Black Campaign Announces Sportsmen Coalition

Second Amendment, Conservation, Preservation of Wildlife Economy Are Priorities

Gary Black's Campaign for Agriculture Commissioner got a big boost today from the announcement of a coalition of sportsmen from across Georgia who are going to work hard toward victory in the next 17 days.

The "Sportsmen for Black" group includes Governor Sonny Perdue, former Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Joe Tanner, and is Chaired by Cader Cox IV, of Riverview Plantation of Camilla. In all, Georgia sportsmen from over 54 counties have joined Gary's charter team.

"Gary's lifelong support for the Second Amendment, conservation and our hunting and fishing traditions are part of why he will make an excellent Agriculture Commissioner," said Coalition Chairman Cox. "He understands how much Georgia's economy and its sense of identity are dependent on sportsmen and the industries that support them."

Hunting and fishing are big business in Georgia. Their economic impacts include:

$3.5 billion in wildlife-associated spending by residents and non-residents

$20 million in revenue for conservation from hunting and fishing licenses each year

$112 million in hunting leases for farmers annually

$41.5 million per year for raised quail for release


Nationally, spending by hunters and anglers is more than the revenues of Microsoft, Google, eBay and Yahoo-combined (76 billion vs. 73.6 billion).

"Hunting and fishing are a part of Georgia's natural heritage and they are also critical to our economy and to our aggressive conservation efforts," Black said. "I am going to do everything I can to expand opportunities for sportsmen and for Georgia farmers and landowners who also benefit from these activities."

Black is a strong supporter of the Conservation Use Valuation Assessment program (CUVA) which has reduced the burden of ad valorem tax rates for farmers and landowners and protected millions of acres of Georgia land from development. He has also been an advocate for sound water management policies, riparian rights, and private property rights. He also supports the USDA's wildlife habitat incentive programs which will again be reviewed during 2012 Farm Bill debate in Washington.

As Agriculture Commissioner, Gary has proposed providing online licensing for breeders, kennels and stables associated with hunting facilities aimed at cutting the red tape involved in dealing with requirements of state government.

Sportsmen interested in joining the coalition may visit the campaign website.

Members of the Sportsmen for Gary Black include:

First	Last	City
Jonathan	Aaron	Hawkinsville
Kenneth	Adams	Sharpsburg
Doug	Anderson	Camilla
Don	Baker	Nashville
Mone	Baker	Nashville
Billy	Barker	Kathleen
Jeffrey	Barnard	Reidsville
John	Benoit	Valdosta
Richard	Cartie	Dexter
Travis	Conley	Winder
Scott	Cosper	Covington
Cader	Cox IV	Camilla
Todd	Creech	Thomasville
Bobby	Davis, Jr.	Nicholls
Gary	Dawson	Hawkinsville
Andrew	Day	Ft. Valley
Lucretia	Dove	Elberton
David	Dunaway	Hawkinsville
Angela	Edge	Braselton
Joseph	Ellenberg	St. Simons Island
David	Evans	Fitzgerald
Eric	Garland	Canton
Kyle	Goss	Hawkinsvile
Brittany	Greer	Abbeville
Jacob	Hair	Vienna
J.P.	Hendrickson	Macon
Vic	Hill	Colquitt
Robin	Hill	Mansfield
Chris	Hoss	Perry
Glenn	Howell	Dudley
Matt	Hunter	Preston
Louise	Hunter	Preston
Cody	Hutcheson	Wrightsville
Stephanie	Jones	McDonough
Donald	Key	Tifton
Greg	Kimball	Gray
Tommy	Kimbrell	Cordele
Joan	Knowles	Cochran
Gen	Kuen	Centerville
Ken	Langford	Hawkinsville
Brett	Lee	Abbeville
Jonathan	Lee	Macon
Chris	Lickliter	Crigton
Kitty	Loper	Sycamore
Chris	Luke	Nicholls
Delbert	Maddox	West Green
John	Mallory	Woodland
Randy	Malone	Hawkinsville
Elliot	Marsh	Statesboro
Clifford	McCook	Eastman
James	McCrary	Americus
Kay	McCurdy	Chatsworth
W.E.	McDaniel	Thomaston
Marshall	McDonald	Tyty
Dan	McGlagan	Atlanta
Sonya	McNab	West Green
Wade	Mize	Commerce
David	Moncrief	Moultrie
Leavy	Moore	Blackshear
Laura	Needhan	Loganville
Carmen	Neil	Perry
Robert	Pennington	Madison
Sonny	Perdue	Bonaire
Slade	Pittman	Homerville
Alec	Poitevint	Bainbridge
Jim	Pooser	Watkinsville
Jonathan	Porter	Mariett
Scott	Rials	Cumming
Jeffery	Salter	Andersonville
Patrick	Shivers	Blakely
Jana	Sizemore	Arlington
Thomas	Skuja	Thomaston
Kelly	Smith	Juliette
Stacy	Stone	McRae
David	Strickland	Cairo
Chase	Stringfield	Evans
Joe	Tanner	Atlanta
Ernest	Tanner	Hamilton
Will	Thacker	Canton
Layton	Tompkins	Valdosta
Jason	Tyus	Kathleen
Mike	Vickers	Ambrose
Jason	Weaver	Norman Park
Rep. Mark	Williams	Jesup
Chuck	Williams	Watkinsville
William	Yancy	Jackson
Blake	Yates	Newnan

