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Friday, June 13, 2008
Workin’ on the railroad…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Monday’s column:
In science, they call it a “phase transition,” the process in which something is suddenly and dramatically altered. At 32 degrees, for example, ice remains ice. But at 33 degrees, ice is transformed from a stable solid to a free-flowing liquid. That’s a phase transition.
Apparently, $4 gasoline is a lot like that; it too is the critical point at which attitudes long frozen in place finally begin to melt and flow freely. Americans start driving less, Detroit starts making smaller cars and — wonder of wonders — Gov. Sonny Perdue calls a press conference to publicly embrace mass transit, saying that he “fully supports” a proposed commuter rail line linking Atlanta with Lovejoy on through to Griffin, with other lines coming on later.
The goal, Perdue said, is “providing Georgia commuters with real alternatives.” I know — it’s hard to believe. But I was there in the crowd when the governor uttered those words.
He went on to call for “innovative and progressive decision-makers,” and even admitted that Georgia will need “additional resources” to solve its transportation crisis (“t-a-x” being a four-letter word, at least in Perdue’s dictionary).
However, you could tell that the governor wasn’t entirely comfortable with his new persona. While he adopted position after position that he had long rejected, he did so by recasting them in GOP-friendly terminology. The state of Georgia won’t be “spending” more money to meet its critical transportation needs, it will be “investing” that money “to bring dividends for a long time.” And instead of drafting a new, more progressive transportation policy for Georgia, Transportation Commissioner Gena Abraham and other state officials will “develop a business case” for transportation.
All that’s fine. If calling it a “business case” and “investment” allows the governor to back a plan that reduces congestion, cleans the air, gets commerce moving and offers commuters an alternative to the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine, he can call it Ralph for all I care.
Gas at four bucks a gallon has also done something else magical: In Perdue’s mind, at least, it has driven a phase transition at the state Department of Transportation, transforming it from a crippled agency to a bureaucracy ready to build “a world-class transportation system.”
Just a couple of months ago, you might recall, the state DOT was in such disarray that Perdue cited the agency as his chief reason for opposing a plan to boost transportation spending — oops, investment — in the metro region. The department just wasn’t ready to handle it, he explained.
Yet by last week Perdue had changed his tune. In his almost two decades in state government, he said, “I believe that this is the best state transportation board I have had the privilege to work with.”
Again, the board didn’t suddenly improve. The governor’s sudden switch of position has been forced by pressure from voters, business groups, legislators and local officials outraged by the stubborn refusal of state leadership to take the transportation problems of metro Atlanta seriously. What we saw last week was proof that the message had begun to get through.
Little of what the governor endorsed was new; federal money for the Lovejoy line has been available since early in the administration of Gov. Roy Barnes, for example, but the project has gone nowhere, in large part because of skepticism from Perdue.
Over the years, the governor repeatedly opposed kicking in state matching funds for the project on grounds that rail operations would be subsidized by taxpayers. Last week, he again mentioned that fare-box revenues would not be enough to cover operations for the Atlanta-Griffin line and public subsidies would be required. “But we also know that roads are subsidized too, that they don’t pay their full fare,” the governor said.
Like I said, I might not believe it if I hadn’t heard it myself. Now, we’ll see if hopeful words become action and then progress.
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Learning the hard way….
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Several students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.
Classmates wept. Some became hysterical.
A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax — a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.
“They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized,” said guidance counselor Lori Tauber, who helped organize the shocking exercise and got dozens of students to participate. “That’s how they get the message.”
You know, I think I finally understand now why the Supreme Court decided as it did back in 2000. They wanted to remind the American people that it matters who we elect as president; they wanted to dramatize the consequences of incompetence and “gut thinking” in the most powerful office in the world.
If so, mission accomplished.
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Special rules for special people
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC reporter Bill Rankin has a nice breakdown on the issues surrounding House Speaker Glenn Richarson’s secret divorce filings.
Randy Kessler, an Atlanta divorce lawyer, said he has received requests from clients for “the Glenn Richardson divorce,” meaning getting the case sealed right after it is filed. “But then we have to explain to them that we just can’t do it,” he said….
“I don’t have a beef with him trying to keep his private life private,” (Atlanta attorney Shiel) Edlin said of the speaker. “The problem is that he seemed to do it in an unprecedented manner. I will be extremely interested to see if the courts grant him the power to seal it.”
It seems to me that the judge in the case — a buddy and former law partner of Richardson — has been doing some of that there “judicial activism,” making the law say what he wants it to say. But hey, what do I know? (Don’t answer that — although I know you guys won’t be able to resist.)
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Perdue guarded rainy-day fund … and now it’s raining
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re clearly in the rainy season, economically if not meteorologically (now, there’s a word that’s easier to type than pronounce).
According to the latest figures, state sales tax revenue fell by more than 8 percent in May, indicating a significant slowdown in the Georgia economy and making it almost certain that the state will have to dip into its so-called “rainy day fund” to make ends meet in the months to come.
If this downturn is deep enough and long enough, as seems possible, even the state’s $1.5 billion budgetary cushion may not be enough to avoid a special session or cutbacks in state spending.
However, it’s important to remember that in the recently concluded 2008 General Assembly, leaders in both the House and Senate had advocated raiding the state’s reserve fund to pay for election-year tax breaks.
That’s what the fund is there for, argued House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter echoed that argument, and in the Senate, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle also advocated tax cuts even as economists were warning about falling revenues.
The strongest voice for preserving the state’s rainy day fund was Gov. Sonny Perdue, and luckily for the people of Georgia, he carried the day.
On issues from transportation to education, Perdue has been far from a dynamic governor. And while he opposed the largest, most irresponsible tax cuts, he did back more than $150 million in special business-oriented tax cuts this year, money that could have saved lives if spent on the state’s underfunded mental health system or trauma network.
Overall, however, Perdue has been a cautious steward of the state budget, insisting that Georgia leaders act responsibly in carrying out their fiscal duties. Had Richardson and others succeeded in the more harebrained tax-cut schemes they were promoting, the tough days to come would been much tougher still.
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