The capacity for Georgia’s elected leaders to dig the Chip Rogers/Gov Deal hole deeper keeps growing. After 3,200 Georgians signed a petition calling for Rogers to be fired from his new $150K state taxpayer-funded job at Georgia Public Broadcast (GPB), Senator Bill Heath of the 31st Senate District responded by sending out his own email telling constituents they are “annoying” him and other legislators.
That’s not all.
Senator Heath thinks being engaged with elected officials by signing a petition is a “childish tactic.”
The senator, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, is now just as duplicitous as Nathan Deal in Rogers’ appointment. As Better Georgia points out, Heath sits on a 
powerful committee that could stop Deal and GPB in their tracks by voting against Deal’s proposed budget.
Instead of putting the brakes on spending tax dollars to get disgraced legislators out of the Georgia Republican Party’s way, Heath said the petition signers (i.e. taxpaying constituents) have been “conned.”
The only con job I can see is the one Governor Deal has tried to pull on Georgia voters. Now Senator Heath is helping by saying taxpayers are “annoying.”
Senator Heath and the 27 other Appropriations Committee Members, led by District 4’s Jack Hill, can put a stop to whatever you want to call it by voting No on Deal’s budget, and then following up with a careful examination of proposed spending.
I just sent Bill Heath a “special for him” email at [email protected]. I asked for a personal response since mine wasn’t one of thousands sent to him via a petition. His office number is 404.656.3943 if you want to call him. I was politely greeted by his staffer when I called to confirm the address.
I’ve asked my representatives under the Gold Dome, Representative Mack Jackson and freshman Senator David Lucas, for their thoughts on Rogers hiring and salary. I have no track record with Lucas but during previous General Assembly sessions Jackson has carved time out to respond to me by phone and email. I look forward to their thoughts on taxpayer dollars being used by the Governor to micro-manage personnel decisions at a state department.
Here’s a copy of my email to Senator Heath in response to his email to me:
As a former state employee who has witnessed this kind of cronyism first
hand and seen the debilitating effect it can have on employee morale and on
an agency’s effectiveness, I can assure you that I am happy to allow Mr.
Long to use my name in whatever way he sees fit in his fight to put an end
to such irresponsible, duplicitous and arrogant abuses of power. I was not
“conned” into anything and I am insulted that you would think that I was.
The fact that my signature generated a mass email is fine with me.
Mr. Rogers had obviously become an embarrassment and a liability for the
Republican Party so Governor Deal forced him to resign and coerced Georgia
Public Broadcasting to take him. (Just because his name is “Mr. Rogers”
doesn’t mean he is qualified to work at a PBS station.) His appointment was
obviously political and to characterize it publicly as anything else is to
insult the intelligence of every Georgia citizen. Furthermore, this
unqualified, inexperienced broadcasting neophyte was given an exorbitant
salary for this newly created position, which was a slap in the face to all
the hard working employees of the agency. As chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee, you of all people should be concerned that a state agency is
being forced to expend public funds on an unnecessary position at a time
when other employees of the agency have had to deal with salary freezes and
programming cuts. This is simply indefensible and I don’t know how any right
thinking member of our state legislature can see it any other way.
I am sorry that you feel that just because your email inbox is flooded with
messages from Better Georgia, those messages should be ignored. Everyone who
signed on to this petition did so because he or she realized the absurdity
of this appointment and wanted the Governor and members of the General
Assembly to know it. That you would “filter out” these emails just because
they come from Better Georgia shows an arrogant disregard for the opinions
of concerned citizens of this state.
He will be REALLY “annoyed” when Georgians do what they need to do during the midterms, namely VOTE HIM OUT OF OFFICE, as well as the rest of those “good ole boy” crooks they voted in…right now, Georgians are experiencing what they asked for by believing in them in the first place!
Here is a copy of my email response to Sen Heath:
No Senator Heath, I was not conned into signing the petition asking GPB to rescind their decision to hire Chip Rogers. You see, I and thousands of other Georgians are very upset and tired of the old corrupt crony politics that you and most other elected officials practice practice. That is why we signed.
We know there it is a growing scandal in state government. We know many people are hired at state agencies based not on their qualifications but based on who they know and their political affiliation. The hiring of friends and family, especially when other long time employees are being laid off, is the definition of mismanagement and corruption. In cases I am familiar with it is even worse. The hiring is based on church affiliation. I have seen totally unqualified persons hired, who are paid a salary higher that existing long time employees doing similar work. In many cases, hiring managers are being forced to hire these people over other more qualified applicants.
That is one of the reasons I am dedicating my free time to changing the politics of Georgia.
Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Yous, for a Better State,
Rick Huber
Atlanta
I recevied one of those emails yesterday from Rep. Heath. It was condescending and an obvious ploy to discredit Better Georgia and Bryan Long. He made it seem as if I had been duped by Better Georgia into doing something I didn’t intend to do. As if he just couldn’t understand why a citizen might want to participate in an action that resulted in legislators receiving thousands of emails when they are so busy doing their work. Ha! What an ass. I love Bryan and Better Georgia and hope they keep up the good work. What fun to watch Heath, Deal and others squirm when exposed to public scrutiny.