Georgia lawmakers are out of touch with voters when it come to drug testing people who receive benefits from the government, and need to be reminded that Georgians favor drug tests for lawmakers over drug tests for the poor and unemployed. That’s why, this week, Better Georgia is helping voters send a simple, direct message to Gov. Nathan Deal, a pee cup with a note, “You Pee First, Governor.”
This week, while Georgia ranks dead last in the nation for job growth, legislators ignored bills that would bring jobs to Georgia and instead, targeted people who’ve lost their jobs. Both chambers passed bills requiring parents seeking temporary public assistance to submit to urine drug screens. While lawmakers are busy creating a drug screen for Georgia’s poorest families, they have ignored two groups that receive and control a bigger share of government money: corporate executives and elected officials.
A recent survey by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Better Georgia shows that Georgians’ more heavily favor drug tests for elected officials and CEO’s of corporations that profit from tax dollars than for recipients of unemployment benefits and “welfare.” The survey of 806 registered Georgia voters has a 3.5% margin of error and showed:
- 79 % support drug testing elected officials and senior appointed officials
- 66% support drug testing CEO’s of corporations that get tax credits or government contracts
- 64% support drug testing welfare recipients and unemployment recipient
Better Georgia published the results of the poll, but lawmakers still didn’t get the message. Instead, they are moving forward to force the poorest Georgians to submit to urine drug screens. So now, we’re going to tell Gov. Deal, if he’s going to require drug tests for Georgia residents, he should pee first, and so should the legislators. Think they’ll get the message?
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JT
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Great. Really great. So the drug user is cut off from any safety net and goes out to hold up the first convenience store they come to. A year later, after two or three court appearances, he or she is sent to jail. In the meantime the rest of the family isn’t just getting a little government help, they’re getting ALL of everything available. Wonder if the dippydoos have figured out what that will cost?
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Pooper
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
What an insane waste of money.
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Cameron F.
Mar. 10th, 2012 at 7:03 pm
That’s what it is all right. A complete waste of time too.
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Amy Morton
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
What an insane waste of money and already turned around by Florida courts. But, here in Georgia, that doesn’t seem to stop them.
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Jo Hargis
Mar. 11th, 2012 at 12:10 am
The GOP is master of repeating the same dumb, costly, ineffective mistakes and expecting different results. They can justify any cost if it means they can stay in the gutter. I love this movement, because it pits the general populace back against the lawmakers who are doing this stupid sh!t, which is exactly how it should be. I say, good for them!
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Anthony
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Pretty simple:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/rick-scott-drug-test-welfare_n_1031024.html
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Amy Morton
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 8:31 pm
I would like for some smart person to total the annual cost of implementing the full right wing agenda.
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ribbie149
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Somewhere I’ll bet there is a medical testing company that has an interesting relationship with the Georgia legislature and/or its governor.
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Shiva (Moderator)
Mar. 9th, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Keep electing the republicans Alabama. Does “First they came for the unemployed and then they came for …..” mean anything to you?
If I know Gov Deal, it wont be his amonia that gets submitted.
You don’t have to be afraid of midnight riders yet, force the CEO’s, the bankers, The elected officials (everyone of them) to give up the apple juice
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Deborah Montesano
Mar. 10th, 2012 at 12:59 am
Love it! I love even more that Pat Robertson has just announced that the U.S. should legalize marijuana (see “So, Legalize the Stuff Already!” at http://thepoliticali.blogspot.com/2012/03/so-legalize-stuff-already.html). I wonder how long it’ll take for Robertson’s nudge to bring Georgia around to his way of thinking?
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Alex Milstein
Mar. 10th, 2012 at 10:20 am
And all this from the party that claims to want less government intrusion into our lives. As Alanis Morrissette once sang: Isnt it ironic?
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Eric Arthur Blair
Mar. 10th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
I’d send him a filled cup with a note reading, “Here’s mine! Where’s yours?”
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