Gonzo Lawmakers - Day 25

A daily recap of the Georgia Public Broadcasting show "Lawmakers". The show airs weekdays at 7:00pm with a replay at 5:30am the following weekday.

Day 25

* We must speak of the budget, love. I can't utter a breath. We must, love.

* Day 25 and I'm a week behind again. The session has become my own Sisyphus stone. We - the Legislature, Nwandi, Susan, Valarie, the kids - are all stuck in a limbo of debt and doom. The only way out is to move forward.

* Nwandi is by herself. That's going to be quite a chore.

* Chief Justice Carol Hunstein's first State of The Judiciary. Lord, I'm behind. I've already heard the highlights of the speech and it is full of doom. Tales of judges not working and great mobs of predators flying out of the system.

* When she mentioned the budget, Lt. Guv. Cagle looked like she took a gavel to his forehead.

* Valarie is at Hogwarts with reaction to the speech. The Chief is talking about Mitch Seabaugh's proposal to reduce judges. Sen. Preston Smith, chair of the Judiciary Committee, says there are many solutions but doesn't say which one will work. Rep. Wendell Willard, the House Judiciary Chair, doesn't see cutting judges. This means the thing is doomed.

* Lawmakers is getting pre-empted tomorrow night by some Georgia Tech geekfest. Fortunately, the magic DVR saves our recaps.

* Oh lord. It's the hippie UGA students with the protest of the day. Lots of tie-dye. Shocking. And there's Trevor Southerland of the UGA Democrats. Met him. Nice guy. Practically a communist.

* And now Dubose Porter. With Stephanie Benefield. And Vincent Fort. It's the usual lineup of liberal lions.

* Valarie is doing double duty. She's covering Sen. Chip Rogers weekly press conferences. Bonus points for using the word scofflaws. Suddenly, we're very interested in busting tax cheats. You can see the haze of desperation drifting across the screen.

* Plug for Delta. Because we're going to talk about transportation. Apparently, the only thing they will get done is shortening the terms of the DOT board.

* Road racing! The Senate passed the bill to allow racing on city streets. Bring on the Winder Grand Prix! Given my near future activities, I have a heightened interest in these issues. Stay tuned this weekend for my annual report on something that legally I can't really mention.

* Valarie again! She's like a remote anchor. The House voted down some alimony bill. They are talking about how to deal with the same people marrying multiple times. Which reminds me of this funny story.

* Earnest Dan Weber wants to pass something that will bring more federal dollars to the schools. He's so earnest.

* We need to make sure buses that carry kids have insurance. Yes, it wasn't in there already.

* Back to Valarie again. She must have had a helluva time putting all these on locations spots together.

* Scowling House Clerks! The streak continues! I was getting worried. This is the latest spotting yet.

* More screaming about tax cheaters.

* The Hustler bill. The dirty mag wants to get pictures of that poor hiker girl. We currently don't have a law preventing this type of ugliness. Rep. Jill Chambers is going to explain the bill and Nwandi warns it could be graphic.

* I knew we would hear the word purient. The graphicness was the word "genitals". Well, this is the Bert & Ernie network, so what did you expect?

* Jeff Mullis wants a blue alert to notify people that a cop killer is on the loose. Not a bad idea. But seriously. Aren't we going to start running out of colors?

* Uh oh. Some tax bill to extend the Dekalb Homestead exemption caused some consternation amongst my county delegation. The Chair of the delegation is nicknamed "Coach". Always great nicknames in the House. He wants to delay the bill to talk some more. Scowly Red looks like she's shooting lazer beams from her eyes. How dare they threaten to upset the carefully laid schedule of the Scowly House Clerks!

* Senate Committee passed shortening the terms of the DOT Board. They can't disagree on a transportation plan, but they've got plenty of time to gig they're old adversary.

* Expanded coverage of The Chief's State of the Judiciary speech. Bathroom break!

* Lawmakers flashback! We're going to talk about the '96 budget. There's "Skin" Edge. The old Republican leader. Whatever happened to him? He wasn't caught up in that Dafusky Island awfulness, was he? They are arguing over the amount of prison beds. Not the best flashback but we do get to see ol' anchor Gerald Bryant. He was a good 'un.

* Rep. Michael Harden wants to drug test people applying for Unemployment Insurance. There is so much wrong with this insanity, I can't cover it all here. Since I have some expertise in this area, I may write about it at length. When asked about possible Constitutional issues, Rep. Stumpjumper replies judges make bad rulings all the time. The clarity of his reasoning is stunning.

* Ricky Bevington and her BOOK OF DOOM! Tiger will play at The Masters and there is much rejoicing at the Washington Road Hooters! Lamar Advertising, the billboard people, won't accept
"spas" as customers any more. Lookee there, legislators! The free market at work!

* Leadership series tomorrow with Tommie Williams. But for now, that's a wrap!