Citizens, be careful who you vote for in state elections.

While Democrats don’t always get it right, neither do Republicans. Over the past eight years, Republicans have been the clear majority in Georgia.

For the first time in HOPE’s history, Georgia will have to tap into a billion-dollar reserve fund. Why? Colleges are increasing their fees to make up for budget cuts. The HOPE program is at risk of totally vanishing by 2013, according to the Georgia Student Finance Commission. HOPE is the grant award program funded by the lottery for college students and also funds pre-K programs. Across all state agencies, employees are being furloughed. It’s not just teachers.

Another case in point, the Republican legislature passed HB 1055, which imposes a fee of 1.45 percent of net patient revenue, on already ailing Georgia hospitals.

Rep. (Gene) Maddox voted for HB 1055. According to the Aug. 25 edition of The Post-Searchlight, Memorial Hospital’s first payment was $80,038 and will reach $300,000 by year’s end. Imposing new fees in effect are tax hikes, insofar as they are money paid to fund governmental operations.

In the past, Georgians with income below $20,000 received state income tax credits. That changed July 1 when HB 1069 became law.

Rep. Maddox voted for the bill. Contrary to the stated opinion of the writer from Whigham, it is incorrect to say the bill did not eliminate the low income tax credit for the poor. Section 5 of the AARP, called on Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto the legislation. Ironically, businesses can still carry forward any unused tax credits to future years, according to AARP lobbyist Kathy Floyd.

When Roy Barnes was governor and we had a Democrat representative for six years, our district was much better off. We were able to get the brand new Welcome Center, airport terminal and secured funding for the Kirbo Center at Bainbridge College, to name a few.

Republicans have our state budget in a shambles. Democrats in Georgia have a long history of right-sizing budgets and strengthening families.

Kelvin Bouie Sr.
Decatur County Democratic Chair