Georgia GOP Fails to Get Key Legislation Passed, Feuding Factions Falter
By John Fredericks / STAFF
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly |
The year was 1948. The national Republican Party held comfortable majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Their lock on power, coming after decades of Democrat rule and a backlash from Roosevelt’s New Deal policies seemed insurmountable. Going into the elections the Republicans held huge leads in every poll. The nation’s most respected pundits assumed the election was a slam-dunk. The Grand Old Party was riding an anti-Democratic wave. Their newly won majority seemed safe for years to come.
In the prior two years of rule, bare-knuckle politics, one-upmanship, posturing and publicly vetted turf wars stifled progress, and as a result not many popular bills ever made it into law. The GOP had stymied itself while Democrats, vastly outnumbered, sat on the sidelines and passively watched the theater.
Enter stage center, President Harry Truman, a hopeless underdog in the campaign himself. He relentlessly lambasted the, “do-nothing, good-for-nothing” Eightieth Congress for its inaction and fixation with its own power.
In all fairness the legislature had actually passed several landmark bills, such as the Marshall Plan to stave off the communist threat to Europe and the Taft-Hartley Labor Act, which Truman called the “slave labor act.”
It wasn’t enough though, and the label struck a chord with the U.S. electorate, as they tired of the political party infighting. Historians now surmise voters expected that behavior from the Democrats and not the Republicans. They wanted something different from the Republicans. What they got was more of the same or worse.
As a result, American voters punished the Republicans at the polls.
In one of the biggest upsets in U.S. political history, Truman and the Democrats won in a landslide, capturing 94- and 12-seat majorities in the House and Senate, respectively. Truman’s approval rating was below 35 percent in July, 1948.
Four months later he crushed his Republican opponent, New York Governor Thomas A. Dewey in November by 116 electoral votes.
Will history repeat itself in Georgia 60 years later?
This Georgia Legislature May Fit Truman’s Description
The 2008 Georgia legislative session has some key parallels to the famous “Do-nothing, good for nothing” 80th Congress that Truman railed against in 1948. He was able to get the electorate to ignore the good they did and focus on what they didn’t do. No doubt statewide Georgia Democrats will attempt the same strategy this fall in an attempt to wrest back control in what looks to be a good election year for Democrats nationally.
Like the Republicans back then, the Georgia GOP hyped an ambitious game plan going in to this year’s session, raising expectations. Unfortunately, battling factions rendered much of the preliminary promises they made as un-kept.
They entered the session publicly touting three main priorities – the three “T’s” –taxes, transportation and trauma. They came away from the session with none of the three and little else as the Friday bells tolled at midnight, ending the 2008 session. Also going down in the chaotic final hours were school vouchers, temporary relief for homeowners faced with foreclosure, sweeping ethics oversight in local government and a constitutional amendment mandating English as the official language of Georgia.
Adding insult to injury, House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Paulding) chided Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (R) to “man up” on Friday night, while Cagle blamed the whole fiasco on Richardson, accusing the Speaker of being, “blinded by ego and unwilling to come to an agreement” on taxes.
Governor Sonny Perdue couldn’t resist injecting himself into the fray, even from China, where he is on a trade mission. He called Richardson's attack on the lieutenant governor a "tirade.”
Not to be outdone, Richardson got the last word in, predicting to the press that Cagle would get slammed at the polls in his 2010 expected gubernatorial bid.
“From this day forward the car tag tax will forever be known as the Casey Cagle Birthday Tax,” boomed the Speaker.
It's left the Georgia GOP without a lot to run on in November.
It’s handed the Democrats a bazooka.
Can the Democrats Capitalize on GOP Futility?
The second ranking Democrat in the House, Minority Caucus Chairman Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) already has a fall campaign theme: “Either lead or get out of the way."
Martin Matheny, Communications Director of the Democratic Party of Georgia was licking his chops as he surveyed the field of elect-able Democrat candidates in November. “We are energized,” he said. “We are looking at a number of competitive seats this fall.”
“The Republican leadership has let everyone down in Georgia,” Matheny contended. “Before this session began the Republican leadership flew around the state and promised progress over politics. Instead we got more of the same.”
Matheny said results were meager. “Tax reform, dead. Trauma care, dead. Transportation funding, dead. Help for families facing foreclosure, dead. The question to Georgia voters this fall will be: do you want to align yourself with the party that eats its young rather than with the party who will fight for what’s right, putting political gain aside? We will be fighting for Georgia; they will be fighting each other.”
Jane Kidd, Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Georgia, who has on op-ed editorial in this week’s Beacon (page 11), chimed in, “Georgia Republicans are great at getting elected. They are terrible at governing.”
