Your morning jolt: House GOP leader wants loyalty pledges in writing
And we’re back.
When the Legislature convenes next week, with the Senate in disarray and a new governor in the midst of establishing himself, House Speaker David Ralston will be the man in the catbird’s seat.
House Majority Leader Larry O'Neal of Bonaire. Ben Gray/AJC
And his friends intend to make sure he stays there. Just before Christmas, newly elected House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal of Bonaire sent a message to swelling GOP ranks, broaching the topic of what might be viewed as loyalty oaths.
Wrote O’Neal:
”I suggest that each of us, prior to opening day, write a short letter to both Speaker Ralston and Speaker Pro Tem [Jan] Jones pledging our vote, loyalty and support for their respective elections by the whole House on opening day.”
YouTube testimonials, so long as they include prominent images of first-born children strapped to altars, will also be acceptable.
***
Last year, Roy Barnes had great fun with some of the more peculiar issues taken up by the General Assembly. But now that the former Democratic governor has been disposed of as a statewide political force, GOP lawmakers are again free to unleash their imagination.
So far, no measure to ban microchip implantation in unsuspecting citizens has been introduced. But ThinkProgress.com has taken note of a bill pre-filed by state Rep. Bobby Franklin, a Republican from Cobb County, that would require taxpayers to pay their taxes in very hard currency:
Pre-1965 silver coins, silver eagles, and gold eagles shall be the exclusive medium which the state shall use to make any payments whatsoever to any person or entity, whether private or governmental. Such coins shall be the exclusive medium which the state shall accept from any person or entity as payment of any obligation to the state including, without limitation, the payment of taxes….
Unconfirmed reports suggest the vending machine industry may have a hand in the legislation.
***
The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame will stay in place, the Macon Telegraph reported over the weekend. But there was no highest bidder – just an only bidder:
Save the Halls Inc., a public-private organization that is trying to keep the Georgia sports and music halls of fame in Macon, was the lone organization to submit a proposal for the sports hall Friday, the deadline for bids.
Macon and Athens were the only cities to be represented at a mandatory meeting for communities seeking to host the sports hall, but representatives from Athens did not submit anything Friday, hall officials said.
***
A long, mind-clearing vacation requires some catching up. For instance, there was U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey’s curious comparison last week of health care repeal to Iraq. From The Hill:
…[T]he congressman stressed that congressional Republicans have “got a chance to repeal” the healthcare law and should work toward that goal.
“That’s what we promised the American people who are still in the 60 percent range in strong opposition to it. They gave us a net of 63 Republicans in the House of Representatives — and believe me, the people out there, they’re going to hold our feet to the fire,” he said.
“And, they may say, you know, look, don’t just say you’re not going to do it because it’s too heavy a lift,” Gingrey said. “For goodness’ sakes, back in 2006, when we were about to lose the battle in Iraq, thank goodness our patriots fought in the Anbar province and Fallujah and turned that thing around.”
***
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed at a Falcons pep rally last week. Bob Andres/bandres@ajc.com
Kasim Reed received a pair of early valentines for Christmas. First was praise from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who declared Reed – just completing his first year as mayor of Atlanta – to be a leading example of a new breed of “pay-as-you-go-progessives.”
Then came news this weekend that Sunday Paper editor Stephanie Ramage, one of Reed’s more determined critics, had been ousted in a newspaper makeover. The Sunday Paper had positioned itself as a conservative alternative to Creative Loafing.
The current message on the newspaper’s website:
SP will be back on January 7, 2011 as the complete source for coupons, deals, fun and culture in Atlanta.
Ramage says she’ll be up soon with her own political blog.
***
To physically assault a journalist shows an extreme lack of judgment. Beating up a journalist with TV cameras whirring takes stupid to an entirely new dimension. From WMAZ-TV in Macon last week:
Here’s the Macon Telegraph take. The incident occurred last Thursday, as Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown, D-Macon, attempted to explain what he meant when he suggested on a local radio program that Democratic lawmakers who have recently become Republicans should hang onto their bedsheets.
The assaulted photographer was at a press conference, called by Brown, where the state lawmaker explained that the aforementioned sheets were a reference to Republican sexual peccadilloes, not KKK rallies.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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44 comments Add your comment
Gunner
January 3rd, 2011
8:09 am
Welcome back.
Dagny
January 3rd, 2011
8:10 am
My rep better be pledging his loyalty to the voters that elected him; not to any party or leader.
Bill Orvis White
January 3rd, 2011
8:28 am
The common sense idea of committing to a pledge is something that needs to happen in all government offices. A pledge is a code that a lawmaker needs to live by just like the average citizen who goes to church and commits himself wholely to the Lord Almighty. Every single lawmaker is part of a process that affects our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When an elected official breaks his committment, then he is engaging in treasonous behavior and will either face judgment here on Earth or in our heavens.
Amen,
Bill
ROBOCOP
January 3rd, 2011
8:40 am
Hey, Bill Orvis White, all elected officials and some appointed officials in state governmnet already take an oathe. It’s called the Oathe of Office, a legally binding expression of honior which many of those whom you support fail to uphold. This is pure politics…something promoted by those who want to steer attention away from their mis-deeds. Were you quick to criticize the likes of Glenn Richardson, Preston Smith and others for failing to uphold their Oath of Office? I don’t remember you doing os. Why should this pledge be any different?
zinc
January 3rd, 2011
8:40 am
Could the modern day Republican party more closely resemble lemmings? A loyalty pledge to a particular party? No thanks. Learn to think for yourself and make the best decision on behalf of the people that elected you–not the party you represent. Guess they have things backwards again.
If you think this is just a vote of confidence for Ralston and Jones, I have a bridge to sell you.
Jason
January 3rd, 2011
8:43 am
Glad to see Stephanie Ramage go. Facts never mattered to her. When she made a mistake, she’d keep digging the whole deeper and deeper in an attempt to vindicate her poorly formed beliefs instead of simply admitting she was wrong. A minor typo could spawn off months of crazy rants because the more plain it was that the facts weren’t on her side, the more she apparently thought that she’d “win” if she just yelled loud enough for long enough.
Good for the Sunday Paper for realizing that there is more to being a columnist than trolling for outrage. Hope Rampage enjoys her new job, be it working for Michelle Bachman or writing for the Ghost Hunters tv show. Of course she could always enroll in a basic statistics course and take some anger management classes and end up being ok.
Jason
January 3rd, 2011
8:46 am
Dagny, why should politicians pledge loyalty to the voters when most voters long ago swore their loyalty to the party above all else? Seems to me they’re just being consistent with how the voters act.
Party first! God, country, family, community and everything else… well, whenever it doesn’t go against the wishes of the party.
wesleywhatwhat
January 3rd, 2011
9:00 am
sad that georgia has such an uneducated population that signing “loyalty pledges” and paying taxes in pre-1965 currency even come up as options.
lmno
January 3rd, 2011
9:18 am
Rep. Bobby Franklin’s bill that would order GA to trade only in pre-1965 coins is exactly the type of thing that we don’t need. I am so sick of this crap. Why take the time of the legislature just to make some symbollic point? I cannot believe that he gets paid to do this type of thing.
Bill Orvis White
January 3rd, 2011
9:24 am
@ROBOCOP
It is simply not enough when a lawmaker is sworn in. Something bigger needs to happen and what Mr. O’Neal proposes is a brilliant idea. An elected official needs to have his feet held to the fire. Me and millions of other Tea Party Patriots will be watching Republicans even closer while we do whatever we can to fire as many Godless Democrats as possible. The focus on these 100 days in the U.S. Congress and these statehouses to make sure that Republican legislators say NO to more taxes, unnecessary programs and the ever more encroachment of the federal government into our lives and businesses.
The far-left establishment in the Midtown area and the liberal media ran the Honorable Speaker Richardson out of town. The man was humiliated to the point that he wished to take his own life. How much more could a man take? Right now, the national left-wing media is trying to take Governor Barbour (my governor) down, but he’s holding his own and is thankfully giving them hell. I only wish that Speaker Richardson could have done the same.
Amen,
Bill
John K
January 3rd, 2011
9:34 am
That’s today’s GOP. Party over Country. Party over State.
SawBe
January 3rd, 2011
9:42 am
Roy Barnes hasn’t been a political force in Georgia, unless you count lawyer-money and his backroom string pulling in the Mayor’s race, in ten years. Now everyone knows what many of us have known all along; Roy’s time is past.
Road Scholar
January 3rd, 2011
9:44 am
Jason: “..why should politicians pledge loyalty to the voters when most voters long ago swore their loyalty to the party above all else?”
Because the voters are fickel, and have short memories! Besides , the voters will vote them out! The oath they take should have a section on honesty, integrity and not abusing their power with an ethics commission with teeth. yeah, right!
Oh Please
January 3rd, 2011
9:52 am
Didn’t Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Mao, and other despots require loyalty oaths to The State?
Intown
January 3rd, 2011
10:12 am
Hang on to your hats folks, it’s gonna be a cooky legislative session with the conservative cuckoo birds flexing their muscles, exercising their pea-sized brains, and blowing a lot of hot air. Let’s hope the State makes it through intact this year.
