Flowery Branch Council member Lutz made public what most have known for months. Or years.
He has great political ambitions. And he’s going to run against another Republican to feed his ambitions.
Having met Lutz, he’s a very good candidate for a Beauty Pageant especially with his message of World Peace. He’s one half of Sandra Bullock – Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality, the half that wants to be one of the smiling insiders. The other half of the Gracie Hart’s character is being played by Council member, Fetterman, who’s going to kill anyone who hurts one of her friends.
Why say this painful and hurtful thing? Here’s a Lutz quote from the Gainesville Times, “I believe I can help bring peace and cooperation between the county and municipalities.” Not exactly Gracie Hart’s World Peace. Maybe more messianic since the movie just wanted peace and Lutz is going to bring our county out of chaos and friction.
Where is the proof of all this friction? Flowery Branch of course. Mostly in Sterling on the Lake where expensive homes were built on postage stamp sized lots. And where the ruling majority of the city council live. But also in the very streets of ‘The Branch.” Especially Spring Street where an uninsured culvert was washed away by an Act of God.
Lutz wanted Hall County to pay for the repairs and the county dared to say No! The audacity…
But let’s commend Lutz not condemn him for bravely outsourcing or trying to outsource the liabilities of aging infrastructure. And for outsourcing the responsibility “for development and implementation of a plan … for promotion of tourism, conventions and trade shows in [Flowery Branch].
We admire ambition and over reaching Mr. Lutz. We admire your goal of ending friction between county government and city government even as you compete with all the rest of Hall County for “tourism, conventions and trade shows.”
January 22, 2010 at 11:00 am
Bad political news is always timed for Friday, isn’t it?
January 22, 2010 at 8:05 pm
My only question is where did you come up with the comment, “who’s going to kill anyone who hurts one of his friends”. That is a very strange comment and maybe a little over the top. Don’t you think?
January 22, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Maybe. But you’ve said worse on your blog. Most all of your comments about democrats have been over the top.
January 24, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I’m worried about Mr. Lutz’s chances… He’s only lived in the county for just a few years, his children don’t even attend school in Hall County, and finally neither him or his wife work in the county. Seems like Lutz is in this for the paycheck and benefits.
January 26, 2010 at 9:34 am
Alright y’all.
I took a lot of heat for blasting James Mills when he pulled his daughter out of Hall County schools. James took his child to a different county because he says that the school was unsafe. I stand by my campaign statement because if you are a state representative you owe it to the public to expose unsafe schools. The problem is Mr. Mills could offer no proof of this hazard and in turned slandered Hall County Schools.
As for Mr. Lutz, his decision to send his child to Gwinnett County schools is no different than mine. Gwinnett county schools allow children of Gwinnett employees to attend out of district. For Lutz and I, this us simply a economical decision that we make within the law.
Politics is hell, but if you are going to drag a man’s family through it, you had better have a good reason. I did, but you didn’t.
January 26, 2010 at 9:34 am
Fetterman,
If you don’t get where that comes from, watch the movie.
Bipolar Gracie says it in the pageant.
And if you can’t take political satire … try getting a life.
January 26, 2010 at 9:37 am
the kids … don’t need to be in politics.
And we don’t get Gwinnett County’s employees running our county government, if Lutz is a Gwinnett employee.
Maybe I’ll get a chance to ask him about the 30% tax increase in Gwinnett…
January 26, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Lutz is not a Gwinnett County employee. I am not sure what he does.
I am staying out of the Lutz race for now. My problem is not with him, but with the party.
As for Fetterman, he seems a little sensitive. Why do we need a change at county commission? Seems to me that most people like the way the county has been run, and how exactly would Lutz have done anything different?
January 26, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Lutz is not an employee. His wife is a teacher in Gwinnett.
And I said IF …
I hope he keeps up his Olive Branch theory of government.
“I demand the federal government pay for repairs to Spring St.”
No.
“I demand the state government pay for repairs to Spring St.”
No.
“I demand the county government pay for repairs to Spring St.”
No.
“It’s the county’s fault Flowery Branch (aka the Olive Branch) doesn’t have the money to fix Spring St. The county overspent our tax dollars.”
Funny dialog. Or monologue.
The city of Flowery Branch has an obligation to inspect bridges and culverts annually. They didn’t. Now pay for complete and emergency replacement.
Don’t whine.
Don’t cry.
Don’t stick your hand out.
Don’t blame everyone else.
Don’t pick a fight with every one that tells you to take some personal responsibility for not performing your legal inspections.
Especially don’t fabricate a problem where none exists so you can fabricate a solution and then take credit for being the peace keeper.
January 26, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Bluedog,
Lutz would have used $100,000 of county road funds to fix a Flowery Branch city street.
January 26, 2010 at 6:41 pm
A few things here:
First. I am not a fan of bringing in family – especially the children. We as parents, and I assume most if not all here are, will defend our children to the end. All others, including me, are fair game so long as it has merit about any subject.
Second. I am not a fan of Sandra Bullock so I will not watch the movie. You might try a good movie from a good conservative like Mel Gibson in Braveheart where just before he dies he cries out “Freedom”. That appears to be a better quote and something America is famous for protecting.
Lastly. It appears none of you understand SPLOST allocations and how cities like Flowery Branch have not received the proper amounts based on a 2000 census and, I might add, we are probably 3 times those numbers yet we are given distributions based on outdated data. Those are the funds we must use to repair the culvert, yet DOT calls it a bridge and that is a separate issue, but this act of God has depleted those funds. Also remember the county gets their SPLOST portion first, and that cuts into our allocations too.
Well, at least you got the one fact correct on Craig Lutz – he does not work for Gwinnett County.
January 27, 2010 at 9:20 am
And what about wives? Have you or did ever call Hilliary a dike bitch while she was the First Lady?
Family should be off limits. Period. Too bad Conservatives did hold that line on Hilliary, etc. etc. etc.
You’re given the distributions as the law states. Yes, Olive Branch has grown. So has the county. So has Georgia.
Yet funding has nose dived.
The Olive Branch under you and Lutz did not insure your infrastructure, culvert or bridge. You did not inspect it. You did not allocate your budget for upgrading it.
Yet you’re going to do a TAD … and you’re allocating money to bring tourism etc to the Olive Branch.
Seems like you have no trouble spending the money that you have on huge and wishful projects. But you don’t care about the people on the ‘wrong side’ of the interstate.
That’s to be expected with the council not properly elected by geographic districts.
You controlled the budget. You spent it. Now God has punished you … like New Orleans.
Enjoy it, Gracie.