Political Notes

No dealings with Darfur: Even though the General Assembly was a failure when it came to adopting a transportation tax method, lawmakers were on the ball when it came to foreign policy. They passed, and Gov. Sonny Perdue signed into…

For reporters, one of the most frustrating parts of the job is the difficulty of getting an honest answer from a politician. It is a given that a politico who’s hit with a tough question is going to evade, dissemble,…

A big loss for Georgia: Dr. Daniel W. Rahn, a respected figure in the University System as the president of the Medical College of Georgia and a leading player in the shaping of the state’s healthcare policy, has decided to…

We have noted before the General Assem-bly’s fondness for giving tax breaks and other financial gifts to corporations and special interest groups. It’s something they do with a passion and the state treasury, as a result, loses more than $1…

Judicial panel: President Barack Obama will have several judicial appointments to make for the federal courts in Georgia this year, including four District Court judges, three U.S. attorneys and three U.S. marshals. The state’s congressional Democrats have set up a…

On the afternoon of Jan. 21, Gov. Sonny Perdue went before a joint hearing of legislative budget writers and said he really didn’t care what the newly inaugurated President Barack Obama did with his economic recovery legislation that would funnel…

National Guard general: Gov. Sonny Perdue has promoted Col. Joseph M. Wells to Brigadier General in the Georgia Army National Guard, making Wells the first African American general officer in the 276-year history of the Georgia National Guard. “With his…

One of the hallmarks of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s administration has been his consistent cutbacks in state formula funding for Georgia’s public school systems. In nearly every budget he’s proposed since first taking office, Perdue has included large “austerity cuts” in…

Forming their teams: Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who’s putting together a campaign team for the 2010 governor’s race, has named AFLAC CEO Dan Amos as his finance chairman. Bill Byrne, former Cobb County Commission chairman and an unsuccessful GOP candidate…

We now know what happens when push meets squeeze. As the economic recession deepened in the last six months of 2008, Georgia’s political leaders found themselves squeezed by dropping tax revenues at the same time they were being pushed by…