrats failed to realize is that health plan costs are largely generated by age, health, gender, location, etc., not the lifestyles or personal wealth of the insured.

Those it will most likely impact are those who need health care the most, thus having the more expensive health care plans, i.e. seniors, new moms, those with chronic illness, factory workers, etc.

Beth Ulmand, research director for an employee benefits consulting firm told Politics Daily, “The lowest-paid workers tend to choose the most generous plans offered because they can’t afford the out-of-pocket expense of a higher deductible.”  This new excise tax on premiums is being projected to impact 20% of all businesses, large and small, by 2013.  Democrats also estimate that the new tax would levy $149 billion in 10 years.  Do they honestly believe that insurers will NOT try and recoup those costs from their customers?

So, while aiming at the top of the economy, and America’s wealthy and highest earners…the Democrats are again shooting themselves in a much lower quadrant…further reducing the ‘health’ and likelihood of passing their bill…and their 60^th vote in the U.S. Senate may vanish as early as next Wednesday.

“The challenge for the legislature is to reduce the deficit to zero while not stifling or harming our wounded economy with higher taxes or excessive new or increased fees,” GOP 9th District Congressional candidate Bill Stephens. “Unlike Congress, thankfully Georgia has a balanced-budget requirement, and although it hurts in the short-run, it inevitably helps our economy get back on track.”

“While serving as Senate Floor Leader and later Georgia Senate Majority Leader for Governor Sonny Perdue, we also found that the cupboards were left quite bare by departing Governor Roy Barnes during the elections of 2002.  The recession of late 2000, deepened later by 9/11 had a significant and negative impact on Georgia tax revenues.  Then as now we had to tighten our belts, and despite a swelling population and increased demand for state services we had to find creative and common sense ways to deliver more for less.”

Stephens sponsored enhancements including major improvements to Georgia’s technology infrastructure, and the use of the Internet and technology, in lieu of head count and more employees…the long term ‘patronage’ response of Georgia’s Democratic Party, which had controlled the state and state agencies since the late 1800s.

During 2009, Georgia’s entire tax revenue structure decreased approximately 10-12% per month due to the deepening Recession.  The only source of Georgia tax revenue not flat or down is the sales of the Georgia Lottery.

Georgia’s primary revenue sources are sales and income taxes.   Cities and counties are primarily funded via sales and ad valorem (personal property & real estate) taxes.  Declining property values and the real estate credit crunch has decreased county and city revenue two-fold.

Georgia’s unemployment rate of 10.2% has almost entirely depleted Georgia’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.  Georgia Labor Commissioner Mike Thurmond is presently seeking federal support and loans to back-stop the trust fund.

As a result of all of these economic pressures, the General Assembly will essentially be needing to prepare a budget in size and scope of the State of Georgia Budget in 2005, despite the additional demands and needs for service of approximately 500,000 new Georgia residents moving into the state since that time.

Stephens opposes raising taxes to compensate for the lack in state revenue, and state employee furloughs he admits, should be a last resort.

To meet the budget target reductions the General Assembly may need to consider some comparatively harsh & drastic measures including:

1. Sale of surplus state property, real estate and real property (though the much noted Recession will also obviously impact sales prices).

1. Limited operating hours or closure of numerous ‘non-essential’ state services, or operation of these facilities via trained volunteers including State Parks, libraries, welcome centers and recreational facilities across Georgia.

“There is NO pain free way out of this budget hole.  Millions of Georgians are tightening their belts, and living in households learning to do with less.  The state has no choice but to follow that example, and where possible to demonstrate the leadership to move us back to a path of prosperity.  Like the Great Depression experienced by many of our parents and grand-parents, this will also require collective sacrifice and an understanding that the current economic realities will not allow Georgia’s state government to indefinitely operate business as usual.  We can and will get through this, but it will require some plain speaking, tough decisions and consensus building around Common Sense priorities and practical solutions to get things done,” says Stephens who served eight years in the Georgia General Assembly, augmenting his two decades of experience in the banking and health care industries.

###

As a founding member of the 1071 Coalition, Stephens spent years advocating the need for Lake Lanier to be at full pool.  Georgia’s three year drought painfully reminded us all of the fragility of our water supply.  North Georgians in particular paid the price of watching our numerous lakes dry to nearly puddles.  Now that we have been blessed with “adequate” rainfall in the last several months, it is urgent that we keep as much water as possible in Lake Lanier.

With Atlanta being the fastest growing city in the Southeast, it is a shame that we may not continue growing and developing economically due to the inability to provide drinking water to our citizens. Western states have managed to carve out a compromise involving the Colorado River in less than a third of the time. The cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego among others could simply not exist without water resource planning, allocation and conservation.

The over 20-year-old data being used simply does not reflect the realities of today’s population in metro Atlanta counties.  It does not make common sense for Georgia to not be allowed to use its own water for domestic purposes.  In order to develop a compromise with the two other states, a common solution will have to be formed, and we can only hope that will include an amendment to Jude Magnuson’s ruling of past legislation stating that you may use your own portion of water to the best interest of your state.  In fact, there have been dozens of renegotiations when it comes to the Colorado River Basin.  Due to Las Vegas’ population and water consumption increase over the years, the Lower Colorado River Basin has gone through extreme amounts of pressure to keep agreements with the San Antonio Water Authority.  However, the Lower Colorado River Basin Authority knows that its first priority is to provide adequate amounts of water supply to its own citizens.

