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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2007 > January
January 2007
Liquor lobby tries to draft Georgians
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
And now, a Super Bowl Sunday message from your friends in the liquor business: get rid of Georgia’s Blue Laws or face the prospect of more boozeless big games in the future.
The Washington D.C.- Distilled Spirits Council sent out a release Wednesday reminding Georgians that they won’t be able to buy liquor on Sunday because of what it calls “Georgia’s outdated Blue Law” banning alcohol sales.
Lawmakers are considering a bill allowing local voters to decide whether to allow beer and wine sales at stores on Sunday. Liquor industry officials would like the bill to be amended to include distilled spirits as well. Gov. Sonny Perdue has already expressed his opposition to the proposal.
David Wojnar, vice president of the council, said annual Sunday sales of distilled spirits in Georgia could generate $29.1 million to $40.7 million in sales and $3.4 million to $4.8 million in additional tax revenue.
Georgia is one of three states with a complete ban on Sunday beer or wine sales.
“These archaic laws hinder consumers’ ability to purchase spirits for their Super Bowl parties and deprive state coffers of additional tax revenue that would be gained from year-round Sunday sales,” Wojnar said.
Perdue has already explained to Georgians how to solve their Super Bowl party problems. “Think of it this way,” Perdue said in a recent radio interview. “It really helps you plan ahead for the rest of your life - buying on Saturday, rather than Sunday. Time management.”
Permalink | Comments (19) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Senate approves special needs scholarship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After nearly three hours of debate, the state Senate today approved Senate Bill 10, which would allow state-funded vouchers for disabled children to attend schools outside their resident districts.
The vote was 31-23. The bill now goes to the House.
“People out there understand this,” Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) told his colleagues before the vote. “Your constituents will remember this vote.”
Critics of the bill questioned whether it would help the neediest — low-income students who are severely disabled — and siphon money from public school systems.
“This is the gateway to vouchers and the dismantling of our public school system,” Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) said.
But Johnson said the key point is that his bill gives a parent the means to choose a school for a special-needs child.
He estimated the vouchers would average $9,000 and that 9,300 Georgia students might receive them, based on the popularity of a similar program in Florida.
Permalink | | Categories: Education
House approves Zell Miller statue
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House of Representatives approved a resolution today calling for a statue to former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller on the State Capitol grounds.
Backed by several House Republican leaders, HR16 urges the Capitol Arts Standards Commission to move forward with the project, calling the Democrat “one of Georgia’s most distinguished native sons.”
“The time is right,” state Rep. Ben Bridges Sr. (R-Cleveland), who sponsored the resolution, told the House this morning. “I know of no one who has done more for the people of this state than Zell Miller.”
Bridges joined other representatives in honoring Miller’s service to Georgia as former state senator, lieutenant governor and governor. And they cited Miller’s efforts to establish Georgia’s popular pre-kindergarten and HOPE scholarship programs.
Miller, who also served as Georgia’s lieutenant governor and governor, is a maverick Democrat who endorsed Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue for governor in May over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.
Miller angered Democrats when he spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2004, accusing the Democratic Party of moving too far to the left and blasting presidential nominee John Kerry as incapable of leading the war on terror. Miller also supported many of President Bush’s initiatives and published a book in 2003 that criticized the Democratic Party.
Several top House Republican leaders sponsored the resolution calling for Miller’s statue, including House Majority Whip Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) and Rep. Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla), chairman of the House Republican Caucus.
Yet, the resolution received bipartisan support. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) rose in support of the measure on the House floor.
“It is appropriate at this time,” Porter told the House, “to give him the recognition that his life work deserves.”
The resolution passed on a 153-3 vote. The follow representatives voted against it: Joe Heckstall (D-East Point), Jimmy Lord (D-Sandersville) and Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell).
Permalink | Comments (98) | Categories: politics
Poll: Georgia headed in the right direction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A new poll suggests Georgians think the state is headed in the right direction, the kind of news politicians love to hear.
The poll by InsiderAdvantage, an Atlanta-based online political media firm, showed 64 percent of 500 respondents surveyed Jan. 24-26 thought Georgia was headed in the right direction. Only 28 percent said they thought the state was headed in the wrong direction, and 8 percent were undecided.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
“Right track, wrong track” polls are frequently used in politics to determine the mood of voters heading into an election.
This time, with the election season over, Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage, said the poll is good news for Gov. Sonny Perdue and lawmakers as they begin a new legislative session.
“Respondents indicate that they are confident in Georgia’s economy and generally have few pressing issues that they consider of dire importance,” Towery said. “These numbers fly starkly in the face of some national polling trends in which Americans feel that as a nation, America is headed in the wrong direction.
“The flip side of this news is that issues which may need addressing such as transportation and healthcare simply are not receiving the degree of public concern that those advocating change or action would like to see,” he added. “As a consequence, you will likely continue to see the legislature and the governor take a cautious position on those ‘big ticket’ items.”
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: politics
House wants to restrict fingerprinting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A state legislative study panel says Georgia should restrict who may collect biometric information — such as fingerprints and retinal scans — and set limits on how long it may be kept.
The House Study Committee on Biological Privacy, for example, says employers should not be allowed to require that workers have microchips implanted in their arms so their bosses may track them daily.
Additionally, the panel says insurance companies should be prohibited from requiring genetic screenings for customers seeking life insurance policies.
And public and private schools should be barred from requiring students to submit their fingerprints before they are admitted.
“We see that as an issue with respect to individual liberties,” State Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth), chairman of the committee, said at a news conference this morning.
Setzler said he plans to introduce legislation this week that will include the committee’s recommendations. The panel’s report is scheduled to be released this afternoon.
Permalink | | Categories: Miscellaneous
Lawmakers seek to defend “merry Christmas”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays” debate is back on in Georgia’s Legislature.
A Republican state lawmaker has revived legislation that would prohibit all state and county government agencies and school boards from barring people from saying “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah,” or any other holiday expression.
The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Clay Cox (R-Lilburn), has said he has heard from teachers, public employees and students who were afraid to say, “Merry Christmas.”
“It protects free speech of our public employees and our students,” Cox told the House Civil Judiciary Committee this morning moments before the panel gave preliminary approval to his bill.
Before voting, the committee asked Cox if he could cite any examples of schools attempting to curb free speech.
Cox said fliers for a holiday parade in Lilburn were not distributed at a local school because the word ‘Christmas’ was printed on them. Cox declined to identify the school other than to say it is an elementary school in his legislative district.
“Students were instead — on an announcement — encouraged that if they wished they could attend a ‘winter parade’ at the city of Lilburn on Main Street,” Cox said. “And that is just absurd.”
The bill is similar to legislation Cox introduced last year, which passed the House but didn’t make it out of the Senate.
National radio talk shows have fueled the debate over whether government employees should say “Merry Christmas” or the more generic “Happy Holidays.” And some Christian groups have also complained about government agencies and major retailers taking the words “Merry Christmas” out of seasonal marketing displays.
Sadie Fields, chairman of the Georgia Christian Alliance, said her organization supports Clay’s bill as a way to protect free speech.
“At this moment in our history, Christian symbols are being discriminated against and it is unfortunate that we have to have legislation,” she said. “But if that what it takes, that’s what it takes.”
HB 12 applies to all public and legal holidays. Government agencies and schools would still be allowed to enforce regulations preventing “unlawful speech or expression” that disrupts class work or violates the rights of others.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia raised Constitutional concerns about the bill Tuesday, saying it creates the perception that government and school officials can restrict speech more than what it is legally allowed.
“It is problematic because it is actually constitutionally unsound,” said Maggie Garrett, legislative director for the ACLU of Georgia. “Because of the way the bill is drafted, I think it may actually create more confusion for teachers then without the bill.”
The Georgia School Boards Association also raised concerns at the committee meeting Tuesday, calling the bill “confusing.”
“It is a very short, simple bill,” said Angela Palm, director of policy for the association, “but I have to tell you I find it very confusing as to exactly what it is that it would direct a school board to do.”
Permalink | Comments (134) | Categories: politics
Governor pushes limit on lottery spending
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flanked by 13 lawmakers, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced Tuesday he will once again try to get the state Constitution amended to limit how lottery funds are spent.
Lottery money goes to HOPE Scholarships for higher education students and pre-K education. In the past, it’s also been used to buy satellite dishes and computers for schools at all grade levels. Perdue wants to make grades kindergarten through 12 off limits to lottery money.
“We’ve got to use that revenue in the right way,” Perdue said. “I really can’t find a substatitive reason why anyone would object to this.”
Last year, the HOPE Chest amendment failed to win enough support from lawmakers to be put on the ballot. This year, Perdue’s chances are better, according to lawmakers.
“I anticipate it will be received well in the House,” House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R- Hiram) said.
“The rhetoric got kind of out of hand last year,” Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus) said.
Permalink | | Categories: politics
Bill gives judges more discretion on death penalty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Gwinnett County jury in 2005 unanimously decided Wesley Harris kidnapped and murdered a 2-year-old girl and her mother, stuffed them in a trunk and set the car on fire. But the jury split 10-2 on whether to give Harris the death penalty, and his life was spared.
Some Georgia legislators are hoping to change state law so people like Harris could be condemned to death even if only nine jurors agree on the sentence.
House Majority Whip Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) is citing the Harris case as part of his reasoning for introducing House Bill 185.
The bill gives judges the discretion to impose the death sentence on non-unanimous jury verdicts in which at least nine jurors voted for execution. That means verdicts of 9-3, 10-2 and 11-1 could lead to a death sentence. Current Georgia law requires a unanimous decision by the 12-person jury. HB 185 does not change the requirement of a unanimous jury needed for conviction.
