Ga.’s former top lawyer slams ‘religious liberty’

Ex-AG who supported anti-gay law now joins battle against two bills.

and Greg Bluestein

The sharpest critique yet of “religious liberty” efforts in Georgia emerged Tuesday from an unlikely source: one of the state’s top lawyers who years ago fought its fiercest battle to uphold perceived anti-gay laws.

Former state Attorney General Mike Bowers upon releasing his review became the ef- forts’ highest-profile critic yet — as well as an immediate target of conservatives who have made an all-out push to pass legislation they say would prevent government intrusion on faith-based beliefs.

That’s because the analysis comes as the religious liberty bills’ supporters try to regroup after last week’s surprise committee rebellion to table Senate Bill 129 — the more likely to pass of two bills currently filed in the state Legislature — and was paid for by Georgia Equality, the state’s largest advocacy group for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“Money can make people say stupid stuff,” conservative talk-show host Erick Erickson said Tuesday on RedState.com after spending Friday at the Capitol blasting GOP leaders in the Georgia Senate who participated in the rebellion.

In the state House, eight GOP members who are lawyers, led by Majority Whip Matt Ramsey, decried what they called a “shameless attempt to lend legal credibility to the hysterical and baseless political ranting of the extreme left. (Bowers’) ‘analysis’ is not a credible legal document, but rather nothing more than a recitation of the tired scare tactics often repeated by misguided opponents on this

Bowers

advertently exempted in earlier versions. Another would extend current taxes targeted for property tax rollbacks for an extra year.

Meanwhile, Roberts’ counterpart in the Senate raised concerns about the House’s approach overall. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, said he isn’t sure gas- oline taxes should be the basis for infrastructure funding.

Williams said Senate Republicans have not developed an opinion on transportation funding, but he added, “I do think it’s going to be really difficult to get the Senate to vote for a bill that takes local money away.”

He appeared to be in search of a simpler, more elegant solution.

“If we’re going to pass something that raises a billion dollars, it needs to be pretty easy to explain,” he said. “I personally think that if we’re going to expand to transit, that we need funds that can be used for transit.”

Williams won applause for expressing support for House Bill 213, which would end the 50-50 restriction on how MARTA spends its money. “I’m a believer in transit. ... I do take seriously the fact that all the money (in HB 170) is going to roads and bridges,” he said. “Again, if you’re only taxing mo- tor fuel, you’re going to be stuck.”

Williams again raised the idea of increasing the state’s cigarette tax, which currently is 37 cents per pack.

“I can vote for a cigarette tax — as long as we’re not the highest in the Southeast,” he said. “This is money that can be spent on transportation of all forms.”