11Alive's
Denis O'Hayer looks at Governor Perdue's latest salvo in the
down-to-the-wire battle over Sunday alcohol sales in Thursday's
legislative blog.Thursday, 3/27/08
7:55 p.m.
As
he prepares to leave the State Capitol for China, Governor Sonny Perdue
left a final broadside in the battle over legalizing Sunday alcohol
sales.
The Governor's office sent out a blast e-mail to media
outlets around the state. It's labelled as an op-ed piece; the
attached note says, "Please consider it for publication in your
opinions section."
In it, the Governor shifts his argument
against Sunday sales--from the spiritual case he has made in the
past, to one based on public safety.
The center of the
Governor's message is a study done in New Mexico after most of that
state's counties legalized Sunday sales in July, 1995. The study was
funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The idea behind
the study was to see if there would be a significant increase in
alcohol-related traffic deaths on Sundays. The findings: a 29
percent increase in alcohol-related crashes on Sundays in the counties
that legalized Sunday sales, along with a 42 percent increase in
alcohol-related fatalities on Sundays.
The Governor noted that
counties that did not legalize Sunday sales saw their accident and
fatality rates remain more or less the same as before.
Saying,
"I know that Georgians expect me as their Governor to do all that I can
to make the people of this state as safe as possible," Perdue called
Sunday sales an unacceptable risk to public safety.
"If you have
ever comforted the parents or grandparents of a young person lost in a
DUI crash, then you know that the cost of this proposal is too great,
and the damage it stands to inflict is far too heavy a burden for
innocent families to bear."
He ends the piece with an attack on
the argument that the Sunday sales bill simply sets up local votes on
whether to legalize retail alcohol sales.
"There is no doubt
that this legislation will make Georgia roads more dangerous. We
cannot afford to jeopardize people's lives, nor can we stick our heads
in the sand pretending that our actions will have no consequences, even
under the guise of letting the people choose."
One word the
Governor did not use in his essay was the one that undecided lawmakers
are considering above all: "veto." Perdue has consistently declined
to say if he'll veto the measure if it passes both chambers --
especially if it's attached to the bill legalizing Sunday beer sales at
the Braves' new minor league ballpark in Gwinnett County.
And
some of the words he did use sounded familiar. The passage about
comforting anguished loved ones used almost the same words as those
delivered by Mike Griffin, representing the Christian Coalition, at a
House committe hearing a few weeks ago. Griffin also cited the New
Mexico study in his presentation to the committee. He later told me he
had passed it on to the Governor.
The reaction at the Capitol
was mixed. I talked to several Republicans who said the Governor's
latest salvo may help sway undecided members of his party; other
members of the GOP thought it might backfire. One questioned whether
the argument made practical sense, if one were not trying to ban
alcohol sales the other six days of the week.
The Sunday sales
bill is currently sitting in the House Rules Committee. The chairman,
Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) told me yesterday he wanted to
poll the GOP caucus before deciding whether to send it out of committee
for a vote on the floor. A spokeswoman told me this afternoon that
nose count has not yet happened. The timing of the Governor's message
suggests that perhaps his primary intended audience was those GOP House
members.
As for the opposition, representatives of grocery and
convenience stores argued the Governor based his case on a flawed
study. They attacked the methodology of the New Mexico research;
adding that figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration refute the claim that Sunday sales make the highways
especially dangerous.
They said they were preparing a response
which included the NHTSA data; but, as of this writing, they have not
yet sent that response.
Meanwhile, both sides are working the
legislative front--not just the public relations one. The fancy
parliamentary footwork is stretching into overtime, as lawmakers and
lobbyists look for ingenious ways to launch or block the Sunday sales
bill.
By the time this is over, everyone on both sides might feel the need for a drink -- even the folks who won't take one.
By the way, if you'd like to read the Governor's essay in its entirety,
click here.
