A
day after Gov. Sonny Perdue reiterated his opposition to a bill that
would allow Sunday alcohol sales, Speaker Glenn Richardson pledged to
push hard for its passage.
If the bill clears the General Assembly and Perdue vetoes it, Richardson (R-Hiram) vowed to overturn his decision.
"The governor does not get the final vote, the General Assembly
does, and if we vote on something and he vetoes it, especially
something like this where he has absolutely no ground to stand on, then
we'll come in here . . . in January and override the veto."
Richardson's remarks during an interview Friday and Perdue's
comments the day before suggest that an uneasy truce between the two
elected leaders is over.
On Jan. 14, the first day of the 2008 session, Richardson allowed an
unprecedented 12 override votes to revive legislation Perdue vetoed
last year.
The action was widely interpreted as retribution for the governor's
2007 killing of a $142 million income tax cut and the nixing of
spending approved by lawmakers.
The public disharmony dissipated after that.
At a Thursday news conference, Perdue said the House had jeopardized
legislation to allow Sunday beer sales at a new minor league ballpark
in Gwinnett County by expanding the proposal to legalize package sales
of alcohol statewide.
"We live in a republic, and the people of Georgia send us here to
make decisions," Perdue said. "Do we want to let the people choose to
allow prostitution? Where are we going to draw the line?"
He also accused the chamber Richardson leads of "pandering to
voters" in passing a hastily drafted tax cut the state can't afford.
On Tuesday, the Georgia House passed legislation to wipe out ad
valorem taxes on cars and restrict how much governments can increase
property values.
Richardson said the governor was "blatantly wrong" in comparing his
push for a tax cut "to the Wright Brothers jumping off at Kitty Hawk
and designing the airplane on the way down."
Richardson also predicted that Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle would try to
stop the tax cut plan from getting a full vote on the Senate floor.
Cagle has frequently sided with the governor in fights with Richardson.
Richardson directed his most pointed remarks at Perdue and his unbending stance against Sunday alcohol sales.
"I find it very critical that on the one hand, the governor says
he'll approve Sunday sales at a ballgame in Gwinnett County but won't
approve Sunday sales at a convenience store in Paulding County.
"It would be one thing if you had a moral position that there should
be no sales on Sunday, but once you say you're OK with Sunday sales at
a Braves game or Sunday sales in limousine, which is what [Perdue]
said, I don't know how you have a moral ground.
"It's almost like quicksand ground," Richardson said.
Perdue hasn't explicitly said he'll veto the Sunday alcohol sales bill currently in the House.
The conservative Christian governor has consistently stated his
strong opposition to allowing a seventh day for package sales of
alcohol in Georgia.
On Thursday Perdue said that "six days is plenty" for liquor sales in Georgia.
On Friday, Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley declined to respond to Richardson's criticism.
He said the governor preferred to "stick to policy" in discussing the issue.
"[Perdue] believes Georgians understand the difference between an
economic development project [with] Sunday sales in a specific location
for a specific purpose such as the Gwinnett ballpark and opening up
statewide across-the-board [alcohol] sales," Brantley said.
