Dear Supporter,
We are 12 days away from the Democratic Primary. This is your chance to help elect a Governor who will make jobs, education, water and transportation a priority. Help me get my message out by making a contribution the campaign today. To donate now, click here.
Below is an article from the Thomasville Times Enterprise. Please pass this article along.
Thanks for your support!
DuBose Porter
July 3, 2010
Power of persuasion (Thomasville Times Enterprise)
http://timesenterprise.com/
homepage/x657354259/Power-of- persuasion
Porter says he will ensure entire state has a voice
Mark Lastinger CNHI
THOMASVILLE — House Minority Leader DuBose Porter believes he is a gubernatorial linchpin, a candidate who can hold Georgia’s divergent interests together so the entire state can prosper.
The veteran Democrat lawmaker from Dublin touted his record as consensus builder during a Wednesday Times-Enterprise visit.
“The issues that are facing Georgia in the next decade, really, even now — with regards to water, transportation funding, education funding and public safety, it will matter who is governor and whether the whole state is at the table,” Porter said. “With reapportionment coming up next year, for the first time in Georgia history metro Atlanta will have the majority in the House and Senate. The rest of Georgia needs a governor to balance all the interests out.”
Porter is especially concerned about how metro Atlanta’s growing influence will impact schools across the state. He helped developed the Quality Basic Education (QBE) funding formula for Georgia’s public schools.
“In education funding, for the first time last year, those in the metro area started affecting what is called equalization,” Porter explained. “Equalization was put into the Quality Basic Education funding to balance rural, urban, metro and other parts of the state. When you take away equalization, you start shifting the per-capita money per student away from any student outside of Atlanta.
“For it to be even, we need someone with the 28 years of experience that I have in those areas that are important.”
Porter’s public education include:
l Former chairman of the Georgia House Education and Higher Education committees
l Sponsored HB 1397, The Salary Protection Act, during the 2010 legislative session to stop teacher furloughs and put a firewall around teacher salaries
l Sponsored HB 1136 during the 2010 session to restore National Board Certification for teachers
l Sponsored post-secondary options legislation to students can learn valuable skills at technical colleges while still in high school
l Voted against increasing class sizes
l Fought against $3 billion in cuts to public education since 2003
l Voted against private school vouchers
l Sponsored legislation creating the HOPE Scholarship, the HOPE Grant and Georgia’s pre-kindergarten program
l Spoke out against the elimination of school nurses
“It all comes down to education,” Porter said. “I know the funding needs to be the same amount per student for everybody to have access to education in Georgia.”
Porter’s plans to end teacher furloughs and other education cuts by getting the Department of Revenue to do a better job of collecting the state sales tax.
“The Department of Revenue is so inept that it’s hard to be sure how much we’re talking about, but it’s somewhere between $500 million and $1 billion,” Porter said. “I introduced legislation during the past two sessions to solve that, but it was buried. It’s going to take a new governor with a new revenue commissioner to fix that.”
Porter said improving Georgia’s educational standing will also impact public safety.
“Budget cuts are reducing the number of law enforcement officers to unsafe levels,” he said. “The growing prison population is becoming financially unsustainable. Our citizens are less safe. Our law enforcement officers are less safe.
“It is much less expensive to educate a child now than to imprison one later.”
Porter’s state water conservation plan is designed to help high-growth areas while preventing interbasin transfers that could adversely affect south Georgia.
“One of the quickest solutions for water is to raise Lake Lanier by two feet, which is basically where it is right now after the recent rains,” he said. “You would impound 25 billion gallons of water.”
Porter has also called for the use of low-flow toilets and other conservation fixtures. One of his primary aim is to fix Atlanta’s crumbling water pipes, which allow up to 25 of the city’s treated water from making it to the Chattahoochee River.
“That would gives us credibility in court (in Georgia’s water rights battle with Alabama and Florida),” Porter said.
Porter said his transportation plan would also benefit the entire state.
“My transportation plan consists of three things,” he said. “First, dedicate the fourth penny of motor fuel sales tax to ‘any transportation purpose.’ This would allow a dedicated revenue stream to leverage federal resources for passenger rail, the money for Local Assistance for Road Paving, and state aid for local governments to use in economic development. Second, we will create regional Transportation-SPLOSTs where counties can join together to meet regional transportation needs. Third, I will put both measures on the ballot in 2011.
“I will bring passenger rail to Georgia. I will provide resources for partnerships to complete the beltline.”
Porter, whose wife Carol is running for lieutenant governor, remains confident about his chances for getting into a primary runoff. Some polls show him running second — although a distant second — to former Gov. Roy Barnes.
“I hope people realize what is at stake and that there is an alternative. That is how and why DuBose Porter wins,” he said.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
84. 12 Days
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
83. DuBose Porter, Family Cast Early Ballots
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/24161687/index.html
82. DuBose Porter brings campaign to Columbus
Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July. Below is an article from the Columbus Ledger newspaper that shows our momentum growing. Thanks for your support. Please pass this article along. Elect DuBose Porter. Vote in the Democratic Primary on July 20.
DuBose Porter brings campaign to Columbus (Columbus Ledger)
http://www.ledger-enquirer.
