Albany Area Chamber of Commerce holds legislative Rise ‘n’ Shine Breakfast

ALBANY — Education reform and health care were at the top of area lawmakers’ lists Wednesday during the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Legislative Affairs Rise ‘N’ Shine Breakfast.

State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, State Reps Darrell Ealum, D-Albany, Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, and Ed Rynders, R-Leesburg, were on hand to give the large gathering a peek at what to expect when the state Legislature convenes in January.

Rep. Winfred Dukes, D-Albany, arrived as the gathering was breaking up and did not address the audience.

For the first time in recent memory, the chamber did not produce its legislative wish list at the event.

“We are still working on the agenda,” Chamber President Barbara Rivera Holmes said after the breakfast. “It’s still a work in progress. We will issue copies when it’s complete.”

So the lawmakers were free to wing their presentations.

Sims lamented the recent Amendment 1 defeat in the general election, saying voters ignored the plight of 68,000 children stuck in failing schools. Instead of throwing those children a lifeline, she said, voters chose the status quo and decided to do nothing.

“I want to talk about the reforms we’ve gone through in the state of Georgia,” Sims said. “We’ve gone through Child Welfare Reform, we have Criminal Justice Reform and then along came Educational Reform. I think that some of us forgot that a healthy school district is the connection to economic development. You cannot have one without the other. If we do not educate or children with rigor and vigor, then these children will be left behind.

“Along came the Opportunity School District (legislation). We were very comfortable with Criminal Justice Reform, but when it came to helping 68,000 children across the state of Georgia, there were a lot of hiccups and a lot of pushback. Five million dollars were spent, and a lot of it was dark money. GAE (Georgia Association of Educators) and PAGE (Professional Association of Georgia Educators) don’t have $5 million combined. A lot of the money used to defeat the amendment came from outside of the state of Georgia.”

Sims added it was time to start taking care of the state’s children.

“We were comfortable with allowing criminals out of jail, but we weren’t comfortable with giving 68,000 children a chance at a better education,” she said. “So I really wanted to have my say about this because we cannot have economic parity with other counties if we don’t start taking care of all of the children.”

Greene, who has served in the House for 33 years and won re-election on Nov. 8, thanked the voters for returning him to the legislature.

“I’d like to thank the people of Dougherty County and the surrounding counties. Last Tuesday was a very interesting day for me, as I was supposed to lose that election,” Greene said. “But the good people of this area came to my rescue.

“There are so many things that are on our plate that we will carry back to Atlanta. Economic development is so important to the state of Georgia. We are the No. 1 state in the U.S. to do business with. We carry a triple A bond rating, we have a balanced budget every year while the states that surround us are struggling to provide services.”

A former educator, Greene offered remarks on that topic.

“The governor wants to see change in education,” he said. “There is no reason we should have 68,000 students failing, and then we have lost students who have just dropped out of the system that no one accounts for. They line up in your county welfare offices and in your emergency rooms. They are costing you so much when we could make a difference in education.”

Rynders took a moment to praise Greene.

“I’m not kidding when I say that Gerald Greene may be the very best at constituent service,” Rynders said. “Those phone calls we get at 1 a.m., he answers and handles his constituents the way they should be handled.”

The Leesburg Republican said he wouldn’t be surprised if the subject of election reform comes up during the next session.

“There were 10 counties who decided to have Sunday voting; Dougherty was one of them. There’s some real concern that some people are trying to game the system to achieve the outcomes they want,” Rynders said. “There is a lack of uniformity within the state, so there is talk about bringing in some uniformity. If the issue is we don’t want to deny access, then you shouldn’t deny access on your municipal elections as well. If you are only going to do it on Sunday when there is a statewide race and do it locally, then it’s not really about access to the polls. Because we know that some are gaming the system to reach the outcome that they desire.

“So we may see legislation that says if you are going to Sunday vote, you have to do it on your local elections as well because we don’t want to deny anybody.”

Ealum agreed with his colleagues that education and health care will be hot topics during the next session.

“Obviously, the major topics I think will be on the table this year will be education and health care, and the most important to me is I’d like to see us get the funding for Albany Tech and the Carlton Construction Academy,” he said. “I think that would be awesome. In education, I am disappointed that the Opportunity School District failed. The governor made a direct attack to help that bottom tier of 68,000 students, that 5 percent in failing schools who need our help the most.

“We voted down an opportunity to help them without providing a solution. I hope during this next session that the governor can find an avenue to help that bottom 5 percent.”