New players move to center stage in new Republican Legislature

By by Ken Stanford

Posted 7:43AM on Monday, January 10, 2005

UNDATED - Little by little Old South states once solidly Democratic have turned to Republicans to lead them. Georgia's time comes Monday when a new Legislature opens with both chambers under GOP control for the first time since Reconstruction. Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue sees the dawn of Republican legislative power as a ``very liberating'' era in which bills are freely debated and rise and fall on their merits rather than being bottled up in committee by a powerful few, never to reach a vote. ``That doesn't mean that we're going to agree or the Legislature will rubber stamp everything I propose,'' he said. But it does mean that political leaders will come together ``in a reasonable way, a nonadversarial way'' to address the issues of the day. Democrats, who in the space of two years have lost the governorship and both houses of the Legislature, don't view the coming change through the same lens. ``The first two years of Republicans running things in the executive branch and the Senate has not really gone very well,'' said Bobby Kahn, chairman of the state Democratic Party. ``What we've seen is larger class sizes, cuts in health care and cuts in education. That's not been very good.'' Representative Jeannette Jamieson of Toccoa has been named chairman of the new Rural Democratic Caucus and says Democrats are worried about changes in health care funding with the GOP in control. "It could easily cause some rural hospitals to close." Jamieson says one of the most glaring differences between the two parties is their approach to education funding. "Local school systems have simply run out of real estate to tax." She adds the gulf between the "city and country" in Georgia may be wider than that between her party and the GOP. Perdue, a one-time Democrat who switched parties in 1998, became Georgia's first Republican governor in 130 years when he ousted Democrat Roy Barnes in 2002. Within days of his victory, he won control of the Senate for his party by persuading four Democrats to switch sides. The House remained under Democrat control for the first two years of Perdue's term, but went Republican in the recent elections. The new Republican House leaders will begin running the show after the opening gavels fall Monday. When the legislature convenes Monday, the Hall County delegation - for the first time in modern history - will be all-Republican. The lone remaining Democrat, Carl Rogers, switch to the GOP last spring and easily won re-election as a Republican in November. The dean of the delegation, Representative James Mills, admits its a bit "frightening" to come into power with the state still struggling with budget problems. But, he said it's a new day for Georgia and he's confident the Republican party, which gained control of the state Senate and the Governor's office two years ago, is up to the task. Mills also said Democrats will be hard-pressed to find a seat at the "leadership table" when the GOP takes over, despite demands by Republicans over the years that they be afforded leadership positions when Democrats were in control. Mills said the Republican agenda will be measured by four key things: Is it less government? Does it lower taxes? Does it promote more personal freedom and more individual responsibility? Does it empower the family? "And, that has not been the Democratic caucus agenda," Mills added. "And, we are not going to allow someone who does not share our core values to prevent us from (carrying out the overwhelming mandate handed us by Georgia voters.)" Like Perdue, Mills and his colleagues in the House and Senate promise an era of change. No longer will the state budget be held until the last minute and used as leverage to get other bills passed, they say. And the new ``family friendly'' Legislature won't start the work week on Mondays until 1 p.m., so lawmakers can spend longer weekends at home. There's even talk that if everything important gets taken care of, they'll adjourn early without using all 40 working days of the session. Here's a look at some people to watch as the Republican tide sweeps in, starting with the House: Speaker-elect Glenn Richardson, 44, is a lawyer from Dallas who was the first Republican elected to the Georgia House from Paulding County when he won the seat in 1996. Majority Leader Jerry Keen, 54, of St. Simons Island, is a former chairman of the Christian Coalition of Georgia and will be starting his fifth year as a legislator. Minority Leader DuBose Porter, 51, of Dublin, will be the point man for Democrats as they try out life in bleacher seats. A lawyer, he also is editor of The Courier-Herald of Dublin, and has served in the Legislature since 1982. Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, 51, of Savannah for all practical purposes is the power in the Senate. That's because when they took control two years ago, Republicans stripped Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor of his most important duties as the Senate's presiding officer. Senate Minority Leader Robert Brown, 54, of Macon, was first elected to the Senate in 1991. He was a key player for Democrats in the controversial 2001 redistricting session in which Democrats sought to thwart Republican gains. (The Associated Press contributed to this story.)