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Rep. Tom Graves’ fiscal recklessness helped destroy a Ga. bank

Georgia seems to be providing quite a few leaders to D.C. these days. In addition to several Georgia folks being top contenders for positions with a Trump-Pence administration, Rep. Tom Graves is angling to become the next chairman of the Financial Services subcommittee. Back in 2010, Graves and former Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers were the targets of a lawsuit from the now defunct Bartow County Bank, after defaulting on a $2.2 million loan. Bartow

ALEC’s secret ‘loyalty oath’ for some Georgia lawmakers revealed

It’s worse than you thought. And we have the documents to prove it. Last week, The Guardian published internal documents from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).  Those documents show an unprecedented and disturbing view into how the secretive corporate bill factory really operates. This new evidence makes it clear what many have suspected all along – ALEC has misled reporters, the public, its members, and even the Internal Revenue Service. ALEC’s primary purpose is to influence

ALEC’s corporate influence on Georgia laws: Worse than you think

On the front page of Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the newspaper reports one reason so many Georgians feel that our state and our lawmakers are going in the wrong direction. Corporate cash, in the form of industry-specific political action committees, fund the election campaigns of nearly all of our elected officials. (The full story is behind a paywall: Special-interest cash quickly eclipses hometown support) Many leaders of the General Assembly collect 95 percent and more of

ALEC

One ALEC education bill cost Georgia $50 million (and counting)

Better Georgia released a multi-state report today detailing the damaging influence the corporate front-group ALEC has on public education policy in Georgia and across the country. The report, entitled ALEC v Kids: ALEC’s Assault on Public Education, documents the growing footprint that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has in Georgia, including its unprecedented access to elected officials and the drafting of ‘model’ education policy designed to benefit ALEC’s corporate funders which compliant lawmakers then push

ALEC

35 Georgia senators voted for Chip Rogers over education

On Friday, the Georgia Senate finally voted on Chip Rogers. Until now, senators ignored your signed petitions, even running from television cameras to hide behind office equipment. But that ended Friday when Sen. Horacena Tate offered an amendment to move $150,000 from the Georgia Public Broadcasting budget to the education budget. 13 senators chose to support education over Chip Rogers and Gov. Deal’s political appointment. (See those senators). But 35 senators voted to keep Chip Rogers’ $150,000 taxpayer-funded salary in the state budget. (See those senators).