Prosecutors believe the change will help them secure death penalty verdicts, which are increasingly difficult to get as questions mount over the imposition of capital punishment in the U.S. Death penalty lawyers say such a change would put Georgia in a category of only a few states that allow elected judges to impose a death penalty without a unanimous jury verdict.
Fleming said prosecutors sought the bill. He maintains that during jury selection some people will say they can impose the death penalty if necessary, but later refuse to do so on moral grounds.
“People morally opposed to the death penalty obviously aren’t opposed to fibbing,” Fleming said Monday.
Other key lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, have signed on to the bill.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said HB 185 is a “great idea.”
“One juror said she could not vote to put another black man on death row and that was the end of that case,” Porter said of the Harris case, which his office tried. “Even though that juror said she could vote for the death penalty, she refused to particpate in further deliberations.”
Porter said he believes defense attorneys try to pick jurors in death penalty trials, based on race and gender, who are less likely to impose capital punishment.
Veteran death penalty lawyer Jack Martin dismissed those claims by prosecutors as “urban myth.”
Martin said there can be many reasons why jurors don’t impose the death sentence: They might find something redeeming about the defendant; there might be a lingering question of guilt; there might be a mental illness that could help explain the crime.
“Before you impose the ultimate sentence, there needs to be a consensus of the community — not a majority,” said Martin.
Majority verdicts allow minorities, particularly African-Americans, to be ignored during jury deliberations, he said.
“This is unique, and it would be venturing into uncharted waters under the U.S. and the Georgia Constitution,” Martin said.
Stephen Bright, a senior lawyer at the Southern Center for Human Rights and a nationally-recognized expert on death penalty law, said the bill represents a “marked” departure from current law.
Juries in Alabama and Florida currently only make a recommendation on the death penalty, and the decision is ultimately up to the judge.
Bright said leaving the decision to elected judges in non-unanimous verdicts, as proposed in HB 185, is particularly troublesome.
“There are political considerations that are going to come into play that don’t come into play when you have a largely anonymous jury … and no one person is the lightning rod for the decision,” Bright said. “I think the history in Alabama and other states has been that judges are much more likely to vote for the death penalty particularly if there’s an election coming up.”
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Bill eliminates state taxes on upper-income retirees
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s legislation to eliminate state taxes on upper-income retirees was filed Monday. Under the bill, taxes on retirement income for Georgians 65 and older would be eliminated by 2013.
A Perdue measure that passed in 2003 will already exempt the first $35,000 in retirement income - per person - when it is fully phased in next year. Social security is already not taxed. So couples with $80,000-$90,000 in retirement income will already be exempt under current state law. Perdue’s latest bill would exempt income above that.
Seniors who work past 65 would continue to pay state income taxes on the wages they earn. However, any income from investments, 401-Ks, and the like would not be taxed.
“This tax cut will allow seniors to better cover the costs of prescription drugs and health care, or spend more times with their families,” Perdue said in a statement. “It will help attract retirees to our state and make our economy even stronger.”
Perdue has sought to cut or eliminate retirement income taxes to help the Georgia compete with states like Florida, which doesn’t have an income tax.
Once completely phased in, the latest senior tax credit will save retirees - and cost state coffers - $142 million a year, Perdue officials said.
Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, which advocates for more social service spending, said the state would lose more and more tax revenue each year because of the aging of Georgia’s population. Meanwhile, Essig said, working, middle-class families would continue paying state income taxes.
“A retired family making $100,000, $150,000 will pay nothing and a non-retired family of four earning $35,000 will pay state income taxes,” he said.
Permalink | Comments (53) | Categories: Taxes
Speaker says liquor should be part of any vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If Georgians are going to be able to vote on allowing Sunday beer and wine sales, hard liquor ought to be part of the equation, House Speaker Glenn Richardson said Friday.
While offering no personal opinion on the merits of Sunday sales, Richardson told reporters, “If we’re going to put that out there for sales of beer and wine, do we also allow spirits to be sold?
“It seems logical to me if we’re going to consider it, we consider all those issues - letting voters decide and putting spirits with beer and wine. I don’t see any difference between those two. If we’re selling one we should let the voters decide if they sell both.”
Senators have sponsored a measure to allow local voters to decide if they want to allow stores to sell beer and wine on Sundays. Grocery and convenience stores, which are pushing the bill, can’t legally sell liquor in Georgia.
The liquor store industry has opposed the legislation, in part because it didn’t include the sale of hard liquor.
Jim Tudor, a lobbyist for the convenience store industry, said supporters of the Sunday sales bill are willing to consider adding liquor.
“If there is a legislative will that this (liquor) would be added, this is not something we would object to,” he said.
Adding liquor to the equation may win over some in If Georgians are going to be able to vote on allowing the liquor store industry, although the bill is still strongly opposed by conservative Christian groups, such as the Christian Coalition of Georgia and the Christian Alliance. Gov. Sonny Perdue also opposes it, although in recent days, he has backed off comments that lawmakers interpreted as a promise to veto the bill.
Both Richardson and the presiding officer of the Senate, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, said Friday that they wouldn’t get involved in the bill’s movement through the General Assembly.
Richardson said it would get a vote in the full House if it passes the Senate and is recommended by a House committee.
He called the current Sunday sales ban a “time-honored tradition” in the South, although Georgia is now the only Southern state to have a complete ban on Sunday sales.
“As a general rule, most people go to church of whatever faith on Sunday … and we don’t sell beer on Sundays,” Richardson said. “It’s just one of those traditions. And I don’t think Republicans are doing anything other than trying to very carefully measure if we want to put that out there and let the citizens end that tradition.”
Cagle said the bill “presents a little bit of a concern, or a little bit of a struggle, personally for me, being a Southern Baptist.
“The truth of the matter is, having the local option in there in the bill is difficult to deny the people of Georgia the ability to express their views on it.”
Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Lawmakers angered over traffic nightmare
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anger over Thursday morning’s traffic nightmare lingered in the State Capitol today, prompting a stinging rebuke for the Atlanta Police Department, a little levity and a few ideas.
State Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) started things off by taking to the floor of the House of Representatives and blasting the city police chief for his response to the gridlock.
“My question to my beloved chief of police, Chief (Richard J.) Pennington, is where were you?” Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) said. “Yesterday, you let down the citizens of Atlanta, our commuters, and our guests to these great conventions. This is simply unacceptable for the great international city that I am so proud to represent.”
The police department had no immediate response to Lindsey’s remarks, which drew cheers and applause from lawmakers.
A long-scheduled poultry convention and a motivational event downtown contributed to Thursday’s mess, backing up traffic on local highways for miles. Lindsey said his trip from his home in Brookhaven to the State Capitol took about an hour and 45 minutes when it normally takes 20 minutes. Other morning commuters said it took them two to three hours to travel from the suburbs downtown.
In an interview after his speech, Lindsey said he was “outraged” and “embarrassed” by the police department’s response to the traffic.
“This was not something unexpected,” Lindsey said of the downtown events. “Everybody in town knew they were coming. … What I don’t understand is why at every major intersection we did not have our police out in force directing traffic and moving the traffic through the city.”
Not all lawmakers agreed with Lindsey’s speech on the House floor.
“I don’t think it was a fair statement,” said State Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta). “Hopefully, the police department learned from the experience, but I wouldn’t beat up on them about that.”
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) also weighed in on the traffic debacle, saying Lindsey was expressing frustration from metro Atlanta motorists who say police don’t always plan adequately for big events.
“I see that happen at a lot of events,” Richardson said. “Seemingly at big sporting events, there is no rhyme or reason. One day you go left, the next day you go right.”
The state can’t continue to lay down asphalt, Richardson said, and think it’s going to solve metro Atlanta’s transportation problems. He called for more public-private projects to create truck-only toll lanes and high occupancy toll lanes. Like many Republican lawmakers, Richardson says commuter rail is not the answer.
“If we have 18 lanes going to Gwinnett County, they will be full,” he said. “I am convinced laying down steel tracks from one defined location to another is not the answer. I think commuter rail has seen its day as a transportation solution.”
Also today, sate Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta) briefed fellow lawmakers on a bill he is sponsoring that would allow counties to increase sales taxes by 1 percent — through voter referendums — to pay for transportation improvements. The tax revenues could go toward a variety of projects, including buses, trains and even sidewalks and bicycle paths.
Holmes, who has been working on the legislation since last year, said it could help offset a shortfall in state transportation funds.
“The thing that is needed now is to further mitigate this growing transportation crisis that we have here,” Holmes said before briefing a delegation of Atlanta area state lawmakers about his bill. “People cannot afford to spend hours in traffic. This provides local communities who lack the funds an independent source of revenue.”
Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), chairman of the Transportation Committee, took a more tongue-in-cheek approach when he stood on the floor of the Senate and addressed Thursday’s traffic jams.
“As you see today,” Mullis said slyly, “the roads are clear and I would like to commend the members of the Transportation Committee for taking their picks and shovels and making that happen.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: politics
Senator wants restrictions on social networking sites
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Georgia senator worried about the safety of young teenagers who log on to Internet social networking sites such as MySpace.com and FaceBook.com has proposed a bill that would force such companies to tighten up their access to minors.
The measure would make it illegal for the owner or operator of a social networking Web site to allow minors to create or maintain a Web page without parental permission. Senate Bill 59 also would force MySpace.com and FaceBook.com to allow parents or guardians to have access to their children’s Web pages at all times.
Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), the bill’s sponsor, said that while he believes parents should be actively involved and aware of their children’s activities, the social networking companies also should be held accountable for the safety of minors.
“I would reject the argument that these companies have no responsibility to address this problem,” Staton said. “I think when it comes to minor children, for someone to suggest a parent doesn’t have a right to be involved when these dangers are there — I would simply reject that.”
Staton cited statistics on dozens of teens who have been molested — or murdered, in some instances — by people they met through MySpace.com, according to law enforcement officials.
If owners or operators of a company failed to comply with the proposed law, they would be guilty of a misdemeanor on the first offense. A second offense would be a felony and could lead to imprisonment for between one and five years and a fine up to $50,000 or both.
Staton said the bill does not tell the companies exactly how to ensure that minors don’t log on without parental permission. The companies can figure that out on their own, he said.
“They can find a way to do this,” Staton said. “That’s my challenge to them.”
Earlier this month, MySpace.com announced a plan to offer free parental notification software, according to the Wall Street Journal. That software would enable parents who use it to know the name, age and location their kids are using on the Web site. But it does not allow parents to read their children’s e-mail or see their profile pages — falling short of what Staton’s bill would require.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) said his children use MySpace.com. But he said he and his wife have blocks on some Web sites and keep an eye on what their children see on their computers.
“The development of computer technology, Web sites, MySpace, is part of the evolution of this electronics age,” Richardson said. “Mommies and daddies ought to be regulating what their children see. I don’t know how the government can regulate the Internet.”
Lt. Governor Casey Cagle said he applauded Staton’s intentions but thought enforcement of the bill would be difficult. However, he said he would not interfere in allowing the measure to go through the Legislative process.
Staton, the chair of the Science and Technology Committee, is expected to hold hearings on the bill, perhaps as early as next Wednesday.
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Bill would ban teens from using cellphones while driving
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Teenagers would be banned from talking on their cell phones while driving under a proposal introduced Friday by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers.
The measure, introduced by Republican state Rep. Len Walker of Loganville and several Democrats, bans 16- and 17-year-olds from using cell phones and handsfree headsets while driving.
“This is a bill that will save lives,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, a Decatur Democrat who co-sponsored the proposal. “It seems like a no-brainer to me.”
She said she was urged to expand the measure to all drivers, but decided against it because she said she talks on a cell phone while driving.
“I didn’t want to be hypocritical,” she quipped.
The measure is one of several driving-related proposals brought forward this session.
Oliver has also introduced a bill with other Democrats that would require passengers of pickup trucks to wear seat belts.
A survey released Thursday by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Co. said that nearly 90 percent of 5,600 teens surveyed reported seeing peers drive while talking on cell phones and more than half spotted drivers using hand-held games, listening devices or sending text messages.
Permalink | Comments (56) | Categories: Public safety
Johnson says ethics complaint not filed properly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The General Assembly’s ethics committee has rejected a conflict-of-interest complaint filed against a state lawmaker, declaring that it was not filed correctly.
Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, presiding chairman of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, said Edward Chapman did not include a signed affidavit with his complaint.
In his complaint, Chapman alleges state Rep. Larry O’Neal (R-Warner Robins) had a conflict of interest in 2005 when he pushed legislation that gave Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue a $100,000 tax break in connection with land Perdue sold in Houston County.
“The law requires a signed affidavit for obvious reasons and he did not do that,” Johnson said. “I just want to make sure that if he is going to refile it and swear to it that it is factual and truthful and if he has knowledge of it. That is why we do it. Let’s see what this kid knows and swears by.”
Chapman said he signed his complaint, had it notarized and mailed it today so that it would arrive at the State Capitol Friday. He did not sign the original complaint he sent the committee this week.
“While I wish the committee had notified me more promptly, I’m thrilled that the committee takes the process so seriously and look forward to it continuing to do so as the refiled complaint moves forward,” said Chapman, a former Georgia Democratic Party operative.
Also today, Chapman called on House Speaker Glenn Richardson to withdraw from the ethics panel, saying Richardson is unable to make an impartial ruling. Richardson, who is co-chairman of the committee, is refusing to step aside.
In an email to Richardson today, Chapman quoted comments Richardson made late last year about O’Neal.
“If you attack one of us, you attack all of us,” Richardson said about O’Neal in a House Majority Caucus meeting in November. “Somebody attacked one of us, they attacked all of us. We stand with you, Larry.”
Richardson was apparently referring to accusations Democrats made against O’Neal during last year’s gubernatorial campaign between Perdue and Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor. Chapman dredged up those accusations in the complaint he sent the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee this week.
“It is clear that Speaker Richardson has rendered himself unable to make an impartial ruling,” Chapman said. “Judicial guidelines require that a judge recuse himself if there is even an appearance of impropriety and Speaker Richardson clearly has passed the threshold of appearance.”
Richardson’s spokeswoman today referred to a state law that says the committee “shall be governed by ten members,” including the speaker.
“The statute governing the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee requires the speaker to serve on the committee, and he is going to do the job he was elected to do,” Richardson spokeswoman Clelia Davis said. “This committee will operate under the statutes which govern it.”
Chapman is also calling on the ethics committee to meet in public. The committee’s rules, however, say the ethics panel may meet secretly.
In an interview Wednesday, Johnson said the committee would appoint a three-member panel to determine if Chapman’s complaint warrants an investigation by the full ethics committee. That review panel, he said, will include Johnson, Richardson and a senator appointed by Johnson.
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Senate approves first bill for 2007
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Senate unanimously approved its first bill of the 2007 Legislative session on Thursday.
Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth) presented Senate Bill 11, a measure that allows judges who are serving in the military to continue in office and be eligible for reelection during such duty. The bill also allows judges to qualify for election by mail and it creates a provision that that performing ordered military duty shall be a basis for requiring assistance from other courts.
Shafer said that he knew of only a few judges who are currently serving as Reservists or National Guardsman, but as the war in Iraq continues, some may be called upon for active duty and need the provisions laid out in the bill. The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 52-0.
The Senate also approved a bill that affects the municipal court in Columbus, Georgia. Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland) said the court is the only municipal court in the state that also serves as civil court. Senate Bill 18 allows the court to charge additional filing fees for civil actions and cases filed to fund alternative dispute programs.
The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 51-0.
The Senate meets Friday at 9 a.m.
Permalink | | Categories: Criminal justice
Bill would set sales tax “holiday”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgians will get to shop without having to pay state sales taxes in early August under legislation filed Wednesday.
Rep. Lynn Ratigan Smith (R-Newnan), filed the bill setting the annual sales tax holiday on Aug. 2 though Aug. 5.
The “holiday” is aimed at back-to-school shoppers, allowing Georgians to buy school supplies, clothes and computer equipment without having to pay the state’s 4 percent sales tax.
The bill also would allow Georgians to buy energy efficient products with a sales price of $1,500 or less for home use from Oct. 4 through Oct. 7.
The sales tax holiday costs the state more than $10 million in lost revenue, but supporters say it is a popular way to make sure back-to-school shoppers make their purchases in Georgia, rather than traveling to nearby states with similar tax breaks.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Taxes
Chamber backs Sunday beer, wine sales
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has decided to back legislation allowing voters to decide if they want to allow beer and wine sales at stores on Sunday.
The chamber had included legalization of Sunday sales on its legislative agenda for the 2007 session, but they hadn’t formally come out in favor of the bill sponsored by Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland).
That bill would allow voters in each county or city to decide if they want Sunday beer and wine sales at stores. The chamber’s legislative affairs council voted to support the bill this morning.
Gov. Sonny Perdue has come out against the proposal, saying last week it would have a “tough time geting the last vote. “
But supporters say they are pushing forward with the bill anyway. It must first go through a committee run by Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), who has also been cool to the proposal.
And although he opposes the bill, Perdue said earlier this week he wasn’t threatening to veto it if it passes.
“I don’t think I said that at all,” Perdue said during brief interview with WXIA-TV. “These are legislative issues, and I really don’t comment on vetoes. I try, out of respect, not to threaten vetoes.”
Shafer on Tuesday filed a resolution calling for the issue to be studied over the summer, a move that could kill it for the 2007 session. However, the chamber’s support is significant because it is the top business lobby in the state, and lawmakers generally listen to the group.
Joseph Fleming, lobbyist for the chamber, said Sunday sales would “put Georgia on a level playing field with our neighboring states so businesses in Georgia can compete.” Sunday sales are legal, in some form, in the states that border Georgia.
Fleming said it also is unfair for one segment of businesses in the state - restaurants and bars - to be able to sell beer and wine on Sundays but not grocery and convenience stores.
And he noted that the bill lets voters decide the issue.
Combined, he said, “That’s a pretty irresistible combination of reasons to support it from a business perspective.”
Jim Tudor, lobbyist for the convenience store industry, said, “We’re certainly pleased to see the chamber reaffirm its stance. It’s a business issue. Georgia businesses are not able to compete with businesses from other states.”
Fleming said his group would testify before Shafer’s committee on SB 26, the Sunday sales bill. However, that’s if Shafer lets the bill be considered. Shafer said Tuesday he doesn’t want to spend a lot of time on SB 26 because of the governor’s opposition.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Courts see increasing number of domestic cases
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears declared today that the state of Georgia’s judiciary is “solid, sound and stable,” but she decried the increase in domestic relations cases in state courts.
Such cases now account for 65 percent of all civil cases in Georgia’s superior courts, Sears said, and now outnumber all criminal cases. Divorce, drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence and child neglect are fueling the growing caseload, she said.
