Where have you been? You have my vote.

I have been a fan of yours since you called me personally about an insurance claim that my insurance company was purposely stalling. Then you did a class action suit againt the company since I was just one of many clients having similar problems. that proved to me that you were really "for a people by the people" stateman not a politician.

I am happy to hear you are running for governor and that your platform is about real change for the betterment of the people and the state. Not for the lobbiest.

I hope that I will be able to do some campaigning for you on this election. Thank you for running!

1) Larger or smaller government is a red herring. We need to focus on more effective and efficient government. If we accomplish that, size will not be an issue.
2) I don't like state income tax either, but what would you replace it with? Alternatives such as a sales tax are clearly regressive.
3) A comprehensive statewide transportation plan is a good idea, but all I have heard so far is roads. That is not comprehensive.
4) This is aligned with the smaller/larger government idea, and is misguided in its emphasis.
5) Like transportation, we need a comprehensive approach to water. We do need more reservoirs, but that is not sufficient, nor is it the proper starting place. A comprehensive plan would include a priority on conservation, which could save the cost of one or more reservoirs. That would seem to be the conservative thing to do.
6) Unless the amount of the voucher is equal to the cost of private school education, this is simply a subsidy to upper middle class families that already send their kids to private schools. If a privae school education is $12,000 to $25,000 per year, and we give a family a voucher for $6,000, that is not going to expand options for most families. It will however reduce funding to public schools, and hence reduce real choice in quality education.
7) This sounds fine, but I would like to know more about how you intend to accomplish this.
8) So, you are in favor of less government intervention when it comes to guns and taxes, but more when it comes to a woman's body? How about a consistent philosophy when it comes to the role of government?
9) I am not anti-gun, and I have been a hunter in the past. People have a right to protect their homes. I do not agree that increasing the number or people who go armed in public will improve public safety. It is a disaster waiting to happen.
10) Remember the tenth ammendment which you were going to actively assert? I think this is one of those power expressly given to the federal government.
11) This is a good idea. I don't see how you will accomplish this when your other ideas will lead to a state with poorer public schools, and is unfriendly to foreigners.
12) Fair tax is a good idea. Unfortunately, a flat tax (which is what you are talking about) is a bad idea. Again, clearly a regressive approach to taxation.

My favorite part of this site is the terms of usage: "By submitting your comments we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete your comments and portions of these Terms of Use at any time without further notice." There is another amendment you might want to think about: the first. It was the first for a reason.

In respectful disagreement
Bill Bailey

You consider building another highway through downtown Atlanta a "solution" to Georgia's transportation issues. This would have a disastrous effect on the city. In fact, your plan runs directly through my neighborhood. Have you not noticed the detriment both I-20 and the downtown connector have already caused in Atlanta? Wouldn't it be both cheaper and less destructive to widen 285?

John, most of your plans sound great to me, especially your strong support for the Fair Tax. You've got my vote as long as you don't go off the deep end of religious conservatism and, for example, sanction the teaching of the Judeo-Christian creation story in science classes of public schools.

Bill Bailey - your comments are interesting and thought-provoking. I respectfully disagree with many of them.
Regarding item (2) -- Read the FairTax plan at www.fairtax.org. It's a progressive sales tax (designed not to be regressive) that uses a uniform rebate in the form of monthly checks to ensure that the very poor pay no taxes, and that the moderately poor pay a smaller percentage in sales taxes than the well-to-do.
(4) -- Periodically re-asserting state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment is critical to maintaining our federal republic, especially in an environment in which the ruling people in Washington seem to think that the Constitution grants them carte blanche to enact any legislation governing any aspect of the lives of US citizens.
(5) I would also like a more comprehensive plan regarding water, but new reservoirs make sense, and starting early on them makes sense due to the long lead time required to acquire the land, construct the reservoir, and link it into the water distribution system. Just as with other natural resources, we should work on BOTH acquiring new sources of water and conserving the water we already have.
(6) Why is it that so many people support food vouchers (called "food stamps") but not school vouchers? Should we stop giving people food vouchers and instead offer them a system of "public grocery stores" where poor people can shop for groceries, rather than giving them a direct payment to use in the free market? Why are vouchers OK for food but not OK for education? Do you assume that if the demand for private schooling increases (as it will when you give people a school voucher) that the market will not increase the supply of private schooling to meet the demand at that price? You should look at districts like Washington DC where students receiving vouchers perform better on tests AND receive an equivalent education for less cost per student than the public school system achieves. Also, does your argument apply to colleges or just K-12 education? Do you think that states should not offer scholarships that students can use at private colleges and universities?
(8) I'm in agreement with you, Bill Bailey, on this issue. The government should stay out of our private lives altogether.
(9) When you say, "I do not agree that increasing the number or people who go armed in public will improve public safety. It is a disaster waiting to happen," do you have any facts with which to back that up? Do you know of any cities or states around the world where the law changed to allow law-abiding citizens to carry guns in public, and this change caused an increase in the rate of murder, robbery, rape, or accidental shootings?
(10) Actually, the Constitution does not explicitly grant the federal government the power to enforce immigration laws, nor does the section on Powers Prohibited of States explicitly prevent states from enforcing immigration laws. The Constitution DOES grant Congress the right to define the process of becoming a naturalized citizen, and it also says that the United States "shall protect each of them [the states] against Invasion." But I see nothing there that prohibits states from enforcing immigration laws, and the Tenth Amendment makes clear that any power not explicitly granted to the federal government or explicitly prohibited from exercise by the states remains with the states or with the people.
(11) Enforcement of immigration laws is not unfriendly to FOREIGNERS, it is unfriendly toward CRIMINALS who enter our country illegally. Do you not agree that the state should enforce ALL of its laws, including the ones which address lawful immigration?
(12) Bill, I don't understand your comment here. Mr. Oxendine's site explicitly references the Fair Tax plan, which is a progressive sales tax with a flat rebate, which is clearly NOT regressive.

