Pro SPLOST/Jail PAC Headed by GreyStone CEO

GreyStone Power CEO Headed Pro SPLOST/Jail PAC
From Staff Reports November 16, 2009 Douglas County Journal

A Political Action Committee called Keep Douglas Safe was organized to push the passage of the recent $150 million Douglas County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and $120 million Bond referendum on November 3rd.

Campaign disclosure records from the State Ethics Commission show that GreyStone Power Company President and C.E.O Gary A. Miller and William T.“Terry” Baggett both from Douglasville, Ga. formed the political action committee to solicited cash contribution in support of the passage of the SPLOST/Bond.

The documents revealed the cash contributions came from several corporations from outside Douglas County. No contributions came from within county. Neither Miller nor Baggett contributed money to their own campaign. Included in the list are various jail construction and engineering firms and one individual from Florida.

The reported contributors includes: New South Construction ($500)- Ashford Engineers of Atlanta ($500)- Rosser International ($300)- KSGW Architects, LLC ($500)- SteelCell North America ($500)– J. Tom Chandler of Lakewood Fl.($500).

According to the expenditure documents Landmark Communications received $1000 for services and Chapel Hill News and Views received $329.

Keep Douglas Safe Campaign surfaced when citizens received two mailings from the PAC prior to the November 3 vote and automated phone calls feathering the voice of Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller advocating the passage of the SPLOST.

Last week Douglas County resident James Quarterman filed a law suit in the Douglas County Superior Court accusing public officials of law violations and claiming they threaten and intimidated voters to vote for the SPLOST or have their property taxes increased.

The SPLOST/Bond referendum passed by only 32 votes. The vote count was 3,918 yes votes and 3,886 no votes.

Thank you for posting this.
I was wondering who was behind this.

since the difference in votes in < 1%, wouldn't Quarterman be better off requesting a re-count first?

DCTC wrote:

From Staff Reports November 16, 2009 Douglas County Journal

Staff Reports?
Douglas County Journal?

This is a blog operated by none other than James Bell, AKA the 'staff' of the Douglas County Taxpayers Coalition (DCTC).

I do not doubt the veracity of your information and I appreciate your efforts Mr. Bell. However, by fancying up your information with items that make it seem like there is a journalism organization or a broad community based 'coalition' when in fact it is probably just you, makes your efforts appear silly. I will admit though an uninformed person may be impressed.

Keep up your work, but enough with the embellished by-lines.

Do you really think one man can have as much influence as you claim? He has to be working with others. There were 10 people on the street corners a few week ago with vote no signs. He must have some support, he helped to defeat the SPLOST twice and narrowly lost this one. It seems 1/2 the voters are on his side.
Personally I appreciate his efforts. Today, with blogs, anyone can be a journalist. You can have your own blog also.
Blog on! More power to him.
ET

Umm Yeahh wrote:

<quoted text>
Staff Reports?
Douglas County Journal?
This is a blog operated by none other than James Bell, AKA the 'staff' of the Douglas County Taxpayers Coalition (DCTC).
I do not doubt the veracity of your information and I appreciate your efforts Mr. Bell. However, by fancying up your information with items that make it seem like there is a journalism organization or a broad community based 'coalition' when in fact it is probably just you, makes your efforts appear silly. I will admit though an uninformed person may be impressed.
Keep up your work, but enough with the embellished by-lines.

Bell is moron with nothing better to do that to mislead those who will listen rather than to get information for themselves.

The jail is needed as the old one is dilapidated and overcrowded. The county is going to have to build one in the near future so why put it off several years which will only see a rise in construction costs? Why pay other counties ridiculous amounts of money to house prisoners that the county should be housing?

Umm Yeahh wrote:

<quoted text>
Staff Reports?
Douglas County Journal?
This is a blog operated by none other than James Bell, AKA the 'staff' of the Douglas County Taxpayers Coalition (DCTC).
I do not doubt the veracity of your information and I appreciate your efforts Mr. Bell. However, by fancying up your information with items that make it seem like there is a journalism organization or a broad community based 'coalition' when in fact it is probably just you, makes your efforts appear silly. I will admit though an uninformed person may be impressed.
Keep up your work, but enough with the embellished by-lines.

