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Tuesday, January 9, 2007
The Waffle Man still rules Senate Rules Committee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don Balfour still chairs the most powerful committee in the Georgia Senate.
Why is that news? We weren’t entirely certain Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle would let the Snellville Republican and Waffle House executive keep his Rules Committeee chairmanship.
Here’s why. Last summer as Cagle battled Ralph Reed for the GOP Lite Guv nomination, Balfour distributed a company memo stating that only Reed signs could be posted outside any of the company’s restaurants.
Balfour insists he was only acting as a messenger and that he stayed neutral during the campaign. But Balfour’s boss, Waffle House president Joe Rogers, openly supported Reed.
Since Cagle’s election, Gold Dome watchers had speculated that Balfour might lose his powerful post. How powerful is it? For any bill to reach the Senate floor for a vote, it must be approved by the Rules Committee. As committee chairman, Balfour can single-handedly kill a bill by refusing to let it get a hearing by the committee.
Today state Sen. David Shafer (R-Duluth), a member of Cagle’s assignments committee confirmed that Balfour had been reappointed. Balfour confirmed it, saying his reappointment went “as expected.”
Can Balfour breathe easier now?
Balfour’s never had to answer to anybody before. When Republicans seized control of the Senate in 2002, they stripped then-Lt. Governor Mark Taylor, a Democrat, of many of his powers.
They’ve now restored many of those powers to Cagle.
Balfour now serves at the pleasure of the new Republican lieutenant governor.
Balfour could ignore Taylor. He can’t do the same with Cagle.
But Balfour sees things differently.
“You’re missing the point,” Balfour said. ” When I was the Rules Committee chairman, do you think I was doing what the majority leader and the Pro Tem didn’t want? The only thing this changes is who the boss is.”
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Happy New Year Alvin! Now about your paycheck …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State Rep. Clay Cox wants to give Gwinnett state lawmakers the power to limit what Gwinnett School Superitendent J. Alvin Wilbanks gets paid.
Cox, a GOP House member from Lilburn, has introduced a bill that would give legislative delegations across Georgia control over the salaries of their local state school superintendents.
This would let local legislators limit the amounts local school board pay their superintendents.
Cox insists he doesn’t have a personal beef with Wilbanks. We’re not mind readers so we take him at his word. However, of the four pieces of legislation introduced by Cox, three of them are aimed at the superintendent’s office. Besides the pay bill, Cox has introduced two measures to allow voters to change the appointed job of superintendent to an elected post.
We’ve already noted that during the 2006 elections, Wilbanks gave $2,000 to Cox’s opponent, Woody Woodruff.
That’s the most anyone can donate to a political candidate for a primary election campaign.
“We hope efforts would be on items that would improve education rather than taking us backwards,” Wilbanks said. “If you look at the more successful school districts across the country, they are the ones that have an elected Board of Education and appointed superintendent. This arrangement allows the superintendent to focus on public education, not politics.”
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