YEAR-END ISSUE 2015 NOVEMBER DECEMBER2015 JAMESAN INSIDE VIEW INTO GEORGIA’S NEWS, POLITICS & CULTURE ON THE COVER Along with photos of the new Atlanta Braves and Falcons stadiums under construction are pictures of prominent 2015 Georgia newsmakers. From bottom left (by the Georgia Tech yellow jacket) are state House Majority Leader John Burns; ICE executives Jeff Sprecher and his wife Kelly Loeffler (the James “Influential Georgians” of the Year); Miss America Betty Cantrell of Warner Robins; former DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, jailed for corruption; U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, running for re-election; state Rep. Allen Peake, DEPARTMENTS author of a medical cannabis oil law; DeKalb CEO Lee May, who replaced Ellis; Atlanta attorney Linda Klein, president- Publisher’s Message 4 elect of the American Bar Association; and University of Georgia head football coach Mark Richt. Floating Boats 6 FEATURES JAMES Staggering Figures Show Wall Street P.O. BOX 724787 “Knew” Attacks Were Coming ATLANTA, GEORGIA 31139 by Matt Towery 404 • 233 • 3710 8 A Look Back at 2015 PUBLISHED BY INTERNET NEWS AGENCY LLC by Phil Kent 19 Interviewing U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson by Jim Kingston 21 CHAIRMAN MATTHEW TOWERY CEO & PUBLISHER PHIL KENT [email protected] COLUMNS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER LOUIE HUNTER Gubernatorial Candidates Waiting in the Wings ASSOCIATE EDITOR GARY REESE by Randy Evans 11 ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES PATTI PEACH [email protected] “True Blue” Alumna Keeps Georgia in the Black MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE MELANIE DOBBINS by Gary Reese 15 [email protected] CIRCULATION PATRICK HICKEY 2016 Gold Dome Legislative Priorities [email protected] by Josh Belinfante 16 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS JOSH BELINFANTE LaGrange a Model for Fighting Criminal Gangs RANDY EVANS by Cindy Morley JIM KINGSTON 24 BILL MADDOX MAC McGREW Closing the Higher Education Gap a Must for Georgia CINDY MORLEY by Bill Maddox 27 GARY REESE MATT TOWERY LARRY WALKER Check on Your Assets with a Portfolio Review by Mac McGrew 29 VISIT INSIDERADVANTAGE.COM SUBSCRIBE TO OUR DAILY INTERNET NEWS SERVICE Why Former UGA Coach Ray Goff is “My Pick” $17.50/MONTH & RECEIVE JAMES FOR FREE by Larry Walker 31 CHECK OUT OUR SISTER PUBLICATION: SOUTHERNPOLITICALREPORT.COM DESIGN & LAYOUT BURTCH HUNTER DESIGN PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE Let’s foster— not stifle— a debate on issues Reflect on the following statement by Brenda Smith-Lezama, However, some students with an independent college paper the vice president of the University of Missouri’s Students’ (fittingly named The Claremont Independent) published an Association: editorial criticizing students for reckless and unsubstantiated charges of “racism.” The editorial also hit the president for “I personally am tired of hearing that First Amendment rights cowardice in not standing up to the hateful barrage. The stu- protect students when they are creating a hostile and unsafe dents wrote: “We are not racist for having different opinions. learning environment for myself and for other students here.” We are not immoral because we don’t buy the flawed rheto- ric of a spiteful movement.” That statement would have shocked my professors at Those words jogged memories, again, of my days at the University of Georgia (of both liberal and conservative UGA when I was an active participant and, for one quarter bent) when, lo those many years ago, I was studying to served as the president, of a college debating organization achieve my undergraduate journalism degree. After all, called the Demosthenian Society. I still occasionally return how can you have freedom without our Constitution’s First to the campus and drop in to hear feisty and informative Amendment guarantee of free speech? pro-and-con exchanges among Demosthenians with strong The stunning declaration by the Missouri student opinions. That is what colleges and universities ought to be came during a recent protest which led to the resignation about— a free marketplace of ideas. of the school’s president and chancellor. The resignations That is also what a robust news media ought to foster— came after a toxic recipe was stirred together: allegations the airing of differing viewpoints so that Americans can of white racism, festering faculty versus administration form their own attitudes on public policy issues and thus issues and— the final ingredient— black football players develop a civic consciousness. (backed by their coach) threatening to boycott a game Our magazine and parent company, InsiderAdvantage against another university team unless the president quit. Georgia, especially strive to distribute “Information before When the students and a few faculty members were it’s news.” Attempting to shut down the flow of information protesting, some even tried to block the media (including and news because someone, somewhere lives in fear of student journalists!) from trying to