willavery

Absolutely not!! But I have seen the desire for many of you on Pcom to have candidates post on here, and I think it is a good forum to talk to people. People on here are sometimes brutal in here. They say things that they are thinking and feeling that they normally would not say. I appreciate that and think that it is good for all people involved to be engaged in these types of conversations.

I definitely understand how it could appear that way, but just to clear the record on this, I was unaware that the information I posted as to my occupation (being listed as student) was to be posted on the SOS website. As soon as I saw it that afternoon, I called the SOS and had it changed. As of now, I am the only candidate that is being open about his campaign and has been willing to address the viewers and posters of Pcom. I welcome any comments, criticisms, or questions that any of you have to ask, and will answer anything honestly and openly in a public forum.

I would love to be given the opportunity to explain why it was listed like that. When I filled out my qualifying paper work I listed student. However, as I am getting a graduate degree in southern history from the University of West Georgia, I help support my family by teaching American History survey courses to undergraduate students. I also do research for another history professor at UWG. I don't see how this is a problem?

So not requiring a candidate to take a loyalty to oath to the party rather than people makes the Democratic Party more messed? I don't see the logic in that.

No, the Democratic Party of Georgia does not require an oath of loyalty, the Republican party does however, hence why the one Governor candidate is now trying to run as an independent. He would not sign the oath

I am not a member of the party. You can check that if you would like. I would love to have the chance to speak with you sometime to hear your point of view.

The Georgia Democratic party at the ground level does not seem to be following the same path as the national level. I think that most of us realize (or atleast I do) that we are elected to represent the people that elected us, and the majority of people are not right or left, but just to either side of the center. When representatives vote, they should not vote on their own behalf, the behalf of their party, or along with the representative friend in the seat next to them, but voting should occur on behalf of the people back in the district. This is something that I will stand firmly by in

I would love the chance to talk with any of you about my campaign and what I stand for. I assure you that I am not a Democrat as you know them today. I am as mad with President Obama right now as anyone out there. Please email me, PM me, or give me a call. will@averyforgeorgia.com 770-508-8823

If you are on Facebook, information can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114310445275886

I would like to invite all of the members of Pcom to attend the campaign kickoff gathering for Will Avery on Saturday June 5 from 11:00 until 3:00. We will be at Leggett Park in Hiram (the one next to the old caboose on the Silver Comet Trail). My family and I will be there meeting and talking with members of the Paulding County community. Please come out and talk with us!! If you have any questions you can call me at 770-508-8823.

Another thing that Paulding has no shortage of is foreclosed upon developed land. It is unfortunate that so many subdivisions have been left sitting there. Why don't we take advantage of some of that land. It can be sold for low prices. It already has roads, utilities, and other infrastructures installed, and could be used to attract larger industries. We must face the facts right now. Hiram retail has expanded as far as it can for now, the home building industry is all but gone, and there are only so many restaurants that need employees. I think that rezoning some of this foreclosed ba

I have listed at least three solutions that could have been explored (point of sale bill, corporate and special interest tax exemptions, and a possible increase in the cigarette tax). There is honestly nothing we can do about the current budget for next year. However, we can do things to make sure these bills make it to the floor next year. I can not tell you how many hours I spent lobbying for these bills during this past session. I am not a professional lobbyist by any means, but I went and talked to people, for hours at a time at the Capitol. I do care about these issues, and know that

Other than the homestead exemption debacle, there have been no tax increases this session. I do not favor any tax increases on individuals or families, or for that matter small businesses. Currently, Georgia's tax rate is right around 10 percent which is about middle of the pack as compared to the rest of the nation. So in my opinion, the current tax at the state level is not the issue. Right now, there are a lot of politicians that are running on a no-tax platform. The honest truth is that there have to be taxes of some sort. We have to fund the DOT, we have to fund peachcare, we have t

There are massive problems with outsourcing these things. Teachers are certified and have years of training in dealing with kids. Who assures us that the employees of the third party company are up to the same standards as our teachers? We need to make sure that our kids are in the most well trained capable hands.