With the South’s population as a whole continuing to rise, it’s important for our neighboring states to remember the economic development of our region as a whole.  In a bid to be your next Congressman, I am schooled on the issue of water sharing agreements and the priority of water to our District and our state.  This issue is crucial to me, and I will continue to develop plans to make sure North Georgia receives adequate water supply so that our region will continue to grow.

###

Just PLAINS Wrong!!!

In a time of double-digit unemployment, and record deficit spending by the U.S. Congress, comes another salt-laden piece of pork proposed for our very own south Georgia.  Tucked away in an appropriation pending for the U.S. Parks Service is $17 million to purchase and renovate Billy Carter’s old gas station in Plains, Georgia.  In case that sounds a little pricey, it will also include the renovation of a Plain’s Welcome Center which the state of Georgia is planning to close due to low-traffic counts, and a nearby farmhouse where former President Carter and wife Rosalyn lived for five years from 1956-1961.  This purchase would join the entire downtown of Plains, Georgia (population 630) as a historic preservation district.

The Park Service and U.S. Department of the Interior already manage and maintain President Carter’s boyhood home and boyhood farm as historic sites/museums.  The U.S. Secret Service continues to provide the Carter family with security in offices at the Carter Presidential Center…and the Carter Library continues to receive funding from the U.S. Archives.

Billy Carter however was not President of the United States. Other than his bloodlines, he is perhaps best known for Billy beer, and some ill-fated influence peddling on behalf of the government of Libya.  Instead of making his former business into another national shrine, perhaps the Park Service should focus on the roughly $9-billion maintenance backlog for property which it already manages.

If the U.S. Department of the Interior is attempting to raise the profile of advisors to President Carter, or the inner-workings of the “Peanut Brigade,” they should look more towards Calhoun, Georgia, and the former banking offices of Bert Lance.  I would oppose federal funding for this purpose as well…but it points out the lunacy of the appropriations process and millions for projects which even area residents don’t see the logic of…

When will Congress begin to comprehend that wasted millions quickly become billions…and with THIS CONGRESS, soon Trillions in new debt, and an increasingly deflated U.S. Dollar?

Prior to passing tort reform in 2005 in the Georgia General Assembly, and amendments to that law in 2006, many Georgia communities were experiencing health care service shortages, particularly in the areas of obstetrician/gynecology and surgery…due to the extremely high costs of malpractice insurance premiums.

Last week the Atlanta Journal Constitution wrote:

“Georgia’s tort reform law is one of the most sweeping in the nation.  Enacted in 2005 and amended in 2006 [under the direction of Senate Majority Leader Bill Stephens], the law caps medical malpractice pain-and-suffering awards at $350,000.  The law was designed to encourage out-of-court settlements in all civil tort cases by making parties pay attorney’s fees and court costs if they don’t do at least 75 percent as well at trial as they would have by settling the case.”

Former President George W. Bush used the Georgia law as a model for federal tort reform, though Congress did not complete that work.Many other states are also modeling their statutes after Georgia’s.  Though our priorities for health care reform need to remain on improving affordability and accessibility, while maintaining a private-sector based system and not interfering in the doctor/patient relationship, federal tort reform remains a factor in that equation.

If elected to serve Georgia’s 9th District this is another Common Sense Solution that I already know how to deliver on.

Obama: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits either now or in the future. Period.”

The Squeal: Democrats in the House offered a bill that would add $220 billion to the deficit over 10 years found by the Congressional Budget Office. Democrats say they don’t have to count $245 billion of it because this is the cost of adjusting Medicare reimbursement rates so physicians don’t face big annual pay cuts.

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said, “We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount.”

Obama: “Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.”

The Squeal: In theory, this is a true statement. However, most families are insured under employer insurance plans, employers would be free to change their health plans and would most likely drop insurance altogether because the fee for not carrying insurance is so much less than paying for your employees and their families private insurance. The Congressional Budget Office said that by 2016 around 3 million people who now have employer-based care would lose it because their employers would decide to stop offering it.

Obama: “Don’t pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut. … That will never happen on my watch. I will protect Medicare.”

The Squeal: The new health care reform plans will be paid for in part by reducing Medicare payments to providers by more than $500 billion over 10 years. With Social Security funds dwindling and most of those funds going toward Medicare, I’m not sure where the Government expects for this program to pay for itself while cutting $500 billion from it.

Obama: “If you lose your job or change your job, you will be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you will be able to get coverage.”

The Squeal: It’s not just a matter of being able to get coverage. You will be required to get coverage by law.  In his speech, Obama endorsed mandatory coverage for individuals, but as a candidate criticized Hillary Clinton for proposing this requirement.

“To force people to get health insurance, you’ve got to have a very harsh penalty,” he said in a February 2008 debate.

Now saying, “individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance – just as most states require you to carry auto insurance.”

“Fact Check: Obama uses iffy line on deficit pledge” from AP Writers Calvin Woodward & Erica Werner contributed to this Squeal of the Week