Fresh Loaf

Now that Roy Barnes has jumped in the 2010 governor’s race, where does that leave other Democratic challengers who’ve already announced their plans? Here’s what we’re hearing from little birds that land on our windowsill, chirp silly songs, and blurt rays of gossipy sunshine into our dark and twisted lives:

• Attorney General Thurbert Baker: Our tipsters tell us that Baker was apparently waiting to hear whether Barnes would run to decide a.) to bow out of the race and join a big-name law firm or b.) make a run for — hold on to your courageous haircuts — U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat. Which, judging by Johnny Boy’s popularity in the state, might be the same as dropping out of public service. Longtime political gadfly Tom Houck, who recently floated the idea that retiring Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears might make a run for governor, relays an overnight rumor that Baker could get a Federal judgeship and drop out of the race. High-ranking Democratic Party officials say they’d like to see Baker in a statewide campaign, however.



• House Minority Leader Dubose Porter, D-Dublin: The state House veteran lightly ribbed Barnes when the former governor was reportedly still on the fence. From what we’re hearing, Porter still wants to make a run for governor. But he’s got a tough slog ahead of him. Pundits say it’ll take at least $3 million to run a primary campaign against Barnes. If you survive that battle, you better be prepared to raise as much as $12 million for the general election. There’s also talk Porter should make a go at Speaker.




• David Poythress: The Georgia National Guard Adjutant General is in it to win it, he says. Our tipsters said the same. He even took a shot at Barnes, calling him a “polarizing figure.”

How Barnes’ announcement affects downticket races remains to be seen. We’re hearing Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond — “a team player,” one li’l birdie says — might make another run for his seat. He’d been rumored to be considering a run for lieutenant governor. “Whatever’s the best for the party, Thurmond will do,” our source says.

(Photos by Joeff Davis)

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SPARE $2 BILLION? Perdue delivers bad budget news to lawmakers

It’s a shame Gov. Sonny Perdue’s penchant for prayer doesn’t work as well for deficits as it did for drought. If that were the case, Georgia would literally be swimming in greenbacks.

With revenues plummeting in an economic landscape akin to Mad Max, the state is currently facing a $2 billion shortfall, the deepest hole anyone at the Gold Dome says they’ve ever seen. In response last week, Perdue delivered a cost-cutting whack, slashing nearly all state agencies and programs — many of which state Democrats say help the most vulnerable of Georgians in this most precarious of times.

The Department of Labor, the state agency that’s been the first stop for pink-slipped residents? Nearly 13 percent cut. The Public Defender Standards Council, the arm of government that provides indigent defense attorneys in an attempt to ensure justice for both defendant and victims? Almost 11 percent cut. The departments of Education, Community Health and Human Resources? Cut, cut, and cut. State employees’ salaries? Frozen — and vacant positions eliminated.

Add to that the $350 million slashed from K-12 educational funding, and you’re left with a budget that has little wiggle room. From lobbyists to lawmakers, behind-the-scenes staffers to Gold Dome shoeshine men, everyone we queried agrees: The 2009 legislative session will be about money, and what little of it the state has.

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FUND TRANSIT State Rep. Dubose Porter, D-Dublin, stands alongside mass-transit supporters Monday and voiced the need for more cash for more options.

It’s become a mantra of passionate rail and bus supporters during the current legislative session: Do something, anything, to kick start the state’s static transit situation.

On Monday afternoon, the message was echoed. Members of Citizens for Progressive Transit, Georgia Public Interest Research Group, the Sierra Club, Mothers and Others for Clean Air and Georgia Brain Train Group, among others, rallied for legislators to pass a proposal that would generate cash to expand bus and rail services.

Advocates say their movement has momentum this year in the form of a state Senate resolution that was nipped and tucked last week by the House. State Rep. Dubose Porter appeared alongside the groups yesterday and said it’s time to start thinking about moving people by rail.

“We cannot pave our way out of gridlock,” Porter said. “This is someone from rural Georgia talking… The bill that is moving through [the General Assembly] is about allowing regions to determine their future.”

Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, supports the need for more transit funding, but told InsiderAdvantage’s Dick Pettys that the current form of the Senate’s proposal reads like an “Atlanta bill.” That could be a problem. Porter said that can be changed if the House dedicates the remaining penny of the motor-fuel tax that’s traditionally gone to the state’s general fund to instead fall under the care of the state DOT. For rural regions which lack the density upon which transit thrives, the generated revenues could go toward road projects.

Also on Monday’s agenda: Release findings of a study they say shows using public transit saves money and gas and lessens our impact on the environment. Rob Thompson of Georgia PIRG presented a study that concluded metro Atlanta transit agencies reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 662,036 metric tons per year and save consumers $228 million in gasoline expenses. (Ariel Hart of That Other Paper has a report questioning some of the study’s findings.) View the agency-by-agency data after the jump.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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