STAFF

Debate lacking attacks

Gubernatorial hopefuls lay out proposals during exchange that focused on south Georgia voters

Web posted June 29, 1998

By Frank LoMonte
Morris News Service

SAVANNAH -- Seven candidates for governor bid for south Georgia votes in a televised debate Sunday, swapping proposals to aid tobacco farmers, build a new engineering school and increase state money for ports.

The hour-long face-off was free of negative attacks as the candidates addressed panelists' questions but never mentioned each other.

One of the few disagreements emerged over early prison releases, an issue that paralyzed the 1998 General Assembly with no resolution.

While Georgia Secretary of State Lewis Massey said parole should be eliminated for violent crimes, his fellow Democrat, state Sen. Steve Langford, said the proposal would waste billions on prison space that could be better spent hiring more police.

``We are wasting our time spending all our talk on the punishment side, because the people who commit crimes don't think they are going to get caught,'' said Mr. Langford, D-LaGrange.

In a later face-off of Republican candidates, former Attorney General Michael Bowers said eligibility for parole should be limited, but the state parole board will always be needed.

``There needs to be some mercy function,'' Mr. Bowers said during the debate, which was broadcast live. ``I'm a former prosecutor -- government sometimes makes mistakes. You need that outlet.''

Georgia voters go to the polls July 21 to choose Republican and Democratic nominees for governor and other elective offices.

As he has throughout the race, Republican Guy Millner skipped the event, preferring to campaign through television commercials purchased with his Norrell Temporary Services fortune. Mr. Millner was the Republicans' unsuccessful nominee for governor in 1994.

Mr. Millner is the only major candidate who refused an invitation to debate today before delegates at the Georgia Municipal Association's annual meeting in Savannah. That event will not be televised.

With no candidate in the field from south of Macon, the four leading Democrats targeted their appeals to up-for-grabs voters in south Georgia with promises to protect farmers and improve the economy.

``We have to have a governor who recognizes there are not `two Georgias.' It's one state, and all the industry cannot be located in one area of the state,'' said state Rep. Roy Barnes, D-Mableton, the Democrats' early frontrunner.

``We have to recognize it is no longer just incentive programs that attract business to the state. It's what type of skilled-labor pool is available,'' Mr. Barnes said.

Questioned about Georgia's $8 billion lawsuit against the tobacco industry, Mr. Barnes said part of any settlement should be set aside for medical schools and for tobacco farmers hurt by anti-smoking efforts.

Picking up on the theme, former Georgia Labor Commissioner David Poythress promised he'd lobby Congress to overhaul the government's programs for recruiting farm workers and keeping illegal aliens out of the fields.

``This is literally a crisis situation,'' he said.

The candidates laid out their most detailed education proposals to date.

Mr. Barnes said high schools that produce unqualified students should repay colleges for the cost of remedial courses. Mr. Poythress said he supports exempting anyone over age 62 from paying property taxes for schools.

Mr. Massey suggested the state promote summer employment for teens to reduce idleness that leads to underage pregnancy and crime.

Mr. Langford said he'd support opening an engineering school at a south Georgia university. That proposal helped lead to the departure of former Georgia Southern University President Nicholas Henry, who clashed with state officials over his push for a college of engineering.

Mr. Millner's absence was noted by the debate moderator, broadcaster Doug Weathers, but not by the three remaining GOP candidates.

The closest anyone came to a mention was when Mr. Bowers laid out a tax-cut plan designed to upstage Mr. Millner's call to eliminate the property tax on automobiles.

Instead, Mr. Bowers said Georgia should cut income taxes 15 percent. He proposed a constitutional amendment that would require a public referendum before counties or school boards increase property tax rates.

Asked how he would help provide affordable day care for working families, Mr. Bowers replied, ``Cut taxes, cut taxes, cut taxes. That's the best thing you can do. I am not for government subsidies for child care.''

Businessman Bruce Hatfield of Kennesaw, Ga., making his second bid for statewide office, said he'd push to eliminate income and property taxes, instead using a higher sales tax to finance schools.

Religious-right activist Nancy Schaefer of Atlanta criticized Georgia's spending on the Savannah and Brunswick ports as ``very out of line'' with the greater support for competing ports in South Carolina and Florida.

In response to a panelist's question, Mrs. Schaefer said she would oppose raising the state's lowestin-the-nation gasoline tax even if it is necessary to draw greater matching federal money.

Mrs. Schaefer said she'd discontinue retiring Gov. Zell Miller's new program -- financed with private donations -- of supplying a free classical music tape or compact disc to the family of every newborn baby.

``I don't like the state becoming the nanny state, so to speak, becoming the mother and the father to these children,'' said Mrs. Schaefer, who said the money could have been better spent on child welfare programs.