Transit seems to be gaining traction with suburban Republicans, but in a spotty, not altogether consistent way.
We've heard state Sen. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta talk glowingly about the need for mass transit. In Sandy Springs, Mayor Rusty Paul has called it crucial. But in next-door Cobb County, Commission Chairman Tim Lee puts all references to bus rapid transit in Sanskrit to avoid riling the torch-and-pitchfork crowd.
And yet in that same county, we now have Marietta Mayor "Thunder" Steve Tumlin, a former state representative with big ambitions for the city. Namely, he wants a trolley to roam from the Marietta Square down to the new Braves stadium near the intersection of I-75 and I-285.
This initial foray into Cobb transit doesn't come with the same pricetag as, say, Atlanta's streetcar or bus rapid transit. From the Marietta Daily Journal:
To shuttle baseball fans to SunTrust Park when it opens in 2017, Tumlin suggested using the 8.7 acres the Marietta Redevelopment Corporation owns on West Dixie and Hedges streets as a parking lot where trolley riders could leave their cars and take a trip to shop on the Square, visit a museum, or, on nights when the Braves play at home, watch a ballgame at SunTrust Park.
Tumlin said there are other properties the city could buy to realize his proposal of building a parking lot off the Square for a city trolley.
The Marietta voted 7-0 last week to investigate the idea and map out potential routes.
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The historical accuracy of the film "Selma" has been hotly debated, and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, often fields questions about it, since he was there and all. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Lewis sides with the filmmakers:
"Lincoln," for example, was a masterpiece, a fine representation of what it takes to pass a bill. It did not, however, even mention Frederick Douglass or the central role of the abolitionists, who were all pivotal to the passage of the 13th Amendment. For some historians that may be a glaring error, but we accept these omissions as a matter of perspective and the historical editing needed to tell a coherent story. "Selma" must be afforded the same artistic license.
All three of your Insiders have seen the film and can attest: It is powerful stuff.
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Former Insider and Alabama-native Tom Baxter weighs in on the movie and the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march as a part of his biography. From the Saporta Report:
That's because when a group of us teens cut church to sit on the hood of a friend's car and watch the first wave of military vehicles rolling into Montgomery in advance of the march, which would not arrive for another four days, "Downtown" was playing on the car radio. As every other detail of that moment faded over time, that tune remained.
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As the U.S. recognized Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday, The Hill asked several members of Congress to reflect on their votes against creating the holiday in the 1980s. U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., was among those who were opposed in the Georgia House, and he now regrets the decision:
"Had I to do it all over, I would have voted differently in the Georgia House, and I think my actions throughout my career in honor of the holiday and of Dr. King's life have demonstrated that," Isakson said in a statement provided to The Hill.
His office added that he's co-sponsored legislation supporting the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and another to award the Congressional Gold Medal to victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., on the tragedy's 50th anniversary. He also introduced a bill to encourage the National Park Service to preserve King's papers.
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Since King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, Georgia has the second-highest rate of electing black U.S. House members, according to a study released by the University of Minnesota.
A total of seven African-Americans have won 49 elections, for a rate of 16.7 percent of Georgia's House elections. Maryland came out on top with 17.4 percent.
Georgia now has four African-Americans in the House, all Democrats: Lewis, Sanford Bishop, David Scott and Hank Johnson.
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Ever the contrarian, former state lawmaker Ralph Long of Atlanta on Sunday issued a Facebook defense of the feuding King siblings -- Martin Luther King, Bernice King and Dexter King. It includes these paragraphs:
This nation, "YOU" black people[,] should give them a pass. They should be able to get free sodas, free parking, money when they need it, cars, contracts, free, free, stuff, reparations for their daddy fought for freedom and he was killed for it! If Dexter King wants to sell anything and Bernice King tell him no than "YOU" "Y'ALL" and "THEM" should shut up about it and let them work it out.
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If you want to know why some state lawmakers are moving to make the state school superintendent an appointed position, rather than an elected one, let us direct your attention to a weekend article from Celia Shortt and the Newnan Times-Herald.
The newspaper reported that aAt a Jan. 9 educational confab, Mike Royal, the gubernatorially appointed vice chairman of the state board of education, said Georgia should move forward with the Common Core standards for schools:
Royal said they are the "best thing" for Georgia students. He added the standards will continue to be tweaked, with some being changed and some remaining the same.
At the same event was newly sworn-in state School Superintendent Richard Woods, who campaigned against Common Core. Said Woods:
"My views are well known on it … but we will move forward," he said.
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Copart is known in this space as the firm that helped Gov. Nathan Deal revive his bank account when it bought the Gainesville salvage yard he co-owned - even as it was fighting with the state over as much as $74 million in back taxes.
But the auction firm earned a different sort of recognition last week when a Deloitte analysis called it the most financially exceptional public firm in the U.S.
Here's the story from CFO Magazine on Copart's distinction, and a no-comment from Lynne Riley, the former GOP lawmaker Deal recently appointed to head the revenue department, when asked by WXIA for an update on the case.
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First Lady Michelle Obama will have Georgia Tech grad Kathy Pham with her tonight in the box at the State of the Union address, one of 23 people intended to highlight the president's initiatives.
Here's the White House dossier on Pham, who works for the administration's newly created U.S. Digital Service:
This commitment is rooted in her family's story—her parents came to America in pursuit of a better life, her mother received critical cancer treatment thanks to the Affordable Care Act, and her brother earned the Purple Heart for service in Afghanistan. Today, Kathy is applying the cutting-edge skills she honed in the private sector to improve health IT for more Americans, expand veterans' access to benefits, and transform the way government provides services to families like hers.
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The U.S. House will again tackle a "fetal pain" bill this week to ban abortion after 20 weeks. National Journal picks up on some concern from the middle among House Republicans, including this from Rep. Renee Elmers, R-N.C.:
"I have urged leadership to reconsider bringing it up next week.… We got into trouble last year, and I think we need to be careful again; we need to be smart about how we're moving forward," Ellmers said in an interview. "The first vote we take, or the second vote, or the fifth vote, shouldn't be on an issue where we know that millennials—social issues just aren't as important [to them]."
Georgia Right to Life has also come out against the bill, but because it does not go far enough by allowing exceptions in the case of rape and incest. From a news release late last week:
"Last Fall, voters sent a clear message that they're fed up with political gamesmanship and lack of courage," Wilson said. "There's absolutely no need to compromise principles on any bill, especially one that President Obama has already said he will veto."
Wilson added that it's time for lawmakers to listen to voters and stop playing politics with children's lives.
This is the same dispute that saw GRTL split off from the National Right to Life umbrella group last year, to be replaced by the less confrontational Georgia Life Alliance. Reps. Paul Broun and Rob Woodall were the only Georgia Republicans to vote against the fetal pain bill in 2013, after GRTL lodged its objections.
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