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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Price goes cold turkey on pork
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Tom Price has been railing against the congressional “earmark” process that allows lawmakers to sneak funding for their pet projects into massive spending bills without public scrutiny.
But last year alone Price used earmarks to secure more than $600,000 for his district, including an expansion of the Cobb County expressway. He was among the 12 Georgia congressmen who requested about 180 earmarks worth more than $200 million.
But that typical congressional attitude - to condemn publicly and benefit privately - has got to end, Price said Tuesday.
And so to bolster his own credibility on the issue and set a daunting standard for others, Price said he’s no longer going to ask for earmarks that would fund projects back home.
“This was a while in coming,” Price said. “It was time to stand up or leave.”
Indeed, the earmark system has remained in place so long because many members of Congress view the task of bringing money back home as a top priority, maybe even their No. 1 duty in Washington.
With Congress at an all-time low in popularity, the majority Democrats this year sought public favor by cutting back the number of earmarks allowed and for the first time required House members who made the requests publicly identify themselves.
But Price and other conservatives say that’s not enough; more than 11,000 earmarks still found their way into the 2008 federal budget. All circumvented public scrutiny and too many, Price said, benefited private companies or campaign donors.
Price said he’s not going to leave local projects complete unfunded. There are less controversial ways to secure money for roads, water treatment plants, etc., including federal grants for which projects from around the country must compete.
“I believe the system is corrupt,” Price said, “and it has to be changed.”
Boortz and Huckabee: On a consumption tax, immigration
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In between holding conferences with the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and a raftful of lawmakers at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made time for a call to talk radio guru Neal Boortz.
From a conference room in Gov. Sonny Perdue’s quarters, we think.
Boortz and Huckabee share an interest in a national consumption tax, to put it mildly. The “Fair Tax” is the copyrighted phrase.
Their conversation, broadcast on WSB Radio (750 AM) was friendly. Boortz asked Huckabee whether he was worried that his support for the tax could become a liability — a boosted sales tax has proven a plump general election target for Democrats.
Huckabee said most people are swayed by his contention that the consumption tax would result in the disappearance of the Internal Revenue Service. Listen to him here.
Huckabee also talked about health care and the economy. So far as we know, the topic of abortion — Boortz and Huckabee are on different sides — didn’t come up.
But Huckabee’s critics within Republican circles have often focused on immigration. Here’s what the candidate said about that, too.
Discuss.
Marshall, Barrow not Democratic enough
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are Yellow Dog Democrats who’ll vote for a mutt ahead of a Republican and the centrist Blue Dog Democrats and now bloggers give us the “Bush Dog Democrats,” a group that no Democrat would join voluntarily during primary-campaign season.
But Georgia Reps. Jim Marshall of Macon and John Barrow of Savannah were drafted for a list of conservative Democrats who bloggers believe are betraying their party and aiding President Bush’s conservative agenda. The bloggers are inviting progressive Democrats to challenge the Bush Dogs in this year’s primaries.
Matt Stoller of OpenLeft.com created a list of Bush Dogs and explained in this earlier story how and why this intraparty feud has grown.
Don’t be surprised by the demographics of the Bush Dogs. Most are from southern red states or districts with conservative voting records not unlike those Southern Democrats of yore. “Southern white dudes,” is how political scientist Tom Schaller put it.
Marshall and Barrow, are in toss-up districts that produced two of the closest races in the nation in 2006. And both argue they’re voting according to their district’s - and not their party’s - interests.
“These members are not voting their districts, they are just conservatives,” OpenLeft retorts. “Bush Dog Democrats are dragging down the rest of the party.”
Marshall, the group said “has one of the most reactionary records - across the board - of any member of the House Democratic caucus.” It includes a photo of Marshall with former Sen. Zell Miller, who joined with Republicans to re-elect Bush in 2004.
Barrow, the bloggers said, “is busy undercutting Democrats and the Democratic message.” It includes a campaign ad in which Barrow brags of his defiance of the national party.
Democrats urging other Democrats to run against Democrats. Man, with friends like these…
We’ve got the audio on that Obama/Lewis robo-call
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Listen to it here, courtesy of reader John Thigpen.
Turns out the co-founder of an Atlanta phone-bank firm says he did it on his own. Read the story here.
Here’s the script:
“John Lewis has repeatedly refused to endorse a fellow member of the Black Caucus running for president, Senator Barack Obama. If you want to tell your congressman, John Lewis, that you want him to support a fellow member of the [Congressional] Black Caucus for president, call his office at 404-659-0116.
“Don’t be afraid to call, and remember, King Day is on Jan. 21 this year. And we shouldn’t have a congressman in King’s own home city refusing to endorse a member of the Black Caucus. So call his office at 404-659-0116, and ask him to support Senator Barack Obama.”
The number cited is indeed that of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ Atlanta office. The Obama campaign quickly denied responsibility for the robo-call, and said it’s asking Attorney General Thurbert Baker to investigate.
