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Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Principle, policy unite conservatives
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On a sunny April day, when the azaleas, hydrangeas and crape myrtles are springing to new life from the Easter freeze, only the grimmest of grouches could persist in wallowing in the misery of the General Assembly session, then in its final days.
There is new life — and new hope.
Deep into the afternoon on an April day, a group of mostly young Republican legislators — young in age and/or service — who are united primarily by their conservatism and a determination to know what they’re voting on, gathers in Room 216 at the state Capitol. On this day, a dozen or so legislators analyze and discuss bills expected to surface for floor debate in coming days. The entire group consists of about 30, though committee meetings and other obligations keep some away.
“Our purpose,” said state Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ranger), chairman of what is called the 216 Policy Group, “is to be an open forum for discussion of every bill, and to analyze it through our conservative lenses.” The questions asked of every bill: Does it lower taxes? Promote personal responsibility? Lead to less government? Does it promote liberty and justice for all?
Their discussions, led by a member of the group who has taken responsibility for analyzing a bill’s content, results in a numeric score using those principles. These are not young rebels bucking authority, so they don’t circulate the scores to other legislators. They generally try to support the group’s positions in floor debate, but often wind up voting differently.
For instance, state Rep. Steve Davis (R-McDonough) voted against the supplemental budget, but others in the group did not. Still, he was incensed by the governor’s veto and his delay in transmitting it to the House, prompting an apparent need for a special session.
“This is not about the House vs. the Senate vs. the governor,” he wrote on his blog. “This is about fiscal conservatism and keeping our commitment to” taxpayers.
“The true commitment of a conservative would be to veto the budget because the refund was not large enough,” he argued.
Rep. Martin Scott (R-Rossville) provides a more measured response. “We all center around a group of core principles — that’s the gravity in the middle holding us together.”
The 216 Policy Group has existed since 2005, with the majority having been elected in 2004. They represent a kind of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” idealism, believing that they ought to stand on principle and know the content of legislation. It’s a tough challenge. Late in the session innocuous bills that were introduced as “vehicles,” open up code sections then are amended in the final days or hours to include language that may never have been discussed on the floor.
It’s easy, especially for those who aren’t a part of leadership, to find themselves back home explaining why they voted for a bill whose contents were a mystery. That’s a fear uniting group members.
In addition to the Jimmy Stewart idealism of the 216 Policy Group, their late afternoon discussions confirm another reason for conservatives to be hopeful: There are some awfully smart, young conservatives representing communities surrounding Atlanta: legislators such as Reps. Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville), Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock), Jeff May (R-Monroe), Calvin Hill (R-Canton) and others. The group includes, as well, some older conservatives, such as Reps. John D. Meadows III (R-Calhoun) and Jimmy Pruett (R-Eastman), who last November won the seat vacated by former House Speaker Terry Coleman (D-Eastman).
This group is doing precisely what a new governing majority should do — and that is to convene regularly to determine which principles they share and what it is they’re trying to do with government. They look, as Graves explained, “at what works in other states and what doesn’t, to better equip ourselves to know how to handle issues and how to find the best solutions.”
The Republican majority came suddenly — and probably not because Republicans had positively convinced the state’s voters to buy in to their ideas, but because a state Democratic Party drifting into alignment with the national party had lost them. The task now is to give voters a positive reason for keeping them in power.
Those positive reasons are centered on principle and a better, fuller explanation, a vision that communicates what they intend to do with government. The essential first requirement is to decide. That’s why conversations such as those in this 216 Policy Group are vital — and encouraging.
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