One Happy Family?

originally published May 23, 2007

If Georgia Republicans thought that the wounded feelings among the party’s top elected officials would be healed during the recent state convention, they’ll need to hold that thought a while longer. The fracas at the Gwinnett Civic Center shows that the Grand Old Party has a way to go before its warring parties are reconciled.

The latest round of fighting was caused by the immigration reform bill that was rolled out in the U.S. Senate last week. Georgia’s Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, have said they’ll probably vote for it. The party’s anti-immigration wing is none too happy about that and their animosity was showing all over the convention center. Chambliss, who could always rely on getting a warm reception from GOP audiences, found himself booed and hissed by delegates when he tried to explain the provision in the bill for a temporary worker program.

Chambliss understands that without a dependable supply of immigrant labor, farmers’ crops would rot in the fields and homes would go unbuilt, but any talk of a temporary worker program is perceived as another move towards amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants who have flooded across the border. For the party’s anti-immigration wing, that is totally unacceptable. Isakson avoided any mention of worker permits in his brief speech to the convention and escaped the booing, but he couldn’t escape the criticism: there were convention attendees carrying around signs that said “Impeach Isakson.”

The senators had a good explanation for their support of the immigration bill. They’re happy with 75 percent of the measure and hopeful that the rest could be fixed during the ongoing negotiations. Isakson said the border security provisions in the bill actually make it a “conservative proposal.” Chambliss also noted the possibility that a Democrat will win the presidency next year. “Can you imagine what kind of immigration reform bill we will see then?” he asked. “We could either sit on the sidelines and throw rocks, or we could become engaged and make a bad bill better. If we have the opportunity, we’ve got to play in the game.”

Both senators have their political futures on the line with this explosive issue. Chambliss is up for re-election in just 18 months and now may have to deal with the prospect of an anti-immigrant candidate challenging him in the Republican primary, because a segment of his party is so mad at him. “All you can do as an elected official is do the right thing,” Chambliss said, but there seems to be a feeling among many Republicans that he has done the wrong thing on immigration.

Even if immigration had not come up at the GOP convention, party activists would still have had another problem to deal with: the spat between Governor Sonny Perdue and Speaker Glenn Richardson over budgets and taxes. This fight involves Perdue’s veto of a property tax rebate that legislators had included in the midyear budget. Richardson was so angry over what he felt was a betrayal of Republican tax-cutting principles that he accused Perdue of baring his “backside” on the issue.

Richardson escalated the battle at the GOP convention when he told delegates that he was, in effect, going to take control of the state budget next year. Richardson said he will issue an order to all state agencies that they submit “zero-based” budgets directly to the House of Representatives when the Legislature begins work on the budget. Richardson’s speech, which he made after Perdue had already left the convention center, was a direct challenge to Perdue’s constitutional authority because department heads report to the governor and the governor rolls all of their spending plans into a consolidated state budget that he submits to the Legislature.

Richardson has basically declared that when it comes to setting the budget for state government, he will supersede the governor. That might not sit well with Perdue, who will doubtless instruct agency heads not to send a zero-based budget to the Legislature. Richardson was asked what he would do in that instance. “They’ll get a zero-based budget,” he said coldly. “We’ll do it for them.” Richardson’s comments will set off more battles with Perdue if the governor insists on retaining control of the budget - and Perdue isn’t about to give up one of the most important functions of his office.

Obviously, there is some more healing to do. This is a party that looks more and more like a dysfunctional family.

Tom Crawford

Tom Crawford is the editor of Capitol Impact’s Georgia Report, an Internet news site at www.ciclt.net/garpt that covers government and politics in Georgia.