You know your argument might be better served to not attack one of the few individuals who is taking arrows on behalf of all Douglas County citizens. Regardless of James Bell's past positions, he is asking for the most simple thing our elected officials should grant us, transparency and accountability. If they can't deliver that without lawsuits, grumbling and personal attacks then they are clearly failing in their duties and should be replaced by someone who can.

You are also misinformed about the history of SPLOST. It was the downtown residents who killed the first SPLOST because the sheriff sought to build a 7 story prison in historic downtown Douglasville via a phased construction process that any construction firm will tell you cost more than simply building a new building outright.

The second SPLOST died largely thanks to the efforts of the Gold's Gym owners who used their membership to keep a YMCA out of Douglas County.

Get a Life wrote:

Bell is moron with nothing better to do that to mislead those who will listen rather than to get information for themselves.
The jail is needed as the old one is dilapidated and overcrowded. The county is going to have to build one in the near future so why put it off several years which will only see a rise in construction costs? Why pay other counties ridiculous amounts of money to house prisoners that the county should be housing?

Who is it again who is blindly following the blind? When you resort to name calling, its often out of last resort. It demonstrates a general lack of intellect and inability to convey your point any other way. I find those who post simple facts to be more reliable sources of information. What about you?

Eric T wrote:

Do you really think one man can have as much influence as you claim? He has to be working with others. There were 10 people on the street corners a few week ago with vote no signs. He must have some support, he helped to defeat the SPLOST twice and narrowly lost this one. It seems 1/2 the voters are on his side.
Personally I appreciate his efforts. Today, with blogs, anyone can be a journalist. You can have your own blog also.
Blog on! More power to him.
ET
<quoted text>

Does Mr. Bell have support among some of the citizens of DC, yes - a "staff", probably not. Influence? Only in getting facts disseminated - to me he has no claim to any sort of moral superiority or truth simply because he blogs. If anyone can be a journalist, than the title 'journalist' no longer has any meaning. Since anyone can publish whatever they want on the internet the concept of publishing = factual no longer has any meaning. Using titles such as 'coalition' and making a blog sound like a professional news source is neither clever or correct - it just allows the appearance of credibility. Also, if half the people are on "his side" (whatever you mean that to be) then half are 'against' him as well if you are basing your "his side" comments on the results of the SPLOST vote.

The DCTC website and the Douglas County Journal blog are only sounding boards for Mr. Bell's opinions which also have some facts. Look at the DCTC website: there are no Coalition Events, the Forum has had two posts in two years, and the tax savings counter assumes that there is $5.7 billion (was only (!)$1.6 B in 2002) of taxable sales in Douglas County each year.

Please note that I appreciate the facts that Mr. Bell uncovers. But I also do not believe that everything that the County/City governments want is a money grab for the elites or a conspiracy. Of course contractors will lobby for a SPLOST to pass where they may be able to get a contract. Of course a sheriff would want to have a jail that meets current guidelines for population density. Of course commissioners/councilmen want to use a SPLOST - it allows them to say that they did not vote for a tax increase. Of course there are citizens that have an aversion to any new (or all) taxes, after all the money comes from them (and the rest of us). Of course if there is a lawsuit that can be filed, Mr. Quarterman will file it.

Dressing up opinions as news is part of what is wrong in this country today. The Limbaughs-Hannitys-Matthews-Ol bermanns are all out there helping to establish a country where everyone thinks that they know everything while actually knowing nothing.

Scott:

I am not attacking Mr. Bell. I am simply objecting to his efforts to sell his point of view via fake credibility. He is a private citizen doing a good job in bringing out facts. Making it seem like he is a multifaceted organization with a "staff" to gain credibility only makes things worse. Your other two paragraphs where you quoted me must be directed at comments by others in a different thread as no one has commented here about past SPLOSTs. With your second post, quoting Get A Life, I could not agree more.

