We'll get to their on-the-record justifications below, but there is is a very specific, albeit unspoken reason the Georgia delegation might have lined up behind House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday. Consider this lead from Politico:
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As we said, rookies Reps. Jody Hice and Barry Loudermilk on Tuesday offered their public reasons for supporting John Boehner for House speaker -- and here's the in-depth premium/dead tree edition look at the whole, crazy first day.
Freshman Rep. Rick Allen, R-Evans, revealed therein that he was among the voice voters against Boehner in November closed meeting, but he came around on Tuesday. His extended explanation:
"This process is [Allen pauses to roll his eyes] -- but the bottom line is the way I made my mind up: The speaker asked for me to vote for him. The speaker helped me beat John Barrow. And others asked me to vote for the speaker. Not one other individual who was nominated asked me to vote for him."
Allen said the only other person he would have voted for speaker would have been Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., who is leading the committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks and received one unsolicited vote Tuesday. Allen recalled that in a closed-door House GOP meeting Monday night, Gowdy stood up and said: "We need to support the speaker because I think he deserves at least two more years of punishment."
The room broke up in laughter.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did his counterpart in Georgia a favor with his reaction to the Mercedes-Benz decision to move South.
"Mercedes USA made one thing very clear about its decision to leave — the cost of doing business and the tax environment is just too high here to be competitive with a state like Georgia," a Christie spokesman told the New York Times.
The timing of the deal made for complicated politics between Christie and Gov. Nathan Deal. But with the line above, the New Jersey Republican left Deal a parting gift his administration will likely highlight - and his economic recruiters will use to try ply other Jersey firms.
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The multi-year process to rework Georgia's education funding formula begins in earnest today.
Gov. Nathan Deal's education advisory boards meet for the first time to begin hashing out recommendations. The four boards -- one each of superintendents, principals, teachers and school board members -- are expected to provide a blueprint for legislation by the year's end.
The meetings are closed to the public, we're told, but one member offered a glimpse of what to expect. Interim Cobb County School Superintendent Chris Ragsdale told the Marietta Daily Journal that he would push to place a $100 million cap on the amount of contributions each school district can shift to the state.
"If we were able to realize a $100 million cap, obviously, that would be $33.4 million that would immediately be reinserted into the general fund budget," Ragsdale said. "That would help us tremendously as we look at trying to reduce class size and make our salary scales more competitive for our teachers and our principals and our administrators."
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We've got a lot of John Lewis news today, so bear with us. The Atlanta Democrat told the Huffington Post that his House colleague Steve Scalise, R-La., now the No. 3 ranking Republican in the chamber, should apologize for his 2002 speech to a white nationalist group:
When asked whether he believed anything Scalise said so far constituted an apology, Lewis replied, "I don't think so."
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John Lewis also picked up one vote for House Speaker, from Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., in a protest against Nancy Pelosi.
Lewis, who backed Pelosi, didn't have much to say about it. When we ran into him outside the House floor and asked how it felt to get a vote for speaker, Lewis replied: "Well, uh, it's OK."
Former Rep. John Barrow, D-Augusta, used to vote for Lewis instead of Pelosi, too.
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One more: As we've reported, the movie "Selma," which opens to general release on Friday, has been criticized for liberties that it has taken in the portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson, who emerges in the film as the primary white antagonist to Martin Luther King Jr. Not to mention the non-portrayal of King's top aide, Ralph David Abernathy.
On MSNBC on Tuesday, Lewis, who was on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that day in 1965, expressed his admiration for the film, which gives generous treatment to a younger version of himself. But the Atlanta congressman ducked a question from MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about historical accuracy:
A bit of the transcript:
Lewis: The film is art. It's drama. I loved the film. The film is so real. It is powerful. It made me cry – to see it happen, and how it happened. I think it will educate people [who] were too young to know what was going on, educate and inform people who were not even born."
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Bill Clinton is returning to Atlanta. The former president will be feted at the annual Salute to Greatness dinner on Jan. 17 as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations.
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In other dignitary news, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson will be in Atlanta on Thursday to view U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Transportation Security Administration operations at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Lawrenceville, re-introduced his FairTax legislation -- replacing the income tax with a national sales tax -- on Tuesday and made a video about it. Positive points for new media over press release but serious demerits for the vertical iPhone video. Horizontal is your friend.
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The Board of Regents has green-lighted a partnership with Georgia Power to build a 10-acre, one-megawatt solar farm on University of Georgia property. From the Athens Banner-Herald:
Georgia Power will operate it and distribute the energy from it in its electricity grid, but it will be a teaching tool for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the College of Engineering while also providing opportunities for research by the school and the company.
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Monday marks Inauguration Day for Gov. Nathan Deal, the beginning of a 40-day session of the state Legislature -- and the return of Moral Monday protests. From a mass email sent by Francys Johnson, president of the Georgia NAACP:
On January 12, Moral Monday Georgia is hosting a Teach In at 10 AM right across from the Georgia Capitol at the Central Presbyterian Church and Bold Action at 2 PM. Your organization, community, church, or city needs to be represented….
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