Sam Ervin
January 3rd, 2011
10:15 am
Not that it really merits comment, but Rep. Franklin’s proposal would be wholly ineffectual even if ratified as part of the Georgia Constitution. The federal Legal Tender Act trumps it under the Supremacy Clause. He can find the relevant language inscribed on every dollar bill: “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.”
Base
January 3rd, 2011
10:36 am
Thus shows what a bunch of nuts are in the legislature!
khc
January 3rd, 2011
10:55 am
bow, you dumb arses vote for folks like richardson who are total hypocrits (that’s likely why he thought suicide) and only care about glory and power. in exchange for this power they pretend to be social conservatives and throw you folks a few bones. meanwhile, the repubs are shipping jobs offshore and making sure the elite get every tax break imaginable. keep voting for these folks and the middle class with be no more. though i am no expert, many of their actions just don’t seem to Christ-like to me.
DannyX
January 3rd, 2011
10:57 am
We need a new SmartMeter bill. Georgia Power has almost finished installing their new SmartMeter. They have been replacing the old meters with a meter that transmits usage readings over the air.
Folks these new meters are transmitting way more than electric use. Obama has rigged them up to spy on you. The liberals with all of their technology know-how have figured out a way to hack into the new SmartMeter and are secretly listening to your private phone calls. They can trace all your Internet browsing, yes they know what porn you like. The socialist Demoncrats are viewing all your emails. They know who watches Fox News and Kate Plus 8.
We need to get the Smart Meter banned NOW!! Call your Party leader today! We need to take back our country from Obama and the gays. This SmartMeter has gay recruiter written all over it. Any thing named “Smart” should have been scrutinized much better.in the first place. How smart are the evolution believing “scientists?” …just saying.
BAN THE SMARTMETER. Its the smart thing to do.
Bill Orvis White
January 3rd, 2011
11:14 am
Roy is the new Jimmah Carter on the state level. He just keeps popping up with his far-left views to get attention, but everyone knows better. They know that he’s like a gnat – you just want to swat him away, but he keeps coming back. Good riddance, you far-left secular and stay away from the spotlight, you were useless as a governor and you’re even more useless now. Let’s get on with the business of correcting Roy’s mistakes.
God Bless,
Bill
Dunwoody Taxpayer
January 3rd, 2011
11:57 am
We pledge to Milton County!
Georgia Blue
January 3rd, 2011
12:13 pm
A loyalty pledge to a party — in writing — is a pledge of DIS-loyalty to the citizens of this state — in writing. The citizens of Georgia should [but apparently do not care enough to] expect honest representation, meaningful debate, and legislation that serves the common good, not donor corporations, good ol’ boy aristocracy, or some PARTY AGENDA. But that’s not going to happen because stupid, (like the sins of greed, prejudice, hatred, letting hungry people starve, and judging others) are VIRTUES here in GOP Georgia, despite what the Lord that Bill Orvis White allegedly worships actually said. See you in Hell, Mr. White, but don’t ask for a sip of my kool-aid.
pn
January 3rd, 2011
12:38 pm
The Georgia unemployment rate is now 10.1%.
We know that you ran for office to find more and more ways to line your pockets with taxpayer money.
But you need to get busy fixing the economy and doing some rational governing, elected public officials, or you will be toast in the next election.
Capitol Avenue Cal
January 3rd, 2011
12:51 pm
Woot! Fun times ahead!
Georgia Blue
January 3rd, 2011
12:56 pm
pn,
That’s wishful thinking, I’m afraid. The one-party Republican rule in this state will continue to line the pockets of their favored sons, while filthy little factories sit as empty and idle as our Saxby-sponsored subsidized farmland. Then they will go on TV and explain to the citizens of this state that “It’s Obama’s fault!” and the people will hate whom they’re instructed to hate by their good, “Christian” false-witness-bearing leaders. Georgia rose from the ashes, then fell, and is never getting up again. Ever.
what else is new
January 3rd, 2011
2:06 pm
@ Bill Orvis White – than you need to get after Saxbly Chambliss and Johnny Isakson asking for federal money to dredge the Savannah River. Let the corporations that use the Savannah Port pay for it. Please don’t talk out of both sides of your mouth. Corporations have been experiencing record profits–they’re not losing their shirts as others predicted. The Kaolin Industry alone could pay for the dredging. They use the Savannah River to realize their billions of dollars and they are all foreign corporations that pay NO taxes to the State of Georgia. Go do your homework.
khc
January 3rd, 2011
2:24 pm
or ask for divine intervention to do the dredging
At long last
January 3rd, 2011
2:50 pm
Thanks, Santa, for bringing me a one-way ticket out of Georgia for Xmas!
