Q: What has been the response since you refused to support a tax increase pushed by your Senate leadership?
A: Some people have said, “I don’t even agree with your position. But I appreciate the willingness to stand up knowing that it’s going to cost you and to speak what you really believe.” I really have appreciated that because obviously inside the Capitol I’ve taken a lot of criticism and some heat from our remarks and I understand that. My remarks were very strongly worded and very pointed, but I felt very passionately about them.
Q: Do you think you lost your chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee for naught since the tax increase was amended to include an insurance rollback?
A: If the hospital tax was such a good idea, why did they need to couple it with something else that was a supposed tax credit? Why wasn’t it good enough to stand on its own? If the hospital supposedly wanted it, if it was a good policy, why couldn’t it stand on its own merits? I mean that’s a good question to ask. They had to add something to it to make it look sweeter to convince people to vote for it. ... It’s very similar to what’s going on in Washington. The tax increase is certain and it’s immediate. The so-called tax decreases that were in the original bill are contingent, they’re not certain and they’re some point in the future. ... I feel like that’s the sort of thing that goes on in Washington that we ought to demand a little more transparency for at the state level.
Q: With a big budget deficit, wasn’t the only choice to raise revenue?
A: I disagree with the precept position that the only choice was to raise taxes or raise revenue. I do think that from my perspective if the people can afford to send us a certain amount of tax revenue we ought to balance the budget to that figure. We ought to do so with cuts and the cuts are painful. But if you’re true to the concept of limited government, balanced budgets, cutting spending, waste, fraud and abuse and all that to try to balance the budget then I still think there are ways to do that and that we should continue seeking ways to do that without raising taxes. ... We’ve got one-time federal stimulus money that’s propping up the budget right now to almost the tune of $2 billion and so we’ve got more difficult decisions to make. So if you’ve already reached the point where you’ve said, we can’t do it without raising taxes this year, when a billion dollars goes away next year then the question’s not whether you raise taxes, it’s which taxes you raise and how much.
Q: If you don’t raise revenue, how do you cut the budget?
A: What you have to do is go in and prioritize from top to bottom state government. You do it in the prioritizing of what are essential government functions. And essential government function means things that are constitutionally required and then things that meet the genuine needs that must be provided by the state. ... It may mean that some parks get locked and some grass doesn’t get cut and some people aren’t able to enjoy the things that I enjoy that make Georgia great. But we have to make some tough choices to get through a tough time. I think that’s what you’re seeing with some of the discussion about the halls of fame and the music halls of fame and the museums...Golf courses, that perhaps is the best example. I’ve gone down and paid and played on the state golf course and they’re very nice. I wish we could do that. But I wish more we didn’t have to lay off a teacher.
Q: How have you been treated by your colleagues?
A: There are some very hard feelings. I’ve said some very strong things. ... I don’t regret saying what I said, but I’m paying a price for that. And yes, the mood has been different. My treatment has been very different. ... When you disagree with your own party and your own leadership you break a form of code. And it changes things.
Q: What are your plans now?
A: I’m not going anywhere. And by that I mean my plan is to speak my mind and I want us to enter into a time when legislators feel like they can do that in both parties.
Q: Has there been any retaliation against you?
A: I’ve had a bill in the House of Representatives for this, maybe the third or fourth year that will allow Georgians to prosecute ... the crime of incest when it’s a same sex version of incest. Right now the crime is gender specific. ... It’s a no brainer, everybody supports it, nobody’s opposed to it, not the defense attorneys or anybody else. It passes through unanimously from every committee it goes to. But every single year it gets stopped because of personalities that don’t like somebody else. In this case me, and they stop the bill and hold it. Now you think about that for a second. ... The offender cannot be prosecuted for incest because my name is on a bill and they’re mad at me because I called out my leadership. Now that has gone too far.
Q: Who told you this?
A: A House member who was helping me with the bill said that — told me, I’m sorry they told me your bills aren’t going to be passed in the House this year. ... I’m just letting you guys know what I’ve been told. I have no idea what happens. This process, sometimes it’s a lot of bluff and bluster and sometimes it turns out people change their minds.
State. Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome) spoke to AJC and WSB reporters and editors April 15 at the state Capitol.
On the record: A weekly event where reporters and editors talk to leaders about key issues for Georgians.
Excerpts from the conversation also can be heard on News/Talk 750 WSB.
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