This story was originally published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on April 20, 2007.
Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday night vetoed a midyear spending plan that includes a property tax rebate, and said he was ready to call the Legislature --- already exhausted by a tortuous, three-month gathering --- into a special session.
House leaders vowed to override the veto with a two-thirds vote today, the Legislature's scheduled final day, and go home for the year. But Senate Republican leaders said they would not challenge it, making another meeting of the General Assembly likely.
Perdue, in a Thursday night news conference announcing his veto, said the Legislature's budget left out funding for several key programs. And he faulted a $142 million tax cut for property owners that lawmakers hurriedly approved last week.
"I believe politics got in the way of doing the right thing, " the governor told reporters. "The late-night, quick fix was the wrong solution for Georgia."
House Speaker Glenn Richardson declared himself "extremely disappointed" with Perdue's veto. "It is difficult to understand why Governor Perdue has chosen to deny Georgians $142 million tax break, " Richardson said in a statement.
House Republican leaders say they won't back off the proposed tax cut. And they took a shot at the Republican-led Senate for siding with the governor.
"I believe the motion will definitely be made to [overturn the governor's veto], " said House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island). "This is uncharted territory."
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the Senate's president, was more conciliatory. "We are responsible to produce a budget that meets the needs of Georgia, and now is the time for all of us to work together to reach a resolution shortly, " he said.
The governor said the $700 million midyear budget, which runs through June 30, left out needed funding for adult literacy programs, state prosecutors, hazardous waste clean-up programs and efforts to protect children from Internet predators.
House and Senate Republicans struck a last-minute deal on the budget after Cagle had gutted the spending plan of most of the local projects added by the House.
The resulting compromise, to send $142 million back to homeowners, left a large hole in the budget, said the governor.
"I think when you add up all the money, everyone will come to the conclusion that you can't put Humpty Dumpty back together with 140 million pieces missing, " the governor said. "When you take $140 million out of liquidity, I think you've got real problems."
The midyear budget had much more in it than just the tax break. It also included $81 million to prop up the PeachCare health insurance program for children of the working poor, $8.5 million to keep the public defender's system afloat and more than $40 million to aid the startup of a Kia auto manufacturing plant in west Georgia.
But critics of the plan said cuts approved by the House and Senate would have also resulted in the furloughing of literacy teachers and prosecutors.
The governor said lawmakers could still avoid a special session by approving a new midyear budget today and attaching it to the spending plan for fiscal 2008, which begins July 1.
"I think the Senate agrees with me and continues to work toward that end. I hope the House leadership will again come to the table and address the needs of Georgians in the most appropriate way, " Perdue said.
The governor said he would talk to House and Senate leaders before setting a date for a special session, should it become necessary. Any special session would last a minimum of five days and likely cost the state about $35,000 a day.
The confrontation between Richardson and the governor began early this month, when Perdue began expressing doubts about the tax cut.
Perdue wanted, instead, for legislators to approve his proposal to eliminate state income taxes on upper-income retirees, an issue he'd touted in his successful re-election campaign last year.
House leaders stalled the retirement tax cut because they said they wanted to provide more comprehensive tax reform next year. They argued that their property tax cut helped all homeowners, not just upper-income retirees.
The conflict accelerated Thursday, as the governor called House members --- Republican and Democrat --- to his office to explain the demand he had made of Richardson and Cagle.
At one point, messages from Perdue became so plentiful that Richardson barred members of the governor's staff from the House floor.
At 6 p.m., House Minority Leader DuBose Porter and five other Democrats met with Perdue. The governor told them that if the Legislature ignored his budget concerns, he would veto the midyear budget bill and its tax rebate to property owners.
"He was not threatening, he was congenial, " Porter said.
The governor vetoed the midyear spending bill less than three hours later.
With 106 Republicans in the 180-member House, Republicans will need Democratic help if they vote to override Perdue's veto.
State Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) said Democrats would gather Friday morning to decide their strategy. "There is the independence of the House to consider, and the feelings of the caucus, " Smyre said.
Smyre said he's never seen a governor veto a budget in his 33 years as a lawmaker. But he noted that Perdue has not been heavily involved in negotiations this year.
Richardson was apparently caught off guard by the governor's veto.
Only minutes before Perdue called his news conference, Richardson told reporters that --- despite the day's brinksmanship --- he expected a peaceful end to a long session that began in January and has been marked by starts and stops.
"We're going to get it worked out. This is a lot huffing and puffing over the budget. It's natural, " the speaker said. "We're supposed to disagree and then we're supposed to listen to each other's viewpoint and come together, and we will. It always works like this."
