Athens – In an afternoon of winks and nods, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's unspoken messaging was stronger than the signaling from Gov. Nathan Deal.
The Georgia Transportation Summit held here on Tuesday was billed as the biggest gathering of transportation advocates in state history – nearly 700.
Neither the governor nor lieutenant governor, the two top draws of the day, endorsed a hike in or revamping of the sales tax on gasoline as a way to raise the $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually needed to bring Georgia’s road repairs up to speed. The hike is just one recommendation currrently being considered by a joint House-Senate committee on transportation funding.
But when it came to subliminal signals, Cagle went further. Specifically, the Republican lieutenant governor invoked the phrases “MARTA” and “transit.”
Deal took the stage first, and after listing the road construction accomplishments of his first term, the governor said this:
"But I do want to thank them for taking on this issue. It is something that is politically difficult…."
Translation: He is willing to let the work progress, but doesn’t want to be identified as an originator. But Deal said this as he wrapped things up, which pitched metro Atlanta’s dreadful traffic in a positive light:
"People are coming to Georgia, and when they come, they bring transportation issues with them. It's all of our job to welcome them to our state, and to make sure we can accommodate their needs and the needs of the rest of us who are already here – so we don't take the attitude that some states have taken: 'Let's just close the door and lock it behind us. We don't want anybody else coming.' We can't honestly afford to take that position."
In a scrum with reporters after his speech, Governor Deal was asked how Republicans could reconcile the possibility of calling for new taxes or fees with campaign pledges to keep tax burden low. The governor said he views the upcoming recommendations as “user fees” that are becoming a necessity.
“We've got to deal with the issue of more and more need," he said, adding: ”We've got to look at the fact that gas consumption continues to drop. And to depend on a formula that's been used in the past … in today's new gas-conscious society makes it difficult to sustain.”
Deal won't give any carte blanche endorsements that he'll support the new plan. But he questioned the estimates from the Georgia Chamber, which have called for between $1 billion and $1.5 billion each year to sustain the state's infrastructure network.
“I'm not so sure that those are accurate estimates. I cited CNBC, which says we have the best road and bridge system in the country,” he said. “We know we have deficits, but on a comparative basis, maybe we should not be condemning ourselves too severely.”
Cagle was in the room when Deal spoke, and deliberately raised the ante – as may befit a man considering a 2016 run for governor:
"What we need today are people who are going to advance the ball – regardless of the challenge that one may face. That's the discussion that all of us should be having – not just now, but also in January. When we think on all the great history and the tradition of our state, we had great visionaries. We had people that were willing to step up and make the tough decisions regardless of what the consequences might be."
This, too, was an interesting passage:
"It takes people who understand that you have to invest in order to grow. Every company that I've ever been involved in or ever started – I never could cut my way to prosperity. I had to invest. And we always have to measure our investments based on a return. And that return is sometimes viewed in a monetary context, but often times, it is to benefit the masses…."
The lieutenant governor pointed to Cobb and Forsyth counties, whose voters recently voted to extend (in Cobb) a sales tax or (in Forsyth) approved a bond referendum aimed at transportation fixes. He spoke of establishing an infrastructure bank to pay for big ticket fixes. But then Cagle said this:
"But I will tell you, too, we cannot avoid the issue of transit as well. I believe very strongly that we have an infrastructure that exists with MARTA that can be capitalized on. But in the same way that we saw with Grady [Memorial Hospital], Grady did not have a sustainable financial model. And it needed to be reorganized and reconstituted in a way that created an opportunity…."
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