LMAO
January 3rd, 2011
3:31 pm
Milton County will only go if it includes land above the river. Otherwise, give it up. Lies and trickery will doom your chances. It’s proven you folks are unethical by having sitting school board members and county commissioners sitting on your committee to divide the county. Wait ’til the Justice Department starts its snooping.
calvinb
January 3rd, 2011
4:33 pm
Okay, georgia has a repub governor and legislature. Watch how they somehow manage to black hispanics and blacks and workers for all the state problems, when they have been, and continue to be IN CHARGE OF RUNNING THINGS, but blame everybody else for the State’s problems in Jobs, Education and government. The sad thing is that most whites will contiune to drink the TEA right into the POORHOUSE, and blame others!!!
khc
January 3rd, 2011
4:48 pm
dems pretty good at wealth redistribution to minorities; repubs pretty good at wealth redistribution to wealthy……would all you tea partiers please look out for middle class; trickle down is clearly not working and trickle up isn’t either
Son of Mitch
January 3rd, 2011
5:23 pm
The Music Hall of Fame in Macon is dead! No way it survives another year!
td
January 3rd, 2011
9:22 pm
Bill Orvis White
January 3rd, 2011
9:24 am
@ROBOCOP
It is simply not enough when a lawmaker is sworn in. Something bigger needs to happen and what Mr. O’Neal proposes is a brilliant idea. An elected official needs to have his feet held to the fire. Me and millions of other Tea Party Patriots will be watching Republicans even closer
I hope you are taking a very close look at them and calling out the ones that are not standing up for good conservative principles. Let me give you someone to start with: Ed Lindsey. Take a look at his sponsored legislation. He is pulling a bunch of ole liberal tactics by trying to legislate in a the Department of education there day to day business (Legislative micro-management). We elected a conservative to run the DOE and the legislature needs to let them do it and not try to micromanage.
Tell your fellow tea party people to step up and send a shot across his bow and remind him we elected conservatives and do not want them to legislate like liberals.
henry county mom
January 3rd, 2011
9:47 pm
Another year of 40 days making $35k as a state lesgislature.
Mike
January 4th, 2011
12:09 am
The pay is 17,500 a year, knuckleheads. Can’t you read a state report? Democrats lost big this year because they support an agenda that undermines the very freedom we send men and women in harms’ way to defend. It is time to call folks democrats what they are:socialists. “Is a rose by any other name……” Losers on here defend their defenseless positions!
khc
January 4th, 2011
12:17 am
some people care about fellow man; if you think repubs care about average joe you are delusional…most are in it to line pockets ie perdue or just power hungry ie richardson
Bill Orvis White
January 4th, 2011
8:13 am
@td
The DOE needs to be completely dissolved.
professional skeptic
January 4th, 2011
9:28 am
How about a pledge that they don’t flip-flop party affiliation right after they’re elected? Whoa… politicians making pledges to the people who elected them, rather than pledges to other politicians. It has a nice “people over party” kind of ring to it.
w
January 4th, 2011
9:49 am
a pledge to a particular party is a pledge AGAINST the best interests of georgia citizens.
but morons like “bill ormis white” and “mike” wouldn’t recognize that if it bit them in the ass. which it will.
have a blessed day.
td
January 4th, 2011
10:48 am
Bill Orvis White
January 4th, 2011
8:13 am
@td
The DOE needs to be completely dissolved
I am as big a conservative as anyone in the tea party but if you all think the solution is to start doing away with all government then you are completely wrong. Government has a role, it should be small and least restrictive as possible, but to say that there is no role for the state DOE is not thinking.
The DOE needs to reorganize and become the policy setter and a quality control agency for the state. Could you imagine what the curriculum would be in some of our counties if the state DOE was not there setting policies?
Peaches for Thought — Peach Pundit
January 4th, 2011
12:45 pm
[...] In defense of the “loyalty oath” reported in Political Insider yesterday: As stated in the report: When the Legislature convenes next week, with the Senate in disarray and [...]
Tired of BS
January 4th, 2011
2:28 pm
As a fiscal conservative, I have to say this loyalty pledge thing is stupid. The RTL makes you sign a pledge that you won’t support abortion or the death penalty, now the Tea Party wants a signed pledge too. Pick your poison folks… we the people are gonna get screwed.
Michael
January 4th, 2011
3:54 pm
I pledge allegiance to the Georgia flag and the ignoramuses who created this pledge. One state, under one Christian God, not the Jewish or Catholic God, under a flag, over other flags, with greed and avarice for all.
catlady
January 5th, 2011
12:22 pm
I believe the lawmakers also get $175 or so PER DAY for ANY DAY they claim to have used for “state business.” Do most (worthless) folks get paid this kind of money?