Wednesday, January 24, 2001

'A lie from hell'

Flag fight ignites Westmoreland

By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

In response to charges he is backing away from his earlier position, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg) is reiterating his opposition to changing the Georgia state flag.

"That's the same position I've always had," he said.

Late last week, The Citizen obtained copies of e-mails from the Sons of Confederate Veterans who said the felt "betrayed" after learning that Westmoreland had cut a deal with Georgia Chamber of Commerce officials to change the flag if they would help him with upcoming reapportionment.

"That's a lie from the pits of hell," he said.

Westmoreland was sad to hear that the group felt he was abandoning them.

""They're taking the bait, and I wish they wouldn't," he said.

He maintained that he has always been opposed to changing the flag and would stick to his guns on the issue.

In other matters, Westmoreland said that House Bill 30, which he cosponsored and would have amended language concerning the State Ethics Commission, is dead.

"What we're trying to do is change the language and it was misinterpreted. We're drawing up a new piece of legislation," he said.

The thrust of the new bill will be to forbid ethics officials from commenting on a case before it is heard. After the case is settled, state ethics officials would be free to offer their opinion on the matter.

"We want to prevent any misleading information getting out before the case is heard," he said.

The original bill contained language that some people interpreted as muzzling the Ethics Commission, but Westmoreland maintained that was never the case.

"We're just trying to help the commission," he said.

Westmoreland is also cosponsor of a bill that will eliminate sales tax on the first 200 therms of natural gas purchases until 2002.