Blog for Democracy

Who is J.B. Powell?

Seriously, who is this guy?

Yeah, yeah I get that he’s the only Democrat running for Ag Commissioner, he’s conservative, and he served as a State Senator since 2004, but after that….crickets.

It’s four days after qualifying and I can’t find anything more than a handful of links telling me what I already knew; Terry Coleman decided at the absolutely last frigging minute to run for Labor Commissioner and Powell qualified.

His qualifications appear to be thin at best, and this cringe inducing video certainly doesn’t inspire much confidence. His likely opponent on the other hand, is as slick as slick gets. Last time I saw him his tie cost more than most folks car payment.

Trooper that he is, Tommy Irvin will no doubt campaign hard for this guy.

Of all the races this one really should have been our strongest but now if you’re looking for Hee-Haw candidates he’s your guy. I am not.

Posted

in

by

Juliana

Tags:

, ,

Comments

21 responses to “Who is J.B. Powell?”

  1. Juliana Avatar
    Juliana

    Ok thanks…

    Your guy got a website up yet?

  2. Franklin Avatar
    Franklin

    Ms. Jules – as for the idea that JB voted against the Black Caucus resolution, let me put that to rest. First, the resolution was a HOUSE resolution that failed to gain passage, making it impossible to be voted on in the Senate. The roll call vote is linked below. Note that while there are two reps named Powell in the House, one voted yes (that would be Alan Powell), and one did not vote at all (Jay Powell).

    http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/hr673.htm

  3. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Why Jules is right, Here:

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/05/right-wing_extremists_take_on_local_law_enforcemen.php?ref=fpa

    TPMMuckraker

    Right-Wing Extremists Take On Local Law Enforcement, Lose

    Zachary Roth | May 6, 2010, 11:54AM

    [Look for the Ga. Angle here too!]

    We’ve got to nip this mindless, racist claptrap in the bud. When & where we can, but especially when dealing with & for Governmental entities. It’s disgraceful otherwise, and yes, is an affront to the Rule of Law that actually invites these attacks on same. And everyone really ought to know that by now. No excuses, no back sliding, no fooling. JMP

  4. J.M. Prince Avatar
    J.M. Prince

    Not a bad thought there IRE, considering minimalist expectations. But once again we seem to be in a stunningly familiar place in Ga. politics. And once again we’re thrown back to the wisdom of Casey Stengel. ‘Can’t anybody here play this game?’ Again. JMP

  5. gphooligan Avatar
    gphooligan

    As for his fundraising – his initial campaign for state senator was almost entirely funded by the party. Since then, he has picked up the low-hanging donations from PACs and lawyers that every Dem gets, but that is it.

    As for the joke – it was not a political joke. It was a politically incorrect joke that even Glenn Richardson would have known better than repeat.

    And Jules – he has never had a webpage. His campaign strategy has been to put up billboards and buddy up to the good ole boy Democratic sheriffs in his district and get them to work for him. It worked for state senator – for statewide race, I don’t think so.

  6. innerredneckexposed Avatar
    innerredneckexposed

    How about after six years of serving on the Agriculture Committee he’s pretty knowledgeable about the regulations he’ll need to enforce (a lot more so than LCV for example) and unlike the leading GOP candidate isn’t a lobbyist and direct shill for the people he’s supposed to oversee, even worse than Oxendine.

  7. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Um that’s not how things worked under Speaker Richardson’s tenure.

    In fact he tried to lock the doors during the walk out the next day-yes that’s right lock the doors. Rep. Teague quite rightly told him this wasn’t the plantation anymore and he couldn’t do that.

    I guess as “lost” as we are, I can’t see us gaining any ground by being complicit in letting someone constantly kick you in the teeth.

    At some point we just can’t keep rolling over and playing their game- we need to play our own.

    As far as voters not understanding, whatever, I understand, my friends understand, we won’t be supporting this guy-with time, money, connections etc. Maybe that’s not much-but it might be the difference between losing big and just close.

    Oh and it’s coming up on a week and the candidate still has nothing up for anyone to see/read about him.

    Also duly noted besides Gunner, no one has told me one nice thing I didn’t know about him.. Not one.. it’s all been defended as some kind of “you need to support him cause” crap.

    No I don’t, not until someone gives me good reason, otherwise this is just another case of someone failing upwards.

  8. Mouth of the South Avatar
    Mouth of the South

    I understand the point about the Black Caucus, and they should have been steamed. However, this makes no sense to people outside of those that closely follow the legislature and worse than that it seems like a temper tantrum. What they should have done was wait until the GOP wanted to get something passed that was not popular and then walked out en masse and brought attention to that.

