So You Think Aaron Barlow Cared About TSPLOST?
Aaron Barlow, candidate for State Senate in North Fulton and Cherokee Counties, has made most of his campaign feeding off negatives for those that have actively tried to solve Georgia’s and North Metro Atlanta’s congestion problems. He even had a mailer/flyer that was criticizing Brandon Beach’s sponsorship of TSPLOST on Facebook (despite the fact that Beach wasn’t a Senator when TSPLOST legislation was passed) which has now gone strangely missing. Barlow had been working hard to demonstrate how much he was against the TSPLOST.
Funny thing about his opposition. I can’t find any evidence Barlow voted in the July 2012 primary, when T-SPLOST was on the ballot. Given the problems with both Fulton County and the Secretary of State’s election and voter file management issues, I can’t and won’t say conclusively he didn’t vote. But y’all should ask him if he did. Or, was he at his condo in Chicago, not really caring about transportation in Atlanta at the time.
I’m incredibly wary of candidates that can find fault with every solution that is offered, but have no real solutions of their own beyond platitudes. Even empty platitudes have consequences. My concerns grow stronger when a candidate doesn’t have a record to back up their concern. On transportation, either the record is missing or Barlow was.
Be wary of candidates who only care after the fact, and only care when motivated by opportunity.
About Author
Charlie
Founder of GeorgiaPol.com; Now weekly columnist Very interested in Georgia and Georginas. Interest in politics is waning daily.
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Charlie,
Not sure you saw this? But you obviously had the story way before the newspapers! Great reporting! BTW Tribune had similar article on what you wrote about a week ago! Once again ahead of the curve….
……….So let’s look at his word. Barlow tells us he is the real conservative in this race. But to try to brand Brandon Beach as a liberal is way over the top.
Compare Beach’s voting record and that of just about any other bona fide conservative in the Senate and you won’t find much daylight. OK, so a little hyperbole in a campaign is to be expected.
But then I looked at the claim that Beach sponsored the proposed great $8 billion tax increase a few years back. Actually, it was a special local option sales tax that was up for the people to vote up or down.
There is a big problem with that claim. Beach was not even a senator then. That was on his predecessor Chip Rogers’ watch.
I just don’t believe that was a mistake. That was just another lie that seems to pile up on Barlow’s doorstep.
Barlow says nothing about what he hopes to accomplish in office other than to slash taxes. And Georgia needs to slash its taxes, according to Barlow.
First understand more than half of the state budget goes to schools and education. I have two grandsons about to enter high school. I don’t want those dollars cut.
If Mr. Barlow had done his homework, he would know there was quite a bit cut out of the state education budgets of 2007, 2008 and 2009. Those education dollars had to be made up locally.
Transportation funding has been hard to find at state and federal levels. The state has some making up to do.
Barlow says we should cut the taxes because we have had growth the last couple of years. I think any reasonable reaction is to look at what you are cutting and why.
When I asked in which departments he would cut budgets, he said all of them. Realistically, that merely shows no understanding of the budget……….
http://www.northfulton.com/stories/Beach-gets-nod-in-District-21-Senate-race,92379
I’d consider voting for Satan if he offered transportation solutions that included more than just double-decker highways and idiotic pay lanes. Suburban aversion to mass transit is stupefying.
Actually the toll lanes being constructed are a major step to mass transit in the form of bus lanes that will actually move. You cannot judge HOT lanes based on the worse than half-assed conversion of the former HOV lanes on I-85. The ‘burbs simply do not have the population density to justify everybody’s darling in heavy rail. The alphabet soup of MARTA, GRTA, CCT, GCT, etc. bus systems will eventually need to be combined to achieve anything resembling efficiency but one step at a time. Heavy rail has its place as does light rail but if your implementation of light rail is akin to the current streetcar without a dedicated right-of-way then a bus is more versatile and economical. (Unless you are getting the feds to pay for it since that is just free money, right?) Admittedly politicians who realize that their suburbanites need to get around and are willing to stick their necks out to try doing something about it are a rarity in these parts.
All good points!
Barlow ought to have Cherokee Tea Party support. They can’t stand that their tax dollars are paying for MARTA.
Except, in no proposal that Beach has ever proposed, or in any proposal being currently discussed, does any Cherokee County tax dollars go toward MARTA.
But as long as Barlow can con them into thinking that, he’ll be able to continue to proud legacy of Chip Rogers in convincing them he’s doing what they want, while fleecing them and so many of the rest of us.
“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” — Mark Twain
You have to give Charlie a thumps up, he has broken many issues like this! As you know Charlie, and I do not 100 percent agree on issues. But you have to give him a real big thumps up on how many stories he has broken first! Charlie does not care which party, wrong is wrong.
Why doesn’t GeorgiaPol just come out and do an endorsement for Beach?
From that tab on the top left of the screen where it says “Welcome”:
“We” are a group individuals that represent the political spectrum in Georgia. Our background ideologies range from an Occupy Atlanta organizer to a Freedom Caucus apologist. These talented people speak individually and only for themselves. “We” do not have an organizational opinion. Citations such as “GeorgiaPol said….” Or “GeorgiaPol endorses…” are and will be categorically false. We are a collection of voices, and do not speak as one.
Completely agree with you Charlie. I think you’ve always done a good job staying neutral and have presented all sides to any issue. Just think you haven’t covered both ends on this one. For example, the false endorsement story. If Barlow had done it, you would have been all over it. Also, investigating conflicts of interest involving senator Beach, the chamber of commerce, and the CID in regards to “pay to play” politics would make an interesting article.
JKaine,
I am just a small businessman, who puts his own capital at risk. Now according to you and Barlow, anyone affiliated with local chamber is part of a tin foil conspiracy. 85 percent of the membership is local business people like me. I have a secrete for you, people join the local chamber to network, to help grow their business.
Barlow who was part of corporate America, owns a business in China, nobody really knows him, from all the people I know, for any real time in our community ( I guess Barlow was living in Chicago), somehow thinks local business people are evil. It is America, you have the God given right to hate capitalist in America, but why not try putting your own capital at risk in our community, than call me, before I get the Barlow lecture. I happen to think small business is the backbone of any community.