At an event the other night, the Governor opened the floor to questions and someone asked him about repealing the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing. The Gov. said that the “cost” of the tax cut was roughly $170 million, but that he thought they could identify enough savings to make it feasible.

“I read that we’ve lost $1 billion worth of jobs,” asked the gentleman who offered the original question. “Don’t we make enough in taxes on those jobs to pay for the tax cut.” That sounds like a no brainer but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

“Dynamic scoring” is a budgetary concept over which Congress has been fighting for years. Dynamic scoring includes changes in behavior that are expected from proposed tax cuts. For example, if we exempt the sales tax on Porsche automobiles, we expect more to be sold, and we might anticipate additional income tax from new salesroom jobs.

So in the example of the sales tax on energy used in manufacturing, a dynamic scoring model would include additional income tax revenues from jobs attracted to Georgia, or less income tax lost to jobs moving to other states.

But Georgia uses a static model for budgeting that doesn’t account for anticipated changes that ramify from tax cuts. So we must find a way to “pay for” tax cuts in a down economy like we currently experience.

I recognize that we may have gotten into the weeds on a technical budgeting issue, but I hope there are enough policy wonks among our readership that this little segment was worth producing.

It’s a nasty political fight with no-holds barred and kicking, biting, gouging and low blows galore – and no Democrats are involved. It’s the battle for control of the Georgia Senate. Following the national example, Georgia Republicans formed a circular firing squad last year and commenced firing and never slackened until the session was over.

Georgia Lt. Governor Casey Cagle - Image via Wikipedia

The past few peaceful months for the combatants have been spent re-loading and apparently preparing for further embarrassment in 2012. One indicator is that the sales of red rubber noses, big floppy shoes and frizzy orange wigs have skyrocketed. When the Georgia Senate convenes with Lt. Governor Cagle as its nominal head, the appropriate theme music will be Send in the Clowns.

The only thing protecting Cagle and various Georgia Senators is the relative lack of attention paid by Georgia citizens and the fact that most Georgians neither know nor care who these people are. If the people of this state stop long enough to study the sorry mess that calls itself a legislative body then all bets are off in the local and state elections.

While The Columbus Leger-Enquirer has an excellent interview with Georgia Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, touching on many subjects of interest, the real news is not in the headline. The real news is Cagle’s take on the continuing power struggle between himself and the majority of the Georgia Senate. From the story:

The Senate will continue to operate under a leadership structure implemented last session that forces Cagle to share power with other GOP leaders, but Cagle maintains that he is still head of the chamber.

“The leader in the Senate is the lieutenant governor,” said Cagle, who is still in charge of day-to-day operations, but no longer has the power to appoint committee chairs. “Last year illustrated that chaos occurs in the absence of leadership, and we really didn’t have leadership last year. This year is going to be very, very different. We’re going to be far more engaged and far more active because, quite candidly, the experiment last year was not successful.”

Cagle said the current leadership structure is hurting the Senate, and pointed out that no major legislation originated in the Senate last year. He said the issue is not about him, but about preserving the institution.

The amazing thing about this quote is that Cagle publicly proclaims himself to be “the leader”  and then bemoans the lack of leadership. Let me sort out the confusion here: There is a difference between holding a position that has some authority and being a leader. Cagle has the position, but I’m awaiting a sign of leadership. Frankly, I’m not sure Casey Cagle could lead a group of sailors onto the campus of an all-women’s college after six months at sea.

While voters may not pay much attention now, a continued lack of accomplishment will draw the interest of voters. If Governor Nathan Deal or even members of the other legislative body are forced to get involved, then the press cannot ignore the continued Senate stalemate. This would be good news for Georgia’s citizenry whose legislature is being held hostage by egos, childish grudges and an addiction to power.

The struggle has even spread outside the Georgia Capitol building in the form of special election battles. It appears the two sides are using candidates as proxies in their ongoing struggle for potential supporters by funneling funds and support to different campaigns. From here, it looks as though the balance of power remains just where it was at the end of last year’s legislative session.

I don’t know if Lt. Governor Cagle has figured this out or not, but in ’14 he is at a disadvantage. Incumbent state senators are much better known to their individual constituencies than is the Lt. Governor. If he attempts to interfere in their races, he would likely be unsuccessful and lose political power and influence. On the other hand, the collective endorsements by a large group of state senators would carry much more influence. When it comes to the ballot box, this is not an even fight.

