Battle Lines
A rural-urban tug-of-war is brewing in the upcoming legislative session.
Walter C. Jones
January 1, 2008
Unlike the typical partisan legislative showdown, this year's session has the earmarks of a
tug-of-war between city and rural interests. Part of the reason is that a single-dominant party –
in this case, Republican – naturally tends to fracture when there is no strong counterbalance from
the other party.
This year, it has more to do with the issues. Here's a list of the top political hot-button
topics to be discussed in this year's legislative session.
WATER
The clash between Georgia and its neighbors, Alabama and Florida, over the Chattahoochee
River is just surface ripples compared to the undercurrent of resentment throughout the rest of our
state. The argument will revolve around the attempts to secure more water for Metro Atlanta from
watersheds that supply downstream communities. The battle to approve the statewide water plan
eventually will boil down to rural lawmakers aligned with environmentalists in trying to force
Atlanta residents to conserve rather than secure additional water resources.
EDUCATION FUNDING
A task force appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue three years ago finally is delivering
recommendations on how much should be spent on each student to provide an adequate education.
Efforts to equalize funding for students in poor counties compared to those in the wealthy suburbs
undeniably will lead to friction in a state where half the kids attend school in 15 metro
districts, while the other half are spread over the remaining 165.
SALES TAX
This involves House Speaker Glenn Richardson's (R-Hiram) long-shot plan to swap property
taxes for sales taxes. Whether it winds up eliminating all state and local property taxes or just
school taxes, the scheme pits big rich communities against less wealthy ones. That's because
Richardson has promised his proposal would minimize the differences in the counties, a modern-day
Robin Hood approach.
TRANSPORTATION
This always is a rural-urban battle, especially with so many dramatic proposals floating
around, including the notions of raising the sales tax statewide or regionally, or even leasing
highways as a way to fund the operation of passenger rail services. Rural Georgians view four-lane
highways as the key to landing small factories and hold little sympathy for any driver voluntarily
fighting city traffic every day.
GRADY HOSPITAL
Even the question of state aid for Grady Hospital depends on the vantage point. Atlantans
view a Grady collapse as more dire than politicians in the rest of the state, who view the South's
largest hospital as draining funds that could help dozens of rural facilities remain afloat.
Granted, the center of power in Georgia politics has shifted somewhat away from the rural
side of the ledger, as population patterns have resulted in more metro representation. But with a
governor from tiny Bonaire, a speaker from Hiram, a House minority leader from Dublin, a Senate
majority leader from Lyons and countless rural committee chairmen, there still are plenty of
powerful rural politicians in the Capitol.
Given that so many of this year's issues require taking resources from one region for the
benefit of another, lawmakers usually form alliances around geography rather than party when
community leaders back home whisper in their ears.
That whispering grew loud in a hurry.