Tag: David Ralston

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

Post-Election Day Roundup

A few thoughts that stand out from yesterday’s election: How swift and broad Gwinnett’s seachange is continues to astound me. By now I’m sure everyone’s seen that there were some 30,000 more votes cast in the Democratic Presidential Primary than Republican. And Georgia’s longest-serving school board member is likely going to lose her reelection bid.

There Are No Loopholes, Only Laws

David Ralston is getting another thrashing for being both an attorney and Georgia’s Speaker of the House. Under Georgia law, legislators who are also attorneys will notify Judges that their legislative duties take precedence over trials and other judicial proceedings. (Nota bene that phrase, ‘under Georgia law.’) It was noted in the original article in

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

Rural Georgia Fares Poorly in the 2017 Distressed Communities Index

This morning, the Economic Innovation Group released its second Distressed Communities Index. Distressed areas are characterized by a variety of factors, including high levels of poverty and joblessness, low levels of educational attainment, and little-to-no economic growth. The years included in the 2017 index are 2011 to 2015. One thing we can see quite clearly on