Of fried squirrel and Huckabee’s Southern strategy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before addressing a crowd of anti-abortion supporters, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee swept through the state Capitol on Tuesday, trying to gather up Republican lawmakers who had been pledged to the sinking presidential campaign of Fred Thompson.
Huckabee quickly had private visits with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, and Gov. Sonny Perdue. But his most important time may have been 15 minutes with a couple dozen lawmakers, many of whom had been Thompson fans. Significantly, Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour was in the crowd.
In that meeting, Huckabee outlined what is essentially a Southern strategy for the Feb. 5, Super Tuesday primaries. While not conceding Florida, he essentially implied that he planned to scoop up the Southern states that Mitt Romney and John McCain might overlook in their race for the biggest prizes.
This is exactly what Huckabee said:
“Frankly, we believe Georgia is a critical state for us in that there are more delegates in Georgia than there are in Florida. Florida got penalized pretty heavily due to the fact that their moving their primary up.
“While that’s an important place for us and we’ll be there tonight, and tomorrow and we’ll be there Thursday — we’ll be there a lot — we also know that these Southern states on Feb. 5 — Georgia and Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma — are all going to be critical, critical states.”
Huckabee said he had no special knowledge, but that the end of Thompson’s campaign was a certainty.
He said:
“It certainly will make a big change in the landscape for us. We know a lot of the people in the South are in midst of deciding what two Southerners they’ll be with. I hope now we’ll be able to solidify a lot of support….”
As we suggested he might, Huckabee also talked a good bit about small business:
”This country is looking for people who have an authenticity about what they believe, a clarity about it. Not reticent to speak firmly about issues like the sanctity of human life, the role of traditional marriage, the importance of the second amendment, the fact that we need lower, not higher taxes.
“We face some real challenges economically. I’m personally one who believes that it’s high time for the government to change its overall tax structure. To me getting rid of the IRS and moving to the Fair Tax makes a lot more sense. It’s the greatest economic recovery package that we could ultimately have. Right now, we have a system that makes it real tough, particularly for small business owners, to succeed. Our party used to be a party that really fought for small business. And we’re going to lose — not just elections — but we’re going to lose a broad base of our support if we don’t [show] that we understand that that’s where 80 percent of new jobs are ultimately created.”
But Huckabee didn’t leave out that taste of populism he’s become noted for:
“I represent that part of the Republican party that’s maybe been overlooked. We don’t necessarily have our roots deep into wall street, but we do have them deep into Main Street….”
Two additional notes: If they backed him, Huckabee — who identified himself as a Razorback — said he might be willing to sing the University of Georgia fight song.
The topic of grits came up, as it usually does in these situations. And that segued into a Huckabee tale of his cooking experiences in college — where hot plates were barred but popcorn poppers permitted.
“In my dorm, we figured out that we didn’t care that much for popcorn, but we would go hunting and fry squirrel in the popcorn popper,” Huckabee said. The former governor said his culinary tastes have improved.
Huckabee also was on the Neal Boortz show (WSB AM750) this morning. We’ll post some of the sound as soon as we can process it.
Obama campaign says it’s not behind robo-calls attacking John Lewis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Looks like robo-calls have become part of the Democratic presidential race in Georgia.
The Barack Obama campaign, under the name of Georgia director Eureka Gilkey, has just put out this notice to supporters:
“The Obama campaign in Georgia has received reports from residents in the metro-Atlanta area about automated calls criticizing Congressman John Lewis for not supporting Barack Obama for president.
“These kinds of attacks are misleading and divisive, and the Obama campaign has nothing to do with them. Congressman John Lewis is a hero whose courage and sacrifice have made this country more equal and more just, and all Americans owe him a debt of gratitude.
“We strongly condemn these phone calls and hope that whoever is responsible for them stops making these calls immediately.”
Needless to say, if anyone out there snares the audio, we’d like to hear it. MP3’s are great, but we can work with other formats as well.
Just trying to be helpful: Democrat wants AG to weigh in on overrides
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As part of a never-ending effort to assist Republicans in sorting out their differences, Democrats at the state Capitol have formally entered the override debate.
State Rep. Keven Levitas (D-Atlanta) has hand-delivered a letter to Attorney General Thurbert Baker, also a Democrat, seeking an official opinion on how quickly the Senate is required to address the House votes to override 12 gubernatorial vetoes last week.
Levitas posed the following questions to Baker:
1) “If the House votes to override a bill vetoed by the Governor and then transmits the bill to the Senate, must the Senate vote for passage or rejection of the override of the veto?”
2) “If the answer to the first question is affirmative and the Senate fails to vote for passage or rejection of the override of the veto, what is the time frame within which the Senate must act?”
3) “If the answer to the first question is affirmative and the Senate fails to vote for passage or rejection of the override of the veto, what are the legal consequences and also what action be taken to compel the Senate to so vote?”
Given Baker’s past eagerness to jump between warring Republicans, we expect his answer any year now.
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