Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2009 > February > 24
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Proof that Obama is sending Republicans to the couch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A friend ripped this from the pages of The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress:
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment |
Perdue talks transportation with the man who controls the flow of dollars
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue wrapped up his four-day Washington trip on Tuesday talking about his new favorite subject — transportation.
Perdue met Tuesday with U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss transportation funding possibilities through the $787 billion economic stimulus program.
The governor told my AJC colleague Bob Keefe that he mentioned his controversial plan to overhaul Georgia’s transportation agencies in his conversation with the nation’s transportation chief.
“Secretary (Ray) LaHood … was very encouraging of our effort to get value from both federal and state transportation dollars,” Perdue said.
Perdue said one specific area where Georgia might benefit from economic stimulus funding is to help pay for a $1.3 million study of Savannah Harbor as part of the huge port expansion project that would deepen the Savannah River channel to accommodate bigger cargo ships.
“We talked about … some of the stimulus money could go to finishing up that study,” Perdue said.
Overall, Perdue called his trip to Washington as part of the annual National Governors Association winter meeting a success. The staunch Republican, a former Democrat, said he was impressed by the new administration in D.C.
“I was very encouraged by the receptiveness and their willingness to work with the states,” he said.
Asked if he was going to stick around to hear President Barack Obama’s speech tonight, Perdue said nope. “I’ll watch it on TV from the road,” he said.
But the governor has scheduled a meeting with state department heads for 2 p.m. tomorrow to discuss the impact of the stimulus package.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Kathy Cox’s turn to see what the stimulus offers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First the mayor, then the governor, now the state school superintendent.
Kathy Cox is scheduled to be the latest Georgia official to road trip to Washington for a lecture on the downstream effects of the economic stimulus, says my AJC colleague Bob Keefe.
According to the White House, Cox is among school superintendents from around the country who are scheduled to meet Wednesday with Vice President Joe Biden — the new point man for economic stimulus programs — as well as his wife, former teacher Jill Biden, and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
Last week, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and her colleagues from around the country came to Washington for economic stimulus details. Over the weekend Gov. Sonny Perdue and other governors were in town.
School superintendents apparently rank lower than mayors and governors. While Franklin and Perdue met with President Barack Obama at the White House, the superintendents meeting with the vice president is next door at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment |
In Texas, Hutchinson leads Perry with ‘landslide’ numbers, says poll
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson would beat incumbent Republican Rick Perry “in a landslide” if a primary for governor of Texas were held today, according to a North Carolina polling firm.
Public Policy Polling currently has Hutchinson at 56 percent, and Perry at 31 percent.
Read the polling memo here. Says PPP:
That 27% of likely Republican voters who have a dim view of Perry is obviously part of his problem. Those voters support Hutchison 85-8.
But they’re not necessarily the biggest thing that could keep him from nomination for another term. That’s because 47% of those surveyed have a positive opinion of both Hutchison and Perry, but within that group the Senator leads 49-33. When you have higher negatives than your opponent and lose out among your mutual admirers, that’s a recipe for defeat.
Hutchison leads Perry within every demographic group by race, gender, and age.
“Rick Perry is in grave danger of losing in the primary,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “It’s partly because he’s worn out his welcome with a certain segment of the Republican electorate, but the even bigger reason is that Kay Bailey Hutchison is just a lot more popular than him. It would be hard for anyone to beat her in an election.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Perdue on the stimulus: He didn’t lobby House Republicans to oppose it
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An interesting couple paragraphs appeared this morning on The Atlantic Monthly’s business blog.
The topic was the rift among Republican governors over the $787 million stimulus package:
Many Republican governors seemed more comfortable on the sidelines of their intraparty debate. “I’m sitting it out,” [Indiana Republican Mitch] Daniels said. He added, “I’m rooting for the bill to work. I’m trying to use its funds wisely.”
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said that while he would have voted against the stimulus bill had he been a member of Congress, he didn’t urge Republicans in Georgia’s congressional delegation to oppose the measure because he would have “felt a little uncomfortable lobbying against it knowing we would use some portion of it.”
