Legislature convenes amid wintry blast

Snow and sleet did not delay the constitutionally mandated opening of the 2011 General Assembly Monday, and in the first two hours leaders in the Senate stripped the lieutenant governor of much of his power and House members easily re-elected David Ralston as Speaker.

One-hundred and forty-nine members of the 180-seat House, and 52 of 56 Senate members were in their oak seats for the 10 a.m. opening. Many had stayed in nearby hotels to avoid driving in the inclement weather, but a 20-man detail of Georgia State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers drove about 50 people to the Capitol.

"It's mandated that we start on this day despite the weather," said Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Tucker, who was driven in.

Major Mark McDonough of the State Patrol said Thompson's was the longest drive. Most of the other legislators were driven in from nearby hotels.

In the Senate, the expected change in Senate rules passed 40-12. The new rules strip Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle of his authority to appoint committee chairmen and members. A group of eight senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, had been planning the inter-party shift since after the November elections because of some discontent with Cagle after last year.

The Senate unanimously re-elected Sen. Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, as Senate President Pro Tem.

Across the Capitol atrium in the House, House Speaker David Ralston, re-elected 140-9, signaled in his intent for the House to lead on issues such as taxes with the power shift in the Senate and a new governor in office.

“This House will do its job. This House will continue to be independent, and this House will lead,” Ralston said.

The House also re-elected Jan Jones, R-Alpharetta, as House Speaker pro tem. She was the first woman to hold the role when she was elected last year, and Monday she reached out to an unlikely female leader – House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams of Atlanta – from the floor.

“This is a valuable partnership in moving Georgia forward,” Jones said of the prospect of Democrats and Republicans unifying.

The House’s order of business was focused mostly on establishing who would lead the body during the session. However, a minor procedural vote on accepting the report about rewriting the state tax code gave a taste of the uphill battle the reform faces.

The technical objections by State Rep. David Lucas, D-Macon, were brushed aside in the 115-40 vote. But supporters of a tax overhaul will have a harder time fending off criticism from anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, whose Americans for Tax Reform called the proposal a tax increase on Monday.

But it was weather, and the inauguration of Nathan Deal as Georgia’s 82nd governor, that dominated most of the discussion away from the chambers.

Capitol Police lit up intersections around the Capitol with their lights as early as 8 a.m., guiding traffic and helping carloads of staffers and others find parking amid the ice and snow.

The detail of officers picking up legislators played a role in getting a quorum to the Capitol needed to kick of this year's session.

“It wasn’t far but I couldn’t get out of my driveway,” said Abrams, who lives in the DeKalb portion of Atlanta.

Many of the representatives drove to downtown Atlanta on Sunday, hoping to beat the storm.

Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, R-Sharpsburg, said he stayed in a nearby hotel and walked to the Capitol in boots and jeans, while carrying his suit.

Sen. Steve Henson, D-Tucker, was able to take MARTA.

Freshman Paulette Braddock, R-Hiram, arrived late Sunday with her mother, husband and three children, during the storm. The usually 45-minute drive took more than an hour and a half.

Even Ed Lindsey, a Republican who lives just a few miles north of the Capitol, drove to downtown Atlanta on Sunday.

“The representative from Buckhead chose to come in last night and stay at the Sheraton and not risk the lives of his neighbors or let them risk his,” Lindsey said of his decision to stay in a hotel, noting it was the first time in six years he’d not started his legislative day from home.

Two local lawmakers – Kathy Ashe, a Democrat from Ansley Park and Bobby Franklin, a Republican from Marietta – planned ahead enough to stay in their legislative offices Sunday night. Ashe even brought an air mattress, something that Franklin’s back would have appreciated.

“Hopefully I can get home tonight,” Franklin said. “The desk chair isn’t that comfortable.”

Freshman state Rep. Tom Taylor enjoyed the comfort of his own bed in Dunwoody Sunday, but only because he ran into David E. Nahmias at the Wild Hog Supper on Sunday night.

A driver from the Department of Natural Resources was picking up Nahmias, a state Supreme Court justice who swore in members of the state Senate Monday, to make sure he could make the trek from his Dunwoody home.

Taylor rode along with his fellow Republican.