Roy Barnes: We the people need a lobbyist

Many Georgians have watched with trepidation the growing influence of the special interests and their private agents — their lobbyists — in controlling public policy in the halls of our state Capitol. I, for one, have come to the conclusion that since gifts blind the wise, the only way we the people can combat this growing influence with our elected officials is to hire our own “People’s Lobbyist” and make sure that he or she has an expense account with enough money to be able to ply the General Assembly with the finest food and wine, tickets to any event they desire, and maybe even a jet aircraft so our elected officials can make sure they will not be tardy for their junkets.

Why am I so upset? Because, there are at least two issues under the Gold Dome in which the public interest is again being hijacked by special interests.

When I was running for governor in 1998, I saw the difficulty homeowners and family farms were having paying property taxes. I decided, and the General Assembly agreed, that we should create a program of giving a credit of $200 to $300 to each homeowner on their annual property tax bill. This cost the state about $500 million per year, and the intention was to double that amount over the next few years. Fully implemented, the Homeowners Tax Relief Grant would have exempted from taxation the first $50,000 in value of homes and family farms.

The current governor has submitted a budget eliminating this credit, and members of the General Assembly are wringing their hands, saying how difficult it is to find the money to continue this promise made to the people of Georgia. We all know that our state’s economy is in dire straits. So you may ask, how have special interests and their lobbyists caused this inability to keep the property tax credit?

Just since 2005, the special interest lobbyists have persuaded the General Assembly and the governor to approve at least $337 million in special-interest tax breaks and giveaways, including a multiyear $140 million tax break just for insurance companies in 2008.

So now that the tax revenues have been depleted by the special interests, who is going to bear the brunt of the largesse of these politicians? Why, the homeowner, of course! If we’d had a People’s Lobbyist over the last six years, maybe they could have wined and dined the politicians and kept them from passing all those special-interest tax breaks, and we would have been able to keep our property tax relief.

Another current issue where we need a People’s Lobbyist is the effort this year to force the Public Service Commission to allow Georgia Power to collect from ratepayers the cost of two new multibillion-dollar nuclear reactors whose costs have not even been determined. This is like being forced to make payments on a car that you haven’t shopped for, much less even bought, and may not buy for several years.

In fact, Georgia Power demands these payments even though Georgia exports electricity to Florida under an agreement accepted by Georgia Power. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not necessarily against nuclear power under the right circumstances, and I think we should build generating capacity for our future. I am, however, opposed to the public paying for it today when Georgia Power’s earnings already may be sufficient to fund the cost of construction.

A People’s Lobbyist would point out that Georgia Power has a rate case next year, and it is commonly thought that we are overpaying them today given their investments and the monopoly granted to them. The People’s Lobbyist would argue that, in fact, next year the Public Service Commission may very well decide that this new construction can be paid from our current payments to Georgia Power rather than from an additional levy on ratepayers during these difficult economic times.

It is apparent that Georgia Power had something it was interested in when its lobbyists gave away more than $75,000 in meals and tickets to all types of events in 2008 to our elected officials and public employees. And this is where the People’s Lobbyist could be helpful. Since we know that wealth makes many friends, the People’s Lobbyist could also give away thousands of dollars worth of tickets and buy the best steaks and liquor for our policymakers. Maybe then we could have a fair shake with what is supposed to be our government — one that today most of us barely recognize.

• Roy Barnes is a Marietta attorney and a former governor of Georgia.