Savannah is the backdrop of one of the nation's biggest St. Patrick's Day parades. It's also the setting for the latest political clash in the Georgia governor's race.
Gov. Nathan Deal and Democratic challenger Jason Carter both attended Monday's festival in downtown Savannah, not far from the sprawling port that poses political challenges to both campaigns.
Deal's decision to begin deepening Savannah's port using state funds after the White House snubbed the project runs the risk of legal challenges and could put state funds on the line for the entire $688 million project. And the Obama Administration's move forces Carter to try to explain why the White House is delaying the state's most important economic development project even after promising it would happen "come hell or high water."
Carter toured Savannah's port on Sunday and then criticized both Obama and Deal for their roles in the dredging drama. Said Carter:
"President Obama was wrong not to follow through on his administration's commitment to Georgia, but the governor's knee-jerk decision to go it alone has the potential to expose Georgia to years of expensive litigation and endanger the carefully built state-federal partnership that we need to make this project happen. Georgia taxpayers can't be left holding the bag, and the federal government can't be let off the hook. I'm not ready to give up on the federal partnership or the future of the port to score partisan political points."
The remarks were a recalibration of Carter's early response to the snub, in which he blamed Deal's "stick in the eye" attitude to Obama for the snub. The governor, meanwhile, has made clear that the state's go-it-alone approach will be a featured message in his re-election bid.
"It's hard to explain why it's taken us since 1999 to get this done," he told a crowd at a DeKalb County church last week. "I think we’ve studied it enough. It’s time for us to start doing something."
And Deal's campaign hit back with its own broadside later Monday, claiming that Carter's stance means that "he's OK with the project falling even further behind schedule if that's what it takes to appease the federal bosses."
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