Sunday night made for some unintentionally awkward optics at the Depot near the state Capitol.
The new sponsor of the storied Wild Hog Supper, the Georgia Food Bank Association, happily filled the void after lobbyists backed away from the traditional opening event of each year's legislative session.
But the food bank folks have had some beefs with Gov. Nathan Deal after he vetoed a bill last year that
for food banks and health centers.
Deal's veto statement said the breaks hadn't been vetted by his competitiveness panel, but it came days after he signed other tax break legislation that hadn't been reviewed by the group.
The governor spent a chunk of his time at the event taking pictures and fielding questions in front of a screen emblazoned with the food bank logo. The food bank tax breaks are back on the table this year, and we get the feeling they'll be in play.
But when we asked him generally about whether he supported any smaller tax cuts this session -- he's already said he's against any sweeping changes -- Deal was noncommittal. "There are always areas people have ideas about how to tweak the tax code, but we have to be very careful," he said.
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We also bugged the governor on what he thinks would make the 40-day session a success. He kept them pretty attainable.
"If we can keep the budget I've proposed relatively intact," he said, adding also the third leg of his criminal justice overhaul and the addressing of child welfare issues.
"Those are the real highlights. There will be of course other issues that people will raise, but it's premature to know how or when they will."
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We may have the first no-show at Saturday's GOP Senate debate. We bumped into Rep. Phil Gingrey last night, and he told us he would likely miss the event in Adel, sponsored by the Georgia GOP, due to a fundraiser he scheduled. Rest assured, he said, he'll make the next one. It's in his home district, in Kennesaw.
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We didn't catch Democrat Jason Carter at the Wild Hog Supper -- we know he was trying to corral a few more campaign dollars before the session starts -- but his campaign sent out an upbeat statement Saturday in response to the AJC poll.
The survey showed Deal at 47 percent in a head-to-head matchup against Carter, who was at 38 percent. (Deal's support reached 50 percent when voters were asked which candidate they'd lean toward voting for).
Carter spokeswoman Meg Robinson noted two other surveys that also showed him under 50 percent in a contest against a Democrat.
"Any political analyst will tell you that this is a sign of real vulnerability for an incumbent," she said, adding: "The fact that the majority of voters don't support him clearly demonstrates that he is a weak incumbent and that Georgians are ready for new leadership."
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The effort to do away with Georgia's system of medical malpractice lawsuits can officially be declared D.O.A. this morning, even before the Legislature has gaveled itself into session. In an interview with Denis O'Hayer of WABE (90.1FM), Gov. Nathan Deal endorsed House Speaker David Ralston's skepticism that the measure, which would treat malpractice claims in a way similar to workers' compensation filings, could pass muster.
Said Deal:
"Those are the two big professions that are involved in that issue. They're usually on the opposite sides of issues like this."
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A survey of 618 likely Republican primary voters completed last week shows Gwinnett County commissioner Mike Beaudreau with a substantive lead over state Sen. Don Balfour, who returns to the Legislature today after his December acquittal on 18 counts associated with misuse of his Capitol expense report.
From the Facebook page of John Garst, president of Rosetta Stone Communications:
The survey also tracked the general favorability of the potential and announced candidates. Primary voters in the district view Balfour unfavorably by a margin of 27%-39%. Only 17% of the primary voters think Balfour deserves to be reelected versus 52% who would "prefer someone else."
The survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The straight horse-race numbers:
-- Don Balfour – 14%
-- Clay Cox – 11%
-- P.K. Martin – 10%
Undecided/No Opinion – 46%
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We're told U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will be in Atlanta today grabbing lunch with GOP community and business leaders. The event is being organized by Ashley Bell, the former Hall County commissioner who also helped gather black Republicans for Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus a year ago for a debrief on the 2012 election.
This session is likely more focused on 2016, as Paul is making early moves to run for president. Bell, we’re told, is pondering a political move of his own: the race for state school superintendent.
Paul has spent the past year aiming for more mainstream appeal than his father, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, whose presidential bids were known for their ardent but relatively small group of fans.
Chris Christie’s woes last week showed, as Dan Balz wrote Sunday in the Washington Post, that “Republicans appear headed for the most wide-open and unpredictable nomination campaign in decades.”
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While lawmakers officially start their 2014 session this morning, the Georgia chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers will gather in a lower floor to declare that the state deserves no more than a gentleman's "C" when it comes to infrastructure.
From the press release:
Specifically, the Report Card finds that Georgia is lagging in sustainable investment, including:
-- Georgia ranks 49th in the nation in per capita transportation funding.
-- Georgia is among the lowest in the country in transit spending per resident. According to the American Public Transportation Association's 2010 Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation, Georgia spent just $0.63 per person in 2008. In comparison, New Jersey spent $119.52, Illinois spent $40.43, and North Carolina spent $7.94 per person in the same year.
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Here's a new wrinkle to watch out for in this week's debate over guns in the state Capitol – a legislative directive to permit concealed carry in public buildings, unless local entities ante up for armed guards and such. From the New York Times:
"It's unfair to the taxpayer to ask them to fork out those kinds of dollars," said Ms. Miller, who wanted more time to weigh options but admitted that choices were slim. "There is no municipality in the state of Kansas that can afford those infrastructure costs."
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On Sunday, the Daily Caller cut loose with an article condemning U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston for indulging in taxpayer-funded mail pieces to his constituents, a practice that he at one point had condemned:
On Friday, residents of Georgia's first district, which Kingston represents, received a several page color mailer from Kingston about his American Renewal project. A spokesman for Kingston could not give the exact cost of the mailer, but said that the congressman had made great efforts to be frugal in his spending of taxpayer money.
This is one of those pieces in which the source may be more important than the substance. The Daily Caller is the conservative news outlet founded by Tucker Carlson – and the article may signal formal opposition to Kingston’s U.S. Senate campaign by Washington’s most conservative GOP elements.
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Karen Handel, the former secretary of state and current Republican candidate for Senate, thinks it may be time to eliminate those federally subsidized airline links to smaller Georgia cities such as Athens and Macon. From Walter Jones of Morris News Service:
Known as the Essential Air Service, the program spends about $220 million annually. It pays part of carriers' operating costs for serving 163 airports across the country that had commercial flights before airline deregulation in 1978.
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In a piece for Atlanta magazine, investigative reporter Jim Walls describes how the Cobb County Commission did an end-run around the state's open meeting requirements last year when it came to the deal that landed the Atlanta Braves:
Transparency advocates, though, describe that practice as a "rolling quorum" that circumvents the spirit and letter of the law.
"If the Open Meetings Act exists for any purpose, [it's] this situation," said Hollie Manheimer, an attorney and executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. "To the extent there is even an appearance that one commissioner leaves to be replaced by another commissioner to avoid a quorum, that raises questions about issues with the Open Meetings Act."
Given that Sam Olens was Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee’s predecessor, perhaps this is worth an official opinion from the attorney general.
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