Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14A
i FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Wednesday, February 3,1999
Opinion
Georgia should feel good
about Barnes’ “open-door”
policy for government
new governor tra
ditionally opens his
administration with
legislation about which
he feels strongly. That
being the case, the peo-
A
pie df Georgia have to feel good that
GoV. Roy Barnes has made a top pri
ority of making sure the public’s
business is conducted in a manner
open to scrutiny, and that govern
ment records remain accessible to
the masses.
..Among the first pieces of legisla
tion carrying the weight of the new
governor in the current session of the
General Assembly are bills designed
to make it more difficult for elected
officials to conduct government busi
ness behind closed doors and to
guarantee that government records
are available for public review.
In the cases of both public
records and public meetings, the
governor’s proposals will go a long
way toward providing definition to
laws that currently are vague and
filled with shades of gray.
To make sure that government
business is conducted in an open
manner, Barnes proposes making it
more difficult for officials to go into
executive session to discuss pending
legal concerns. The governor’s legis
lation would allow for closed meet
ings-td meet with legal counsel only
when litigation has been threatened
or initiated by a third party.
.The governor also has proposed
that officials participating in closed
meetings of a public body be
required to sign a sworn affidavit
that the topics to be discussed are
within the exemptions allowed by
the state’s open meetings law. The
existence of such an affidavit would
set the stage for prosecution if it
were proven such a meeting were
held illegally.
The governor also would elimi
nate the practice of closing public
meetings in order to hear complaints
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against public employees, and would
require that a record be kept of any
closed executive session.
Barnes’ commitment to open
government is just as strong in the
arena of public records. He would
clarify existing law to make it clear
that any government agency has only
three days to supply public records
when requested to do so. In what
would be a major advancement for
the state, he also proposes that any
private company doing public busi
ness would have to allow for public
review of records, a hugely impor
tant legal issue as privatization of
government functions continues to
expand.
The governor also proposes that
existing laws be changed to make it
clear that those public records which
are electronic in nature also are open
to government scrutiny, such as com
puter documents and Internet files.
Having led past courtroom battles
for public access to government
records, and previously having
advised public officials as a city and
county attorney, Barnes is well
aware of the loopholes in the exist
ing state laws. He has promised to
plug some of them, and has taken
aggressive steps to do so.
It remains to be seen whether the
governor’s legislation will survive
the arduous legislative process
unscathed. Public officials in
Georgia have not always been quick
to support laws that require them to
conduct business in an open fashion
accountable to the public, nor have
they embraced the concept that the
government records they keep
belong to the people, and not the
government.
But in any case, the governor has
made it clear he is a fan of open and
accountable government, a political
position all Georgians should
embrace, and which legislators from
across the state should support.
CARTOONISTS' VIEWS ON THE NEWS
I -aX a -I haven't seen any
I "eel-skin briefcases or
12 \ I ctHigator shoes" in the
/wLJrfA Capitol halls all week!
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"Gov. Barnes' tough talk
about lobbyists is really vS-T IgXJr
having an effect..." /
Whatever happened to two-party Georgia?
What a difference a year makes.
Remember these phrases abolish
parole, end affirmative action, activate
school vouchers, eliminate the car-tag tax,
adopt public initiative?
Those were among the burning political
issues in Georgia in 1998.
Today, they’re hardly mentioned. The
ideas embodied in those bumper-sticker
slogans are passe. Their once-outspoken
proponents either have vanished from the
public scene, or they no longer have
enough appeal to attract a crowd of more
than three. Calling for school vouchers in
Georgia in 1999 is the equivalent of
preaching the flat-Earth theory.
A year ago, Republicans, still in the
minority but clearly on their way to the top
in the statehouse, were driving the debate
on public issues. Democrats were fearful
for the first time in 130 years of losing
their grip on the reins of power. So the
issues were joined.
That fear has evaporated. Democrats
currently dominate the political agenda.
And Republicans look like dinosaurs in
the aftermath of a meteor impact. They are
disappearing from sight.
To be sure, two articulate chieftains of
the GOP House Minority Leader Bob
Irvin of north Fulton and Senate Minority
Leader Eric Johnson of Savannah still
carry on the good fight and put the best
face possible on the sad plight of their
party.
They remind anyone who will listen
that in just three years the reapportioned
Legislature is bound to fall into the hands
of the Republicans. Six months ago, how
ever, they promised that at least one cham
ber of the current General Assembly would
be controlled by Republicans because vot
ers were fed up with Democrats. Didn’t
happen. Not only that, Democrats Roy
Barnes and Mark Taylor whacked the
Republicans hard in the marquee contests
of governor and lieutenant governor.
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Shipp
And that’s just how Democrats beat
back the most noticeable part of the GOP
advance.
Two years ago Republicans held the
offices of attorney general, insurance com
missioner and school superintendent. The
GOP held four of the five seats on the
Public Service Commission.
Consider what has happened since. The
maverick, high-profile Republican AG,
Mike Bowers, surrendered his position to
the Democrats to make an unsuccessful
run for governor. He was replaced by
Thurbert Baker, who marches in lockstep
with the Democratic establishment.
Gov. Barnes and his pals in the
Democrat-controlled Legislature are about
to strip Insurance Commissioner John
Oxendine of many of his powers and
much of his budget.
Less than three months after she was
re-elected, State School Superintendent
Linda Schrenko is telling associates that
this is her final term; she will not seek re
election. Democrats have pointedly omit
ted her from several important decisions
on education. Her too-early declaration of
retirement may mean she will spend the
next four years in political limbo.
Though one GOP member has
resigned, a Republican majority still rules
the PSC. So what? The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled recently that the federal gov
ernment, not state regulatory commis
sions, has the last word on significant
telecommunications issues. Similar
decrees could be forthcoming on energy
and transportation. That won’t leave much
for the PSC to do with or without
Republicans presiding.
The most devastating loss to the
Georgia GOP occurred when the
Republican Moses, Newt Gingrich, quit as
U.S. House speaker, then, in a fit of pique,
dropped off the state political map by giv
ing up his Congressional seat. He now
says he may run for governor in 2002. His
abandoned constituents can hardly wait.
The able state Republican chair,
Russell “Rusty” Paul, has thrown in the
towel to go to work for Steve Forbes’
presidential campaign.
No wonder you don’t hear much now
about “abolish parole” (a Democratic idea
to counter the Republicans’ tough anti
crime rhetoric) or “end affirmative action”
(a Republican notion that was supposed to
make conservative whites jump ship on
the Democrats).
Those issues are irrelevant in the cur
rent atmosphere, in which sprawl control,
health-insurance reform, and reduced
homestead exemptions (all solidly
Democratic themes) have become central
issues.
Some fret that the Republican power
stall means a long-term postponement of
genuine two-party politics in Georgia. Not
to worry. Two new parties are already
beginning to form. One is called the
“Barnes crowd,” the other “the anti-
Barnes crowd.” Both factions are liberally
sprinkled with card-carrying Republicans
as well as Democrats.
Bill Shipp is editor of Bill Shipp's
Georgia, a weekly newsletter on govern
ment and business. He can be reached at
P. O. Box 440755, Kennesaw, Ga. 30144
or by calling (770) 422-2543, e-mail:
bshipp@bellsouth.net, Web address:
http://www. billshipp. com.