In the second question from the Tifton Forum, all four candidates answer the question that is essentially, “Why hasn’t anything been done yet, even though Republicans are in complete control in Atlanta?”
Austin Scott answers first, and talks about the JOBS Act that the General Assembly passed that Governor Perdue vetoed. He then notes that Georgia has one of the most powerful Governor’s offices in the country, and basically blames nothing being done on Governor Perdue. He also blames special interests before going into his line about Republicans today looking like the party he worked to replace a decade ago. Next, he says that as Governor, he will publish a tax expenditure budget that details every special interest tax cut is in the tax code. He says that once that is published, he feels that there will be a tremendous pressure to eliminate those tax cuts that are not helping to grow the economy. He says that the money generated from stopping those tax cuts can then be put to lowering the corporate income tax and other cuts that WILL help grow the economy.
Ray McBerry is up next and first points out that he is clearly the only candidate that is not already an elected official, but that he IS a small business owner. He notes – correctly – that the governor nor the government is supposed to do anything to stimulate the economy, but that what he can do as Governor is to get the government out of the way “so that you can find your own prosperity”. He then mentions “four specific ways to get government out” of your way: eliminate the property tax and the state income tax, re-emphasize vocational schools, and “take control of our own natural resources again”. Yes, that was three, not four, and he lasted about 3 minutes before going black helicopter with his Federal government conspiracy theories. He mentions his 10 States’ Rights bills that are being sponsored by Bobby Franklin, who last week (3 days AFTER the Forum) called for war against the Federal government. He also says that when he is Governor and these bills are law any Federal agent caught violating them will face felony charges. Wonder what he thinks Washington’s response to that will be? I don’t know about him, but I’m pretty sure we’d wind up in Federal court over it – costing us thousands of dollars, maybe millions.
In Part 2 of the clip (cut due to youtube’s strict 10 minute limit), Eric Johnson and John Oxendine answer the question:
Eric Johnson is up first in this half, and immediately points to tort reform that passed the General Assembly 5 years ago. He then says that infrastructure is a valid issue for government to handle, and that as Governor he will simplify the process for starting a new project. In other words, like McBerry, he pretty much ignores the question.
John Oxendine is up as the last candidate to answer this question and says that because nothing has been done is the very reason he is running for Governor. But isn’t he part of the “nothing being done”, since he has been a Republican elected official in this State for the past 16 years? Ox claims to have created more competition in the insurance industry in Georgia. He then claims that in the insurance areas his office directly regulates, we have some of the lowest rates in the region. I’ve said quite often in the commentary series that insurance isn’t exactly my strong point, so hopefully someone can comment to either confirm or deny this. Maybe even one of the people trying to replace him? 
He then blames the General Assembly for high healthcare costs, saying they won’t allow his office to regulate it. Get that? He WANTS government to regulate MORE things! Yet he claims to be a “small government” conservative! He then notes that his office has fewer employees than it did 14 years ago – while trying to say in his campaign that he will “create” jobs! – and that his office has returned money to the State budget every year. I could be mistaken here, but I believe that is due to being mandated under the law, not because of anything Ox has done. Again, someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong there! He also says tort reform was a good thing that he actively supported.
My question for both Johnson and Ox is “Why is tort reform good?”. Why is government establishing an arbitrary cap on damages a GOOD thing? Shouldn’t people be allowed to get as much as a judge and a jury will give them when they are damaged? What is the price of losing an arm? Of losing a life due to negligence? Apparently, Johnson and Ox think something like $500K is a good enough price for the life of the wife you lost because the doc screwed up. They don’t believe in personal responsibility. They believe in government cleaning up the mess.
This may be considered picky by some, but I find it extremely offensive that Ox and Johnson didn’t wear a suit. If this forum was held in Atlanta, would they wear causal clothes? Of course not!
Yep, Deb, that is a little picky. As you know, not many folks down here wear suits to such an event. I guess they wanted to be right at home with us locals since we all farm, right? For goodness sake, you don’t want to make a potential voter mad!