Let me make a modest recommendation: If these two groups are serious about making the Georgia Senate work, then they should get together, reach an agreement and hold a press conference that outlines the agreement. I will be happy if this happens, but on the bright side, if it fails I will have a lot to write about.

Do you think Dr. Phil does legislatures?

It’s time for Fair Tax Friday Wednesday. Yesterday Walter Jones wrote about study by Mark Rider, an Econ professor at Georgia State. Rider says a consumption tax would work well for Georgia.

For one thing, the government could have a steady revenue stream that would reduce the temptation to either raise taxes in a recession, cut services or lay off government workers. That’s because consumption amounts to a steady 60 percent of the economy when food and medicine are taxed.

Consumers’ money would go further, too, he argues, since there would be no tax cascading as there is on the current retail sales tax. That’s where a product gets taxed at several steps in its production and the end price has to reflect each tax on top of tax. Ending tax cascading would also result in wages rising faster than inflation, he argues. Plus, it would reduce the cost of compliance because there’d be no need for hiring accountants to complete income-tax forms.

He also addresses one of the major objections to a consumption tax from liberals. They consider such a tax to harm those with low incomes because they have to spend a greater portion of their money on necessities than the rich do. Rider makes two points about that. First, he said refunds to the poor could give them everything they had paid in taxes. Second, if the rich spend money from either their savings or investment income, they’ll be taxed, and so they would wind up paying more than the poor that way, too.

Rider admits the plan is not without problems:

The biggest stumbling block for Rider is how to keep out-of-state goods and services out while letting capital in. Goods from Alabama and Florida, and wherever eBay is, would skate around the tax through the mail, countless highways or UPS.

Read Rider’s report here.

Discuss.

House Republican Caucus members have been instructed to call into a mandatory conference call at 10am. The reason for the call is unclear, but it likely deals with the much maligned tax reform proposal.

We’ll keep you up to date as more becomes clear.

Another angle to this is that the looming shutdown of the federal government could also have an impact on the yet-to-be-approved state budget, which is currently in conference committee where House and Senate negotiators are working out disagreements.

If the government shuts down the loss of a substantial amount of federal dollars (Tenth Amendment!1!!) could have an impact on the budget process here in Georgia. They may decide to suspend the rest of the session until the budget issues are resolved at the federal level.

That’s just a thought of what this could all be about.

[UPDATE] The meeting dealt with the tax reform plan. Some other changes have been made to the proposal, though it is unclear what was change. And as has been known, the proposal will come to the floor on Monday.

In covering the drama in the Senate today, Jim Galloway mentioned a meeting on Monday, arranged by Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, where some freshman met with the Governor to ensure that tax hikes would be shot down:

Today’s turmoil in the Senate had a precursor. On Monday, we understand that several freshmen Republican senators met with Gov. Nathan Deal to discuss his lack of support for a restoration of the state sales tax on groceries, and a cigarette tax increase.

They apparently didn’t believe their Senate Republican leaders, who had told them that Deal had promised to veto either of those tax increases. (We’ll ascribe the best of motives to the freshmen, and suppose that they wanted to see tax cuts in other areas.)

Deal assured the new senators that he had indeed promised such a veto. Things still did not go well. One of the freshmen declared to Deal that they would go ahead and pass the sales taxes. If the governor chose to veto them, they would override him next year.

Whether they wanted corresponding tax cuts in other areas is unclear, but sources indicate that they weren’t pushing for that.

So who are the freshman GOP Senators pushing these tax hikes?

• John Albers
• Charlie Bethel
• Frank Ginn
• Steve Gooch
• Fran Millar
• Jesse Stone

It’s my understanding that Ginn offered Deal the courtesy of a veto override.

It’s HB385. Chris Joyner reports:

Channell said legislation passed last year required the bill closely reflect the tax council’s plan. Now legislators serving on a special joint committee will try to find something that can pass both chambers, he said.

Channell said every one of the council’s recommendations likely will not be in the final bill. “At the end of the day, we are going to have to have a consensus,” he said.

House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, serves on the committee and said she is ready to discuss the plan in detail. But she said she expects the final bill “will reflect the goals and the opinions of the majority party.”

Today’s “fresh political pickins from the Peach State”:

1.) Coming off a bitter campaign, Governor Deal and former Governor Barnes have forged an unlikely alliance over a good cause: ensuring that spouses of state employees killed in the line of duty are able to continue health coverage under the state’s plan. To quote Barnes: “It’s the least we can do, really”.