“Our trial judges are working hard trying to fill a void that has resulted from this sad cultural phenomenon,” Sears said during her annual address to a joint session of the Georgia House of Representatives and Senate. “They are being asked to do this even though they typically lack the resources and expertise to do much more than pick up the broken pieces after families have already fallen apart.”
Sears then called on the lawmakers for help.
“I ask that you join with us in refusing to accept the decline of the two-parent family as inevitable,” she said. “We can and we must do everything we can to strengthen our families because it is the best way we have to facilitate responsibility, ensure equality, and shape self-governing citizens who may never need to see the inside of a court of law.”
Lawmakers gave Sears a standing ovation.
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Senator: Competition needed in health care
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Sen. Judson Hill (R-Marietta) said Tuesday that people should be able to buy pills the same way they purchase airline tickets “on Travelocity” or shop online for the cheapest hotels. He said the current health care system should be scrapped.
In a news conference, he said his massive, 60-page health care proposal, Senate Bill 28, would set up an apparatus that would allow Georgians to shop easily for the most competitively priced medications and policies.
“Our current system is price blind, quality silent, and many incentives are in the wrong place,” he said. “Georgians at all levels deserve to have health care and a health care system that works.”
He said his proposal is based on free market competition and that Georgians need “monetary incentives to reward people for making wise choices.”
“Real change doesn’t come with minor tweaks,” he said, but with “major transformation.”
He said he envisions a system that “when you go to your physicians and they prescribe a drug … they type in my ZIP code and the name of the drug and up pops a couple of choices.” He compared the process to passing by one gasoline station to save three cents per gallon at another.
“Today, the purchase of health care is complex, and it’s confusing, and it’s absurd,” he said. “Everybody wins when you have more competition.”
Linda Lowe, a consumer health advocate who lives in Atlanta, said she was concerned that Hill’s bill, which even sponsors say has little if any chance of passage in its present form, wouldn’t “make a dent” in the number of uninsured Georgians, now 1.7 million. Rather, she said it likely would increase the number of people who are underinsured.
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Democrat says coastal rules too lax
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Democratic state lawmaker is urging the House of Representatives to go on record against a set of proposed changes to the state’s coastal development rules, calling them a “gross abuse of the trust that the people of this state placed in our state government.”
State Rep. Brian Thomas’ (D-Lilburn) resolution asks the state Board of Natural Resources to reject the rule changes.
One of the changes would prohibit developers from putting parking lots, sidewalks and other development within 25 feet of the tidal marsh. Thomas and other critics said that buffer is too small for the sea grasses, which serve as the nursery ground for crabs, shrimp and other sea creatures. The buffer should be at least 50 feet, Thomas said.
“The Board of Natural Resources has the responsibility to protect Georgia’s natural environment, not make it easier to destroy fragile ecosystems,” said Thomas during a brief speech on the House floor today. “Passing these proposed rules would have an enormous cost to the environmental quality of this vital area of our state.”
The new rules would pertain only to condominiums, hotels, subdivisions and other developers that want to build a community dock, marina, or any other structure that juts out into the tidal marsh. Private homeowners who want to build a personal dock would not be affected by the proposed regulations.
Coastal developers have argued the proposed rules would strengthen and clarify the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act. The ambiguity of the current law invites lawsuits, they said. Trying to comply with the law can cause developers to spend at least 3 1/2 years to get permission to build a community dock or marina.
Thomas is also threatening to introduce legislation to void the rules if the board approves them. The state Board of Natural Resources is scheduled to vote on the rules Tuesday in committee and on Wednesday as a full board.
Lawmakers introduced another resolution today calling on the federal Department of Justice to oppose the proposed hostile takeover of Delta Air Lines by US Airways.
“This is not in the best interest of our state, not in the best interest of the flying customers out there,” state Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta) said while urging other lawmakers to cosponsor the resolution. “It is shown that duplication of routes in this particular proposed merger would do nothing but increase the pressure in upward trends in pricing for the consumer.”
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Abortion foes rally at Capitol
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The annual anti-abortion rally on the anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision took place today outside of the state Capitol.
Hundreds of people holding signs reading “Abortion kills children” and “Stop Abortion Now” began to gather under overcast skies for the Together For Life march sponsored by Georgia Right to Life. A band played Christian inspirational music.
Georgia Right to Life is hoping the Legislature will support a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would — if approved by voters — ban abortion in Georgia, except to save the life of the mother.
Several speakers, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, addressed the crowd, which in the past has numbered as many as 5,000. Similar rallies are taking place in Washington and other U.S. cities.
The crowd, which was smaller than in years past, roared when reminded that the offices of Georgia’s governor and lieutenant governor, along with a majority of the seats in the House and Senate, are occupied by elected officials who oppose abortion.
A couple dozen House and Senate members, along with Richardson and Cagle, were introduced at the rally.
Both Richardson and Cagle spoke of the positive impact having children has had on their lives and commended the crowd for continuing the 34-year fight to outlaw abortion.
Archbishop Wilton Gregory of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta also spoke.
But it was a Baptist preacher from a small south Georgia town who truly stirred the crowd.
Mike Stone, pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, gave a fervent speech about abortion — what he termed “America’s holocaust.”
Stone took the elected officials - most of whom had left for a 1 p.m. legislative session inside the Capitol - to task. Stone didn’t mention names, but he warned the crowd of “slick politicians” who campaign on an anti-abortion platform only to abandon it once they get elected.
Stone predicted that some of those elected officials present at the rally would not support the constitutional amendment banning abortion when it comes up for a vote.
“We’re going to be watching how you vote on this personhood amendment,” Stone said to cheers from the crowd.
After Stone spoke, a recording of a fetal hearbeat was played over loudspeakers, a bugler sounded “Taps” and the crowd began a silent march through the streets of downtown Atlanta.
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State lawmakers back Delta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s state lawmakers today jumped on board with Delta Air Lines in a symbolic gesture to oppose the hostile take-over bid by US Airways.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R-Gainesville), the president of the Senate, and House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) announced they will introduce a joint resolution urging U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to carefully review the proposed merger of US Airways for Delta Air Lines.
“Along with the constituents we represent in Georgia, we also are very concerned about the significant loss of competition and the likely impact on air fares and regional concentration this merger will create,” reads the letter from the Georgia General Assembly to Gonzalez.
State lawmakers at the press conference announcing the resolution said that they believed the merger would hurt Georgia’s economy. They said they were concerned about the loss of as many as 10,000 jobs, a reduction in flights to cities such as Savannah and Macon, increased air fares, and an overall negative impact on economic development around the state.
In November, US Airways announced an $8 billion unsolicited bid for Delta Airlines. Delta, which is in bankruptcy court protection, opposed the merger and wants to exit bankruptcy as an independent company in April.
“We continue to be gratified by the groundswell of support from the government, civic and local business leaders and our customers for our efforts to emerge from bankruptcy as a strong and independent airline,” said Ed Bastian, chief financial officer of Delta Air Lines. “And we sincerely thank the members of the Georgia General Assembly for encouraging a thorough review of the important issues presented by this merger proposal.”
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Cagle outlines charter plan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle announced today a proposal to give grants to local school systems so they can convert all their schools to charter schools at one time.
Currently, schools have to apply individually to local school boards and the state Board of Education for charter approval.
“The idea here is all about local control,” Cagle told a gathering of educators and lawmakers at Tech High, an Atlanta charter school.
Charter schools are publicly funded but act under contracts with the state that allow them to ignore some laws in order to be more experimental.
Under Cagle’s plan, the state initially would provide a total of $625,000 in grant money, which would be distributed to approved charter systems. Each grant would be no larger than $125,000.
A state charter advisory committee would be established to make recommendations to the state school board about charter petitions.
Committee members would be chosen by the lieutnenant governor and the speaker of the House.
Cagle also proposed funding five new career academies to provide high school students with job training. The state would fund a total of $1 million in grants to help with that effort. In addition, the state would provide $15 million in bond funding to help with construction costs. The career school bonds would require local matches.
“I am very very excited about this announcement today,” Kathy Cox, the state superintendent of schools, said at the gathering. “Allowing this for a whole system … this would be a great innovation for the state of Georgia.”
Cagle’s bill is expected to be introduced next week.
The state currently has 58 charter schools serving less than 2 percent of Georgia’s 1.5 million students.
Permalink | | Categories: Education
House speaker ethics complaint dropped
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The General Assembly’s ethics committee has dismissed a scandalous conflict-of-interest complaint filed against House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), saying no evidence was submitted to back up the allegation.
The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee confirmed its decision in a letter yesterday to state Democratic Party chairman Bobby Kahn, who filed the complaint. Richardson’s office started distributing the letter to the news reporters today.
“The Review Committee does not find that sufficient information exists to find probable cause to warrant further investigation by the review committee or the full Joint Legislative Ethics Committee,” the letter says, “and the complaint is hereby dismissed.”
Kahn sent his complaint to the ethics committee this month, alleging Richardson had an “inappropriate personal” relationship with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist while cosponsoring a bill that would have financed a $300 million pipeline for the utility. Kahn says the alleged relationship “constituted a clear conflict of interest” for the speaker.
Kahn has so far declined to identify the lobbyist. And he has so far refused to disclose any evidence he might have of the alleged relationship, other than to say that it was “common knowledge.”
Richardson has denied he had a conflict of interest but has refused to confirm or deny the alleged relationship with the AGL lobbyist. The speaker has said the complaint is without merit and predicted it would be dismissed.
“Now that these baseless political attacks are behind me,” Richardson said in a prepared statement his office issued today, “I look forward to continuing to do the job I have been elected to do.
