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Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Says Eric Johnson: The Speaker’s trimmed-down tax plan makes a bargain possible
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s decision to tone down his proposal to eliminate property taxes in Georgia has turned at least one head.
Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) said Tuesday that Richardson’s decision to reduce the scope of his plan, so that it only targets residential taxes that go to schools, has made a bargain possible when the Legislature convenes in January.
“I think we’re now in the same room,” Johnson said in a telephone interview. “I don’t think anybody can claim there’s a deal. The governor and the lieutenant governor haven’t spoken up. And certainly anything that requires a constitutional amendment means the minority party is going to have a say-so in it.”
Even so, the ranking member of the Senate said the new situation makes possible a three-way deal that gives the major players at least a portion of what they seek.
Gov. Sonny Perdue has demanded an income tax cut for seniors. The Republican Senate has wanted caps on spending.
“With the Speaker’s modified plan, we’re now in a position where detailed discussions could occur. If the parties want them to,” Johnson said. “It allows each of the three-legged stools to deal with what they think the best priorities are for tax reform.”
Johnson said he still has some reservations about the Speaker’s plan, especially as it applies to local control of school districts. But that hasn’t kept him from engaging in some bicameral diplomacy.
“I told him face to face that I think we’re getting much closer, and I appreciate it,” the president pro tem said. “That’s not a handshake or anything — and he didn’t ask for one. The only thing that happens next is that you hear from the lieutenant governor and the governor.”
Mitt Romney and the Southern Baptist in his corner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Break out your Bibles, boys and girls. And if you have a Book of Mormon at hand, crack that open, too. Today we delve into politics and theology.
Specifically, Mitt Romney and his lifelong membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
By now, you know the Republican presidential candidate is to give a speech Thursday on his faith, one that could halt his skid in Iowa — or not.
At Romney’s side when he delivers that speech — or at least in the same room — will be Mark DeMoss of Duluth. DeMoss runs a public relations firm that caters to Christian-oriented firms.
For more than a year, the 45-year-old DeMoss has been a national, unpaid emissary for Romney, making the candidate’s case before Southern Baptists and other evangelicals.
Fourteen months ago, DeMoss organized an introductory meeting with conservative Christian leaders that included both Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham. He put Romney in front of the 2006 National Religious Broadcasters convention.
You’ll recall that two months ago, DeMoss put out this memo to evangelical leaders, listing the advantages of a Romney candidacy over someone like, say, Rudy Giuliani.
We caught DeMoss at his Gwinnett County office today. He wouldn’t share what advice he’s given to Romney on his speech — you couldn’t expect him to.
But here’s what DeMoss did say:
”It’s easy for observers and journalists and consultants and advisors to tell somebody what they ought to say, but it’s his life, it’s his name, it’s his faith that’s being discussed. And he has to deal with it every day.
“I fully trust his instincts. I trust his motives. I trust his gut.”
On debate over whether Romney should give the speech:
“He’s in something of a no-win situation. For months, a lot of observers have insisted, almost demanded that he give it — that he has to give it, he has no choice. And then there’s the debate on whether he should give it before Iowa, after Iowa, only if he becomes the nominee, and so on.
“I’m fully supportive of him giving it. I can make a case for it either way, but I’m glad he’s giving it.”
On whether a Republican audience wants Thursday’s speech to be a detailed lesson in Latter Day Saint theology:
“Some people may expect a Cliff Notes version of Mormonism 101, and then there are those who expect none of that, and [look for] talk maybe more generally about faith and the role of faith in his life.
“I think one thing he has said many times is that he believes people want their president to a man or woman of faith, whether or not its your particular kind or style of faith. I think that’s a valid point.
On the challenge Romney poses to evangelical leaders:
“For the last 30 years, evangelicals have been preaching to anyone who would listen that we vote for values. We don’t vote Republican or Democrat. But you should vote for the candidate who best represents your values.
“I think Mitt Romney’s candidacy presents a very interesting test of sincerity for those evangelicals who preach that. Now we have a chance to prove whether we really mean that, and we could accept someone who shares our values but not our theology. Or are we going to amend it, and say we didn’t really mean anyone.
“We’ve had plenty of political leaders who — at least on paper — share our faith, but demonstrably didn’t share a lot of our values. Here in Mitt Romney we have the reverse of that.”
On some discarded advice DeMoss has received from evangelical leaders:
“A prominent Southern Baptist told me recently, “Tell [Romney] he shouldn’t say Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I have a problem with that advice.
