Category: Speaker of the House

Mullis, Ralston Departures Shift Power From Georgia Mountains

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

Speaker Proposes Massive Additional Resources To Aid Law Enforcement

This week’s Courier Herald column: Georgia House Speaker David Ralston this week unveiled a $75 million spending proposal for “Law Enforcement and Mental Health”.   The headline feature of the package is a one-time $1,000 bonus for every POST certified local police officer and sheriff’s deputy in the state.  State law enforcement officers received a $1,000

Speaker Ralston Claims Millions Of Dollars Wasted In Delay Of Moving Primary

The following was just sent over by Speaker David Ralston’s office. It’s seems there’s still a bit of a chill in the relations between the Secretary of State and his former legislative chamber. “I appreciate the Secretary of State finally using his statutory authority — which he has had all along — to delay the

Legislative Priorities Becoming Clear; Economic Outlook Cloudy

This week’s Courier Herald column: It’s been an unusual session of the Georgia General Assembly, even for a gathering where the first rule is to expect the unexpected.  It’s been a long time since fissures within the governing majority in Georgia were as public, and with policy proposals and priorities as disparate. Much of the

Richard Smith Named New House Rules Chair; Speaker Ralston Announces Other Appointments

The Georgia House of Representatives will have its third Rules Chairman in three years. After the deaths of former Rules Chairmen John Meadows and Jay Powell, Columbus Representative Richard Smith will steer the powerful House Rules Committee when the legislature convenes next month. The Rules Committee is the last stop before legislation in the House

Speaker David Ralston Announces North Georgia Office of the Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation

We got this press release from Speaker David Ralston’s office announcing the opening of the North Georgia Office of the Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation that will be opening up in Ellijay. The headquarters of the Center for Rural Prosperity and Innovation is located at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College which was proposed by the

David Ralston on Local Education Control: Disingenuous, A Hypocrite, Or….

Figuring out Speaker David Ralston’s political philosophy is like putting together a puzzle but the pieces don’t match the picture on the box. Case in point on education.In May “the way it should be” done is by having  local school boards sort out their allotment of money. After all, the decent Speaker from Blue Ridge

UPDATED: Speaker Ralston Calls For Representative Spencer’s Resignation

Sunday night, Showtime aired the episode of Sasha Baron Cohen’s (Borat) new program that duped Representative Jason Spencer into…embarrassing himself. The New York Times and the AJC have some background. The NYT’s Sopan Deb has a recent statement from Rep Spencer regarding his appearance. This is QUITE a statement from Jason Spencer, a state rep