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Friday, June 27, 2008
Count to ‘10, and a fun race for governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My standard advice to Republicans under the Gold Dome is this: Get it together.
Don’t stop fighting — at least not when disagreement is about substantive policy choices. When it’s ambition and ego, quit. The alternative to public fights is not to go behind closed doors, cut a deal and then rubber-stamp it through the General Assembly.
Essential, too, is to create a good system of oversight and accountability so that as the state turns to the private sector to provide toll roads and essential services, all transactions are transparent, at arm’s length and fairly priced — uninfluenced by political contributions and connections. Build openness, ethics and accountability into the system — and then farm out government to the absolute max.
Why raise these matters now?
Georgia’s 2010 gubernatorial race will get a lot more interesting, and perhaps competitive too, in coming days. The just-retired adjutant general of the Georgia National Guard, Lt. Gen. David Poythress, is expected to announce in July that he’ll enter the 2010 race for governor as a Democrat. House Minority Leader DuBose Porter of Dublin and others may, as well. Poythress and Porter are the kinds of Democrats Georgians have traditionally chosen. That is, they’re not from the party’s fringe.
That’s crucial. Ours is not a sudden-jolt electorate. We ease into change. Center-right candidates win; center-left doesn’t, unless they’re successful in masking their leanings.
While some delusional Democrats believe Barack Obama will put the state in play this November, the odds are long that a candidate with his politics carries Georgia, even with a record black turnout.
A Democrat who intends to win statewide needs overwhelming black support and at least 30 percent of whites. As of January, blacks were 27.2 percent of registered voters, up from 24.5 percent eight years earlier. White registration over the period declined from 73.6 percent of the electorate to 66.3. Blacks were 39.6 percent of new registrants; whites, 33.4; and Hispanics and others, 27.
In statewide elections, metro Atlanta is pretty much a wash for the two parties. It’s the rest of Georgia that picks the winners. The trick for Democrats is to find a candidate attractive to Reagan Democrats outside metro Atlanta. Even that’s not a guarantee. George W. Bush carried this state with 58 percent of the vote in 2004.
Poythress has won statewide. He was elected Labor Commissioner in 1992 to fill the unexpired term of Joe Tanner, who had been appointed commissioner of the state Department of Natural Resources. He won a full term in 1994, before leaving in 1998 to run for governor. In that race, he finished third to Roy Barnes, who then appointed him adjutant general. Gov. Sonny Perdue reappointed him.
His reputation is for exceptional competence. In 1979, Gov. George Busbee appointed him secretary of state, to fill a vacancy created by the death of the legendary Ben Fortson. Before that, he’d served as an assistant in the attorney general’s office, as deputy revenue commissioner and as commissioner of the Department of Medical Assistance.
In 1982, he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Max Cleland. Cleland, later a U.S. senator, was magic with crowds, just as Barack Obama is today. Had Cleland not opted to vote with national Democrats in the U.S. Senate, he’d be there today. But in 1982, Poythress’ superior competence as an administrator was no match for Cleland’s patriotic appeal and his ability to inspire audiences.
Just before he retired last November, I heard Poythress speak. He is close now to being what Max Cleland was then.
Republicans have no clear front-runner yet. One or more members of Congress may opt to give it a shot. Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine says he’s in. Secretary of State Karen Handel may be, too, and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle aims there, as well. The debacle of the past two legislative sessions is real baggage for Cagle and could damage the appeal of all Republicans running for governor.
Perdue’s successor most likely will be a Republican, especially if Obama is elected and pursues the agenda he’s laid out. But a seasoned center-right Democrat who can run strong in the “other Georgia” can win.
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Arms, cityhood, a fine man of letters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
Imagine that. The Second Amendment is real. We can keep and bear arms. Now let’s agree that when a gun is used to commit a crime, the problem is with the shooter and not with the weapon.
Before Barack Obama tries his skills of persuasion on a bad guy who threatens us —- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, no preconditions —- he should test them on a seriously bad guy who doesn’t —- Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. Today’s runoff election there is an international joke. Fearing for his life, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has withdrawn. The U.S. can sputter in outrage, but our obligation is to deal with the bad guys whose existence threatens us.
The city of Buckhead? Won’t happen. Without Buckhead, Atlanta sinks. It’s 45 percent of the city’s $72.4 billion in property. There’s a lesson here, though. Fulton County drove Sandy Springs to cityhood. Just as bad private-sector managers create unions, bad public-sector managers create cities.
Two state senators of substance, one D, one R, opt out of the Gold Dome Games. Michael S. Meyer von Bremen (D-Albany) —- a former minority leader and one of two Democrats whom Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle allowed to chair committees —- qualified this week to run for a vacancy on the Georgia Court of Appeals. Joe Carter (R-Tifton), one of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s floor leaders, dropped out of a Senate race he had won (no opposition) to qualify for an unexpected Superior Court opening. A special GOP primary will be held Aug. 5 to choose a replacement. Neither Carter nor Meyer von Bremenever struck me as suited to the intense partisan warfare at the Capitol.
Headline: “Former president willing to help Obama campaign.” The former president is Bill Clinton. Help? Make Hillary the food taster.
Jim Durrett, executive director of the Liveable Communities Coalition, writing in support of the Beltline rail project, reflects the ancient view that those of us who live beyond I-285 are all trying to get to Atlanta’s downtown. Writes he: “We’ve spent the past 40 years building suburbs that are beginning to look unsustainable at $4 a gallon.” We of the “suburbs” are neighbors, not dependents, and when the state devises a transportation plan that moves us where we need to go, instead of just to Atlanta’s downtown, or in a circle around it, we’ll sustain ourselves just fine. Boss, we ain’t your young’uns.
The federal government should have had a bidder at Sunday’s auction of condos near downtown Atlanta. The lowest-bid condo was priced at $183,900 and went for $132,000. The highest-bid was priced at $379,900 and went for $263,000. What does that tell us? That housing’s still overpriced here, downtown condos by about 25 percent to 30 percent. This Congress surely will intervene to prevent the free market from working. Its latest effort is a $300 billion bailout for lenders and borrowers.
The Justice Department’s inspector general says recruiters improperly used “political or ideological” considerations to find and hire conservative interns. Ideology can be considered in recruiting political appointees, but not otherwise. Justice officials should get more sophisticated in screening to hire conservatives. Anybody doubt that colleges and employers look for the codes in applications and essays to achieve diversity? Ideological diversity is important, too.
Letter writers become friends, and their passing evokes sadness. Dr. Harrison L. Rogers Jr., a distinguished general surgeon and former president of the American Medical Association, died this week. He was among the well-read regulars whose intelligent and civil commentary enriched public discourse.
Stop presses! Study finds that elementary school teachers are poorly prepared by college schools of education to teach math. An exception is my alma mater, the University of Georgia. It requires teacher candidates to take math courses not designed for teachers.
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