Posted on 11/01/2004 3:37:36 AM PST by jpw01
ATLANTA - Underdog Democrat Denise Majette hammered away at front-running Republican Johnny Isakson in two U.S. Senate race debates Sunday, attacking his support for a national sales tax as bad for Georgia and challenging his claims he has never supported a tax increase.
She suggested it bordered on criminal for him to accept a lake lot lease from Georgia Power Co. while serving in the Legislature and then to sell it at a profit years later. The sweetheart deal for key lawmakers was disclosed years ago. Majette has made it the focus of one of her ads.
The aggressive stance reflected her underdog status in the campaign to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Zell Miller. A weekend poll showed Isakson leading her 49 percent to 36 percent.
Isakson disputed Majette's charges and generally avoided direct attacks, but said at one point, "I would never try and categorize one of my opponents maliciously with something that's just not true."
The doubleheader began with a morning forum sponsored by Atlanta's WSB-TV and ended with an Atlanta Press Club-sponsored debate aired over the state's public broadcasting network.
Libertarian candidate Allen Buckley, also included in the debates, positioned himself as the alternative to both major party candidates, particularly in the field of economics.
"If you want to live over your heads for the next four to 10 years ... don't vote for me," he said. "Ms. Majette and Mr. Isakson are clearly better choices." For the long term, Buckley insisted, "I am the best choice in this race."
In the morning debate, Majette declared that a national sales tax which Isakson supports is "a plan that's going to be bad for Georgians. Eighty percent of Georgians will pay a higher tax under the 23 percent national sales tax proposal that Mr. Isakson has co-sponsored."
Isakson, a congressman for five years, couched the proposal as just one of many ideas that should be considered in a broad national debate.
"I am not going to dismiss the suggestion of a single person to put on the table as a methodology to improve taxation in this country," he said. "And I resent those that would distort facts for political gain ... ."
Buckley, a tax attorney, said the proposal would cause the nation's deficit to triple.
"This is not the answer," he said.
Challenging Isakson's claim that during a nearly 30-year career in public office he never backed a tax increase, Majette said she had 17 examples showing that was incorrect.
Isakson called that a distortion but acknowledged as state school board chairman he backed a plan allowing local voters to decide if they wanted to raise the sales tax to pay for school construction. A property tax rollback was part of the package, he said.
In the evening debate, Majette reeled off a list of tax-raising measures Isakson supported and challenged him, "Will you finally level with the people of Georgia and tell them the truth?"
Isakson replied, "Almost all are referendums where voters determine their tax, not the politicians. That's a big difference between you and I."
To Majette's charge that he profited handsomely from a lake lot he was given the opportunity to lease from Georgia Power Co. while a state legislator, Isakson told Majette her facts were wrong. The profit, he said, was on a house he built on the lot for $200,000 and sold years later for $800,000.
In the evening debate, a panelist asked why he hadn't surrendered the lot, as some other legislative leaders did when the arrangement was brought to light.
"I had no reason," he said. "I had done nothing wrong in the first place."
Majette insisted, however, that in several states "what he did is illegal and people can go to jail for that."
As in other encounters, Isakson gave strong backing to President Bush and his conduct of the war against terror and in Iraq. He said he supports the Patriot Act despite fears from many that it unnecessarily infringes on civil liberties. However, Isakson said lawmakers must monitor its enforcement vigilantly.
Majette urged a pullout from Iraq as soon as practicable and said other nations should help bear the burden.
I agree with you. I wish Cain had won the nomination. Still I'll be doing a straight R-ticket tomorrow.
Bump
I agree. I knew Paul Coverdell (a little) and Johnny Isakson is no Paul Coverdell. I was furious when his seat when to a Democrat - though it was nice to see that Zell decided to zig our way when he got to Washington. What's disappointing is that I'd rather see Zell the Democrat than Johnny the RINO in Coverdell's seat.
Thanks for the information.
Collins would have been better than Isakson.
