Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > May > 09
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Israel: Business bears some of the blame for gunfight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anyone who keeps track of politics via the Internet in Georgia knows that some of the best political theater in the state can be found in Vidalia, on 100.9 FM.
Each morning, soft-spoken local attorney Wilson Smith conducts top-notch interviews with figures across Georgia. Better yet, he posts his interviews on the Web.
The key to Smith’s success is his patience. Smith lets his guests ramble until they feel comfortable and actually say something important.
On Wednesday, Smith interviewed George Israel, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The topic was the chamber’s recent fight at the state Capitol against the National Rifle Assocation and its guns-in-parking-lots bill.
The bill would have permitted employees to keep guns in their cars parked on company lots. The measure was defeated, but only after much blood was spilled in the state Senate.
For the first time that we’ve heard, Israel admitted that business bore some of the blame for the fight, by over-reacting in a specific case in 2002.
Said Israel:
“This case started out in Oklahoma, involving a Weyerhauser [forest products] plant of some 1,100 employees. Dogs were brought to do a drug shakedown, and as part of the shakedown — the dogs had been cross-trained for ATF use, so they would hit on explosives and gunpowder or guns.
“And I think there were seven employees that had guns in their trucks or cars. They were terminated.
“I think that was the first mistake Weyerhauser made. I would certainly advise an employer — preserve your policy by some sort of reprimand, but you don’t have to fire somebody.
“They went a little too far in the Oklahoma case. It started there, it spread to the Oklahoma General Assembly. [An Okalahoma chamber official] advised us of this three years ago, and actually predicted it would be spreading to other states.
“Sure enough, it was introduced last year, and we’ve had our hands full both session.”
After vetoing tax rebate, the least Perdue can do is help anti-tax groups with their fund-raising
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue’s line-item veto of a $142 million property tax rebate has become immediate fodder for two national anti-tax groups.
The governor’s weathered this kind of heat before. In 2003, you’ll recall, Grover Norquist and his D.C. group, Americans for Tax Reform, came down to oppose tax increases pitched by Perdue to meet a downturn in state revenue.
Here’s a statement put out late Tuesday by the National Taxpayers Union, which boasts “nearly 8,300 members in Georgia.”
“Unfortunately, the governor got it wrong when he used the line-item veto pen to cross out a $142 million property tax cut instead of the pork spending contained within the budget.
“From the beginning, NTU and our members were critical of the estimated $50 million for pet project spending that weighed down the $700 million supplemental budget bill.
“The governor could have helped to finance the much-deserved property tax cut by eliminating these wasteful sops to special interests [Columnist note: Many of those items were removed, and shifted to the ‘08 budget], but instead he let Georgians down by choosing bigger government over tax cuts. A year that began with such promise for taxpayers has become a debacle.
“Governor Perdue and the Assembly can and should do better for the people who pay government’s bills.”
Perdue was also the target of an “action alert” by FreedomWorks, the group led by former U.S. House majority leader Dick Armey of Texas:
“Governor Sonny Perdue is blocking long-overdue property tax cuts in the Georgia state budget.
“First, he vetoed the entire budget, and now he’s attempting to rescind this veto in favor of a line-item veto that targets $142 million in property tax cuts.
“Why is Governor Perdue going out of his way to deprive hardworking Georgia families of much needed tax relief?”
Reed, Republicans and evolution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican strategist Ralph Reed may not be plotting the moves of any specific GOP presidential candidate this year — at least, none that we know of — but he is back on the TV circuit, defending the party’s White House 10 (or 12) as a group.
The former candidate for lieutenant governor was on Anderson Cooper’s “360 Degrees” on CNN last night. Below is a bit of Reed’s exchange with Democratic strategist James Carville.
The topic was evolution, and the fact that three GOP presidential candidates in the recent national debate said they didn’t believe in it.
COOPER: Ralph, to conservatives, how important is this issue of evolutionism vs. creationism and/or intelligent design?
REED: If you really look at all the polling, Anderson, a majority say they believe in the theory of creationism, that God created the heavens, the Earth and mankind.
So, I don’t know that it’s an issue that’s really determinative of voting behavior, but it certainly becomes derivative of or part of a broader tapestry of a candidate being able to convey to voters that they share their values.
And I think this has been an advantage for Republicans. I think it will continue to be an advantage in 2008.
COOPER: That’s — I mean, James, he raised a good point. Democrats have long been criticized for not being able to speak to Americans about religion or moral values, perhaps since Jimmy Carter did.
Does the evolution debate present Democrats with particular problems?
CARVILLE: No.
Every Democratic candidate believes in evolution, as does every scientist. When people pray, they pray that the war on science is going to stop. And, if people want to teach creationism, they perfectly well can do that in Sunday school, or people want to teach the parting of the Red Sea, but you don’t do that in nautical history.
The Mormons believe that the lost tribes of Israel came over here after the death of Christ. Well, if they want to teach that in a Mormon Church, that’s perfectly acceptable, but they don’t teach that in the Utah public schools, nor should they.
And I think that’s what — what people are saying. And, obviously, every Democratic candidate believes in evolution. Every Democratic candidate thinks it’s based on — it ought to be taught in schools. It’s a theory like — and every Democratic candidate, by the way, believes in gravity.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
