Georgia Baptist Convention leaders and clergy gathered last week to support “religious liberty” bills proposed for this session of the General Assembly. Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com
The current session of the General Assembly has produced some prosecutors who haven't been shrinking violets when it comes to criticism of legislation under debate.
We told you about the sharp attacks that state Rep. Allen Peake's medical marijuana bill received on Tuesday. Then there's the case of David Cooke, the Democratic district attorney from Macon who has raised questions about H.B. 29, the religious liberty bill introduced by state Rep. Sam Teasley, R-Marietta.
Last month,
– a line of attack picked up by the liberal group Better Georgia, and denounced by prominent Republicans.
Cooke is back today with another op-ed in the Macon Telegraph that includes these lines:
Many of the bills passed in other states explicitly protect victims of violent crime, and do not allow their law to be used by abusers as a defense in trial. Some do not even allow their bill to be used as a defense against the failure to report suspected abuse….
Georgia's version of this proposed law is unique because it provides no such protection. We should not open the door for activist judges to interpret this new law in a way that protects abusers.
But the bill's supporters can't claim it's an oversight. The drafters of the bill know it could be used as a defense at a criminal trial, so they've carved out an exception for child sexual abuse. By implication, any other crime would be subject to the law's defense.
Even worse, the bill explicitly provides an avenue for abusive parents by protecting "the fundamental right of every parent" to control the discipline of that child. In other words, "spare the rod and spoil the child" is given free reign, regardless of the size of the rod or the number of blows, even if the child dies from the abuse.
Cobb County DA Vic Reynolds – a Republican – was asked about this bill, and he said he shared my concerns, as has every other prosecutor that I've talked to….
When asked, DA Reynolds had confidence that the problems he and I share with the bill will be worked out. Only now the politicians are saying that there isn't any problem to fix.
AJC columnist Kyle Wingfield also notes the ties between Cooke and Better Georgia, which has emerged as one of the leading critics of the legislation. From Wingfield's column:
In 2013, other ethics filings show, Cooke's campaign paid Better Georgia $250 for a "sponsorship" and another $500 for event tickets.
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The proposal for a 24-hour gaming attraction in south DeKalb will indeed face rough sledding, if Gov. Nathan Deal has anything to say about it.
But state Rep. Ron Stephens, a Savannah Republican who has long supported strategically placed casinos, said it could be worse. He outlined his nightmare scenario, a proposal in which Native American buyers with roots in Georgia quietly buy up land and then try to build a full-fledged casino.
"They can totally bypass us. And it could have been a real interesting situation. They didn't."
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State Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, chairman of the legislature's MARTA oversight committee, has dropped two bills that are likely to become part of the debate over transportation funding in Georgia.
H.B. 213 would remove the state-imposed mandate that requires MARTA to split its expenditures from tax revenues 50-50 between operational and capital costs – as long as the transit agency submits itself to a management audit every four years.
H.B. 214 would restore the MARTA board voting rights of the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, at least until 2017. Right now he's a non-voting. Surely that change of status would mean there would be some state funds that he'd need some say-so on – right, guys?
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Last week, after House Republican leaders introduced the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, tea party activist Debbie Dooley struck, labeling the plan a tax-raising "scheme":
"House Republicans are causing everyday Georgians to be burdened with higher taxes/gas prices while they give large corporations massive tax breaks and are helping fund a parking deck for the new Atlanta Falcons stadium," Dooley wrote in an alert to supporters….
We have been lax in reporting that this is not a universally held point of view among tea partyists. The following, more circumspect statement comes from Julianne Thompson, who has worked with Dooley in many a fray:
The Georgia Constitution states that all money derived from motor fuel taxes should be used for infrastructure and maintenance of roads and bridges, so my opinion is that converting the sales tax to an excise tax is sound policy. That has not been the policy in the past and this bill addresses that and I am encouraged at the strides that were made to make this package more Constitutionally sound.
I fought against TSPLOST and will continue to be a fiscal hawk. We will call out leaders that fail us, but we also need to praise them when they are trying to do what is right
I do understand that things may change and the final bill may look different, but most people want to be proactive, not reactive. And I know the door is open to grassroots activists truly wanting to find consensus on a solution that we can no longer kick the can down the road and ignore."
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U.S. Reps. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, and Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, have introduced a bill to give the Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders of the early 1960s.
The 400 people, black and white, who challenged Jim Crow laws by riding buses in the South would share the medal, which would be displayed at the Smithsonian.
The bill is backed by former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young and has 136 co-sponsors so far. Not among those co-sponsors is Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, perhaps because it would be a tad gauche to sponsor a bill to give yourself a medal.
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The U.S. House voted on party lines to repeal Obamacare, and you can be forgiven if a feeling of deja vu comes with that sentence.
Republican aides said it was the 67th vote to alter or repeal the law, including eight votes for full repeal. But the important thing was to make sure the freshmen got their "repeal Obamacare" merit badge before this month's recess.
And they were excited, at least according to their press releases. Rep. Jody Hice, R-Monroe, was "thrilled." Rep. Rick Allen, R-Evans, was "proud." Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, even hailed the repeat vote as "a strong departure from business-as-usual."
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Georgia's fourth House freshman, Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, also bemoaned Obamacare's impact on the health care profession, but this op-ed in the Savannah Morning News caught our eye even more. Carter, as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, went on a fact-finding trip to the Mexican border and -- remarkably -- found some facts he did not already assume to be true:
Almost in unison, the ranchers all say that they need more technology and, above anything else, boots on the ground. The terrain out here is tough, to say the least. Where the mountains stop, the desert starts and most of the area is desolate.
The full op-ed describes the changing border conditions and challenges Carter saw from San Diego to Texas.
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We have a post-script to state Sen. Vincent Fort's unforgettable attack on Gov. Nathan Deal's attempt to empower the state to intervene with failing schools.
“Giving Nathan Deal a school system to run is like giving a drunk the keys to the car,” was what Fort told fellow Democrats in a red-meat address at the party's state convention.
We were reminded that his attack has a major flaw: Deal doesn't drink.
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Some dispiriting news about millennials -- you know, the generation that's taking everything over. A new Fusion poll of 18-34-year-olds shows that 77 percent cannot name one of the two U.S. senators from their states.
We think any such test is unfair if you didn't give them time to Google it on their phones.
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