Analysis - GOP unity likely to be tested

Walter C. Jones, Morris News Service

January 17, 2008

Republican leaders made pledges of unity and cooperation leading up to this year's legislative session, but many issues remain that will likely test their resolve.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson flew in two different planes for security reasons to nine cities across the state last week just to stand next to each other and promise to get along. Richardson missed the first half of the series of press conferences that reporters dubbed the "unity tour," sending his stand-in House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island.

A cynic might have accused the speaker of standing up the governor and lieutenant governor, but Richardson also failed to testify about his own GREAT Plan for tax reform during any of the three days the House Ways and Means Committee held hearings. A lawyer, he was tied up with a court case. With so many critics of his plan, it's unlikely he would have missed the opportunity to answer their objections before a friendly committee.

Unity tours usually occur after a bruising primary in which the two former opponents bite their tongues long enough to stand next to each other and profess their mutual admiration. Perhaps it's no coincidence that a couple of Perdue's former campaign strategists were seen at the Capitol last week, including his first campaign press secretary Dan McLagan who attended the press conference at the Atlanta stop.

At each press conference, the traveling trio announced the priorities for the legislative session that begins Monday. Education, water, transportation and health care are all concerns they agree on.

Of course, solutions for each of those issues may be a little tougher to agree on. For example, on education, a task force appointed by Perdue took three years to devise a method for revamping the per-pupil funding formula and came up more or less empty-handed.

On transportation, Perdue said they're not ready to consider any proposal for funding a backlog of construction projects until the new commissioner of transportation can make the department shipshape.

However, on water, they agree the General Assembly needs to approve the statewide water plan drafted by The Water Council. On health, Perdue endorsed Cagle's modest proposal for an insurance-comparison Web site and funding for a few clinics, and Cagle endorsed Perdue's plan to use Medicaid savings to subsidize some small-businesses' insurance premiums.

Perdue and Cagle have been cool to Richardson's tax plan since it was introduced. The governor said he might offer "a few surprise tax cuts" in his budget address Wednesday afternoon.

But the House has refused to act on Perdue's tax cut for seniors since he used it as a campaign promise in 2006 because Richardson wanted a comprehensive study of the state's whole tax structure first. If his GREAT Plan stalls, then he may continue to block Perdue's senior's cut and any of his new ideas.

Of Richardson's plan, Perdue told reporters, "Frankly, I don't hear a hue and cry from our citizens on that."

If there's tension between the governor and speaker, it's compounded by legislators who remain miffed with Perdue for vetoing so many of their bills last year. Keen refused to rule out attempts to override at least some of them, which could be the first rock to shatter the image of harmony.

However, Perdue has initiated several overtures to legislative leaders since last session. He's consulted them about spending matters and briefed them about tax collections.

He even agreed with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Ben Harbin, R-Evans, not to ignore legislative spending instructions or to redirect appropriations he didn't like. Instead, he'll explicitly veto the instructions he disagrees with and make his reasons public in a veto message, sending the money for that line item to the reserve fund rather than a problem he likes better.

It's understandable for a jaded public to dismiss news reports about disagreements within the Capitol as merely political noise. The disputes become worthy of notice, though, when they determine which laws or budget items pass because then ordinary people are affected, as well as their pocketbooks.

Some level of disagreement is inherent because Perdue, Richardson and Cagle represent different power bases that each intends to preserve. And some of the testiness can be attributed to their having to learn how to fight within the family after so many years in the minority sparring with Democrats. After all, they weren't necessarily privy to all of the closed-door spats Democratic governors had with Democratic legislative leaders.

Perhaps the main thing the unity tour illustrated was a desire at last to at least appear unified and to keep future quarrels under wraps.

Walter Jones is the bureau chief for the Morris News Service and has been covering state politics since 1998. He can be reached at walter.jones@morris.com or (404) 589-8424.