A one-two political punch to the gut
Friday, April 25th, 2008With qualifying kicking off next week, we’re hearing plenty of announcements on who’s running for the Statehouse and Congress and who’s not. But Peach Pundit now brings us a double dose of bad news.
We’d blogged earlier that state Sen. Nancy Schaefer, R-Turnerville, was dropping out of the 10th District Congressional race against Paul Broun. At the time, she indicated that her husband’s poor health prevented her from continuing her political career. Well, she’s apparently decided he’s not too sick for her to try to keep her Senate seat. So it appears Georgia may not be rid of its own home-grown version of Phyllis Schlafly any time soon.
The other bummer is that state Rep. Robbie Mumford, R-Conyers, will not be running for reelection. We’ve given Mumford a coveted Arnie Award each of the past three years for bucking the GOP party line to try to preserve a measure of sanity in the House. During that time, Mumford, an attorney, opposed Jerry Keen’s sex-offender bills and argued against death sentences by non-unanimous juries.
Mumford, a Republican who represents an increasingly Democratic district, won reelection in 2006 by a narrow margin. We’d heard that some Democrats had encouraged him to jump the fence over to their side, but we’re not surprised he decided not to go that route. Speaker Glenn Richardson isn’t the sort who forgives that kind of transgression.
So, one of the most retrograde, strident Senators decides to return, and one of the most level-headed, thoughtful House members decides to retire. Depressing as it may sound, our God-awful Legislature may well get worse before it gets better.
Rep. Robbie Mumford, R-Conyers, spends so much time outside the GOP fold that you wonder if it wouldn’t be easier on him simply to switch parties. Then again, he might not be as valuable a voice in challenging some of the really bad policy that his fellow lawmakers propose. Again this year, Mumford was one of a lonely few Republicans who spoke out against a bill to allow a divided jury to impose a death sentence. And he was the only GOP member of a House committee to sign on to a minority report on Rep. Jerry Keen’s reworked bill to establish residency restrictions for sex offenders. As such, Mumford offered not only his lawyerly opinion that the bill is unconstitutional, but he also criticized the House majority leader’s legislation on well-documented grounds that it actually could make Georgia’s children less safe from sexual abuse. He also introduced a bipartisan bill to strengthen rights for victims of sexual assault. Let’s hope Mumford isn’t shooting his political career in the foot.