By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh wants to hear from his bosses.

The Sharpsburg senator brought his gospel of the General Assembly to Fayette's oldest black church Saturday afternoon at the county's NAACP meeting.

More than 30 members turned out at Flat Rock AME Church to hear the newly elected senator's assessment of his first session under the Gold Dome.

One of the biggest surprises, Seabaugh said, is the silence from his constituents.

"There's 190,000 people in this district and they're all my bosses. I'm just surprised I haven't heard from more of them," he said.

Seabaugh said he has heard from people on only one issue. While he did not address it by name, he may have been alluding to the recent debate on changing the state flag. Seabaugh voted against the change, but none of those in attendance questioned him on his vote.

In his first session, Seabaugh has learned that many people in the General Assembly are just looking for a quick political gain, he said. His method of evaluating issues is to seek opinions from people in his district and come to a careful decision, he added.

Seabaugh urged the members to set their sights high and become leaders in the community.

"True leadership sets out a course and lets people follow," he said.

One of the more contentious items in this year's session has been the second part of Gov. Roy Barnes' education reform bill. Seabaugh is not sure that teachers should be evaluated on the basis of whether their students pass a test at the end of the year to advance to the next grade.

"Who's creating this test? Is it created in a rural area like Albany, where people in more urban areas may not know the same things as more rural residents?" he asked.

Many of the NAACP members expressed concern over the test as well, and Seabaugh said the legislators are still working on details of the program.

Another hot button issue this session has been election reform. Seabaugh said a current proposal would have only contested races on the ballot, but some legislators are not keen on the idea.

"Apparently, a lot of them like to keep their name in front of the public," he said.

After speaking and answering questions for nearly an hour, Seabaugh returned to a pew in the historic church. NAACP President Ed Johnson said the purpose of the meeting was to introduce Seabaugh to the membership. He asked Seabaugh to come back to the group at a later date and thanked him for his time.