I didn’t vote for Governor Barnes and I don’t regret that decision. But it’s good to see this kind of unity from Speaker, Governor and former Goveror when it comes to something like this, which is doing the right thing.  It also more than makes up for these shenanigans last week by Barnes. “What a crock”.

2.) HB 92, sponsored by Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, would reduce the early voting period from 45 to 21 days. Read the full article here. Personally, I think this is very necessary. I’d even support cutting it down to 14 or 7 days, but 21 is a good number. Cost-wise, it guts rural counties to have this long of an early voting period:

An ACCG survey found that counties with less than 10,000 registered voters spent an average $78.31 per early vote in the 2010 primary election, and $11.79 in the general election, compared with $10.76 and $3.63 for counties with more than 100,000 registered voters.

Plus, ya’ll know us rural folks have had problems with voter fraud in the past. A long period of early voting allows more ballots to be mailed out to cemetaries everywhere.

3.) Attorney General Olens, Congressman Westmoreland and Governor Deal held a press conference yesterday in response to the ruling in Florida on the healthcare law.

4.) HB 100, introduced by Rep. Allen Peake of Macon, creates a new court in Georgia to exclusively deal with problems regarding the Department of Revenue.

5.) There are two bills in the House looking to place more scrutiny on projects that “rely on transferring water from one river basin to another”. This idea is currently being worked on by Rep. Tom McCall and Rep. Alan Powell.

6.) In other positive news (not), a new report says that Georgia is 7th among states in total illegal immigrant population.

There were a variety of meetings this morning at the Capitol with members of the Tax Reform Commission, Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform, and other interested parties including legislators, capitol staffers, and members of various other right-leaning interest groups.

I’m told by one participant that it was not what he expected to observe at all, and it may have been one of the most productive policy conversations he has ever witnessed.

While both sides stated their positions fairly firmly at the beginning, it seemed that fairly early into one of the meetings, the inner-wonk of each side was properly stroked, and thus began an hour or so of back and forth trading of philosophy, data, and positions of common ground.

I’m told by the observer that he would not be surprised if a few tweaks were made to the proposal that would receive substantial support from each side, and removed the dreaded “Tax Increase” label affixed by Norquist’s ATR.

If this is no longer a bill that represents a “tax increase”, then the climate may be changing down at the Capitol.  An early spring thaw may even bring this out of hibernation and onto the Governor’s desk.

Governor Nathan Deal told the Savannah Morning News that his legislative priority this year is to pass an “austere” balanced budget that protects K-12 education but does not raise taxes.   He indicates that the climate is not right for a major tax code change this year, especially if the result appears to be a tax increase.

Deal appeared to take a much harder stance in the interview against legalized gambling, noting that it would compete with revenue with the Georgia Lottery, thus potentially reducing already stretched HOPE dollars.  Reading between the lines, however, the door may be open to proposals that would allow the Georgia Lottery to operate video gambling machines, such as the ones proposed for a Georgia Lottery run casino at Underground Atlanta.

When Deal said last year he was “open” to casino gambling, he said so in the context of potential revenue.

On Thursday, he said he’s personally opposed to the idea and added that it might undermine the state lottery, which bankrolls the HOPE scholarships and pre-K programs.

“You have to ask the question is there a limit on the amount of money people are willing to spending on wagering activities, he said, “and certainly there must be some limit there.”

Noting that lottery income already is down, he said the state shouldn’t do anything to reduce it more.

While the possibility of a Georgia Lottery run casino is pure conjecture, the hibernation of the tax reform proposal seems more certain.  The tax reform commission was a product of former Governor Perdue, and thus, Deal is not obliged to invest political capital to ensure it’s passage. Moreover, Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist has labled the proposal a “tax increase”, and Deal does not wish to start his term as Governor as the last (and first) Republican Governor did, by proposing something labled a tax increase. 

However, Norquist was meeting with legislative leaders behind closed doors this morning to see if there was wiggle room to have him rescind his “tax increase” edict.  And re-reading Deal’s quotes, he does not say he will veto the tax reform proposal.  He says “We’re not going to sign anything that is a tax increase … in this climate, no matter how intentioned it is.”

So, is it a tax increase, or just tax reform?  The answer seems to be the answer whether this proposal will awaken from its hibernated state, or endure a long, probable permanent slumber.

