Fresh Loaf

Some early-morning speculation on my part, fueled by caffeine and a post from InsiderAdvantage’s Dick Pettys. The George Harrison doppelganger tapped his sources who attended a business community fundraiser yesterday for House Speaker Glenn Richardson:

Richardson told the group he intends to focus on transportation, water and the state’s budget problems if re-elected as presiding officer.

Maybe the state’s current economic woes convinced Richardson he shouldn’t tackle his greatest nemesis, property taxes, as he promised he would during an April press conference he held with Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle?

Speculate! It’s just like daydreamin’, only it leeches off reality and you’re doing it out loud!

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State Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta, was the lone Republican in the House to vote against Speaker Glenn Richardson’s GREAT Plan. A lot of folks expected retribution to come down — bills getting tossed, committee shuffling, etc. — but is cybersnobbery the way Richardson works these days?

Notice below Dickson’s online bio from 2005-2006:

And here’s a screenshot of his most recent bio taken about, oh, 10 minutes ago.

According to the Wayback Machine, the page was last updated on April 3. But it only lists results as late as Sept. 2007, and I couldn’t find Dickson’s 2006-2007 bio. Quelle scandale!

But seriously … Glenn, baby, come on. Hack the guy’s MySpace account. That’s where you can really have some fun.

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Maybe you’ve heard, but state House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s GREAT Plan — his long-running pet project that promised to eliminate property taxes in the state — was shot down yesterday afternoon in the chamber over which he presides, 10 votes shy of the two-thirds majority necessary to pass. Cities and counties hated Richardson’s idea — they feared it would strip them of funding — and have been lobbying against it with force.

The independent and audacious Mayor Shirley Franklin took to the Interwebways and applauded the city’s Democratic representatives who voted against the plan:

The Atlanta Democratic representatives who voted to protect the state’s communities were: Reps. Sheila Jones, LaNett Stanley-Turner, “Able Mable” Thomas, Kathy Ashe, Robbin Shipp, Margaret Kaiser, Georganna Sinkfield, Joe Heckstall, Tyrone Brooks, Roger Bruce, Bob Holmes, Sharon Beasley-Teague, Stacy Abrams and Pat Gardner.

“By defeating this plan, our representatives have indicated they understand and respect the value of allowing local communities to govern themselves,” said Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. “City officials, like all Georgians, want tax reform. But that reform must allow for flexibility and local control; not reform that restricts cities from finding a funding mix that meets local needs without over-burdening residents and businesses.”

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