Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2009 > January > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USUpdated: The transportation teeter-totter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An odd dynamic is at work in the state Capitol, courtesy of a 2010 race for governor that’s already well underway.
Picture Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, only one of the leading GOP candidates, at one end of a teeter-totter.
This session, Cagle is under pressure to prove both his own effectiveness and his independence from Gov. Sonny Perdue. He also must match wits with his institutional opponent, House Speaker Glenn Richardson.
So put Richardson and Perdue at the other end of that seesaw.
But two other Republican candidates for governor are in the state Capitol complex. Secretary of State Karen Handel sits in a second floor office, catty-corner from Cagle. And state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine occupies an office across the street.
Over the next 39 days, both Handel and Oxendine will dip into the debate at times and places of their own choosing. But it’s becoming clear which end of the teeter-totter they prefer.
Take the all-important issue of transportation. There is general agreement that Georgia hasn’t been putting enough money into roads, bridges, and rail. The state’s business community — recognizing the opportunity that a gubernatorial election brings — has demanded a reality check.
Cagle backs an approach that would allow groups of counties — metro Atlanta, in particular — to band together for the sake of levying a one-cent sales tax that would go toward easing congestion or addressing whatever transportation needs a community has.
It would also put money, and thus power, in the hands of people not part of state government. Decision-making would be somewhat decentralized.
But in a Sunday op-ed piece in the AJC, the House speaker strongly hinted that he wanted to revive debate on another approach — a statewide sales tax that would generate much more money. And would be distributed in a more centralized fashion.
“Adding a lane along a busy interstate, extending a rail line by a couple of miles or simply allowing metro Atlanta to tax itself won’t solve our problems,” Richardson wrote.
On Monday afternoon, after the first day’s session, Oxendine was in the Capitol, having provided part of the background for a press conference on illegal immigration.
Afterwards, I asked the insurance commissioner what he thought about the transportation issue. Oxendine said he’s for whatever works.
However, Oxendine said he’s suspicious of a regional approach. It would be too easy for counties at two ends of a transportation corridor to approve the tax, while those between opt out. “There’s a potential for gaming the system,” he said.
Rural areas must be convinced that finding a solution to metro Atlanta’s traffic problems is a statewide problem. After all, it’s hard to persuade a widget business to build a plant in south Georgia if those widgets — once loaded in north-bound trucks — are paralyzed in big-city traffic.
We hear that Handel is prepared to say the same thing, or something close.
That’s a lot of weight at one end of the teeter-totter.
Update: The above dynamic became even more pronounced this morning at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues Breakfast. My AJC colleague James Salzer was there.
“It’s time we address transportation on a statewide basis. If we’re going to solve transportation for Atlanta, we have to solve transportation for Georgia. Simply drawing a circle around Atlanta and letting Atlanta tax itself to fix transportation in Atlanta, I don’t believe will help transportation in Atlanta,” House Speaker Glenn Richardson said.
The speaker said the problem requires a statewide tax that goes for everything from road projects and rail in Atlanta, to figuring out routes to steer traffic away from the city. Of the regional transportation idea, he said, “I believe that plan will not fix transportation.”
Afterwards, Gov. Sonny Perdue told reporters, “The speaker made some good points. Transportation is a statewide issue. I want a statewide solution to transportation as well.”
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he couldn’t comment on Richardson’s proposal because the speaker’s comments were “general.” He added, “A statewide, one penny increase in the sales tax just for transportation would probably be difficult to pass in the Senate.”
.JPG)
Services »
Comments
By Maniacal Pariah
January 13, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this
Those guys act like it costs a million dollars per foot of highway or something. Does it?
Instead of a seesaw, it seems these name politicians should be on monkey bars. Certainly traffic reform is on a merry-go-round. (sorry)
By lucylou
January 13, 2009 12:36 PM | Link to this
If Gov. Barnes had been re-elected Georgia would not be in this transportation mess now. Gov. Barnes had a plan to remove trucks from passing through downtown, railway, reducing traffic congestion and improving highway infrastructure. Unfortunately, teachers were too greedy and looking out for themselves and others were too interested in a piece of cloth. Now transportation projects are so far behind Georgia will never be able to catch up, and that’s all thanks to the current Governor. We better hope and pray Governor Barnes decides to run for his 2nd term in office and straighten this gigantic mess out. So far there is not an announced candidate that can,will, or knows what to do about it. I think Georgians problem with Roy Barnes was that they were afraid of actually becoming a viable state that would force the nation and the world to reckon with. He would have put us on the map. This Governor gave us Kia and “Go Fish” - wow, we can drive itsy bitsy cars and eat fish every night for dinner, but the homeless still don’t t have homes or shelters, the children won’t have health care, Georgia will is still in last place in education in the nation, and Georgians continue to be without jobs.
By Bridges & Trains
January 13, 2009 5:07 PM | Link to this
We have plenty of highways and roads in Georgia. But we also have a couple of hundreds of bridges in very poor condition that need immediate attention, and GDOT is hiding how bad it is. And we need rail! Trains to Charlotte, the South’s banking capital, trains to Savannah for tourism, trians to Biloxi and Florida. Commuter trains from the suburbs to the airport and downtown. Forget the roads, remember the bridges and trains!