Can’t we all get along?

by Tom Crawford - From Capitol Impact's Georgia Report - 1/15/2008 - http://www.ciclt.net/garpt/

Sonny Perdue shared the stage with Glenn Richardson and Casey Cagle at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual “Eggs & Issues” breakfast Tuesday, and the most newsworthy development was that the trio avoided hitting or throwing food at each other.

“We weren’t sure what we were going to see after 12 overrides of vetoes,” Chamber President George Israel said, referring to Monday’s historic votes in the House of Representatives, engineered by Speaker Richardson, to override a dozen Perdue vetoes from last year.

The trio of elected officials were all on their best behavior as they talked to the business audience about the upcoming legislative session, although Cagle included some veiled criticisms of the ongoing squabbling between Perdue and Richardson.

“At the end of the day, Georgians want results and they don’t care who gets the credit,” Cagle said. “We need to act on principles and stop acting on politics.”

“I am certainly not interested in playing games; I am ready to move our state forward,” Cagle added in a speech that sounded more like a kickoff for the 2010 governor’s race.

“All I know is, there’s a job to do,” said Richardson, who contended that he, Perdue and Cagle all share a “common goal” of helping Georgians. “We’re going to talk, we’re going to agree, and we’re going to disagree.”

One specific topic addressed at the breakfast was the attempt by NRA lobbyists to get a bill passed that would make it illegal for businesses and employers to adopt policies that prohibit employees from bringing guns to the workplace. The bill is staunchly opposed by the Georgia Chamber and other business groups as an intrusion upon private property rights.

“The Georgia Chamber has never not supported the Second Amendment, and we are not promoting any legislation that would lessen gun owners’ rights,” said Charles Tarbutton, the chamber’s chairman. “What we do oppose strongly is the NRA’s attempt to expand gun owners’ rights at the expense of private property rights and employers’ rights.”

Tarbutton urged elected officials to focus on more substantive issues like water and transportation “and not become distracted with what we think is a narrow special interest of the NRA that appears more to be a solution looking for a problem.”

“Our constitution is great, but when we try to make one constitutional right greater than another, we run into problems,” said Perdue, who added that “the NRA is my friend.”
“I implore both sides to come together . . . make sure these constitutional rights don’t collide with one another,” Perdue said.