Perdue launches a new effort to pass faith-based initiative. - A wolf in sheep's clothing, Part I.

President Lincoln's ageless observation states:

"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Georgia's Constitution bars the use of any state money "in aid of any church, sect, cult or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution."

Our Gov. wants to eliminate this language by a proposed constitutional amendment that requires two-thirds vote in the state House and Senate to go to the voters. Passage in the Senate is close to being a given. The House may go along with the governor as well, but it is not assured as is the case in the Senate.

Where does Abraham Lincoln's passage come into play?

Last legislative session and again this year the governor is campaigning to to change the Georgia Constitution to allow religious organizations that provide social services to compete for state dollars.

"The state relies on faith-based organizations to deliver critical family and social services," Perdue said at a Capitol gathering of about 200 last Friday that "The state needs you as partners." The group included religious leaders and service providers.

Last legislative session and again this year the Gov. claims that this constitutional amendment is needed to insure that the state has the legal power to contract with faith-based organizations to provide services to the needy and poor.

The state has managed to get around that language in hundreds of instances by contracting with affiliated but legally separate church-sponsored groups to provide a range of services to the needy and poor. But Perdue said that arrangement now is in danger.

Since when did our Gov. become interested in the needy and poor? Oh that's right, last August when he gave 1,600 Medicaid recipients a four month reprieve before being booted out of our nursing homes under his administration's adoption and implementation of (and I will add non-federally required) new spend-down provisions.

Spare us Gov. We didn't all fall off turnip trucks.

So how are we going to address this? Attack it as some Democratic leaders did constitutional amendment no. 1 last year?

This is what the ajc editorial page will do, and we should be reading something about it there any day now I would think.

If our party leaders jump in ahead of the public's coming to understand how the Gov. is attempt to deceive the public, the public may perceive this as being more partisan legislation, and may give the GOP the benefit of the doubt based on the Nov.2 results.

I can hear the Philistines right now:

"If the AJC editorial board and those liberal Democrats are against it, then you should be for it."

While I may be criticized for advocating this, I urge our Democratic leaders to be patient in their comments until we get the word out about how the Gov. is attempting to deceive the public. Be factual about the intent of the legislation, but not partisan.

Let's get the state's two teacher organizations GAE and PAGE to rally their members, all the while siting back until the public comes to realize why the Gov. really wants this constitutional amendment.

Is there any precedent for such a course of action? In a way, Senate Bill 5 comes to mind. The Democrats didn't have to do the dirty work. The press and the public did. That proposed legislation isn't partisan legislation; it is just bad legislation.

When the public comes to realize what the Gov. is up to and how he is trying to deceive us, Pres. Lincoln's words of wisdom will come into play.

After all, you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

(01-29-05 ajc.) (first coast.)
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And did I forget to say what the real purpose of the legislation is? I didn't. It is the subject of the next post partly entitled "A wolf in sheep's clothing, Part II."