Support the Re-Election of Chuck Martin
by Staff Writer
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Why do politicians go into politics? They will all tell you it’s not just roses and glory. For those like Chuck Martin, State Representative for District 47, it’s a chance to achieve much more meaningful objectives. "I wanted to give back to the community which has given me so many opportunities."

Chuck grew up in Alpharetta and graduated from Milton High School. After receiving his degree from UGA, he chose to return to the community where he grew up to continue his future. It was here in Alpharetta that he chose to pursue his career, get married, and raise his family. Upon his return, he also decided to follow his father’s example and become involved in youth sports.

"My dad was always coaching teams as I grew up, and he continued even after I had graduated from Milton. His example lead me to getting involved in coaching before I had my own kids, and in continuing to coach kids other than mine now that my kids are grown." For the Martins, giving back to the community is a way of life.

"The type of community Alpharetta had been for me growing up is the type of community I want it to continue to be for the following generations. I would like both of my sons, the youngest of who just graduated from Milton, to have the same opportunity to come back to this hometown community to raise their families." That commitment led Chuck to run for city council when the opportunity arose in 1992.

"I won the race with the help of a lot of people," he said. Chuck moved on in politics, seeking and winning the mayoral election in 1995 and again in 1999. "When I was in local government, we worked to provide a great place to raise a family, and if you look at the city of Alpharetta today, I would say we were pretty successful with those initiatives," Chuck said. While at the city, Chuck led actions to provide life- quality improvements, better police and fire response times, and more active and passive recreation opportunities, including the construction of the Alpharetta Community Center, and the expansion of Wills Park, North Park, and the Alpharetta Greenway. He was involved in the community building of the "Wacky World" and "Webb Zone" playgrounds at two Alpharetta parks.

Chuck also enjoys and celebrates family-oriented events that make North Fulton special such as the Old Soldiers Day Parade sponsored by Post 201 of the American Legion and the Alpharetta fireworks show on the 4th of July. Because of his love for those traditional events, he started the Mayor’s Challenge Road Race for families which is still held each spring in Alpharetta. "The reason I started that race was to create another event where all family members could come out and enjoy a morning together." Chuck continued, "That’s what makes this area great for our families."

For the past six years Chuck has held the office of State Representative District 47 and he says, "I am in public office to make a difference, to make the 47th District a better place to live, for the next day, for the next year, and for the next generation, and I try to do this by listening to my neighbors and working on their issues."

In his first session, Chuck wrote and passed legislation to protect Georgia’s children. In his past as mayor, Chuck learned that when parents registered their children for programs with the city — sports, art, gymnastics — the registration information became public information, "No one really knew the information they were furnishing would be open to anyone who requested it, including birthday, who could pick the child up, where they lived, etc." Chuck said. It took two years for that bill to pass and get signed, but through Chuck’s commitment to his community, he didn’t stop until that information was no longer publicly accessible and Georgia’s children were safer.

Other legislation that Chuck sponsored included a bill that established a state-wide telecommunications system capable of providing audible universal information access services to blind and print-disabled citizens. "There was money set aside for this equipment, but there wasn’t legislation to allow the PSC to spend it," Chuck said. The original bill had been stalled in the system due to competition for time. On the last day of the 2005 session, Chuck took the bill he had authored but knew would not pass because of some partisan issues, rewrote it, and walked it to the Senate to get the needed 56 senators’ and the lieutenant governor’s approval. Chuck then took the bill to the House for the final passage gaining the support of all 180 House members. Chuck brought members from both political parties together to pass legislation to provide a solution for the visually impaired in Georgia. This is just one example of the dedication and determination of this committed House Representative — Chuck Martin.

Chuck’s commitment continues through his open-door policy with his constituents — one such constituent felt there was a need for visually impaired people to receive parking passes. Even though caregivers are the drivers, this particular constituent’s son had peripheral vision issues. In order to maintain her son’s safety, she thought it would be best if he didn’t have to walk long distances in parking lots. "We got this piece of legislation passed for these folks," Chuck said.

Other legislation Chuck has sponsored includes:

Tax benefits and breaks for non-profit food banks: "You and I buy groceries for eating at home without paying sales taxes, but a non-profit food bank buys food to cook and serve to people who don’t have a home, yet they have to pay sales tax. We got that bill passed and extended.

Tax on donated foods: "When a white tablecloth restaurant has food which is prepared but not served and thrown away, there was no tax implication. If they donated it to a kitchen for the homeless, they were required to pay use tax on it — we passed an exemption for that situation. This helps people that, a lot of times, get overlooked."

Manufacturing exemption: "We worked on a manufacturing exemption this year which will help manufacturers stay in Georgia. We do not have a lot of heavy manufacturing in the 47th District, but again, what’s good for Georgia is good for the 47th District." This piece of legislation has been nationally acclaimed and will make Georgia competitive for additional manufacturers looking to move here.

Merit increase for public safety: "I have really enjoyed the last two years working as the chair for the Appropriations subcommittee for public safety. This committee makes sure that our police officers, public safety, probation officers, corrections officers, GBI, and state patrol are taken care of by the state. They have gone a number of years without a real merit increase," Chuck said. "One of the most important things to me when I was in local government was to see how much our police officers and firefighters did to keep us safe. Every Christmas, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and other holidays we wake up and enjoy our families — but there is a whole fleet of firefighters, and a whole shift of police officers that are away from their families protecting you and me."

Tele-working Tax Credit Incentive: House Bill 194 encourages tele-working through a tax credit for companies that encourage their staff to work from home. "This was one of the most interesting and rewarding pieces of legislation because it will have an impact on the region and state. With all our traffic issues and with gas prices continuing to rise, this bill is good for the environment because it takes cars off the road; and it is good for business."

Education: We continue to work on improving education, but we cannot keep educating the same way. Fail some students. We must stop having teachers "teach students to pass tests" and instead allow our teachers to "teach our students"! During my time at the legislature and during Sonny Perdue’s time as governor, graduation rates have increased 10 % in our high schools — that’s a good thing — but is it good enough? "No, we must continue to strive to improve our system of delivering education, we must identify what we do well, what we don’t do well and what we can improve — our students deserve the best!"

Chuck Martin is our State House Representative District 47. He serves on the standing committees of Appropriations, as vice chairman; Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight; Public Utilities and Telecommunications; Science and Technology, as vice chairman; and Ways and Means. He lives in Alpharetta with his wife Johnna and two sons, Miles and Lance. Johnna is an assistant at Alpharetta Elementary School. Miles plays baseball at Georgia Southwestern, and is following in the Martin footsteps by coaching the Milton JV summer baseball team. Lance is a2008 graduate of Milton High and is scheduled to attend UGA in the fall and will play baseball for the Dawgs. For constituent services you may contact Chuck Martin at 245 State Capitol Building, Atlanta, GA 30334, or call him at
(404) 463-2246 or email at chuck.martin@house.ga.gov .
You may also email Chuck at chuck@martinforgeorgia.com
or visit his Website at www.martinforgeorgia.com.