COLUMN: A political wishlist

Sadly, primary turnout is traditionally low – especially in midterm elections. In the last midterm primary, only 18 percent of registered Barrow voters cast ballots. The general election results for that year were not much better with only 44 percent of voters heading to the polls to elect a governor and numerous other statewide offices.

Hopefully this year will be different. That would be political wish number one.

My next wish would be that we elect some truly capable people who will actually listen to their constituents and act accordingly.

There are a few individuals who I feel would meet that criteria.

For governor, I would really like to see Nathan Deal win. While there are several good candidates, Deal is the one I believe is best suited to lead Georgia out of this recession and also the one I feel is best prepared to take on the feds when it comes to water rights, health care and other federal mandates.

I also like Deal because of his track record on immigration issues. While the country remains focused on Arizona and their immigration issues, many fail to realize that Georgia has a larger illegal immigrant population than Arizona does. Georgia has almost half a million illegal immigrants in the state. This is a huge taxpayer expense when it comes to providing education, health care and other government services to this population.

In neighboring Gwinnett County, Sheriff Butch Conway has saved the taxpayers an estimated $6 -7 million per year by implementing the 287(g) program at the Gwinnett County Detention Center. Imagine how much money could be saved if this issue were addressed on a statewide level.

As a congressman, Nathan Deal opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants and voted against allowing unauthorized immigrants to obtain tax payer funded incentives such as in-state tuition, educational benefits, and welfare and health care services. In short, Deal was fighting the battle over illegal immigration long before the country’s attention turned to Arizona.

Another critical race is the 7th Congressional District seat. There are several good candidates, but I intend to vote for Jef Fincher. I had not really considered Fincher before the Barrow County Republican Party candidate forum, but I really liked what the man had to say.

Fincher is not a career politician. He is very well spoken and seems sincere about his desire to serve. He said he became interested in politics when he realized just how much Obamacare and other massive government programs were going to cost his children.

When Obamacare was being debated, he became active with the Tea Party and actually went to Washington. Fincher stood in the galleries and watched what he described as politicians, not representatives of the people. He said there was visible, overwhelming citizen opposition to Obamacare outside the capital and the politicians simply ignored it. This flagrant disregard for the will of the people motivated him to run for Congress.

He has a record of being active in the community and, to me, seems to want to do the right thing for the people not just for furtherance of his political career. His stance on the issues is solidly conservative – just visit his website and see for yourself.

On a side note, I do like Jody Hice’s “Had Enough of Obama’s Change?” billboards no matter what the Democrats think.

As for the rest of the races, my choices are Doug MacGinnitie for secretary of state, Preston Smith for attorney general, John D. Barge for school superintendent, Gerry Purcell for insurance commissioner, Gary Black for agriculture commissioner, Melvin Everson for labor commissioner and Tim Echols for public safety commissioner.

I truly believe these individuals are the best candidates. Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you will head to the polls and exercise your right to vote. Many of these races will be effectively decided in the primary. Now is the time to weigh in on the future of your county and state.

Kristi Reed is a reporter for the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at kreed@barrowjournal.com.