“We will focus on reducing the tax burden on Georgia’s working families, improving education for Georgia’s children, and ensuring that all Georgians are better off now than they were four years ago.” In reacting to the committee’s decision, Kahn lashed out at the GOP majority in the state legislature, saying “Republicans rushed out to protect the speaker.”
“The GOP’s culture of corruption has taken an even firmer hold in Atlanta,” he said in a prepared statement. “The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee was a joke — they operated in secret and clearly made the rules up as they went along. The GOP clearly is not serious about ethics.”
“This shows just how little the GOP leadership cares about true ethics reform, accountability, and the openness of government,” Kahn continued. “Unfortunately, what more could we expect from Governor Sonny Perdue, President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, and Speaker Glenn Richardson?
“Last week during his press conference, the speaker, Johnson said ‘is a friend.’ Clearly in the New Georgia, Republicans put taking care of their friends as the top priority.”
In its letter, the ethics panel referred to one of its rules that says complaints “shall contain specific description of the nature of the alleged conflict of interest… and a statement of the specific facts upon which all allegations are based.”
“The allegation that certain matters are ‘common knowledge’ clearly fails to meet this requirement,” the letter says.
Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, co-chairman of the ethics committee, also issued a statement today, confirming he appointed a bipartisan review committee to determine whether Kahn’s complaint warranted a review by the full panel.
Johnson said he appointed himself, Sen. George Hooks (D-Americus) and Rep. Lynn Smith (R-Newnan) to the review committee. He also confirmed the review committee’s decision was unanimous.
“We take our new responsibilities very seriously,” Johnson said. “However, we cannot look into vague charges based on gossip and rumor without any evidence supporting the charge. To do so would turn this committee into a circus and invite kooks and partisans to file false charges. If the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party had sent a similar letter attacking a prominent Democrat, our response would be the same.
“The Joint Legislative Ethics Committee must not allow itself to be used for partisan political purposes,” Johnson continued. “The fact that the chairman of a political party makes vague accusations against a leader of the other party on the weekend before the inauguration and the opening day of the session clearly indicates the motivation behind the charge. It should insult the people of Georgia and embarrass those who take the political process seriously.”
Johnson also predicted Kahn will next claim a “whitewash” and a “cover up.”
“That is what he planned all along,” Johnson said. “He knows we cannot pursue undocumented charges. He is simply manipulating the process and the media. All I can ask is that the media treat rumor as rumor and fact as fact. The fact is there is no evidence of any wrong doing.”
In an interview today, House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) pointed out that Richardson has refused to confirm or deny the alleged relationship with the AGL lobbyist. And he raised concerns about whether Kahn was given an opportunity to present any evidence he might have to the committee before it dismissed his complaint.
“I think you will continue to have a cloud over this issue,” Porter said. “The credibility of the process is in question until we can learn more about what occurred.”
The State Ethics Commission has also dismissed Kahn’s complaint, Richardson’s office said today. Rick Thompson, executive director of the commission, could not be immediately reached today to confirm the complaint was dismissed.
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Perdue says steady progress satisfies Georgians
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov, Sonny Perdue told legislative leaders that his re-election last year showed Georgians are satisfied with his policies calling for slow, steady progress without a lot of new programs.
“They are not that enthalled with some flashy new program,” Perdue told the House and Senate Appropriations committees this morning. “Three yards and a cloud of dust was not all that bad as long as you scored.
“We don’t have a lot of trick plays. We wouldn’t be Boise State as a state if we were in football.”
Perdue easily won re-election last year, besting Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor with 58 percent of the vote during a campaign in which he promised voters little more than the continuation of his limited-government policies. He became Georgia’s first Republican governor to win re-election.
Perdue has been criticized by some for his lack of new plans to ease problems like traffic congestion in Atlanta. The biggest new program he announced last week during his State of the State address called for an increased effort to attract fishing tourism, a $19 million program called “Go Fish Georgia.” Perdue said Georgia hosts fewer bass tournaments than any other state in the South.
“We are holding ourself back” by not doing enough to host bass tournaments, the governor told lawmakers.
As the House and Senate began work on Perdue’s record $20.2 billion spending plan, the governor said they should keep education and economic development their top priority.
Lawmakers will hear from the heads of the state’s education and public health agencies today. Those agencies account for about two-thirds of the state’s spending.
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Cox targets education’s ‘great divide’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All Georgia students need more intensive math education if the state is to rank higher nationally on test scores, state School Supt. Kathy Cox told Cobb County educators Tuesday.
“Math is the great divide in Georgia,” Cox said in a speech to the Cobb Education Consortium, a group of educators from grades K-12 and higher. “Why are our calculus students not even at the national average? We are not doing what we should be doing with math education.”
Georgia last year ranked at the bottom nationally on the math portion of the SAT. The state is in the midst of changing how math is taught, covering fewer topics with more rigor. The new approach is part of a broader effort called Georgia Performance Standards.
“The bulk of our students are not going to be sentenced to low level math classes any longer,” Cox said.
She said no students should be put on the slow track. But the speaker of the Georgia House, Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), told the educators that, by the eighth grade, students should be identified as to what track they’re on: job training or higher education.
“We have got to quit being all things to all people equally,” Richardson said.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle told the group he is preparing legislation to encourage the creation of more charter schools, including career academies and magnet schools. Details of his proposals are supposed to be announced this week.
“I believe first and foremost in local control,” Cagle said. Charter schools operate under contracts with the state and are allowed to waive some state and local rules in order to pursue more effective teaching methods. Career academies give students job training and magnet schools offer specialized curriculums.
Cagle said 80 percent of the future workforce will need technical training, and career academies have a “100 percent placement rate.”
“That’s real education. That’s real success,” Cagle said. “We’ve got to have more avenues kids can plug into.”
Permalink | | Categories: Education
Cagle: New voter ID proposal won’t come to Senate vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle told reporters today a measure to amend the Georgia Constitution to clear the way for a controversial photo voter ID requirement will not come to the Senate floor for a vote.
Senate Resolution 4, sponsored by Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), was assigned to a Senate committee Thursday. If approved by a two-thirds majority of the Senate and House, and then by Georgia voters in a statewide referendum, SR 4 would allow the General Assembly to enact regulations over voting, including a future photo ID requirement.
Past attempts by the Legislature to enact photo ID at the polls have been struck down by state and federal courts. A Fulton superior court judge last year ruled that the Legislature lacked the authority in the state Constitution to pass laws restricting the right to vote to only those who hold picture ID.
On Thursday, Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) predicted that another bitter, divisive fight over photo ID in the General Assembly would harm the newly-inaugurated lieutenant governor’s efforts at bi-partisanship.
In a question-and-answer session in his office today with reporters, Cagle said he supports the voter ID requirement, but he said he doesn’t believe SR 4 can gain the required two-thirds majority in the Senate.
“If you don’t have the votes, it’s not worth the fight,” said Cagle, who has appointed three Democrats to chair Senate committees. “I’m not pushing it. I’m not interested in bringing bills to the floor … if there’s no possibility of it passing.”
Cagle, the presiding officer in the Senate, said he doesn’t want to push a vote on the floor of the chamber simply to force legislators to take a stand on the issue, which has been championed by Republicans.
“I want this body to be a deliberative body and I want everyone’s voice to matter,” Cagle said. “We’re not going to cause people to walk the plank if the votes aren’t there.”
The court cases over photo voter ID in both state and federal court are still pending.
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Ethics panel will include Richardson appointees
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Speaker Glenn Richardson has reappointed half of the voting members to an ethics panel that could ultimately act on a serious conflict-of-interest complaint against him.
The Republican speaker reappointed two Democrats and two Republicans to the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee this week. The appointments were announced at a news conference today.
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) warned earlier this week that Richardson should stay out of the process.
“He would have to recuse himself in making the appointments since the allegations are against him,” Porter argued.
Richardson’s aides, however, pointed out that Georgia’s ethics law requires the speaker to appoint four members — two from each political party — to the committee. The General Assembly passed the law in 2005, creating the panel to handle conflict-of-interest complaints against lawmakers.
“The legislation that created this committee is the strongest ethics bill in Georgia’s history, and DuBose Porter supported it,” said Richardson spokeswoman Clelia Davis. “We would hope that Rep. Porter has confidence in the members of his party who were appointed to this committee and in the legislation for which he voted.”
State Democratic Party chairman Bobby Kahn mailed a complaint to the committee last Friday, alleging Richardson had an “inappropriate personal” relationship with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist while cosponsoring a bill that would have financed a $300 million pipeline for the utility. Kahn has so far declined to disclose any evidence he might have.
Richardson has denied he had a conflict of interest but has refused to confirm or deny the alleged relationship.
Richardson named Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta) and Reps. Lynn Ratigan Smith (R-Newnan), Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) and Gerald Greene (D-Cuthbert) to the ethics panel.
Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) appointed the other four voting members: Sens. Seth Harp (R-Midland), Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), Michael S. Meyer Von Bremen (D-Albany) and George Hooks (D-Americus).
Johnson announced the appointments, while outlining how the ethics panel handles complaints. He did not refer directly to Kahn’s allegations and refused to take questions about them.
A three-member panel would first decide if there are “reasonable grounds” for the full ethics committee to investigate a complaint, Johnson said. That review panel would consist of Johnson, another senator and a Republican House member other than Richardson, Johnson said.
“What we have tried to do is design a system (in which) frivolous or political methods were kept off of the front pages,” Johnson said. “If there are reasonable grounds, then hearings and an investigation occur.”
