Fresh Loaf

A firestorm erupted last year over a proposal by state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, to merge Savannah State University and Albany State University — two historically black colleges and universities — with nearby state schools to save money. The idea (which also would’ve required the Georgia Board of Regents’ approval) didn’t fly.

That hasn’t stopped Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Poythress from resuscitating the debate (or at least trying to) in a new video. Were the proposal resurrected — say maybe during a legislative session when the former general is in the governor’s office — Poythress says he’d kill it.

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That lovable gnome of a legislator, state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, has finally decided which statewide office he’ll pursue in 2010. We’d heard last week that he was considering the attorney general’s post after current AG Thurbert Baker announced he would run for governor, but Harp has now told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that he’ll shoot for insurance commissioner.

“I want to make sure the people of Georgia are protected from unscrupulous companies and I want to make sure the good companies are also protected,” Harp said.

Harp has been one of our favorite state lawmakers because he rarely seems to give much thought to partisan point-scoring. During the just-ended 2009 General Assembly, for instance, he fearlessly advocated for Sunday alcohol sales while his GOP colleagues were hiding in the bathroom, getting lost on the way to committee meetings and finding any excuse to avoid voting on the issue. His efforts earned him a coveted Arnie Award this year.

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On Monday, state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, tried to revive a bill that would allow cities and counties to vote whether they wanted to purchase alcohol in stores on Sundays. It was shot down.

Courtesy of the Senate Press Office, here’s video of the lawmaker’s valiant effort. UPDATE: Well, the freedom haters are sabotaging my attempts to embed the video. Here’s the link. UPDATE, PART II: Thanks to the excellent Michael in the Senate Press Office, we have video! Get ready to shed a tear.

Harp told lawmakers that a poll taken in one of Georgia’s most religious counties found more than 60 percent of respondents supported Sunday sales. In metro Atlanta, he said, support for the measure was more than 90 percent — a statistic which I think is hilarious.

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Never on a Sunday

This afternoon, I shuttled between two depressing committee meetings at the State Capitol — one in which a GOP lawmaker browbeat state university professors for having nationally recognized expertise in the field of sexual behavior and another for which the Christian Coalition had bused in dozens of fresh-scrubbed teens to testify against their elders being allowed to buy a six-pack on Sunday.

“The Bible says alcohol is wrong,” declared one young lady.

One of the boys took a more pragmatic stance, asking, “The state might get a few more million dollars, but at what cost of the blood of people who crash and die?”

What cost indeed. Of course, the bill by Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland, had its supporters. Kroger is for it. So is the convenience store industry and the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, whose representative framed the issue as one of “basic economic fairness,” since restaurants, stadiums and performance venues are currently allowed to serve booze on Sundays.

Harp himself told a heart-breaking story about soldiers from Fort Benning who were reunited with loved ones just before shipping out overseas, but because it was a Sunday, they were unable to properly party down. Well, maybe it was just me who was left quietly sobbing.

Anyway, the bill wouldn’t automatically allow Sunday sales. Instead, it would permit cities and counties to let voters decide. There are some cities in Georgia now that are completely dry on Sunday, restaurants included (I’m looking at you, Snellville). This bill wouldn’t change that, unless those places wanted to enter the 21st century.

The committee won’t vote on the bill until next week.

Attending both meetings, I was reminded of a favorite saying of a certain left-leaning legislator: “If Georgia didn’t have Atlanta, it would be Alabama.”

Except that in Alabama, you can buy beer on Sunday.

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