Get a Life wrote:

Bell is moron with nothing better to do that to mislead those who will listen rather than to get information for themselves.
The jail is needed as the old one is dilapidated and overcrowded. The county is going to have to build one in the near future so why put it off several years which will only see a rise in construction costs? Why pay other counties ridiculous amounts of money to house prisoners that the county should be housing?

Douglas County also houses prisoners from other counties. A lot of them! You conveniently forgot to mention that little bit of information. First, send those prisoners to the counties where their crimes were committed, and then find out if the Douglas County jail is overcrowded.

Ummmm Yeah:

Sorry, the clarification about the SPLOSTS should have been attibuted to Eric T (?). Thanks for your sane response and the vigorous debate.
I would like to point out that Benjamin Franklin, distinguished statesman, inventor and architect of the Constitution used numerous pseudonyms including Silence Dogood, Alice Addertongue, Harry Meanwell and Richard Saunders throughout his life to convey his viewpoint. During this time he did indeed own a newspaper and Poor Richard's Almanac. These were seen as uber credible sources of information and yet, Ben Franklin used them via pseudonyms to scold his opposition and convey his viewpoint.
I would have enjoyed seeing how Ben Franklin would have responded to your criticism that expressing a viewpoint on a blog that presents as a credible news source much the same as his Almanac, is disingenous. In one instance he actually predicted the death of his opponent. Then, when the date and time of the supposed death knell arrived, he reported that he had indeed nailed it exactly and that the person continuing to post as his opponent was simply someone else using the former's name to cash in on its value. Nevermind his opponent was still and remained very much alive and well.
Just a funny bit of history to point out that this world of ours- blogging just as Mr. Bell is doing and using other names to anonymously convey a viewpoint or challenge authority is older than our country. Perhaps Mr. Bell will be looked upon as a patriot in 200 years. LOL

Scott wrote:

Perhaps Mr. Bell will be looked upon as a patriot in 200 years. LOL

There are those of us who already view Mr. Bell as a patriot.

If Mr. Bell is such a friggin patriot, maybe he might start the "transparency" thing by making public appearances rather than hiding behind a computer. Our public officials have nothing to hide and have no problem standing up in publc to explain their positions. I have yet to see an ad somewhere saying that Bell is going to preside over anything in a public forum.

He is a convicted felon, he is in bed with James Quarterman and he has done nothing to gain the trust of the people here. The man needs to come out of hiding and get rid of the hidden agendas, of which he has several.

I for one hope that one of these people we can't keep in jail due to overcrowding comes to visit him personally.

FFinger wrote:

since the difference in votes in < 1%, wouldn't Quarterman be better off requesting a re-count first?

According to the Secretary of State's office, you may not request a recount of a referendum.

DC Citizen wrote:

<quoted text>
Douglas County also houses prisoners from other counties. A lot of them! You conveniently forgot to mention that little bit of information. First, send those prisoners to the counties where their crimes were committed, and then find out if the Douglas County jail is overcrowded.

You are wrong, check your information with a more credible source. Douglas County only houses state inmates that committed state crimes here. Most of the state prisoners are from other counties but they committed crimes here, people here know better.

Why do you think these companies have interest in the passage of the SPLOST? I wonder if they will get the bids for the jail construction? Do we even know, at this point, what they are going to build?

DCTC wrote:

GreyStone Power CEO Headed Pro SPLOST/Jail PAC
From Staff Reports November 16, 2009 Douglas County Journal
A Political Action Committee called Keep Douglas Safe was organized to push the passage of the recent $150 million Douglas County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) and $120 million Bond referendum on November 3rd.
Campaign disclosure records from the State Ethics Commission show that GreyStone Power Company President and C.E.O Gary A. Miller and William T.“Terry” Baggett both from Douglasville, Ga. formed the political action committee to solicited cash contribution in support of the passage of the SPLOST/Bond.
The documents revealed the cash contributions came from several corporations from outside Douglas County. No contributions came from within county. Neither Miller nor Baggett contributed money to their own campaign. Included in the list are various jail construction and engineering firms and one individual from Florida.
The reported contributors includes: New South Construction ($500)- Ashford Engineers of Atlanta ($500)- Rosser International ($300)- KSGW Architects, LLC ($500)- SteelCell North America ($500)– J. Tom Chandler of Lakewood Fl.($500).
According to the expenditure documents Landmark Communications received $1000 for services and Chapel Hill News and Views received $329.
Keep Douglas Safe Campaign surfaced when citizens received two mailings from the PAC prior to the November 3 vote and automated phone calls feathering the voice of Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller advocating the passage of the SPLOST.
Last week Douglas County resident James Quarterman filed a law suit in the Douglas County Superior Court accusing public officials of law violations and claiming they threaten and intimidated voters to vote for the SPLOST or have their property taxes increased.
The SPLOST/Bond referendum passed by only 32 votes. The vote count was 3,918 yes votes and 3,886 no votes.

Get a Life wrote:

Bell is moron with nothing better to do that to mislead those who will listen rather than to get information for themselves.
The jail is needed as the old one is dilapidated and overcrowded. The county is going to have to build one in the near future so why put it off several years which will only see a rise in construction costs? Why pay other counties ridiculous amounts of money to house prisoners that the county should be housing?

Whats wrong with an OLD jail? If you dont have the time, dont do the crime

CitizenInCharge wrote:

<quoted text>
You are wrong, check your information with a more credible source. Douglas County only houses state inmates that committed state crimes here. Most of the state prisoners are from other counties but they committed crimes here, people here know better.

the jail makes the county lots of spending money and pads alot of pockets inside.They can have a huge jail at the local tax payer expense, then house inmates from everywhere and get paid to house them per day, and let the local tax payer pick up the tab on electricity, jobs,food,transport vehicles, ect.. So oyur getting SCREWED if you live in douglas county,making money if your in the government.

Crabapple wrote:

If Mr. Bell is such a friggin patriot, maybe he might start the "transparency" thing by making public appearances rather than hiding behind a computer. Our public officials have nothing to hide and have no problem standing up in publc to explain their positions. I have yet to see an ad somewhere saying that Bell is going to preside over anything in a public forum.
He is a convicted felon, he is in bed with James Quarterman and he has done nothing to gain the trust of the people here. The man needs to come out of hiding and get rid of the hidden agendas, of which he has several.
I for one hope that one of these people we can't keep in jail due to overcrowding comes to visit him personally.

You are mighty judgmental for a supposed educated man! A person does a non-violent crime, faes the system, spends his time in jail, gets out and we're supposed to continue to judge him a criminal until the day he dies? Why don't you look at it this way: if James has spent time in the slammer, he has a better view of this issue than you do. He's been there and from what you say, you haven't. How about that view?

James has made many public appearances. He's worked for years on the issues this county has faced. Just because you haven't seen him doesn't mean he's not there. Maybe he should post his next appearance.

Elected public officials lie. It's a fact of life. They tell the citizens what they want to hear from the day they decide they're gonna campaign. They do this mostly because they want power over those citizens and it's the only way to get the votes they need. Most people realize this and I believe you do too. That doesn't make them transparent, as you called it. That makes them good at what they do.

To the best of my knowledge, James Bell and Quarterman have worked on one or two issues at the same time, but not together. They're not "in bed together". Just because two people agree on a few issues doesn't put them together as partners. Else, you and I would be in bed together; I've agreed with you on a few issues (and it scares me to realize that fact).

James IS a patriot by my definition, which is, someone who puts his reputation, livelihood, or life on the line in defense of his nation. If you have a better definition, please inform us.

Crabapple, you really need to get off this "he was in jail once" thing. It makes you look pretty bad. You're speaking seriously out of turn when you speak about James Bell.

if heis a convicted felon, the he needs not be in ANY capacity of govt, nor having access to any tax money.ONCE A CON--always a con,,that rap sheet follows you til the day you take a ride in a hurse.