This website doesn't say where Mr. Oxendine stands on environmental issues such as clean air, clean water, and the Georgia Land Conservation program.
This is a big issue to me and to many other Georgians.

If I understand the Fair Tax..........my haircut that I pay $10 for will increase to $12.30. My barber will need to hire a book keeper to handle the new sales tax, at a price of about $7500 per year. If the barber does 2500 haircuts a year, the book keeper costs $3 per haircut. I doubt the barber will absorb that $3, so the haircut goes to $15.30. Thats a 53% increase for the cost of the cut. It seems to me that a consumer would be better off with the current plan.

I have not heard Mr. Oxendine's plan to help Georgians afford healthcare. Maybe he will consider the following idea:

Its time to dust off an old tried and true solution to solve a problem like healthcare that the free market cannot solve. In the past when competition was not sufficient to control prices on big ticket items like the price of electricity, price of land-line phone service, and the price of natural gas service, our state government instituted the Public Service Commission (PSC) to arbitrate fair pricing. We need a Medical PSC for healthcare to arbitrate fair medical charge code prices that are billed to the state private healthcare insurers. A Medical PSC would eliminate the service contracts between the doctors/hospitals and healthcare insurance companies and eliminate the associated provider networks. Then patients could choose any available doctor/hospital in the state and be covered under their health plan. New insurers once approved by the state could enter and compete without any upfront investment. Thus, more competition between insurers who all pay the same for the exact same provider services and fair doctor/hospital medical prices based on actual cost plus a reasonable mark-up. The Medical PSC would not affect the doctor-patient relationship. Looks like a winner to me.

Bill, I was going to respond to your post, but I think Lee did a fine job. I will add on remark on the school voucher issue. The private school I would like to send my oldest daughter to costs $4,400.00 a year. I would also like to homeschool my son, which will cost approximately $2,000.00 a year. With that said, a $6,000.00 voucher would make this possible for me.

Kelly, why would your barber have to hire a bookkeeper? He is already handling the payment of a sales tax. On the other hand, he would no longer have to deal with the paperwork associated with state income tax withholdings for his employees. I fail to see how your barber's overhead would increase.

I have known John since he first ran against Mr. Ryals..he has done nothing but good in the insurance industry which I am part of and has one of the best plans I have read or seen in a long time to move Georgia forward instead of the opposite that Mr Barnes would cause. You have my vote and support!

Kelly, Fair Tax is on the Retail sale of a new item, not on service. Your hairdresser/ barber will get to keep all her/his income and save on tax preparation. You should get to know what Fair tax is, you'll love it.

I think you are a person of integrity who has given much thought to the current and somewhat troubling issues the people of Georgia face.

I would add a couple of thoughts on your Contract. These are not necessarily opinions, but just concerns.

Regarding education vouchers, I come from a background of 18 years' worth of homeschooling five children. I gladly paid the taxes for our community schools because I knew the day might come when I would need them, and wanted them to be adequate options. That day came a couple of years ago, and our two youngest kids are getting a great education in our community.

My other thought regarding education vouchers is regarding home values. The quality of a school's ranking directly impacts the value of the surrounding community. As a homeowner, that is also a consideration.

If we remove school funding it seems that would impact the quality of education that system can provide.

The other issue is in streamlining the ownership of guns. I worked for the police as well, and I have concerns about making it too easy to acquire weapons.

Guns used for hunting might fall into one class, but hand guns and other weapons are in another. If a person applies for a weapon, it seems prudent to ask the "why" question, regardless of their clean record to date.

That said, your list makes me hopeful that there is a future for Georgia and you have a great plan.