Rebel with a cause

Voters in the GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate could be forgiven for wondering where Mr. Outsider appears on their ballots. David Perdue has made "outsider" such a part of his campaign brand it seems like it should be at least his middle name.

“I’ve never been in politics,” was the way the career businessman opened his remarks to about 50 people at the Sun City Peachtree retirement community near Griffin on Thursday. Then, noting how long lawmakers stay in office despite the low approval ratings for Congress, he asked them, “Why do we keep sending ‘em back, y’all?”

That message resonated with his audience Thursday, and it led Perdue to a first-place showing in last month’s primary, though he was well short of avoiding a July 22 runoff with U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston. But while riding to an evening fundraiser in Stockbridge — in an RV emblazoned with his name and half a dozen uses of the O-word — I asked why Perdue would be any more successful than those who have come before him promoting such ideas as tax reform, regulatory restraint and term limits.

“I think the difference is that I bring more of a business perspective to a Senate that has only about 10 people who have any free-enterprise experience,” he said. “And, I’m not really trying to get re-elected. I think that’s the difference.

“I have a mission. My life was fine, but I saw a need and I’ve stepped in to try to help because I think I can make a difference. I think that puts me in a unique position vis-à-vis career politicians who really are just trying to get re-elected: They go along to get along, and really kowtow to the powers-that-be. I’m talking about the money people.”

Among the issues where he said his experience in business, not politics, will bring results are:

• Cutting spending: "Sequestration really was not the right way to do it. If you could really run it as a business, you go back with a zero-based budget and allocate against priorities: national defense, welfare commitments, all that."
• Tax reform: "Right now there are estimates as high as $2.5 trillion in U.S. (companies') profits that are trapped offshore … because we are the only developed country that has a repatriation tax. Well, I believe if you go to enough Democrats and explain to them, this will not cost the government one red cent; we're not collecting anything now … I think you can get movement."
• Regulations such as the newly announced rules for power plants: "Congress has let the EPA do this … they didn't fulfill their responsibility of oversight, so now we have an out-of-balance situation that's putting tremendous stress on our (companies') ability to compete around the world."
• Term limits: "I just think there needs to be a champion. I don't hear anyone on the nightly news screaming about, hey, we've got 36 people up here in the United States Senate that have been here (more than 30 years). Why? Because it's a good-old boy club."