Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > April > 17
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Down for the count, the NRA made one last stab
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Remember that bunny-boiling Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction”? Once dead, she just wouldn’t stay down.
Tonight was kind of like that.
After Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour made the motion to put H.B. 89, the guns-in-parking-lot bill, to the bottom of the long day’s calendar, we assumed the NRA-backed bill was history.
“A lot of us don’t believe that a day after the gun shooting at Virginia Tech, the massacre of 30-some students, that it would be appropriate to be taking up really any gun bill right now,” Balfour told reporters immediately afterwards. “I think we need to be sensitive to the loss of those folks. Two of those folks are from Georgia.”
But an hour later, the bill came roaring back. Republican senators were called one-by-one up to the fourth floor office of state Sen. Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), where an angry official from the NRA — who’d flown in from Washington for this very bill — gave lawmakers what-for.
A letter was passed out with the signature of Chris Cox, the NRA executive director. “H.B. 89 is NRA’s top legislative priority this session in Georgia. As such NRA intends to closely monitor all aspects of this bill — including scheduling of votes, hostile amendments, votes on final passage and any efforts to avoid voting on this issue.”
Translated: Republican senators had agreed to simply walk away from the bill without a vote tonight. The NRA told them that they would arrange a roll-call vote on adjournment.
We’re told a Democrat, J.B. Powell of Blythe, had agreed to raise the objection that would force the vote. He’s from a vulnerable district, and could use the assist of the gun group.
Republicans were told a vote for adjournment would be a vote against the bill. And the senator who voted to go home after an 11-hour day would get an “F” rating from the NRA — with all that means.
The Senate was trapped, faced with the prospect of churning on and on and on through the night.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who brokered the bill’s current form this week, isn’t talking tonight. But many Republican senators told us they thought Cagle had at least acquiesced to the NRA’s threat, and had left his Republican caucus hanging out to dry.
“We gave him the power, and he wants us to walk the plank,” one GOP senator was overheard muttering, from within a tight scrum of rebellion on the Senate floor.
So at 10:02 p.m., Cagle ordered the Senate to stand at ease for five minutes. And the entire Senate Republican caucus crowded into the nearby office of Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson. Cagle was the last to enter.
For close to a half hour, Democrats were left to mill about the chamber floor.
We don’t know all that happened in the closed-door meeting. Not yet. We’re told there was heavy opposition to moving the bill. At least 17 Republican members said they would vote against the bill today, Thursday, or any other day. That’s half the GOP caucus. Many of them are private property buffs, and think the gun bill impinges on land owners.
The vote count changed things a bit. We’re told that the NRA at one time had held this offer out to the GOP caucus: As long as the bill passed, the NRA wouldn’t condemn Republicans who were cut loose and voted against it.
But 17 Republican opponents and significant opposition by Democrats meant the bill wouldn’t pass. Those Republicans who voted against it faced exposure to NRA revenge.
At 10:25 p.m., the Senate Republican caucus returned to the chamber, members grim-faced. Balfour quickly made the motion to adjourn. Powell, the Democrat, shouted his objection for a roll call vote.
Cagle ignored him. There was no roll call vote.
The Republican caucus apparently had persuaded its lieutenant governor to back off.
We’re told that this is the end of the guns-in-parking-lots bill, at least for this year.
But then, they said the same thing about Glenn Close.
At least for today, the Senate says gun bill too hot to touch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Without objection, the Senate late Tuesday passed on the opportunity to engage in a debate over a controversial gun bill — even as Americans were still digesting the scope of the massacre at Virginia Tech.
The bill, heavily backed by the powerful National Rifle Association, would permit employees to keep guns in their cars parked on corporate lots, and would have allowed many gun owners to conceal their weapons under the seat, or elsewhere in the vehicle.
On a motion from Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour (R-Snellville), H.B. 89 was moved to obscurity at the bottom of a lengthy calendar — with no chance of reaching it before the chamber adjourned for the night.
