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They've barely had time to settle into their new offices, but the Republican leadership in the state Legislature is already betraying Georgia's families while handing the keys to the state to GOP insiders and special interests.
Their latest boondoggle is Senate Bill 5, which would give the state more power, through the concept of "eminent domain," to seize private property owned by any Georgian and hand it over to private developers. Not only do they want to discard the private property rights of the people of Georgia, they want to let government make these decisions in the cover of darkness so the public cannot hold these officials up to public scrutiny. The result could be the erosion of private property rights, the elimination of lowest bid contracts, and the accumulation of long-term debt.
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, who is himself a developer, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Stephens, who recently received the largest individual ethics fine in state history from the State Ethics Commission. This is the GOP's "New Georgia."
Savannah Morning News editorial
January 19, 2005
"This bill is so far removed from responsible, conservative public service that it makes one wonder if a project is already in the works but needs eminent domain to succeed. It's odd to see Mr. Johnson take the lead on a measure that would allow such government intrusion. He and the other sponsors need to rethink this legislation - or at least wait and see what the Supreme Court does with the Connecticut case. Trumping private property rights with the plans of private developers is a terrible idea."
Bill Shipp
January 25, 2005
"After reviewing Senate Bill 5, a noted authority on eminent domain gave us this unbiased and scholarly analysis:
'This is the worst piece of legislation I have ever seen in my life - 50-year leases with financing deals using state property - all shielded from public scrutiny. Huey Long in his heyday would not have gone this far.'
In another time, we would have dismissed the absurdity of SB 5 with a mild rebuke for wasting the legislature's time. Not now. This measure springs from the leadership of the Georgia General Assembly - leaders who have already adopted rules to silence debate, quash dissent, eliminate amendments, operate in secrecy and grease the tracks for their desired legislation.
At his inauguration last week, President Bush promised to battle tyranny wherever it reared its ugly head. He wasn't very specific. But he could have been talking about the administration of New Georgia right in his own backyard."
Sam Griffin, Jr., Editor
Bainbridge Post-Searchlight
January 25, 2005
"The idea embodied in SB 5, touted by Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, to allow state and local governments to use the power of eminent domain to seize private property and turn it over to private developers for private commercial purposes is the most outrageously repugnant piece of legislative claptrap since the Yazoo Land Fraud. It is neither a conservative principle nor consistent with the president’s concept of an “ownership generation”—and if Gov. Perdue and responsible Republican leadership do not immediately repudiate, quash and bury forever this travesty, folks will soon be hunting down the Georgia GOP with dogs."
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