Wednesday, January 10, 2001

Will our reps prove themselves this year?

By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

Hang onto your wallets, folks, the state Legislature's in session.

So the old saying goes.

Some would say it's not so appropriate anymore. The governor and the folks under the Gold Dome have been in quite a tax cutting mood the last few years.

They've cut property taxes, unemployment taxes, sales taxes for food...

I haven't actually seen any of those property tax reductions myself. I hear they've increased the homestead exemption, but when I get my bill I don't see any evidence of it. Must be a matter of interpretation.

Personally, I would prefer a tax cut I can see, taste, touch and feel, like an across-the-board income tax cut. But thank heaven for small favors. At least income taxes aren't going up... yet.

Regardless of these phantom tax cuts, though, the question of whether the state government is being fiscally responsible is not purely a matter of taxes. It's a matter of whether the Legislature is spending any more of your and my tax money than is absolutely necessary.

On that point, I submit, the old saying still goes.

From what I've seen in the last year, the current fashion seems to be to come up with a crisis and create a commission for every issue one can think of.

The commission will then do exactly the same thing that the old committee, commission or agency that's been there for a hundred years did, but with more publicity.

Of course, the old commission is still around, still spending money. The new one just spends more.

The commissions go on junkets and conduct hearings to study the issues they were created to oversee, and of course all of that costs money. But the real cost comes when the commissions issue their edicts, and business owners and their hard-working employees have to step to the music, usually to the beat of a new, improved, souped-up, modernized, turbocharged set of regulations that cost twice as much to comply with as the old ones did.

There will be voices calling for restraint, but if the past is any indication, they'll be drowned out.

Meanwhile, there are some issues that need some real, honest attention. They've been mentioned in news articles, but whether anything will really be done remains to be seen.

For instance, what will actually happen on the state flag?

I'm aware this is a sensitive issue, and I respect those who want to hang onto the old flag as a symbol of sacrifice and commitment. But I would ask those people to try I know it's difficult, but try to put themselves in the shoes of black Georgians.

Can you honestly say that the Confederate battle emblem wouldn't inspire in you the same feelings that the swastika would inspire in a Jewish person or for that matter, in a U.S. veteran of WWII if you were black?

It's not the most important issue on the agenda, to be sure. It's just a symbol. But as a symbol, the state flag should not be something that is offensive to a third of the people in the state.

I don't for one minute advocate wiping the St. Andrews Cross out of our consciousness. It's part of history, and it can certainly have its place in Confederate cemeteries and alongside monuments. But on the state flag, we need to look forward.

Education will continue to be the most important issue, and it will receive the most attention the most sound and fury. They say if you toss up enough spaghetti, some of it will stick on the ceiling. Let's hope that with all the "solutions" that will be tossed up by the Legislature, some of them will stick and do some good.

Let's watch and see whether our representatives have the courage to do anything meaningful about the carnage on our highways, much of it caused by the carelessness with which we toss the keys to our young people.

We need a real, meaningful test for the drivers' license, mandatory training, a minimum driving age of 17 with learner permits continuing for both 15- and 16-year-olds, and restrictions on time of day and number of passengers for new drivers.

Personally, I plan to study how my representatives vote on this issue, and vote accordingly next election.

One big item on the agenda this session that is rarely mentioned when you ask legislators what they're concentrating on is reapportionment.

The U.S. Census has given us two new congressional seats, which means that all the existing districts will have to be redrawn to make room for the new ones.

This is usually quite a show, as those in power come up with some of the most tortured geographical divisions you can imagine. Their goal will not be to draw the districts in as sensible a manner as possible, but to ensure as many seats as possible go to their party.

For instance, if you've got a district that's 80 percent Democratic surrounded by districts that are 55 percent Republican, the game is to draw the districts so that the 80 percent Democratic district drops to 60 or 70 percent and one or two of the Republican districts changes to Democratic.

If Republicans were in power, believe me, the goal of the exercise would be reversed.

On top of all that, there will be pressure from civil rights groups to go to great pains to increase the number of districts in which minorities can easily be elected.

It should be an interesting session.

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