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January 08, 2007
This Just in... First Day of the Georgia General Assembly Session
Rep. Al Williams (Liberty) and new head of the Black Caucus
Reps. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield and Kathy Ashe
Sen. Valencia Seay (Clayton) swearing in.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Provided by Bernita Smith from the Senate Chamber...
See new updates.
10:14 am- I'm blackberry blogging from the press area. Ha who needs those stinking credentials. Now I'm going to go on the floor and take a picture of Nan.
10:25 am- yeah the first vote. Actually they had to approve of the honor roll. My former House Rep, Nan Orrock, has moved up the political food chain and is now in the State Senate. Today is her 1st day as a State Senator. She is sitting on the 3rd row in the 3rd seat and next to Democrat strongholds Kaseem Reid and Valencia Seay. She's looking very senatorial.
Senator Gloria Butler isn't here. She has an excused absence.
10:35 Wow you have to see the lineup on the 1st row left side. It starts with David Adelman (DeKalb), Curt Thompson (DeKalb/Gwinnett), Doug Stoner (Cobb), and newly elected Gail Davenport (Clayton). They are close enough to throw spitballs at Eric Johnson and Casey Cagle when they start passing stupid bills.
Senator Regina Thomas (Chatham) is also on the front row on the right side. She looks outstanding in a beautiful black hat today.
11:10 Just walked into the hall and saw some of the "nice" lobbyists - Maggie Garrett, Shelly Senterfitt, Alice Johnson.
Uh oh, Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill is walking the halls and ready to take out the troublemakers.
Moving on to the House floor.
House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter announced that he is wearing braces on his teeth. Something about having a bad bite.
11:35 Karla Drenner is speaking now. She asked for everyone to vote for Bobby Rivers, Jr. For Clerk of the House. Apparently Bobby knows where everything is and how this place functions. Bobby wins with unanimous approval.
Ok I found the Dem trouble corner. It's to the right of Glenn Richardson's podium. In the corner is Nikki Randall and sitting behind her are Robbin Shipp and Georganna Sinkfield. They are already looking like they are having some snarky fun.
FYI: there is a Doctor-of-the-Day program. So if you pass out from listening to Glenn Richardson whining about how great he is, you can go to the nurses office.
12:04 New rules.
No cell phones while someone is speaking on the House floor.
No cell phone cameras unless you get prior approval by Glenn Richardson. Haha come and get me Mr. Speaker.
New committee - Budget and Fiscal Affair Oversight - to look after the budget after the legislators go home. To make sure the budget is being followed as the legislators approved. Um, that's why there is a year round legislative staff and the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget. Apparently the House Repubs don't think the staff knows how to read and comprehend.
New Committee - Code Review committee - will continually review laws and statutes that are outdated and alerts the legislators about which ones to repeal. Ok here's your first one - pickup trucks riders don't need to wear seatbelts. Get a clue Georgia - a pickup truck is defined as a moving vehicle like a car. It is not a specialized form of transportation.
Old rules:
The HAWKS are still alive. Dubose Porter and Jerry Keen are going head-to-head. According to Jerry Keen, the Hawks are still needed because they serve a valuable purpose. He said that more than 80% of the last 2 years they helped the committee chairman to meet quorum. Dubose said he asked all the Dems not to approve the Rules if they keep the Hawks rules. Jerry Keen replied "then that would be dumb". Oh just lovely and friendly banter on the first day.
12:20 pm
New rules
Any Bill or resolution to or affecting the political partisanship of any elected office, state revenues, general taxation, alcoholic beverages, water resources, or hazardous wastes shall not be deemed to be a local or special bill or resolution but shall be treated as a general bill or resolution.
- So there will no longer be any separate bills honoring so and so's favorite person.
- Bob Holmes thinks that this will cause a major traffic jam on the crossover day.
Rule 81: no member of the House shall occupy the floor longer than 20 minutes in debating any question unless otherwise ordered by the Speaker. Any member wishing to speak on any measure shall notify the Speaker prior to the measure being called or during the time the first presenter is speaking on the bill.
- basically Glenn Richardson is going to be a big fat jerk with cutting off Dems from speaking on the floor.
- the Dems are in a frenzy over this rule.
12:48
Ok the House has adjourned and everyone is headed to the Guv's swearing in. Not I.
