Payback Expected After Hard-Fought DOT Battle

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(10/18/07) At least two Republican stalwarts likely have targets on their backs after Wednesday’s vote in the DOT commissioner’s race, and at least one Democrat does, too.

“We eat our young,” was the rueful comment of one Republican lawmaker who wasn’t particularly involved in the battle but, like many others, anticipates some serious payback in the form of an example to others of what may happen to people who vote the “wrong” way.

DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans and fellow board member Garland Pinholster, both former Republican members of the House, bucked the House Republican leadership in choosing to back Gena Abraham to be the next commissioner of the department.

Abraham was the governor’s hand-picked candidate and won with seven of the 13 board votes – precisely the number she needed. Since Abraham won a majority, the board did not vote on the only other contender – House Transportation Committee Chairman Vance Smith.

One veteran of a number of battles on Capitol Hill said the behind-the-scenes lobbying amounted to the most intense and bare-knuckled political fighting he had ever seen.

A flip of just one vote would have turned the tide. House leaders were furious at Evans and Pinholster.

Evans is up for election next year and Pinholster a year after that. Board members are elected by caucuses of legislators from the congressional districts in which they reside. And since the House outnumbers the Senate by about 3-1, there are three times as many House votes that can be cast in each board race as Senate votes.

For sure, Democrats are just as mad. They had thrown in with the Republican leadership in an effort to sway the election to Smith, who had promised to give due consideration to some of their key transportation goals – mass transit and multi-modal operations for Atlanta.

A switch by Robert Brown, who represents the heavily-Democratic 4th District, also would have turned the trick. Didn’t happen despite the fact that Democrats had said they planned to put more pressure on him Tuesday night “than a man can bear.”

Watch for DeKalb legislators to call for him to resign. But he’s not up for re-election until 2011.

What will all this do to the department’s budget requests next year, or to the legislation the agency always is seeking each year? We’ve heard threats have been made but we’ll just have to wait and see. But 2008 might not be such a good year for the department to come with too ambitious a legislative package.