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LAWMAKERS SURRENDER TO THE UTILITIES
If you feed through the fells introduced
each year by our legislator*. you will teid
some measures that are intended to accom
plish one thing they transfer money or power
to someone who already Has plenty of both.
These fetts art generally bad for tHe average
Georgian, because they provide such one sided
benefits to powerful interest groups, but they
often become taw.
A good totofepfip of thn *s a fell drafted
last week m the Senate side. St IftO. ThH fell
would alien* Georgia Aowe* Atlanta Gas tight
and other utilities that am regulated by the
state to give money directly to political can
didates during electron campfegm. The people
mho work for regulated Utilities Have
always been able to make personal
contribution* to f.and>dates_ but
the utilities themselves Have Ibe*
pntowfetid horn donating dweetty
to a political campagn Them's
a goad mason for that. toh*t the
utilities c harge you for gas <*r
electricity is partly determined
by our elected petlNciem, either
on the Rub** Serwre C owmens tom
or m the General Assembly. If a
power company *re al towed to ben*
nod the etettten of its favored candidates, *t
could run up your monthly fett ter electricity
without Having to worry about pushback hoe*
regulatory affkkato.
The spnrvuirs «f the fell dawn that H s Ml
about 'fairness' Other cerpentoton can «m*
tamtofegn t^nbui-om through political
atffeft %mmnttees. they sag so Cs only few
to 'leva* the ptaymg h*NT and alto** «*#***•*
to do the same
Givmg the utditto* the go ahead to tm-
?rtfeto* rfwectly to pehtw M c ardutotes is about
as tew as Unwvg up the Green bay Awcben
agamst iter teNtopwcmeb nigh jume varsity
and Mtoeing the ffettom to put t} players at
a time am the teefM tend.
*th# uf ddies a»e already tfbfetoty, to bed
*Hh fee teg*d*&*s ‘ said Angela So#'*, «h*
served a Ito* a* the A$£ a«d now heads the
consumer organisation Georgia Watch. She
was referring to the events of a tew years ago
when House Speaker Glenn Richardson got
booted as speaker for Having an affair with an
Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist
'ThH fell, if it passes, would strongly tilt
the «ale in favor erf the powerful special
interests,' Spew said. 'The utilities already
have a very powerful presence regarding our
state policy and if this happens, theylt have
even greater influence. The tittle guy won't
have a chance '
Georgia bower curmntly has the political
clout to get anything H wants. If the company j
asks ter a rate hike, it knows to advance that
at least tour and probably ail five mem
ben of the *%t will vote to approve
that increase. If Georgia Power
thinks the A5C isn't acting guickty
enough, the utility will simply ask
the Gtnerto Assembly to adopt
>ry*s*4i*ot ThH bypasses the fSC.
This Happened to }<X& with
the introduction of $* II, a bdt
that provided Georgia Rower with
a Sift fettson windfall by alien*
tog the utility to s*art charging its
customers ter nuclear generation plant*
that Haven't even been bu*4i yet. Georgia
Rowe* flooded the capitalt with ata/ero of lob
byHt* to get the bdt passed, and Gov Sonny
terdue signed d into law
W% htt?ng that the author «rf S4 )} H the
seme pener, who is sponsoring the current
Sft IftO Sen tte* KatW (•■ Viedtotte). The
WafUe House ewacufte* evidently wants to
make sure that utility customer* continue tn
be scattered, smothered and covered with rate j
toCVOMS.
St tftO rf d should become tow. would
be blatantly »of*w to those Homeowners and
wMd business people who don't have the
pefctwai toUuenct of a Georgia tewer or an
Atlanta Gas Light, It won^ surprise me at aH *f !
the House and tone** adopt d,
Tom Crawford ICfiehrdPgim^ M j
I tuemtt ecu were t »
®nniDQDQU
LOSING HOPE IN THE FRAY
The governor's plans to cut the HOte schol
arship and pre-K programs are a bad deal ter
Georgia. In addition to cutting crucial pre-k
houn and putting a halt to funds ter remedial
courses, among other austerity measures, the
plan calls ter a reduction of MOAf scholar
ship pay-outs to roughly 90 percent of tuition
costs, unless you got 1?00 on the SAT, made
f 3.7 in high school and maintain a 1.5 GAA
to cottage, to which cast you would stitt get
full tuition coverage as a Jett Hitter Scholar,
fees and books would no longer be covered
ter anyone. Ho one would be grandfathered.
