The most important infrastructure project in GA just put on hold. Thanks GAGOP.

So today President Obama released his budget. Thousands of Georgians were waiting to see the if the President was going to include hundreds of millions of dollars for a project called SHEP (Savannah Harbor Expansion Project). This project was one of the only issues that Roy Barnes and Nathan Deal agreed on during the campaign. It has been called the “most important infrastructure project in GA and possibly the Southeast.”

The budget was released. The money was not there.

I do need to note that some in the environmental crowd do not like it but that is for a different post.

Some have said that if Georgia did not receive federal funds for this project then we (Georgia taxpayers) should foot the bill ourselves (around $500 million).

My question is would folks like Richard Russel, Bo Ginn or Sam Nunn had a problem getting the money needed for this project? My other question is if you were the President would you send $500 million dollars to a state that has a Congressman saying, “you don’t believe in the Constitution” or Rep. Jack Kingston who referred to the party of the President as “Demoncrats” . This list goes on.

There was a time in Georgia politics when folks acted like Statesmen/Stateswomen. Instead we have been taken over by 30 second sound-bytes. We no longer act on what is best for Georgia instead most of our elected officials speak on what their party wants/needs to hear. This post is not about the merits of SHEP or whether it is good or bad for the environment or the jobs it will create. Its about the tone coming from the mouths of elected officals. It’s about whether it really benefits our state to have Georgia Republicans refer to the President a Marxist dictator.

Georgia Republicans appealed to their extreme base with statements like these and now Georgia has suffered.

If and when President Obama gets reelected we are scheduled to have another round of BRAC during that Presidents term. I hope that by then the GAGOP can discuss issues in a more civil tone and not just throw bombs or else we could suffer even more greatly then we already have.

Posted

February 14, 2011

Budget, Congress, GAGOP, Obama, Republicans

Gunner

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Comments

10 responses to “The most important infrastructure project in GA just put on hold. Thanks GAGOP.”

JMPrince

February 16, 2011

Z up in DC w/ Think Progress does a fine update here of this:

“After Running Against Govt. Spending, GA Republicans Whine About Not Getting $105 Million Port Grant”

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/ga-republicans-whine-spending/

JMP
JMP

February 15, 2011

There’s nothing to stop the Chamber or the Gov from going ahead & trying to raise private capital to see if they might get the ball rolling here. After all that’s the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’, right? If it’s truly worthwhile & well planned? Why can’t the private market pony up for all these supposed advantages claimed for the entire state? And if not? Please explain why you’ve dropped the ball and there’s seemingly no other way to do this other than appealing to that ebbil ‘big gumminit’.

Seems doubly ironic. Sorta like a kid who burns down his own house and then wonders why he can’t go home again. And yet that’s their #1 plan and ‘grand strategy’ for everything. Take the money for themselves and then run & hide. JMP
Mel

February 14, 2011

So discouraging. People vote for these Republicans because they spew “lower taxes!” like a broken record. No one stops to think how much they end up costing Georgia.
Sexist Pig

February 14, 2011

I just wanted to say I have typed out about four incredibly off-color comments and responses to this, each successively better/more offensive.

I deleted them all.

Just wanted to let y’all know.
sndeak

February 14, 2011

There is nothing constructive in this sexist rant. You either just needed something to thread-jack or have no idea just how big an issue this is for the state.
Jen B.

February 14, 2011

Agreed.
Gunner

February 14, 2011

I really don’t think that there is any kind of sexist angle at play here.
Mariela

February 14, 2011

Hey there gentlemen,

This “lady” is not going to mince words here. This project, & others like it, should have been stopped during the preliminary “what if we d-i-g deeper” talks, which were most likely started by wanna-be-macho men with penis-envy. — As a woman & as a mother who is sick to her stomach thinking about what this planet will be like for my yet to be born grand-babies, I want to just slap these male investors around the world for continuing to build bigger, taller, longest, faster, deeper structures… and for what??

Just to prove that yours is bigger than the next guy’s?

“Okay, Johnny,” I want to say to them, “yours is bigger. Now go on & go build something environmentally friendly before mother nature really gets ticked off.”
Gunner

February 14, 2011

@ J. Stewart thats my point exactly. Why does a politician have to “cave”? What happened to working together? I don’t look at it as the President rewarding Georgia’s political leaders I see it as the GAGOP being to short-sided and not being able to get things done in Washington. Something that Georgia voters need to take note of. Like I stated, when BRAC comes around we need to be ready or else we as a state will truly suffer. Remember the news when the Navy school closed in Athens? Imagine a whole Division leaving the state.
J. Stewart

February 14, 2011

I’m glad the President didn’t reward Georgia’s political leaders by caving into this demand. Also, so much for all the fluff made about Republicans enlisting Kasim Reed to help lobby on their behalf.