Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > May > 20
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
When energy policy resembles a root canal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tom Price, the Roswell congressman and orthopedic surgeon, is behaving like a mere dentist.
Price advocates the following policy shift for his fellow, ailing Republicans when it comes to energy: Drilling and lots of it. Drilling in Alaska, drilling off the coast of Florida, drilling wherever possible to produce made-in-America fuel.
In an interview with my Washington colleague Julia Malone, Price said he has tried to, well, drill that idea into the heads of John McCain’s senior policy team.
Price believes he has made some headway.
But the congressman acknowledged that one obstacle was the presumptive Republican nominee’s own vote against drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment |
Yet another reason why e-mail and politics don’t mix
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of eternal maxims of politics is this: Never speak when you can nod, never nod when you can wink, and never — ever — put it in writing.
For the last 18 months or so, state Sen. John Douglas (R-Conyers) and the city of Conyers have engaged in a running feud. Douglas has accused Conyers officials of posting police officers outside the city limits on I-20 in order to catch speeders.
Conyers officials say they’re operating within the law.
The back-and-forth reached a crescendo last summer, when City Manager Antony “Tony” Lucas sent a letter to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle — copied to half the world — that called Douglas an “ignoble politician” who had resorted to “blackmail” by threatening to hold up legislation to permit Conyers to levy a hotel-motel tax to help support the Georgia International Horse Park.
Also, this spring, Douglas picked up Republican primary opposition from former state senator Mike Crotts.
But all this is by way of background.
Last Wednesday, Gov. Sonny Perdue signed Conyers’ hotel-motel tax legislation. That very evening, an e-mail landed in the computer operated by this writer, containing a string of e-mails sent between Douglas and Conyers Mayor Randy Mills.
Click here to see the exchange.
The string begins with a request from Mills that Douglas support the hotel-motel tax bill, which had just passed the House. Douglas responds that Conyers isn’t within his Senate district — and advises Mills to seek out state Sen. Ron Ramsey, a Democrat.
But soon afterwards, Douglas sends this from a private e-mail account to Mills:
Randy:
After giving more thought to the hotel/motel tax bill coming to the Senate, I have this to offer:
I will work behind the scenes and guarantee its passage, if:
— You guarantee to me that your police department will only leave Conyers in emergency or essential situations, and
— Your city council apologizes to me at the next meeting for the name calling and unprofessional actions shown last summer, and
— Tony Lucas stays neutral in my reelection campaign and provides no assistance to Crotts unless the law requires it. (open records requests, etc.) (I have sources who can monitor this.)
Those three actions on the part of Conyers guarantees your tax bill. Ron Ramsey and I will work out how we are going to get it through the Senate, but we will get it done.
John
Douglas owns up to the e-mail, and said it must be read in the context of what was said at a Conyers city council meeting last summer. “When they called me ‘unhinged,’ and the city manager called me a ‘king,’ I never, ever responded in kind,” the senator said.
Both Douglas and Mills agree that the Conyers mayor never responded to the offer and conditions listed by Douglas above. “I just ignored it and moved on,” Mills said.
Said Douglas: “Even without an answer, I supported [the legislation], and it passed.” In fact, H.B. 302 was approved by the Senate with a 43-3 vote.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment |
Dubose Porter on a run for governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter, an attorney and newspaper publisher from Dublin, edged closer to a 2010 race for governor, in an interview with Tim Bryant this morning on WGAU (1340AM) in Athens.
Listen to a three-minute sound clip here.
“I feel like I’ve done enough. I’ve been involved as Zell Miller’s floor leader, I’ve been speaker pro tem of the Georgia House, I’ve been leading our caucus for the last four years and I just think it’s a great opportunity to set the priorities that we think are important for our state,” the Democrat said.
Porter rattled off a series of issues he’s likely to focus on — cuts to education, alleged attacks the HOPE scholarship, water planning, and trauma care, to name a few.
When will he make a decision? Like everyone else, Porter said, “After November. You have to get through this election cycle.”
Photo credit: Elissa Eubanks/AJC
Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment |
David Scott on Hillary Clinton for veep: ‘We’ve got to have working-class whites’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-Atlanta), who was once for Hillary Clinton but is now for Barack Obama, has become the latest to argue for a “dream ticket” that puts the two together.
“We cannot win with just black voters, college students and liberal voters,” Scott is quoted as saying in today’s The Hill. “We’ve got to have working-class whites; we’ve got to have the support of white women. We’ve got to have Hispanics, Jewish voters and Catholics. These are the very people that form the core of Hillary’s support.”
But the same piece says more congressional Democrats would prefer Sam Nunn or John Edwards as Obama’s running mate.
Photo credit: Rick McKay, Cox Washington Bureau
Permalink | Comments (31) | Post your comment |
Broun getting help from GOP leadership in Congress
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You have to wonder whether the trifecta of defeats in special elections for Congress — Illinois, Louisiana, and then Mississippi — has encouraged Republicans in the U.S. House to put a higher-than-normal value on incumbency.
Last week, Roll Call reported that cash-strapped U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Athens is “getting help” in a financial way from the Republican leadership in Washington, to fend off the primary challenge of Barry Fleming.
Broun is said to have received $13,500 from the political action committees of Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Tom Cole, who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and in charge of House GOP races this year.
What’s more, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is to host a July, $500-per-head fund-raiser for Broun in Washington.
Broun may need every dime he can get. Fleming, too, for that matter. Last week’s win in Mississippi — and a bulging campaign coffer — has emboldened national Democrats to lengthen the list of Southern seats they deem worthy of competition.
One likely target is Georgia’s 10th District, where Bobby Saxon, a Democrat with good military credentials, waits. If Broun hangs on, the primary will have assured that his financial situation is no better. If Fleming beats him in July, Democrats will consider the seat open.
National Democrats didn’t make the call to engage in Mississippi until last month. A decision on whether or not to go from defense — protecting John Barrow and Jim Marshall — to offense in Georgia probably won’t be made until September, at the earliest.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