cover and report on their being “hurt” and in need of a “safe space” is absurd in a activities on public property. Incredible. free republic. A couple days after these events, a headline in The In Georgia, let’s hope that our University System Board Wall Street Journal caught my eye: “The Rise of College of Regents and its chancellor Hank Huckaby remain stead- Crybullies.” The accompanying column by Roger Kimball fastly committed to instilling in students (and faculty mem- made excellent points. Consider this: bers and even coaches!) respect for freedom of speech and its accompanying diversity of opinions. “The truth is that American universities are among the safest Campus radicals at the University of Missouri and else- and most coddled environments ever devised by man. The where prattle about “marginalized students” who face idea that one should attend college to be protected from “hostile” opposition and require “safe spaces” to retreat ideas one might find controversial or offensive could only and reflect. But what they really seek is repression. They occur to someone who had jettisoned any hope of acquiring seek to silence their opponents by smearing them or by an education. Many commentators have been warning about forcing them out of their jobs. an ‘education bubble.’ They have focused mostly on the The tyrannical thought-control pushed by these “cry- unsustainable costs of college, but the spectacle of timid bullies” and their adult enablers must have no place in moral self-indulgence also deserves a place on the bill of what is supposed to be “the land of the free and the home indictment.” of the brave.” Kimball also notes what happened around that same time at Claremont College. A dean resigned after accusations he was a “racist” because of a carelessly worded email. 4 JAMES Statewide Presence, Statewide Solutions. With offfifices around the state of Georgia, Hall Booth Smith, Government Affffairfairs is a well- connected team of lawyers and professional lobbyists who understand your ffeederal, state and local legislative and regulatory objectives AATTHENS AATTLANTTAA COLUMBUS TIFTTIFTTOOONN ALBANY BRUNSWICK Nashville & Memphis, TN and N. Palm Beach, FL . Hall Booth Smith, PP..C. is a full service law firm with over 20 years of experience. At HBS, we attribute our growth and success to the hard work and allegiance of fulfilling our promise: ““SServviing to Achieve Excellence” in all we do. FLOATING• BOATS WHO’S RISING AND WHO’S SINKING IN GEORGIA BUSINESS AND POLITICS Georgia has been named— for the third year in a Championship Game, to be played in Mercedes-Benz row— the No. 1 state in the nation in which to do busi- Stadium. That gives the Dawgs plenty of time to right the ness by Site Selection magazine, a leading economic ship and play in front of their hometown fans to win their development trade publication. “Through collaborative first championship since 1980, right? Either way another public-private sector efforts, we have created hundreds huge event in Atlanta sees the city’s ship…RISING of thousands of jobs for families, invested millions in our local communities and improved the overall quality of U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson is among the leaders life for our citizens,” Gov. Nathan Deal says. “Three in Washington fighting against the EPA’s “Clean Water consecutive first-place finishes in this ranking is a pat- Rule,” a power grab from the federal government which tern. It says the state clearly has in place the business- would let the EPA control nearly all bodies of water in attraction attributes most required by companies the country, from the smallest streams to the lakes we expanding and establishing new facilities,” Site draw our water from. Isakson and like-minded elected Selection Editor Mark Arend says. For Governor Deal officials have raised the issue in courts across the and his economic team, their boat is…RISING nation, and should a North Dakota federal court deem it illegal, it will go before the Supreme Court sometime The Peach State’s 2015 high school graduation next year. For Isakson and other representatives fighting rate grew 6 percentage points from the previous year to governmental overreach, the ship is…RISING 78.8 percent— an all-time high. School officials believe The University System Board of Regents approved the hike is due to the use of new data systems identify- the first college merger involving a historically black col- ing struggling students early and then intervening by lege. Albany State University, a four-year black college, is getting them help. The rate also rose, they say, because to be consolidated with Darton State College, where the state phased out the Georgia High School more students are white. Federal law stipulates that his- Graduation Test— an obstacle to thousands of students. torically black institutions, even if losing money or stu- It’s gratifying that the number of those Georgia young dents, cannot be shuttered. If two schools are consolidat- people earning diplomas, since 2011, keeps…RISING ed, the result must still be majority black.