Ok here's the vote results of the passage of the House Rules: Yeahs - 110 and Nays - 66.
Let's keep in mind that Dubose Porter, Minority Speaker, asked all the Dems to vote Nay. There are 72 Dems - so 6 crossed over. Damnit! Can't we do 1 damn thing TOGETHER as a PARTY?? Geesh Marie. The same crap happened last year.
Let me be the first to inform any Dem who voted with Speaker Glenn instead of their Party: Glenn no likey Democrats, including YOU. You are not going to get any favors from him or other Republicans. If Glenn thinks you are beatable, then he will find his own Republican candidate to run against you in 2008. Make no mistake about Glenn's kindness. You would have better served yourself and your Party by abstaining from that vote.
Update: 2:30 pm - Back at the office and now I can type from a real keyboard. Here's some other stuff that went on:
- Danny Orrock held the Bible for his mom, new Senator Nan Orrock, as she was sworn in. He was such a proud son.
- Kasim Reed's mom held his Bible. She was a proud momma and had both of her boys there. Tracy Reed also showed up to support his brother.
- Mark Burkhalter actually seems like a nice guy. During his speech he mentioned that families with special needs children shouldn't have to fight the government to get help for their children. He even talked about how Georgia needs to cooperate with the Dems in Congress in order for Georgia to get money.
- Mary Long was also at Capitol and holding court with some very nice women.
- Robbin Shipp also has David Lucas sitting in the Dem corner with her. She's going to do fine this session coccooned with all those experienced Dems.
- Oh yeah, you are still allowed to text message on your cellphone while someone is speaking on the floor. Some older Republican actually asked that question and Speaker Glenn looked a little confused because I guess the Wizard hadn't thought of that when he came up with the stupid cellphone ban rule.
- Alisha Thomas Morgan was looking like proud soon to be momma. Looks like she might be having that baby in the next couple of months. Hopefully, she can hold out until after the 40th Day. Can you imagine if her water broke during session - Speaker Glenn probably wouldn't let her talk to inform anyone.
- it's going to be an interesting session. Can't wait for the Glenn and Casey showdowns. I agree with William - it was kind of lonely not seeing MT preside over the Senate.
Posted by Juliana at January 8, 2007 02:43 PM
Comments
Here's a link that'll let you view either the Senate or the House live...
http://georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0,2094,4802_6107101,00.html
Posted by: William ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.blogfordemocracy.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 8, 2007 11:06 AM
Thanks William... but where you going to get the DFI scoop? I'm just saying
Posted by: Jules at January 8, 2007 11:15 AM
Oooh, Bernita's taking pics on her Blackberry? Well I set up a Cellblock -- one of the new toys I mentioned at GPS2007 -- in case anybody wants to play with it, might be fun. Send pictures from your mobile device to gga07@cellblock.com (for Georgia Gen'l Assembly '07) to enhance the live-blogging experience. You can view the show, once it gets some content, at
http://cellblock.com/watch.htm?id=1333
From there you can also grab code to embed the player on your own page.
Posted by: shelby at January 8, 2007 11:23 AM
I tuned in during the middle of the reading of the new powers (or well the old powers that are being returned) to the Lt. Gov. I missed the first part. Sounds bad :(
They're changing all kinds of stuff. This isn't cool at all.
Posted by: William at January 8, 2007 11:32 AM
Yes, William just wait til tomorrow when all the Anti-Choice folks decend on the Capitol... it's will be a huge freakshow then...
Posted by: Jules at January 8, 2007 11:35 AM
I'll just say that I consider myself pro-life so I won't get into that. I'll also say that I'm not extreme with my pro-life view because I'm for embryonic stem cell research and with abortion i think there needs to be exceptions.
Yeah I just went offtopic. Sorry.
To go back on topic:
I miss seeing MT with the Gavel. Honestly I'm a fan of Senator Johnson, I don't agree with him on most issues but I have a high amount of respect fo r him as we are members of the same fraternity. He's doing a good job controlling things. Mark Taylor just had this swagger about him up there. Ah well, I hope he's not done.
Posted by: William at January 8, 2007 11:53 AM
Good stuff Bernita!
Posted by: griftdrift at January 8, 2007 11:58 AM
Love the photos!
