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Friday, February 9, 2007
Sounds like a bill that could get studied nigh on to death
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle expressed ambivalence on Friday about a bill backed by the National Rifle Association that would allow employees to keep guns in their cars on company parking lots.
Many companies prohibit firearms on their property.
“I’ve always been a strong Second Amendment defender, but I’m also a strong supporter of property rights,” Cagle said. “And the two issues are competing.”
Cagle said S.B. 43, which passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, would undergo close scrutiny before moving any further.
When there’s nothing to talk about, don’t
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The announcement that Rep. Charlie Norwood has returned home to receive hospice care and give up cancer treatments has created a delicate situation for those who might be interested in the seat. There won’t be much time to gear up a campaign in the event of Norwood’s death, but no one wants to appear to be rushing things.
In an interview with the Gainesville Times, Sen. Ralph Hudgens is obviously making the attempt to be sensitive to the transitional situation. But in this case, less might have have been better.
“My prayer for Charlie has been that he would get well and continue to serve and thereby keep me from having to make a decision (about running),” said Hudgens, R-Comer.
“When there is a vacancy, my intention is to run. But right now there is not a vacancy and there’s nothing to talk about.”
Perdue ready to pick a side in GOP chairmanship race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two well-connected, generally sober people at the state Capitol tell us that Gov. Sonny Perdue has given a quiet blessing to Sue Everhart as the next chairman of the state Republican party.
The governor was out of town at a funeral and couldn’t be reached to confirm. But Perdue and Everhart met in his offices on Wednesday, we’re told.
We’re also hearing that House Speaker Richardson and U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson have lined up behind the long-time Cobb County party activist. Neither have done so publicly.
Isakson’s support wouldn’t surprise us — Everhart is a life-long ally.
With that kind of backing, and if the grassroots approve at a state GOP convention in May, Georgia could have women leading both state party organizations. Democrats elected Jane Kidd of Athens as chairman last month, the better to reach out to suburban women — the swing voters who often determine Georgia elections.
The state GOP has never had a female chairman.
The only other announced candidate in the Republican race is Anthony-Scott Hobbs, the chairman of the Cobb County GOP.
The new chairman of the state Republican party could be immediately faced with a fight to keep the 10th District congressional district, should the ailing U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood of Augusta vacate the seat.
Even though Everhart is a banker, members of the party’s hierarchy had privately questioned her ability to maintain the high cash flow that the party has enjoyed since it came to power in 2002.
Names of other potential candidates have surfaced from time to time, including that of John Watson, the governor’s former chief of staff. But none have come to fruition.
Should the governor indeed get behind Everhart, who launched her candidacy last spring, it may be a recognition of the real politics at the GOP baseline.
For decades, the state Democratic chairman was named by the sitting governor — a system the party has been forced to move away from.
But because it was out of power for so long, the state GOP developed a polished democratic system based on convention delegate selection — a process that begins in the next few weeks.
They can be expensive affairs. The 2001 campaign for GOP chairman between David Shafer and Ralph Reed, both of Gwinnett County, reportedly cost each candidate $100,000. Reed won.
While Perdue has great influence — Alec Poitevint, the current chairman, was his choice immediately following his 2002 election — the governor doesn’t always have total control.
And Perdue might have been faced with the possibility that a candidate he threw into the mix at this late date could be defeated.
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