“A lot of us don’t believe that a day after the gun shooting at Virginia Tech, the massacre of 30-some students, that it would be appropriate to be taking up really any gun bill right now,” Balfour told reporters immediately afterwards. “I think we need to be sensitive to the loss of those folks. Two of those folks are from Georgia.
“The law-abiding gun owner knows that today isn’t the day to bring a gun bill to the floor,” the rules chairman said.
Whether or not to address the bill had prompted a furious argument within the Senate Republican caucus that started before the chamber was gaveled into session this morning. Many were fearful of how the public would view an extended debate — with members holding up fresh copies of today’s newspapers.
Even without Monday’s incident at Virginia Tech, the gun bill had sparked a struggle among Republicans — many of whom think the bill infringes on the private property rights of employers.
But Republican lawmakers are also wary of the NRA’s mailing list, and its willingness to spend money to defeat elected officials who oppose it. Randy Kozuch, director of the NRA’s state legislative operation, flew in from Washington from the vote, and watched from the vacant office of a state senator.
The bill was placed on Tuesday’s calendar at the request of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who has brokered a watered-down version of the legislation — although the measure is still opposed by the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
The Legislature is not in session Wednesday. But we’re told that Cagle wants to see H.B. 89 placed back on the calendar for Thursday’s session — the last day it can be considered before the Legislature goes home.
But Balfour hinted that Cagle could face a revolt among members of his caucus should the lieutenant governor press the issue. “Obviously he’s the lieutenant governor,” Balfour said. “We’ll have to look at his wishes. But I think the jury’s out.”
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Presidential wallets: Who’s raising how much from Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Center for Responsive Politics made a database available today that shows how much money each presidential candidate has received from individual states, our colleague Bob Kemper in Washington tells us.
And the surprise is Barack Obama. Or, after last Saturday’s rally, perhaps it’s not such a surprise.
Obama received more money from Georgia donors than any other candidate for president, Democrat or Republican. He has milked nearly $478,000 from the solidly red state, most of it from metro Atlanta.
Next comes Republican Mitt Romney, who has raised $401,161 — nearly four times as much Georgia money as the next GOP candidate, John McCain.
Democrat John Edwards comes in third.
Here’s the entire Democratic list:
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama: $477,760
Former U.S. senator John Edwards: $376,845
U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton: $81,925
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson: $76,250
U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden: $8,650
U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd: $7,600
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich: $1,567
Mike Gravel: $20
And here’s the entire Republican list:
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney: $401,161
U.S. Sen. John McCain: $106,228
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani: $78,350
Former Virginia governor James Gilmore: $13,600
Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee: $12,650
U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback: $7,450
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul: $5,300
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo: $3,500
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter: $0
Former Health secretary Tommy Thompson: $0
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Is it or is it not bad taste? Republicans debate over vote on gun bill today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UPDATED at 4:38 p.m. We’re told Senate Republicans have abandoned a plan to vote on the guns-in-parking-lots bill today, one day after the Virginia Tech massacre.
The measure is to be sent down to the bottom of today’s calendar. The Senate would then adjourn before it reaches the gun bill.
One additional wrinkle being discussed includes a recorded vote to table the measure — which Republicans in the Senate would oppose.
This would give them an on-the-record vote in favor of H.B. 89, offering them protection from National Rifle Association accusations that they killed the bill. Once the tabling motion fails, the hand-vote to place the gun bill — in which no senator’s name would be recorded — would occur.
The result would be a dead bill and no fingerprints.
ORIGINAL POST: A furious, closed-door argument erupted within the Republican caucus this morning over whether the Senate should follow through with a vote on a gun bill, one day after the worst massacre in American history.
H.B. 89 was the topic of heated discussion by a gathering of GOP senators that pushed back the start of today’s session by 40 minutes.
The measure, backed with the full force of the National Rifle Association, would permit employees to keep guns in their cars parked on corporate lots. Some corporations now bar firearms from their property.
