Gov. Sonny Perdue is under fire for not communicating with his fellow Republicans in the General Assembly.

It's tough when he vetoes bills and projects legislators worked very hard to pass, but it's even worse when he doesn't bother to talk with them about his reasons or have his staff do so. That's a particular sore point with some GOP lawmakers.

The term "imperial" is being heard from the legislative ranks.

"My real problem is he and his staff do not even do the legislators the basic courtesy of talking to them before a veto," Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), chairman of the House Rules Committee, told me. "They just do it and claim reasons that are usually not true based on facts they could get with one phone call."

Ehrhart, together with a lot of other folks in Cobb, was more than a little irked by Perdue's veto of an $8 million budget line item for the proposed charter school to be run by the new Aviation Museum at Marietta projected to open in 2010. It was the second year in a row Perdue axed the funds.

The imperial governor has also stirred ill will down in Fort Benning, Columbus and environs with his line-item veto of $3 million for the new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center. Perdue's explanation was that the state had already met its obligation, an assertion challenged by supporters of the museum.

The National Infantry Foundation had requested $15 million from the state over a three-year period to help construct a new museum and center, replacing the original set up in 1959. Last year an initial $5 million was appropriated by the General Assembly and made it past Perdue. This year the amount was reduced to $3 million by lawmakers because of the slackening economy.

But Perdue whacked the reduced sum from the budget with a spokesman saying the $5 million last year was a "capstone gift," an assertion that did not set well in and around Fort Benning.

"If the governor really thought last year's appropriation was sufficient to finish the project, he couldn't have been paying much attention," the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer scolded editorially, adding it was even worse for Perdue to label the state funding a gift because the museum will not only honor "America's best and bravest," but is expected to attract half a million visitors annually with a $50 million economic impact.

You might think the infantry would rank higher than fish as in Perdue's "Go Fish Georgia" promotion which has received $19 million, but not so.

And just as the governor was faulted by Rep. Ehrhart and other supporters of the charter school for failing to communicate, Rep. Seth Harp (R-Columbus) cited the same problem with regard to the infantry museum funds. If Perdue had signaled his veto intention, Harp said he wouldn't have wasted his time.

The bottom line, says a top legislative leader: Perdue is "ignoring the will of the General Assembly."

dmckee9613@aol.com

Comment on this Story