Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > March > 13
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The PeachCare fix is in: Let’s party like it’s Groundhog Day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hardly anyone disputes the wisdom of the PeachCare solution jointly announced Tuesday by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
The only question being asked around the state Capitol was this: Why couldn’t it have been done three weeks ago?
Democrats raised the point publicly. Republicans and lobbyists with bills still in play did so in private.
The delay isn’t playing well with the rank-and-file of either party. It has pushed adjournment to late April — assuming that budget conferees don’t work through Easter weekend. This is a particular hardship for lawmakers who run their own businesses — lawyers, accountants and such.
The problem is a $750 million gap in a federal program aimed at helping states provide health insurance for the children of the working poor. Georgia’s share stands at $131 million.
As early as January, Republicans knew that Congress was unlikely to move quickly, and that Georgia would have to loan itself the money to get past the deficit.
But Perdue told GOP leaders he wanted the recess to get a clearer picture of the funding package offered by Congress. We’ll let you decide if he got it.
Last week, Democrats in the U.S. House announced that the financial patch would be contained in an emergency spending bill that included cash for the war in Iraq. The same bill is saddled with many, many restrictions on President Bush regarding how and when he can send troops.
Even many Democrats say the measure won’t make it through the Senate. Bush is sworn to veto it.
Still, Perdue pointed to the legislation as his reason for optimism. “Congress’ recent action gives me confidence that using these funds as a stop-gap is appropriate to meet the needs of our children,” Perdue said.
The funding mechanism is so insecure that a few hours after the governor explained himself, U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson — fearful that the patch for PeachCare will become a casualty of the Iraq war — struck out on his own.
The Democrat from DeKalb County on Tuesday announced that he would offer a stand-alone bill to fund PeachCare and similar insurance programs in other states.
It’s identical to a bill offered in the U.S. Senate by Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss, and would scrape excess funding from states whose insurance programs are running a surplus, and hand them to needier states, including Georgia.
Imagine that. An impromptu alliance between two Republican senators and the congressional district once represented by Cynthia McKinney.
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The conservative Christian agenda, and whether global warming should be on it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those who keep track of the intersections between religion and politics, which in the South is as necessary as monitoring the politics of race, the brewing fight among evangelicals for control of the conservative Christian agenda has gotten downright fascinating.
Early this month, the top leaders of the Religious Right drew down on the National Association of Evangelicals, condemning the organization for its stand on global warming.
The protest was signed by those most active in rallying congregants for national Republican causes: James Dobson of Focus on the Family; Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; Gary Bauer of Coalitions for America; and 22 others.
The only local signature came from Tim Echols of Alpharetta, founder of TeenPact, who’s been active in several recent Georgia campaigns.
Read the entire letter here. But in summary, it makes three points:
- The broadside condemns the NAE’s top Washington lobbyist, Richard Cizik, for waging what it calls a relentless, individual campaign to highlight the dangers of global warming.
“The existence of global warming and its implications for mankind is a subject of heated controversy throughout the world. It does appear that the earth is warming, but the disagreement focuses on why it might be happening and what should be done about it,” the letter said.
“We believe it is unwise for an NAE officer to assert conclusively that those questions have been answered, or that the membership as a whole has taken a position on a matter. Furthermore, we believe the NAE lacks the expertise to settle the controversy, and that the issue should be addressed scientifically and not theologically.”
A focus on global warming distracts from issues like abortion and gay marriage. “We have observed that Cizik and others are using the global warming controversy to shift the emphasis away from the great moral issues of our time, notably the sanctity of human life, the integrity of marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence and morality to our children.”
Cizik’s “disturbing views” have contributed to confusion over what it means to be an evangelical. The letter quotes an article from USA Today, which stated that “the word may be losing its moorings, sliding toward the same linguistic demise that ‘fundamentalist’ met decades ago because it has been misunderstood, misappropriated and maligned.”
It’s no wonder that leaders of the Religious Right are nervous. The keys to success for Christian conservatives in GOP politics over the last 25 years have been twofold: a simple and uncomplicated message, and intensity of belief.
By picking up an important element of the Democratic agenda, a topic subject to nuance and debate, the NAE has jeopardized both.
A kernel of unease over the Colonial pipeline bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s editions of the Marietta Daily Journal, Bill Kinney has picked up some local uneasiness over Senate Bill 173, which would permit a new petroleum pipeline to be run through the lower and western part of Cobb County.
Kinney lists a number of elected officials, Republicans as well as Democrats, who say they knew nothing of the bill until it appeared in the Senate late last month. The measure quickly passed the Senate, and is now in the House.
State Rep. Don Wix (D-Mableton) said he’d only recently been contacted by a lobbyist for Colonial Pipeline Co., the business interest behind the bill. “Wix said he told the lobbyist that if there were shortages and needs for an additional pipeline capacity, Colonial should have been talking about that for months before the legislation was introduced,” Kinney writes.
Once upon a time, during the 1970s and 1980s, Cobb County ruled the General Assembly. Back then, a lack of diplomacy would have been unthinkable.
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NRA ups heat on guns-in-parking-lots bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Getting ready for next week’s resumption of the ’07 session of the Legislature, the National Rifle Association has sent out a — nearly, but not quite literally — a call to arms in support of Senate Bill 43, which would permit employees to keep guns in vehicles parked on company property.
High-ranking NRA officials were to make rounds in the state Capitol today.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has lined up against the measure as an infringement of property rights, and activated its membership last month.
“Big business is pressuring your state senator to hold hostage our right to keep and bear arms and our right to self-defense,” said the e-mail alert dispatched to NRA members in Georgia.
But right now, the pressure is on the side of gun enthusiasts. Once the Legislature is back, S.B. 43 has only a few days to pass the Senate — otherwise, its chance of passage dims considerably.
