SWGA Politics

SpeakerSaga and the 2009 Legislative Term

I actually found a way to cover SpeakerSaga, my style. In this first post, I look at the three bills many Georgia bloggers fought tooth and nail on in the 2009 General Assembly session. These three bills were SB 31 (Nuclear Power Regulatory Act, aka Georgia Power Advance Profits), HB 614 (Prescription Drug Monitoring Program), and HB 160 (Super Speeder).

There were only two members of the Georgia House of Representatives to vote against all three of these measures – Bobby Franklin and Martin Scott. Franklin can immediately be thrown out of any consideration for any kind of leadership position based on his recent open call for war against the US Government, but I honestly don’t know anything about Scott and he could well be a sane, solid liberty lover that would do well with a move up the ranks – at least based on these three votes.

There were several more that voted against two of the three bills in question. Tim Bearden voted against SB 31 and the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Charlice Byrd and Steve Davis voted against the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and Super Speeder. Stephen Allison, Rick Austin, Jill Chambers, Michael Harden, Mark Hatfield, Roger Lane, Carl Rogers, and Ed Rynders all voted against Super Speeder and SB 31. None of these people, to my knowledge, have made public announcements that they seek higher positions.

Finally, there were several who voted against one of the three bills in question, some of whom are already running for various openings linked to SpeakerSaga. Clay Cox and John Lunsford both voted against the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, and Cox is running for Speaker Pro-Tem while Lunsford is running for Majority Whip.

Voting against Super Speeder were Amos Amerson, Lee Anderson,Tommy Benton, Doug Collins, Matt Dollar, Mark Hamilton, Billy Horne, Sean Jerguson, Bob Lane, Barry Loudermilk, Chuck Martin, Jeff May, Tom McCall, Greg Morris, Butch Parrish, Jay Powell, Jay Roberts, and Bob Smith. Of these, Benton can automatically be eliminated for calling for the execution of private businessmen, and Loudermilk is actively being pushed to run for Speaker with the Facebook backing of both Bobby Franklin and Steve Davis.

Finally, voting against SB 31 were Mark Butler, Burke Day, Rich Golick, Penny Houston, Mike Jacobs, David Ralston, Barbara Reece, and Bobby Reese. Of this group, Golcik has thrown his hat into the ring for Speaker Pro-Tem and Ralston has officially announced a run for Speaker.