Two major agendas quietly passed each other in broad daylight this afternoon.
Gov. Nathan Deal headlined the annual legislative luncheon hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition of Georgia.
In his introduction of the governor, Ralph Reed, the FFC founder, invited Deal to weigh in on the issue of HB 757, the “religious liberty” bill now before the House – a measure strongly backed by his organization. Said Reed:
"I appreciate [Deal's] stance for religious freedom. We hope to make progress this session. And governor, if it's consistent with your principles and your values, we would love to join you at a signing ceremony for religious freedom after this session."
Governor Deal didn’t take the bait. For the next half hour, he focused a) on criminal justice reform and b) the November ballot issue to give state the authority to intervene in the operation of failing schools in Georgia. There was no c).
Specifically, Deal wanted to address the several dozen black clergy members who last week promised to mount a campaign against his "Opportunity School District" measure. Read their letter here.
Here’s the governor’s reply:
"When people are trying to help those individuals whose mothers and fathers hopefully sit in their pews, when the state is trying to prevent those children from winding up in prison, and then coming back into your system as a convict whose been released – wouldn't you want to a part of changing that dynamic?
"…If we want to break the cycle of poverty, the best way, in my opinion, to do so is to give a child an education. If they can get an education, they can get a job. It may not be the highest-paying job in the world, but it is a starting point. It is a beginning of personal responsibility. It is a beginning of being a taxpayer rather than living in a system that generationally depends on other taxpayers to support their way of life.
"That's what we all should want. It does not have a racial overtone to it. I want that for every child in our state."
On a similar note, the numerous speakers at the luncheon also included Michael Boggs, the state court of appeals judge. He was there to represent the Criminal Justice Reform Commission. He tossed out this statistic:
"In 2015, we committed 18,139 people to prison in Georgia. That was the lowest number of commitments since 2002. Look at the number of African-Americans committed in 2015 in Georgia. That number was 9,993 men and women…That is the lowest number of African-Americans committed to prison in Georgia since 1988."
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