Johnson and Richardson co-chair the ethics committee and vote only in the case of a tie. Under state law, Richardson must step aside when the panel hears the complaint against him. The committee has the power to summon any person to appear and give sworn testimony and produce documents or other evidence.
The committee has power only to refer the matter to law enforcement, in the case of a criminal act, and make recommendations to the full House and Senate, Johnson said.
By holding a press conference today, Johnson — who has clashed with Richardson in the past — kept the ethics complaint in the news. Numerous television, newspaper and political Web site reporters covered Johnson’s event. Asked if any House-Senate rivalry played a role in the news conference, Johnson said no.
“The speaker,” Johnson said, “is a friend.”
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House Speaker proposes overhaul of taxes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson is floating a radical proposal to wipe out property taxes across the state in favor of a 5 percent flat income tax and a 5 percent “consumption” tax.
Declaring the state’s tax system is “broken,” the Republican speaker said the switch to a flat tax could boost spending in the state and result in an overall tax reduction for Georgians.
“It simplifies the tax structure. It is radical, and I think it is 21st century thinking,” Richardson (R-Hiram) said this week in a wide-ranging interview that also touched on a serious ethics complaint he is battling.
Under the proposal, all existing property taxes — including those on real estate — would be eliminated. Georgians would instead pay a 5 percent state income tax, with some exceptions for the poor, and a 5 percent consumption tax on goods and services. Local governments and school boards would not lose any money under the new system, Richardson said.
The idea comes from a former economic policy adviser to President Reagan whom Richardson recently hired to study overhauling Georgia’s tax system. Richardson has started working with Arthur B. Laffer , an economist considered by many as the “father of supply-side economics.” Along with Laffer, the speaker has hired Donna Arduin, a former fiscal advisor to several governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Jeb Bush of Florida.
“The change in the tax system will generate more economic activity and more jobs in the state and those things generate more taxes,” said Arduin, a partner with Arduin, Laffer & Moore, an economic consulting firm with offices in Florida, California and Washington, D.C. “We will provide our estimates of those numbers and let the speaker and the policy makers decide what to do with them.”
Arduin and Laffer will report back to Richardson by the end of March, Arduin said.
Richardson’s political action committee, MMV Alliance Fund, is paying Laffer and Arduin’s firm the initial $50,000 cost of its study through private donations, a spokeswoman for Richardson said.
The speaker, a presumed candidate for governor in 2010, said he will likely introduce a measure during this year’s legislative session to put the tax cut idea on the table, but he doesn’t expect a vote on it until 2008. He has also asked Laffer and Arduin to study various other tax cut proposals floating around the State Capitol.
House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta), for example, announced Monday that he plans to introduce legislation this month to wipe out or substantially cut the car tag tax. And Rep. Steve Davis (R-McDonough) introduced a bill this week that would wipe out the state income tax but increase the state’s sales and use tax from 4 percent to 8 percent.
During his State of the State address Wednesday, Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue signaled he is open-minded about tax reforms, though he is focusing on a retirement income tax cut for the elderly.
“I think we all agree that we need to take a long, hard, comprehensive look at tax policy,” Perdue said, “and to come up with a fair approach that meets our needs and spurs economic development in Georgia.”
Democrats are urging a cautious approach.
“Let’s walk cautiously,” said Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), chairman of the House Minority Caucus. “I don’t want to rush into anything. When it comes to taxation, all things should be put on the table and there should be a lot of discussion across the aisle. It does not need to become a political football.”
For weeks, Richardson has been promoting some type of flat income tax, but he only recently began fleshing out the idea and citing numbers in public. Meanwhile, the speaker is vowing that he won’t let a stinging ethics complaint he is facing distract him from seeking a complete reform of the state’s tax code.
In its complaint, the state Democratic Party is alleging that Richardson had an “inappropriate” and “personal” relationship with a lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light last year while co-sponsoring a bill that would have financed a $300 million pipeline for the utility. The Democratic Party says the alleged relationship “constituted a clear conflict of interest” for the speaker.
Richardson has denied he had a conflict of interest but has so far refused to confirm or deny the alleged relationship with the AGL lobbyist.
“I don’t remember my enemies very long. It takes twice as much energy to remember who your enemies are than to just go forward with your friends today,” Richardson said. “I am not saying I don’t forget people who have done wrong. But you can’t dwell on that.
“I am going to change the tax structure, or do my dead level best,” he added. “And I’m going to increase Georgia’s education scores. … Those are two big things that I think Georgians want.”
Richardson indicated he would elaborate on his education proposal at a later date.
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Harp files Sunday alcohol sales bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, including several Senate committee chairmen, are pushing legislaton to let voters decide if they want to allow Sunday beer and wine sales at grocery and convenience stores.
The bill, filed Thursday, would give voters in each county the option of approving Sunday sales.
Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland) said this morning he would sponsor a bill to let local communities decide whether grocery and convenience stores should be able to sell beer and wine on Sundays.
Harp made the announcement in the Senate, saying that allowing communities to vote on the issue would let them have “local control of local issues.”
“I believe strongly that we as senators have a responsibility first to the citizens of our districts,” he said. “The opportunity to let them make that decision is among the most fundamental rights that exist in our form of government.”
Permalink | Comments (24) | Categories: Liquor Laws
Bill targets Internet “phishers”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia General Assembly is going after Internet “phishers.”
Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) introduced Senate Bill 24 today, a bill that criminalizes the practice of sending false e-mails to lure unsuspecting consumers into giving up personal data.
Scam artists send out authentic-looking e-mails, in an attempt to extract confidential information such as bank account and credit card numbers, to Internet users. The e-mails often direct consumers to phony Web sites that claim to represent legitimate businesses. The practice is known as “phishing,” — luring victims into identity theft and fraud.
SB 24 makes such scams a felony, and establishes penalties ranging from prison sentences of one to 20 years to fines of $1,000 to $500,000.
The bill was assigned to a Senate committee today.
Permalink | | Categories: Criminal justice
New Voter ID measure introduced
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The fight over photo voter ID - which has been in a holding pattern in both state and federal court - is ready to resume.
Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon) today introduced Senate Resolution 4, a measure to amend the Georgia Constitution to allow the General Assembly to put in place “procedures for voting to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the election process.”
If passed by the Legislature, SR 4 would go before voters in a 2008 referendum. It would then allow the Legislature to enact a law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls.
Past attempts by the Legislature to pass a photo ID law have been tossed by the courts. A Superior Court judge in Fulton ruled last year the law violates the state Constitution.
In an interview, Staton said that while he does not believe the law is unconstitutional, the amendment to the state Constitution would leave no doubt about the Legislatures’ authority to require photo ID.
“It clarifies what some believe to be vagueness in the Constitution,” he said. “I believe Georgians care about this issue.”
Republicans have said photo voter ID is necessary to prevent voter fraud, but civil rights groups have said it’s a ploy to suppress minority, elderly and poor voters who tend to vote Democrat.
Staton’s resolution was assigned to a Senate committee today.
Permalink | Comments (37) | Categories: Voting
Perdue unveils budget proposal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia teachers would get a 3 percent cost-of-living pay raise and a $100 gift card to pay for supplies under a budget plan announced by Gov. Sonny Perdue this afternoon.
In his annual “State of the State Address,” Perdue also said he wants to borrow $417 million to build more schools and $228 million for college construction projects.
Overall, the state budget for fiscal 2008 would hit $20.2 billion, up from $18.6 billion this year.
Under the budget, the average Georgia teacher would get about a $1,400 cost-of-living raise next year. More than half of the state’s 100,000 teachers would also get a 3 percent longevity raise, pushing their gain to about $2,800.
In addition, the state would spend extra money to make sure most teachers don’t see an increase in their health care premiums.
Perdue’s budget plan for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1, calls for $50 million to be spent buying undeveloped land for environmental projection, such as Paulding Forest. Paulding County is represented by House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), and he has pushed to preserve Paulding Forest.
The budget would also include $19 million for a program called “Go Fish Georgia” to create world-class resources for fishing and boating lovers. The money would buy new ramps along a bass trail that will include 15 sites on Georgia’s major rivers and reservoirs capable of hosting large bass tournaments.
“My goal is to turn Georgia into a fisherman’s paradise,” he told lawmakers.
An electronic version of the Governor’s Amended FY07 and FY08 budgets is available at www.opb.state.ga.us.
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Slow down, Perdue tells Ga. drivers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Spink/AJC
Gov. Sonny Perdue speaks at the annual Eggs and Issues breakfast Tuesday.
Gov. Sonny Perdue wants Georgia drivers to do something he has trouble doing himself: slowing down behind the wheel.
And he’s planning to make slowing down drivers part of his legislative agenda this session.
Staffers say Perdue will ask his floor leaders to push legislation raising fines and other penalties against drivers stopped for going over 85 mph on any Georgia road and over 75 mph on two-lane highways. They said the legislation would also increase fines and penalties for habitual traffic offenders, such as those convicted of multiple drunk driving or reckless driving offenses.
Perdue officials wouldn’t provide details on the proposed new level of fines and penalties. That will be released later, when the legislation is filed. However, the aim is to raise money for a new trauma system to treat emergency cases, such as people hurt in car wrecks.
Perdue told about 2,000 business and political leaders attending Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs & Issues Breakfast Tuesday that Atlanta drivers are among the fastest in the country. And he said that’s causing problems.
The governor said 20 percent of the state’s 1,744 traffic fatalities in 2005 were due to excessive speed. Trauma care costs $7.85 billion per year. And accidents further clog Atlanta’s overburdened highways.
