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.

[Ole Okie]

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

Screw Democrat Taylor, and the horse he rode in on.

As Lt Gov, he serves as president of the state senate. In this capacity, he makes committee assignments and sets priorities for legislation.

Taylor's power will probably be stripped away from him by this development. He may serve out his four year term presiding over debates - nothing more. So he appears to be in panic mode right now.

[RobbyS]

One must assume that the switcher have already canvassed their constituency. Even Jeffords had a constituency small enough for him to do this informally and know when it had tipped. Personally, though, I also favor Phil Gramm's approach, which had the advantage of giving him alot more political leverage. He came back looking inches taller.

[Robert A Cook PE]

See? Re-re-districting is on the agenda - after the gerrymandering that the previous democrats used to cut up everybody's districts.

This is what COULD happen nationally if Lose-a-Lott had the nerve to say:

"Cooperate. Or see your bills die in committee. Die on the floor. And then die in the conference committee.. See your pork stop. Dead. No more."

"Cooperate. And we will cooperate with you.

"Cooperate. And if you turn traitor, you will get cut off. Completely."

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

T��������he Republicans should welcome people who have made a principled decision to change parties, but they should shun the opportunists who would seek profit from our hard work and fill the seat of a more able candidate. Who could depend on them in times of crisis? To a man they all believe in changing the party from the inside and we should be very wary of taking these [D/R]INOs vipers to our bosoms.

We need more principled people in the party and if they are principled they would have no problem rerunning as a Republican. President Reagan, once said: ``I didn't leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me”

[coca-cola kid]

As an activist here in Georgia, maybe I can shed a little light on the subject. Democrats, especially in the State Senate, had been basically told to tow the party line with a gun held to their head. The first two to switch last week, Dan Lee and Don Cheeks, had been screwed by their own party through redistricting. Cheeks even had the majority leader Charles Walker (who lost) recruit someone to run against him in the primary. I don't know the story on the third guy, but Jack Hill today has been one of the most conservative democrats for quite a while. These guys are conservatives, and if it took the 2002 election to push them over, so be it. It strips Mark Taylor of his power so it has to be good. Also, our newly elected governor, Sonny Perdue was a democrat until 1998.

Remember, in 1998 when the Republican members of the Senate (24 at the time) asked Taylor for fairness in committee assignments, his response was, "Cry me a river." Well, Mark...hope you like cutting ribbons at supermarket openings.

[Man of the Right]

Okay, the President's the head of state. How low do we have to go before the elected chief doesn't need an elected deputy whose only duty is to serve if there's an interregnum? A mosquito abatement district? "Maxwell Swartwout, formerly vice president for looking out the window of Never Profit Semiconductor Corporation, has been elected Vice-Chairman of the West Hinky Dink Mosquito Abatement District. If the chair should resign, die, or be removed from office as a result of mental incapacity or impeachment, Swartwout is prepared to be sworn in immediately, thereby preventing the West Nile Virus and Mongolian hordes now massing on the Canadian border from overrunning West Hinky Dink. Meanwhile, he is working 20 hour days familiarizing himself with the chair's duties. Other elements of his job description include representing the chair at funerals and chili bake-offs, and presiding over West Hinky Dink's annual succotash festival."

[LittleBoPeep]

DEMOCRAT party, not DEMOCRATIC party.

[nicmarlo]

Add to that list, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado; was a Rat, now a Republican.....caused a stir at the time, too; but he's been re-elected as a Republican, since, and has been an excellent Senator for Colorado, IMHO, land where I lived for past 10 years.

[Agamemnon]

From your Freeper bio: Conservative, aburpt, and logical.

Guess that tells us where your thought processes reside, particularly on this party-switching issue. Makes me wonder what you think of former Nazis from WWII who switched sides to join us fight against the Soviets.

Looks like you would have had them become citizens of Chad, Sri Lanka, South Pago Pago, or some other non-involved non-combatant nation before they could take up arms in the fight. All we basically required was a loyalty oath. Much of what they did they did under a dictatorial regime. Was the GA statehouse really any different for Dems (minus the gas-chambers maybe)?

Couldn't these Dem converts be accorded that much acceptance? Why not just be content to welcome them and MORE of them to our side?

[RobbyS]

When you plant thorns bushes, you get stuck.

[Atlantian]

As for the switching down here in GA--Remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy throws water on the witch and she melts away. Dorothy is horrified and apologizes to the witch's guards. But the guards are overjoyed and say, " The wicked witch is dead! Hail, Dorothy!

This is just what the conservative politicians in GA feel like. They have finally been liberated from the corrupt, arrogant, mean-spirited Dem Party in GA.

[ChadGore]

Hmmm I wonder if Jim Jeffords would approve ? LOL

[FreedomPoster]

GA FReeper pings.

It's getting better all the time!

[FreedomPoster]

>>I wonder why states still have a lieutenant governor.

Mark "Marky-Mark" Taylor will have the opportunity to attend many ribbon cuttings and funerals.

[dansangel]

I Love it...I can't wait to see what each day brings!

[farmfriend]

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

That would be the honorable thing to do, at least that is what we all said when Jeffords switched.

[FreedomPoster]

It's a little different, in that Jeffords wasn't in what was, until 11/5/2002, for 130 years, a single party governmental system, house, senate, and governor.

In general, Republicans seem to want to win using Marques of Queensbury rules, while our opponents are street fighting. Personally, I say kick'em in the 'nads while we can; they sure did to us.

[republicangel]

Thank you for putting it so well. My father told me when I was 18, "even though we always vote Republican, you have to register as a Democrat. If you don't, you won't get to vote except in the presidential elections." Most elections were decided in the democrat's primary. Thank goodness it has changed over time.

[rebel]

You are correct!!

Rural Georgians have finally realized that the Democrat party no longer represents them and their conservative values.

Before if you were republican your district would be denied programs and your bills would be buried simply because you were republican. It would not have been in the interest of their constituents to switch. But now they can act on their values without fear of democrat reprisals.

[altair]

Phil Gramm switched honorably. He resigned as a Democrat and ran for reelection as a Republican.