    Lost in the wilderness are we, but mostly because of the way most people in Georgia think and feel about Democrats. That walk-out only strengthens that which keeps us weak.

  9. innerredneckexposed Avatar
    innerredneckexposed

    Jules, I am correct on this one.

  10. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    IRE… and running nitwits like this helps to build it? No, no it doesn’t.

  11. innerredneckexposed Avatar
    innerredneckexposed

    Yeah, the Dem base is huge in Georgia. Huge.

  12. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    IRE:

    You are wrong about the tempest- this may not be a big deal in next two days-but without support of of the DEM base this guy is toast. Burnt toast.

    Here it is day 6 and still NOTHING from the candidate, no press release, no website, no positive pr anywhere.

    Biggest stumble out of the gate I’ve seen for statewide candidate since Majette.

  13. innerredneckexposed Avatar
    innerredneckexposed

    LCV doesn’t really focus on agricultural issues in terms of what an Ag Comm does. If that makes sense.

    At any rate… tempest, welcome to the teacup.

  14. gunner Avatar
    gunner

    Jules- That vote against the black caucus sucks plain and simple.

    gphooligan-His money came mostly from PACs and law firms. I don’t know how that translates to the party raising him money. Perhaps what he was talking about at the chamber meeting was the current Republican members.

    His district is pretty much 50/50. I would hate to lose this seat (Ag Commish) to the GOP after it has been held longer by Mr. Irvin then most of us have been alive.

    And Mr. Walker (Inmate# 16346-171) was no friend of the black caucus, the Dem Party or the people of GA in general.

  15. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    MoS… it actually was a tad bit bigger than that.

    The Chair of all the state Black Caucus is Rep. Symre who also was Obama’s GA transition team appointee for GA.

    The Gov would not meet with him till Feb 2009( yeah a little after the fact) and since GA has largest BC of all states, the resolution was introduced first in GA then supposed to be done pro forma in rest of states. This defeat was designed to be humiliating, and it was. Any Dem who voted with the GOP that day is really pretty scummy.

    When the GOP made their speeches they were insulting to the President and the rest of the caucus.

    While “most” GA voters don’t care or get this-I can tell you that Powell as a Dem will have a hard time convincing folks outside his “conservative” district to support him. Frankly he needs our money and connections to run statewide.

    I don’t care that he likes his guns, but I do care that he only gets a 64 from the league of conservation voters- the man’s wants to be in charge of AGRICULTURE!

    Instead of a close election this will be a cakewalk for the GOP, all because we can’t get our shit together any better than this.

  16. Mouth of the South Avatar
    Mouth of the South

    My recollection is that’s a pretty conservative district. I am not defending his vote on the BHO honorary member thing, but was and is a terrible way to waste our media time as a party and a caucus.

    Stage a walk out on transportation, education, anything that resonates with people. making someone an honorary member of something most people don’t even understand, I mean really.

  17. gphooligan Avatar
    gphooligan

    It’s hard for me to take you serious if you have met the guy and you were impressed. He gave the single worse talk I’ve ever seen at a local chamber of commerce meeting. It even included a joke about sex and a young girl that was completely inappropriate. He has ZERO chance of winning statewide. And go back and check your sources. He is a horrible fundraiser – the party has had to fund his campaigns.

  18. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Ed, well his voting record certainly doesn’t reflect that.

    This resolution was about as hot of a topic as you could get in March 2009.

    It was talked about for days before it even came to the floor, and then debated for awhile. If he was/is a supporter of the BC then he sure didn’t get their backs on this one.

    Just saying.

  19. Ed Avatar
    Ed

    If he’s part of the Walker machine I doubt he’s really “not friendly” to the Black Caucus. Just saying.

  20. Jules Avatar
    Jules

    Gunner, that’s nice he’s friendly to the YDs…..but not so supportive of the Black Caucus considering he voted against them in 2009 with HR 673 the resolution to make President Obama an honorary member of their caucus.

  21. gunner Avatar
    gunner

    When I was a member of the Young Democrats of Augusta. J.B. was a big supporter of us. He is a very likable guy. The right wing local media in Augusta hates him with a passion. He raised a ton of cash for his reelection campaigns. I think it was around 100K for his state senate seat. I don’t know for sure but I do not think that he is a part of whatever is left over from the Walker machine. He is a good guy and is heading into a tough race. I hope that the Democrats can keep this seat. It will be interesting to see how much Mr. Irvin hits the campaign trail for this guy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *