Peachcare is Georgia's health insurance program for needy children. It's a state implementation of what's called S-CHIP and it was pioneered by former Gov. Zell Miller in the 1990's. Medicaid is available for families that make up to 100% of the poverty line. At that point, Peachcare steps in.

One thing our campaign will tell you that Jill Chambers probably doesn't want you to know is that she voted four times the past two years to raise her own pay through a backdoor increase. Here's how it works. Legislators receive a salary as well as a per diem for every day they either work on an official committee or the legislature is in session. When Jill Chambers got elected that per diem was $128. Jill Chambers lives in Dunwoody, and $128 should be more than enough to pay for her transportation to and from the General Assembly downtown as well as for any meals or incidentals she needs to purchase while she's serving in the House.

Atlanta area blogger Decatur Guy noted the increase in per diem of $45/day. The old rate was $128 and the new one is now $173. Republican leaders decided to increase their own pay in a committee after they were re-elected in 2006. Jill Chambers had a chance to make a stand on this, but she voted four times to ratify this back door pay increase without even raising an objection.

Jill cast two votes each in favor of each year's budgets in 2007 and 2008. Here's a table below for your reference:

Jill Chambers has consistently supported the Governor's "austerity reductions" (you and I call them cuts) to local school systems. These cuts are to the state's share of the QBE formula, and they are across the board. It is a tricky way to balance the budget and spend money in non-core areas even as enrollment keeps growing. And unfortunately DeKalb County Schools have been hit particularly hard.

I've compiled the table below that shows the austerity cuts to DeKalb Schools each year Jill Chambers has been in office:

Here's how Jill Chambers and the Republicans cuts affect you: to maintain the same level of service, DeKalb County School are forced to increase property taxes or reduce services. Have you wondered why your property taxes keep going up every year, and why the share that you pay to the board of education continues to increase? These cuts are the primary reason. QBE mandates certain minimums that the counties must maintain, and then Jill Chambers and the Republicans cut the money that is supposed to help school systems maintain those minimums.

But don't just take our word for it. The Georgia PTA released a pretty devastating report about the impact of these cuts. Here is what DeKalb County principals in particular had to say about the cuts:

Teachers - budget cuts have impacted plans to reduce class sizes in grades 4 and 5 because school budgets can't afford to hire enough teachers. Also, a direct impact is caused by "reducing the frequency and amount of staff salary increases."

Technology - funds allocated to purchase and upgrade technology reduced from $5.5 per student to $1.15 per student. Result: In older schools especially, equipment is worn-out and outdated. Meanwhile, Georgia's k-12 Technology Plan requires increased technology integration into the curriculum. Because of austerity cuts, this isn't possible.

Media Center materials and programs reduced from $19.54 per FTE to $9.77 per FTE in FY2003. Reduction has continued, but costs for books, online database and print subscriptions and computer programs have risen. Accordingly the "budget cuts have greatly reduced media center resources."

Teacher Supplies - "teachers are lacking supplies needed to be creative and reach every child through a variety of teaching strategies."

Transportation - "Budget cuts have impacted the number of buses that are purchased."

After School Tutorials- “Budget cuts has impacted the length of our after-school tutorial program.”

Instructional Support- budget cuts have affected the quality of instruction because of “greatly reduced professional learning opportunities and instructional support for teachers.”

Textbooks- “budget cuts directly affect DeKalb Schools by delaying purchase of needed textbook adoptions and other curriculum materials.”

Custodians- budget cuts have greatly reduced number of custodians to properly clean and upkeep buildings.
Immigrant Students- “The biggest impact for our school was the amount received was not enough to cover all our needs for the LEP students.”

The next time Jill Chambers tells you about the prestige our district has acquired from her affiliations with the majority Republican Party, ask her why that prestige comes with an $86 million and growing price tag.

Don't just take our word on this information. Visit the Georgia Department of Educations QBE Reporting Site. Select the Fiscal Year, and then Select the QBE 003 Report. Pick DeKalb County and look hard for either "Amended Formula Adjustment" or "Austerity Reduction". That's budgetese for "cuts".

If you read Jill Chambers mail, you'd think Chris Huttman used to run some sort of seedy website. She said the following:

Huttman enjoys lurking on the internet where he is known as Chris Is Hard Core. He recently tried to delete to delete all references to his website.

On his "Hard Core" website, Chris has frequently asked people to send him photos that he puts online. His commentary is peppered with vulgarities and crude references to body parts. In June 2004, he used his website to defend the actions of Cynthia McKinney and to endorse Vernon Jones!

Here's the truth. Although Jill Chambers is trying to scare you into thinking that Chris Huttman operated some sort of X-rated site, she knows the truth is that Chris's former political blog, chrisishardcore.com was a renowned political site that discussed DeKalb, Georgia and national politics. His work was cited in the national political blog Slate as well as in the AJC and numerous high profile national political blogs. He stopped writing the site in 2006, and began contributing instead to the Republican leaning website Peach Pundit and the Democratic leaning Tondees' Tavern.

Chris Huttman, as a blogger and political commenter brings a wealth of knowledge of Georgia politics to the blogosphere and is respected by both Democratic and Republican bloggers. Although he comments under his "handle" of Chris Is Hard Core, it is well known who he is and that it is Georgia politics that he is "hard core" about. Chris Farris, one of the top Georgia Republican bloggers at Peach Pundit, recently said of Chris: "I’ve got more respect for [Democratic bloggers such as] Chris Huttman, people who I strongly disagree with politically, for using their real names or identifying themselves than I do for the people whose politics I share yet hide their identity."

When Jill Chambers implies that Chris Huttman is running some sort of website that is an X-Rated photo exchange, she is willfully lying to you and hoping that you don't do your own research and discover that it is actually one of the first blogs devoted solely to Georgia politics that has inspired numerous other individuals to speak up about their political beliefs online. When she says that Chris Huttman enjoys "lurking" online, what she's really saying is that anyone who goes online to read about politics or engage in the political process is some sort of deviant.

Jill Chambers doesn't think you're smart enough to draw your own conclusions from a fair airing of the fact. She accuses Chris of endorsing Vernon Jones, but what she doesn't tell you is that in 2000, when Vernon first ran for DeKalb CEO she issued the following statement:

He even won the endorsement of the DeKalb Republican Party. Vernon has a very good knowledge of what's going on all over the county," said DeKalb Republican Party Chairwoman Jill Chambers. "He is a consensus builder. He has a proven track record.