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15H1*H?frW©2006~. www.thlimodemworld.com OVER AND OVER AGAIN If you get the impression from watching Gov. Sonny Perdue that he keeps flogging the same issues over and over again, you're not crazy—you're very perceptive. Perdue is just not one of those politicians who has a lot of fresh ideas. The policy initiatives he proposes tend to be things that Zell Miller or Roy Barnes did years ago when they were governor. Perdue generally takes those old ideas, slaps a different title on them, and tries to present them as if they were something new. "It's a 'rename it and claim strategy," Rep. Bob Hanner called it. Many of our lawmakers fol low a similar strategy. It doesn't matter if something is already on the law books or has been previously approved by the state's voters. They will continue to introduce it as "new" legislation and try to pass it all over again. Take, for example, Perdue's con stitutional amendment to authorize the payment of state funds to religious organizations that provide social services, such as community- based programs for senior citizens. There is no need for-this amendment because church groups have been getting money from state agencies for years to provide these services. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled last year that government contracts with reli gious organizations for non-sectarian purposes do not violate the state constitution. But Perdue stubbornly insists that his faith-based amend ment is needed because somehow, somewhere, some court will declare that these arrangements are invalid. The governor's real intentions of course, are obvious: his amendment would open the door to using government funds for private school vouch ers. The faith-based measure is defeated every year because Democratic lawmakers, who are concerned that vouchers will damage the public school system, team up to deny it the necessary two-thirds majority. Democrats have offered sev eral times to vote for the governor's faith-based amendment if he'll just add a sentence that pro hibits the use of state funds for school vouchers. Perdue always refuses. Another Perdue favorite is the "HOPE Chest Amendment," a measure that would specify in the constitution that Georgia Lottery funds can only be used for HOPE scholarships and the pre kindergarten program. He says this amendment is needed to keep lottery funds from being used for other purposes. The only problem is, Georgia's voters approved an amendment in 1998 that does almost exactly what Perdue now proposes: it provides that the first priority for lottery funds is HOPE and the pre-K program. Only after those are fully funded can lottery funds be used for class room technology or capital outlays. You can see the same mindset among some of our legislators. Back in the 1990s, the General Assembly passed and Zell Miller signed a law declaring that same-sex marriages were illegal. It might as well have never hap pened. In 2004, Republican legislators introduced and passed the same prohibition on same-sex marriages and civil unions—only this time in the form of a constitutional amendment (it was subsequently approved by Georgia's voters). It was also during the last de cade that lawmakers passed a bill that declared English to be the offi cial language of Georgia. That normally would have settled the matter, but then, you're dealing with Georgia legislators. Rep. Tim Bearden is back this year introducing a consti tutional amendment that would—you guessed it—declare English to be the official language of Georgia. Bearden's amendment, as noted, is already the state law. What makes this measure even more absurd is the fact that Bearden works for a real estate company that prints some of its marketing ma terials in Spanish—a language that is decidedly not English. Bearden also represents an incorpo rated city named Villa Rica—two Spanish words that translate roughly as "wealthy village." Regardless of the ultimate fate of the "English-only" amendment, rest assured this is not the last you'll see of it. Even if it was chis eled in stone on the state capitol, it would not be long before someone introduced it again. Tom Crawford Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact's Georgia Report, an Internet news site at wwvi.ciclt.net/garpt/that covers government and politics in Georgia. I IIS MHU WWLI by TOM TOMORROW 2BR/1BA Charmer in Boulevard area; great front porch, spacious backyard, lots of windows, bamboo & tile floors, spiral staircase, ceiling fans, stainless steel appliances, washer & dryer, security system. 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NCI 5T0p BY ftW/E f\ NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS i MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS MARCH 28, 2007 • FLAGPOLE.COM 7