This morning, Politico has an inside look at how big business helped take down the Arizona religious liberty bill. Just like Delta spooked lawmakers in Atlanta:
The Associated Press tackled the same topic. A few paragraphs:
Companies also recognize that many of their employees and customers are gay and try to foster an open and inviting corporate environment.
"Business used to restrict itself to economic issues but they're now seeing the importance of other kinds of issues," said Darrell M. West, vice president of governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
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Reverberations are still being felt from this week's cratering of two religious liberty bills in Georgia's state Capitol. Jonathan Shapiro of WABE (90.1FM) caught up with House Majority Leader Larry O'Neal, R-Bonaire:
When asked whether he believed LGBT people, in general, faced discrimination in Georgia or in the country, O'Neal was unequivocal.
"I absolutely do not, no," said O'Neal.
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Qualifying for the 2014 elections begins on Monday, but state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, reports that he won't be signing up for his 11th District congressional contest until Tuesday.
That’s because Monday is Crossover Day – the deadline for bills to pass one chamber or another, he told his supporters in an email. The former member of the House GOP leadership team said he’ll be on the House floor “to promote two bills fighting against President Obama’s failed healthcare overhaul.”
Lindsey specifically named HB 707 and HB 990, which are not yet on the House calendar.
Lindsey is either misinformed, which is unlikely, or just spilled the beans, our AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin informed us.
That HB 990 would get a vote comes as no surprise. That’s the bill backed by Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and Speaker pro tem Jan Jones, R-Milton, to put Medicaid expansion under the control of the Legislature.
No, the surprise would be HB 707 – which would bar any local government in Georgia from aiding or abetting the Affordable Care Act. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, for instance, would be barred from hosting a health fair that helped his residents sign up for insurance offered by federal Obamacare exchanges.
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Speaking of qualifying: Democrats only have a smattering of candidates for down-ticket races so far, but state party chairman DuBose Porter promises more to come next week. He wouldn't name names, but he said he's landed a challenger to Attorney General Sam Olens. Others are being vetted.
"Exceptional people are stepping forward," he said. "We'll have more than people ever expected."
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There's been a spate of retirement announcements recently among long-serving Democrats in Congress, prompting us to pose the question to Georgia's longest-tenured House member, Atlanta Democrat John Lewis, ahead of qualifying next week: Is he running again?
“Early Monday morning, I will be there putting down my check,” he replied. “I will be there. I don’t plan on retiring any time soon.”
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We reported earlier that Jack Kingston, the Savannah congressman and U.S. Senate candidate, would be on CNN's "Crossfire" on Thursday evening with his friend Newt Gingrich.
Alas, the event was postponed. Kingston, obviously, was double-booked:
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Kingston needs the dough to support what is quickly turning into a television ad war, a little less than three months from the Senate primary.
We're told that David Perdue's campaign will put the "crybabies" ad back on the air tomorrow and mix in a new spot over the next three weeks, in order to match Kingston's ad spending.
The Perdue and Kingston campaigns have the most money to work with, so expect to see a lot of their stuff on the air for the next three months. Or now might be the time to fully commit to Netflix.
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Look for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday. He'll be there to discuss Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's proposal to shrink the U.S. military to its smallest size since WWII.
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File away another entry in the battle over who's the most conservative Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
The American Conservative Union weighed in with its rankings of each member of Congress on Thursday. The breakdown for Georgia Senate hopefuls is as follows: Paul Broun 96 percent (a lifetime rating of 99), Jack Kingston 91 percent (a lifetime rating of 96), and Phil Gingrey 88 percent (a lifetime rating 96).
Broun’s scores were the highest in the delegation.
Memorizing the above information won’t be necessary. By May, someone will have spent a boatload of money to drill these numbers into your head with a 30-second TV spot.
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Savannah's own Paula Deen is back in the news with a People magazine interview in which she compares herself with openly gay football player Michael Sam. Seriously.
Here's what she said, via The Wrap:
"I feel like 'embattled' or 'disgraced' will always follow my name. It's like that black football player who recently came out," Deen said in a People magazine cover story, which hits newsstands on Friday. "He said, 'I just want to be known as a football player. I don't want to be known as a gay football player.' I know exactly what he's saying."
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