Come November, recall the gridlock

Just a few short months ago, in the weeks leading up to the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly, Republican leaders took to the skies to promise Georgians a smooth legislative session, and unity that focused on the real problems facing Georgia —- crippling property taxes, gridlock on metro highways and an overburdened trauma care system teetering on the brink of failure.

After four months of political posturing and harsh words, Georgia is no better off than we were on the day that Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson took to the skies to sell Georgia a bill of legislative goods. The Republican leadership has no one to blame but themselves.

Even before last year's session was gaveled to a close, Richardson was determined to make tax reform the signature issue of this year's session, introducing a "GREAT Plan" that turned out to be anything but.

After going through too many iterations to count, including versions that would have crippled local governments and created 175 new taxes, the speaker was unable to deliver on his promise to Georgia. His failure was not completely a failure of policy; it was also a failure of politics, as he and Cagle consistently put their own political fights ahead of sound policy. This, unfortunately, is the theme that runs through much of the 2008 session of the General Assembly, where taunting and name-calling took the place of serious debate and compromise.

In the battle to see who could craft a better bumper sticker tax plan, both Richardson and Cagle lost sight of the real problem —- $1.5 billion in cuts to public education put forth by the Perdue administration and rubber-stamped by Republican majorities in the House and Senate since 2003. The solution to lowering our property taxes is simple —- the state should stop reneging on its share of public education funding, and local governments would not have to continue to raise property taxes to make up the shortfall. The best tax cut would have simply been to undo the Republican tax shift, but both Cagle and Richardson were too busy playing out their rivalry in the media to study the issue with the thoroughness it deserves.

In the critical area of transportation, we again saw how the Republicans put their own intra-party battles ahead of the needs of Georgia. Every day, countless Georgians spend hours stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Our traffic problems not only hurt the productivity of our work force, they hurt our families by keeping parents away from home and family. But when given an option between two plans that would have begun resolving metro Atlanta's gridlock, the Republicans fought and dithered until the very end, finally allowing the session to end without doing anything to alleviate Atlanta's traffic problems. It was a failure of leadership that every metro-area resident should remember, not only when you're stuck in traffic every morning and afternoon, but also this November when you vote. If you want to stay stuck in traffic, thank Richardson and Cagle for their inaction. If you want to get home in time to see your family, vote for a Democrat.

Another failure of leadership in the General Assembly came on revitalizing the state's ailing trauma care network. When faced with numerous options to fund our doctors, nurses and emergency rooms, Cagle and Richardson again chose the path of least resistance —- doing nothing at all. Despite numerous attempts to reach a compromise, trauma care was simply another victim of the intra-party fighting that characterizes the Republican leadership. As a result, hospitals all over the state are going to have to make some very tough choices about the level of care and services they can provide, and our families are less safe. Those are the stakes, yet the lieutenant governor and the speaker chose to ignore them and concentrate on one-upping each other instead.

The 2008 elections are going to be transformative for Georgia. Over the coming months, Democrats all over Georgia will be working hard to meet the voters and make our case that, while the Republicans are ready to fight, we are ready to lead Georgia into a better and more prosperous future. I hope that you will look closely at your options —- a party that fights its own internal power struggles, versus a party that offers mature, tested leadership based on the values that Georgia holds dear: fiscal responsibility, world-class schools and an economy that works for working people.

In the end, it's all about priorities. The Republicans have shown that Georgia's priorities take a back seat to their own agenda, and the lack of results shows clearly.

> Jane V. Kidd is the chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia and a former state representative.