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Problems trump partisanship at Georgia gubernatorial candidates' forum

January 25, 2010 —

Red-meat partisanship was for the most part oddly absent Monday in Atlanta, where separate panels of Democratic and Republican candidates for governor followed each other in fielding questions from a media panel at the Georgia Municipal Association’s “Mayor’s Day” gathering at the downtown Hilton Hotel. 

Instead, the candidates of both parties spent more time agreeing on broad policy solutions than in disagreeing on particulars.  One reason was doubtless their audience. Mayors and other local government officials would have been a tough crowd for candidates peddling ideology. Too many practical problems demand attention across the state, including water resources, transportation headaches, school funding, and tax policy and collections. 

Another, hidden reason for the odd lack of heat coming from the 10 candidates may have been that the true solution to most of what ails Georgia is to come up with more money. And since none is to be found during this Great Recession, the candidates spent much of their time dancing around the issues and speaking in generalities.  

The Democratic candidates seemed eager not to say anything that would create the impression that “the party of big government” intends to bully local governments from the Gold Dome in Atlanta. Their Republican counterparts appeared apprehensive that they’re seen as the party that’s been in charge for the last eight years, during which little has been done to solve the state’s mounting big-ticket difficulties.    

All the Democratic candidates were on hand: Attorney General Thurbert Baker, former Gov. Roy Barnes, Ray City Mayor Carl Camon, House Minority Leader Dubose Porter, and former Secretary of State/Labor Commission/Adjutant General  David Poythress. They spent most of their allotted time playing “me too” among themselves, as they largely agreed that:  

• State government too often bullies local governments with unfunded mandates and other onerous and unfair policies.
• Public schools need more money, and less of strict accountability measures that are based mainly on test scores.
• Georgia needs a comprehensive and coordinated statewide transportation plan
• Water shortages can be solved by plugging infrastructure leaks, building more reservoirs, and talking some sense into the governments of Alabama and Florida.
• The Dept. of Revenue is a model of inefficiency on collecting sales and other taxes, and needs to be overhauled.
• Gov. Sonny Perdue’s “Super Speeder” fines aren’t an adequate way to fund the trauma-care centers that are so desperately needed in mostly rural Georgia.

Most of the Republican candidates weren’t in the room to hear the Democrats, but the GOP panel sounded surprisingly like them anyway. For the most part, they also played an outside-Interstate 285 populist tune, echoing Democratic strains on unfunded mandates, water, transportation, tax collections, and even the ineffectiveness of the “Super Speeder” program to raise money for rural trauma centers – even though that’s the baby of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

 US Rep. Nathan Deal, former Secretary of State Karen Handel, businessman Ray McBerry, state Rep. Austin Scott and Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine were there for the GOP segment. Former state Senate President Eric Johnson and state Sen. Jeff Chapman had scheduling conflicts and weren’t present. (Oxendine, who missed an earlier gubernatorial debate, originally had a conflict too. But a canceled flight allowed him to show up on Mayor’s Day after all.) 

Oxendine kicked off the GOP proceedings by airily shrugging off a question about the news Monday that the state Dept. of Natural Resources has asked him to take a hunting safety course. Oxendine was on a quail-hunting excursion on Jan. 17 when his teen son accidently shot a companion and Oxendine campaign contributor. The man wasn’t seriously hurt. Oxendine told the GMA gathering that he’ll take the course, but he also characterized hunting accidents as a common occurrence. “No one is asked to stop driving a car because of an auto accident,” he said.  

The primary policy debate on a truly conservative issue was about a new proposed state law that would allow certified carriers of concealed firearms to take them to all kinds of public places where it’s now forbidden to. Oxendine grinned in self-deprecation at the negative publicity surrounding his son’s shooting incident and said, “I like guns,” before defending the guns-rights bill. But Deal and Handel equivocated, an indication that this further support for guns rights might not sit well with voters in the general election this fall. The issue has divided guns-rights and property-rights conservatives in many states. 

Oxendine stressed his executive experience in government; Handel her track record of working in and with local governments; Deal his long service in both Atlanta and Washington; Scott his rural roots and his statehouse experience; and McBerry his arch-conservative bona fides. (He even managed to work in a reference to “communism” when speaking of current policy trends from Washington.) 

The most entertaining on either panel was Roy Barnes. The former governor, who was voted out by Georgians in 2002, jolted the crowed with a sort of impish impatience that seemed to imply the other candidates were offering ideas that amounted to little more than empty blandishments. Some of his homespun zingers included: 

• “I’m the anti-nut candidate.” (Referring to Republican far-right-wingers.)
• “Don’t’ legislate something that ain’t your business. (On state policy riding roughshod over local policy.)
• “Quit fussing at federal judges on the front page of the newspapers. They read that stuff.” (On criticizing legal decisions about the tri-state water wars.)
• “You’re not going to catch me with a woman.” (On recent Republican sex scandals in the legislature.) 

Only a few weak sparks flew on either panel. Barnes took exception to Thurbert Baker’s implication that Barnes was referring to sales tax exemptions on groceries when he talked about ending tax breaks for special interests. “Read my lips,” said Barnes. 

Oxendine didn't like Austin Scott’s suggestion that Oxendine’s idea to build a super-highway from Savannah to Chattanooga would be poor policy. Otherwise, the forum could have passed for a discussion among bureaucrats.  

All candidates touched on the idea of letting local governments collect sales taxes, instead of the state doing it. Some opposed and some supported. All showed careful deference to their local-government listeners.  

Perhaps most tellingly, there was little defense of Gov. Perdue or the Republican-dominated General Assembly, even among the GOP candidates.  Nor was there mention of Barack Obama, national health-care reform, terrorism, or any of the issues that so divide Washington today. Again, that was probably because of the nuts-and-bolts crowd that was being preached to. In this race, the partisan dynamite is doubtless yet to come.