State legislators learn roles, brace for hard times
December 8, 2008 by CAITLIN BYRNES
Filed under News
Sunday marked the 67th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and state legislators can learn from the hardships, a speaker said that night.
Cpt. Ted Carter of the USS Carl Vinson, keynote speaker for the first day of the Biennial Institute for Georgia Legislators, warned lawmakers against becoming jaded or disheartened by hardships through a slew of “sea stories.”
“Sometimes what we choose to not do is more powerful than what we do,” Carter said.
More than 200 legislators met in the Georgia Center for Continuing Education to welcome new members of the Georgia legislature as part of a three-day training conference for newcomers to the state legislature to learn the ins and outs of their positions.
“The sessions are designed to equate the newly appointed legislators with the basic functions and key issues,” Steve Wrigley, director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government and coordinator of the event, said.
Wrigley said economics, demography, education and transportation are the most important issues of the conference this year, with health care, energy and technology also strong areas of focus.
“The most important thing is the open information and meeting session,” Wrigley said about day one of the conference. “It teaches them that the process is complicated in process and substance. They will walk away with a better understanding of their involvement in legislature.”
There were 26 new legislators introduced – 21 representatives and five senators.
However, some of the “new” senators, such as Gail Buckner who has extensive experience in the Georgia House, were not newcomers at all.
“They elevated to the Senate from the House,” Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, who introduced new senate members, said jokingly.
The conference is held on campus biennially as a way for the University to keep close ties with the legislative body that, in many ways, controls campus.
