Fairly well-balanced comments from a South Georgia newspaper on the race for governor

From The Tifton Gazette:

The Georgia governor’s race has two native South Georgians — longtime Democratic lieutenant governor Mark Taylor of Albany challenging incumbent Republican Sonny Perdue of Houston County.

In this race, we lament that Secretary of State Cathy Cox is not on Tuesday’s ballot. Cox, who lost the Democratic nomination to Taylor this past summer, has been a shining star among statewide elected officials, and we believe she would be a good governor.

So, Georgians are left with two "good ole boys" from the major parties seeking the Governor’s Mansion.

Quite frankly, we have never cared much for the smarmy Taylor, who, in his two terms as lieutenant governor, has not done much for South Georgia. That is probably because Taylor has lived in the Atlanta metro area for much of his adult life, and he has come to identify more with folks residing in Buckhead than in Brookfield.

Taylor also has not worked well with legislators from outside his own party. When Democrats controlled the Legislature, Taylor ran the Senate with belligerent partisanship. He has not been known for playing nice or playing fair.

In his four years as governor, Perdue has not made many major accomplishments, but he has not done a lot of harm to the state, either. Unlike Taylor, Perdue stays close to his South Georgia roots. He is proposing tax breaks for the production of bio-fuels, which will help farmers. The governor also believes that road-improvement money should be split evenly between Atlanta and the rest of Georgia — much to the chagrin of the Atlanta crowd.

We are troubled by recent revelations of Perdue’s real estate deals, quietly buying and selling property while sitting in the governor’s office. While there is nothing illegal about any of this, based upon what we know, it appears to be unethical.

Unlike many previous governors, Perdue has not placed his personal business interests in a blind trust and, instead, is managing his own business affairs. We urge him to do the ethical thing and use a blind trust. An elected official must not only be above reproach in his personal dealings; he must appear to be above reproach.

Taking all of that into consideration, we believe Sonny Perdue should be re-elected governor. Among the choices available on the ballot, he gets the nod.