H/T Jim Galloway.

Below is my weekly column for the Courier Herald papers.

One of the most difficult topics that will consume Georgia legislators this year will be a proposal by the “Special Council on Tax Reform and Fairness for Georgians” to revamp Georgia’s tax code. The fact that our state faces an almost $2 Billion budget deficit during this same term – a budget that must be balanced by law – adds a degree of difficulty, and suspicion, to the Council’s efforts.

The goal of the commission is to create a fairer, broader tax base by eliminating certain exemptions while expanding the number of goods and services that are taxed. In exchange for adding taxes to things that are currently not taxed such as items purchased on the internet, private sales of automobiles between individuals, and most controversially, reinstating the state portion of the sales tax on groceries, the council proposes to cut the State’s income tax rate from 6% to 4% over three years.

The biggest opposition thus far has come from Grover Norquist, a man none of us have ever voted for, but who operates as if he has a veto power over tax proposals – because he often does. Norquist’s group, Americans For Tax Reform, has been quite successful in getting elected officials, mostly Republicans, to sign a pledge stating that they will never vote for a tax increase. Republicans facing primary opposition do not want to be labeled as “tax and spenders”, so they generally have used the opportunity for a quick press release certifying their hatred for taxes without much thought.

While it seems like determining what a tax increase is should be easy, it has often proven a bit more confusing. The Council on Tax Reform’s proposal will likely be the biggest test yet of Norquist’s pledge, as there is already significant disagreement on whether or not this is a tax hike.

Most of those whom I have seen criticize this proposal as a tax increase are limiting their analysis to the first year revenues brought in by the state, when the income tax will decrease from 6% to 5%. They do not want to look at the revenue offset during the next two years as income tax revenues continue to fall as rates move to 4%. Thus, they conclude, if the state earns any extra money from taxpayers collectively, then it must be a increase, and therefore must be opposed. I find this method of thinking arbitrarily limited, and frankly, intellectually dishonest.

The Tax Council and those who support their plan would do well to invoke the language used to support the FairTax (a movement to replace the income tax with a national sales tax) as they try to sell this plan to the legislature and ultimately the voters. The goal is to tax those who currently avoid tax, and to broaden the tax base to limit the effects of government taxation on the free market. Thus, if more people are taxed, but each (or most) face a lower tax burden, then it is hard to argue that the individuals and the state are better off.

The goal of the opponents is to cap the amount of money going to government, so as to limit its expansion. I can understand and accept this goal to a degree. But these same folks usually use supply side economic arguments for tax cuts, claiming that income tax cuts will increase tax revenue. Either they don’t really believe income tax cuts grow the economy sufficiently to increase tax revenues, or they believe that additional revenue for the government is OK in some instances, but arbitrarily reject the temporary increase in year one government revenue in this plan based on the need to be against something.

I personally have not had time to analyze the proposal of the council to determine if I support their changes in total, but I have had time to reject the “Government by platitude” nature of Norquist’s tax increase claim. There will be a serious debate over the next four months over this bill, and an adult conversation is required. We must urge our legislators to resist government by sound bite, and instead, vote based on the path that is sound public policy.

I was just reading the blog of an important Republican legislator.  Here’s some highlights…

• It is time to raise revenue
• We simply cannot cut any more
• We must generate revenue to fill the budget shortfall.
• Adding an extra 1% to the income tax for those making over $400,000 per year

Are you looking for a legislative solution to the revenue crisis?  Here is the Republican legislator‘s…

I have drafted a bill that will (1) put the tax back on food; (2) Add a $1 tax per pack of cigarettes; (3) Add an extra 1% income tax to those making over $400,000; and (4) Eliminate all special interest tax exemptions. These measures will generate over 1.5 billion dollars in additional revenue

This ain’t your daddy’s GOP!

And to all commentors, before you hit submit, please keep in mind Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment.

UPDATE: Nice try McKillip, but I have archived the content of your blog which advocates for huge tax increases for all future Republican primary opponents to use in perpetuity on Amazon’s content network.  Here is the new link.  I suppose this complicates your plan to run for re-election in Bob Smith’s district with a few minor tweaks assuming Smith retires to become a lobbyist?

The idea of making putting a time limit on special tax exemptions and credit offered to businesses came up at yesterday’s Special Council on Tax Reform meeting.

