In your face x12

The 2008 legislative session is less than a day old and already feuds have been resumed and scabs picked.

Speaker Glenn Richardson led returning House members in overriding a dozen vetoes Gov. Sonny Perdue had handed down after the end of the raucous 2007 session. The revived bills were mostly of marginal importance, dealing with minor tax breaks and budgeting procedures, but the purpose was to lay down a gauntlet before the governor – telling him, in effect, “You’re not the boss of me!”

The override votes passed by a wide margin, typically 155-16, but there were a handful of holdouts each time, aside from Perdue’s floor leaders. Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, for instance, voted against overturning several of the tax-break vetoes, he says, because he accepted the governor’s position that the state budget couldn’t afford them all.

Although there was little discussion while the votes were being taken, Richardson did take the opportunity to jab at his Senate colleagues, saying he expected them to “shirk their constitutional responsibilities” by not taking immediate action on the overrides.

By not taking a vote on the overrides, the Senate increases its leverage to gain Perdue’s support for some measures it wants. We’ll see what those might be later this week.