Posted by: MelGX at January 8, 2007 12:00 PM
Green. Yes, I am green with envy. Good job. Looks like too much fun.
Posted by: Amy Morton at January 8, 2007 12:56 PM
This session is going to be good for Dems because everyday they will have to look up at Casey, get dissed by Glenn, and get no help from Karen and it should remind them of how our Party screwed up royally in 2006. As our Party leaders, they need to be reminded that if the Dem Party behaves as poorly and as dysfunctional as it did in 2006 then this will happen again in 2010.
If they can't get off their elected butts and pitch in to unify this Party then who will? We can no longer leave it up to a small (overworked and underpaid) Party staff to bring in volunteers and financial resources. Our elected officials need to pull their own weight and we need a Party Chair that will invite them to participate, hold them accountable, and praise them when they are successful.
This 2007-2008 session is the wakeup call for Democratic Unity in Georgia!!
Posted by: Smitty at January 8, 2007 03:19 PM
Can someone please explain why Sheila Jones and Mike Jacobs voted for Richardson for Speaker?
Posted by: LymanHall at January 8, 2007 03:38 PM
WTF??!!! Who else voted against Dubose? I say against cause they sure weren't with him!!
Posted by: Smitty at January 8, 2007 03:46 PM
Andre reports 7 names over on his site. Someone said it could have been up to 10 that voted with the GOP though.
Posted by: LymanHall at January 8, 2007 03:54 PM
Seems to me that Mike Jacobs was called out about this vote last year on this very blog... back then the preverbal Macacca hit the fan..
Sooo what are we all thinking now? Good call by some last year is what I'm thinking...
I love politics, never a dull moment... it's like seeing a banana peel in a cartoon, you just know something is going to happen next.. and it always involves someone landing on their ass
Posted by: Kimmiega at January 8, 2007 04:28 PM
Oops that was two years ago.. where does the time go?
Posted by: Kimmiega at January 8, 2007 04:38 PM
I'm going to reserve judgement on Sheila Jones unitl I speak with her (hey, it's 2007 and I'm trying something different). But if she knowingly voted for Glenn Richardson then that's messed up.
I checked her disclosures from 2006 (she had 2 opponents in the Dem primary) and the contributions break downs as follows:
- 53% from Democrat friendly PACs including Emily's List, WIN List, and Vote Choice.
- 23% from former and currently elected Democrats including Gov. Barnes, Calvin Smyre, Nan Orrock, and Mark Taylor,
- 10% from individuals including the Chair of the Fulton County Dems
- 10% from business interests.
- 4% from personal loans.
It seems to me like the Dems very much had her back during her 2006 re-election campaign.
Posted by: Smitty at January 8, 2007 04:39 PM
Used the wrong voting card by accident?
Posted by: griftdrift at January 8, 2007 04:58 PM
Maybe someone voted Sheila Jones' machine?
Posted by: Andre at January 8, 2007 05:24 PM
I know this is not the place to put this so those of you who moderate can place it where you like, but there is a (for lack of a better word) pro-choice rally tomorrow to protest the attempt to slip House Bill #1 through...the one that outlaws ALL abortions. I am not sure of the details, other than the Assembly meets at 9:00 and the Pro-life contingent is going to be there in support. Sorry for the dearth of details, but I will try to find out more. This needs to be publicized.
Posted by: yardman5508 at January 8, 2007 05:33 PM
I want to say for the record that Shelley Senterfitt and Maggie Garrett = teh awesome. If only we had a few dozen more progressive lobbyists like them.
Posted by: Greg Greene at January 8, 2007 05:50 PM
Yardman....check out the post a few down called "know but don't go..." and the NARAL GA and PPofGA sites too.
I signed a NARAL e-mail to my GA State Rep, letting him know I dont wish him to vote for this bill.. He'll do whatever Rethug bidding they tell him, but I'm on record at any rate.
I heard a rumor that someone we know might be there and will keep us posted.
Posted by: Kimmiega at January 8, 2007 06:53 PM
Thanks Kimmie. I guess I missed it. sorry.
Posted by: yardman5508 at January 8, 2007 06:59 PM
Hey, no sweat big guy.. it was a real busy day..
Posted by: Kimmiega at January 8, 2007 07:02 PM
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