This one is also in two parts…
“I believe integrity will be the number one issue that drives Georgia voters in the next election.” Great line, and I most certainly hope so, but this is realistically a bit naive.
He then relates the story of when he sat down with Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives Glenn Richardson, and when the Speaker told Scott that if he didn’t raise $5 million, he couldn’t win the primary, Scott came back with a GREAT line (at least according to this speech): “You know what, Glen? If our Party has moved that far in 8 years, then maybe we don’t deserve to be Governor in this state any more.”
“I think my Party today looks very much like the Party I tried to replace years ago because I was not convinced that Party would protect my freedoms.” Other than the fact that I LEFT the GOP for very similar reasons, I completely agree with him on the sentiment in general.
After mentioning that he is the ONLY candidate for Governor that is tasked with going to Atlanta and balancing the State budget in these severe economic times, he then directly challenges John Oxendine to a debate on the Fair Tax as it relates to the State. “Data driven is my approach to the Governor. The facts are the facts, and anyone who covers up the facts is lieing to you. Someone who lies to you to get elected will lie to you to stay elected.” He then makes his case against a Fair Tax – or “simple sales tax” as Ray McBerry likes to put it – asking retail owners “Can you compete with an Internet that is tax exempt?”
“I believe in the right to bear arms – but I also believe there’s got to be common sense and personal responsibility that comes with that right. … The hallways of our public schools are not the place for people who are not certified police officers to carry firearms”. That one is going to get him in quite a bit of trouble with certain people – maybe even Tom and certainly a few other friends of mine. Indeed, because Tasers are considered firearms under Georgia law, even I have a problem with it. I would have no problem with people carrying less lethal or less than lethal weaponry such as Tasers and pepper spray absolutely anywhere they go – though I do agree with him that there ARE places actual guns simply do not belong. (Yes, I know, one area Tom and I will probably have quite a few heated discussions on!) I know I’ve personally talked to Scott about this, but I honestly don’t remember what he said about my proposal.
In the start of this second part, he talks about how his Walk originated. After that talk with Speaker Richardson, he thought about it and said “Well watch this” – and walked more than 1,000 miles across the State, talking to people who more than likely had never talked to a Governor candidate face to face, and most likely never would again.
He then talks about specific plans to work on the issues people told him they were concerned with – the Economy, Education, Water, and Transportation.
On the Economy, Scott says that to encourage more businesses to locate in GA, he will cut the corporate income tax rate in half.
On Education, he plans to pair low and high performing schools with similar demographics and reward those schools who show improvements with school-specific grants. This is another issue that he and I disagree on, as I can tell you from being in the schools as a teacher that until the STUDENT is forced to be accountable for his or her own actions, NOTHING will change.
On Water, he says that other stress reservoirs but that the issue is not just capacity, but treating used water and conservation. Regarding conservation, he intends to convert every State building that has more than 50 male urinals to use no-flush technology. I don’t know the exact costs here, but he forgot to mention how he plans to pay for this given the current budget situation – which is a very critical piece of information. As I told John Oxendine a few weeks ago, “Whatcha Gonna Cut?” to get this done, Rep Scott?
On Transportation, Scott says that there is legitimate debate on whether the House’s statewide tax increase or the Senate’s regional tax increase is the right path. But he mentions tax ballot referendums last week and says that the results send a clear message to him as an elected official that he had better do what he can with what he’s got, because the voters won’t give him anything else.
Overall, stylistically, I would probably recommend Scott ask that he sit further away from the podium, as he tended to look at his notes quite a bit during this speech – while the other candidates did not. He was finally able to get away from them in the second half of the speech when he began talking more about his Walk of Georgia and what he learned on it, but that first half made him look far less prepared to speak than the other candidates – which isn’t a good image to be presenting.
