Buckhead Republican Leads His Party on the House Floor

As the Republican party’s majority whip, state Rep. Ed Lindsey is responsible for maintaining GOP cohesion on major issues that come before the Georgia House for a vote.

But Lindsey did not have to press hard to get votes for Senate Bill 79, a bill overwhelmingly supported by House and Senate Republicans that would give Gov. Nathan Deal the power to remove Atlanta school board members.

“It’s vitally important to Buckhead and Atlanta as a whole that we have a safety net as we work our way off probationary status,” said Lindsey (R-Atlanta).

The bill would allow the governor to remove members of Atlanta’s troubled school board if it doesn’t show enough progress in its efforts to remain accredited with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The system is currently on probation from the organization.

Lindsey was the only Buckhead lawmaker who supported the bill. State Rep. Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta), voted against it, as did her Buckhead Democratic colleagues state Rep. Elly Dobbs (D-Atlanta), and state Sens. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) and Horacena Tate ( D-Atlanta).

Gardner also voted against House Bill 87, the illegal immigration bill that was supported by Lindsey. Similar to an Arizona law enacted last year, the bill would allow local and state police to check immigration status when people are detained for other legal infractions. The bill would also increase the penalty for using fake identification to get a job to 15 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. People who, while committing another offense, knowingly transport or harbor illegal immigrants to bring them to Georgia could face 12 months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

“I voted against it out of concern its enactment would lead to more ethnic profiling of legal citizens,” Gardner said. “It would impose an unfunded mandate on local law enforcement agencies. It would bog down many small businesses with red tape and it would hurt Georgia's economy, especially the agriculture and tourism industries.”

Lindsey supported the measure.

“At its core, the bill would level the playing field among businesses who hire properly documented workers and those that don’t,” Lindsey said. “It also ensures that those folks who have come here legally, and played by the rules, don’t have to compete for scarce jobs with those who aren’t here legally.”

Gardner is pleased that House Bill 388, an attempt to change the state’s tax code, failed. “Democrats pointed out that 82 percent of Georgia families would pay more taxes,” she said. “Their income tax cut would have been minimal and less than the new sales taxes they would pay. And it would have increased the state's budget deficit by at least another $130 million, with no discernible positive effect on job creation.”

For his part, Lindsey sees rewriting the tax code “as a train that’s moving in the right direction. We just haven’t pulled into the station yet.”