While the Georgia Democrat Party hierarchy believes they will gain seats in 2008, they conceded that gaining control of either house might take at least two cycles. Matheny said, “2010 is the key for us. That is when redistricting happens. We have to gain at least one chamber (back) by then.”
The Democrats have a long way to go to retake either chamber. They currently hold only 72 of 180 House seats and 22 of 56 Senate posts.
Insiders at the National Democratic Headquarters in Washington who run the Congressional Campaign Committee (DNCC) echoed the 2010 redistricting mantra. One veteran operative said as many as three Congressional seats could hang in the balance of redistricting power in Georgia.
Anne Bartoletti, Democrat Party leader in North Fulton, was ecstatic with the quality of candidates she is going to field in several North Fulton County races this year. She opined that this year’s lack of progress on key issues and the continuing Republican political turmoil has served as a new recruiting tool for her.
Bartoletti added, “Outstanding Democrat candidates have been calling me asking how to get involved. They are outraged at the Republican [shenanigans], they are frustrated by what they see and they want to defeat Republicans. Especially those in [leadership] posts.”
Republicans Still Bullish
GOP leaders insisted there were some significant accomplishments to crow about.
House Rep Harry Geisinger (R-Roswell) claimed that his party tackled the toughest issues.
“We put in the right legislation. It just didn’t get passed. Much of it died.”
“Naturally,” Geisinger said, “I am disappointed – even frustrated – that some key bills did not get passed, specifically on tax cuts and trauma care. I even had an important bill of mine (funding for trauma care through a surtax on disposable phone usage) get killed in committee. On the positive side we had several huge successes.”
Geisinger cited bills to approve a referendum on creating Dunwoody, creating more charter schools, and moving forward with a resolution to solve the disputed border issue and get Georgia’s water back.
Referring to the infighting in his own party, the veteran politician, who served eight years in the Reagan administration, said, “Its hard to put your finger on it. Either way, we have to [solve] it.”
Geisinger lauded the North Fulton contingent and added, “We have the finest delegation in the state and we work as a team.” He defined the delegation as House members Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta), Jan Jones (R-Milton), Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs), Wendall Willard (R-Johns Creek), Ed Lindsey (R-Buckhead) and himself. State Senators include Dan Moody (R), David Schaeffer (R) and Judson Hill (R).
“There are no rivalries or pettiness within our delegation. We work hard to get things done for those we serve.”
Geisinger intends to run for reelection this November. The local Democrats are targeting his seat for takeover.One democrat called it “ripe” for an upset.
Fulton County Commissioner Lynne Riley, a rising star within the local GOP ranks, was succinct in her assessment. “I am saddened that after two sessions we have not seen enough collaborative government. We need to work together.”
Riley said a challenge to Speaker Richardson might be in the wings, although Jan Jones thought it was unlikely (assuming the GOP maintains control of the House).
Jones Unfazed
Jones has an entirely different take. “I don’t look at this session with regret. We got our key bills important to North Fulton County passed. We got the county’s $9 million unfrozen and returned to the cities of Milton, Johns Creek, Alpharetta and Roswell. We got rid of the 75 unwanted billboards, and we got our charter schools bill passed.”
Concerning taxes, Jones said, “I would rather wait for the right bill than pass the wrong bill in haste.”
Jones voted against the transportation tax and the trauma care legislation. She indicated that neither bill would benefit her constituents as much as it will cost them. “My voters will be in Destin retirement communities before they see a dime of that transportation money come back to them. I am not going to continue to fund downtown transit on the backs of my constituents.”
High Stakes Games
In other parts of the state, Republicans grimly admitted they had come up short.
"It is hard to call this session a resounding success," state Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, said. "We could have done better."
"In my 34 years of being up here, I've never seen anything like this," said Smyre.
House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) said, "Some important issues in a vibrant state have been hindered by a void of leadership.”
David Adelman (D-Decatur) said this years campaign theme would be the “‘D’ word – ‘Dysfunctional.’
Some GOP lawmakers predict that Perdue will use his robust campaign machine to help elect Republican candidates willing to vote out Richardson as speaker. Cagle, who doesn't face re-election this year, might assist with that mission as well.
Richardson, meanwhile, has promised to vigorously criss-cross the state promoting his property tax cuts.
While he’s at it, he might also try to positon himself as a serious contender for governor to challenge Cagle in 2010.
As the political landscape transitions from governing to campaigning, Porter said Democrats have a clear premise to market.
"Voters can clearly see that (Republicans) stand for division and we stand for the people," he said.
Truman used this strategy to upset the Republicans in charge 60 years ago. Can these Georgia Democrats make hay with it again in November?