Some friends I miss, pros I miss seeing, & other rambling thoughts about The Georgia Gang from someone in South Georgia, part of the Other Georgia.

In a 10-04-06 post I shared a comment that Doug Monroe (formerly a columnist with the Atlanta Magazine, Creative Loafing and the AJC, and presently in New York and sorely missed here in Georgia) had made to a 10-03-06 post about his having had lunch with "political columnists Bill Shipp and Tom Crawford."

Doug kindly commented that "one of the subjects at lunch was how much we enjoy your blog [Cracker Squire]!"

I noted in the 10-04-06 post:

I really appreciate Doug pointing this out to me. As my readers know, Doug was in the presence of two of my favorites and without question Georgia's best of the best.

Of course Bill Shipp is Georgia's Dean of Politics and Journalism.

Tom Crawford is editor of Capitol Impact and covers politics for Georgia Trend Magazine. For those of you who might not know, Capitol Impact is a subscription service taken by many state government officials. I have had more than one such official tell me that such official's daily routine begins by reading Capitol Impact.

Tom also has appeared on The Georgia Gang when one of the regulars is not there.

Things have changed a bit since I did the above post.

First and foremost, and unfortunately for the show itself, Bill Shipp has ceased being a regular on The Georgia Gang. (But you can read his columns in your local newspaper and keep up with what's happening in Georgia and also catch his columns on Bill Shipp Online.)

Also, Tom Crawford no longer appears as a substitute for one of the regulars, his last appearance having been almost four years ago. (But you can read his weekly columns in Flagpole Magazine under the Capitol Impact link, and read his monthly pieces in Georgia Trend by subscribing as I do or seeing them at Georgia Trend and clicking on the table of contents link.)

And although the politically knowledgeable and informed Jim Galloway of the AJC's Political Insider filled in for one of the regulars a month or so ago, it had been a year plus since he had done so. (Jim Galloway is one prolific writer who can turn out a story on a dime. I would venture to opine that the Political Insider that he writes with Washington based Bob Kemper has more online readers than any other political piece in Georgia.)

I very much miss hearing Bill Shipp weekly and also hearing informed journalists Tom Crawford and Jim Galloway from time to time.

There is one thing that has not changed since the above noted post was written in 2006. Although I might be old-school, I still consider without question Bill Shipp to be the Dean of Georgia Politics and Journalism. When he was a regular on The Georgia Gang, I rarely missed a show. Alas, he’s now off and two of the regulars are professional lobbyists who spend much of their time shilling their causes.

Dick Pettys comes to mind when thinking about other possibilities for filling in for the regulars from time to time besides Tom Crawford and Jim Galloway. Dick is presently serving as editor of InsiderAdvantage Georgia after a distinguished 36-year career with the Associated Press. During that time Dick -- one knowledgeable guy on Georgia history and politics -- covered Georgia government and politics.

And while thinking about the pros, we cannot overlook former AJC Political Correspondent, reporter, Sunday perspective editor, and national editor Tom Baxter. Tom wrote about politics in Georgia, the South, and the nation since 1987, and I sure used to enjoy his contributions to the Political Insider and the AJC. Last year Tom took early retirement from the AJC and became senior vice president and editor of the Southern Political Report. Having him on the show from time to time would be welcomed, at least by me.

But hey, this is just my opinion, and -- as Sen. Sam Ervin would say during the Watergate hearings -- I am "just a country lawyer" from the Other Georgia, and as such and being out of the metro area, my thoughts likely do not matter to show host Dick Williams, who, by his own accounts, knows best.