Chamber scolds, Cagle bores
November 30, 2007 at 7:18 pm by Scott Henry in NewsMaybe it was just me, but it seemed that, just below the surface of the usual boosterish rhetoric at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce’s annual luncheon earlier today was a definite message to the state’s top elected officials to shape up and start showing some real leadership.
In listing the major issues facing the metro area, chamber President Sam Williams told the audience of business leaders gathered in an Omni ballroom that the state had taken a good first step in tackling traffic by forming the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, but more work needs to be done to save the region from suffocating gridlock.
Similarly, he said, Georgia had done well to create 16 water-planning districts across the state, but needs fast action to deal with the ongoing drought.
Williams also praised Georgia for getting rid of a state flag that, with its offensive Confederate battle emblem, “threatened to divide the state.”
In each case, the change he touted was the result of an initiative by Georgia’s previous governor, Roy Barnes. The subtext seemed to be: Sonny, get off your ass and do something — starting with Grady. Both Williams and outgoing chamber Chairman Dick Anderson cited the salvation of the ailing public hospital as a top priority for the metro area.
“If we don’t address this problem,” Williams warned, “the consequences could be extreme for the region.”
Gov. Perdue, however, wasn’t in the audience. But Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was. Again, is it just me, or is Cagle a total snooze as a public speaker? It’s as if he’s trying so hard to avoid controversy that he rarely says much at all.
Taking the stage, Cagle reassured the crowd that “at the end of the day, we’re going to save Grady,” but he offered no details. He referenced a “lack of vision” as a cause of the water crisis, but he neglected to say just whose vision was lacking. He posed, then answered, a rhetorical question: “Do we want unbridled growth? Absolutely not; we want managed growth.”
But, facing reporters minutes later in the lobby, Cagle backed away from this intriguing statement, falling back on the party line that growth had nothing to do with the water crisis. Ho, hum.
At least when Speaker Glenn Richardson takes the podium, you know you’re going to hear something audacious.
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