Senate candidates have vowed sweeping changes in Washington, and Gov. Nathan Deal’s challengers have plans to overhaul state programs. But so far the incumbent governor has offered few particulars about his second-term priorities.
In a campaign season otherwise marked by lofty promises, Deal has stuck to a stay-the-course message on the campaign stump. As he qualified Monday to put his name on the ballot for likely the final time in his political career, he offered little more detail on what to expect for another term.
It’s a departure from the loftier rhetoric from other political hopefuls on display at the start of a weeklong ritual that attracts candidates across Georgia to file paperwork to get their names on the ballot for the May 20 primaries. There were promises to obliterate the health care overhaul, jump-start immigration legislation and even begin pulling apart Washington institutions.
“We haven’t finished everything that I would like to complete before I leave office as governor,” the governor said. “We’ve done a lot of good things in these first three and now going into the fourth year, but there are things that still need to be finished.”
The few specifics Deal has outlined would take significant political capital. He vowed to rework the arcane education funding formula that’s riven politicians since it took effect almost three decades ago. And he said he’ll back legislation in 2015 to expand the state’s powers to intervene in struggling districts.
Beyond those two campaign vows, though, he’s only talked more broadly of familiar themes: A pledge to find more ways to lower taxes, a vow to focus more on workforce development, a commitment to continue a three-year criminal justice overhaul, a promise to work toward dredging Savannah’s port.
“If the people of our state are kind enough to me to give me the opportunity to serve another term, we will make sure those turn out as well as we had hoped for, and in doing so we will improve the lives of all of our citizens,” said Deal.
That's a contrast from more concrete proposals from rivals on both sides of the political spectrum. Democrat Jason Carter said he would block lawmakers from tinkering with education funding and push the Georgia Lottery to increase its HOPE scholarship funding. Dalton Mayor David Pennington, who plans to qualify Tuesday to challenge Deal, pledged to eliminate the state income tax.
Other would-be officeholders came to the statehouse Monday with red-meat rhetoric and ambitious promises.
U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, running for an open Senate seat, pledged to “dismantle the federal government and send powers back to the states and the people.” And Rep. Phil Gingrey, another Senate candidate, promised to step down from the Senate after one term if President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul still stands.
“For the rest of my life I want to work to restore the economy and to get rid of Obamacare,” said Gingrey, a Marietta physician. “I’ve made a pledge I will repeal the law in my first term or go home.”
Democrats were equally optimistic. Rep. John Lewis, first elected to Congress in 1986, said his top goal for his next term is an immigration overhaul that would give more rights to the hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status in this state.
“Georgia’s not finished with me,” said Lewis.
Campaign promises, even the far-fetched ones, can give voters a blueprint to hold elected officials accountable. For Deal, though, the power of incumbency allows him to wield a re-election campaign based more on his record than his promises. That’s troubling to his critics.
“It’s absolutely a campaign tactic,” said DuBose Porter, who chairs the state Democratic Party. “There is a choice, you’re either for education or you’re not. They haven’t been. No one’s been there to say, ‘No you haven’t.’ And this is an opportunity to do that.”
Even Deal’s supporters are finicky over the lack of contours on Deal’s second-term agenda.
“I think there should be more details. But I think Gov. Deal feels like he’s ahead and he doesn’t need to carve out any more specifics,” said Debbie Dooley with the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots.
“Just like you see at a college football game, if a team feels like they’re way ahead, they put their second or third squad in. He’s in the protect-the-lead stage,” Dooley added. “Maybe there will be an opportunity to lay out his agenda, but if that happens it means he’s falling behind.”
When pressed on the subject Monday, the governor stuck to vague proposals possibly meant to attract independent voters without alienating his GOP base. He said to expect to “continue to see the advancements we’ve already made in education,” citing this year’s budget proposal to spend an additional $500 million on K-12 programs.
“We’re creating a job base in our state that will improve the lives of all of our citizens, but we have to do a better job as we continue forward to make sure that we have a workforce that is going to fill those jobs,” said Deal. “That means education needs to continue to be of primary importance.”
About the Author
