A Rainy Day in Georgia

© Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, August 3, 2008

Word comes that the State of Georgia may be facing between one and two billion dollars (depending upon who one believes) shortfall in state revenues for this fiscal year.  This is hard to believe given this bustling and robust “Bush economy” (wink, wink, nod, nod).

Governor Perdue has toyed with the idea of calling a special session of the General Assembly to deal with this issue. Such a session would cost about $60,000 a day!

There was speculation that the 2.5% teacher pay raise authorized in the 2008 session of the state legislature would be repealed, but now Sonny seems inclined NOT to take that action.  I guess he remembers Roy Barnes’s disrespect of teachers and just how he, Sonny, became the first Republican governor of Georgia in 130 years.  I suppose he doesn’t want to be the last one, for another 50 years or so!

Likely, the teachers will not lose their pittance; however, other state employees will more than likely not receive their annual raise.

I have suggested to Governor Perdue, to the elected constitutional officers in the executive branch of state government, and to the members of the General Assembly that, if things are as bad as they portray them to be, they should lead by example and take a 6% cut in their own pay, thereby making the sacrifice more palatable for the rank and file government employee.  Thus far, the response of our state leaders has been silence.

The current economic mess in Georgia is not all Sonny Perdue’s fault, just as the national economic debacle is not all George W. Bush’s responsibility.  However, neither Perdue nor Bush have anything to brag about in the way they have navigated the state and the country, respectively, through rough economic waters over the past several years.

Poor decisions, both at the state and national level over the past 30 years have brought us to the point where we are today.  In particular, the lack of a cohesive national energy policy, our addiction to oil, the insatiable appetite of corporatists for profits at all cost, and the uncompromising position of environmentalists in opposition to wider exploration and production of our own oil resources, have all worked together against us.  We are now paying the price.

Presidents from Nixon to Bush have NOT led in this area.  More importantly, the Congress has been extremely deficient in dealing with this in any meaningful way.  I charge this latter failure to the fact that we, as citizens, in large measure keep sending back to Washington the same inept politicians to stumble and stagger around the corridors of government, slurp off the lobbyists, and accomplish little.

We, indeed, have reached a sad state when the business of getting re-elected is more of a concern to the representatives and the senators than doing the people’s business.

I don’t know about you, but it is going to be very difficult for me to “pull the lever” for any candidate identified as “incumbent” in the election this fall.