There doesn't seem to be any doubt that the Georgia Chamber, the most powerful voice of business in the state Capitol, is ready to endorse a hike in the state's gasoline tax to address Georgia's transportation woes.
How do we know this? In a Wednesday statement on its congressional priorities, the organization formally placed itself on the side of raising the federal gas tax. Emphasis is ours:
While the federal gas tax, currently 18.4 cents per gallon, has been the traditional source of revenue, it has struggled to keep pace with expenses as vehicles have become more fuel-efficient.
Both reauthorization of federal funding and an increase in the gas tax is necessary to keep our highways and transit systems efficient for transportation and commerce.
For the record, the Georgia Chamber is also demanding that Congress – we’re looking at you, Georgia Republicans – and the Obama administration “avoid any future government shutdowns.”
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State Rep. Christian Coomer came out strongly against Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's decision to can Kelvin Cochran, the former Atlanta fire chief whose firing has become a flashpoint in the religious liberty debate.
We've attached a screen grab to the right, but he calls Reed an "anti-free speech, anti-religious freedom, anti-free press mayor of Atlanta."
This is significant. Coomer is one of Gov. Nathan Deal's staunchest allies in the Legislature, serving as his House floor leader. You could say he's one of the governor's point-people in the chamber. And of course, Deal and Reed have a famously close friendship, one they look to maintain during their second terms.
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WSB Radio host Erick Erickson has been one of the biggest backers of Kelvin Cochran. Last night, Erickson posted a provocative piece on his website comparing the Cochran episode to the mass murder Wednesday at a Paris satirical weekly. Seriously, that's what he wrote:
"So the terrorists decided they needed to publicly destroy and ruin the publisher in a way that would not only make that destruction a public spectacle, but do it so spectacularly that others would think twice before publishing or saying anything similar. ...
"And the terrorists won in Atlanta."
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As long as we're talking about false parallels, consider the case of former big-league hurler Curt Schilling, who thinks he knows the reasons why John Smoltz got into the Hall of Fame and he didn't: Politics.
"I think he got in because of [Greg] Maddux and [Tom] Glavine. I think the fact that they won 14 straight pennants. I think his 'Swiss army knife versatility,' which somebody said yesterday, I think he got a lot of accolades for that, I think he got a lot of recognition for that. He's a Hall of Famer," Schilling said. "And I think the other big thing is that I think he's a Democrat and so I know that, as a Republican, that there's some people that really don't like that."
Now, yes, Smoltz contributed to the Roy Barnes’ 2002 Democratic campaign for governor. But that’s an anomaly.
In 2007, Smoltz gave $2,300 to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign; in 2006, he hosted a fundraiser and cut a robocall for Ralph Reed’s campaign for lieutenant governor; he gave $2,000 to U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Roswell in 2004; and $1,000 to Mack Mattingly’s U.S. Senate bid in 2000.
So far as we know, all of the above, save Barnes, are Republican.
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Those who stood up to oppose Speaker John Boehner on the U.S. House floor are not the only ones who are feeling the backlash, argues Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville. In an interview with the Marietta Daily Journal, Loudermilk blamed his low-tier committee assignments on his voice vote against Boehner in a closed-door November meeting of the Republican conference:
"We're on the Homeland Security and Science and Technology (committees), but there were others that we were seeking that there were spots available that — I don't know — but I guess you can assess since some freshmen got on certain committees that others didn't that it was probably because I would assume that those who voted for the speaker got on those committees."
More than one of Georgia’s freshmen, we’re told, sought a spot on the Energy and Commerce Committee, after the state lost both of its slots on the powerful panel to retirements. Georgia ended up getting shut out of Energy and Commerce entirely.
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U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., put his co-sponsoring pen where his mouth is on his second day on the job, signing onto a proposed constitutional amendment to limit terms in Congress.
The resolution, introduced by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., would limit senators to two terms and House members to three. The measure requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers and ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures to succeed. In the last Congress, Vitter only secured 11 co-sponsors.
A term-limits pledge was a big part of Perdue's "outsider" campaign -- he often said it got the biggest applause at events -- and he has vowed to serve no more than two terms himself.
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A day after Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., officially took over not one but two Senate committees, he has named a new staff director for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee: Retired Marine Corps Col. Thomas G. Bowman. From the press release:
"Bowman joined the Senate VA Committee in 2014 as senior policy advisory under the ranking Republican in the last Congress, Senator Richard Burr, R-N.C. Bowman previously worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs for almost 10 years, including as chief of staff to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretaries Jim Nicholson and James Peake. Bowman's VA Department role also included service to veterans in Isakson's home state of Georgia when Bowman worked as a senior advisor to the director of the Veterans Affairs' Sunshine Healthcare Network, which includes southeastern Georgia, Florida and the Caribbean."
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New Jersey's loss of Mercedes-Benz's headquarters has set off a debate among lawmakers there pushing for lower taxes. From NJ.com:
She says there need to be bigger changes to the tax system to keep companies from moving.
"We're almost competing against ourselves to the detriment of the county I represent," she told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
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Media consultant and Steve Martin lookalike Phil Kent has been named the new CEO of InsiderAdvantage/Internet News. Matt Towery, co-founder and CEO of the companies since 2000, remains chairman of the executive committee for both companies.
“This is something we have had in the works for quite some time and I am thrilled that a journalist and businessman of Phil’s caliber assumes day-to-day control of our combined company,” Towery said in a press release. Insideradvantage/Internet News publishes the statewide political/news magazine James, as well as Southern Political Report magazine.
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We couldn't resist this item from Al.com. Here's a snippet:
The chairwoman of the Alabama Democratic Party, Nancy Worley, sent a holiday letter to friends and Democrats all over the state describing, among other things, how she got stuck on the toilet and couldn't get up.
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