Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > January > 15
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
The gun deal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate Rules Committee has just gutted last year’s version of the NRA-backed guns-in-parking-lots bill.
With senators giving much of the credit to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who met with NRA top gun Wayne LaPierre last week, a new version of the bill now applies to roughly 300,000 holders of state-issued concealed weapons permits.
And then only in limited circumstances.
Perdue, who has locked horns with the National Rifle Association before, made clear this morning he was bothered by the clash of property rights and Second Amendment rights, and was prepared to wield a veto. He had delivered the same message to LaPierre last week, so it wasn’t a surprise to the NRA.
In the rules committee hearing, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which had led the opposition, asked for more time to study the fresh version, but was denied.
It was significant that NRA reps spoke neither for nor against the bill. In essence, the measure gives the gun organization just enough to declare a philosophical victory — which it can point to when a similar bill comes up again in Florida in the next few weeks.
In the Georgia version, to be voted on in the Senate on Thursday:
— An owner can ban all firearms from his property at all times.
— A business owner who leases the property can ban all firearms from the property, if the landlord agrees.
— A business/property owner can ban all firearms from the company parking lot if there is no public access to the company lot.
— A business/property owner can’t prohibit an employee from keeping a firearm in a company parking lot if it is open to the general public — and if those members of the public aren’t specifically prohibited from bringing firearms with them.
A WalMart, say.
But this employee protection is only extended to the roughly 300,000 Georgians who have state-issued concealed weapons permits.
But if WalMart wants to ban firearms for everybody, they can do that, too. Complicated, isn’t it?
This might to be compared to the city of Kennesaw’s gun law. Which declares that you must own a firearm, unless you don’t want to.
The override votes and the gun bill
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So, we marveled to the well-weathered lobbyist, we’re presented a strange state of affairs: On Monday, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle slows those 12 House overrides to a crawl, doing Gov. Sonny Perdue a great favor.
And on Tuesday, that same governor cuts the legs out from under Cagle by declaring himself opposed to the guns-in-parking-lots bill back by the National Rifle Association. For, we wisely noted, the lieutenant governor has pledged his word to hold a vote on the bill.
The well-weathered lobbyist flashed a well-weathered smile, amused that we could not recognize a swap of favors when we saw it.
He used small words so we could understand: For nearly two years, the Senate has been trapped between the NRA and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on this issue.
The NRA wants employees to have the right to keep firearms in cars parked on company lots. Business types say the measure is an infringement of property rights.
By waving the veto flag this morning, the governor has just given the Senate Republican caucus all the reason it needs to kill the bill, and shift any blame to the governor. If Perdue won’t sign it, why fight over it?
As we spoke, the NRA’s top lobbyist in Georgia and the governor’s counsel were huddled in a hallway conference. A Senate hearing on the bill is scheduled for this afternoon.
That $10 car fee for a trauma network? Maybe something else instead
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It was just a small change in House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s delivery today. But even at 7 a.m., state Rep. Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) picked up on it.
Weeks ago, Richardson proposed resolving the question of state funding for Grady and the other portions of a state trauma network with a $10 annual fee on car registrations.
On one level it makes sense. Auto accidents provide hospitals with much of their emergency business. On the other hand, the speaker also has his famous tax plan on the table, which includes the elimination of car taxes.
Many lawmakers have privately questioned the wisdom of eliminating a car tax, only to add a car fee.
So there’s Richardson this morning, speaking of his determination to see trauma care in Georgia funded — and, he said, he didn’t care how. With car fees, or telephone fees, or whatever.
Which means a) the speaker is saying he’s flexible on the funding idea; and b) the legislation that’s in Geisinger’s pocket is far from dead.
The bill doesn’t have a number yet, but Geisinger proposes funding a state trauma network through a $1 per month fee on all telephones — cell and land lines.
To make sure the uninsured pitch in, he would also add a 10 percent tax to all disposable cell phones, and another 10 percent tax on all minutes purchased for those phones.
Look for AT&T to activate that army of lobbyists it employed last year.
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Obama’s nice, says Jesse Jackson. But Clinton and Edwards aren’t chopped liver
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An unusually diplomatic Jesse Jackson was on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens this morning.
Listen to the three-minute sound clip here, courtesy of host Tim Bryant.
Yes, Jackson had kind things to say about Barack Obama. He admits that Obama’s run for the presidency is going places that his never did. But Jackson didn’t endorse Obama. And twice he said that Hillary Clinton and John Edwards would do just fine.
Good morning. Do you have a firearm in your glove compartment?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Looks like the Tuesday’s theme of the state Legislature will be guns.
A hearing on H.B. 89, the current vehicle for the guns-in-parking-lots bill, is scheduled for this afternoon. Look for a substitution that eliminates that provision.
At the Eggs & Issue breakfast this morning, Gov. Sonny Perdue came out against the NRA-backed measure. The breakfast’s sponsor, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, is diametrically opposed to it.
And here’s an inflammatory YouTube video that’s being passed around this morning, documenting last week’s state Capitol confrontation between NRA leader Wayne LaPierre and rebellious NRA members.
On establishing the moral high ground in a flood plain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue, House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle spoke at the business-oriented Eggs & Issues breakfast this morning.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was the only one who supplied us with an advance text of his remarks. He had much to say, obliquely, about the votes by the House to override 12 of the governor’s vetoes at Monday’s opening of the winter session of the Legislature.
We’re sure both Richardson and Perdue thought he was talking about the other guy.
A few tidbits:
“Being elected to public service is a huge privilege. It is not a right of passage. Public servants are entrusted to act on the citizens’ behalf…a trust which has to be earned, not forced. Once we have earned that trust, we have an obligation not to abuse it but to guard it with integrity. And use it to influence public policy in a way that brings about positive change….
“The statesman is focused on the future. He seeks to avoid conflict, rising above it to serve the greater interests of our citizens. He says ‘I have a plan to make our lives better. And I want you to follow me not because of my title or my power, but because our solution moves us in the right direction.’ The real statesman puts people first and ego last….
“We need to act on principles and to stop acting on politics. It is our moment in time, our opportunity to leave our state better than when we found it. And we cannot afford to let it pass us by while we play games.”
Members of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event, probably appreciated the fact that Cagle didn’t blame developers for north Georgia’s water shortage. Environmentalists and areas outside metro Atlanta probably did not.
Said Cagle:
“The water crisis that we face has not been caused by growth but by historic drought and the mismanagement of our water resources by the Army Corps of Engineers. That’s why we need to pass a statewide water management plan, and we need to expand current reservoir capacity and build new ones. Because it would be a failure on our part not to manage the resources we have in an efficient and effective manner.”
But business types probably didn’t like the implication that new money for transportation will probably have to wait at least another year:
The lieutenant governor said:
“This year we will concentrate on reorganizing the Department of Transportation under new leadership. Once the department is reorganized, our next step will be to implement a statewide traffic management plan and find the most effective way to fund it. I am convinced that with strong leadership and a focus on planning and innovation, we can do 30 percent more projects with the same amount of money.”
Cagle is also crossways with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on the guns-in-parking-lots bill. The chamber wants the bill dead. The lieutenant governor is insisting on a vote.
The issue didn’t rate a mention in Cagle’s speech.
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Edwards event moves to Saturday
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re told that an appearance by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has been moved to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the IBEW Local Union 613 hall near Turner Stadium in Atlanta. More details to come.
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