Nathan Deal pushes a Saturday adjournment of Legislature
In a private meeting with Senate Republicans, Gov. Nathan Deal agreed to amendments to his effort to shift next year’s transportation sales tax vote to November – and urged encouraged senators to hold an unusual Saturday session in order to bring a quick end to the special session.
We’re told that an amendment to the T-SPLOST bill will accede to a demand from tea-party opponents that all future SPLOST votes – for any purpose – will be held only during general elections. That means every other year.
The change was required by the fact that it looks more and more likely that Democrats in the Legislature won’t support the shift.
The November general election requirement for referendums could only be waived by votes of local legislative delegations.
School boards, counties and cities are about to howl.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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17 comments Add your comment
RetiredSoldier
August 24th, 2011
11:08 am
Good for the Tea Party. It should be during high turnout elections.
honested
August 24th, 2011
11:25 am
For once I agree with the Governor.
You have done enough damage, now go home.
David Staples
August 24th, 2011
11:33 am
Awesome. If only SPLOST votes were required to be held in general elections before now. Cobb County spent $400k to have a special election to vote on it’s SPLOST this past March. And now the Board of Commissioners is saying we have a budget deficit in the millions of dollars. Perhaps someone should have told them they could have saved $400k by holding the SPLOST vote in November instead of a special election. I’d like to see all SPLOST votes held when the highest number of people will have a chance to voice their opinion at the voting booth.
Laurie
August 24th, 2011
11:42 am
Doesn’t make sense to have legislation like SPLOST up for vote at any other time then a general election. Good show!
Johns Creek resident
August 24th, 2011
11:46 am
This is a good move. Politicians should not be able to manipulate vote outcomes by holding general issue elections during primaries or at odd times of the year when very few people vote. This has been a manipulation in Georgia, which should have been ended years ago. I have seen SPLOST elections held in Spring where only 1% of eligible voters have turned out. That is not democracy.
jconservative
August 24th, 2011
11:48 am
Adjournment is a good idea. They can always come back if the Justifce Dept rules the new districts void.
Clarence
August 24th, 2011
12:06 pm
It doesn’t make sense to vote for ANYTHING other than twice every other year.
Clarence
August 24th, 2011
12:08 pm
While we’re at it, many counties are already one-party majorities. This fact means that the primary in the summer essentially ends up being the general election. Something needs to be done to change that (at least by making county commissions and school boards “nonpartisan” races)
Big Daddy
August 24th, 2011
12:16 pm
B all means accede to each & every tea-tard demand. The GOP has kow-towed to the old white anti-government loons all the way!
Remarkable
August 24th, 2011
12:18 pm
I agree Clarence. Boards and commissions should be non-partisan. In many counties you cannot even vote for commissioners unless you are voting in the Democratic or Republican primary. That means you cannot vote for a Republican for US Senator and a Democrat for County Commissioner.
td
August 24th, 2011
12:30 pm
There should be no non-partisan elections for any elected office, even Judges. You can tell a great deal about a person by the party affiliation they choose. I would much rather start my research from that point of view then to try to get a philosophy out of every county commission candidate.
Eric
August 24th, 2011
12:48 pm
td:
That’s lazy. You’d really rather just take someone’s word by their announcement of one word, rather than listening to what they really think? I knew I didnt like you for some reason, now I know why.
David Staples
August 24th, 2011
12:57 pm
td – so voting for someone based on party affiliation tells all, huh? So you’re saying George Bush, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain all share pretty much the same beliefs? Ha!
BRW
August 24th, 2011
1:17 pm
td, so lame….Parties are the problem, not the solution.
td
August 24th, 2011
2:25 pm
None of you heard what was said. By having a party affiliation one is telling the public that they agree with the basic philosophy of that party. You still have to listen to them to see if they are truly believable but by having a affiliation you at least have a starting point. If a candidate does not adhere to the basic core principles then the members of the party will call them out.
td
August 24th, 2011
2:27 pm
BRW
August 24th, 2011
1:17 pm
td, so lame….Parties are the problem, not the solution
If parties are not the solution then what is?
td
August 24th, 2011
2:31 pm
David Staples
August 24th, 2011
12:57 pm
td – so voting for someone based on party affiliation tells all, huh? So you’re saying George Bush, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Herman Cain all share pretty much the same beliefs? Ha!
I did not say it tells you all you need to know. Considering that about half the voters have never even heard of the persons name they vote for then it is a good starting point. I will say that at the basic level Ron Paul and John McCain have closer beliefs then John McCain and Nancy Pelosi.