“First of all, if that’s what he believes, he should say it — or he shouldn’t be afraid of saying it. To suggest [that he not] say something that he actually believes would be the height of political hypocrisy.
“That advice would be like telling a Southern Baptist who was going to pray at the Inauguration, ‘Don’t pray in Jesus’ name.’ We would take offense at that. We would say, ‘That’s how I pray.’ We shouldn’t tell Mitt Romney not to say something that he believes — or he believes that he believes.”
And wrapping up:
”What I would hope we would accomplish on Thursday is that a lot of people’s minds are opened. We are not suggesting that we elect a mystery Mormon or a generic Mormon or a hypothetical Mormon or all Mormons. We’re talking about a specific Mormon….
“We know his name, we know where he lives, we know who is wife is, we know who is children are, we know what his business record is, what is public record is.
“I think just the opportunity for him to stand up and speak to a large audience has great benefit in that it removes some mystery. I don’t know in great detail what all the other candidates believe.”
The big water meeting floats deeper into December
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that “the big water meeting between Gov. Charlie Crist and Govs. Sonny Perdue of Georgia, Bob Riley of Alabama and U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has been rescheduled to Dec. 17 — scratching a tentative plan to meet five days earlier.”
Schedule conflicts are cited as the reason.
Don’t take our word for it: See the Speaker’s sales pitch on his tax plan for yourself
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s the direct link to the video of the speech that House Speaker Glenn Richardson made to the two school groups on Friday, on his proposal to shift Georgia’s school systems away from the property tax.
If memory serves, it’s about 30 minutes long. The first 10 minutes are spent on a House plan by state Rep. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) to combat Georgia’s high drop-out rate.
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On Romney, Thompson and the Confederate battle flag
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A South Carolina chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is going after Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson for comments they made about the Confederate battle flag during last week’s CNN/YouTube debate.
It’s worth noting simply because South Carolina and Georgia often find themselves on parallel tracks when it comes to Old South symbolism.
In South Carolina, a compromise in 2000 removed the battle flag from the state capitol dome, though the banner remains on the statehouse grounds and flies next to a Confederate memorial beside one of the busiest streets in the city.
In Georgia, the battle emblem lost its place on the state flag in 2001, and was a prime factor in the ouster of Gov. Roy Barnes in 2002. An attempt to have the Confederate battle emblem placed on a statewide flag referendum, initiated by Gov. Sonny Perdue, failed in 2003.
The question about the flag was posed last week, via a Texas resident, who had it displayed on his wall. Romney and Thompson were the only candidates asked to respond.
Said Romney:
“Right now, with the kinds of issues we got in this country, I’m not going to get involved with a flag like that. That’s not a flag that I recognize so that I would hold up in my room.
“The people of our country have decided not to fly that flag. I think that’s the right thing.
“My own view is that this country can go beyond that kind of stuff, and that instead we can do as a party what we need to do, which is to reach out to all Americans.
“Every time I listen to someone like John Edwards get on TV and say there are two Americans, I just want to — I just want to throw something at the TV, because there are not two Americas. There’s one America.
“We are a nation united. We face extraordinary challenges right now. And Democrats dividing us and tearing down this country are doing exactly the wrong thing.
“We’re succeeding in Iraq. We’ve got tough challenges. We can overcome them. But we do not need to have that kind of divisive talk. And that flag, frankly, is divisive, and it shouldn’t be shown.”
Then came Thompson:
“I know that everybody who hangs the flag up in their room like that is not racist. I also know that for a great many Americans it’s a symbol of racism.
“So, therefore, as a public place — he’s free to do whatever he wants to in his home. As far as a public place is concerned, I am glad that people have made the decision not to display it as a prominent flag, symbolic of something, at a state capitol.
“As a part of a group of flags or something of that nature, you know, honoring
various servicepeople at different times in different parts of the country, I think that’s different.
“But, as a nation, we don’t need to go out of our way to be bringing up things that to certain people in our country that’s bad for them.”
We’ve reported before that Confederate enthusiasts make up about 11 or 12 percent of the Republican primary vote in Georgia — that’s based on the 2006 primary challenge of Perdue by flagger-sponsored candidate Ray McBerry.
If the issue is stoked — and we’ve no evidence it will be — it could make a difference in a crowded GOP primary field. And this is just a seat-of-the-pants observation, but it would probably hurt Thompson more than Romney.
Chances are that Romney, as a former governor of Massachusetts and a Mormon, probably never had the Confederate vote anyway. The same can’t be said for Thompson, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee.
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