POLITICS AS USUAL— By Phil Kent
Another Ga. nuclear plant?
Georgians enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in the nation in no small measure to nuclear power and, specifically, because of the clean nuclear power generated by Plant Vogtle near Augusta.
Atlanta-based Southern Company and its partners are in the midst of a $14 billion project building two additional Vogtle reactors– a first for our country since the 1980s. Southern CEO Tom Fanning was recently asked if his utility would construct another nuclear plant and his answer to Wall Street Journal interviewer Kim Strassel is both instructive and insightful: “We would consider building one.” He also noted good news: “We thought it (building the new units) would increase rates by 12 percent. We now believe it will be between 6 and 8 percent.” All of this signals a positive nuclear future which helps the country achieve energy independence. The big question: If Southern makes a decision, would a new nuclear plant be located in Georgia?
Guns, English & voter priorities
Gov. Nathan Deal addressed a Buckhead Club luncheon last week proclaiming that his top goal is keeping Georgia the No. 1 place in the nation to do business— a ranking the state earned in 2013. He especially focused on how he is working to save lives and taxpayer dollars through impressive juvenile justice reform. However, a question came as to whether the just-concluded General Assembly gave too much emphasis to passing a gun rights’ expansion bill at the expense of ignoring other pressing needs. The governor thereupon launched into a vigorous defense of what he called a “balanced’ expansion of Second Amendment rights.
Some pundits and pollsters say the gun legislation was aimed to please the Republican base vote, yet fear most female and independent voters are not similarly impressed. That leads some GOP lawmakers to reflect that perhaps another bill should have been given priority— one pollsters note is pleasing not only to the GOP base but also to Democrats and independents. They’re referring to enshrining English as Georgia’s official language. The Peach State already has a law stipulating English as the “official language of government” but it is loosely enforced and has glaring loopholes.
SR 1031, filed by Sen. Don Balfour, would have placed a question on the 2014 general election ballot on whether to ratify a constitutional amendment designating English as the official language. In addition to preventing the state from issuing driver’s license exams in any language other than English (a sensible public safety measure), it would have added a “private right of action” which current law doesn’t have. This means anyone doing business in the state would have standing to sue for non-enforcement of the law. Balfour’s bill was shunted aside during the legislature’s waning days. But several GOP lawmakers express second thoughts— thinking passage of that ballot question in November would have been far better than focusing on the controversial gun law. Official English, whenever put to a statewide referendum, boosts voter turnout and has never lost.
UGA honors spy enabler
Debate continues over the wisdom of a University of Georgia student journalism panel voting to award a “journalistic courage’ medal to Glenn Greenwald, who received and published stolen classified national security documents from the traitor Edward Snowden. Is enabling espionage good journalism? The leaks Greenwald published are labelled by the ranking Republican and Democrat members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as “placing America’s military … in greater danger around the world.” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., says “we have begun to see terrorists changing their methods’ because of Greenwald’s reporting, “and the harm to our country … will only continue.”
It is doubtful that Greenwald, a U.S. citizen, would come to Athens to receive the award. He resides in Brazil and fears being charged with espionage as a Snowden accomplice if he returns. (The Espionage Act prohibits the publication of communications intelligence.)
There’s also an ironic footnote to this story. Senior journalism major Kelsi Eccles wrote a “briefing document” – a mere 603 words sprinkled with sympathetic quotations about Greenwald– which helped sway her peers and faculty advisors to honor Snowden’s enabler. Her LinkedIn profile describes her as an “environmental advocate.” Yet isn’t that description at odds with the journalism school’s supposed mission of training balanced, objective reporters?
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Note: Phil Kent adds to his many duties that of Co-Publisher of InsiderAdvantage Georgia. Phil joins Editor Todd Rehm, staff writer Gary Reese, InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery, along with the entire IA staff in helping provide the information and analysis that our readers have come to expect. Phil served for years as Editorial Page Editor of the Augusta Chronicle and more recently has become a weekly fixture on Fox5 Atlanta’s Georgia Gang, where he is a panelist. He is also a successful consultant, providing strategic and media assistance to major corporations and other entities. His new weekly column, which debuts today, will give readers even more of “the inside story” of politics and business in Georgia.
InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery: “We are honored to have Phil as part of our team and I look forward to sharing my publishing duties with him. With Todd continuing his excellent work as our Editor we know we can provide the very best of political news and analysis to our readers. Of note, Phil will also help us in shaping our magazine, James, which celebrates its tenth year in publication in June. We welcome Phil to our team and as a regular contributor to IAG and James.
Also of note, former Cobb Commissioner and former IA/Internet News COO Louie Hunter has rejoined our organization. Working with our indispensable manager Patrick Hickey, our D.C. Editor Hastings Wyman and the rest of our organization, we know Louie’s return along with Phil’s new involvement both will provide for a great future for our company as we near our 15th year in business.