It also would allow motorists without a criminal record or history of mental illness to conceal weapons inside their cars
On Monday evening, with the approval of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the Senate Rules Committee put H.B. 89 on today’s calendar. But as he entered the chamber this morning, Cagle — who brokered changes in the current version of the bill — said the vote wasn’t a sure thing.
“It is on the calendar, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a vote today,” the lieutenant governor said.
We’re told that a handful of GOP senators are insisting on a vote — and that Cagle has promised the NRA that the revised bill will come to the floor. Another 10 to 11 senators adamantly oppose moving the bill today or any other day this session.
The NRA has made the bill a scorecard issue, and promised an ‘F’ to any senator voting against it. The question for Republicans is whether to risk offending the public with the debate — two Georgians are among the dead — or to guarantee themselves trouble with the NRA in the next election.
Frank V. Rotondo, executive director of the Georgia Assocation of Chiefs of Police, wrote a letter to senators today, urging them to vote against H.B. 89.
Rotondo, a former police chief in Helen, Ga. and homicide detective in New York, wore a Virginia Tech tie at the Capitol today. It was given to him by his son, who graduated from Virginia Tech last year.
“Yesterday was indeed a day that we as Americans should never forget,” the letter opens. “The shooting deaths of 33 innocent individuals at one of our nation’s premier institutions of higher learning, Virginia Tech, has shown us that the bizarre conduct of one person, presumably a ‘law abiding citizen’ with firearms, could wreak havoc on the tranquility of society.”
The bill was considerably weakened on Monday, but the Georgia Chamber of Commerce is still opposed. In fact, some senators are saying the changes are so confusing, they’re not sure exactly what the bill accomplishes.
Hillary Clinton, the ‘evidence-based decision-maker,’ here on May 19
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Days after Barack Obama left many Democrats in Atlanta breathless, we’ve snagged a copy of the e-mail that’s making the rounds, inviting certain people to a “relatively private visit” by Hillary Clinton on Saturday, May 19.
The author says the Democratic presidential candidate “can return our government to evidence-based decision-making. Surprisingly, she is pragmatic, fiscally-responsible and, contrary to lore, middle-of-the-road. She has an excellent chance to win the nomination and very possibly the general election.”
Event planners are asking for contributions of “$2,300 or $1,000.”
Ever since Obama and his 20,000 appeared last Saturday, Clintonites have been burning the phone lines to Atlanta, trying to keep past supporters in line.
The Clinton event, by the way, is scheduled for the same Saturday that the state Republican party holds its annual convention, this time in Gwinnett County. We think it’d make a fine platform for a pragmatic, fiscally responsible middle-of-the-roader.
A day after the massacre, guns-in-parking-lots bill debate set for today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the day after what’s being called the deadliest single murder spree in American history, the Senate has scheduled debate on a bill to permit employees to keep guns in their cars parked on corporate lots.
But in the last two hours, whether or not the chamber will push forward with a confrontation over the bill remains in flux. “It is on the calendar, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a vote today,” Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the presiding officer, said just a few minutes ago.
The bill was weakened considerably on Monday, but the Georgia Chamber of Commerce remains opposed.
The measure, backed by the National Rifle Association and aimed at companies that have policies prohibiting the possession of firearms on their ground, has provoked a tremendous fight within Republican ranks over the right to carry versus the right to control one’s property.
We have a question on timing here, and don’t yet have a firm answer. Backers of H.B. 89 had anticipated the bill coming to the Senate floor on Thursday. It was moved up yesterday evening, just as the full brunt of the massacre at Virginia Tech was hitting TV screens.
The calendar is set by the Senate Rules Committee. For what it’s worth, we note here that Don Balfour, the Republican chairman of the committee, has been no friend of the bill — but who can say whether 24 hours after the event is any worse than 72.
The bill is No. 28 on a list of 49 pieces of legislation.
