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DEL.ICIO.USCagle likes regional transportation approach, but doesn’t think much of an apology for slavery
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and his state Senate are lining up against Speaker Glenn Richardson’s House on transportation.
The Legislature has been pitched two proposals. Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, has introduced the idea of a statewide and temporary, one-cent sales tax.
But Cagle on Friday put his weight behind a strategy backed by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, for a regional, metro Atlanta sales tax — but acknowledged that he wasn’t sure whether either approach had the juice to advance this year.
Cagle also declared himself unsatisfied with the current performance of the state Department of Transportation.
Here’s a few of his remarks from his Friday morning sit-down with reporters:
“We have some real, fundamental problems in transportation. None of us thought that we’d be paying more for right of way acquisition than we would for road construction,” Cagle said. “We need to have a serious dialogue with the Department of Transportation, relative to the delivery of projects in a much more timely manner, and in a more efficient and effective manner.”
“Relative to the two proposals that are put out, I think the statewide, one-cent sales tax would have little to no ability to pass this year,” the lieutenant governor said. “The regional concept I find more palatable, because ultimately it puts the local communities in charge of solving those issues,” he said.
“I think when you have the right checks and balances in the equation, which this proposal does, it merits debate.”
On other topics:
— Cagle said he hadn’t made up his mind on state Sen. Don Balfour’s bill to mandate the vaccination of girls against a virus that can cause cervical cancer.
— The lieutenant governor didn’t sound very excited about any official state apology for slavery. Said Cagle:
“I don’t condone slavery. It was a horrible, horrible, horrible part of our past. But I’m focused on the future. I want to focus on building a Georgia we can all be proud of,” he said. “I’m not saying we don’t acknowledge the past. We all acknowledge the past. We learn from our mistakes and we move on. Slavery’s outlawed.”
Comments
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By boots
March 9, 2007 4:12 PM | Link to this
The NAACP should focus on issues that are adversely impacting the community today —- teenage pregnacies, dead-beat fathers, a growing school drop out rate, black on black crime, needless killing, increasing gang activity, the negative impact of the hip hop culture on our young people and the list goes on and on. As far as an apology is concerned, my family didn’t own much of anything, let alone slaves, but I acknowlege that slavery was terrible and an affront to humanity. Now, can we move on to address the issues that are ripping apart the very fabric of our society today?
By SharonH
March 9, 2007 4:37 PM | Link to this
No white Georgian who wants to be governor one day would apologize for slavery. Of course he doesn’t “think much of it”. He knows his base.
By SharonH
March 9, 2007 4:42 PM | Link to this
Hey boots:
I’m not a pregnant teenager, my father isn’t a deadbeat and neither is my children’s father. I’m not suffering from black on black crime, I haven’t needlessly killed anyone, I don’t belong to a gang and the hip hop culture doesn’t impact me either negatively nor positively. So since I don’t have to deal with any of the issues you have listed, I would like an apology for slavery on behalf of my ancestors and for the 100 years of state-sanctioned terrorism that my grandparents and parents endured at the hands of the state of Georgia. The fabric of my society is in pretty good shape and no one is asking YOU personally for anything.
By Nicholas
March 9, 2007 5:13 PM | Link to this
It’s disappointing that Lt. Governor Cagle feels this way about the apology. I thought he had done a good job on appearing different from the rest of that crowd in the state house, but I guess I was wrong.
By boots
March 9, 2007 5:22 PM | Link to this
Sharon, Sounds like the state has been pretty good to you. So what’s the problem? However, there are others that suffer daily from the issues outlined in my previous post and I don’t hear a word on their behalf. Surely there is a greater need to address the issues of today that to apologize to those who cannot hear the apology.
By Leroy
March 9, 2007 5:35 PM | Link to this
Boots - I agree with your position on where the focus of our state and certain cultural elements within our state should be.
As for an official state “apology”, I wonder if AJC readers realize no “apology” for anything has any value or meaning unless there is an acceptance of liability or guilt; otherwise, we could all go to traffic court and say “I’m sorry” and quickly leave. The word “apology” in this and other blogs on the topic of slavery has been so trivialized as to render it almost meaningless. Again, to have any meaning, there must be some type of consequence and I guarantee you that those who seek and demand an “apology”; should they receive it, will quickly seek some civil liability judgement in order to exact what is really sought - a huge monetary payment or reparation! Simple enough.