There was disagreement whether every tax exemption and tax credit should sunset after a few years. The state has more than 100 sales-tax exemptions and more than 30 tax credits, committee members said.

“I don’t think every provision should sunset,” said committee member Gerry Harkins, chairman of the National Federation of Independent Business’ Georgia Leadership Council. “If we said business inputs are going to sunset in three, five or 10 years, we will discourage people from coming to Georgia and opening businesses.”

Mercer University economist Roger Tutterow suggested drawing “a distinction between permanent and transitional” exemptions.

A.D. Frazier, the committee chairman, suggested creating a five-year standard for exemptions, and that lawmakers could review each exemption to consider extending it. He said a smaller group of the council should meet and discuss whether some exemptions should be considered permanent.

The Special Council will apparently have their recommendations ready week after next.

The AJC brings us word that a remake of Footloose, the quintessential epic of our time (and bastardization of Ecclesiastes into pop culture), has been stolen from Memphis because Georgia offered a better incentive package.

“Director Craig Brewer says his remake of “Footloose” will be filmed in Georgia because Tennessee couldn’t match the incentives package.
…
The newspaper reported that Tennessee’s incentive package was about $1.6 million short of what Georgia offered. “

I can go on record as saying I not only do not want this movie re-made, but would like all copies of the original burned. However, this does show that there have been actual moments of progress made on Economic development in Georgia recently that are more material than a bunch of high-speed boat ramps.

The chief proponent of the movie tax incentives has been Senator Mitch Seabaugh, whose district includes Senioa’s Riverwood Studios. One industry blog sums up the importance of Georgia’s position:

It may seem like a silly thing to get so excited about, but for people like DeRossett, incentives such as these can mean the difference between buying a bigger, more expensive home and facing foreclosure on a smaller, cheaper one.

What’s truly good news for both DeRossett and Hollywood studios is that Georgia’s new incentive is generous, but not so generous that a skeptical public and fickle legislators are likely to demand it be repealed two or three years down the line.

“This is something you can count on,” says Georgia State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh, noting that the bill had near-unanimous support in both houses before being signed into law by Gov. Perdue on May 12. “And we’re not going to be taking it back. We want to build a long-term relationship with the industry.”

It’s been a rough few years for the Georgia film and TV community. The state had been on a hot streak in the late ’90s and early ’00s, attracting such studio films as 1999′s “The General’s Daughter” and 2000′s “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” But in 2003, Louisiana and New Mexico made available rich incentive packages, luring away productions that would have otherwise gone to the Peach State, such as 2004′s “Ray” (shot in Louisiana). The Georgia legislature fought back with a 9% tax credit in 2005, creating a record-setting economic impact in 2006, with film, television and video game companies contributing $475 million to the state economy, an increase from $124 million in 2004. But business fell off sharply again the following year as more states one-upped each other with increasingly generous incentives, culminating with Michigan’s passage of a 40-42% tax credit earlier this year.

While many will debate the benefits of supply side economics and tax credits to spur business, I think this is a great example of how tax credits should work. An incentive is given to lure economic activity here, that doesn’t have a major effect on business already operating here. Thus, there is little “loss” in the credit, because there was very little to be taxed before the credits were instituted.

Much is similar with the new Kia plant down in West Point, which is already expanding production. Most of the tax incentives given to lure Kia were to forgo property taxes that would never have been collected anyway, since the land that the plant now occupies would have remained fields and pine forests.

Instead, due to tax credits, Georgia now has a thriving movie business and a highly productive car plant where none previously existed.

Thus, kudos again to Senator Seabaugh. The man who lost his leadership position in the Senate because he wouldn’t vote for a tax increase has demonstrable evidence that certain tax cuts can bring in new revenue and jobs to Georgia.

And as for Tennessee, that should teach ‘em for stealing our water.

The bill, which passed the House last month, would create a council including outgoing Gov. Sonny Perdue, several leading economists, the chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the chairman of the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business, and four other members to be appointed by the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House.

The council would recommend changes to the tax laws to a special legislative committee, whose job during the 2011 session would be to craft those suggestions into a tax reform bill.

That legislation then would go to the House or Senate for an up-or-down vote, meaning lawmakers would not be allowed to propose any amendments.

Emphasis mine. Perdue gets to be on the council? With eight years of fiscal mismanagement under his belt, his “contributions” to the council will, no doubt, be breathtaking. More details here from the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Of course, he may just veto the bill for the tax reform study if he doesn’t want to have to work anymore come November. Which may be a good thing for us all in the end.

