Legislative Family Day at the State Capitol

March 12, 2005 - Saturday was deemed "Legislative Family Day" by the state house. An opportunity for the working men and women of Georgia to see their legislators at work doing the people's business. It was supposed to be a fairly low key event in which the House and Senate passed non-controversial legislation and visitors got to see how everyone in government got along.

Well not so fast.

The day started out innocently enough with legislators posing for pictures with their children and grand children on the House floor. The Speaker welcomed the packed gallery of visitors to the day and gave an overview of the agenda for the day. While I stayed in the House side, I imagine the scene was much the same on the Senate side.

After the Speaker had called the session to order, various legislators made their way to the podium to recognize one one group or another, welcome family members etc.

That was when Alisha Thomas (now Morgan) approached the podium and conducted what I can only refer to as an act of political immolation. Apparently the representative was upset over the debate being closed on a piece of legislation passed the night before dealing with photo I.D requirements for Georgia voters. She said she wanted to "set the record straight" and began a very loud and emotional discourse about being called the "new Cynthia McKinney", and how you can call her Cynthia McKinney, but don't call her Jesse Helms, yada, yada, yada. Needless to say, the majority of the visitors in the gallery, myself included, had very little idea of which she spoke. The bottom line is she continued her self centered rant over several admonitions from the speaker telling her that time had expired. As the tirade grew longer, the initial shock of the visitors began to wear off and a loud chorus of boos errupted from the gallery. It was only when it became apparent that she was going to be physically removed from the podium, that Alisha Thomas left singing a spiritual hymn. The Speaker promptly appologized to the public, hinted at the disciplinary action to follow, and the rest of the session continued without further fireworks.

Actions like this are not uncommon for Alisha Thomas Morgan and have been excused for too long by her fellow legislators because of her youth. She does nothing to promote her agenda by this type of grandstanding, and only does a disservice to her constituents by alienating herself from the rest of the House. Somehow though, I think that this type of selfish disrespect is less about her constituents and more about herself. If this was a politically calculated move on Representative Morgan's part, I suggest she enroll in remedial math.

The truly historical aspect of the day was witnessing the repeal of the embarassing "Jim Crow" laws from the 1959 - 1960 era which stilled remained on the books of the Georgia legislature.
These laws were placed on the books in reaction to federally mandated civil rights and desegregation rulings. While these laws have long gone out of practice, it was a good sign of how far the state has come, ( even though we still have a long way to go), in the fight for equality of all citizens. My question is, why did the Democratic leadership fail to do in 45 years, what it took Republican leadership only 1 to accomplish?? Maybe it just wasn't a priority then??

After the votes were completed, we made our way down to the rotunda where we were treated lunch at the taxpayers expense with food from Chick-Fillet and the Varsity. We were joined in line by Warner Brothers cartoon characters and several dozen homeless people wearing red T-shirts saying "Working Families standing up for Georgia". After a 45 minute wait in line alongside Tweetie Bird, all this taxpayer got was a bag of chips.


All the best;

Al Meyer
Rocky Mountain 2 Precinct Chairman