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Thursday, January 24, 2008
Sweeping up after Thompson: Romney adds 11 to his list
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign on Thursday rolled out a list of 11 Republican state lawmakers it had gathered up in the wake of the collapse of the Fred Thompson campaign.
Top among them was House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart of Powder Springs. Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah switched from Thompson to Romney on Monday — a day ahead of Thompson’s exit.
In a press conference at the state Capitol, Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter of Alpharetta declared that Romney had now supplanted Thompson as the Republican campaign with the most state lawmakers on its side.
“You’ll see more next week. I’ll make that prediction,” Burkhalter said. The No. 2 leader of the House said Romney’s new emphasis on economics was registering with all the current talk of a downturn.
“Really, we need someone who’s a turnaround artist,” he said.
Romney organized missed at least one lawmaker. As the press conference began, state Sen. Chip Rogers of Woodstock, who until Tuesday was head of the Thompson campaign in Georgia, trundled down an adjacent set of stairs.
The Romney converts waved him over. Rogers quickly ducked out of sight.
Among those newly pledged to Romney, in addition to Johnson and Ehrhart:
— Sen. John Douglas of Social Circle
— Sen. Lee Hawkins of Gainesville
— Sen. Cecil Staton of Macon
— Rep. Tim Bearden of Villa Rica
— Rep. Steve Davis of McDonough
— Rep. Johnny Floyd of Cordele
— Rep. Doug Holt of Social Circle
— Rep. Billy Horne of Newnan
— Rep. John Lunsford of McDonough
— Rep. Tom Rice of Norcross.
Westmoreland takes the no-pork pledge
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the second time this week, a Republican congressman from Georgia has vowed to give up pork.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville brought home $750,000 last year in earmarked funding. But he said Thursday that he’s giving them up while he tries to reform a process that allows lawmakers to avoid public scrutiny of their pet projects by quietly slipping their funding requests into massive federal spending bills.
“I have two main goals,” Westmoreland said in a statement. “First, I want to lead by example and I want to send a serious message to the people in Georgia’s 3rd District that I share their concern about Washington spending. Second, I want to work to reform how Washington does business.”
Westmoreland’s announcement comes just two days after Republican Rep. Tom Price of Roswell took the no-earmark pledge.
Westmoreland said the use of congressional earmarks is just as bad under Democrats as it was when Republicans controlled Congress. He wants the House to study the use of earmarks - and suspend all earmarks until that study is complete.
Last year, more than 11,000 earmarks worth $15 billion were added to budget bills. Georgia lawmakers submitted 180 of those earmarks worth more than $200 million.
“It’s the same old, same old: It’s more fun to eat pork than to cut the fat,” Westmoreland said. “Year after year, we just loosen our belts a little more. It’s time to step away from the table and control our appetites.”
The debate over H.R. 536 takes on some very Baptist overtones
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As if things weren’t awkward enough around the state Capitol, the Legislature is about to dip deep into church politics.
House Speaker Glenn Richardson this morning announced that he’s brought on Kirby Godsey as an unpaid policy advisor.
Godsey is the former president of Mercer University, and remains a very popular fellow in Macon. There was some talk about him running for mayor last year.
But he’s not so welcome among many Baptist fundamentalists. Godsey was at the center of a long-running schism among Georgia Baptists — over topics such as biblical literalism, homosexuality, abortion and the role of women in religious affairs.
The fight was among people who labeled themselves conservatives and moderates, there being an extreme shortage of liberals among Southern Baptists. Godsey was in the moderate camp, i.e., the losing side, in the power struggle.
Much of the dispute played out at Mercer, which was affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, but not controlled by it. After an unsuccessful effort to assert its power over the university’s board of trustees, the convention voted two years ago to cut its ties with the university.
Godsey retired shortly afterwards.
Why does Godsey’s appointment matter? And what kind of policy requires the House speaker to acquire theological underpinnings?
Supporters of H.R. 536, a proposed constitutional amendment to establish that human life begins at fertilization, have proven particularly aggressive this year.
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was brought to the Capitol on Tuesday to endorse the measure.
Perhaps more importantly, supporters of the bill — the Georgia Right to Life organization chief among them — have won the ear of the Georgia Baptist Convention, the state’s largest denomination. The Baptist organization recently sent out a pair of DVDs to every member church, outlining the details of the bill.
The speaker hasn’t taken a position on H.R. 536, but many Republicans think it a bridge too far, likely to raise objections among suburban women for — among other things — the impact it might have on accepted forms of contraception.
Given past tensions with Godsey, supporters of H.R. 536 won’t like the idea of the former university president advising Richardson on the bill. But there’s no doubt that Godsey speaks fluent Baptist, and knows the ins-and-outs of church politics. Which the speaker now needs to know about.
Georgia Baptist Day at the state Capitol is Feb. 12. We’ll see if it works.
Price gets national political seat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Tom Price of Roswell has been drafted to serve on the national committee that doles out cash and other help to Republican congressional candidates at a time when the GOP’s money is short and the number of open seats it has to hold onto is growing.
Price was given an executive committee spot of the National Republican Congressional Committee once held by Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.). Wicker moved to the Senate to replace retiring Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.).
“Tom Price is a hard-working member and a team player,” NRCC chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said in a statement. “Having his help on the NRCC Executive Committee will be a tremendous asset.”
Price will take his seat at the table at a time when retirements and resignations of House Republicans is growing, leaving the party with the ever-growing burden of finding and funding candidates that can hold on to those districts.
And it’s no better off financially. The committee’s budget has only just started to run in the black after the committee spent more than a year paying off a multimillion dollar debt run up in 2006.
In the same NRCC statement, Price expressed no concerns about the daunting challenges facing the NRCC.
“We have a terrific opportunity to demonstrate to the American people the fundamental differences between the two parties in Washington,” he said.
An Agatha Christie-style excursion for David Scott
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat, departs today for Colombia with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to talk a little trade and a little murder.
The Rice-led delegation will meet with government and business leaders to deliver a firm message from congressional Democrats and one of their most important constituencies, labor unions: Stop the violence against trade unionists or lose out on a U.S.-Colombia trade pact.
The trade agreement with Colombia was signed in 2006, but Congress refuses to approve it this year unless the Colombian government finds a way to reduce the murders and death threats.
“I plan on asking tough questions about violence against members of the press and union members,” Scott said in a statement.
And, because all politics is local, Scott added, “In addition, I will be taking a close look at trade and business issues that may benefit Georgia companies.”
Hard times for Giuliani in Florida: ‘He couldn’t be elected governor’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Florida poll conducted by a trio of media outlets is likely to set the tone in the Republican presidential race today.
“Rudy Giuliani has hit the skids in a Florida freefall that could shatter his presidential campaign and leave a two-man Republican contest in the state between John McCain and Mitt Romney,” says the Miami Herald, which conducted the poll — along with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.
”He may be running for president, but with these numbers he wouldn’t be elected governor of Florida,” said Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, whose firm helped conduct the survey.
The poll has McCain at 25 percent and Romney at 23 percent, a statistical dead heat. But Giuliani has dropped from a leading 36 percent in November down to 15 percent. Mike Huckabee comes in a close fourth.
Giuliani has six days to turn it around. Counting today.
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