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The return address on the mysterious white envelope was from beatkevin.com. In bold black letters on the back of the 6-by-9-inch envelope were the words “The video Kevin Kenerly doesn’t want you to see.”
Inside the anonymous packet, mailed to about 9,000 voters in Gwinnett County Commission District 4, was a DVD showing video taken by a private investigator in March of County Commissioner Kenerly gambling in Las Vegas with developers. Kenerly says he paid all the expenses for his Vegas vacation, a trip he takes annually with family and friends.
Ever since the piece hit mailboxes early last week, Gwinnett’s political establishment has been in a tizzy. Political consultants wonder if their candidates also will be subject to such underground campaigning. Some voters are angered by the obvious mudslinging.
Such attack mailings are illegal if a candidate sends them without disclosing who the piece is from or if a candidate knows about the mailing but fails to disclose it as an in-kind contribution on campaign financial reports.
The latest round of campaign contribution disclosures won’t likely be available until this week, so it remains to be seen if anyone claims the beatkevin.com mail piece. We’d bet against it.
Voters who tried to go to the beatkevin.com Web site were diverted automatically to kevinkenerly.com, an anti-Kenerly Web site run by Snellville neighborhood activist Bob Griggs.
Griggs has posted an alert on his site saying he has nothing to do with the mailer and that he did not authorize the link to his site.
The beatkevin.com site is registered to Bob Walter, according to register.com’s Web site database. The address listed is a P.O. box in Cumming. The phone number and e-mail address, however, belong to political consultant Bill McKinney.
That’s the same Bill McKinney who recently left a nasty message on Kenerly’s home answering machine saying he was going to work to get Kenerly out of office. He’s also the same Bill McKinney seen by a rival political consultant this month picking up campaign signs for one of Kenerly’s opponents, Jodie Rosser, even though both have said he isn’t working for her campaign. Rosser said she farmed the sign work out to a volunteer, who told Gwinnett Insider a friend suggested enlisting McKinney’s help picking up the signs.
McKinney insists he didn’t register the beatkevin.com Web address: “This is a political dirty trick. I never registered that name.”
McKinney also said he had nothing to do with the mailer.
“Life is too short for that crap,” he said.
Dissing impact fees and the folks who want them
Kenerly took a shot at neighborhood activists on the county’s impact fee study committee during a political forum Thursday night hosted by the Golden Triangle Community Association.
Kenerly, a critic of fees charged to developers for roads and other services, said three “homeowners” on the task force have failed to show up for the past two meetings. Kenerly wondered why they would miss meetings if impact fees were so important.
Bob Griggs of Snellville and David Kesler of Duluth, considered the group’s neighborhood representatives, said they each have missed just one meeting.
“While Kenerly is working so hard to prove himself ‘homeowner friendly’ and worthy of re-election,” Griggs said later, “he should not be mocking the effort of the homeowner representatives on this panel.”
Clean water isn’t just for donkeys anymore
Laissez-faire Republicans often have labeled environmentalists as tree-hugging softies who eat granola — in other words, as Democrats.
Jason Rooks is out to prove them wrong. The leader of the Georgia Conservation Voters Fund believes environmentalism has as much of a constituency in GOP-ruled Gwinnett as it does in, say, Decatur.
Rooks wants to prove his point in the upcoming GOP state House District 98 primary. GCV is soon to launch a direct-mail and television advertising campaign against legislative candidate Wayne Hill. Hill, the former Gwinnett Commission chairman who’s challenging incumbent Rep. Bobby Reese, is viewed askance by some local greens.
“We believe that the same sort of quality of life issues here, controlling growth and preserving greenspace, are just as important to Republican voters as they are to the Democratic party,” Rooks said.
Rooks may have a point. Over the past two election cycles, Gwinnett commission incumbents, including Hill, were painted by neighborhood activists as too close to developers and subsequently turned out of office.
In this election, it remains to be seen just how well the environmental group’s message will play on Hill’s home turf. In 2004, Hill carried every precinct in this north Gwinnett district.
MEET THE CANDIDATES
Time is short, folks. There are just a few chances left to get out and see the candidates in person before the July 18 primaries. Here’s one that will offer a good showing of candidates:
What: Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce candidate forum for state legislative and local candidates.
When: 4:30-6:30 p.m. July 12
Where: Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, John D. Stephens Education Room, 6500 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth.
Confirmed candidates:
Senate — District 55, Jerry Wyatt.
House — District 95, Steven Perry; District 96, Torry Lewis; District 98, incumbent Bobby Reese, Wayne Hill; District 102, incumbent Clay Cox, B.E. Woody Woodruff; District 104, incumbent John Heard, David Rodriguez; District 106, incumbent Melvin Everson, Tony Lentini.
