The 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly nears its halfway point. So far, little has gone according to script.
Heading into the session, political pundits had predicted a political fireworks spectacular never seen before in Georgia. Newspapers and television reporters hyped a showdown between Governor Sonny Perdue and Speaker Glenn Richardson over last year’s post session vetoes. Undoubtedly, the post-veto rhetoric of Georgia politicians had only fueled the speculation leading up to the opening gavel of the session.
The opening week hinted at the possibility that the session would live up to the pre-session hype. The Georgia House of Representatives opened with a flurry of activity overriding some of the Governor’s vetoes. Out of the blocks, the Georgia Senate took up a controversial bill that pitted the powerful Georgia Chamber of Commerce against the National Rife Association. At that moment, it appeared that the 2008 session of the Georgia General Assembly would be everything that the media could have hoped for, and then some.
With pencils sharpened and television cameras focused, the leadership in Georgia took control and the party was over. Instead of fireworks and fights, there was the steady plodding of disciplined public servants moving steadily forward with the people’s business. Each legislative day, the House and the Senate has taken up a variety of bills and measures. Steadily and laboriously, the business of the legislature moves forward.
Amidst all of this drudgery, real political power is at play. In the Georgia House, there have already been some displays of this power with the political banishment of some GOP members who failed to tow the line in a battle control for the Georgia Department of Transportation Board. And, in the Georgia Senate, discipline and decorum rule the day. So far, amongst the powers that be in the Governor’s office, the Georgia House and the Georgia Senate, no one has blinked. As a result, many of the forty legislative days have quickly slipped away, one-by-one.