By LILY GORDON
Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate DuBose Porter visited a Columbus barbecue restaurant Friday to drum up support for his campaign and talk about what he called “the defining issue in this race” — education.
Moving among a packed room of lunchtime diners at Country’s Barbecue on Mercury Drive, the House minority leader shook hands and answered questions in an effort to set himself apart from former Gov. Roy Barnes and Attorney General Thurbert Baker.
“We need to let voters know there’s a clear choice in the primary between me and Roy Barnes,” Porter said. “I support public education, I’ve turned a school around, I’ve given tools to the teachers in the classroom. I didn’t blame them for the problems. So teachers, educators have a very clear choice this election. Parents have a very clear choice.”
The primary is July 20. Since he announced his candidacy for governor in April 2009, the former member of the House Education Committee and member of the Georgia State House of Representatives has traveled across the state in what he has called a grassroots effort to win over the “real Georgia.”
“I believe in grassroots,” Porter said. “We have been to every county, all 159 counties in this state. ... We’ve been in beauty parlors and barbershops and feed and seed stores, where the real Georgia is.”
Porter gets company
Former state Reps. Jed Harris and Mary Jane Galer as well as current State Rep. Debbie Buckner joined Porter around noon on his Columbus stop-over to show their support for the Dublin, Ga., native.
While at Country’s, Porter addressed other issues including economic development, water, public safety and transportation.
According to his official website, Porter wants to dedicate the fourth penny of the state fuel tax to “any transportation purpose,” create regional transportation SPLOSTs and put both measures on the ballot in 2011.
If elected governor, he said he also plans to seek reauthorization to raise the level of the Buford Dam at Lake Lanier an additional 2 feet, install efficient water fixtures to better conserve water resources and repair leaking pipes carrying treated water to the Chattahoochee River.
Porter’s main goal — and his reason for running for governor — is to improve Georgia’s public education system, he said.
“I have been fighting for education. I fought for national board certified teachers,” Porter said. “I fought for school nurses in the classroom. I fought for small class sizes so teachers can do their job. And that’s the defining issue in this race.”
Monday, June 28, 2010
81. Candidate touts record on education cuts
From the PolitiFact article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on June 28, 2010 titled, "Gubernatorial candidate touts record on education cuts:"
"State education advocacy groups think Porter fought for them. Herb Garrett, executive director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association, was effusive in a recent e-mail.
''I can say without fear of contradiction that Representative Porter has, in fact, raised numerous objections to the cuts to education,' Garrett said. 'He is among the most knowledgeable candidates on education funding [due to his many years of experience in the General Assembly and on education committees in particular], so he has a keen eye for how the education portion of the budget operates and when those in positions of power are playing games with it. He has called their hand publicly on a number of occasions.''
To read the entire article click here:
80. Rally at the State Capitol
Join Us For A Rally
At The State Capitol
For Georgia’s Next Governor
DuBose Porter
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
At 1:00 P.M.
Statewide supporters will meet
in the rotunda
on the second floor of the State
Capitol in Atlanta
at 12:30 P.M.
Everyone welcome.
Hometown supporters will depart
Dublin headquarters at 9:00 A.M.
Please call (478) 290-3039 if you need a ride.
DuBose needs you now.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
79. "It all comes down to Education."
DuBose Porter believes you agree.
Teachers need DuBose Porter as their Governor.
* Former Chairman of the GA House Education and Higher Education Committees
* Sponsored HB1397, The Salary Protection Act, in 2010 session to stop teacher furloughs and put a firewall around teacher salaries
* Sponsored HB1136 in 2010 session to restore National Board Certification for teachers
* Sponsored post-secondary options legislation so students can learn valuable skills at technical colleges while still in high school
* Voted against increasing class sizes
* Fought against $3 billion in cuts to public education since 2003
* Voted against private school vouchers
* Sponsored the legislation creating the HOPE Scholarship, the HOPE Grant, and the Pre-Kindergarten Program in Georgia
* Spoke out against elimination of school nurses
* Hails from Dublin, GA. Graduated from Dublin High School.
* Married to Carol Porter and father of 4 boys, one graduated and the rest attending The University of Georgia.Turn Education Around.
Elect DuBose Porter.
Democratic Primary July 20.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
78. Porter: Strong Record on Public Education
Twelve years ago, Saxon Heights Elementary School in Dublin, Georgia, had some of the lowest reading scores in the state.
Marie Hooks, the principal, asked me if I could help.
Rather than telling Marie what her teachers should be doing in their classrooms, I asked Marie what her teachers needed. Marie needed assistance in securing technology in the classroom, lowering class sizes, and increasing parental participation to 100 percent. I was able to help her achieve those goals.
The next year, Saxon Heights made Adequate Yearly Progress for the first time. Because we worked together, Saxon Heights is now one of the top Title I elementary schools in Georgia.
Our teachers are expected to produce miracles. Instead of blaming them, I will give our valuable educators the tools to succeed in the classroom.
Public education is at stake in this election.
We can do what Saxon Heights did with every school in this state. This will be my priority as your next Governor.
http://galiberal.com/
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