What a week! So much
happened! Congratulations to
Representative Allen Peake of Macon, who fought long and hard to get medical
marijuana for the ones who needed it. He never gave up, even when the Governor
said “No” to the Bill until the people spoke so loudly that the Governor got
the message. Too bad Legislators like
Peake are becoming extinct in our State Legislature.
I have spent much time here this year exposing the
tomfoolery and skullduggery under the Gold Dome. This week, a prime example of these shady, underhanded antics
took place at the eleventh hour. You
can bet your booty that much backslapping and high-fiving took place over this
one. Nothing gets the adrenalin
flowing for a politician than “getting one over” on the other side.
Allow me to explain.
There was an innocuous Bill introduced by the Senate, SB 127, waiving
the late fees, fines and civil penalties regarding late campaign disclosure
filings by some local officials from January 2010 to January 2014. The purpose was to make right a wrong due to
the computer system screw-up of the Ethics Commission and their general
incompetence. This was a non-controversial Bill sure to pass. By the way, this Bill appears to exonerate
our own Monroe County Commissioner Larry Evans and make him eligible for a
waiver and/or refunds of fees, fines and penalties.
Then you have House Bill, 891, introduced to limit the early
voting days from 21 to 12 and to limit weekend voting hours. Further, local counties must choose between
one day of Saturday or Sunday voting, but not both. This Bill did not make it past the cross-over day and appeared
dead. Low and behold, the language was
added at the last minute by substitute to SB 127, to sneak it through
un-noticed and un-debated. This is
nothing more than voter suppression of the minority vote. It’s latter day Jim Crow legislation passed
by sleight of hand. All of this is done
in the name of “just politics.”
Far and away the biggest shocker for liberals and Democrats
this week was when the much respected and well known Legislator from Dekalb
County, Mary Margaret Oliver, betrayed her Party, her supporters, and the
children of our State. It was apparent
Governor Deal did not have enough Republican votes to pass his ill-conceived
plan to re-segregate our schools and sell them to the highest private bidder.
The Democratic Caucus was solid in their stand against protecting our
children. Then Mary Margaret Oliver
appeared out of nowhere and not only did she vote for Governor Deal’s plan to
destroy public education in our State, but she took to the Well of the House
and spoke on its behalf. Her reasoning
was lame and lacked substance, but her support alone swayed enough of her loyal
Democrat colleagues to give Governor Deal the votes he needed. There is enough evidence for a reasonable
person to assume there is more to this story than we may know.
I have an explanation for Mary Margaret Oliver’s abrupt
turn-around. These are not my
words. In fact, these are the words of
a Republican member of the State Legislature, David Stover, (R-Newnan). This
partial transcript is as printed in the AJC.
Representative
Stover stated:
“I’m here today to refute the
theory of the divine right of a single authoritarian branch of government. So
many times here in the capital we forget that we’re elected to serve those that
elected us to these positions. In fact we’re pressured to have only one branch
of government. Somehow we have lost our way in the legislative process.
The executive drives every
decision under the Gold Dome. We worry what will happen if we vote against the
governor’s bill or the lieutenant governor’s bill. The answer is quite simply,
punish those who disagree with these bills. Gone are the days of passing bills
and overriding the governor’s veto. Gone are the days of telling the
Governor,’I appreciate what you’re trying to accomplish, we want to work on
these bills and make them better to pass the bill.’
Instead we’ve replaced our
branches of government with a single branch. The legislative process works to
pass the governor’s bill, no matter how good or bad the bill. … The right of
conscience is paramount to voting our principles.”
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