Politicians across the South will be closely watching the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case this morning on whether Texas was right to reject a license plate displaying the Confederate flag.
Whatever the ruling, it will resonate in Georgia, where the decision last February to release a license tag featuring the Confederate emblem inflamed civil rights advocates and sparked a new debate on what images should appear on state-issued items.
In Texas, the Sons of Confederate Veterans says its goal is to preserve the history and legacy of soldiers who fought for the Rebels in the Civil War. They point out that Texans can celebrate a range of causes on their license plates,
. The state denied the group's application for a special license plate after a range of groups called them offensive.
The group challenged the DMV's decision in federal court, but a district judge upheld the state's decision to restrict what it determined to be offensive content. The Sons of Confederate Veterans appealed to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the lower court's decision. The court said the DMV had unlawfully discriminated against the Confederate group's beliefs that the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage in favor of those who were offended by it.
The Confederate license plates, which cost an extra $35 each year, are off to a quick start in Georgia. The Sons of Confederate Veterans, which gets $10 for each of the plates, reported that sales of the specialty tags more than doubled in the first six months since the redesign.
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On the same note, we noticed another new license plate on the Department of Revenue's website. This one caters to a more exclusive crowd:
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Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has decided to take the fate of S.B. 129, the controversial "religious liberty" bill, into his own hands.
Willard will head a special, nine-member subcommittee that will hear the bill at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The agenda doesn’t indicate that a vote will be taken.
The special subcommittee is made up of four Democrats and four Republicans. Democrats are expected to oppose it uniformly. But even a party-line vote would give Willard the final say.
Other members of the committee:
Roger Bruce, D-Atlanta; Johnny Caldwell Jr., R-Thomaston; Barry Fleming, R-Harlem; Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Decatur; Beth Beskin, R-Atlanta; Stacey Evans, D-Smyrna; Ronnie Mabra, D-Fayetteville; and Tom Weldon, R-Ringold.
In the Marietta Daily Journal, state Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, author of S.B. 129, expressed pessimism about his measure's future:
"Tuesday is the 35th legislative day, so it doesn't leave us very much time to move the bill out of the subcommittee to the full committee, to (the) House Rules (Committee) and then to the floor," he said.
Former attorney general Michael Bowers is among those expected to testify before the subcommittee on Tuesday.
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We missed the Sunday broadcast, but the following YouTube clip of WAGA's "Georgia Gang" was posted by Erick Erickson this morning. So it's possible that the commentary was even harsher than the 15 seconds below indicate:
Says Dick Williams:
"Erick Erickson of WSB Radio has overstepped the lines of a talk show host. He's down to advocating and calling people out."
I haven't seen the talk radio rule book. So you'll forgive me if I keep on keeping on until someone shows me why I cannot.
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Call it coincidental that this comes during Georgia's debate over religious liberty and gay marriage. From CNN:
Three and a half decades after calling for homosexuals to be stoned, former Bob Jones University President Bob Jones III has apologized.
"I take personal ownership of this inflammatory rhetoric," Jones said. "This reckless statement was made in the heat of a political controversy 35 years ago."
The weekend apology came days after the conservative Christian school in South Carolina received a petition asking for an apology for a statement Jones made to the Associated Press in 1980 at the White House.
"Upon now reading these long-forgotten words, they seem to me as words belonging to a total stranger—were my name not attached."
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The head of Georgia's Republican Party will face at least one challenger at the party's convention in May.
Alex Johnson, a GOP operative from DeKalb County, told us he's running against John Padgett for the four-year term.
Johnson sent an email out to Republican activists calling for reforms in the party. Here's a snippet (the emphasis is his):
While we have been making efforts for years to increase turnout and involvement in the Republican Party throughout Georgia, there's a small group of party "leaders" who seem to believe that the Republican Party should be more like a private country club than an open , inclusive , and transparent party where you have a voice in electing leadership.
Padgett is an Athens businessman who cranked up voter ID strategies and ratcheted up fundraising ahead of the GOP's 2014 sweep. But he is also a plaintiff in two discrimination lawsuits - one that targets the party and the other that names his business.
Johnson may not be the last challenger. We've heard the names of several other potential contenders, including former officeholders, though none would comment.
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Please pardon us for being slow to document this unusual slight of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., by a gathering of the DeKalb County GOP, at a March 14 session that included election of county officers. From the blog that calls itself Free Republic:
We even sent a nice hearty 'middle finger' to Johnny Isakson, the GOP establishment Senator from GA: Johnny has a long tradition of speaking at these engagements. Today, when the vote came up to make room for him, our populist district chair made a motion that instead of us stopping when he got here, he [could] speak at the end .. when the business we were THERE for, was conducted. (As an aside, we ran out of time anyways, and would have been completely messed up if he had given his usual stemwinder). The motion carried by a good margin. Johnny was told this, and he refused to come after all.
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