As to your first question, I don't think that subcontracting after school programs and sports will really save any money. Most after school programs and sports are supervised or coached by already salaried teachers. Middle School coaches may make a small stipend for their time, but nowhere near enough to compensate for the amount of hour devoted to said programs. Sports are an important aspect for kids. It gives them the opportunity to learn discipline and to explore different interests that they may be good at. In addition, often, subcontracting procedures opens the door for special deal

Well to answer your question about unemployment and new jobs, I think we need to offer tax credits for small businesses that hire new employees. We should also over credits for businesses upgrading their equipment to newer items. We also should encourage industry to move into the county, possibly by rezoning foreclosed subdivisions (something we have no shortage of here in the county) into industrial zones. The land is sitting there useless right now, and it is cheap. We don't we create new industrial areas with these abandoned pieces of property? To address your question about why cho

I am surprised you got all of that out in one breath. As I have posted several times in this thread, there are solutions that were brought up during this past session that no one is even aware of (read toward the top of the thread). I in no way support raising taxes on anyone at the state level. The fair tax is a great idea on paper, but it is pointless in my opinion to address it at the state level. Revenues are down, that is a fact, the source of which is debatable. In my opinion, it mostly comes from bank corruption and exploitation of those of us who work hard everyday just to get

I point is that funds could have been there without raising taxes on anyone. House Bill 356 could have gone a long way to raising revenue without raising taxes on a single sole. Eliminating parts of Delta airline's fuel tax exemption would not hurt either. These are all decisions that could have easily been made, but weren't! It is time to think about new leadership.

I was not mentioning things in order just to let you know. It was just a stream of consciousness list of ideas. Please do not make too much of that. Cutting unnecessary spending is key, but it is by no means the only solution. It will take a multi-faceted approach. I did post solutions that do not involve raising taxes earlier in the thread.

Most of the decisions made about education funding are made at the state level, with decisions on implementation of funds made at the local level. The federal government has very little to do with education decision. Hence why some states have better school systems than others. My point is that the more funds could have been there if certain bills were not killed in committee. Such as house bill 356, which I mentioned earlier. The session, the decision was made not to entertain these streams of revenue that do not increase taxes. I don't know why they never came to a vote. I think

Avalon, Unfortunately, right now budgets have been passed. There is not much that can be done right now. However, what we can do is make sure funding is restored next year, rather than maintaining current budget levels, or cutting them further. Next legislative session, we can elect leaders that will help find solutions, like the ones I spoke of earlier. One of my biggest fears is that once money is taken away, as it has been, it will never find its way back, even when revenues increase. I want to focus on making sure the funding comes back ASAP.

I don't disagree with you. I am not very happy with the bailouts of banks and corporations. Some companies need to fail for the health of the economy. We need to focus on what helps the people: larger tax cuts for the middle class for example. Most small business owners are firmly in the middle class, and these are the people that employ people. Give money back to people, rather than banks who are the ones who helped create the beginnings of what we are in right now

I can honestly say that I understand your fear, your frustrations, and your disgust at what we all see happening. Like I said, my wife is a teacher, both of my parents were teachers, my grandfather was a teacher in the same South Georgia school that my dad taught at, so i come from a long line of educators. I can honestly tell you that I am scared as well. I have a 14 month old daughter who may never know what it is like to go to a world class school. That honestly terrifies me. Our school system is part of what has made America such a great place to live. The fact that no matter wh

Delta's tax exemption is huge! The figure you reported is pretty accurate from what I understand. There are other exemptions as well that need to be looked at. Will Avery

Often it is not reported by businesses. Dubose Porter (who is running for Governor, and who was one of the creators of the HOPE scholarship) proposed House Bill 356. You go into a store. You buy something. You pay sales tax. At that point, in Georgia, two things may happen to the sales tax money you just paid. One, the business that received the sales tax money from you will send it to the state. Or two, the business owner will keep the sales tax money for his own personal use. You see the problem. Alabama has already implemented a point of sale bill and they found 1 billion extra dolla