School choice: We can’t help the poor by helping only them
Opponents of school choice measures such as vouchers or tax-credit scholarships love to do a little two-step. First, they insist choice measures be limited only to low-income families — for the sake of...
View ArticleWith House on verge of ethics reform, give Ralston his due
It’s dangerous to heap too much praise on an unfinished product, particularly when there’s still politics to play out. But with a major ethics bill headed for likely passage in the Georgia House of...
View ArticleNumbers for Medicaid expansion don’t add up
Obamacare supporters want to talk numbers when it comes to expanding Medicaid in Georgia. OK, let’s talk numbers: When they returned last month, Georgia’s legislators already faced a $774 million hole...
View ArticleOlens takes on another federal overreach: Dodd-Frank
In Washington, Congress passes and the president signs a vast expansion of federal power over a large and critical industry. In corporate boardrooms, business executives believe that law usurps their...
View ArticlePressuring the people to pressure the politicians about our national debt
First came the New Year’s tax increases of the “fiscal cliff.” Last week, the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration took effect. Still, Congress will spend much of March negotiating a deal to...
View ArticleDon’t move backward on school choice
Gerard Robinson recalls the first time people called on legislators to put income limits on Georgia’s tax-credit scholarships. He was one of them. “When the coalition in Georgia worked to create” the...
View ArticleMorehead eyes private money to sustain UGA’s rise
In January, as the University of Georgia was wrapping up the search for its new president, I came across an open letter former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels wrote to the people of Purdue University, whose...
View ArticleHow to bridge the gap between House, Senate on ethics bill
A ban on lobbyist-to-legislator gifts with several big exceptions, or a $100 cap with fewer exceptions? That’s the main question legislators must answer by midnight Thursday if they are going to pass...
View ArticleMost important bill of 2013? A river runs through it
The final day of the legislative session is upon us, with a variety of high-profile bills from guns to ethics to education yet to be decided. But legislators already have taken what could become one of...
View ArticleThis ethics bill is hardly a stopping point
Shortly before the 2013 legislative session ended, the House and Senate passed an ethics bill by a combined vote of 225-0. Such overwhelming, bipartisan actions often are hailed. Should this one be?...
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