I’m a fiscal conservative. So when I hear about the possibility of collecting more revenue for the government without raising taxes, I get a bit excited.  We are squeezed for cash in Georgia, even though it seems that we have afforded to spend money on things such as boat ramps and horse parks. Still, the budget is a major issue and narrowing a budget gap is crucial to the health of the state.

So how does Georgia get money without raising taxes, levies, fees, fines, etc.? Enter Rep. Larry O’Neal and Rep. David Knight. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee have introduced legislation that would allow the state to identify businesses that have local licenses to operate but do not pay sales taxes to the state.

It’s a simple-sounding prospect that O’Neal said he believes could conservatively return $100 million to state coffers “and it could be two to three times that. That’s my estimation.”…Sales taxes would not be raised under this plan.

O’Neal and Knight got the idea to plug the holes in tax collection from an ongoing pilot project in Hall County that found

“nearly 1,000 businesses in that single North Georgia county that did not have sales tax numbers, meaning those businesses were not properly collecting or reporting sales tax collections to the state. Another 600-plus businesses were found not to have a license from the county or local government.”

Efficiency in government is huge. Collecting taxes that are already levied just makes sense. Why we haven’t done this already is beyond me, but, much like the Little Dutch Boy, Georgia needs to plug up the holes in the budget. Every dollar needs to be accounted for. This seemingly simple legislation should make sure that sales taxes are collected and render more revenue for the state.

The allegations concerning Larry O’Neal, Sonny Perdue, and the land deal down in Florida are now well known. Three months after Perdue bought almost 20 acres of never seen land in Osceola County, Florida along a toll-road leading to Disney World, Larry O’Neal (pictured, left) on February 16, 2005 filed HB 488, legislation that deferred taxes on land sales starting in 2005 when similar property is purchased in another state. After the Georgia House passed the matter, O’Neal personally worked with the Senate to insert language making the tax deferment provision applicable to land bought beginning in 2004, instead of 2005. HB 488 was then returned to the floor of the House where O’Neal, himself a lawyer who has formed limited liability corporations and land partnerships for Perdue, took to the well to pass what his fellow legislators were told was a seemingly mundane tax bill requested by the Georgia Department of Revenue. Except the AJC reported several weeks later State Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham actually did not ask for the change in the law: “[Graham] had been informed about that particular change —- not consulted, but informed.”

The result after HB 488 was passed and signed into law by Perdue? Perdue himself saved $100,000 in state income taxes.

HB 488 was a piece of legislation that was highly technical and difficult to fully understand with regard to the applicability of various tax laws. The only person who truly understood its ramifications and consequences was…Larry O’Neal. When O’Neal presented it to his colleagues on the floor of the Georgia House, he offered little in the way of explanation, did not draw attention to the amendments he had sought and which were successfully inserted, falsely suggested it was requested by Bart Graham, and accepted few questions concerning the matter. He stood impassively (or, to use a Cagle-ism, flaccid) gazing out at his colleagues, willing to sacrifice their political futures for an interest important to him but which he affirmatively failed to inform anyone regarding. Remember, HB 488 was unusual in that it retroactively exempted from state taxation capital gains for scenarios precisely like Perdue’s.

Some suggest this situation is irrelevant as Georgia voted to reelect Purdue in 2006. I, and I believe many others, think it is still relevant for it shows how O’Neal is willing to sacrifice his fellow legislators who approved HB 488 on the altar of his own personal interests.

That is simply not leadership. And, to this day, Larry O’Neal still has not given a full accounting for his motivations with regard to HB 488. This is a story that will, with an O’Neal election, return to haunt Republicans. There is simply no way that this matter can be papered over. O’Neal needs to provide an adequate explanation for his actions now, before Thursday.

Furthermore, while I can appreciate Erick’s charity with regard to O’Neal’s recent statements, I believe (even though made while ill) those concerning Glenn Richardson and a ‘live and let live’ form of leadership are accurate reflections of his beliefs and knowledge.

O’Neal did know about Richardson’s shenanigans and did nothing to stop them. O’Neal also has no problem letting the majority caucus take heat for his own backroom dealings. O’Neal is a leader we do not need as Speaker…unless the status quo is what is sought.

