State Rep. Spencer Frye (D-Athens), visiting with Oconee County Democrats last week fresh from hearing Gov. Brian Kemp give his State of the State Address in Atlanta, did little to hide his disappointment.
“Massively hypocritical, in my book,” is how Frye, described what Republican Gov. Kemp had said in his address to the General Assembly late that morning.
Frye faulted Kemp for taking credit for creating an alternative centralized marketplace for health insurance that directed users to the federal web site of the Affordable Care Act.
Frye also criticized Kemp for saying in his address that the state had run up a large surplus resulting from tax collections, which, Frye argued, come from a healthy economy, while at the same time saying “our economy is at the worst it’s ever been.”
Much of that surplus comes from the transfer of funds from the federal government to the state, Frye said, but Kemp also criticized federal spending.
Frye was particularly critical of Kemp’s refusal to expand Medicaid coverage and of his decision to focus attention on tort reform.
“So in these messages, our economy’s horrible, but we got all this money,” he said. “We’re the number one state to do business. But we have got to fix the legal hellhole that this state is through tort reform of some sort.
“I don’t know how we’re number one, but we’ve been in this legal hellhole forever,” he continued. “I can’t stand the hypocrisy that I see daily. I honestly hate it.
“OK, so there’s my two cents on where we’re at on at day four,” he said, referring to the fourth day of the current session of the General Assembly.
For more, visit Oconee County Observations.
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