Gonzo Lawmakers - Day 37

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 37

Originally airedl 4-20 (toke)

* The present approaches

* Susan in studio and Nwandi in the newsroom. Nwandi explains the newsroom is at Hogwarts. Mystery solved.

* Senate Appropriations passed the 2011 budget. It's in the final lap.

* The tape machine ate the budget! It's abyssal craw knows no sate!

* Democrats are claiming the tax monstrosity passed the other day has technical flaws. Something about fiscal notes. Dubose is explaining two parts had fiscal notes from the previous year and that ain't right. The undercurrent here is the thing may not be constitutional.

* Jerry Keen was going to explain how technically the method used was okay but the evil tape machine ate him too!

* Susan vamping.

* The Attorney General is considering Porter's request on the constitutionality.

* They want to create a special panel to discuss reforming the tax code. And it will include the soon to be unemployed Sonny Perdue. Imagine that!

* They wrestled the budget tape out of the maw of the tape machine.

* They passed the supplemental budget too. They are winding up all the money matters with relatively little fruforal.

* Much optimism about a transportation plan. Foreshadowing.

* There's Preston Smith. Looking pensive. Foreshadowing.

* Discussion of MARTA. Shot of MARTA buses. No Red Xs apparent.

* Sen. Tommie Williams is taking up for MARTA. Blow, Gabriel, Blow!

* Ethics bill is coming up tomorrow.

* Speaker Ralston is defending it in committee. He's speaking of the "abuse of power". The ghost of Glenn Richardson just wailed.

* Dubose Porter wants a gift cap. Speaker Ralston thinks transparency for the voters will be enough. Trust the people to make the judgment with their votes.

* You can lose your license for not wearing your glasses while driving? There is much strangeness in the code. The House reduced it to a fine.

* Scowling House Clerks! The streak continues!

* Corporations can't conduct identity theft. Previously only individuals could be prosecuted. This is called legislative clean up.

* More cleanup. More rapid fire bill passing.

* Wow. The tape machine just ate Rep. Don Parsons!

* Funding restored funding for the Arts. Yay.

* And we get to see Susannah Capaluto for the first time. The tape machine wants to eat her too! But it cannot digest her. We get lots of shots of hippies. And Tom Key. Now, he is an Atlanta treasure. But good lord, look at the hippies. And Susannah Capaluto. I need a drink.

* This segment is ridiculously long.

* Texting while driving. Allan Peake wants to ban it even for adults. Of course, we have some family with a tragic story. Shot of Alan Bridges in a car - texting. Would he qualify under the teen version of the bill or the adult version of the bill? Things suddenly got very weird.

* Lawmakers Flashback! Here come the Republicans! There's Sonny - fresh off the biggest upset in Georgia politcal history. He's talking about all the things he's gonna get done. It's sadly funny. There's Tom Price before he moved on to Washington. There's Mark Taylor. The last Democrat standing. Despite Eric Johnson's assurances, they practically castrated him. And the House without Tom Murphy. The House Democrats lost that majority in 2004. Seems so long ago.

* Ricky Bevington and her BOOK OF DOOM! MARTA protests. Delta lost money. But Coke gained money.

* Tomorrow, the budget will be on the Senate floor. For now that's a wrap.