So far, Perdue said, he and his staff haven’t decided to reject any of the stimulus money, but their review process isn’t over yet.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment |
The transportation push-back begins
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last Thursday, minutes after Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson unveiled a plan to reorganize the way Georgia makes road and rail policy, the rebellion started.
A series of three elections for membership on the state board that governs the Department of Transportation — which Perdue would like to see gutted — were held in the state Senate chamber.
Two of the races were uncontested were of no account. But in the 12th District race, state Rep. Bobby Parham (D-Milledgeville) — after several elimination rounds — beat Charles Tarbutton.
Tarbutton is not only close to Perdue, assistant vice president of the Sandersville Railroad Co., and former chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. He’s the chairman of Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s campaign for governor.
Parham, a 34-year veteran of the House, is also dead-set against Perdue’s plan to gut the state DOT board by creating a State Transportation Authority to supercede it.
“He wants to take us back to the days of Talmadge,” Parham said — meaning the father Gene of the 1930s, not the son Herman of the 1950s. “He fired a bunch of the deans, and then started the same process in the Department of Transportation, saying they weren’t doing the roads where they needed to be done.”
Parham, a retired pharmacist, said he decided on the spur of the moment to enter the race, telling his wife only a few minutes before.
“I saw the candidates. And I saw some of them were lock, stock and barrel — they were supported heavily by the governor. I decided to run on that day. Democrats pieced it all together and pulled in a good amount of Republicans,” Parham said.
Parham, 67, was nominated by state Rep. Butch Parrish, a Swainsboro Democrat turned Republican who is vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The interesting thing about the contest — which extended over several rounds of elimination votes — is that Richardson, the House speaker, was informed of the pending Democratic victory.
“The speaker knew about it,” Parham said. “It’s my understanding that [Tarbutton] went to talk to the speaker about putting the pressure on some of the Republicans that I had locked down. And he refused to get involved. Which I was proud of him for that.”
“It was an exhilarating feeling for not only me but all the Democrats,” Parham said, “Because according to Dubose [Porter, House minority leader], this was kind of a first after the big Republican revolution we had in this state.”
Parham’s election is significant on two levels. First, according to Porter, it creates a 7-6 split on the 13-member DOT board, giving the upper hand to those who favor legislative control of the body over those who think the governor ought to dominate.
“Bobby Parham brings a lot of historical perspective. He knows why the DOT was made an independent agency. He knows about the corruption of the past,” Porter said this morning.
Parham also concedes his election should worry DOT Commissioner Gena Evans, who is appointed by the board. “It doesn’t make her job any easier. She’s been in there for the governor,” he said.
Parham won’t take his seat on the DOT board until the Legislature goes home — and this is another reason why his election could be important. Parham, a rural white Democrat, is likely to become the rallying point for those against Perdue’s reorganization of the state’s transportation agencies.
“I plan to stay there to fight those bills as hard as I can. When sine die comes, I’m going to resign the next day,” Parham said. He’d then be eligible to take his seat on the DOT board.
“But it takes the governor to swear me in. And he’s gonna damn sure put it off a while,” Parham surmised.
In the meantime, the campaign to pass S.B. 200 and a House companion bill has already begun. Here is the bill summary, list of talking points, and FAQs being tossed about.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment |
Your morning jolt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This morning on ajc.com:
— Most fees for nuke plant would go to investors, not debt.
— Florida trying to undo nuclear plant financing
— Federal Medicaid funding arrives Wednesday, Perdue says.
— Hospitals, insurers, likely to avoid new fees.
—No Sunday booze sales in Snellville.
— DeKalb CEO sacks police chief.
— Cops escort Clayton County school board member off board.
And elsewhere:
— NYT: Helicopter Plan Is Excessive, Obama and McCain Agree.
— AP: Health care costs top $8,000 per person.
— WSJ: Home Depot swings to loss.
— NYT: Krugman on the case for nationalization of banks.
— WP: Bobby Jindal’s fast track to the spotlight.