Local Races — Commission District 4, incumbent Kevin Kenerly, Jodie Rosser; Solicitor General, Jonathan Aurelia, incumbent Rosanna Szabo; Board of Education District 4, Gladys Harris, incumbent Robert McClure.
Cost — Free for chamber members and guests.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Gwinnett Insider
Comments
By Jane
July 1, 2006 07:17 PM | Link to this
What Billy McKinney did was really outragouse. Kevin did nothing illegal. He paid for the trip. He has in the past gone against the developers even those he considers his friends. So it is a non-issue. On the other hand either Jodie Rosser or Butch Poss have grossly violated disclosure laws by not disclosing who paid for the mailer and the website. They need to distance themselves from Billy McKinney and run a clean campaign.
By Bruce Wilcox
July 1, 2006 08:28 PM | Link to this
“McKinney insists he didn’t register the beatkevin.com Web address: “This is a political dirty trick. I never registered that name.”
“Kenerly, a critic of fees charged to developers for roads and other services, said three “homeowners” on the task force have failed to show up for the past two meetings. Kenerly wondered why they would miss meetings if impact fees were so important.
Bob Griggs of Snellville and David Kesler of Duluth, considered the group’s neighborhood representatives, said they each have.”
Kenerly + Vegas + Developers = ????
All depends on who you believe.
By Julie
July 1, 2006 10:36 PM | Link to this
Somebody is pulling together the dirt on Bill McKinney, John Heard and Jodie Rosser at this web page. It doesn’t seem like it really matters what McKinney denies. He is busted! Rosser and Heard should be ashamed for hiring this guy.
By Paul
July 2, 2006 05:28 AM | Link to this
Kenerly did nothing WRONG or ILLEGAL….Just VERY STUPID. Anyone that can waste thousands of dollars in Vegas does not repressent my values as a citizen in Gwinnett.
By Michael H. Smith
July 2, 2006 09:42 AM | Link to this
Who you believe depends on many things, some of them not mentioned to date. Chairman Bannister and McKinney have a track record of togetherness (some might say joined at the hip). A rift has existed between Kenerly and Bannister as far back as last election (at least!) that has not mended. Hint: Still waters run deep look before you leap.
Impact fees are really a sad joke. The idea that it’s just those greedy developers and the new folks who will pay is a farce. Like all taxes and fees, eventually these costs filter back to you and me the consumer/taxpayer/homeowner. The same sad joke should be said for the Stormwater fee. All and all just call these fees what they really are, a tax in drag!
Laissez-faire Republicans from the George Bush convoluted con-swerve-tive wing of the Republican Party may consider the environmental concerns irrelevant. Laissez-faire conservatives supporting Republicans from the Teddy Roosevelt wing of the Party still hold true to the conservation values of TR. Where have you gone Theodore Roosevelt, our nation turns her eyes in search of another leader like you.
By regularjoe
July 2, 2006 09:51 AM | Link to this
I agree with Paul. Kenerly lacks good judgement and that is being real kind. I believe the county commission is better since the last election, with Hill, Neaton and Dunn all gone. If the Kenerly is voted out, the county will be better off.
Sad that Hill is running again for office. Some people you just wish would go away because it is so hard to trust their motives. For some reason Hill reminds me of Hillary Clinton, because instead of the service to the people they seem overtly self-serving.
By Ricardo in Snellville
July 2, 2006 10:32 AM | Link to this
Kenerly did nothing wrong or illegal. I’m still voting for him.
By David Hancock
July 3, 2006 09:16 AM | Link to this
My involvement in local government gave me the opportunity to meet Wayne Hill while he was still Gwinnett County Chairman. I was surprised by what I found - an extremely effective businessman who could make a fortune on the “outside”, but instead chose to work to improve the community where he grew up. I have met politicians with questionable motives, and Mr. Hill is certainly not one of them.
I am also surprised by accusations that Wayne Hill is developer friendly. Nobody would want the government keeping them from doing what they want with their land, whether it is leaving it as pasture or developing a shopping center. The only option the county had (when Gwinnett was growing faster than any other county in the nation) was to plan for that growth with adequate roads and water. During Mr. Hill’s tenure as Chairman the county did just that, and still managed to create over 75 hundred acres of parks and green space. The National Association of County Commissioners recognized this achievement with awards to both Mr. Hill and Gwinnett as the best work by any county in the nation.
I will be voting for Wayne Hill in a few weeks because he gets things done. Look at what Bobby Reese campaigned on (education, lower taxes, transportation) and then look at the bills he worked on (allowing people to carry weapons into restaurants, designating the Southern Appalachian brook trout as the official state cold water fish, etc.) and you will see the disconnect that is causing so many people to look for an alternative.
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