Another Georgia state dem switches over to the "dark side"

wanpete

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Wed Aug-10-05 08:53 PM
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Another Georgia state dem switches over to the "dark side"

I'm so sick of this...following good 'ol Zell's lead I guess. It's very disappointing to progressives here in GA...:grr:

Democratic House insider defects to GOP

By NANCY BADERTSCHER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/10/05
A seven-year legislative veteran has switched parties, giving Republicans 100 House seats and added momentum to the party going into the 2006 governor's race.

State Rep. Greg Morris, a Vidalia Democrat and party insider, is set to appear before friends and supporters in his hometown tomorrow to announce his defection to the GOP.

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His decision bolsters the comfort level of the new Republican leadership, which now heads into the 2006 legislative session with nine more seats than they need to win any vote in the 180-member chamber.

His defection is significant for Democrats since Morris was part of former Democratic House Speaker Terry Coleman's inner circle until Republicans took over the House and the speaker's office last year.

He also was considered Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor's unofficial floor leader in the House and, in that position, was given the rare opportunity to sit in on closed-door meetings of the Senate leadership while lawmakers were in session.

But Morris, in an exclusive interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said Wednesday he increasingly found himself philosophically torn.

"On major issues that are important to me and the people I represent, I'm increasingly out of step with the Democratic Party," he said. "It doesn't make sense to belong to a caucus you vote against 90 percent of the time, and not belong to one you vote with 90 percent of the time."

A half dozen House Democrats switched to the Republican Party last year, when it appeared that the GOP had a chance to win the House and take total control of state government for the first time in 130 years.

Morris, who was re-elected last year with 53 percent of the vote, said he wanted to wait until he could see how Republicans would do when given the chance to lead.

"They ran the House in an orderly fashion, and they came through on many of the issues that were important to me and to them - pro-life, tort reform, ethics," he said. "I know they proved to me that they were good and the team I wanted to be on."

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin) said he believes Morris is making "a big mistake," particularly when popular Democratic Secretary of State Cathy Cox is planning to run for governor next year.

"In my opinion, it would not be the time to switch parties," Porter said. "Greg has been a good friend, but he must realize he is joining the group who has been against open government, who has been against small classrooms, against the HOPE scholarship and put 45,000 off of PeachCare (children's insurance program). This is not George Bush he's joining."