Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2007 > December > 02
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Cagle and Richardson play good cop, tough cop
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last Friday afternoon was a time for comparison and contrast in Georgia politics.
Two of Georgia’s most influential education organizations were gathered at the Renaissance Waverly in Cobb County. One statewide group represented school superintendents, the other was made up of school board members.
Upper management, in other words. Not rank-and-file.
Late in the day, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson made back-to-back appearances. Cagle, all smiles, was there to reassure. Richardson was not.
The lieutenant governor said nothing to make news. The House speaker brought his own video crew to record his attempt to persuade a hostile audience that it’s time to end property taxes.
Cagle spoke first, and was a study in affability. The lieutenant governor, who has expressed doubts about the speaker’s effort, did not do so here — not with Richardson in the audience, waiting his turn.
At least, not directly.
But Cagle did make reference to the state’s soft economy. Critics say such downturns are a weakness in Richardson’s plan to shift state funding toward a consumption tax.
And in plugging his own push for charter school systems, which would allow schools to bypass much state regulation, Cagle also emphasized the need for educators to call their own shots.
“I’m convinced that local control is the answer to education,” he said. Another triangulation.
Because Richardson’s consumption tax would be collected — then dispersed — by state government, the loss of local control is another worry expressed by opponents.
Cagle received the standing ovation that Richardson would not. The lieutenant governor, elected statewide, clearly likes to be liked.
But Richardson must curry favor only with his Paulding County district, and 100 or so Republican lawmakers. He can afford not be liked.
If Cagle was the mommy figure on Friday, lavishing praise and encouragement, Richardson was the daddy — distant but demanding, and perfectly willing to endure unpleasantries along the way.
“I’ve been jeered, I’ve been snapped at. I’ve been told I was wrong. I’ve been told that I was not wise or prudent,” Richardson said in his wind-up.
The news in Richardson’s speech was that he would narrow the scope of his plan to eliminate the property taxes that underpin counties, cities and school systems.
At least for now, cities and counties would get a pass. His chief target, Richardson told the people who write the budgets for Georgia’s school systems, would be the property taxes that fund Georgia’s school systems.
One-third of Georgia’s school systems are engaged in a lawsuit against the state that complains of unequal funding. Richardson said his plan would fix that.
Many school systems are struggling under the burden posed by the children of illegal immigrants. Richardson said his sales tax would make them pay.
“One million or so Georgians — well, they’re not really Georgians, they’re not U.S. citizens — but they reside in the state of Georgia and they pay no Georgia income taxes and very rarely do they pay any direct property taxes,” Richardson said.
The House speaker has cast himself as the agent of difficult but inevitable change. If he doesn’t do it, someone else will.
“Right behind me, there’s somebody else that wants to be speaker, that thinks they can do it differently. Right behind you there’s another person that wants to run for school [board],” the Richardson said. “It’s the American way, and we better listen and be ready to change.”
The cost of being that agent of change could be steep. Ask any Old Testament prophet.
People of a certain age will remember a unique way we once described the headstrong and uncompromising. “He’d rather be right than president,” we’d say.
We do not know what Richardson’s ultimate ambitions are. But judging by Friday’s performance, he’d rather be right than governor.
Abortion groups split, giving endorsements to Huckabee and Thompson
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has picked up endorsement of Georgia Right to Life, the statewide anti-abortion organization.
Again, GRTL is in disagreement with the national organization, which last month endorsed Fred Thompson. But the Georgia group says Huckabee is the best man to stop Rudy Giuliani.
Not Hillary Clinton. Rudy Giuliani.
In the past, the Georgia organization has urged a tougher line than National Right to Life — insisting that political candidates oppose abortion even in cases of rape or incest.
This time, it looks like an amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the issue.
Here’s what the national group said when it endorsed Thompson:
“While Fred supports the long-term objective of the Human Life Amendment, the votes are simply not there in Congress, nor were they there when we controlled both houses of Congress. For instance, in the Senate, we are presently at least 25 votes short, with passage in the House even more difficult.
“Fred intends to focus his presidency on those things that can be achieved, or advanced, in the next four to eight years.”
The Georgia group not only noted Huckabee’s support of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but also applauded the candidate for supporting a local legislative priority of Georgia Right to Life — H.R.536, which would establish that human life legally begins at fertilization.
Bryan Lash, the PAC director for the Georgia group, acknowledged the split with their Washington-based umbrella.
“Under normal circumstances we would communicate their presidential endorsement to our 225,000 households,” he said. “Passing a Personhood Amendment here in Georgia is our key issue in achieving our objective to extend the protections of the law to all persons both born and unborn.”
Further, Lash said, “Mr. Huckabee’s recent surge in the polls, we believe, demonstrates that he is the pro-life movement’s best hope in defeating pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani.”
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
