Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > April > 11
Friday, April 11, 2008
Looking ahead to 2010, and real leadership
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Granted this year’s elections are still months away. But it’s 2010 that’s beginning to loom large for Georgia.
The group that AJC reporter James Salzer described as “Georgia’s Three non-Amigos of politics” briefly gathered under the Gold Dome for a photo op this week. Nobody was hurt.
The reality is, however, that the three — Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson — have a terminally sour relationship that, in the language of failed marriages, is irretrievably broken. Who’s at fault? It no longer matters.
Of the three, the speaker is the only one who can be ousted before the next legislative session. If incumbent House members fare badly in the July 15 primary or in November’s general election, Richardson’s in trouble. If Perdue or Cagle try to influence House politics, he’s a shoo-in.
Perdue is, like former House Speaker Tom Murphy in his waning years in office, a powerful figure whom adversaries provoke at their peril. But his political capital is substantially devalued, especially in the House. His final two years in office are on a trajectory that doesn’t bode well for a crowning legislative achievement. His legacy will be that he strove to make Georgia the best-managed state in the country and approached issues — water, for example, or education — methodically in search of long-term solutions.
Casey Cagle is an enigma. My colleague Mike King describes him as “more Eddie Haskell-like,” a reference to the “Leave it to Beaver” character whose politeness around parents belied a devious and insincere troublemaker.
Indeed, Cagle’s press conference to reveal a $1.2 billion plan to reduce state income taxes came after 80 percent of the legislative session had expired and after the House had passed a $672 million proposal to eliminate the car tax. In the end, nothing passed.
An honest debate starting much earlier might have prompted serious consideration of whether tax relief should be broad-based (the House proposal), incentivize work (Cagle’s) or encourage retirees to move to Georgia (Perdue’s promise to eliminate the state income tax on retirement income). That debate never materialized, of course.
Cagle did something similar last year, waiting until after the House passed a budget to inform them that the Senate would strip out all pork. Ultimately they didn’t, then or now. The timing on his declaration launched the disaster of last session, which culminated with Perdue vetoing 41 bills, including $142 million in tax relief. Cagle wants to be governor in 2010. His chances depend on which of the two Eddie Haskells Georgians see.
Rumors have persisted for months that U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson will return home to run for governor when his term expires in 2010. Others mentioned are U.S. Reps. Lynn Westmoreland of Grantville, Phil Gingrey of Marietta and Jack Kingston of Savannah. Those who are serious should signal intent.
Likewise, those who are serious about running for lieutenant governor should, too.
Georgia cannot endure another six years of the last two.
As a young reporter, I covered Douglas County and later DeKalb, both in periods of transition. For a spell they were like Clayton County is now. They elected officials unsuited to leadership. As with Clayton, there comes a time when the public coalesces and demands something different.
For Georgia, the good news is an able Legislature filled with promising people. Many are good Reaganesque conservatives who have begun to master policy areas and issues. The future is better than the present.
They want to be led. Not dictated to. Led. Led to a purpose based on principles and a vision.
Permalink | Comments (153) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
Beware lifestyle police, third parties
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend-free-for-all. Pick a topic:
When metro Atlanta slips as deeply as the Europeans into the clutches of big government, expect here the tyranny of the lifestyle police that is on display in London. There drivers of “gas-guzzling” cars will be forced to pay almost $50 a day to enter central London, while those considered fuel-efficient enter free. The new rules, imposed by the mayor, start Oct. 27. The primary obstacle here is not that lifestyle-tyrants don’t exist, but that there’s no way to hem in those who would take flight: people and businesses. But our day will come when somebody tries.
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg already has. He proposed to charge $8 for cars and $21 for trucks entering parts of Manhattan during peak hours. But wait. Democrats in the state Legislature pulled the plug this week. Opponents argued that it’s a tax on the working class and that the array of cameras needed to enforce restrictions would violate privacy rights.
New York and London can’t do much about traffic, but developing cities, like those in metro Atlanta, shouldn’t approve projects that overload existing or funded road upgrades. Don’t make problems worse by adding high density to already congested streets.
The Galleria area at I-75 and I-285 in Cobb County is metro Atlanta’s emerging downtown. Two popular home-related shows announce that they’re moving to Cobb in 2009, citing accessibility and free parking. The Southeastern Flower Show and the Spring Atlanta Home Show were previously at the Georgia World Congress Center. Congestion has consequences.
The Legislature did have some worthwhile moments. A bill by state Rep. Jeff May (R- Monroe) cuts down on the games locals play with special elections, like the one the Cobb County Board of Education intends to call on Sept. 16 to extend the local option sales tax through 2013. May’s legislation requires special elections on questions to be held in a primary or general election in even years and on two specified days in odd years, starting in 2010. The game has been to pick odd days when few people other than supporters are likely to show up.
It’s always fascinating to hear the persecuted say what they believe is in the minds of others. Cobb Commissioner Annette Kesting opines that “a lot of white folks are mad because I married a white man because I am a black woman.”
Public service pays. The Clintons’ income since he left office is $109 million.
Former Congressman Bob Barr may run for president as a Libertarian. I like him, but … no third parties for me. The last spoiler got me eight years of Bill Clinton. And maybe eight more of Hillary.
Headline: “States may save money by freeing inmates.” Nobody saves money or lives putting bad guys back on the street. California may release 22,000 “nonviolent, nonsexual offenders.”
Yesterday’s bad ideas are back. The chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), notes American Airlines’ troubles this week with flight cancellations and warns that pressure is mounting to “re-regulate” the airline industry. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 was a highlight, maybe the highlight, of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. It preceded more widespread industry deregulation by Ronald Reagan. Re-regulation is a seriously bad idea.
Another bad idea resurfaces before the House Small Business Committee. Small-time truckers want price controls on fuel. President Nixon tried wage-and-price controls in 1971. Never again. It’s amazing how much of the “change” promised by Democrats takes them back to yesterday’s failed solutions.
It can’t be long before prominent members of the Party of Yesterday’s Solutions calls for a boycott of the Olympic Games.
Permalink | Comments (156) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
