From a press release: ATLANTA – Today, the House Committee on Assignments, chaired by Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington), announced committee leadership appointments for the 2023-2024 legislative session. “Our House has a strong bench of leaders ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work for the people of Georgia, and our committee leadership roster
This Week’s Courier Herald column: I made the move to writing columns for print newspapers and online publications 12 years ago this month. The goal, then and now, was to try to bring a view of state government’s operations and workings to Georgia’s voters, citizens, and taxpayers. Inherent in that goal but spoken less frequently
This week’s Courier Herald column. Senator Jeff Mullis is winding down a 22-year career in the Georgia General Assembly. A commanding presence at Georgia’s Capitol, he has served as the Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee for the past eight years. He’s probably the most powerful legislator most of you have never heard of. To
Last week’s Courier Herald column: Pete and Betty Hearn were regulars in our family’s Fayetteville Georgia hardware store when I was growing up. I don’t recall their main line of business, but one side operation they ran involved sharpening of saw blades for us and our customers. They kept their business affairs direct and simple.
This week’s Courier Herald column: The headlines this week were all about the elections. The real news this week in Georgia politics is that Georgia House Speaker David Ralston is dealing with a significant health issue, and has set in motion the process for House members to select his successor. One would assume then that
This week’s Courier Herald column: You’ve likely seen the meme shared on Facebook. It purports to be an electric car graveyard in France. There are variations on the text surrounding the photo, but the conclusion suggested is generally the same: EV’s are bad because the expensive batteries soon go bad and the cars are junked,
This week’s Courier Herald column: The work of the Georgia General Assembly doesn’t begin in January. It’s important to remember that our legislators are officially part-time. Most have other jobs and other responsibilities they attend to the rest of the year, and juggle those the best they can when the legislature meets. It’s hard for
This week’s Courier Herald column: It was January of 1975. Wheel of Fortune made its television premier. The Atlanta Falcons used the first pick of the NFL draft to add Steve Bartkowski from UCLA to their roster. And down at the Georgia capitol, 27-year-old Calvin Smyre of Columbus was sworn in for the first time
There will be a lot of institutional knowledge leaving the capitol this evening when the gavels bang Sine Die. None of them have served longer than Representative Calvin Smyre of Columbus. First elected in 1974, he’s served as a member of the majority and minority parties. He’s humble, but wields quiet power when needed and
