"But I'm the big guy who is looking out for all of Georgia's little guys."
Posted on 10/30/2006 6:48:38 PM PST by NapkinUser
ATLANTA - Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Mark Taylor kept up a relentless assault on Gov. Sonny Perdue's ethics on Monday as a new statewide poll showed the lieutenant governor continuing to trail the Republican incumbent with just a week to go until election day.
Taylor alleged that Perdue broke the law when he failed to disclose his apparent conflict of interest in 2004 as the state weighed whether to purchase a wildlife preserve in Houston County near his longtime home.
The Oaky Woods preserve borders more than 100 acres of land now owned by Perdue. Perdue did not disclose that property on his financial disclosure forms at the time.
The state declined to bid on the land, and it was sold to local developers who plan to eventually build 35,000 homes there. Perdue's adjacent property has more than doubled in value since Oaky Woods was sold.
Taylor accused Perdue of choosing to get rich rather than to protect "a national treasure."
"Gov. Perdue chose his pockets over the people of Georgia," Taylor said. "He made a decision that guaranteed his land purchase would soar in value."
Perdue disputed that on Monday, and said he would have liked for the state to acquire the land but it didn't have the money to do so. Perdue said there's "nothing I would have liked any more" than for the state to have turned Oaky Woods into a nature preserve.
Taylor has countered that the state could have used bonds to acquire the land or allowed the Nature Conservancy to buy it.
Taylor has been battering Perdue for his purchase of land in Florida near Disney World from a wealthy GOP developer and his subsequent signing of a tax law that resulted in the governor saving $100,000 in state capital gains taxes. Perdue's role in the Oaky Woods sale was first reported in Saturday's editions of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Taylor's attacks seem to be having a limited effect so far. A new statewide poll commissioned by the Atlanta Journal-Constution found Perdue with a 17-percentage point lead over Taylor. Perdue had a 19-percentage point lead in a similar poll out earlier this month.
Perdue, meanwhile, unveiled a new television ad on Monday featuring Georgia's maverick Democrat Zell Miller urging voters to re-elect Perdue.
"Tell Sonny Perdue that we like the job he's doing and to get back in there and keep Georgia the envy of this nation for another four years," Miller says in the new spot. Miller, the former Georgia governor and U.S. senator who offered a fiery keynote address at the 2004 GOP convention, has become well known recently for embracing Republicans.
At the center of Perdue's Houston County land controversy is the governor's murky involvement in a limited liability company called Maryson.
It was Maryson that first purchased the 101 acres in Houston County in dispute, which are sandwiched between Perdue's home and the Oaky Woods preserve. Perdue purchased the land from Maryson 10 months later in May 2004.
Maryson was created by Perdue's lawyer and floor leader in the state House of Representatives, Larry O'Neal, as well as the governor's neighbor Stephen Holcomb. The name - Maryson - is an apparent melding of the names of Perdue's wife, Mary, and Sonny. Hubert Williams, who sold the 101 acres to Maryson, told the AJC that he negotiated with Perdue on the sale. When Perdue took over title of the land there is no record that he paid a transfer tax, suggesting the transfer was a gift or that he was a majority owner in Maryson.
Yet, speaking for the first time about the company on Sunday night, Perdue denied involvement in it.
"I never had an interest in Maryson," Perdue told reporters following the second gubernatorial debate.
On Monday, Perdue acknowledged that he had negotiated with Williams "on behalf of" Maryson but repeated that he never had a financial interest in the company.
Also on Monday, Perdue cast an absentee ballot - presumably for himself - at the governor's mansion in Atlanta.
I didn't get to watch this debate, but after the first one, I like Hayes best.
I am so sick and tired of Mark Taylor. I hope he fades away after his loss next week so we Georgians never have to see him again.
Glad to see Zell give his support to your governor. I love Zell, and sure wish he'd switch. Oh well... Be happy you have two wonderful men like Perdue and Miller! Lucky Georgians!
I didn't know Sonny was from Houston County. My wife and I go to Perry twice a year to sell her jewelry at the Mossy Creek Barnyard Festival, and let me tell you, Middle Georgia in general, but Houston County in particular, probably has the nicest people I've ever found ANYWHERE. It's just amazing how friendly everyone is.
}:-)4
Mark Taylor would make a whale of a governor.
zell's speech at the convention was one of the most awesome things I have ever witnessed in the political arena.
I couldn't agree with you more! It was breathtaking! It should be shown and reshown, to everyone from new citizens to kids.
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