GOP Widens Lead in Georgia Senate (They just keep SWITCHING and SWITCHING in Georgia...)

AP ^ | 11-12-2002 | AP

[fieldmarshaldj]

November 12, 2002 at 14:05:15 PST

GOP Widens Lead in Georgia Senate

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA- A fourth Democrat in the Georgia Senate has changed parties, bolstering the Republican majority and giving a boost to GOP Gov.-elect Sonny Perdue.

State Sen. Jack Hill's decision Tuesday gives Republicans a 30-26 edge over Democrats in the chamber and it reversed the Election Day results that gave Democrats a four-seat majority.

Republicans have not controlled a legislative body in Georgia since Reconstruction, and Perdue is the first Republican in 130 years to become governor of the state.

Democrats still control the Georgia House with 106 members to 73 Republicans and one independent.

The new majority means Republicans could strip Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor of his power to appoint committees and assign legislation to committees, leaving him only with the power to preside over debate.

Taylor has called on party switchers to resign and run for re-election as Republicans.

[Theodore R.]

Can redistricting be brought up again in GA without the supervision of the federal courts? Remember, GA is limited in its redistricting potential because it is one of those states covered by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

[calenel]

"This is a BIG thing. This is a good thing. It's a sign that Dems 'by tradition' all over the country are beginning to wake up to the fact that the Democratic party was hijacked by the socialists long ago and there is no room for them unless they are willing to be socialists too.
Many of these people are good conservatives. We want them. "

I agree. "Republican" is no longer a slur in Georgia and some of these people are beginning to realize it. Democrat doesn't stand for what it did even 20 years ago. If the Rat party takes a hard left, expect more jumpers. If there is enough of it, maybe the rest will just admit, finally, that they are socialists.

Shatter the Left!

[lonestar]

I grew up in East Texas; met the first Republican when I was sixteen. My mother whispered, "They're Republicans." Their daughter was John Tower's campaign manager.

My parents voted for Ike and Republican thereafter.

The Democrats in Texas were always conservative and the only ones left are "my daddy was a Democrat" types who are literally and figuretively brain dead.

[lunatic12]

"Can redistricting be brought up again in GA without the supervision of the federal courts?"

It's the redistricting of the state legislature that's being discussed, not the congressional districts. Barnes attempted to make the Repubs extinct in the state senate. What goes around is coming around. BIG TIME!

[LaGrone]

Great news indeed! Play it again, and again, and again.

[Theodore R.]

The Voting Rights Act also covers redistricting of the state legislatures, not just the congressional seats. It even covers county commission and city councils. There are real restrictions on the freedom of southern states to handle their own districting.

[No Truce With Kings]

While I'm happy these guys are switching to the correct party, I think there needs to be rules/laws against switching parties during the middle of a term.

Switching in the middle of a term does not bother me quite as much as switching at the beginning of a term.

There may be principled and legitimate reasons for switching in the middle of the term. Phil Graham did it after he was stripped of his committee assignments for providing the bipartisanship in the Reagan tax cuts. Blue Dog democrats switching in the House in protest to a Marxist-Socialist Minority Leader could be another example.

But, come on. These guys in Georgia are switching, not because they have a principle -- other than the principle of being in the majority. Changing parties less than a week after the election because the party you are in loses its majority is low.

Senator Wayne Morse changed parties from Republican to Democrat in the 1950s. He disagreed with the direction that the party was going. And his defection would have changed the leadership in the Senate, except for one thing. Morse, since he had been elected as a Republican continued to vote with the Republican party for organizational purposes for the balance of his term, until he was re-elected as a Democrat. He believed it to be unfair for a personal decision to change leadership. So while he voted Democratic on the issues (and God bless folks willing to cross party lines to vote for what they believe is right -- whether it is Zell Miller or Olympia Snow) Morse followed an honorable course.

Would that more politicians follow his example today. "Win at any cost," and "gotta be in the majority" is killing our government.

[calenel]

"What do lieutenant governors DO?"

Typically, the same as what VPs do - sit around and wait, just in case. If the Governor dies or is removed from office, the Lieutenant Governor succeeds to the post.

[Route66]

I grew up in West Texas. Though it is still firmly Democratic in that area, that is primarily because of the over 80% hispanic population now. The rest of Texas, is a good example of how the political tide can change and the republicans have gained 'respectability' in areas which were formerly tight Democratic strongholds.

[uncbob]

I suppose you think Ronald Reagen was also a traitor for switching parties, Right?

Didn't switch after getting elected but before

[Theodore R.]

I have rarely heard of new redistricting plans being brought up just because the "out" party wins control of a state's legislature. And besides, the GA "democracy" still controls the Carter-like state House.

[AnAmericanMother]

While I'm not a big fan of "special pleading", Georgia really is an atypical case.

The Dems have had a stranglehold on all branches of government since Reconstruction. I was talking with my boss today (he's from VERY conservative North Georgia, up Zell Miller's way). Tom Murphy (the uncrowned king of GA for the last 28 years or so) habitually cut all funding to any district whose rep ran as a Republican. My boss's home county is so conservative they all went Republican years ago -- but they haven't gotten one thin dime from the State treasury since. Not one hospital, not one road project, no nuthin'. You may be ideologically pure, but it's hard to say it out loud when your constituents have to drive 50 miles to a hospital.

So what you have here is a pent-up demand for Republicans that have been artifically held under the Democrat label in order to avoid losing State projects. With Tom Murphy gone and Roy Barnes gone, they can finally admit to the truth - they've been DINOs for a long time.

[Bonaparte]

Now what shall we call this trend? How about the "Jeffords Effect?"

[anniegetyourgun]

When people offer that they're DEMS, just say: "Oh, you're a member of the Kennedy, Clinton, Condit party?" The shame will come quickly to their face and they'll have to make some kind of excuse...

[Benjamin Dover]

My first read of this article said another Democrat changed panties. Ooops! Well.....maybe that's what the writer meant.

Georgia Democratic Party Chairman: "Somebody get me that #$##$@#$ idiot McAuliffe on the phone! He and that pervert have cost us everything!! We're ruined! No;...no,...No Marcy, I can't see any more members today! Can't you see I'm trying to pack up and get outta here before the rest of the donor checks bounce? I'll be in a van...DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!"- Chris Farley humor.

[Arkinsaw]

I used to hate it when this was done. But then came Jeffords and now I'll take it anyway I can get it.

[goldstategop]

Did the Democrats protest on principle the Jeffords betrayal? Nope. I don't see why we have to remain pure as driven snow when the Rats play politics. Heck we can play that game too.

[Route66]

'So what you have here is a pent-up demand for Republicans that have been artifically held under the Democrat label in order to avoid losing State projects. With Tom Murphy gone and Roy Barnes gone, they can finally admit to the truth
- they've been DINOs for a long time.'
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That's right - This is a long needed release for many of these people, and I think the exodus bodes well for DINO conversions in other areas around the country over the next two years.

[Revolutionary]

There are a lot of conservative Democrats that have been caught in the Southern trap of having to be Democrat to be elected in the south. The more that changes, the perception, the more party switchers there will be. With G.W.B out front, it's becoming O.K. to be Republican in places where that was just not done.

[Illbay]

Laura Ingraham had a really great interview with one of the Georgia Senators who had switched earlier. He said that one of the biggest influences on his decision was his admiration of Sonny Perdue, who had been a kind of mentor to him.

Perdue had originally convinced him to run as a Democrat, but Perdue himself soon became disenchanted with the stupid "interest groups" that really ran the party, and left.

This is, apparently, the real reason that so many are leaving, and why it is mostly in the Senate.