Over the last 18 hours or so, Preston Smith, the State Senator representing the 52nd District (which includes Rome and parts of my native Bartow County), has become the talk of Georgia politics. Over 100 people have already joined the effort to draft him to challenge Lt Governor Casey Cagle, and virtually every major political blog in the State, as well as many of the newspapers I read daily, have discussed his speech yesterday – many of the blogs re-posting the text of the speech in its entirety.
But one thing has not come out yet, and I think it needs to be discussed.
You see, this whole battle rages in and around one certain bill in the Georgia General Assembly – HB 307. The fact that this is a House bill that has now passed the Senate means that every single member of the General Assembly who is running for Statewide office has had some degree of say on this bill, and I want to run down the list briefly:
Governor Candidates:
Austin Scott: Voted AGAINST the bill in the House (House Vote 760). One of 23 nay votes, had no committee chairmanships to lose over this vote, as he resigned his Chairmanship of Governmental Affairs at the beginning of the Session.
DuBose Porter: Voted AGAINST the bill in the House. (House Vote 760). Also one of only 23 nay votes, meaning that even the majority of the Caucus that he “leads” as Minority Leader did not side with him.
Jeff Chapman: Voted AGAINST the bill in the Senate (Senate Vote 695). Chapman is known as one of the most independent Republicans in the Senate and had no Chairmanships to lose.
Lt Governor Candidates:
Casey Cagle: It was Cagle who rammed the Sick Tax through the Senate in a very Harry Reid-esque fashion, and whose punishment of Preston Smith AFTER Cagle had already won the field brought about this new battle.
Preston Smith*: Not a current Lt Governor candidate, included in this due to the “Draft Preston Smith for Lt Governor” movement. It was his “Address to the Senate” that set off the bomb Cagle had planted.
Insurance Commissioner Candidates:
Tom Knox: Voted FOR the bill in the House. (House Vote 760). Isn’t it sad that even though I broke the story of this guy running for the office, his campaign has been SO quiet that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about him and had to be reminded by a commenter on Peach Pundit?
Seth Harp: Voted FOR the bill in the Senate. (Senate Vote 695). Was installed as the new Chairman of the Judiciary Committee after Preston Smith’s removal – he is Cagle’s new puppet. (AJC article, last paragraph)
Ralph Hudgens: Voted FOR the bill in the Senate. (Senate Vote 695).
Labor Commissioner Candidates:
Melvin Everson: Voted AGAINST the bill in the House. (House Vote 760).
[UPDATE]: Added in Tom Knox under “Insurance Commissioner Candidates”. Also added the link to the “Draft Preston Smith for Lt Governor” movement.