She beat Cynthia but only because Republicans crossed over in the primary.
Thanks for pointing this out to me. It was looking like another beautiful day in Georgia ... then I read this. The excerpt is exactly why we should have voted for Herman Cain. He'd have stepped up, defended the Sales Tax, supported President Bush on the War On Terror and sent Majette home crying. "Sen. Isakson" depresses me. He'll be in that office for as long as he wants it, the incumbent to be reelected over and over again.
Well, we'll have to stop that from happening.
I guess I'm one of the malcontents you're speaking of, and I have been a card carrying Republican for about 15 years (county chair and district vice-chair). I am NOT a libertarian, and I am upset because of Johnny's weak positions on conservative issues, such as the Fair Tax and abortion.
Isakson will win, with my vote, and he will be a disappointment to all conservatives in this state.
Sorry that it was too deep for you. Let me spell it out:
Isakson takes whatever position he needs to in order to get elected, even if he doesn't believe in it (the Fair Tax, for example).
Reagan was a Democrat at one time, was he not?
Isakson has used the Republican party for 40 years, not worked for it.
Don't believe everything you read. Isakson won't vote (often) with the Democrats the way Chaffee or Snowe do, but he also won't be a voice for the conservatives. He won't stand on principle. He'll draw a paycheck, occassionally vote in favor of abortion or gun control, usually vote with the Republicans, but we won't hear his name again except at election time when he's looking for a vote.
Georgia had the chance to elect a powerful conservative who would have been a voice for conservative causes and instead went with the name they recognized. Isakson is a career politician who has been running for office since the mid-1970s.
He won't disappoint me. My expectations of Johnny Isakson's career in the Senate are very, very low.
Point taken.
Good luck. In six years unseating Johnny Isakson will be twice as hard as beating him in the primary, and neither Cain nor Collins were able to get enough votes to even put it into a runoff.
I'm writing in Cain, even if I have to go through the embarrassment of getting a keyboard from the poll workers to do it.
>> Isakson is an awful candidate. He makes McCain look good. What is wrong with the Georgia GOP picking this awful clown? He's lost how many, let me guess, 20 times to the Democrats running for previous offices around Georgia. <<
>> There is no chance that Majette will win, and zero chance that Cain's supporters won't help defeat Majette, but Isakson is about as much a Republican as John McCain is. I sickens me to know that Paul Coverdell's seat in the Senate will be filled by a RINO. <<
Isakson won the primary because Georgia "conservatives" issessantly heaped praise on Zig Zag Zell's "record" and INSISTED he was some kind of Jesse Helms type "conservative patriot" because he endorsed Bush and screwed over his party, instead of taking his CENTRIST legacy at face value.
When you heap praise on a voting record that is "conservative" 65% of the time, you move the entire political spectrum leftward. Prior to Miller, Paul Coverdell had a 96% "conservaitve" record. In proclaiming Zig Zag was nothing short of the second coming (some folks on this board would vote for Zig Zag over a REPUBLICAN candidate for President!), you're saying being pro-McCain Feingold, pro "Hate crimes", pro-trial lawyer, etc., etc. makes one a great conservative and voting liberal 40% of the time can just be whitewashed.
This set the stage for Johnny Iskason to ride in on a white horse and make his "center-right" record look like the natural heir apprent for this seat, another great conservative icon in the mold of the "conservative" incumbent, and even more staunchly "conservative". A TRUE successor to Coverdell like Herman Cain was left off the radar screen.
Perhaps next time Georgia Republicans should worshipping a person with a "D" next to their name simply because they aren't a socialist and have the brains to endorse a good President.
Another reason why he's the heir apprently to Zig Zag. You know, the guy who was 100% pro-abortion for his entire career, then suddenly "discovered" he was pro-life at the age of 75 when his "great-grandchildren" were born? (I'm sure his change of heart had nothing to do with the pro-abortion RATs getting wiped out in Georgia after 2001)
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