“Accidents caused by excessive speed and aggressive driving are not just affecting congestion and causing traffic jams - they are killing people.
“We’ve got to stop the excessive speeding,” Perdue added.
A legislative study committee has been searching for a way to fund trauma centers capable of handling the most severe injuries, such as those sustained in car wrecks and gun battles.
With only 15 such centers spread across the state, it can sometimes take hours for a trauma victim to reach one, according to the committee’s report.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of Georgia’s 152 hospitals are operating in the red, the report says. They are suffering financial losses from uninsured or under-insured patients and decreasing Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates. Georgia absorbs an estimated $170 million in “uncompensated” trauma care annually, the report says.
Larry Schnall, senior trooper and spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol, said his agency supports the governor’s initiative.
“We support anything that helps us reduce serious crashes,” Schnall said. “We think it’s a good attention-getter to go along with our enforcement efforts.”
Share your thoughts: Would you like to be included in a story on this topic? Send your comments to reporter James Salzer at jsalzer@ajc.com. Please include a phone number so he can call you to clarify your statement.
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Richardson goes on offensive
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Facing a salacious ethics complaint, House Speaker Glenn Richardson publicly went on the offensive today, saying he is hunting for the people who have attempted to “poison” him.
“The last few weeks, I have been fed a little poison and I’ve taken it,” Richardson (R-Hiram) said in a brief speech to an audience of politicians and business leaders at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual Eggs & Issues Breakfast.
“But the bad news — for those that manufactured, dispensed and stirred unreasonably the poison — is that I survived. I’m looking for the folks that manufactured that poison.”
In an interview after the speech, Richardson confirmed that he was referring to ethics complaints filed by Bobby Kahn, the state’s Democratic Party chairman. Kahn is alleging Richardson had an “inappropriate personal” relationship with a female lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light last year while co-sponsoring a bill to finance a $300 million pipeline for the utility.
Kahn has so far presented no evidence of the relationship. He has also declined to characterize the alleged relationship beyond saying it was “inappropriate” and “personal.”
Asked whether he denies having such a relationship with an AGL lobbyist, Richardson said he would not address the allegation.
“We are not going to start responding to specious rumors, allegations, innuendos that they swear under oath is ‘common knowledge,’ Richardson said. “They don’t even tell where they got it from.”
Richardson said Kahn’s allegations are without merit and he predicted they would be dismissed.
“He made up a story … used the news media to try to sensationalize something that was ludicrous,” Richardson said of Kahn. “I want to know who all else was behind it with him. It was clear all it was was a hatchet job.”
Asked about Richardson’s comments, Kahn said, “If he wants to look for the source of the poison, he should look in the mirror.”
Kahn said the Democratic Party mailed the complaint to the State Ethics Commission and the Joint Committee on Ethics Friday. The complaint was also hand-delivered to the ethics panels Monday, Kahn said.
A spokesman for AGL Resources, the parent company of Atlanta Gas Light, has said the utility never tried to inappropriately influence legislation.
“Whatever is being alleged about the speaker’s conduct does not involve our company,” Keith Poston, a spokesman for AGL Resources, said in an interview Sunday.
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) predicted Kahn’s allegations will “dominate much of the session until it is resolved.”
“This is an issue that I think the Republican caucus has got to deal with,” Porter said. “If a charge has been filed, then it has got to be responded to in some way by the ethics committee.”
Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) serves as co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Ethics.
“We are taking this committee and this issue very seriously,” Johnson said, “And we will deal with it appropriately when the darn thing arrives on my desk.”
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Perdue issues education ‘challenge’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue challenged local communities today to do more to improve their schools.
“I want to issue today a challenge, a call to action. I ask today that each community work together to set and meet a local graduation goal,” Perdue said at the annual Eggs and Issues breakfast meeting. “I want to stretch — find something that’s ambitious but attainable.”
Georgia’s test scores and graduation rate rank among the nation’s lowest.
“The job of educating our children does not fall solely on the shoulders of our teachers,” Perdue said. “That job requires parents to be involved — and the community to be engaged. These kids need reinforcement that goes beyond the walls of their classrooms.”
He said communities should think creatively, and cited, as an example, the “perfect attendance lottery” started by Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons). Montgomery County High School students who don’t miss a day of school in a quarter are rewarded with $20, paid out of a $1,000 pool funded by Williams.
“We need creativity like this in our schools. We need your help,” Perdue said.
The governor also said his graduation coach program needs assistance from the business community. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce sponsors Eggs and Issues, held at the Georgia World Congress Center.
“We need your help to connect these coaches with the world our children will enter after graduation,” he said. “You can provide real world experience for students by adopting a high school, by giving them opportunities like job shadowing or internships.”
Casey Cagle, the new lieutenant governor, also spoke and promoted his plan to allow not just charter schools but also charter school systems. Unlike conventional public schools, charter schools operate according to contracts with the local boards of education and the state.
“Charter schools have demonstrated that they can reach the goals of education without all the burdensome mandates that tie the hands of our teachers,” said Cagle, the state’s first Repubican lieutenant governor. “Charter systems allow the truest form of local control of public education, and I intend to give that control to our educators.”
Cagle said afterwards he plans to reveal the details of his proposal next week.
He also told the audience he wants the state to fund grants to plan five more “career academies,” like Central Educational Center in Newnan. Some Coweta County high school students take classes at CEC to get job training.
“The opportunity for students to gain a technical certificate, which guarantees employment upon graduation, is what education should be all about,” Cagle said.
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Abortion forces split
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A group of anti-abortion advocates held a rally at the Capitol today to support a perennial bill to ban the procedure in Georgia.
Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) has introduced House Bill 1, a measure to outlaw abortion in Georgia and make it a felony for doctors to perform the procedure.
Several groups opposing abortion, including the Christian Coalition of Georgia, The Justice Foundation and Operation Outcry, held a rally and prayer vigil in a committee room of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building in support of Franklin’s bill.
But several formidable anti-abortion forces either played no role, or kept an arm’s distance, from the event, indicating a split among those groups on Franklin’s bill.
Georgia Right to Life representatives were at the rally, but did not speak. The group lobbies for an end to abortion, but is trying to push a change to the state Constitution outlawing the procedure, said its lobbyist Kevin Harris.
“We believe that a constitutional amendment hat would allow the voters of Georgia the opportunity to weigh in on this important issue should be encouraged and embraced,” said Harris.
Harris said the group, which has successfully lobbied in the past to institute a 24-hour waiting period for abortions in Georgia, is working with state legislators to introduce a constitutional amendment. If such an amendment were to pass — it would require a two-thirds vote by both the House and the Senate — it would go to voters in the fall of 2008.
Sadie Fields, state chair of the Georgia Christian Alliance, was also at the rally, but did not speak. Fields, who has wielded tremendous influence in the past as chair of the Christian Coalition, also supports a constitutional amendment.
“It gives the people of Georgia a voice on issues that can tend to be divisive,” Fields said. “I think it makes the statement louder than legislation.”
Also noticeably absent from the event were leaders of the Catholic archdiocese in Atlanta, which have also played a key role in lobbying to toughen abortion laws.
This is the third straight term — spanning six years — that Franklin has introduced the bill attempting to ban abortion, the legislator said. The bill has never made it to the House floor for a vote. Franklin said today he thinks the bill has a chance to pass. “I think if it comes to the House floor, it will pass.”
Jim Beck, president of the Georgia Christian Coalition, said he doesn’t think the split among anti-abortion forces is a bad thing.
“I think the more you engender debate, the better off you are,” he said. All anti-abortion groups are ultimately working towards the broader goal of stopping the procedure, he noted.
Several women who said they had had abortions spoke about the negative impacts of that decision at the rally. The women described the depression, and regret, they felt about their abortions. Later, a guitarist and keyboardist led the group in singing Christian hymns.
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Proposed law could wipe out car tax
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A high-ranking Republican state lawmaker is proposing substantially reducing or even wiping out Georgia’s car tax at a savings to taxpayers of up to $250 million annually.
“I think one of the more fair approaches to a short-term tax cut is to eliminate or reduce the ad valorem tax on people’s cars,” state Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta) told the House after it unanimously reelected him speaker pro tem Monday. “Rich and poor, north and south Georgia, they pay that owners tax on their birthday. And I just think it is flat wrong.”
Burkhalter says he is considering proposing car tax exemptions of $15,000, $20,000 or $25,000.
The tax cut would work like this: Motorists would still pay their local governments car taxes. But the state would send the motorists rebate checks.
For example, if the person’s car is valued at $16,000 and he has a $15,000 tax exemption through this legislation, he would pay the local government the total amount owed on his car valued at $16,000 but the state would refund him the taxes he paid based on a $15,000 exemption.
In other words, the motorist would only be paying taxes on $1,000 of the car’s value.
Each county has its own car tax rate which you multiply by the value of a person’s car to get the taxes owed.
Burkhalter wants to start off doing this tax cut on a year-to-year basis with the idea of making it permanent in the future.
Care to share your thoughts on this proposed legislation? If so, please e-mail reporter Carlos Campos at ccampos@ajc.com with your comments. Please include your home town and a phone number in case he needs to contact you to clarify your statement.
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Law would recreate Milton County
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The move to break up Fulton County began in earnest today.
Legislation that would allow all of Fulton north of Atlanta to break off into a separate county was introduced by Rep. Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) on the first day of the General Assembly.
Milton wold encompass about 300,000 people, making it the fifth largest in the state — and dropping Fulton from No. 1 in population to No. 4.
Jones says the people of Fulton are over-taxed and under-served, and they deserve a government that is closer to them and more responsive.
