Georgia AG faces impeachment for refusing to file anti-HCR lawsuit

[peace frog]

Source: Huffington Post

Georgia Attorney General Faces Impeachment Threat After Refusing To File Anti-Health Care Lawsuit

Georgia lawmakers reacted to Wednesday's news that their Attorney General, Democrat Thurbert Baker, would not sign on to a multi-state lawsuit to block the health care bill in his state by filing papers to have him impeached.

The blog Peach Pundit reports that the resolution to impeach Baker, also a candidate for Georgia governor, now has at least 30 signatures and is still going forward.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, petitioned Baker to sign on to the joint lawsuit filed by more than a dozen attorneys general across the country earlier this week that seeks to shield states from the effects of the new health bill, including the so-called "individual mandate," which forces most people to buy insurance.

"I cannot justify a decision to initiate expensive and time-consuming litigation that I believe has no legal merit," Baker wrote in a two-page response to Gov. Perdue. "In short, this litigation is likely to fail and will consume significant amounts of taxpayers' hard-earned money in the process."


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/25/georgia-attorney-general_n_512970.html

[Catshrink]

1. Ooooh, a rational decision.

This won't end well for Baker but he was elected so he won't get "frummed" by Sonny.

[cosmicone]

2. These lawsuits are politically motivated and waste taxpayer money

but democrats always confuse the message and shoot themselves in the foot with the public.

No one is comparing these lawsuits to the ones brought against the IRS wherein the plaintiffs claim that the IRS and federal income tax are unconstitutional.

[tularetom]

3. The lawsuit thing may be a convenient excuse for some of these necks to get rid of him

Mr Baker after all is black.

[dccrossman]

4. In Georgia? Say it ain't so!

It's not often I can say I live in Georgia and not be totally embarrassed about it. Good to see that the AG actually read enough of the bill to realize that a suit would be frivolous at best.

People down here though will believe just about anything and most will likely take Purdue's side.

- Cynical in GA

[SkyDaddy7]

6. Same here!

I also live in Georgia and I am totally embarrassed by most of what goes on down here in "ignorantville"...The funny thing is Baker is no Liberal Progressive by a long shot! If I am not mistaken he is a Zell Miller Democrat...I think Zell appointed him to AG back when he was Governor as well? I could be wrong.

[Dawgs]

8. I read the comments on the AJC article about this yesterday.

I was quite surprised to see that only 1 in 5 agreed with Sonny. Most were attacking him for wasting money and being such a bad governor.

[SkyDaddy7]

9. I did not see that article!

It would be nice if Georgians saw the light...And elected a Democrat like Roy Barnes in November.


Go Yellow Jackets!! LOL!

[tiny elvis]

17. purdue is not elected. he came in with the diebold machines

ga's first rep gov in a hundred years, defying the polls
the magic of virtual voting

[Dawgs]

7. Why would you be embarrassed to live in Georgia?

People do stupid shit everywhere; it's not exclusive to the south or Georgia. In certain places (Atlanta, Savannah, Athens, etc..) there are actually quite a few liberals.

I like it here.

[izquierdista]

11. But they've developed it to a fine art here

You can find plain stupid everywhere, but for a really mean, self-destructive stupid, Georgia, the road leads back to you.

[Hoyt]

18. Another Georgian sick of this right wing bull shit.

This crud will never end in this state.

I hope Baker sticks to his position and forces "Sonny" Purdue and the rest of the right wing legislators to expose their ignorance further.

I bet Neil Boortz -- the Atlanta hate jock that got his start writing speeches for racist Georgia governor Lester Maddox -- is whipping up the imbeciles who tune into his daily radio Klan rally.

What a bunch of jerks.

[emilyg]

19. I love living in Georgia.

[badgolfer]

5. Gov Purdue

If the State Attorney General is to investigate anything, he should start with the special tax breaks and other deals that the Governor has received since being in office. Especially, the tax deal that a legislative buddy of his got passed that only benefits the Governor. These special deals are the ones that the Governor refuses to discuss with the news media.

[CurtEastPoint]

10. Yep, ole Sonny is hidin' some shit. n/t

[scentopine]

12. musket loader sales are going through the roof -nt

[ShrimpScampi]

13. Good for Baker

I live in GA, thanks for the heads up on this. I was wondering what our AG was going to do. I'd like to find out if there's any way to support him by countering the petition?

[wellst0nev0ter]

14. To Be Honest, I Won't Miss Him

He was the one who part of the lynch mob against Genarlow Wilson. He chose to pander to those Teahadists, he can die in the fire he created for all I care.

[groundloop]

15. Good ol' Sonny - hard to do but he's even a worse governor than Zig Zag Zell

No doubt some of the talk of impeaching Thurbert Baker is political, as his name is in the hat for governor.

Gee, looks like I'm not the only Georgia Tech fan/alum on DU. Keep an eye on our baseball team this year, already 18-2 and ranked #3 !!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. So, all the Republican State Attorney Generals are under order to file a lawsuit

against the health care law because it undermines state law? I know Bill McCollum stated he would sue. So it must be a conspiracy.

If only he would work to ensure that his own local Cities obeyed the law, instead of worrying that the feds would do next. <sigh>

[Judi Lynn]

20. War Room In Georgia, an impeachment fight over healthcare reform

Tuesday, Mar 30, 2010 11:31 EDT
War Room In Georgia, an impeachment fight over healthcare reform
Republican lawmakers move against state attorney general for refusal to sue feds over new law
By Alex Koppelman

Healthcare reform has been, obviously, a very controversial issue. In Georgia, it's now even led to an effort to impeach the state's attorney general.

Republicans wanted Attorney General Thurbert Baker to join colleagues from more than a dozen other states in suing the federal government over the new law. But Baker, a Democrat who's running for governor this year, refused. (For the record, the consensus among legal scholars, even some on the right, seems to be that these suits have little chance of succeeding.)

That's led to some efforts to get around him -- incumbent Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, came up with the idea of appointing a "special attorney general" to file suit instead -- and one effort to just get him out of office altogether. Today, one member of the state legislature reportedly filed articles of impeachment against Baker.

http://www.salon.com/news/healthcare_reform/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/03/30/georgia