Shipp: Time to remove Gold Dome's tarnish(Perdue, Gagle, Reed of GA)

[maddezmom]

Wake up! Read this! Georgia needs a strict Code of Government Ethics. Don't roll over and go back to sleep. This is serious.

~snip~

We're talking jail time here for the offenders. A fine - even a big fine - hardly fazes a wheeler-dealer lobbyist or high-roller legislator on the take. It takes a red jumpsuit and the clang of a barred door to get real attention.


If Gov. Sonny Perdue spent more time on governance and less on Orlando real estate and Topeka turkey shoots, he could lead the way in Atlanta. He could include in his upcoming call for a special legislative session an order for the General Assembly to get busy on an ethics bill.

~snip~

If Perdue doesn't want to soil his hands with ethics, let Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle take up the topic.

After all, Cagle rode into office on the strength of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's Washington-based shenanigans with Georgia's own Ralph Reed.

Remember Reed? As a candidate for lieutenant governor, he was taking his first small step on a journey to the White House.

Today, Reed could become the poster boy for an ethics-code campaign. Just think, a TV spot could show a crestfallen and defeated Reed as a voice intones: "Ralph was a good Christian lad on his way to the top in politics until ... until he met 'Black Jack' Abramoff, who offered him a deal he couldn't refuse. Don't let what happened to Ralphie happen to you! Paid for by the Georgia Committee for a Less Tarnished Gold Dome."



http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/042907/opinion_20070429024.shtml