As we keep evolving toward a two-party system in Georgia, every now and then we find a glitch in our government that needs fixing. Give you an example: When Georgia elected Linda Schrenko as Superintendent of Schools under a Democratic governor, she was doomed to failure ... not because she was either good or bad, but because we had a State Board of Education, appointed by the governor, who insisted it had the power to run that department. Schrenko was elected by the people and the Constitution says she was responsible for its operation. Education in Georgia was gridlocked. Give Zell Miller credit ... he fired about half of the appointed Board, and put in people who would work with Schrenko. But then Roy Barnes was elected governor, and he appointed a Board of Education that went to war with the commissioner all over again. And Barnes set up a sort of education Czar in his office, and nobody had any idea who was running what. Now we have a Republican governor and a Republican School Superintendent, so things are working better, but the governing problem is still there and needs fixing.
Another example: last year, under a Democrat governor and while the legislature was redistricting Georgia, the courts ruled one of the Democrat's Senate redistricting plans was not within the law. Governor Barnes told Attorney General Thurbert Baker to challenge that ruling . Now Governor Sonny Perdue, a Republican, has asked Attorney General Baker, a Democrat, to drop that challenge and Baker refuses to do that. Baker insists that since he is elected by the people, that is his decision. Even legal scholars are divided on that one.
And while we're at it, have you noticed we have a Republican Governor and a Democrat Lieutenant Governor. Some say we should simply do away with the Lt. Gov, and that has some merit. But why not do it like our national elections: let each party elect their Governor and Lieutenant Governor as a team?
On second thought, maybe we ought not mess with it. If the Republicans become as dominant as the Democrats have been for the past 130 years, they may like it like it is.
This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/2/183221
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