About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2011)
■ * 'WM rif 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 ste(to«» "•* .1- . 4 9“ ife | .jJZ: mmoittmtf « 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 MMtol i J tt to He to 'vewyto l *BAt
