The Dean: GOP's Ga. Legislature: (1) No more open democracy. It is noisy & often impolite; (2) the legislative agenda; & (3) the Taylor & Cox factor.

Bill Shipp on this week's opening of the General Assembly:

The promised new day for a New Georgia dawns Monday when the 2005 General Assembly convenes. Old-time Democrats won't know what to make of the overhauled Capitol establishment. Public dissension is out. Harmony is in.

For the first time, Republicans are in charge. Both houses of the legislature rest firmly in GOP hands. A Republican governor stands on the bridge of the ship of state.

Once-reviled obstructionists have been neutered - or, more likely, appointed to leadership positions. Hardly anything stands in the way of Republicans providing the kind of state government they've promised for so long. We can hardly wait to see the results.

What should Georgians expect immediately from these fresh lawmakers, who will occupy seats once held by Jimmy Carter, Richard Russell, Sam Nunn, Carl Sanders, Tom Watson, Tom Murphy, Zell Miller and dozens of other Democratic giants?

It's hard to say what these modern-day Republicans hope to achieve for Georgia. Transparency is not among their assets. We can only judge from what they have pledged:

• Tort reform: The legislature should be able to enact easily a bill to restrict damage litigation and cap judgments for lawsuit plaintiffs, especially in medical malpractice cases. Gov. Sonny Perdue will surely sign such a bill into law. The proposal, still not quite perfected, is being touted as a boon to nearly everyone, except, of course, victims of medical bungling.

• Abortion: A 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion is all but certain to pass. Don't be surprised to see a stack of other anti-abortion laws sail through.

• Faith-based initiatives: The legislature is likely to approve a proposed constitutional amendment to allow more state funds for church-related activities - perhaps even for tuition for religious schools.

• A code of ethics: A code is in the works to impose new requirements on lobbyists and their association with legislators and other officials.

However, those guidelines for good behavior will be careful to avoid delving too deeply into sources of outside income for public officials. After all, such stuff is no one else's business, as any new Republican leader or lobbyist will tell you.

• Education: Teachers can rest easy. Most of the state-mandated accountability stuff has been shredded. The new regime will revisit the good old days of handing out money for raises and staying mostly out of the way. Teachers' unions can return to carping about the small size of the increases, instead of fretting over the poor quality of schooling. Any legislator who brings up reducing class size will be banished from polite company.

• Medicaid: The legislature will try its darnedest to reduce the ever-rising cost of Medicaid - without trying to force reductions in prescription drug prices. This should be fun to watch.

• Prisons: The new regime is determined to avoid a prison-overcrowding crisis - without repealing former Gov. Miller's two-strikes-and-your-out law. Some experts say Miller's statute, which provides for longer terms for repeat offenders, is largely responsible for expanding inmate rolls.

We could list more, but you get the drift. Grand visions for a New Georgia are out of place. You won't find calls from this leadership for any overhaul of education or sweeping revisions of Georgia's draconian criminal code or a safety net for the state's growing population of uninsured people. Don't look for any uncomfortable public debates on changing the tax structure to provide equal funding for poor school districts. Whatever is worked out will be done ever so quietly, behind closed doors. Open democracy is noisy and often impolite.

These new-style GOP leaders are not blue-sky visionaries. They are practical politicians who understand that hyperactivity shortens political careers. They are more interested in process than perceived progress.
Republican power brokers are in an especially enviable position this year, one seldom achieved in give-and-take state legislatures. The heavy hitters among their erstwhile Democratic detractors are now so cowed and distracted that they lack the solidarity even to pass a resolution condemning fire ants.

The state's top-two surviving Democratic leaders - Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and Secretary of State Cathy Cox - are at least partly preoccupied with each other.

Both Taylor and Cox have indicated they will run for governor. A Democratic primary in the summer of 2006 must be traversed before either gives serious thought to battling the GOP.

Neither Democrat precisely fits the model of the fresh-start, inspiring leader needed to make over their beleaguered party.

Lt. Gov. Taylor's minions are already warning that Secretary Cox is one of those dreaded liberals, not to mention being a woman. Georgians don't elect women governors. Any Taylor supporter knows that.

Cox's partisans belittle Taylor for falling asleep at the switch while Republicans took full control of the Senate. The Cox people also ask pointedly: "Why would you want another bubba for governor? We already have one."

Such partisan parrying suits the empowered Georgia elephants just fine. With their opponents' attention focused elsewhere, the Republicans have plenty of wiggle room to give us the greater Georgia they once claimed to envision. Let the celebrations begin.