Fresh Loaf

Let it first be said: The state Department of Audits and Accounting produces quality reports about government waste and efficiency, the kind that provide for fascinating reading. That is, if you’re into policy and government review. The scathing criticism you are about to read is not directed at the department, but at government accounting as a whole, and at politicians who think simply “putting the facts out there” leads to any kind of progress or transparency.

That being said, fans of open government might first be pleased and then pissed off with a new state website that launched yesterday and which is maintained by the department. That site, “Open Georgia: Transparency in Government,” allows users to search employee salaries and view how much our elected overlords doled out to professional service vendors during the last two fiscal years. The site, the brainchild of state Sens. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock and Chip Pearson, R-Dawsonville, met the Jan. 2009 launch date set by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

But judging from its contents, the governor should’ve given them some more time.

(more…)

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With the fall of Falcons star Michael Vick — who is scheduled to find out his prison term Monday — dogfighting has been under the spotlight in Georgia this year. The irony is, according to state Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, had Vick been under investigation by Georgia authorities, the law against dogfighting here is so arcane that he would never have been charged.

In short, the law against dogfighting in Georgia (pardon the pun) has no teeth.

Rogers has introduced legislation the past two years to toughen Georgia’s laws against dogfighting. Last year, it passed unanimously in the Senate, only to die in a House committee. This year, Rogers expects the proposal to pass. “I think the chances were very good before the Michael Vick situation,” Rogers told CL. “With the Michael Vick situation, the chances are even better.”

Rogers has gotten the support of the Best Friends Animal Society, a 33,000-acre animal sanctuary in Utah. The sanctuary enlisted Willie Nelson to film a public service announcement to bring attention to the proposed law.

Francis Battista, one of the founders of the sanctuary, says Nelson filmed the spot in Las Vegas before a gig at the Hard Rock Hotel. “He has helped us before,” Battista says. “We got involved because the laws in Georgia are pretty slack, and it’s difficult to get any type of conviction.”

The problem with the current law, according to Rogers, is that it is so specific that you have to be caught in the act in order to be prosecuted. “There’s not a single person in jail today in the state for dogfighting,” Rogers says.

As a result, Georgia has become a center for the dogfighting industry. “It’s pretty prevalent now and it’s getting worse because we’ve become kind of a haven,” Rogers says. “We need to be going after the entire dogfighting industry.”

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