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Friday, March 28, 2008
Games-playing gets in the way of lawmaking
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They’re doing it again.
They are doing it again.
Get ‘em out of town — and if need be out of office.
Republicans in Atlanta are behaving just like Democrats in Congress — playing silly, pointless games in an effort to gain political advantage. Congress, for example, repeatedly sends President Bush legislation to hugely expand the federal arm of Georgia’s PeachCare program, knowing he’ll veto it. So they extend it a few months and, when it’s deemed most advantageous to Democrats, they pass it again.
It’s a game, a silly, pointless game that undermines public confidence in the institution and in the capacity of the two parties to govern on even a rudimentary level.
The Georgia General Assembly has four legislative days left. By Friday, it’ll all be over.
Within the week, we’ll know. This session will either have defined the difference it makes that Republicans are in power. Or it will be a vivid reminder of the pettiness that the public so despises about Congress. A week before the end, either outcome is possible.
Major issues remain unresolved — and in danger of meltdown. Meaningful tax cuts. Education reform. Efforts to ease Georgia’s archaic system of regulating competition in the health care industry. An invitation to vote yourself a regional transportation tax.
Georgia has a serious leadership problem. The relationship between Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson seems now unlikely to improve until one or both leave office.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle doesn’t help. He has the ability ordinarily seen only in parents and spouses to yank Richardson’s chain to provoke an immediate reaction — and it’s exceedingly difficult to discern the intended purpose beyond familial goading. It is so pointless or to such small points that it’s impossible to imagine it can be satisfying, either personally or politically.
There’s inherent tension between the House, Senate and executive branch. That’s healthy, especially in a one-party state. But the institutional tension that arises from the desirable effort to keep the other from gaining extra-constitutional advantage is only rarely the primary issue. The governor’s style contributes to the dysfunction. It is to encourage the legislative branch to “work its will” until he decides — as with tax relief — that it’s gone too far. By then, though, it’s often too late.
Egos are invested. Either the House or Senate has taken ownership of a particular approach. The House wants to essentially end the “birthday tax” on cars, trucks and motorcycles, for example, while the Senate wants to cut income tax rates by 10 percent over five years. The governor wants token relief, fearing that revenue growth will be insufficient to meet the state’s needs as he sees them.
It’s a wonderful debate — but it’s not happening in a policy sense. And can’t. Too little time. Too many oversize egos.
They could blow this. They could leave town next week having done nothing meaningful. On taxes, they’d ideally grant significant relief and also cap state spending, as the House proposed for city and county governments.
In the next week, this could still emerge as an enormously productive session — especially on education. Four bills, if approved, would be a milestone achievement in the direction of choice for parents and for local systems. Those are House Bill 1209 from the governor, HB 1133 from David Casas (R-Lilburn), HB 881 from Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) and Senate Bill 458 from Eric Johnson (R-Savannah).
Opening the health care industry, however slightly, to competition will be a major achievement, too. And incentives to promote high-deductible insurance policies coupled with health savings accounts is an important breakthrough. Neither is yet passed.
The encouraging thing for conservatives is that in many ways the new guys are charting a different — a desirably different — course.
But the insufferable egos and pointless games are maddening. Get over it. Do things that matter.
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Dads, Gold Domers, vive la France
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
Rite Aid pharmacy rolls out over-the-counter paternity tests at its 4,300 stores in 30 states. The paternity test costs $29 and comes with a $119 lab processing fee. Any male suspect should be legally required to submit to testing.
If the General Assembly leaves town this year having passed Senate Bill 458 and House Bills 881 and 1133 —- all of which promote education reform in the direction of parental choice —- and if it passes a proposed constitutional amendment to provide meaningful tax relief, this will have been a heck of a year under the Gold Dome. Both represent big-league movement in the right direction.
Who’d have thought it? France is expected to announce that it will double, to 1,000, its commitment of troops to Afghanistan. “We cannot afford to lose Afghanistan,” President Nicholas Sarkozy told the British Parliament. “Whatever the cost, whatever the expense, we cannot afford it.” I could warm to this guy. Of course, he could have included Iraq, too.
The saga of former legislator Ron Sailor should be a reminder to Republicans to spend their every waking hour promoting transparency and open government. He’s a Democrat, but Republicans are in charge. The vision of government that most conservatives hold requires a “partnership” with business —- business performing most nonjudicial functions now in the public sector. That requires openness, accountability, standards and a fire wall between the decision-makers and the companies performing the service. It should never be easy for the weak to be corrupted.
The U.S. Supreme Court got it right in telling Texas it could ignore President Bush and an international court. Both tried to instruct Texas to grant a new hearing for a Mexican now on death row for killing two teenagers 15 years ago. Local police prevented Jose Ernesto Medellin from consulting with Mexican diplomats. Under the Constitution the president executes laws but can’t make them, wrote Chief Justice John Roberts.
Good for Chelsea Clinton. Asked a question related to Monica Lewinsky, she gave a “none of your business” response. That’s what her father should have done to the “boxers or briefs?” question —- and the appropriate response by every public figure to personal questions. Rebuild that wall.
The Consumer Federation of America gets reams of free publicity for its Big Oil is Bad message by predicting gas will be 75 cents a gallon higher before Memorial Day. The group could just as accurately predict where the stock market will be by Memorial Day.
Let’s see. Should I believe today in global warming or, as the headline declares, that “Morale at CDC shows healthy improvement.” Hmmm. Global warming. It’s more likely.
Quote of the Week, from Rick White, a spokesman for the Atlanta Housing Authority, in response to efforts to block AHA from redeveloping housing projects: “The housing projects have served their purpose, and as a public policy matter public housing is the wrong social design. Today the housing projects only serve to isolate families from mainstream America.” Yes! Poor people need to live where others form two-parent families and get up and go to work or school every day.
Truth in government is here. State Department of Transportation Commissioner Gena Abraham said her department has money to work on 270 projects a year, and 1,470 are listed as “active,” with more than 9,000 planned. Georgians desperate for road improvements shouldn’t be led to believe something’s happening when it’s not.
Former state Rep. Kil Townsend of Atlanta, who died Sunday at 89, was a man of ideas — consolidating many of Georgia’s 159 counties was one of them —- who tried relentlessly to improve government. I wish he could have served in the majority. Former GOP executive director Jay Morgan said he told his wife a few months ago that he hoped he looked “as good as Kil when I’m his age, but my wife said I don’t look that good now.” Added Morgan: “God rest the soul of the happy contrarian.”
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