By boots
March 9, 2007 5:54 PM | Link to this
Leroy, I think you are right. The acknowlegement of guilt, in the form of an apology, will ultimately be leveraged into a plea for reparations. Now, as a life-long Democrat, I have supported Johnson and others in their civil rights, voting rights, war on poverty, medicaid, food stamps, welfare, equal opportunity —- I have supported wholeheartedly all of the government efforts to jump start and give special consideration for those who were denied access and opportunity in the past. Now, having said that, where do we go from here? The opportunities are available, as is apparently the case with Sharon, but how can be give greater access to the opportunities that are presently available? I oppose reparations and view the subject with absolute disdain —- blackmail!
By SharonH
March 9, 2007 6:23 PM | Link to this
boots, thanks for the chuckle. I am LMAO at you attributing my life successes to the state versus say my own hard work and the love and guidance of my forbears. That’s funny.
By boots
March 9, 2007 6:41 PM | Link to this
Sharon, indeed, I’m sure you took full advantage of the opportunities afforded to you by a government that has bent over backwards to make ammends for the past. Wish others would, too.
By SharonH
March 9, 2007 7:17 PM | Link to this
Bent over backwards? Well they didn’t block my way into the school and they didn’t bomb our church, so I guess in your mind that’s going an extra step and making amends. I bet you think it’s magnaminous of Georgia to let us move about freely and live where we want too. Thanks Georgia, that’s mighty generous of ya!
By boots
March 9, 2007 7:43 PM | Link to this
Sharon,I’d like to think that you have the same rights and privileges that any other Georgian has, no more and no less. But, from the sound of your posts, I’m not sure you’d be happy, regardless. So sad. So much progress and so little acknowlegement on the part of those who have been recipients of the most. Very sad.
By Trackboy1
March 9, 2007 10:12 PM | Link to this
It’s the Department of Transportation…all forms of transportation, not just the Dept. of Road & Highways controlled by road building interests. Road building interests say jump, and GDOT’s Harold Linnenkohl and Bd. members Davis Doss and Mike Evans say how high. A $20 billion tunnel under the ATL while ignoring commuter rail…yes, that’s the leadership of GDOT, and the lack of leadership from Sonny Do, and we’re stuck with it (with GA Dem’s completely ignoring mass transit).
By RJ
March 10, 2007 10:26 AM | Link to this
Boot, You are dead on the mark. This push by the NAACP is the latest example of its lack of relevance. It looks like civil rights organizations are stuck in the “recognition phase.”
By sothern comfort
March 10, 2007 5:21 PM | Link to this
Get over it… there is no need trying to keep the focus on the past.Any educated moral person recognizes it was wrong. But the leaders in the black community who want to keep putting this out and ignore the current problems facing them today is unjust as well.
By Tony
March 10, 2007 5:25 PM | Link to this
You can never move on without an apology. If I mistreat a friend, I don’t say to him: “Just move on; forget about it.” I apologize and then try to work to make our relationship better. Its sad that something as harmless as an apology draws such opposition. I wonder when Georgia’s conservatives will come to question their ways; they probably still think Georgia was right to fight for slavery, the single greatest act of treason in our country’s history.
By SOTHERN COMFORT
March 10, 2007 5:58 PM | Link to this
Tony, noone is saying forget about it, we just have many issues to deal with other than digging up this again and again… its sad this is all the black leaders have to offer and makes a big statment on their relativity on whats shaping our great state in the presnt day…sad…
By DeOtis
March 11, 2007 2:10 PM | Link to this
Correct me if I’m wrong BUT doesn’t an “apology” usually precede a plan for correction of the “wrong”. In the case of slavery; corrections of the wrong and the fruit of those corrections abound, i.e. elected black politicians at all federal, state and local levels, black academicians, teachers, doctors, lawyers, business leaders, athletic superstars, actors, etc. etc. etc. Wasn’t the 13th, 14th & 15th Amendments sufficient, in addition to the 19th amendment (ok - it helped white women too) - the 1954 Brown court decision, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1968 Housing Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, etc. etc. etc. Don’t all of these official acts constitute an “apology” and haven’t they all borne more fruit than any single apology? So, let’s move forward and focus on the future!