Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > January > 14
Monday, January 14, 2008
Some light reading on the House override votes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the interest of full disclosure, and with the hope of finally finding a cure for insomnia, we offer the following exchange between the press operations of Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
The first, from Perdue’s office, came four hours after the 12 House votes to override the governor’s vetoes on Monday:
“Governor Perdue’s vetoes were based on principles that have guided this administration well for the past five years.
“He articulated sound, logical veto messages and he continues to believe these bills are not in the state’s best interest. Today’s actions are yet another example of House leadership insisting on making a statement rather than making the state better.
“While Governor Perdue respects the constitutional provision for veto overrides, he is also mindful that there has not been a groundswell of support for any of these bills from Georgians, and the concerns explained in the veto messages remain.
“Georgians expect us to address serious issues facing this state and work together to solve problems, not create disputes between the branches of government. Governor Perdue is committed to making sure sound policy decisions based on core principles and beliefs continue under this administration.”
That was quickly followed by a statement from a spokeswoman for House Speaker Glenn Richardson:
“It is not the intention of the House of Representatives to create disputes between the branches of government, but rather simply to exercise its constitutional right to override a veto, just as the executive branch exercised its right to a veto.
“Each of the bills overridden passed the House and the Senate by a clear majority, often by unanimous vote in both bodies. Each of the bills overridden was done so at the request of the author of that bill, not by the leadership of the House.
“Although there are certainly other issues that are much more important to Georgia and to the House, issues like water, tax reform, and trauma care, we cannot govern based only on issues with a groundswell of support from the public.
“We can only govern based on what we think is right and best for the state of Georgia, and that is what the House of Representatives did today.”
Permalink | |
Black Georgia voters joining rolls at three times the pace of white voters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s little doubt that the Democratic presidential primary is generating excitement in Georgia, particularly among African-American voters.
Secretary of State Karen Handel will post numbers on her web site tomorrow indicating that, in the last three months of 2007, African-Americans registered to vote at a rate three times that of whites in Georgia.
The numbers may be incremental, but they do show a definite trend. From Oct. 1, 2007 to Jan. 1, 2008, the number of black, registered active voters increased 1.6 percent to 1.2 million.
Over the same period, the number of white active voters increased .5 percent to 2.9 million.
African-Americans make up 27 percent of the Georgia electorate, according to the new figures. Whites make up 66 percent.
Which makes more important the fact that, even in raw numbers, new African-American voters outpaced white voters — 19,351 to 16,947.
Here’s the big surprise: When divided by race and gender, black males — who generally have a spotty voting record — increased their numbers the most, by 1.9 percent.
Mike Huckabee comes a-courtin’, uh-huh
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’re going to see a lot of Mike Huckabee on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
The Republican presidential candidate will be in Atlanta for Monday celebrations surrounding Martin Luther King Day. Whether he’ll have a speaking role, we don’t know.
On Tuesday, he’ll be one of many at an anti-abortion rally on the state Capitol steps. And he’ll have one-on-one time with Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Casey Cagle, and high-ranking legislative leaders.
Now that Perdue’s no longer chairman of the Republican Governors Association, there’s at least the possibility that the governor will be something less than neutral come Feb. 5. So he’s very well worth courting. The last word we got from Cagle was that the lieutenant governor fully intends to support….wait for it….the Republican nominee.
A Morrison Cafeteria of veto overrides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Sunday night, House leaders were talking about three or four overrides. By the end of the frenzy on Monday, we had a dozen.
What gives? The story told by Democrats is that House Republican leaders couldn’t get their counterparts in the Senate to commit to any of those handful of bills they were considering.
So they threw the doors open to give the Senate a set of cafeteria-style selections — with the expectation that in that dozen are one or two that the other chamber would accept.
We haven’t been able to get any Republicans to tell us that this is indeed the case.
One thing that does occur to us is that these history-making overrides have been thrown into the same Senate Rules Committee pot as the volatile guns-in-parking lot bill so desired by the National Rifle Association.
And it might increase Senate leverage on other, House measures as well.
State Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville) the APSRC. That’s All-Powerful Senate Rules Chairman to you laymen.
