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Posted inGuest Column

Georgia’s Gov. Nathan Deal being left behind as other Republican governors endorse Medicaid expansion

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist TIMOTHY SWEENEY, director of health policy at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute

A rule of thumb holds that when something happens three times in short order, it’s a trend. So it’s fair to say that the melting resistance to Medicaid expansion among Republican governors just changed from anecdotal to a full-blown trend.

Last week, two more Republican governors came out in support for taking advantage of new federal funding to ensure health coverage for more of their state’s residents.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder bring to six the number of GOP governors who have announced they will move forward to expand Medicaid through the national health care law known as the Affordable Care Act.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Comedy or tragedy? Fulton legislative meeting heralds new era in county politics, government, civic theater

by David Pendered

The latest act in the civic theater that is Fulton County began Thursday in a crowded room on the fourth floor of Georgia’s Capitol.

Republican lawmakers sat quietly while an hour’s worth of speakers protested Republican proposals to change what has been the natural order of the county – at least, it was the natural order before Republicans took effective control of the county’s legislative delegation this year.

The chorus in this case could do little to relieve tension, but the 75 who gathered certainly helped establish the mood. There were few smiles among the crowd of lawyers and lobbyists, community advocates and union reps, preachers and seniors – many of whom are familiar faces at meetings of the county commission and Atlanta City Council.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Georgia lawmakers refloat plan to take part of Tennessee River

by David Pendered

Georgia has resumed its offer to Tennessee to take a piece of the Tennessee River in order to resolve a border dispute, but this year’s proposal is far more modest than a plan offered in 2008.

The current proposal appears to seek just a small bite of Tennessee, a smidgeon just big enough to give Georgia a shoreline along the Tennessee River. Just enough shoreline to do provide a footing for, say, a new pipe to be sunk into the river to draw water into Georgia.

Posted inTom Baxter

Saxby Chambliss and the rural-Republican arc

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

When Saxby Chambliss was elected to Congress in 1994, he was the first Republican to represent a rural Deep South district since Reconstruction, which made him stand out in the big freshman GOP class that came to Washington that tumultuous year.

He could have been described then as a pioneer, which is hardly the way he seemed last week when Chambliss announced he’d decided not to seek a third U.S. Senate term next year. The two-decade arc of that Washington career spans much of the story of what’s happened in American politics since the year when the Democrats lost control of Congress for the first time in decades, and Newt Gingrich declared Year One of the new Republican Era.

Posted inSaba Long

Open U.S. Senate seat could have a domino effect on Georgia politics

by Saba Long

For a few politicians and political advisors, the past few days have been filled with rapid fire text messages and battery-draining cell phone calls about the biggest news to impact metro Atlanta in quite a while — the 2014 election to replace retiring U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss.

The first — and only to date — polls released jointly by political consulting firms H.E.G. and Apache just hours after the announcement already has Georgia Republicans and Democrats strategizing on how to ensure their party secures the open seat.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Governor reduces bond package; Metro Atlanta avoids slowdown

by David Pendered

The depth of the recession in Georgia is evident in the dwindling amount of money the state plans to borrow to improve its infrastructure.

The bond sum proposed in 2007 was $914 million. The current bond proposal is almost 22 percent lower, at just over $713 million, in the budget recommendation for 2014 presented by Gov. Nathan Deal. Metro Atlanta’s slice of the pie increased by 16 percent in snapshots of the years 2007 and 2014.

The comparison of two budget years hardly represents a comprehensive analysis of state investment. It does provide a glimpse of the state’s investment dashboard and outlook during the lingering downturn that officially started in late 2007.

Posted inTom Baxter

‘No mob, no coup, no insurrection,’ but not quite ‘We, the people’ either

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

We, the people have had a grand wallow of binding ourselves together over the past few days, from the tribal frenzy of the NFL playoffs to the lofty visions of togetherness celebrated on the King Holiday, to the second inauguration of Barack H. Obama, president of the United States.

The difficulty some still have in swallowing the last clause of the preceding sentence gave U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, by now the South’s longest-serving and most seasoned political leader, a tricky assignment Monday. As co-chair of the inauguration committee, he was the only Republican to speak at the swearing-in ceremony.

Alexander seemed to be speaking directly to his party’s most disaffected when he recalled the words of his fellow Tennessean Alex Haley: “Find the good, and praise it,” repeating the admonishment twice more for emphasis in a two-minute speech.

Posted inGuest Column

Educational gains in Georgia must not leave minorities and the poor behind

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist DANA RICKMAN, director of the policy and research for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education

When it comes to education, is Georgia a national leader or is our state bringing up the rear? Over the past decade, Georgia has worked hard to implement education reforms that will strengthen the birth to work educational pipeline and improve outcomes for all students and make us a national leader.

In some areas, these policies have translated into increased outcomes for students. In 2012, Georgia was the only state in the nation to show gains across all national tests: the SAT, the ACT, Advanced Placement (AP) examinations, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Math, Reading and Science. Georgia is a national leader.

