Kemp Folds
So Much For 'Conscience'

Georgia Senate Watch is giving credit where credit is due. Don Cheeks, one of the "Senate Watch Six" senators with whom we disagree on many issues, stood last month on the right side of predatory lending. He sponsored good legislation, gave passionate speeches about protecting the elderly, the disadvantaged, and others from financing scams; and Brian Kemp, Sonny Perdue, and the Republican leadership turned on him.
Sonny Perdue called Brian Kemp into his office and gave the freshman senator his first test in hardball politics. Kemp failed it miserably, folding under the pressure and pulling a flip-flop worthy of Athens' own Gym Dogs.
One buzzword during the predatory lending debate was "conscience." Senator Kemp's conscience must be bothering him. Here are the facts:
Last year, the State of Georgia adopted legislation protecting unsophisticated borrowers from exorbitant fees and rates charged by unscrupulous lenders. The law gave victims the right to sue the perpetrators who profit from these illegal, high interest loans.
Because some portions of the bill were vague and seemed to produce unlimited liability for certain finance organizations, the law needed to be tweaked in order for major mortgage companies to continue underwriting home loans. This was very important for new home-buyers who needed credit, and the Senate unanimously passed a bill that rectified the problem. As Don Cheeks, the bill's sponsor, said in the Savannah Morning News, "By the first of next week... the lenders will be lending again and the borrowers will be borrowing."
Cheeks' bill maintained the protections of the original law. That original law's sponsor, Senator Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), stated in the Morning News, "It's a compromise that I can live with... I can vote for this bill with a clear and clean conscience."
Banking industry lobbyists succeeded in getting a bill through the House of Representatives that not only fixed the problems, but also removed the protections. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on March 7, it "substantially rewrites" the original Fair Lending Act and makes it "tougher" for homeowners to recover damages "if the equity they have in their homes is stripped away by unscrupulous brokers or lenders."
When the bill came to the Senate, Don Cheeks called it "garbage" and told the Savannah Morning News that if he were to vote for it "my conscience would hurt me so bad that I'd probably be scared to go to sleep." Senator Kemp must be tossing and turning.
The political maneuvering that resulted in the Republican controlled Senate passing the bill is a lesson in hypocrisy. Brian Kemp's experience is a good example.
Sonny Perdue spent his campaign criticizing Roy Barnes for strong-arm politics. But Perdue flexed his own "strong arm" in siding with unscrupulous lenders who prey on senior citizens and the working poor. As Don Cheeks observed in the Morning News, "The gentleman [in the Governor's office] is making calls. I thought those days were over, but they're not. Same game, different day."
Brian Kemp was called into the Governor's office just before the vote. He then went onto the floor of the Senate and voted with the lending lobby. According to high-level sources in the Capitol, he was "white as a sheet and sweating through his shirt." If true, this is somewhat heartening. At least he knows what he did was wrong.
Senate Watch has a file copy of Kemp's platform, printed from his campaign website, which has disappeared from the Internet. Under the heading "Honoring our Seniors" is the subheading "Predatory Lending." The text reads as follows:
"Brian Kemp strongly supports current efforts to restrict predatory lending in Georgia. Far too often, the poor and the elderly are taken advantage of by ruthless banking operations that bilk honest people out of their money.
Georgia now has one of the strongest anti-predatory lending laws in the country, but lending interests will try again next year to weaken this law. Brian Kemp will fight to ensure that all Georgians remain protected from the ruthless tactics of predatory lenders."
Flip-flop. And he stuck the landing. So much for conscience.

GeorgiaSenateWatch.com

GeorgiaSenateWatch.com is a joint project of the Young Democrats of Georgia and the Georgia Law Democrats and can be reached at Editor@GeorgiaSenateWatch.com.

Lighting Up
Bars Join Safety Push

Chad Fallows is lighting a candle because he wants downtown Athens to be safer.
Fallows, owning operator of downtown bar Barcode for the past five years, is displaying his candle prominently as part of the Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia's Bar Light Campaign 2004 Pledge.
Barcode is one of a handful of downtown restaurants and bars who have signed the pledge, committed $35 to the Center, and taken on the responsibility of creating safer bars by simple measures.
All participants can be recognized by hand-crafted ceramic candles, made by local artist Trish Salmon, located somewhere in the bar.
The event will kick off during the weekend of February 20 with benefit concerts at Flicker and Caledonia, followed by another night of music on Saturday at Transmetropolitan and Tasty World.
Fallows does not think that drinking downtown is dangerous, but admits that the bar scene is more prone to behaviors, namely drinking, that can lead to sexual assault.
"I want to make sure that there is an awareness for these situations," he says. "I care about what goes on downtown."
According to the Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia, alcohol is the number one date rape drug and 90 percent of all acquaintance rapes involve alcohol.
The Center, a non-profit staffed by volunteers from the Athens area, has been serving the
community for 30 years, raising awareness and promoting education about sexual violence.
Last December, Pam Szczygiel, the Director of Education at the Center, asked downtown Athens bar owners to pledge to the campaign.
"A lot of people forget that alcohol is a date rape drug," Szczygiel says. "Just the alcohol impairs people's judgment.
In addition to donating money, participating bars will have matchbooks and hotline cards with the Center's information available to bar patrons.
"Bar owners give money to the campaign," Szczygiel says. "We give them information on how to keep people safe."
Szczygiel hopes that the Bar Light Campaign will serve as a new way to educate the community about sexual violence, education being one of the main goals of the Center, and to break the normal patterns of how education about sexual assault is distributed in the community.
Szczygiel tried to keep the pledge simple.
"The fewer [requirements] the better," she says, "If we can all concentrate on a few things and do them right, we will be more effective."
By signing the pledge, one thing bar owners agree to do is to arrange a ride home for a woman, or arrange for an appropriate escort to her car, if requested.
According to Fallows, this is something that the Barcode staff already does.
"The bars seem to recognize that walking people to their cars when requested is something they have to do better," Szczygiel says.
So far about one-third of the bars downtown have pledged, and Szczygiel hopes to reach all of them.
"We have a good number of bars who are interested," Szczygiel says. "We're trying to get local businesses involved too."
Overall, she believes the reaction has been positive.
Szczygiel hopes that kicking off the event with a weekend of music will help get the community of Athens excited too.
Jay Russo and Brian Colantuno are operating owners of Transmetropolitan. The Clayton St. Italian restaurant and bar is also participating in the campaign. Local musicians Paper Lions and This Scares Me will be playing at Transmet for the kickoff weekend.
"We're glad to have the opportunity to help, Russo says. "We feel privileged to be in a position to do something."
Colantuno adds that "the easiest thing to do [about sexual assault] is nothing."
Downtown restaurant and bar owners signing the Bar Light Campaign pledge is reflective of responsibility the owners collectively feel about Athens.
"I think a lot of the restaurant and bar owners feel like we offer something positive to the downtown community," Colantuno says.

Sarah Warfield

Sarah Warfield is a local freelance writer.

Animal Control
Last Week's Scorecard

Athens-Clarke County Animal Control responded to 77 calls:

11 complaints of animal cruelty
3 reported bite cases
6 complaints of barking dogs
1 ordinance violation
25 animals impounded
21 dogs
1 cat
1 skunk
1 cardinal
1 great horned owl
24 dogs placed
10 adopted
8 reclaimed
6 turned over to other agencies

ACC Animal Control press release for the week of Feb. 5 to Feb. 11.