Gov. Nathan Deal’s appointment of former South Georgia Sen. Greg Goggans to the state dentistry board Friday continued a trend of former senators returning to state government in one form or another.
Of 34 Republican state senators in 2009, about 60 percent — 20 — have left the chamber (and at least three more are leaving at the end of this year). About two-thirds of those are back involved in state government, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis.
Some have been appointed to high-paying jobs by Deal, some have been appointed to boards, some have run for and won other posts in government, and some are or will be shortly lobbying the same senators they once called colleagues.
Goggans is a dentist who was a member of the Senate leadership team and active in health care issues before retiring in 2012. Board memberships are unpaid positions.
Recently, the University System hired state Sen. Cecil Staton, R-Macon, to a newly created $165,000 a year administrative job. Also recently, former Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers was fired from his $150,000 a year job with Georgia Public Broadcasting, a hiring that brought Deal political grief when it was announced in late 2012.
The Senate Republican class of 2009-10 now gone from the chamber includes several other highly paid Deal appointees, a judge appointed by the governor, the state’s insurance commissioner, a couple of state House members, a Department of Transportation board member and some lobbyists.
Republicans aren’t the only ex-senators to hang around once they retire. Democratic Sen. George Hooks, the chamber’s dean, retired in 2012 and was appointed by Deal to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents in 2013. He served less than a year before becoming a statehouse lobbyist for historic preservation causes.
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