Posted inTom Baxter

The wacky doo legislature comes back to town

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

In his eulogy for Herman Talmadge, Sam Nunn told the story of a visit to the senior senator’s office not long after Nunn had been elected to the U.S. Senate. Talmadge inquired of his young colleague whether he’d answered all his constituents’ letters, and Nunn replied that he had, with the exception of a few “nuts” who had written to him about tin foil and flying saucers.

Talmadge gave him a stern look and reached for the spitoon he kept by his desk.

“If you can’t win the nut vote,” he said, “You’re not going to carry a county in Georgia.”

That anecdote drew a rollicking response back in 2002. I imagine if a similar story were told at the funeral of some prominent politician today, it would still get a laugh, but it would be a more nervous laughter. The nuts have gone from being key to getting elected, to getting elected themselves.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: Georgia will be a blue state in 2016

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

Looking into a crystal ball, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed predicted Thursday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president.

And in 2016, she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, will invest time and money in Georgia. Because the Clintons have had such a strong relationship and history with Georgia, the state will go to the Democrats in the general presidential election.

Reed spoke Thursday at the Atlanta Press Club’s Newsmaker luncheon held at the Commerce Club.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Reed enters reelection year with $1.2 million in coffer

by David Pendered

Entertainment entrepreneur Tyler Perry contributed to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s campaign war chest that now contains just over $1.2 million, according to a campaign finance disclosure dated Tuesday.

Perry’s contribution of $2,500 on Dec. 17 was part of the $363,690.13 listed in itemized cash contributions Reed raised during the final reporting period of 2012, the report shows. The report shows an addition $20,233.44 in in-kind contributions, plus $2,020 in cash contributions of amounts of less than $100 each.

Kevin Rathbun Steak, on Krog Street, was one of the places Reed’s campaign spent a portion of the $176,459.22 in itemized expenditures, the report shows. Rathbun was paid $273.20 for two events listed as “official business meeting(s)” in September and October, the report shows.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

From a straight Young Republican to a gay Democrat delegate

by Michelle Hiskey

In 1972, Georgia Tech student Bob Gibeling cheered Pat Nixon’s arrival at the Republican Convention in Miami. He gave interviews to national media about his generation’s support of the GOP’s progressive policies. He dreamed of becoming mayor of Atlanta, his hometown.

This week, Bob Gibeling will cheer Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte. As a volunteer coordinator for a faith-based nonprofit in Atlanta, Gibeling is thrilled to be voting for a platform with a full marriage equality plank. His political career has been spent not in local politics, but working for change in his religious denomination.

Over 40 years, whose life and context doesn’t change? The constants in Gibeling’s story are a family-bred passion for politics, a lifelong commitment to the middle ground and a willingness to stand for change.

His arrival at the opposite political pole is one marker of discovering his true religious faith and sexual orientation – a secret that kept him from realizing his political dreams. As he found himself, he realized the ground he had always stood on no longer made room for people like him.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

Atlanta’s flag insult shows how Canada forgives, inspires

by Michelle Hiskey

Last weekend, the Atlanta Braves’ home stand once again offered a reminder of one country’s grace and civility in competition – and a story of one Georgia woman’s transformed understanding of that same nation, Canada.

At Turner Field, last weekend served as a paean to Sid Bream’s famous slide that sent the Braves to the 1992 World Series. Their series opponent was back in town — the Toronto Blue Jays, whose fans in 1992 got a chance to show their character when Atlanta botched a basic national symbol: flying a flag.

Imagine that happening the other way around. Granted, at that moment, the post-9/11 patriotic fervor was still a decade away. But would Americans simply let that go as an unintentional slight to Old Glory?

Posted inTom Baxter

At least we’re not California: Americans grade the states

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

To see ourselves as others see us: That, presumably was the idea behind a mostly pointless but nevertheless fascinating poll which asked Americans to rate the 50 states in the way polls more often ask about politicians or new auto models.

Georgia came out with a net favorable/unfavorable margin of plus 11, tied with New York. Only 15 states have lower margins, but take heart. A Republican entering the GOP presidential field right now would kill for 31-20 favorable/unfavorable poll numbers.

The survey,  conducted by Public Policy Polling of Raleigh, N.C., found several of the top vacation destinations were the most favored states. Hawaii was by far the most popular with a net favorable of 44, followed by Colorado (+35), Tennessee (+34), South Dakota (+34) and Virginia (+32).

Posted inLatest News

Georgia Rep. Stephanie Benfield to become GreenLaw’s executive director

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

The environmentally-focused law firm — GreenLaw — has hired a new executive director.

Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, a DeKalb representative of Georgia General Assembly since 1999, will become GreenLaw’s executive on April 9.

The news was announced in an email to GreenLaw’s friends Wednesday by Greg Presmanes, who is chairman of GreenLaw’s board.

“I am so excited that Stephanie will be leading our team forward into its third decade of giving Georgia’s environment its day in court,” Presmanes said.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

Jimmy Carter, Jason Carter inspired by matriarchs and family values

by Michelle Hiskey

The two men, connected by a last name and DNA, separated by two generations and different dreams, together reflected on the forces that have driven their family.

Driven Jimmy Carter past national vilification for his presidential failures, driven him into the humanitarian work that has changed the world, and driven his grandson to appreciate the example set by the older generations – especially the women behind the men.

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