Place: Smyrna Community Center, 200 Village Green Circle, Smyrna.

Time: 6:00 PM, covered dish supper – 7:00, auction.  Please bring $10 or a covered dish.

If you would like to be a delegate from Georgia, and have not received our latest newsletter, please send an e-mail to tom@eastcobbdems.com to receive the info on what you need to do.

Con: Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, a member of the GA House transportation committee and chairman of Cobb County’s legislative delegation.

Remember: Member dues for 2012 are due ASAP.  Please send your check made out to “East Cobb Democratic Alliance” to our treasurer, Guy Swift, 511 Windgrove Rd., Marietta, GA 30067-5659.  Please detach and enclose the form below.  Or, bring the check to our next meeting on January 19.  Questions, call Chair Tom Barksdale 770-715-1218.

_ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Grassroots Supporter Membership, $25.00         _______________

• ECDA Membership for the 2012 calendar year

Candidate Supporter Membership, $100.00  _______________

• ECDA Membership for the 2012 calendar year                      $25.00
• ECDA 2012 Candidate Support Fund**                                  $75.00

Total $100.00

Enclosed, find my check for ________________ for my 2012 membership dues made payable to the East Cobb Democratic Alliance.

Name:    __________________________________________________________

Street: ____________________________________________________________              

City:__________________________    State  ___________ ZIP: ___________

Telephone:          (H) ________ ________(W)________________ Mobile ____________________

E-mail Address:  ________________________________________

Occupation: (Optional) ___________________________________

Employer: (Optional) _____________________________________

Signature: _____________________________________________

Date: ____________________________-                  

_____________________________________________________________________________

JUST REMEMBER: We Cobb Democrats are going to have to show sustained support for Cobb and Georgia Democratic candidates, in addition to turning out to help re-elect Obama.  Our local Democrats are going to need money and manpower to make a respectable showing in the 2012 elections—much less to get elected.  AND THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT NOW.

Have you contacted a local Democratic elected official to see what you might do to help them get re-elected?  Made a donation to their campaigns or to the Democratic Party?  Offered to volunteer on their behalf?  WE CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THE LAST THREE MONTHS OF THE 2012 CAMPAIGN SEASON TO GET ENGAGED.

Let’s make our involvement with the Obama campaign an addition to—not a distraction from—involvement with our local and State candidates.

Get involved now. Contact the East Cobb Democratic Alliance. Chair Tom Barksdale 770-715-1218, tbarksdl@aol.com.

(Check out the ECDA Facebook and web page for updates on our push back against Georgia’s new punitive immigration law.)

Dear Rep. Cooper: Thanks but no thanks

Posted on East Cobb Patch May 13, 2011 at 10:22am

Dear Representative Cooper,

Thanks but no thanks.

On your letter to me dated March 17, 2011, you reminded me that since I had just turned 62, I no longer have to pay that part of my property taxes that goes to support Cobb Public Schools.

I have two reservations with your offer. First, like your Tea Party supporters, I am against waste, fraud, and abuse. I contacted The Tax Commissioner’s office to see if I could get a list of those who are exempt from school taxes. The list might indicate duplications, fraud, and error. I was told that there is no list and that the “IAS” computer system they have is not capable of generating such a list.

While there may not be the first error or fraud in the system, like Ronald Regan, my motto is “trust but verify.” There is no way to verify the accuracy of the system, if we cannot look at the exempt list. I suggest that you and your fellow Cobb representatives get together and devise a better law with more transparency. If it was required by law, our Tax Commissioner’s office would have this information and make it easily available to the public. What if you found enough wasted money to hire back all the teachers, get rid of the trailers, and eliminate furloughs?

After you fix this defective law, my second reservation is that I like quality public education. My company brought nearly one thousand jobs to Cobb County in 1995 because of a number of reasons. Quality public education was at the top of the list. Good public schools maintain the quality of our community and the resale values of our homes. The small advantage that I get from not paying school taxes is more than offset by the depreciation of my property value. Quality public education will attract more businesses to Cobb and further enhance my property value and lift the quality of life in our community. Financially starving the best part of our county, our public school system, reminds me of another saying, “Penny wise. Pound foolish.”

I refuse to abandon my quality public school system. I will proudly pay my school taxes. For those who are financially strapped, a transparent school tax exemption is a very good idea. If you find enough savings from waste, fraud, and abuse in the system, I’ll be glad to accept a tax reduction, as long as it does not hurt our school system.

Thank you,

Mike Holzknecht