In Albany, a confrontation over payback worth $1.8 million

Down in southwest Georgia, they’re talking about a loud and angry spat between a Democratic state lawmaker and a Republican lobbyist — over who’s to blame for the disappearance of funding for a fine arts center named for Ray Charles.

The following was posted this afternoon in the Albany Herald:

Mounting tensions over how $1.8 million earmarked for a fine arts building at Albany State University was stripped from Georgia’s upcoming budget boiled over Tuesday.

State Rep. Winfred Dukes (D-Albany) — whose statements against legislation some have cited may have caused the money to be cut —confronted Albany’s lobbyist outside city commission chambers.

That lobbyist, Rufus Montgomery, had just finished recapping the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly for city commissioners when Dukes publicly rebuked him outside of the city chambers. Dukes claimed that Montgomery has contributed to “fingerpointing” that put the focus squarely on Dukes, his voting record and his conduct in the General Assembly.

No punches were thrown, but there was this:

But minutes later, Dukes again confronted Montgomery. This time Dukes threw his wallet on the floor. He then pulled out credit cards and cash in a reference to comments made at the Capitol during the General Assembly about the level of funding the city had authorized for Montgomery.

Dukes voted against $62 million in tax breaks for Delta and Gulfstream, which the legislator said was unfair to average Georgians. There’s also some speculation at the web site SWBA Politics that Duke’s failure to vote for or against S.B. 200, the bill to reorganize the state Department of Transportation, was involved in the payback.

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