But if her bill succeeds, it will raise serious long-term questions about the funding of Grady Memorial Hospital and MARTA, both of which lean heavily on Fulton for support.
The bill calls for a statewide vote on amending the Georgia constitution to allow previously existing counties to be re-created.
Georgia is at its constitutionally-mandated limit of 159 counties, but Jones’ bill would allow an exemption that applies only to Milton in north Fulton and Campbell in south Fulton. Both counties were merged into Fulton during the Great Depression because they couldn’t fund their operations.
Jones’ bill, like the bill to create Sandy Springs in 2005, is strongly supported by Northside Republicans and opposed by Southside Democrats.
Because the bill calls for a constitutional amendment, it requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. The Republicans don’t have two-thirds of either chamber, but they expect broad-based support for freedom of choice, as Sandy Springs got.
Under Jones bill, Milton’s superior court would remain in the Fulton judicial circuit, but Milton would create its own school system.
The bill is expected to be debated in the 2007 Legislature and voted on in 2008. If it passes the General Assembly, a statewide referendum would be held on the Nov. 2008 ballot.
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Perdue sworn in for second term
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue was sworn into a second term Monday afternoon, bringing with him the state’s first Republican lieutenant governor and Secretary of State.
In remarks to about 4,000 people attending the inaguration at Phillips Arena, Perdue said Georgia was moving into an era of national leadership. While including no details about his plans for his second term, he promised to leave Georgia better than he found it when he retires in four years.
“I want to hand off a well-run state .. one whose principles will endure beyond a change of leadership … one whose children are at the top of their natioinal class … one who is operating strong, conservative fiscal policies … and one who is moving forward with momentum,” he said.
“The only legacy I seek is the same one any parent or grandparent seeks: to hand off our state, our home, to the next generation in better shape than we found it.”
The governor’s inaugural address made reference to the possibility that his replacement was in the arena, sitting behind him. New Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, (R-Hiram) and new Secretary of State Karen Handel, all in attendance, are among those considered possible gubernatorial contenders. Governors in Georgia are limited to two terms.
Monday’s ceremony made Perdue the first Georgia Republican inaugurated for a second four-year term. Cagle and Handel were also sworn in Monday, becoming the first Republicans in their jobs in Georgia.
Other statewide elected officials, including Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, who was first took office in 1969, were also sworn in this afternoon.
Before the event, military march themes filled the arena, while signs declaring Perdue’s campaign theme, “Moving Georgia Forward” hovered over the ground floor, which is used by the NBA Atlanta Hawks and NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers.
Lawmakers filled the seats behind the speaker’s podium, and behind them sat the Woodstock Baptist Church Choir, which performed during the ceremony.
The event had the air of a national political convention, with giant screens showing the state flag and Perdue’s campaign theme in front of waving American flags.
Among those attending were former Govs. Carl Sanders, Joe Frank Harris and Zell Miller. Miller, the Republicans’ favorite Democrat, received a standing ovation when his name was announced.
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Former neighbors back governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dena Williams and her 11-year-old daughter, Kimberly, of Thomson, Ga., near Augusta, were among those in the audience at Philips Arena for today’s inaugural ceremonies.
The mother and daughter were guests of Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Dena Williams and her family used to live next door to Perdue in Bonaire and have known the governor since 1977.
“We helped campaign for him when he went into the Senate in the ‘90s,” Dena Williams said. “We owned a garage by his fertilizer company and worked on his vehicles.”
Kimberly was missing school to attend the festivities. “It’s something new,” she said with a big smile.
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Sports arena transformed for ceremony
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shortly before inaugural ceremonies were set to begin at 2 p.m. today, Philips Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers, had undergone a transformation.
Long flowing streams of red, white, and blue fabric hung from the ceiling of the arena, the site of the inauguration, just below banners behind the stage touting the Hawks’ (few) achievements.
The Georgia Army National Guard’s 116th Army Band provided musical accompaniment as legislators, state officials, their friends and relatives streamed into the arena. Many clutched colorful inaugural programs featuring a painting of Sonny and Mary Perdue, done in a style reminscent of Leroy Neiman.
The Jumbotron, which usually shows highlights and scores of sports events, bears an image of the Georgia flag with the slogan, “Moving Georgia Forward Jan. 8, 2007.”
The Woodstock Baptist Church choir and orchestra also provided music and song as visitors found their way to their seats.
Oversized replicas of the Georgia seal were placed directly in front of and on the stage where Gov. Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and other state officers soon will be sworn in.
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Richardson reelected speaker
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s House of Representatives reelected Glenn Richardson as speaker today despite an attempt by Democrats to replace him with one of their own.
Richardson (R-Hiram) picked up 113 votes, while House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) got 66. At least seven Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for Richardson.
In his acceptance speech to the House, Richardson said he would favorably consider legislation during this 40-day session if it shrinks state government, cuts taxes, encourages “personal responsibility,” and strengthens families.
“Any bill that does not will have a tough time making it through this process,” Richardson vowed. Richardson also quoted Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” while referring to unspecified attacks against him and the Republican majority in the House.
“The last two years for me as speaker, well, they have been the best of times and they have been the worst of times,” Richardson said.
During his speech, the speaker did not refer to ethics complaints the state Democratic Party filed against him today. The complaints allege Richardson had an “inappropriate personal” relationship with a female lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light last year while co-sponsoring a bill to finance a $300 million pipeline for the utility.
State Democratic Party chairman Bobby Kahn offered no evidence of the alleged relationship in the complaints he said he mailed to the State Ethics Commission and Joint Committee on Ethics Friday.
“We can get into the evidentiary part as the complaint proceeds but we will leave it at that right now,” Kahn said Sunday. “The complaint speaks for itself.”
Richardson has so far declined to respond directly to Kahn’s allegations, saying he doesn’t want to “give them merit.”
“We are not going to respond to Bobby Kahn and the Democrats,” Richardson said in an interview Sunday. “We are going to stay focused on the issues for the people of Georgia.”
Richardson added that he signed onto the pipeline bill last year at the request of House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta), who co-sponsored the legislation. Richardson said that by the end of last year’s legislative session he “didn’t care if it passed or not.”
At the end of his speech before the House today, Richardson thanked his wife, Susan, for her support.
Also today, Burkhalter was reelected speaker pro tem. In an interview Sunday, Burkhalter denied rumors that he had been trying to line up votes to take Richardson’s job. Burkhalter, in fact, nominated Richardson for speaker today, praising Richardson as a “great manager of this House and a great defender of this House.”
The House started its 2007 session at 10 a.m. sharp today. All 180 members were present and were immediately sworn into office with spouses, fidgeting children and parents at their sides.
“You can’t get any better than perfect attendance,” said House Clerk Robbie Rivers, who was also reelected today. “180 members. 180 members present. Congratulations, you are here.”
The House members shook hands and hugged each other after they raised their right hands and took the oath. The House also adopted its rules after a testy debate between Porter and House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island).
Porter objected to the Republican majority’s plans to continue with its “hawks” system in which the speaker appoints members who can show up at any committee and cast votes.
“In our opinion, it does away with representative government,” Porter said before urging the House to reject the rules.
Keen denied Porter’s claim, saying the purpose of the hawks is to maintain a quorum in committee meetings. He added that if the speaker wanted to he could simply “stack the committees” with Republicans.
“It is the intent that they never have to be there” in the committees, Keen said of the hawks. After approving the rules by a 110 to 66, the House recessed at 12:15 p.m. today.
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Cooperation prevails in Senate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The 2007 Legislative session began with a spirit of cooperation in the Georgia Senate.
The Senate opened with a prayer, and then the 56 members of the Senate vowed to uphold the Georgia Constitution during their swearing-in ceremony.
Then, came the Senate’s first order of business: electing a new Senate President Pro Tem.
Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons) nominated Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), who was first elected to the position in 2002. Williams praised Johnson for his passion for public service, and called him a “person of prayer” and a “faithful father and husband.”
Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown (D-Macon) immediately gave Johnson’s nomination a second nod, and the members of the chamber unanimously elected him to be their leader. Johnson said that the Georgia Senate has had 66 members serve as President Pro Tem, but that only two had served more than four years.
Johnson thanked his colleagues for the opportunity to serve as their leader once again. He also said that while he has made mistakes, he has worked hard to lead the chamber.
“My tongue can be sharp, but I’ve always spoken the truth even if you didn’t want to hear it,” Johnson said, “I don’t think anyone can claim I’ve misled them.”
Johnson also wished Lt. Governor-elect Casey Cagle well in serving as the first Republican elected to that office. Johnson said that he supported changes to the Senate Rules that would expand Cagle’s powers. The Republican majority in the Senate had stripped those powers from Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, a Democrat. Cagle will be sworn into office on Monday afternoon.
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Inauguration Prayer Service
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue, his family and about 125 other Georgians began inauguration Monday with a prayer service at Northside United Methodist Church this morning.
“We are friends and supporters governor, but we are all Georgians,” the Rev. G. Gil Watson Sr., minister of the church, told Perdue in his welcome.
Catholic Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory told Perdue this was a day of pride and hope for him as he begins his second term in office. “It is an equally hopeful day for the family of citizens that is the state of Georgia.”
Gregory told Perdue to pray for a wisdom that would help all Georgians, who have a stake in how he performs as governor.
Among those taking part in the service was the Rev. Jim Perdue, the governor’s son and pastor of North Cross Baptist Church in Cumming. Rev. Perdue called his dad a man of integrity and high morals. “I want you be God’s man,” he told his father. “I want you to be what God has called you to be.”
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