His committee determines what makes it to the Senate floor for a vote, and what doesn’t.
Last year, during debate over the bill to permit employees to keep guns in cars parked on corporate lots, Balfour was its strongest opponent —taking the side of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which declared the measure to infringe on the rights of property owners.
The bill foundered, and is back with a vengeance this year.
Balfour has scheduled a hearing on a new version of the bill, now mixed in with H.B. 89, for Tuesday afternoon, with a Senate floor vote later in the week.
That roughly coincides with the schedule for the 12 veto overrides sent over by the House on Monday. Balfour said he didn’t think his committee would be able to get to the overrides until Wednesday at the earliest.
And a floor vote wouldn’t come until well after the gun bill vote, he said. Which means, if one of those override bills is something that a senator wants to see become law — despite the governor’s opposition — that senator might want to consult with Balfour about his views on packing firearms in glove compartments.
The office of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle also apparently sees the advantage of something other than a speedy consideration of the overrides.
“At this time, no schedule has been set for a floor vote, although that is also a matter to which we will devote some attention. The bottom line is that these bills have broad statutory and budgetary impact, and we need to fully weigh the perspectives of the Governor and the House prior to a floor vote,” Cagle said in a prepared statement.
So on what vetoed bills did the House challenge the governor?
— H.B. 549, a bill to establish basic therapy services for children with disabilities. The vote was 161 to 12.
— H.B. 229, which set limits on when book allowances paid for by the Hope scholarship could be cut. The vote was 162 to 11.
— H.B. 91, which requires state departments to provide specific financial information to legislators and the public. The vote was 157 to 15.
— H.B. 529, another budget-related bill. The vote was 160-13.
— H.B. 162, which gives sales tax exemptions for performing arts centers. Think Alpharetta. The vote was 147 to 22.
— H.B. 441, an income tax bill. The vote was 155 to 16.
— H.B. 559, to permit public charter school teachers to sign up for state health insurance. The vote was 157 to 14.
— H.B. 807, to allow the city of Auburn to de-annex some property. The vote was 158 to 14.
—H.B. 413, a sales tax bill for counties and cities. It passed 152-18.
A match made in heaven or the other place?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our sister paper, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, has an interesting campaign item posted on its blog this morning about a potential presidential ticket that would truly shake up the 2008 race.
How about a ticket headed by Republican Sen. John McCain with Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic VP candidate who left the party and declared himself an independent, as veep?
The Post doesn’t place much credence on the rumor, but it does note an interesting development that points in the direction of a McCain/Lieberman ticket.
Has anyone ever voluntarily run for vice president on two different tickets?
The House is now on its ninth — oops, 10th — override. Heck, they’re up to a dozen now.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The House just completed its seventh — you read that right — override of a veto by Gov. Sonny Perdue. We’ll shovel you the details as soon as possible. But keep in mind that you haven’t seen this in 34 years. And then it was just a pair of local bills.
And now they’ve started on an eighth. that’s passed. And now they’ve taken up the ninth one.
The Senate just adjourned, and House Speaker Glenn Richardson just made a reference to the Senate playing games and not taking the vetoes seriously.
It’s 11:20 a.m., and now they’ve taken up a 10th. And an 11th at 11:26 a.m.
And now they’re on an even dozen. No. 12 passed at 11:29 a.m.
And they’re done.
Here they come: Edwards on Friday, Obama on Sunday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The John Edwards campaign is headed to Atlanta on Friday afternoon, according to Macon blogger and Edwards supporter Amy Morton. Details to come. His last appearance was at the Depot.
And as predicted, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama will be in Atlanta on Sunday for the Martin Luther King festivities, his campaign said today.
Details of the Illinois senator’s visit have not been released, but one report on InsiderAdvantage, says Obama will appear at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
We’ve got an inquiry into Hillary Clinton supporters. You’ve got to think won’t want to be left out.
Not one or two overrides, but three or four
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re hearing that the House may be more feisty than we thought. Instead of the one or two veto overrides that will occur this morning, we’re now told that it will be three or four. Still trying to identify the bills.
Permalink | |
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
