Wednesday, November 22, 2000
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Wednesday, November 22, 2000 |
| Choice of Westmoreland
signals a tough legislative session ahead
By TOM CRAWFORD It's safe to say that Republican legislators, particularly those in the state House of Representatives, are not a bunch of happy campers these days. They're outraged, in fact, at the Democrats retaining control of the General Assembly, and their anger was on full display during the party caucus last week. "I'm mad and I'm ready to fight," said Rep. John Wiles (R-Marietta). "We have to fight the governor on this. They call us a loyal opposition, but I don't want to be loyal anymore I want to fight them." "There will be wars," said Rep. Jeff Williams (R-Snellville). "With a go-along, get-along attitude on the part of leadership, we lose every time." "They have gone beyond decency," said Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-Marietta) in describing Democratic legislators. Cooper, Wiles and Williams were just a few of many Republicans who made similar vows to fight the Democrats every step of the way during the upcoming legislative session. They said the battle will start at the subcommittee level and be carried to the House floor on every initiative proposed by Gov. Roy Barnes and the Democrats. It promises to be a nasty confrontation. "It's mean, and we'd better get mean too, or we're going to keep losing races," said Rep. Mark Burkhalter (R-Alpharetta), who urged House Republicans to emulate the tactics of the late Lee Atwater, the hatchetman for George Bush the elder in the 1988 presidential race. "It's the legacy of Newt Gingrich," said a veteran Capitol lobbyist, dismayed at the prospect of having to deal with such hostile factions. This Republican anger is rooted in their failures of the last two election cycles. The GOP leadership and its cheerleaders in the media have been predicting a Republican takeover of state government since the late 1980s, but it just hasn't happened. Republicans actually lost House seats in 1998 and 2000, although they did pick up two on Senate side this year. As political control continues to elude them, they've gotten more and more frustrated. Legislative Republicans will be not only an angrier group but a harder-edged group as well in the upcoming session. Several moderate GOP lawmakers were ousted in the primary elections by candidates who were farther to the right, and House Republicans voted out Minority Leader Bob Irvin (R-Atlanta) in favor of the more conservative Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg). This means there will be fewer GOP legislators who might be willing to compromise with the Democrats on issues like water, education and the state flag. If the House Republicans live up to their fighting words and the Senate Republicans continue to stand united under Minority Leader Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), we could be seeing a smaller-scale version of the partisan wars that have gridlocked Congress for the past decade. "We're going to make a clear distinction of what we think are differences," said House Minority Whip Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs). "I see a more outspoken caucus right now." The first battle between Democrats and Republicans has already started the Nov. 28 runoff election between Rep. Randy Sauder (D-Smyrna) and Republican Ginger Collins. Sauder switched from the Republican Party to the Democrats earlier this year, and GOP lawmakers almost foam at the mouth in their hatred of him (although Republicans don't seem to get quite so upset when a legislator jumps from the Democrat to the Republican side). Whichever party prevails in this runoff will get a psychological boost going into the session. Democrats, of course, have the ultimate card to play: a majority of the seats in both chambers even if Sauder loses the runoff. They will need to hold their members together more than ever, because it looks like all of the controversial issues will come down to a straight party-line vote. "We're going to have a tough session," said Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "We've got to be ready for it." Buckle your seat belts, folks. It's going to be a bumpy ride. Impressive numbers . . . It now looks like the general election voter turnout in Georgia was a fraction above 66 percent, which is much higher than the 61 percent initially projected by Secretary of State Cathy Cox. That's the highest state turnout in all but one of the presidential election years since 1980. The lone exception was 1992, when just over 73 percent of Georgia's eligible voters cast ballots. [Tom Crawford is editor of www.capitolimpact.com, an Internet news site that covers state government and politics in Georgia.] Copyright 2000 by Capitolimpact.com.
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