The core of the problem is that the proposed
cuts mil increase barriers to education ter the
lowest income earning families m the state,
while simultaneously continuing the injustice
of subsidizing lifestyle
choices ter the Kate's
top earners with the
rake hauled to from folks
desperate enough to
-as* the lottery as then
best way out Athens
Clark* County is one a#
the poorest places to
the country, and the
changes on the table ter
the MORf uhotanhip an*
likety to esactrbate this
problem that stretches
across the state, from
rural to urban tommum
ties and ten the mown
term downstream to the
coast.
Ho acad»*rtti*y
fe**i?hed Georgians
should be denwd access
to public tmtHuttom ter
higher education, but
the University System
of Georgia and. part* a*#iy. UGA each have a
tong history of eactesme The HOK schotor
step in d* tovised term would only continue
that ttoubted tradition Mow many students
out them went able to eiterd a vweeUr ride
because h£MH pays the*# tuttteo, and hew
many Georgsam have been unable to ftffod a
h«^»er yddlftHiW even With the tuition <fe>
emd by HDPf bec ause they needed te work to
toe* yntertunafete thwse guesttom ace often
tot* to *he hey
Ongmad* «tof beck to idf * betere fed
turned on the poor teed chadenged CteH
SMttfto* 1 * to « dtoeTT. tes work to develop the
*»w wtotey pepidar H0ff fehotarstep program
was ter used an eddrwssmg the enffenched
dtoe tofteketoble poverty that mmotos a diehW"
tog teat urn of Georg*! tondtoepe. through
* fewltoum «f Hard weto to tofh erftow and
twetonued above average performance to tel-
lege, students cardd get the*r ttotto#, Aon
fekhi4 m bdrrif Ate*' ad ^ fell *.1 ^ rr tf f! ai^ i > 4
W* l»v|
MrtNHlM* igBPe kto tfegmrkam gieettkami
srf dtobeg
. ^....
tow stare * evmt #i i nteiirf mfe
toe - i-.-f* te*eaed aw pw ettompt to
0yesosgtoeftood AMe
* totory -a* toe ted 4NH» of toe
unable to keep up with growing tuition and
enrollment, the governor is making use cf
the rhetoric of economic crisis to cover up a
crisis of priorities threatening to undermine
our public education system and to increase
the disparity between wealthy and struggling
Georgiam.
As students and families across the state
try to come to terms with the seventy of these
measures, our leaders repeat the mantra that
we all have to pay some of the costs. Most
UGA MOAT recipients, if Oeal s cuts are imple
merited, would see about 12,000 per year in
increases—at least at first. The sketchiest
detail is that the 90 percent tuition cover-
age t| ~a estimate. The amount covered by
the HOAf would be decoupled from the cost
Am sweet ng* to tto trffspnng et wealthy Gtoefsaff) **** topfefanf hue
togtor etecafce* to toe stales Amwr- mww stedewts 1
of ?«*t»on and tmtead tied to tends avail
aide ten* lottery coften. In a cbmate whe**
me reeled tees and tuition rates am made to
sound inevitable, these uncovered costs are
*e a»e asked to accept "-likely to nve to.
add to lIGAfs estimated 110.000 per yea* o
living evpemes the 52,000 (at least | rmw#&
m espsts due to tuif:«en **$ tees, and h
no toM that UGA #ntod become even
toMtitoibil to It dent? who ter the
HOAf feat dbw’t have ftomgktl urppo't tew«
their ffewbkw
Another tsgrfte* before toe legislature
would natter* the satory tap that ea, eart of
the orh|to*l ptepeul ow which Georgia wHfes
hanfewly dtoefed to 0« the tefto*y h* l«df .
to toe fefiTs (npsvm draft, toe cap wencut be
tot. at tdd.dOO but its aufhwr Hawt Leras
i& toeienlt wanes to rntMt g to set toe cap
at Hid OdP ifebAe Oeafs deal, ten pia*
whHe WtototauMwg the went bwus ter the
HOAf lehetonfuip, w«Md else aebnewtedge toe
dHpeHfy befeei* MOft es a awd topAt
as a necessity Let's be mat l Ae wey barb to
Mi,
tefe
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mmoittmtf
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toMftlft tow
capaf Ibddbb. w**i>
to IM.M by toe ftoto toe test wtediirihfi
igy t totoi 'i' too f IbffKfy, Aipto - »*. ,xtoiw
wee tetob toto lesfc tone a» atoeeues are
Ml*
■«* -atofeto to a
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