Gary Black is a Republican candidate for Georgia Agriculture Commissioner. His first experience as an advocate for agriculture came at age 17 when he served as Georgia FFA State President. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Agricultural Education in 1980. Gary began his career with the Georgia Farm Bureau in 1980 supervising the young farmer leadership development program for Georgia's largest general farm organization. In 1989, leaders of the Georgia Agribusiness Council selected Gary as its President--a role he held for 21 years. In 1993 Gary organized AgriTrust of Georgia, a self-funded workers compensation insurance fund that now provides coverage for over 17,000 agricultural employees in Georgia. Gary helped lead efforts to manage the Showcase of Southern Agriculture during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta and also co-managed the Georgia Food Industry Partnership, a food safety and quality research consortium, for the past 13 years. Gary and his wife Lydia, have two children, Ward and Caroline. Together, the family operates Harmony Grove Farms in Commerce, GA and are active members of the Maysville Baptist Church.

PSC candidate Echols to speak at “Farm of the Future” on Monday

On Monday, September 20th, PSC Candidate Tim Echols will join PSC Chairman Bubba McDonald at Haven Farms at 628 Battle Road in Calhoun, Georgia for a “flip switching” ceremony at one of the largest solar farms in the state of Georgia. The ceremony will be at 12:30pm followed by a BBQ lunch.

“The Grogan Family with their 440 ground-mounted solar panels are helping themselves, their poultry farm, and the environment,” said Tim Echols. “North Carolina has created over 10,000 jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and Georgia should follow their lead.”

Echols said that solar is part of the solution for national energy independence and energy security because becoming energy independent is required in order to have economic security.

“Solar works great in our state and it is creating a significant number of jobs and economic development,” said Echols. “Georgia has the ingredients to be a leader in Solar and Cleantech development with GA Tech, The Technical College Network, The Port in Savannah, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, I-85, I-95 and I-75.”

Echols, the GOP nominee for the open seat on the Public Service Commission, won both the primary and primary run-off for the Republican party. He has conducted his “town hall” style meetings across Georgia discussing Georgia Power and Atlanta Gas Light’s rate increase cases. Other forum items include discussion on alternative energy sources and the two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle.

“Vogtle’s construction of the two new reactors will be a huge economic boost for Georgia,” said Echols. “It will be my job to try to make sure Ga. Power and their partners stay on budget.”

“One of the primary jobs of a good Public Service Commissioner is to make sure to balance consumers expectations to keep rates low with the need for utilities to recover their operating costs,” said Echols. “With the heat wave this summer, Georgia Power has certainly had a windfall in profit, and their rate increase request needs to be adjusted.”

“The PSC is the gatekeeper and makes sure the energy providers, phone companies and others regulated entities are held accountable,” said Echols. “I intend to ask the hard questions to these companies and make sure consumers are protected.”

Echols said that serving on the Public Service Commission is an incredibly complex job with a mountain of data that has to be analyzed before any hearing—a challenge he looks forward to. “The action of the PSC impacts your electric, gas and phone bill,” said Echols. “Voters can count on me to scrutinize all rate requests before the Commission.”

Echols has spent the last 15 years at the Georgia Capitol training young people and their parents on how the legislative process works. “Being involved in training others in how to impact public policy has prepared me for this position.”

Tim Echols has been married to Windy Davis Echols of Roswell 27 years and they have seven children ranging from a 21 year old to a 10 year old. Echols has three degrees from the University of Georgia. He is the author of the book "Real Citizenship," a primer on grassroots political activism. The book is available on Amazon. Echols has been active in GOP politics assisting candidates all over the country. He grew up in Clayton County and attended public schools there before attending the University of Georgia.

After the Calhoun event, Echols will speak at the Fannin County GOP meeting in Blue Ridge, held at 440 W. First Street, Blue Ridge, GA at 7pm.
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