Just received this on Facebook:

There will be a Tax Protest over the proposed property tax hike by the Gwinnett county Commission. Monday, June 1st, 7pm at Suwanee Town Center Park. Bring signs and pitchforks

As I walked out of the Capitol just minutes after the 2009 legislative session adjourned sine die, I thought about season one, episode nineteen of the NBC drama “The West Wing.” Walking back to my car parked in the Steve Polk Plaza, I thought of a quote made by fictional president Josiah Edward “Jed” Bartlet in the episode “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet.”

“Just once, in this job, I’d like to end a day feeling as good as I did when the day started.”

The morning of April 3rd, I woke up energized. I woke up thinking the fortieth day of the 2009 legislative session would be the day when the Republican leadership would put the politics aside and finally do business on behalf of the people they represent. I felt good Friday morning, but I ended the day not feeling as good as I did when the day started.

Allow me to be very blunt and to the point.

The 2009 legislative session ended in colossal and epic failure.

On every major issue, the Republicans did not lead. They allowed petty infighting within their party to once again stifle progress in this state.

We have no mechanism for funding transportation projects. The nails are being hammered into MARTA’s coffin. Trauma care funding remains a no-show. The pet proposal of the GOP –eliminating the car birthday tax– went down in flames. In other words, any person making the audacious claim that the ’09 session was in anyway successful needs their head examined.

James Salzer, political reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, summed it up like this:

When state lawmakers drove away from the Capitol early Saturday, they left many Georgians facing the possibility of higher property taxes this fall and the prospect of higher utility bills in the future.

They left students facing likely increases in tuition at universities and colleges. And they left metro Atlanta residents with the likelihood that MARTA service will be cut.

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “A budget nobody will call perfect”, April 5, 2009

11alive reporter Paul Crawley called the ’09 session “painful” [Source: 11alive.com, "Painful 2009 Georgia Legislature Finally Ends", April 4, 2009]. Savannah Morning News editorial page editor Tom Barton equated the Georgia General Assembly to a Barnum & Bailey Circus [Source: Savannah Morning News, "Barton: Shame on state lawmakers", April 5, 2009].

John F. Sugg repeated many of Barton’s themes writing in an Athens Banner-Herald column that compared to the now-adjourned 2009 Georgia General Assembly session, the disappointing 2008 legislative session that ended in a stalemate between the House Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Governor Casey Cagle was “an era of tremendous vitality and progress” [Source: Athens Banner-Herald, "Capitol clowns causing calamities and crises", April 4, 2009].

The verdict is in, ladies and gentlemen, and even the hometown newspaper of our illustrious Lieutenant Governor agrees; the forty days our 236 state representatives and state senators spent under the Gold Dome were a complete waste of time [Source: Gainesville Times, Our Views: Another 40-day feud, wasted time, April 5, 2009].

To paraphrase something said by then-Gov. George W. Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention, “[The Georgia GOP] had its moment. They had their chance. They have not led.”

“[The Democrats] will.”

. . . But no jobs.

It is rare to see Tom Crawford of Capitol Impact pen an editorial criticizing state government, but this morning he’s done just that after the Georgia Senate voted to gradually phase out the corporate income tax for Georgia-based businesses.

In a column appearing in several newspapers across the state, Crawford writes, “All the new jobs that were supposedly going to be created from this gusher of business tax breaks don’t seem to have materialized.”

We have continued to suffer higher than average unemployment since 2005, culminating last month when the jobless rate hit the highest level ever in Georgia at 9.3 percent. How could that be happening if all of those business tax cuts were creating so many jobs?

If you look at data available from the state Labor Department, you’ll see that in the 50 months since January 2005, which was when Republicans assumed control of the legislature, Georgia’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national rate for 28 of those months.

“Crawford: We gave tax cuts; where are the jobs?”

While most will agree that the Georgia GOP is not to blame for the rising unemployment (according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, more than half of the state’s counties have a jobless rate higher than ten percent), Tom Crawford is right. The Republicans’ oft-repeated mantra that more tax breaks and more tax cuts will create jobs is folly.

Their policies have failed to create a single new job in Georgia and will contribute to the worsening of this state’s fiscal crisis.

There are tea parties going on all over the place on April 15th. If you have committed to going to one, consider Macon.

Chris Krok, the morning talk host on AM 940 and I are putting together a Tea Party at noon on April 15th in front of Macon’s City Hall.

I’ll be there. He’ll be there. Rumor has it John Oxendine might even show up.