Fresh Loaf

DeKalb state Rep. Mike Jacobs has finally ended the will-he-or-won’t-he guessing game regarding his political affiliation this morning by posting a statement on his website that makes clear his intention to switch from Democrat to Republican.

We think CL was the first media outlet to report that Jacobs was thinking about joining the GOP. At the time, Jacobs told CL he wanted to let the dust settle on the session before making a decision, but said he was deeply disillusioned with the Georgia arm of his party.

On his site, he goes into some detail:

What has changed is that my strong belief in fiscal responsibility and restraint … is not a good fit within the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives.

Mike’s switch comes as no surprise to Democratic colleagues who, during the recent legislative session, angrily and not-so-privately accused him of political opportunism (and worse) because he voted for GOP-backed bills to restrict access to PeachCare and revive payday lending. The ill will grew to such a level that Jacobs quit going to caucus meetings altogether.

As evidence that the animosity hasn’t faded, state Rep. Rob Teilhet, D-Smyrna, takes his former partymate to task in an open letter released today:

One of the things about public service that can be most disheartening is watching the effect that politics can have on individuals who are not anchored in principle. Such individuals become, over time, un-moored and willing to sell anything for the right price.

Ouch. You can read the entire letter at the Georgia Politics Unfiltered blog. If anything, we expect this matter to heat up.

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State Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton — twice a CL “Arnie” winner — has shown himself numerous times to be a man of principles, a fact that often puts him at odds with the House leadership. This morning, that delicate balance came to a breaking point when Scott had a committee chairmanship yanked away by an irate Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, when Scott broke ranks to post one of the handful of dissenting House votes on overturning the governor’s veto of the supplemental budget.

Scott later told CL that he had promised Sonny face-to-face that he wouldn’t vote against his veto and didn’t feel that he could break that promise — even if it meant facing Richardson’s trademark wrath.
However, Scott made up with the speaker once Richardson listened to his voice mails from the night before and realized that Scott had left him a heads-up explaining his planned vote. Scott regained his chairman’s badge for the Governmental Affairs Committee shortly thereafter.

Still no word on how the Great Budget Battle of ‘07 will shake out, but the night is young.

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Thursday was full of surprises under the Gold Dome as the usually unified Republicans split on the two biggest issues of the day, handing unanticipated defeat to Jekyll Island developers and to proponents of a city of Dunwoody.

The Jekyll debate was over whether resort builders should be allowed to get their mitts on the picturesque, undeveloped south end of the island — and do potential damage to the coastal ecosystem. Word is that Gov. Sonny Perdue, who has otherwise been fast asleep this session, pushed hard to open the door to his developer buddies.

But Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford — who, hailing from Gwinnett, pointed out that she knows from sprawl — gave a spirited speech against the governor’s bill, invoking the image of “unscrupulous developers who want to rape and pillage the land.” Wow. Sounds like something you’d normally hear from a tree-hugging lefty.

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Decaturguy blogs about a provision in the bill approved by the House to move our presidential primary to Feb. 5 that would make it more difficult to have a runoff election.

Under the bill, which still needs Senate approval, the plurality to be elected goes from 50 percent plus 1 to 45 percent plus 1. Here’s the money quote:

Don’t think this is a big deal? Well, in the 2006 election cycle, most notably, Cynthia McKinney wouldn’t have had to face a runoff with Hank Johnson (she got 47% in the primary) and would probably still be the Representative from the 4th District today.

Shouldn’t that be enough to scare the bejesus out of any senator thinking of supporting this bill? Of course not. Once in office, it becomes all about staying in office. Which helps explain why so many people today have grown so cynical about politics.

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There’s a much-ballyhooed bill out there that would enable counties in the metro area to establish a regionwide 1-percent sales tax. The tax would be used for transportation projects.It sounds like a good idea, and has received notable backing from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

But at the very least, if the bill’s language isn’t changed before it moves it could prove more trouble than it’s worth.

Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Atlanta, chair of the MARTOC Committee, is worried that the bill as currently written would allow the counties to invest in transportation projects that might jeopardize Georgia’s access to precious federal transportation dollars.

The state must maintain a mix of mass-transportation measures in order to get the federal money. The bill could be a disastrous end run around rail and spell doom for Georgia’s fragile record of air-emissions compliance.

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It’s one of those crushing disappointments and irritations in life when you’re looking for objective information and instead you get stuck with a sermon.

It’s especially irksome when you’re in a moment of crisis.

Pro-life state legislators want to require doctors to offer women sonograms of their fetuses before proceeding with abortions. To that end, state Rep. James Mills, R-Gainesville, has taken the lead with what he’s calling “The Woman’s Right to Know Act.”

One of the bill’s most outspoken critics, Dionne Vann, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia, says what the legislation does is needlessly badger pregnant women.

“This bill includes no exclusion for rape or incest victims or medical anomalies,” Vann says. “The premise of the bill was to give women as much information as possible, but it doesn’t do that.”

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The first couple of weeks down at the session were a George Lucas film finale of grand ceremony, but this week the gigantic cigars started coming out, stuck into mouths with relish, as if the big shots had arrived and were ready to do business.

The mood was changing.

Sandbags were being wedged into place.

Battle lines were being drawn along party lines.

The stakes were rising.

On Wednesday the first big proper fight went down in the Senate, and as expected it was a victory for the majority Republicans. Sen. Eric Johnson’s, R-Savannah, bill enabling parents of special-needs children to use vouchers to attend private schools passed by a vote of 31 to 23.

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As the debate over Senate Bill 10 unfolded in the Senate Wednesday, state Rep. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, was observing with great interest. Millar, who serves as vice chair of the House Education Committee, admits he has doubts about Sen. Eric Johnson’s, R-Savannah, bill, which would enable the parents of special-needs children to use publicly funded vouchers to send their children to private schools.

After an all-morning fight (please see the following post on this page for full coverage), the Senate passed Johnson’s bill: 31 to 23 votes. Now Millar must face the issue on his side of the bicameral equation, and consider a House version of the bill with some different measures. Included in Rep. David Casas’, R-Lilburn, version is a requirement for private-school special-needs teachers to have at least a bachelor’s degree. That language is missing in Johnson’s bill, and created an opening Wednesday for Democrats attacking Senate Bill 10.

Millar has his own questions.

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