The Director of Health and Human Services in Gwinnett County, Pat Baker, spoke at the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville on April 27. After surveying the group for those who have been caregivers, she quoted Rosalyn Carter on four kinds of people: those who have been caregivers; those who currently are; those who will be; and those who will need caregivers in the future. She focused her comments on a new program, “Lunch and Learn,” developed to offer information to employees of businesses and corporations. She went through her information on a thorough handout which defined a “family caregiver,” outlined caregiver roles and responsibilities, presented 10 considerations to determine the status of a loved one, and provided a list of numerous resources that could be of help. She emphasized that an employee cannot legally be discriminated against because of a caregiver role. She encouraged Rotarians to make use of these “Lunch and Learn” services in their companies.
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Dr. Adolfo Santos: “From Lawmaker to Lobbyist”
Dr. Adolfo Santos, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Georgia Gwinnett College, spoke to the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville at their April 20 meeting. A professor of Political Science, he discussed the subject of his book Do Members of Congress Reward Their Future Employers? Evaluating the Revolving Door Syndrome. Starting with the Founding Fathers, he traced the relation between D.C. lawmakers and powerful corporations and businesses. In the early days government directly impacted fewer citizens and businesses than today, so most lawmakers went back home after serving. In the years post New Deal and Great Society programs, legislation started to affect more people. Lawmakers served long terms and progressed to chairmanships of committees which held a lot of power. Prior to the 60s and 70s lawmakers tended to return to their home states upon retirement, but changes in committee structure and lessening of the power of committee chairs led to less commitment to serve and more interest in becoming lobbyists. Dr. Santos noted that it is natural for lawmakers to want to use their knowledge of how the system works and their contacts with fellow lawmakers, but he is concerned that some lawmakers use their last couple of years in office to promote an industry which will give them a lucrative lobbyist position when they do retire. He proceeded to offer several examples of lawmakers and corporations which have abused this system.
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Dean Mackintosh: “GRSP Year-End Presentation”
This year the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville has helped sponsor Dean Mackintosh from Edinburgh, Scotland, at Georgia Gwinnett College as part of the Georgia Rotary Student Program. On Monday, April 6, Dean gave his final report to the group. He asserted that the year has been a tremendous experience for him, one that he will never forget. He thanked the Rotarians for their support and praised his host family, the Goldens, and all Rotarians who welcomed him so generously. He has enjoyed the beautiful countryside and noted that one major difference between Georgia and Scotland is the love for sports in this country. He showed a series of slides chronicling his many week-end and holiday experiences, among them the opening conclave in Columbus and the Clayton County and Savannah weekends. Trips included Washington D.C., New York on New Year’s Eve, and spring break in Panama City. Hosts took him to all sorts of sport events: baseball, ice hockey, and basketball. He particularly enjoyed an American Halloween and Christmas with the large Golden family. Memorable was a Greyhound bus experience, a trip to Tifton for a sorority ball, and a Pelham week-end where he visited an alligator farm and a prison. He is looking forward to his remaining 56 days and knows they will pass quickly.
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Congressman Rob Woodall: “Washington Update”
Speaking to the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville and their guests at Monday’s meeting was Congressman Rob Woodall. Woodall serves the 7th district of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives where he is on the House Committee on Rules, the House Budget Committee, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. It was mainly in his capacity as a member of the House Budget Committee and as the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee’s Budget and Spending Task Force that he addressed the group. He focused on the question of a balanced budget and the huge deficit that looms over all. He reported on the budgets currently before Congress and made clear he felt a balanced budget was a moral imperative. He discussed the looming insolvencies in three major programs, Social Security Disabilities Insurance, Medicare, and Social Security, and reported that young people have little faith that Social Security will be there when they reach retirement age. Other topics were interest rates on treasury securities, the decline in projected real economic growth, and the lowered labor force participation rate. He conceded only hard decisions remain and that Americans have to change their expectations. He then fielded questions on such issues as the Iran situation, the Keystone pipeline, the President’s executive actions, tax reform, and the impact of presidential politics on foreign affairs.
Rachel Lazarus: Access to Justice as a Basic Civil Right
Providing information about the Legal Aid office in Gwinnett County at the March 23 meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville was attorney Rachel Lazarus. Beginning with some basic history of Legal Aid in Georgia, she focused on the services offered by the five-member Gwinnett office. They serve individuals below the poverty line—defined as approximately $30,000/year for a family of four—and seek to provide equal access to justice. They strive to deliver high quality legal assistance to those who can’t afford legal fees. She organized her talk around the barriers that her clients experience: the expense of representation, work schedule complications when working on an hourly basis, child care arrangements, and the distrust the poor experience. Projects sponsored by Legal Aid are the Gwinnett Family Law Clinic, the Gwinnett Family Violence Project, and the Gwinnett Pro Bono Project, which has matched 150 volunteer lawyers with Legal Aid clients. Through their many programs they seek to help those with disabilities, grandparents raising children, children in hospitals, and seniors needing probate advice.
District Conference 2015
Jeff Ploussard: “Howard, Me, and Gerrymandering”
Guest speaker at the March 16 meeting of the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville was Jeff Ploussard, who spoke to the group about his experience working with Congressman Howard Wolpe during the Reagan administration and about the impact of gerrymandering on the American political system. He summarized Rep. Wolpe’s work with the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Sub-committee on Africa. Wolpe was instrumental in getting the sanctions passed by Congress against South Africa during the days of apartheid. Ploussard maintained that a major reason for the current ineffectiveness of Congress is the practice of gerrymandering where voting district lines are drawn by the political party in power in a way to best serve the party. He is a proponent for independent commissions being appointed to draw the lines in a non-political way. He closed with comments about his association with Rotary, as a Rotary Foundation Scholar and Ambassador when he was a young man and as a judge for this year’s Laws of Life Essay Contest.
Senior Judge Robert W. Mock Sr.: Gwinnett County Changes
Senior Judge Robert W. Mock, Sr. spoke to the Rotary Club of Lawrenceville about his 28 years on the bench in Gwinnett County. He shared many changes that have occurred during those three decades, including a significant expansion of the need for courts and the speed of growth in Gwinnett County. He noted that the “law mall” built in Lawrenceville that was designed for long-term use is bursting at the seams, with courts having to move locations to accommodate demands. Jude Mock addressed the election of judges, including the fundraising required to run, as well as the different types of courts and the cases they hear. He showed an example of a contract written in Korean as an exhibit in a case he adjudicated and described the complications that arose from the intricacies of interpreting the meaning in various Korean dialects. The story was a clear example of the difficulties often faced by judges in providing equal access to courts and in making sound decisions. He also shared an amusing example of how a judge in Texas handled two warring lawyers in a case.